sayonara ..2007!!!

Time flies so quickly that i feel like im still in middle of 2007. Obviously im wrong because approximately 24 hours from now, 2008 window will be opened. However, it is still clear in my mind, about a year ago in London, where me n my wife celebrated the new year by the Thames River, overlooking the The London EyE; near the Millennium Bridge...........

3......2.......1..the fireworks started, lighting the sky with beautiful colours...

Last year, the celebration was particularly a special one. It was the first time me n my hunny-bunny celebrated it together, and were accompanied by Dugi, Jeghui, Smoque, Ihab, Pet, and Husin who flew all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to visit his old friend, me..haha ye ke Husin??Thanx to Dugi with his sLR, or else we wouldn't have these pictures...Picture speaks more than words, so this time ill do less talking, i hope..and more pictures..hehe..

BUt one thing worth mentioning here, which i can never forget was one incident that happened that night. While we were on our way to a halal steak restaurant, we discussed on how bizarre the British accent could be, u know like water pronounced wok' er, later = lak' er..and suddenly................this conversation took place,

Dug asked,(it was dug who asked if im not mistaken), "how long will it take for the bus to get there(to the restaurant)?"......

Jeghui nonchalantly answered, "I think it's about Eleven mik'ett," or normally pronounced 'eleven minutes'.

That precious moment came with an awkward silence, and everyone looked at each other's face, thinking..."eleven mik'ett????" then all of us burst into lauhgters.Worse accent than English rite?And as far i know, it's the T that pronunciation changed..NOT ThE N!!! Haha.. good lough anyway...

The year went on brightly. I passed my Opthalmology and ENT(ear nose n throat) exam in february and come April, the Biggies began. First, 2 new family members were born in that month, Hasif and Aisyah from cikShu's n my family respectively. They both are 8months old now,and as usual, we both miss their growing up..how sad!!

Not long after that, on the 3rd of May (sacred date so to speak)...came the breaking news,......

"Abaaaaaaaangggg, it's positive!!!!!"..and that remarkable moment, marked the beginning of my legacy, The LanHelmy's family=)..Alhamdulillah, Praise be to Allah, The MOst Gracious, The Most Merciful, Thank You Lord for this greatest gift.

37weeks plus....countdown resumed!!!

Summer 2007 was a special and memorable one too. With cikShu cruising through her first trimester uneventfully, it was just the perfect time for a family trip. So our parents came in July for a wonderful 2 week uK-eire trip.

Near the London Eye, i was taking the picture obviously...

Rombongan Cik Kiah to Leeds Castle, UK. Road trip led by Abg Rahman n Kak shida n family.....

CikShu was taking the picture of me taking the picture..(my sis yana posing 'poyo'fully..hehe)

On the left, is the breathtaking view of the Cliff of Moher, County Clare, Ireland. About 4hours drive from Dublin. To me it is a must-see place if u r in Ireland. That cliff u see is at least 200 metres in height and it ranges about 4-5km along the Coast. However, due to its notorious reputation as a common site for suicide, they have built a huge bricks barrier to the edge of the cliff where previously, we can crawl slowly to experience ourselves how it feels to look straight down from the edge..pretty scary huh!!

After 2 weeks of good fun, that family trip ended with a sad goodbye at the Heatrow Airport. But 2 weeks later, me n cikShu also went home to spend our summer in Malaysia for about 2 months.

As the school commenced again, it was time for serious business. I had finals coming in December and cikShu was heavily pregnant. Thank God cikShu syg was doing fine up to that stage until i finished my exam. To cut it short, December was quite a big month as i had passed my exams in OnG, Peads and Psyc and above all is that, my little baby in her mama's womb is now 38 weeks and 3days...and still growing strong inside!!

