Life without a cellphone
It wasn't as bad as I expected. :D Well, my phone line got disconnected, paid the bill late, *Blush* Ah... the woes of the unemployed. (You really don't earn much teaching part time)
So I was uncontactable via mobile phone for a month or so. Friends, if you've tried to call or SMS but no reply.... truly, my apologies! But I'm back, you can contact me at the same number as before.
Inconvenience for people trying to contact me... but my oh my, peace and quiet like never before for ME.
I can listen to music uninterrupted... No one calling after 11 pm....
Come home late without anyone bothering you and asking when u'll be home....
If someone shoots an arrow to you about alumni stuff, you have an impenetrable shield...
No longer stressed about giving immediate response to an issue or problem...
And you call people from the regular 'ole land line when you want or need to...
So... this is what life was like, before the mobile/cell phone wave took over our lives.
Seriously, if you want peace, you don't need white pristine beaches.. just switch off your dang mobile phone for a day or two. (No need to go extreme in my case of a month!) Your high blood pressure may return back to normal, your breathing rate slows down... you're more focused on the tasks at hand. And you're more in control of the choices you make. not to mention you save a bit of $$.
Disclaimer: I am not responsible if you're accused of shirking work responsibilities cos of loss of communication.
The nuisance of labels for Muslims today
21 July, 2007. As usual on a non-working Saturday, reading the newspapers. And once again reports of terrorists and suicide attacks on the first few pages of world news.
".... Muslim extremists...."
".... Jihadi's......"
".... moderate Muslim.... conservative Muslim..... liberal Muslim...."
".... Muslim fundementalists.... progressive Muslims...."
Thank you, dear Mr. Media, for labelling a community so definitively. Whomever the first to have coined these phrases, you're causing me pain.
Can't we simplify things?? My take on it: If you practise the fundamentals of Islamic principles, i.e. believe in One God, the Scriptures, the Prophets, pray, fast, be modest, and basically be a good person, a positive contributor of society, you're Muslim.
If you kill, purposefully cause danger to others, you're not Muslim. You're a terrorist, full stop. Islam and terrorism are just two circles in a graph that can never overlap. Same goes for people of other faiths. Christian fundamentalists? Buddhist terrorist? Let's just drop the labels Mr. Media. Please...
For it saddens me. I used to identify myself as just a Muslim. Now, I feel I need to define myself further. Am I conservative because I wear the hijab? Am I liberal because I am free to travel without a male relative? Am I moderate because I am not extremist? Am I progressive because I have, and will continue, to pursue education & economic independence?
To the above questions, I say I have no definitive answer.
I am just Muslim.
Tribute to "Time's World's second most influential artiste of 2006"
So the US concert got cancelled. Nontheless....
Stay sane, stay strong, look ahead and smileA life well-lived is wrought in failure, in challenges,
In all the sh*t that falls from the sky...
A life well-lived is knowing and doing all that is possible,
and after leaving it out of your hands.
Let go for fate was never in our hands to decide,
just to carve and shape.
Leave all your efforts in a kiln,
be it porcelain whole or not,
It's up to unpredictable fire.
Dabble with fire and lose your hands.
If shattered,
sigh, cry, scream and whine
Then sweep up the pieces, throw them away!
Dip your hands in new clay
The minds wanders anew
With the heart longing for for completion
The hands carve it all over again.
So for a life well-lived,
Smile, look ahead, stay sane, stay strong.
Zaf
