I'M HUMAN, JUST LIKE YOU: Celebrity Dilemma #2

Above: HAGRID (orange) and MABLE (striped)

CLICK! CLICK! FLASH! FLASH!

I really appreciate those who come up to me and ask for my permission to snap a photo with me.
It must have taken the person a lot of guts to come up to me and ask for a photo op.
And in appreciation of that and his/her politeness for treating me like a human being with feelings, I will be more than happy to oblige.

However...

The dilemma:
It is when they DON'T ask for my permission or....
when they come and ask for a photo op just when I was about to put the spoon in my mouth, or when I am in a hurry...or
when I am busy doing something else and they'll be calling me from a hundred metres away and ask me to go to THEM... or
they start snapping anyway from afar...

That's when I don't feel wonderful inside to oblige to their requests.

Nevertheless, I will oblige anyway....
I mean, I would do the same if I see MY favourite artiste up, close and personal like that....
I too will get all excited and wish for a photo op with them...

Yes, I will stop in my tracks for you and oblige anyway...
And I will beckon you to come to me instead of me going to you...
I will put my spoon down and subtly tell you that I am trying to eat, but I will oblige a smile for your camera anyway...

BUT...I will cover my face or face the other way once I realise that you are secretly snapping my photo from the next table...


Recommendation:
Come and meet me and ask for a photo op, it's OK... I am human, just like you.
But please let me eat first before you do that.
If you see me relaxing over coffee and have finished my meal... by all means, come and sit with me and I will give you the warmest smile so that your photo will turn out wonderful.

And for those snapping away from the next table.... I know you're not my fan... because if you are a fan, you wouldn't be snapping away secretly.... I know you're just excited that someone you see on TV is sitting at the next table... so you feel the urge to snap away... .... but put yourself in my shoes... how would YOU feel if someone starts to snap YOUR photo like that?

I'M HUMAN, JUST LIKE YOU. CELEBRITY DILEMMA # 1

Above: RAJOO.

Salam.

I am going to start a series of entries with the title above just for fun... if not for us to ponder.

So here's to dilemma #1.

I CAN'T SEE YOU, I WAS CONCENTRATING ON THE ROAD!

The dilemma:

Sometimes, as I am driving on the road, I notice some fellow drivers and their passengers will wave at me as they recognise that it was ADIBAH NOOR driving on the next lane.
I will usually wave back and hope that they'll be satisfied.
They did look quite exhilarated after that and I suppose, I've made their day somehow.

Sometimes, they'll start honking at me in the hope that I will look at them and wave back.
Sometimes, they honked too loudly that I get the shock of my life and will find myself trying to steer the wheel on track and not have an accident.
Upon realising that they were only excited to see me driving in the next lane, I will, like above, wave back and hope they're satisfied.

Sometimes, their car is in front of mine and they will start waving at me while looking at the rearview mirror.
Sometimes, their car windows are tinted and I have no idea what was going on.
And this time, I will usually pretend that I've not seen them as I wasn't sure if they were waving at me or if they were having an excited conversation with the other passengers in their car.

Sometimes, because I didn't see them and because I didn't wave back, some of them are quick to assume that I was snobbish.


Recommendation:

When you see me on the road, please bear in mind that I am a road user just like you.... and we are all prone to have an accident if we are not careful.

So, the next time you see me, please don't honk and give me the shock of my life!

And if I don't see you or wave back, please forgive me..... I was only concentrating on my driving and I am not a versatile driver like you.

And if you feel like following me from behind, and when I try to run away from you, please don't think badly of me.
I don't know who you are and forgive me if I was only trying to protect myself from strangers who may turn out to be road robbers!

In a nutshell:
Wave at me, but when I don't see you and wave back at you, don't take heart.

Cheers!

DO UNTO OTHERS, AS YOU WANT THEM TO DO UNTO YOU: Respect is earned, not forced

salam.

above is another one of my cats, arwah SONJA (pronounced as SONIA).
dia dah arwah.
about a year ago, she plunged to her death from my 7th floor.
she's in a happy place.
but i miss her so much.

anyway, i just want to relieve myself of this heartache i got when i watched the news recently.

the incidents at kampung buah pala and shah alam were quite disturbing.

what has happened to us?

i don't really know what is going on in the kampung buah pala issues, so i won't say anything about it except that the behaviour of the people there is quite frightening.
is there no other way to talk about it?
and find a solution for it?

what was more disturbing for me was the demonstration in shah alam.

they may feel that they are on the right side by doing what they did.

but to humiliate and insult other people's religion and faith,.... oh gosh.... i believe that is sooooo unislamic.

we (meaning muslim malays) should try putting ourselves in other people's shoes, people who are non-muslims or non-malays.

the indians, chinese etc have tolerated the building of our mosques in their neighbourhood.

once i had a chinese colleague when i was working for a conglomerate in kuala lumpur and he once invited me to his home for tea.