Honestly, now im really feeling that sense of fatherhood coming already. It is hard to explain but sooner or later, all father-to-be will understand. Anytime from now till the due date can be 'the moment'. It is just a matter of how and when it will happen. Me n CikShu was hoping for this cutie to be a december baby, but the prayers from parents of both sides are stronger n more mustajab apparently, that they want a January baby..=)..we dont mind, whenever the baby is happy to come out, we r happy too;). As there are 5 more minutes to 2008 as im writing this now, i know for sure 2008 n not 2007 will be the year for me n my darling to see the cute lil face of our soon-to-be born, Batrisyia Safiyyah if it's a girl insyaAllah.....

Happy new year to my honey-bunny CiksHU, my family and to all ma frens wherever u r!!
May Allah shower us all with HIs blessings and rahmah thruout the forthcoming months...salam

astronomy....and me!!

One of the subjects that usually catch my enthusiasm is astronomy. It is by far i think, one of the most, if not the most complex subjects known to human knowledge. As far that i can remember, this all started with a school trip to planetarium when i was in standard 5 or 4. A year later, when i was in standard 6, i was chosen to represent the state (Perak of course) to the National Science Camp. It took place in Taman Rimba Komanwel, Rawang for a week. Each state sent 4 reps making in total of about 60-70 students from all over Malaysia. It was pretty exciting, given the fact that it was my first experience meeting other students from other parts of Malaysia, and after a brief summary of the schedule for the week, it seemed to be getting more interesting as there were stuff like jungle trekking, birds hunting, secret of the jungle and the best of all was the Astronomy session. Im not lying, but during this session i got to watch the Moon and the Jupiter using a very2 big and high-tech telescope brought by the 2 reps from the Planetarium Malaysia that night.

I was amazed!! Never thought that i would ever get the chance to look at the surface of the moon that clearly. I felt so close to the moon as if i can grab it.(that was how i thought back then, u know standard 6 level of thinking:) ) That was when i learned few things about the Jupiter. As we all know that it is the largest planet in our solar system. And if observed closely, Jupiter has a small red dot on its surface in which 3 earths can be put inside!!! Remarkably that gave me a clear picture of the actual size of that massive planet relative to the one we are living on....Today, that knowledge has become the basis of my understanding about the concept of The Creator and the creation. Just sit and think about this and u will realize how small a creature we are.........

We are one of those creations of God called the HoMosapiens(human); the inhabitants of the planet called, the Earth. Our planet, among the 8 planets(Pluto is no longer a planet) in the solar system, is situated not too close to the source of energy, the Sun, but close enough to allow all the ecosystems checked and balanced hence to support lives living on it. The sun, undoubtedly is the most important object in our solar system without which all the physics, and the biological basis of life will come to an end. However the Sun is only another ordinary stars of that millions of stars that u see in the sky. Science has proven that, in the galaxy we live; The Milky Way(Bima Sakti), there are millions of solar systems like ours out there. Current knowledge of science also has led human to understand that the MIlky Way, is just one of the millions of galaxies known to exist in this world!!!So, how big actually is the universe?? Only God the Creator, the all knowing knows. We muslims learned from the story of Isra' and Mi'raj, the night when The Prophet was brought to see The Creator, there were actually 7 layers or levels of the Universe, and the one we discussed just now, the galaxies and all, encompass only the very first level!!So that may give us the clear picture of the concept of God;The Creator The all-knowing and us, the creation. Relative to the size of the universe, we are actually smaller than the size of an atom. So let us be reminded, who we are actually.......no body!!!

Before i end this entry, i would like to share with all of u one fact about the universe.....
Do u guys know when scientists talk bout the 'Lightyears' ,what exactly it means???
A Light-year is actually a unit of distance(not time as some may think).It is a distance that light can travel in one year. Light travels at a very top speed of 300 000km/sec, equivalent to distance covered if u circle the earth 7 times!!! So in 1 year, light travels 9,500,000,000,000 kilometers (about 10Trillion km) and this equal to 1 light year. Just to put things into perspective here, the reason why this unit is used, is simply because the universe is just sooo huge that km per se is useless. The next closest star from earth is 4.2 light years away.(4.2x10Trillion km). In other words, if the light travels from earth, it takes 4.2 years to reach to that star, and say if there is another solar system over there with a group of scientists doing the same calculation now, the light they are seeing from our solar system came in the year 2003. The nearest galaxy to ours Milky Way is Andromeda Galaxy, and it is 2.3 million light-years away. In other words, at this moment, they are seeing light from us that came 2.3 million years ago.......about 100million years post Jurassic period. And finally, if one day( which i doubt) men were to travel across our galaxy, guess how long do they have to take????....150 000 years... provided we can travel as fast as the light!!!!
So that's it. Fascinating isn't it?Hope u enjoy it....

