my sisters had been trying to coax me to play futsal ever since the school holidays started, and i only agreed to play today.

part of the reason i had been pretty hesitant about it was the fact that i'm mostly an introvert..that, and the fact that i've never been very good at sports..so it naturally follows that i was not really into these kinds of stuff..but then i decided this morning, what the heck, just give it a try and see how it goes.

so off i went with my sisters (there were four of us)..and waited for the rest of the gang to show up. and then we were off. i guess i must've made a fool of myself there on the pitch (if you call it that, i'm not sure what it is actually called) with my futsal-playing skills which were, almost, let's see..zero. but the point is i had fun.. (i think i remember screaming more than i did playing, when the ball actually went to the other team...)

so despite the aches and bruises (i stubbed my toe somehow, can't really recall how that happened), i enjoyed it. wasn't really in it to help lose weight or anything health-related. it was all in the name of fun. good ole fun.

let's hope my motivation stays afloat until next saturday (our next game)...

with yoga? I don't understand all the hullaballoo surrounding the issue. I mean, yes, yoga has its roots in Hinduism. So does that mean that if I go and attend my friend's wedding ceremony in a Sikh Gurdwara it makes me less of a Muslim, which then makes my belief in Islam somehow diminish? What about those uncles and aunties who practice Qi Gong, which has roots in Buddhism? Does that also erode their faith in the Almighty Allah? Cos I don't see them rushing to pray in a Buddhist temple after their Qi Gong sessions if that's what you mean...

To me, it's rather shallow and simplistic to simply assume (the key word being assume) that because people practice yoga, therefore it automatically follows that their faith will be eroded. Because the way I see it, most people see yoga as a form of exercise, which is not as strenuous as, say, weight lifting, or bench pressing. And yes, because they teach you to employ the proper breathing techniques, therefore you will feel the aches and pains you previously experience to lessen, and gradually disappear.

I have always believed that inculcating religious values does not necessarily mean that you always have to take the prescriptive approach. I'm sure people don't like it when you say 'You must do this, this, this...and cannot do this, this, this....' without being given the proper, logical explanation why or why not. If you're talking to a four year old, of course you can say 'Because I'm your mommy and I said so, and you know Mommy is always right!' Even then, there are four year olds who are not contented with such a dismissive answer and would demand an explanation until they are satisfied.

It's the same way with us.

I'm sure people would gradually be able to accept if, indeed, yoga is prohibited, as the Fatwa Council has decreed. But the explanation given must be logical, and not be done in such a way that it insults people's intelligence.

I'm not writing this because I am a yogi (someone who practices yoga), but because the idea had been idling in the corner of my mind, and I just wanted to put my thoughts into words. Even the Prophet Muhammad says that dakwah should be done with 'hikmah'... there are, I'm sure, other ways to inculcate and instill religious values other than taking the prescriptive approach.

Perhaps that is the question that the powers that be should answer.

My dad has a passion for gardening, which, sadly, I don't inherit. He could just buy flowers or seeds and the next thing you know, it's starting to sprout flowers, and soon, bear fruits, before you could finish saying 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'.

But this post isn't about his passion for gardening. Well, not directly, anyway. It's just that the next door neighbour, who, apparently needs a long lesson on effective communication and respecting other people, decided to 'tuang pasir' in my dad's proverbial 'periuk nasi'..simply because the leaves had been growing all over the place. I'm not really arguing in anyone's defence, but in my opinion, whenever there is an issue to be settled, it is best if the interested parties sit down and talk about it. I mean, as much as the government's 'Budi Bahasa Budaya Kita' campaign goes, i see no budi, or bahasa from the aforementioned neighbours. What's wrong with saying 'Daun dah lebat sangat tu, baik potong yang mana patut, takut nanti nyamuk membiak.Sekarang kan musim denggi?' Is that so hard to say? But I guess the neighbour, Mr R and Mrs M, have problems communicating, cos the only thing they know is to pick up the phone and report to the Shah Alam Municipal Council. stupid idiots. I don't see the point of you wearing the tudung all the way to your navels if you don't know how to communicate nicely to people around you. It's such a waste, really. You send your children to private, religious schools. But you yourself don't practice the values promoted by Islam, rather than the five rituals. Bad decision, I tell you.

I guess, yes, good fences make good neighbours..particularly if we do care for each other, and try to respect each other's differences. It doesn't hurt to communicate and try to work things out before bringing in the third party, and , in addition, instilling distrust in yourself, against your neighbours.

so glad that the school hols are FINALLY here! i had been so looking forward to it. funny though, when it finally arrived, i had a hard time believing it. to have SEVEN total weeks of not working was just plain weird, after working so hard the whole year. the first part planning the activities, and the second executing the plans, and the final part analysing what went wrong, and how to fix it. for someone who was so used to 10-hour work days, not having to come to work for such a long time seemed so surreal in the beginning. but i'm beginning to love it though. time to catch up on so many things that i missed and loved during the days i was so busy working. like, my beauty sleep, for one. and catching up with family and friends.

this year, short as it may seem, taught me so many things. in retrospect, i learned the true colours of some people. and i learned the true meaning of friends, and friendships. about how being different isn't necessarily such a bad thing; and how, no matter how hard you try, it is simply impossible to just please everyone. what is important is that the bosses know i'm doing a good job, or at least try to. that,even if i might take some time, i do, in the end, get the job done; and not just talk about it but never get anything done in the end.

was planning to go to bandung for the holidays with the rest of my family to visit my sister, but it fell through in the end. was thinking of doing some shopping in bandung, too, but i guess i've got to shelve my plans for a while. maybe next school holidays. (which gives me more time to save some $$ before i go shopping!)

i guess it's true what ppl say, that even though it's the students who r sitting for the exam, the teachers are the ones who feel the jitters...i was almost hyperventilating when my boys were sitting for the english paper last wednesday, and i do hope (and fervently pray) that they will do well, for english,especially, as well as the other subjects. scoring first place isn't as difficult as trying to maintain being in 1st place among all SBPs for the 3rd year running... but we all tried (as we all have been) all our best. so now it's up to the Big Guy Up There.

happy holidays, everyone! have a good one!