Ramadhan Karim!

Tomorrow is the first day of the fasting month for Muslims in Malaysia. In other parts of the world, some would have started today already or even the day after. This is all because of the elusive moon; with the air pollutants these days, it is quite likely that with the naked eye, one could mistake a low orbiting satellite for the much anticipated sliver of the moon.

Ramadhan marks the month where Muslims are expected to abstain from food and drink and sex from dawn to sunset. Luckily for us in the equator, the duration of the day is pretty the same year round and takes roughly 13.5 hours.  It pays to be in the Antarctica for this Ramadhan season rather than Alaska, let me tell you. For those in the northern hemisphere, Ramadhan falls during the peak of summer this year; eighteen hours of daylight is no walk in the park to go without water and sustenance, not to mention the scorching heat. It is a good thing that the Islamic calendar is a lunar one; at least you can experience fasting during spring, summer, fall and winter. Imagine if Ramadhan is stuck in summer only ... oh wait. It would be kind of like the Aussies and Kiwis knowing nothing but summery Christmas, yeah?

Nonetheless, we are expected to suck it up and demonstrate the strength of our faith. I started fasting when I was seven in Primary One, though with some cheating ("What are you doing in the bathroom?" "Just peeing," and I swallowed the deliciously cold tap water in a hurry.). Unlike the parents of most my peers, mine did not believe in monetary reward for adhering to the edicts of our faith, so there were no dollar a day for complete fast. 

Oh well. Bribery is bad, right?

There was a cartoon by Lat that I remembered fondly about fasting. Sadly, I couldn't source it, but it portrayed Epit, one of his Kampung Boy characters, who was not fasting because he was still a small child. As such, he was not allowed to join the breaking of the fast meal and had to wait below the house (traditional Malay houses were built on stilts) for charity from his siblings, commonly in the form of a banana smuggled through the window.

Before I attended boarding school in my secondary years, I never thought that boys would cheat during the fasting month. I have always thought of how lucky the males are to not menstruate and having to replace the missed days of fasting. During the tarawih prayer one evening, the prayer leader, who was an Islamic Studies teacher and warden at the male dormitory, made a comment about scenting instant noodle cooking in the boys' corridor. Unlike Epit, these big boys could partake the breaking of fast meal in the cafeteria, pretending virtuousness of a complete day of fasting.

The fasting month also marks the time when the evening traffic will be snarled to road rage-inciting insanity, thanks to food markets, called pasar Ramadhan, catering specifically for the breaking of fast meal.

Stolen from http://lhakim-suarahati.blogspot.com/2012/08/kaut-untung-atas-angin-pada-bulan.html

These markets usually starts operating at about 3 pm and are usually located around high traffic concentration areas. They would offer all kind of delicacies, ranging from appetisers to main course to desserts, and a plethora of cold drinks that only makes its appearance during the Ramadhan. As much as these markets cause the traffic to seize, its presence is highly looked forward to by foodies to source for their evening meal. I am rather meh about them; there had been many instances that I would walk home from the pasar Ramadhan empty-handed, not having seen anything that I would actually pay money to consume. I think this is the bane of cooking at home. You would look at something and think:

"I could make that thing myself, and for that price, I could make enough for ten people to eat."

...or ...

"So obvious that they cheated with the coconut ... looks like leftover after the coconut milk has been extracted ..."

... or ...

"Is that supposed to be appetising? That chicken looked like it's been recycled from yesterday's dinner service."

... and so on.

It is ironic that the month for people to rein in their base desires and train their bodies for self control is also the month where people abuse their body with food and drink. Some people seem to think that just because they skipped lunch and second breakfast and tea, they can mentekedarah (eat everything in sight) when dusk arrive. Malaccans use the word mencekik to describe this, which literally means to strangle or eat until you can't breathe anymore.

So you have people over eating, or worse, wasting food. The pasar Ramadhan offers one avenue for waste; when hungry people go food shopping, they tend to over estimate how much they can eat and end up buying too much. The other one are the buffet offers, that range from a modest RM 26.90++ per pax to ridiculous RM 139.90++ and even more at high end hotels. If you had to fork out that much to eat at the buffet, won't you over stuff yourself just to justify the amount that you've paid?