Finals approaching....

The countdown has started.Not more than 120days from now, i will be facing the 'worst nightmare' for all the medical students. That time will come and the sole reason of the whole 5 years duration for me being in medical school will be 'JUDGED'. It could be the end, it could be the starting point. But for me, i hope for it to be my stepping stone for the next levels ahead. Different schools have different way of assessing their students but the basic principles are still the same. This may not be relevant but i just wanna share, there are 5 subjects for finals; Obstetrics n Gynaecology, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, Medicine and Surgery. These 5 subjects give in total of 800 marks and in order to get the DR, all the 5 must be completed and passed. Last 3 weeks, 3 of those subjects had been assessed and alhamdulillah, i manage to pass them. So Obs n Gyne, Pediatrics and Psychiatry are all down, n 2 more to go!!! But these 2 subjects cover half of the total 800marks and they are the essence of medicine i must say,so to really grasp the whole concept and to get all the facts stored permanently in my mind is kinda impossible...hmm but anyhow wish me luck on this, and to others who will be facing the same 'nightmare' soon, i wish u guys all the best too....obviously my study mode has started a lil bit now but just find it hard to get goin fast considering this is the last winter break im going to enjoy as a student...so 3rd january ill be back into the normal hectic routine..haiyaa....

a glimpse of Malaysia thru my eyes....

im back again.. Discussing about Malaysia scares me.. worse when talking about the world. Yet anyone can talk about all the wrong things we see before our eyes but how many dares and have the gut or even care to do something about it? Good things do not come by itself with miracles but, out of collective actions and effort by group of people who persevere and fight for it....don't get me wrong, im not talking about changing the world upside down or anything like that..what i'm trying to say here is that ' to enjoy a good outcome in the end, the good acts must start now and from within'.

If we expect the world to change. WE first must change. I remember Ms.Madelaine my english teacher when i was in KMYS used to say, "do unto others, as u want others to do unto you". It simply means, if we want people to respect us, we first have to give other people the respect they deserve. This simple concept is by and large, lost in our society to some extent. Ironically, for the muslims especially, since this is the ground I am talking from, the Prophet had thought us and emphasize the importance of mutual respect soo long time ago but why can we not follow????
Now, lets focus on Malaysia...this year is our 50th anniversary of independence. Alhamdulillah, with the grace of God and with His will that today we are enjoying being Malaysian and benefiting a lot from her either. With the nation developing, and aiming for developed nation at some point...the main question we have to ask ourselves is 'WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP MY BELOVED NATION?"..the fact that every little things matter is crucial for all of us to understand. Helping the nation does not mean you have to be a minister, politician, or a successful businessman with big money…or to wait when ur 40’s!!…We can help the nation regardless of our age, background or location! Still vivid in my mind the ‘sembang-sembang politik’ I had in London with Jeg, Smq and Daus one night. One of the conclusions we came out with was that, ‘to act now, within our capacity and keep progressing as we go along’…..if we seriously want to take our nation to another level, then we all have to step up and do something.

I am very grateful to God, thankful to the government as well for giving me the opportunity to study abroad. It is very fortunate for me to get this chance because it is undoubtedly an ‘eye-opener’, ‘life-changing experience’ and is going to be among if not the most memorable 5 years in my life….However, that also reminds me to one of the verses in the Quran, Chapter One which means ‘God will not bestow upon you a responsibility or burden, unless He knew that you are capable of taking it on your shoulder’……..Fundamentally it means, we are simply being given the chance to see the other part of the globe and to learn from their people all the good stuffs to take them home and be reminded as well as cautios by learning the ‘less good stuffs’. Therefore, the best things that we can do to pay back our society, from whom the tax was taken to pay our fees here, besides finishing our degree, is probably to lead by example and to share with other fellow Malaysians the good elements we have learned.

