Summary – Know your extreme limits

Forming the club aside, I really hope this Hari Raya will be the best irregardless of the expenditure. What Ms Intan had commented carry some truth, when this is a once per year occasion. Furthermore it is actually recommended by Islam to honour and celebrate it happily. I guess in short, it is totally up to us to maintain balance between “spending until it hurts” and “saving until it hurts”

Hm I believe the key to better life is always moderation. Sugar if taken excessively will lead to diabetic and if we just cut out anything sugary, we will be equally sick and weak. We need to consume sugar but only in very moderate amount. (Doctors, correct me if I’m wrong).

Even if the example is wrong, we all know this fact long time already. So why is this post will be any different?

Again, we all know the importance of moderation, but the one thing that we don’t know is where is the line separating moderate and extreme. We may think we know, but the truth is we really don’t.

An example, a friend ask for help, how far do we go to help him. We have two option.. We can go to the extreme until we give him all our money in the bank, or the other extreme would be to ignore him entirely. Now we know that we need to help him (this would be the moderation). But how far should we help him. (This is the tricky part)

We must always have certain principle on this matter. Like in this scenario, maybe our principle is to help him in all matters except financially. Because debt can bring the ugliness in a friendship. I wouldn’t say that this is a good principle, but it is a good thing to have that kind of principle / policy beforehand.

The same thing goes to everything. Always have a policy that define what is the extreme of both end. it make things a lot easier, I assure you.

Other scenarios that maybe good for us to have policy
– when to get angry and when to be patient
– when to continue work / study and when to give in to sleeping
– which person to be friend with, and which person shoud be avoided
– etc

Do you have any other scenarios to add where extreme limits need to be clear? Appreciate your feedback…

————–Personal Note————-
Back when I worked in Johor, there was one time I was down with Dengue fever. I was at the time still single and live by myself. So one fine day, I felt very sick. Throwing up every now and then, feeling like you want to go have no 2, but nothing came out. Seriously that was hell. And I can even picture myself dying.One thing about me with fever, I usually try my best to sweat it off. I jog around the house but the condition just worsen. I then decided that this was no ordinary fever, and submitted myself to the hospital to be checked. I was immediately suspected to having dengue fever.

My point is, if I still want to be “degil” and still trying to sweat the fever off, I would probably die due to late detection. That’s just how much important knowing the limits to extreme is.

Summary – The formation of “Baju Raya Recycling Club”

I was chatting with uncleJ about jokingly forming a recycling club. Not to recycle waste, but to recycle the old “baju raya”. It would be a great club with so many activities don’t you think? Just imagine the cash we save.

So then I started thinking of other ways we can reduce the expenditure of this year’s Hari Raya. I know for certain you guys must have more brilliant ideas on how to further save money on Hari Raya, please share ya… maybe this club can be realized after all 🙂

Please note that wearing brand new clothes to celebrate Hari Raya is actually a “sunat”. I’m just suggesting recycling if the old clothes is still in good condition or maybe we are on a tight budget. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

Well here’s what I can come up so far

1) Plan your travelling
Back home, we always buy ice and newspaper after Solat Aidulfitri, this way we don’t need to waste the fuel just to get ice or newspaper on separate occasion. Similarly, plan your visit to your friends’ houses. Going to Sungai Petani then Alor Setar and again to Sungai Petani is really poor planning. 🙂

2) Buy auctioned kuih raya
Kuih raya is the essence of Hari Raya, so I will never suggest not buying / making them. But for those who buy cake or kuih raya (kuih tunjuk), maybe we can buy them as late as possible. Every year, my family will be excited to go buy those “kuih tunjuk” at midnight of the last day of fasting. It is said that everything will be auctioned off at ridiculously low price. However, almost every year, my family will give up and prefer going to bed early hehe 🙂 (talk only)

3) Reduce or stop buying firecrackers
This is again a sensitive matter. Hari Raya is actually meant for children. They are the ones that enjoy it the most. And what I enjoyed when I was one of them was playing firecrackers. Back then we had millions (exaggerating) of types. So this it totally up to you. Today there’s already one case of firecrackers exploding the fingers of two children (Berita Harian 1st Oct).

My suggestion if you really must play, is to reduce the amount drastically. It is better if we don’t play it at all. Those children with the finger hurt surely don’t want the accident to happen, but it did happened to them. So there’s no reason to let our children have the same risk. Preferably I suggest to not buy.. they’re just not worth it.

