.:Bullet Proof Read:.

Ahh, if only my handwriting were that lovely!

Following Abu Ilyas‘, Kawla’s and a bunch of others’ advice/recommendation, I’ve decided to move my blog to wordpress.com. I’ll still keep this up anyway and who knows, if it gets its super fix, I might just move back! (You reckon pigs could fly then too, Brain?)

For now, please check out my new blog:
http://ummpaper.wordpress.com

Of course I couldn’t get editor.wordpress.com. Sigh. :P

Gentlemen, update your blogroll! Yes, ladies too. I was just saying it the Daytona arcade game way. Those were the days!

One day, a $1 note and a $50 note sat together in a wallet…

$1: Hey, good to see you, where’d you go yesterday?
$50: Oh, you know, the usual. I went to some club, the shopping mall, a fancy restaurant, the works. <pause> $1, you look kinda sad, what’s wrong?
$1: Oh, I was just thinking about what an exciting time you had. Lucky you.
$50: Hmm. Where’d you go then?
$1: The usual too for me. The masajid, some charity event, an orphanage, etc.

I just had to return with a bang of a joke! Funny, eh? And therein lies a good lesson too…

O you who believe! Spend of the good things which you have (legally) earned, and of that which We have produced from the earth for you, and do not aim at that which is bad to spend from it, (though) you would not accept it save if you close your eyes and tolerate therein. And know that Allah is Rich (Free of all wants), and Worthy of all praise.
[al-Qur'an 2:267]

By no means shall you attain Al-Birr, unless you spend of that which you love.
[al-Qur'an 3:92]

Vat is in your bag, yaar?
Originally uploaded by ummpaper

I first came across the Flickr pool “What’s in your bag?” through Sunni Sister’s post and loved the idea (and her photo too!). So two months later and armed with my first digicam, I present to you the things I drag around pretty much everyday. [Click on the photo itself or this link for detailed descriptions of the items.]

Enjoy!

Example is not the main thing in influencing others,
it is the only thing.
Albert Schweitzer

I love powerful quotes like that. Sure, they can be overly cheesy to the extent of annoyance when pushed in your face ad nauseam. Or when the generally cute ones are picked out and decorated with sickly outdated flower .gif’s and added with some obnoxiously stupid perky note to forward it around to show that aww, you freakin’ really care about the hundreds of nameless emails on your contact list - half of which you don’t even know work anymore.

Hmm. Ok, so you get how much I hate chain mail no matter how dang “sweet” you think it is. Moving along…

I thrive on self-help books and articles (when I actually want to read them). Started on The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (recommended by the dearest of friends) one day, and subsequently gained interest to explore a variety of materials all with the same aim - to help you improve in certain aspects of your life, or life in general. And they can be truly helpful when you place them alongside the advice of the deen you read and receive. Bi idhnillah.

I could elaborate but those who know will simply nod in agreement while the cynical ones will continue to contest. Take my view or leave it eh. Let me just recommend a website for starters, one that I discovered through Seeker’s Digest, lifehack.org. Try and see it for yourself. Or read Why Pursue Personal Development. Seriously, this stuff resonates well with anyone with a real goal in life. These are a few of the good things left in this world that I believe beautifully benefits one’s Islamic lifestyle. Just as a cooking class or a doctor’s degree would in their very own ways.

So lead by example. Help yourself before you help others… and before you expect others to help themselves and each other. :-)

My lovely gift bracelet atop my lovely first moleskine. Legen… wait for it… dary.

Abu GG.
And what shall I tell you about Abu GG?
Nothing really.
So gowan and visit his blog then!

My Choice Picks:
The Equilibrium
The Bandwagon

Proper stuff, mate.

Bookworm: This cutie was caught reading Pride and Prejudice. Such class!

My name is Lisa al-Ehe and I’m a readaholic. Not really, I suck at reading… Maybe more of an upcoming bibliophile, in that I just love to buy every book I’m interested in but I may not necessarily read them immediately… or ever :-/. Sigh. I’m always mediocre in everything. Jack of all trades, master of none (except maybe Literati where I really kick a$$ - *nudge* if you wanna play).

Anyway, the point is I joined Good Reads after reading Sunni Sister. And I love it! So please join, add me (username in previous para), and let’s book brag! Leave a comment here so I’ll know to approve your add.

Something else I wanted to mention. If you read the comment I made on Sunni Sister’s post, turns out Akismet has been devouring my comments in more places than I thought. So I’d like to officially thank brother Abu Ilyas for his effort in clearing muslimpad.com from Akismet’s hitlist. I believe it’d affected those of you on MuslimPad too. So on behalf of fellow MP-ers, jazakallahu khair, Abu Ilyas. *hāt (ōn vōwÄ“l) típ*

[voted post with most clichés]

If apologies could speak
Would they kneel before you
And cry you a creek
Of sorrow through and through

If apologies could sing
What sonnet would they choose
One of pardon seeking
Or croon confessions of abuse

If apologies could roam
How far would they go
Deep within a heart’s tomb
Or just beneath, shallow

If apologies could run
Would they chase history
To change what’s been done
Or rather escape reality

If apologies could soar
Where would they fly
Far distant places of lore
Or resign with a fated sigh

If apologies could emerge
Victorious from despair
Would good feelings surge
Render the past beyond compare

If apologies could
Then surely I should
For my love, I am sorry
And all of apology is me.