We learnt that Malaysia is famous of ‘adat dan budi pekerti, kesopanan dan kesusilaan’…..the question is how far is this statement still true? Or has it ever been true at all?Some people say, if they come to Malaysia then only they know the truth….my view on this? Yes and NO!!!
We may treat the tourists better than we treat ourselves, as in to our fellow Malaysians. We lack the respect of individual’s right and principles….We don’t say thank you that much to other people…We argued and fight over petty things and sometimes ridiculously led to murder and death…We ignore or pay no attention when people are talking in front be it teachers, lecturers or friends.We don’t acknowledge students’ rights and importance that much. We take the road recklessly without caring about the safety of others. We curse and become angry when people point out our wrongdoings instead of saying thank you!!!We don’t dress modestly anymore as if there is nothing refraining us from doing ‘the show’. We love our job more than we do love our family. We became MP’s to benefit ourselves. We love money more than anything else to the extent of disregarding the purity of the source, and ultimately, we care soo much about ourselves now that we care soo less for the hereafter, which I think sadly enough, completes the ingredients for an impending dooms :( ………………………………………………………………..and those are just a short list of the things which crossed my mind.

Take it from here, that is the reality, Pak Lah said, ‘We have 1^st world infrastructure but 3^rd world mentality’….true enough with evidence before our eyes….but the good part is at least we have some world class infrastructure, it is just a matter of finding the formulae to upgrade the mentality????? My view, the most ideal way of progressing forward is to have both religion and economy to march hand in hand….or else we may achieve one temporarily, but collapse sooner due to the ignorance of the other…..as I always believed that other aspects of life are subsets to religion, the religion itself need to be holistically understood in order to complete the other important aspects of life and firmly upheld so that as an individual we become a better person and if achieved collectively the world will become a better place……..till then …bye

Eid Mubarak...

10th of zulhijjah every year...the muslims all around the world celebrate Eid Al Adha. Today for the 5th time in a row, i celebrate eid al adha away from home, my beloved country; Malaysia thus of course away from family too. But this year is my 2nd year celebrating the Eid with my wife and for the first time with da lil baby in the womb:)...
Probably to share as well as to remind myself and others about this holy month, Zulhijjah is also known as the feast of sacrifice. It commemorates one of the most important event in the history when Prophet Ibrahim alaihissalam was ordered by Allah to sacrifice his son, Prophet Ismail alahissalam, who was later replaced by Allah with a goat. And this event marked the start of all the sacrifice made to these days.
Zulhijjah is also more importantly, the month when muslims perform Haj in Makkah al mukarramah. Nearly 3.5 million muslims from all over the globe will gather in Makkah to complete this pillar of Islam. Here in the Holy Land of Makkah, in the central point of the Masjid Al-Haram, the Kaabah is located. Historically built by the Prophet Ibrahim alaihissalam, Kaabah even though some people may just see it as a black box, i must say it is to me objectively and subjectively, one the most beautiful structure ive seen in my life. Kaabah is circled 7 times during the act called Tawwaf and interestingly, the angels also have the same practice at the Baitul Makmur that is located right above the Kaabah in the sky. During this month of haj, on the 9th Zulhijjah, the pilgrims stop at Arafah. A place known to symbolise the condition at the day of judgement, Arafah is plainly a field of desert, dry, with temperature more than 45degree or probably more....and here all the pilgrims are gathered regardless of the background and nationality for one purpose and one purpose only that is to worship the Lord, The Creator of mankind........wallahua'lam
Hopefully those info help, and Eid Mubarak to all again.....

it starts from within..

