Conversation in heaven

Abd Mubarak was on his way to Mecca when one night he dreamed that he was in heaven and heard two angels having a conversation.
“How many pilgrims came to the holy city this year?” one of them asked.
“Six hundred thousand”, answered the other.
“And how many of them had their pilgrimage accepted?”
“None of them. However, in Baghdad there is a shoemaker called Ali Mufiq who did not make the pilgrimage, but did have his pilgrimage accepted, and his graces benefited the 600,000 pilgrims”.
When he woke up, Abd Mubarak went to Mufiq’s shoe shop and told him his dream.
“At great cost and much sacrifice, I finally managed to get 350 coins together”, the shoemaker said in tears. “But then, when I was ready to go to Mecca I discovered that my neighbors were hungry, so I distributed the money among them and gave up my pilgrimage”.

-Paulo Coelho

One Minute Read

Khalil Gibran on Friendship:

Your friend is your needs answered.
He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
And he is your board and your fireside.
For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.
When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the “nay” in your own mind, nor do you withhold the “ay.”
And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;
For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.
When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.
And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.
For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.
And let your best be for your friend.
If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.
For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?
Seek him always with hours to live.
For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.
And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.

House Rules

Everyone, it seems, has an opinion on autism: celebs, politicians — not to mention the medical community.

But to grasp on a gut level the emotional texture of what it's like to live with Asperger's syndrome (the highest-functioning form of autism) or to love a family member who has it, you need to read Jodi Picoult's powerful new House Rules.

House Rules has a serviceable plot involving a murder trial. Set in Vermont, the novel centers on Emma Hunt and her two teen sons. Older son Jacob, 18, is a high school senior with Asperger's; the younger son is the unimpaired Theo, 15. (People with Asperger's are often highly intelligent and very verbal but have difficulty navigating the world because they cannot interpret social cues correctly.)

Where's Dad? Although he sends his monthly child support, he fled to Silicon Valley when Theo was 6 months old, overwhelmed by the chaos created by a special-needs child.

Everything revolves around Jacob. Picoult brings alive how "Aspies" crave order and fall apart when confronted with change. Jacob's rigid schedule, his clothes, his food become minefields if threatened.

Emma has devoted herself to helping Jacob through endless therapies, supplements, special diets, doctors. She also ceaselessly advocates for accommodations in school for Jacob. He's doing better, but he'll never be self-sufficient. Hers is a heroic but exhausting and isolated life filled with fear about Jacob once she's gone — as well as guilt over Theo. With good reason, he resents how his whole life is dominated by his older brother's disability.

Emma's deepest grief is Jacob's loneliness. To help him, she hires a lovely grad student named Jess to tutor Jacob in how to read social cues. And to learn why he shouldn't drone on about his favorite topic, a CSI-like TV show. Jacob has a Talmudic knowledge of blood splatters, forensics, crime scenes and decomposing bodies.

This fixation makes the police suspicious when Jess turns up dead. Jacob's Asperger behaviors — twitching, little eye contact — only deepen their suspicions. The plot trots along with cops, lawyers, a trial and various twists.

The most impressive and moving chapters are the ones narrated by Jacob. Picoult captures his intelligence and his obsessiveness but also his emotional flatness and self-absorption.

Picoult doesn't whitewash the fact that Jacob experiences the world differently. Not an easy task — and one of the reasons House Rules ranks among her best.

The redemption of love through total surrender

In »The Winner Stands Alone«, Paulo Coelho is back to the important themes from Eleven minutes and The Zahir. He offers a novel full of suspense, a mirror image of the world we live in, where our commitment to luxury and the success of any cost often prevents us from hearing what the heart actually whispers.

In his new novel »The Winner Stands Alone«, Paulo Coelho takes us to the Cannes Film festival, where the so-called superclass gathers - those who have made it in the dream makers world of fashion and film. Some have even reached the very top and are afraid to lose their lofty position. Money, power and fame are at stake - values for which most people are prepared to do anything, whatever the cost.