However, I do miss the McDonald's Ramadhan buffet. Once upon a time, the stand along McDonalds (not the ones in shopping malls) would offer Ramadhan buffets; the more people you bring along, the cheaper it was. I think this would have been the few times that McDonalds may not make the kind of return they usually expect; people who come to eat at this buffet tend to be serious about putting away their food.

The McDonalds buffet is the only one that I have ever gone to that you don't really see people wasting food. It was probably because the time for you to get the food is limited (from 7 pm to 8.30 pm only) and you have to queue at the counter to order before you can get your food. So you are not going past an array of food from which you fill your plate (which would cause the primitive part of your brain to maniacally pile food on your plate) and you are limited by the number of stuff you can put on your plastic brown tray.

I've been to it twice, once with my Assunta girlfriends and another time with my uni mates. The trick to making the most of this buffet is drinking nothing but hot tea, sans sugar and creamer. Cold drinks will make you drink too much and you won't have much space to stuff your gullet. We were evil enough to bring large bags to smuggle extras home to the gang in the house. One of the guys from uni actually put two quarter pounder patties together into one gigantic burger, smushed it to a more manageable thickness and ate the whole thing. On top of the Big Mac, fries and assorted other stuff that went down his throat.

Good times.

The thing is, Ramadhan is about reminding you about the good things that you do have. The blessing of water when you are thirsty, the food when you are hungry. Around the world, millions of people go to bed hungry on a daily basis. Many die from malnutrition and even starvation. It is ironic that as the waistline of the world kept growing, there are still sections of the population who still do not have enough to eat. We are supposed to reflect on what it is like to be without, and to be more charitable to those who are in need.

I hope to do better this Ramadhan, to subdue my base instincts and cultivate better habits (I'm not holding my breath, though). This is a jihad, a struggle, to become better, and Allah in His Infinite Kindness, rewards us for doing something that we should be doing for ourselves. Done properly, fasting can help you regulate your metabolism and lose some inches (although how long the inches remain lost vary with your effort). One tends to sleep earlier to wake up for sahur (the morning meal), which can correct any previous sleep deprivation. One tends to be more mindful of one's speech, avoiding inane chatter and cursing, which would be good for developing a more pleasant personality.

All in all, I am looking forward to enjoying myself this Ramadhan! I hope it will be a great one for you too!

Can't talk to a psycho ...

... like a normal human being. I love this song. Poe is awesome, 'nuff said.

 

Psychopath, sociopath. Tomayto, tomahto. *shrugs*

People who do this to me are dead in my flist. Dead I tell ya!

I am sure you know people that can be described beautifully using the above diagram. I doubt anyone has ever gone through life without entering the orbit of a sociopath. 

After all,

Right?

The Drama of Childhood

The Mad Song 

by Mr Rogers

What do you do with the mad that you feel?
When you feel so mad you could bite?
When the whole wide world feel oh so wrong
And nothing you seems very right
What do you do?
Do you punch a bag?
Do you pound some clay or some dough?
Do you round up friends for a game of tag?
Or you see how fast you'd go?

It's great to be able to stomp
When you've planted the thing that's wrong
And be able to do something else instead
And think this song
I can stomp when I want to
Can stomp when I wished
Can stomp! stomp! stomp! anytime
And what a good feeling to feel like this
And know that the feeling was really mine
Know that there's something deep inside
That helps us become what we can
For a girl to be someday a lady
And a boy can be someday a man

I had moments of being a very angry child. Don't ask  me why; to this day I couldn't pinpoint the cause. The only thing good about it was I got it out of my system that by the time I was a teenager, I had no angst left. So I never bothered with any teenage rebellion.


I now realise that I lacked the vocabulary to express how I felt even though I read a lot. The books that I devoured was chockful of adventures and fun, but there was barely anything emotional. It would have been nice if I had a frame of reference for my feelings that I could actually understand, and it looked like children who had the opportunity to watch Mr Rogers in his neighbourhood, got this advantage.

Fortunately for me, my mother had an excellent collection of Reader's Digest with sections addressing good emotional and mental health and how to condition yourself to be a socially acceptable human being. Not to say that my family did not show me an excellent example for being a good person, it's just that I'm so thick that the lesson didn't penetrate well until in my 20's. And I'm still a work in progress.