now i am going to talk about a very important topic which probably is the most important of all to be understood by everyone. It is about 'niyyah'..or in the malay language 'niat', in english 'intention'.Based from the very first hadith of the 40 hadith of the prophet which says 'innamal a'ma lu binniyyat' ila akhir. It basically means that all our actions start from the intention. It is soo significant that it becomes the first hadith to be learned in the context of 40 hadith simply because, if one don’t understand this concept, it is pointless to talk about other aspects of life because we cannot distinguish ourselves what is pure and what is in the contrary. In Islam, pure intention is fundamental. Allah judges one good deed based on what he or she initially wishes or intends before carrying out the deed. For example, if someone gives donation regardless of the amount, and the reason being that he wanted to be known as someone generous among his people, then the deed does not count. The same goes in performing 'solah' or 'fasting'. If we pray 5 times a day, but merely to please someone or to impress people, Allah will reject the deed and throw it back to our face. With good intention, comes good actions...and vice versa. But sometimes, good actions can also come from bad intentions and these are the ones that must be avoided by all means at all costs because it is not just destructive from the human relations point of view but ultimately, with the damage it may cause, we bring Allah’s wrath unto ourselves.

Allah is the most gracious the most merciful, with 1 good intention, we get 1 reward, if that intention is followed by actions, Allah will grant us more and more reward as He pleases, not just 1. However, Allah’s rahmah and His immense love to us is unfathomable and this is one of the reasons. Because with 1 bad intention, we wont be counted. But if that intention is followed by a bad action, that is counted as 1. Furthermore if we manage to hold ourselves and prevent from carrying out the actions out of the bad intention, Allah will grant us 1 reward. For example, 1 bad intention crosses your mind and that is to eat someone else’s food. You are soo hungry that you know if you eat that food, it will keep you going for the rest of the day. But then it crosses in your mind that you might get a better food somewhere else, so eventually you decide not to take it……Do not ever underestimate Allah’s Rahmah and blessings. Even with that simple act, Allah gives us 1 reward…1 reward out of doing nothing really! Don’t u see how beautiful that is!!!!!??? Allah makes it easy for us to gain rather than losing but what we are doing most of the time is losing…at times until we broke.(more dosa than pahala) nauzubillah… So think about it….Let us all remind ourselves and convey it to others….Always bear in mind to do something to please Allah. As this will count all our deeds as ibadah and if we die this way we’ll die as a martyr……..wallahua’lam

The very 1st entry..

Today is the 18th of December, and it marks the official date and launching of my blog and this is the very first post.Perhaps many would wonder why did i suddenly start bloggin??To be honest it is more of an impulsive decision and the need to express more of my thoughts and ideas that really drive me to put a lil bit of effort for this. Sometimes, ideas and thoughts cross my mind which i regard as very useful to some extent, but ironically they ended up in the dead end most of the time bcoz...... 1) i did not write it down so i forget 2) it is not extensively shared so no one else know bout it...if it is shared, u never knew probably there are ppl out there who may think the way u do and could mutually share with u their thoughts as well...
Obviously, i am a late starter in this world of bloggin, but as the saying goes "Beta late than neva"..i think it holds true that this is actually the right time for me anyway...

Pepatah Melayu that says " Harimau mati meninggalkan belang, manusia mati meninggalkan nama", is still very much true but to some extent maybe obsolete or should be modified. Simply becoz now in this modern era where everyone can write their own version of virtual books and thanx to borderless world that ppl across the globe can communicate easily, it is not just the name that we left behind if we died, but of course things we wrote and shared for example like here in this blog....so my point is , whatever we share and think about now, we might see the results or benefit in the later generations...whatever the wisdom and knowledge u shared here, may one day change one's life for the better and only God knows how to pay u with that....and if we really put things into perspective, the maximum number of years we have to make some impact in this life is only up to 60 years of age in average.....rite???plus minus sleep, eat, bla bla..maybe 40 years left...hence, from now on, if i get the chance i will try ma best to post sth here hehe..hopefully x poyo jeh nih!!