i complimented on his beautiful home, but he said, soon, they will be building a surau in front of his house.
he sighed with anxiety of the task of having to listen to the call for prayer 5 times a day.

at first, i thought, well, tough... this is a country where it's official religion is islam.
but then, it made me think again, when i watched our muslim brothers in shah alam shouting in protest with so much anger.

please don't get me wrong.

as a muslim, my faith is still islam, heart and soul.

all i'm saying is that there should be mutual respect.

that's all.

it's ok to protest, but not with disrespect and in bad taste.

it will only make us more divided and we will be on our way backwards.

we've all built this country together, so let's not forget the sacrifices made by the non bumiputras or the non muslims.

they love this country as much as everyone else does.

the actions of some of our muslim malays brothers and sisters are quite appalling and embarassing to the rest.

we as malays and muslims are supposed to be a cultured race with supreme patience and tolerance to others.

what has happened to us?

I'M OK LARRRRRR!

salam sayang buat semua.

in the picture above, is my dearest PUTIH.
yang memang menjadi teman hidup saya sejak lebih 5 tahun yang lalu....
yang sentiasa melompat bila bertemu dengan saya....
yang menjadi "mak esah" saya tatkala bulu roma dan belakang leher menjadi seram sejuk.

Itulah nikmat memelihara kucing.

Putih adalah di antara 19 ekor kucing saya yang lain, yang sentiasa mengiringi perjalanan keluar saya dari rumah dan menjadi penyambut yang setia bila saya pulang.

"Anak-anak" saya itulah menjadi penawar tatkala duka,
teman tatkala sunyi,
dan ubat segala penyakit.
Malah ia menyedarkan lagi saya terhadap keEsaanNya.
Cukup istimewa makhluk ciptaanNya itu.

I'm ok larrrr.....

Ramai juga yang emel saya berkenaan dengan penulisan kreatif seorang selebriti di dalam blognya.
Alhamdulillah, ramai yang mengasihi saya, syukur sangat-sangat.

But really, I'm ok.

Janganlah risau saya ni susah hati pasal tu.
Tidak sama sekali.

Saya tak kisah kalau saya yang kena kutuk.
Itu lumrah kehidupan.
Bukan sahaja bagi "artis" tapi bagi sesiapa pun.
Kutuk-mengutuk sesama insan tidak dapat dibendung oleh mereka yang merasakan diri mereka sempurna.

MasyaAllah, kesempurnaan itu hanya milik Allah.

Ya lah, kalau diikutkan hati, agak terguris juga bila dikaitkan sekali ibu dan ayah saya.
Kalau diikutkan perasaan, agak pening dan hampa juga rasanya bila ibu dan ayah saya diburukkan begitu sekali.

Tapi, Allah kan ada.
Asalkan bukan kita yang bersalah, cukuplah bagi Allah yang Maha Mengetahui.
Berani kerana benar.
Diam, tak bererti salah.

Dan saya panjatkan kesyukuran kehadratNya atas anugerah sabar yang diberikan olehNya.

Maka, perkataan kesat dan nista yang dilemparkan kepada saya, saya terima dengan seikhlas hati.

Janganlah you all risau pulak pasal saya.

Seriously, I'm ok laaarrrr.... hehehe...

Semoga dia mengecapi seribu kebahagiaan dengan perbuatannya itu dan daripada kita nak mengutuk dia balik, ayoh kita sama-sama berdoa agar Allah swt dapat menyembuhkannya.

Jom tukar topik.

Saya ingin mengambil kesempatan ini untuk mengucapkan salam ramadhan dan selamat berpuasa untuk semua muslimin dan muslimat.

Semoga semuanya berjalan dengan lancar dan ceria seperti biasa.... walaupun sugar level di siang hari rendah hehehe.

Ramai orang berpesan-pesan sesama insan muslim tentang pahala yang berlipatkali ganda di bulan Ramadhan yang mulia ini.

Persoalannya, ada ke bulan yang tak mulia?

Apa yang lebih getir lagi ialah, sejauh manakah keikhlasan ibadah kita kerana Allah?

Bibir mungkin mudah mengucap kata ikhlas,... tapi hati, Allah Maha Mengetahui.

Umpama, anak-anak yang sentiasa meminta upah.
Kalau nak suruh buat apa-apa, mesti sebutkan upah dahulu.
Baru dia buat.

Memang kerja dilaksanakan dengan baik, dan dia mendapat upah.... tapi sejauh manakah keikhlasannya melaksanakan kerja tersebut... adakah ikhlas hendak menolong ibu bapa.. atau semata-mata kerana upah.

Begitulah juga pada pendapat saya tentang pahala.

Entahlah, mungkin bab agama bukan bidang yang hak bagi saya untuk dibicarakan.

Tapi soal keikhlasan itu amat dekat dengan hati saya.