/end list

Hari Raya is one of the most awaited day for us muslim. And most of the time, the celebration is supposed to be grand and better every year. This is where it is wrong. The whole idea of Aidilfitri is not about celebrating the end of Ramadhan (where we can take revenge on inhibiting our desire and go on a shopping spree). I’ll try to elaborate on that in my coming Ramadhan Tribute Series

I now opened the club for registeration. Anybody can join in but in order to join, you have to each pay me RM10 (joking). No la…. To join, just share with us how else can we save during this Hari Raya.

————–Personal Note————-
Let me be the first to wish you all Selamat Hari Raya.. Maaf Zahir Batin. Since I can’t send all of you personal “kad raya”, this will be it 🙂 Please forgive me if there is anything I wrote that may offend you. In the end, I’m here to make friends… and I am grateful to Allah for introducing me to you. so again, may everyone has the best Raya ever!!Aidilfitri mood is in the air!!!

Sumary – If done correctly, it can even shed a few kg of you.. Here’s how

Why is it that some people is more energetic during Ramadhan, while another is weaker? The answer to this very question will help us to not only become fitter but we may be able to lose weight in the process, insyaAllah.

The answer is “Sahur”. People from Kedah call it “Soq” :). There’s a reason why “sahur” is very recommended to people who fast. In fact, that’s the only difference from our fast and the non-muslim’s fast.

Let me try to explain it.. We all know breakfast is the most important meals of the day. Yes it provides us more energy to start our day, but there is another secret to it. Breakfast actually gives signal to our body that we are not in starvation.

You see, our body is very clever. When we are starving, the body does not react by burning more fat. It actually react by lowering down its metabolism and burn less fat to preserve them. That is why we are often weaker when we are hungry for a long time.

So Sahur, will indirectly signal the body that we are not starving ourself. And thus the body’s metabolism will switch to normal mode. Which means it burns more fat and giving us more energy to start the day. Thus we will be fitter and stronger the whole day. And since the metabolism rate is not slowed down, more fat will be burn and eventually the weight loss (Of course other factors must be taken into consideration, such as exercise, type of food etc)

So guys.. it’s already half a month, Any weight loss or gain? 

Note : The intention to fast is never supposed to be about weight loss. It is our very own bond with Allah, since no one will ever know we’re fasting or not except Him.

————–Personal Note————-
Waking up for sahur is very challenging indeed. During my childhood, I even have some stages that will occur before I completely aake for sahur. My grandmother will wake me up by calling my name. That almost certainly will not work. She then go very close to me (visible distance) and again call. This time, I will reply by giving some sort of protest that I don’t want to sahur. She know this too well and start nagging with high frequency voice 🙂 That should wake me up. And I protestly walk to the dinner table and eat my sahur.This happen almost every night, and almost everyday.. I will feel grateful to her for patiently wake me up. 🙂 if not… *sigh

Summary – Happy Sunday everyone! 🙂

A man walks into a bank in New York City and asks for the loan officer.

He tells the loan officer that he is going to China on business for two weeks and needs to borrow USD $5,000. The bank officer tells him that the bank will need some form of security for the loan, so the man hands over the keys to a new Ferrari parked on the street in front of the bank. He produces the title and everything checks out. The loan officer agrees to accept the car as collateral for the loan.

The bank’s president and its officers all enjoy a good laugh at the for using a USD $250,000 Ferrari as collateral against a USD $5,000 loan. An employee of the bank then drives the Ferrari into the bank’s underground
garage and parks it there. Two weeks later….

Two weeks later, the man returns, repays the USD $5,000 and the interest, which comes to $15.41. The loan officer says, “Sir, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out and found that you are a multi-millionaire. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow USD $5,000?”

The man replies: “Where else in New York City can I park my car for 2 weeks for only USD$15.41 and expect it to be there when I return?”

/end story

This story has had so many version, the first one I read it’s about Phua Chu Kang parking car in Singapore 🙂 Anyway I wonder if we can really do this? Kuala Lumpur is getting more expensive to park a car in.

————–Personal Note————-
Sometimes I always wish that the Doraemon technology exist, where we can shrink our car and put it in the pocket. Now it really is getting harder to find a parking spot in KL. Things is not getting any better I assure you.

How else do you think we can solve this problem?