So teach your kids to express themselves in a respectful and positive manner. It is a learned behaviour, just like courtesy.

Or spree killing at their high school.

If only ...

Team Fortress 2 is an animated show, I would so go for it.

Sigh.

Love this guy.

To know me is to love me? Biblio edition meem.

I snagged this from an LJ friend (the lovely pwcorgigirl who shows fabulous grace in the face of much adversity).


Crossposted at LJ and FB. Just sharing some of my reading habits.*grin*

Damn right I want to save some naked women.

1. Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?

No. I read when I snack, not snack while I read (if you get my meaning).

2. What is your favorite drink while reading?

None. I often am too engrossed to bother.

3. Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

I love to abuse my textbooks! Colourful lines, rude comments on the margins, the lot. But my storybooks are off-limits. No pencil, no pen although you may find the odd lipstick marks when I nod off and accidentally kiss the book *blush*.

However, I would love to chop off the hands of people who write, underline etc in library books. Hello? Not your personal possession. Other people want to read it too and nobody wants to read your illiterate scribblings.

4. How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ear? Laying the book flat open?

Commonly a book mark or laying the book face down (I try not to break the spine, though). I keep cardboard pieces for this purpose; nice bookmarks often disappear when you need them the most.

5. Fiction, Non-Fiction, or Both?

Mostly fiction. I read obsessively what interests me at the time, be it Persian history, Lalique or even social issues on pornography. But I do like my non-fiction with lots of pictures; especially coffee table art books.

Used to borrow books from the library and force my Mum to read them and give me the CliffNotes condensed version of them.

6. Are you a person who tends to read to the end of a chapter, or can you stop anywhere?

I prefer to go to the end of a chapter, but can stop anywhere.

7. Are you a person to throw a book across the room or on the floor if the author irritates you?

Oh yes. On the floor; but mostly I whack my mattress with it. I do hold books dearly, even those that I loathe.

Non-fiction book that I've tossed: haematology textbook and the AABB blood banking manual (no wonder I could never get more than a C or C+ for it).

Fiction: The last book in Pullman's His Dark Materials series. I felt cheated to discover the culmination of an interesting series to be nothing but a rant against the Church. Give me back the time I wasted, dammit!

8. If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop and look it up right away?

I try to figure out what it means from the context in which it was used. If it bugs me enough, I dig for the dictionary.

9. What are you currently reading?

Unperfect Souls by Mark del Franco. Delish!

10. What is the last book you bought?

Sandman Slim - Richard Kadrey
Some orchid growing thingie for my Mum.
I usually rent or borrow what I read, since books are pricy. I have wonderful suppliers (my cousin and friends, you know who you are). I usually buy books for my Mum and my niece; I do go nuts during book warehouse sale though.

11. Are you a person that reads one book at a time, or can you read more than one?

One book at a time. I can read more than one but it leaches away my enjoyment.

12. Do you have a favorite time/place to read?

I like to read on the swing in the garden, though it means sacrificing a few microlitres of blood to the mozzies.

I read practically everywhere; while queuing, eating, stuck in a jam etc. The prefects used to scold me for reading while walking back to class from recess time. In my defense, I have never tripped or bump into anyone/anything while I do so.

13. Do you prefer series books or stand-alones?

I love both. I would follow a series by an author I love obsessively; I rec the series by Carrie Vaughn, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Mark del Franco, Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, JD Robb and Simon R Green. I find urban (and non-urban but contemporary) fantasy to make the best type of series to follow. If you like the way the 'verse is shaped, you will want more.

14. Is there a specific book or author you find yourself recommending over and over?

Contemporary romance: Linda Howard, Jayne Ann Krentz, Jennifer Crusie.

Historical romance: Lisa Kleypas, Amanda Quick, Christina Dodd, Loretta Chase

Supernatural/paranormal romance: Shana Abe, Susan Krinard, Sherrilyn Kenyon, MaryJanice Davidson

Futuristic/fantasy: JD Robb, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Emma Bull, Elizabeth Vaughn

Urban fantasy: Mark del Franco, Carrie Vaughn, Patricia Briggs, Simon R Green, Jim Butcher

Feminist theorist: Fatima Mernissi, Amina Wadud

15. How do you organize your books? By genre, title, author's last name, etc?

By size and space. I am *not* an organised person.