At this modern vanity fair meet: Igor, a Russian millionaire; fashion czar Hamid from the Middle East; American actress Gabriella, eager to glean a lead role; ambitious criminal detective Savoy, hoping to resolve the case of his life, and Yasmine on the brink of a successful modelling career.

Who will succeed in identifying his or her own personal dream among the many prefabricated dreams and in making it come true?

Read between the lines

I have something to tell. Something to share. Something which some of us don't really bother to know. But to begin this one I can only tell you one thing. That respect is to be earned. Have you came across this saying before? Now tell me, how would you feel when you are accused of not paying enough respect in return of the respect you deserve being neglected? If you tell me that you'll be just fine with that, I'll call you an angel, my friend. Cause hell yeah you are! For those who goes the same directions as I do are those who rock! Because such angelic person don't deserve to be on Earth. I don't expect people to treat me with royal treatment or bow to each words I say or lay my walkway with French velvet. The least you could do is respect my feelings. And be gentle with it as you would your own. Then, if I ever did something wrong without realizing it, you could tell it to my face so I can correct it. The same way they expect to be treated. But don't go tell the whole wide world about how much you think I disrespect you or anyone else for that matter. They say life is unfair. But you have to remember, what goes around comes around. You may say that to me today but one fine day, you will also have someone else doing the same shit to you. But forget it, should that happen to you, you'd still blame it on others. Like you would care.
This rambling goes down the drain anyhow!
Bullshit!

[quote of the day]

"Those who failed me shall not live to see me fail once more. That's why I let you live as I will never ever fail before your eyes again."

-Afiq Shahrim Abdul Rahim

Jabberwocky

Yes. The Jabberwocky.
I know what it feels like being Jabberwocky.
Not because I once imitated Jabberwocky and was 'killed' by Ms. Alice at Loft. No!
Focus..
I watched Alice In Wonderland yesterday night and there were bunch of kids in the cinema. It was a good show. Plus it was a 3D show. Superbly done. If I had to choose between Avatar and Alice In Wonderland for my favorite 3D movie, I'd say Alice In Wonderland.
So like I was saying, there were bunch of kids. Many I would say for a 12am show.
And the part where Mad Hatter is about to be revealed was the part I turned into Jabberwocky. Two of the kids seated behind me started kicking my seat from the back half way through the movie and they only stopped after I shouted at them. A friend of mine gave them all the curse words you can think of. Well, those are not for the kids mainly. But more for the father. He sat next to them with his 3D glasses on and couldn't be bothered with what was happening. Just because you put the glasses on, the screen isn't the only thing you see. Dumbass. I was very close to killing the father for not doing anything about it and most importantly for taking the kids out at 12am for a movie. I bet those kids don't even understand the bloody movie. Or even know what movie were they actually watching. Why bother buying the tickets? Get the DVD and stay at home. Watch it at 4 am and nobody cares. Your kids can kick any seats they want. If you can't afford a nanny or a babysitter and having kids stops you from going out for midnight movies, then don't have one!

This is the problem with people who simply make babies without knowing anything.
Do you know that growing kids require enough sleep for their mental growth?
And enough means sufficient. And by sufficient I mean at least 10hours of good sleep for kids aged 6 to 9. I don't have kids but I know this. It requires a bit of your extra time to read something more intellectual instead of that imbecilic tabloids that covers the advantages of using leech oil or the one that reports the number of girls Dato X has been dating.
Let me do the math for those who find it difficult to compute.
The kid woke up at 7am when you are still in bed till 10 or 11.
Considering the 10hours of good sleep, the kid now has only 14 hours to spend before he goes to bed again. He has to eat, play, watch cartoons, study and all that jazz within the 14hours.
Which means by 2100hrs, the kid should be in bed again.
Fine... 2100hrs is 9pm.
What time was the movie yesterday? Oh 12am..that's 3hrs past bedtime. What time did the movie end? 2am. Great, now 5 hrs past bedtime. He was probably half way through his LalaLand in there, became restless and started to kick my seat. See? Can you see how this is just a simple and logical thinking that can easily take place if you had considered using the condom when you really can't vicissitude your routine of going out for midnight movies on weekend knowing that you also can't afford a nanny?

Think it through before you screw.