© Me. 

1, 2, 3… easy as A, B, C…

So I was making (taking?) wudu’ the other day and suddenly realised I was counting to myself as I washed my arms. I chuckled, then felt glad nobody was around. Three times… Is it that hard to keep track of that I have to make mental note with every part?

Do you count?

(Erm, as in during wudhu’. So yeah, this isn’t some counselling session where you express how unworthy you feel. :-/ Although you’re welcome to, of course. If you’re feeling down, depressed and lonely. Or stuff. Aha.)

Omg, Umm Layth actually tagged me! *blush* *feels lump in throat* No, like seriously. I’m actually touched! Man, that’s one weird thing already - moved by simply being tagged. And lookie, that was a pun in itself too! :P Heh, anyway, I doubt I’ll get through to #10 with an impressively radical list but I shall try my best to complete it, insha Allah.

Here’s the iron rule:

People who get tagged must write in a blog of their own ten weird things or habits or little known facts as well as state this rule clearly. At the end you must choose six people to be tagged and list their names. No tagbacks!

1. I love speaking in broken English. I no no why. It’s become such a habit with a few online friends that it sometimes feels weird when I chat properly with them. But I get a real kick out of it in person too.

2. I eat fries two at a time. Pick two of about the same length, dip in sauce (or hot-fudge sundae, whichever is more readily available), munch. Mmmm. Fries.

3. I’m a hoarder. Thankfully, not the over-compulsive kind. But yeah, for example, I’d keep sent emails from 5 years ago “just in case”. Or that Theatre Sans Fil Lord of the Rings ticket stub from 1992 I keep in my little tin box “for memory’s sake”. Hmm, apt time for spring cleaning, no?

4. I save my work every two minutes - and that’s on good days, it can be every two words. It all started once upon a time when MS Word crashed just as I was about to complete my essay then save, with the deadline less than three hours away. I cried, and even made my mum cry, lol. Ever since, I’ve been a compulsive Ctrl+S-er. Ooo, sounds like a superhero!

5. My siblings have a plethora of nicknames for me. Well, maybe not “plethora”, but I just wanted so bad to use that word! Which might be another weird thing in itself eh. But yes, they do come up with some off the key names for me. Currently, these stick: Lin, Remy and Instinson. I remember being Veronica for quite some time.

6. I love my brother. Ok, he does seriously annoy me, if not downright piss me off, a lot of the times. But the whole “I despise my brother” is such an act. Awww.
(To any of my sisters who might be reading this: Remember, it’s ten weird things or little known facts about me. It’s obvious I love you guys a whole lot more, second only to mummy and your children. :P)

7. I love Beaker from the Muppet Show. Especially when he sang Feelings. And no, it’s not because I’m narcissistic.

8. I’m easily pleased. Yup, that sounds good enough.

9. I’m doing this list. Can it get any weirder than that? (Stop nodding your head that hard, Kawla. It might come off. Tsk.) Ok, scratch that and put “I’m a boring geek”. It’s something I’m slowly coming to terms with. If there’s a BGA (Boring Geeks Anon) support group out there, please let me in. I can come out of this, I swear!

10. I try. Hard. All this wit? Sure, it looks natural (to the untrained eye). But it comes and continues with effort, real effort, my friends. I’m a firm believer in light-hearted moments dispelling tensions of any kind. Except, you know, in über-serious times. Like, “Ma’am, there’s a nuclear missile headed for our city!”… “Oh. Sooo, two men walked into a bar…”

See. I tried.

My six chosen ones are (pick wisely, Ed, you might lose a friend at the end of all this!) : echoes, Witness2dTRUTH, Traveller, Abu Ilyaas, Tasmiya and uhh, Abu GG. Hmm, not quite the usual suspects but I selected based on the fact that some have already been tagged by others (the same reason Kawla didn’t tag me - or so I consoled my fumbling heart) and also on blogging frequency (really!). I anticipate some wicked lists from my tag list! :D

Jazakumullahu khair in advance, folks.

My new glasses for serious reading eh!

I finally decided to use Google Reader to keep tabs on all the blogs and even news sites that I read regularly. And I must say it’s really, really easy to use. I was one of those daunted by the whole tech-speak of RSS Feeds but now I’m converted! Sorta like the days I thought torrents sounded more like torture. Ahh, memories.

Anyway. Trust you me, using the Reader is simply simple and it saves you a whole lot of time from going manually blog to blog. That way, you don’t have to sing “I don’t want to miss a thing” because Google Reader won’t let you! Erm, heh. Besides, most of you have GMail accounts anyway, might as well utilise this service foc. If not, there’re other sites like Bloglines.

It’s kinda odd promoting such a service (in such lame fashion too) but well, I pity myself for not having seriously looked into it when someone else had started using Bloglines a long time back. So please, don’t make the same mistake I did, kids. :(

Embrace the technology!

Oh and yeah, I imported those links to my blogroll here so now you see all the stuff I read! ;D