Ayuh kita beribadah kerana menginginkan keredhaan dariNya..... dan bukan mengharapkan pahala.
Itu kita tawakkalkan sahaja untuk pertimbangan Allah.

Salam.

FLY ME TO THE MOON...

Due to some bizarre astronomical collisions, the much loved orthopaedic surgeon above, in the picture, entered my dreams last night.

And WHAT A DREAM IT WAS!!!

No, no, no.... not a triple X dream ok..... it was pretty decent actually... we just happen to meet, and chat, and.... fell in love...... well, at least, I did!.. hehehe

I was overwhelmed by infatuation the whole day... and I must say that I am still trying to relive the dream. ehhee.... it was just soooooooooooooooooooooooooooo beautiful.

And I couldnt help but recall the first time (oh God please don't let it be the only time) I met him.

The photo above was taken backstage during Anugerah Skrin TV3 last year, yes, the year I performed with Lah Ahmad, singing Ketulusan Hati, originally sung by Anuar Zain.

There I was, sitting on the staircase, backstage, massaging my palms as they were sweaty, as I was trying to calm the butterflies in my tummy.. alllll by myself, oblivious to my surroundings.

And suddenly.... jeng jeng jeng...

A voice came and said, "Hi Adibah, I just want to tell you how wonderful it is that you have done so much for yourself and succeeded in your own way. Congratulations!"

By the time I raised my gaze and met the eyes of the speaker, I was practically drooling!

Have you ever seen Musang Berjanggut by P Ramlee....? Remember that scene when Tun Nila Utama (P Ramlee) brought back his beautiful wife Puspawangi (Saadiah) to the palace and introduced her to the royal folks and datuks..? Remember the datuks' and the sultan's expression when they saw Puspawangi's face...?

THAT WAS HOW I REACTED when the incredibly gorgeous hunk of a doctor astronaut stood in front of me saying all these lovely, aphrodisiac (did I spell that correctly) words to me... ME! me?

Somewhere between trying to lift my jaw and wiping my drool, I managed a meek "thank you".

I was in AWE!

If you have met the guy, you will agree that he looks sooooooooooooooooooo much more incredibly gorgeous in person than in photos.

I know, you must be saying... elleh only in your dreams Adibah!

Well..... you're right.... it DID happen.... in my dreams....

Ahhhhhhh....... Mc Dreamy... INDEED!

hmmm...........

GONE TOO SOON...

Salam.

I received the news as soon as it was announced that she was no longer with us and rushed to the hospital immediately.

Everyone grieved, cried and missed her.

There's nothing more to say.

She's gone.

But her magic lives on.

Al-fatihah.

Scores of people from the media had called and asked if I could lend them my thoughts with regards to arwah.

I don't know why, but I often declined, unless it was absolutely necessary and if the request came from a media person who has always been supportive of arwah Yasmin... who has always been there for Yasmin.... who has loved Yasmin and understood what she was going through and what she had tried to do.

I will not do it if I instinctively know that the media person was merely taking advantage of the situation, in order to get higher ratings in their radio or TV programs or higher sales for their newspaper or print media.

It is because of papers like Kosmo! which had so efficiently instigated hatred and encouraged fitnah that I refrain myself from making too many a public comment.

Sorry, if I am very selective.

I think I should be.

Because Min deserves nothing less than my love and loyalty.

Forgive me if I do not share my personal feelings with the public.

It is only because I want to be selfish and keep Min to myself.

I am still grieving and I am still mourning.

A huge part of my being is hollow because the very person who taught me how to love has left us.

AL-FATIHAH MIKAEEL JACKSON

Watching the Michael Jackson Memorial Service on TV late last night, I couldn't help but feel how disrespectful and ignorant the west was when they gave him a ceremony that is alien to Islam.

But then again, I wandered too if Michael was really in the silver casket adorned with flowers that was put in front of the stage.

I wondered too if he had already been buried, silently, before this service.

At first I thought, wouldn't it be great if those who gathered in the Staples Centre are those who would recite the surah yassin and give him a proper tahlil.

At first I was angered by the fact that the whole organisation of the memorial service is denying his current faith which is Islam.

But as I watched the programme, I realised that people of all religions are fans of Michael Jackson.

This is their way of showing their last respects to the phenomenal icon.

It was the only way they knew how to bid their goodbyes to the king of pop.

Malice probably never crossed their minds and Michael had truly reached the people of the world beyond boundaries, religions, culture, decree, faith and way-of-life.

And what they did was beyond their own faith and beliefs.... they just wanted to say goodbye and give the king the memorial service he so deserved.

His death was the epitome of his humanitarian aspirations.

I was in Jakarta last few days... and the Muslim people of Indonesia conducted a tahlil for Mikaeel Jackson.

Perhaps, all Muslims should too.... at least generously recite the al-fatihah for him.

Al-fatihah.