MRizal’s blog

"Knowledge without actions is madness and actions without knowledge are useless" - Imam Al-Ghazali

Knowledge and action must go simultaneously. Knowledge creates perceptions and with action, the knowledge and perceptions will be embedded deep inside of you. I believe the ideal perception is to walk and face towards the One. La illaha Illahllah . Tiada yang Nyata selain Allah swt.

In order to build that perception, great knowledge is required. With great knowledge, comes great responsibility. For example, you know that by committing so and so is a sinful act, if you commit the act even when you know its sinful, you're punishment is far greater than the one who is ignorant about it.

Therefore, with knowledge, action is required if not the knowledge will be rendered useless and in time will only lead you astray.

What are the actions required? Besides practicing the fundamentals, there's a few paths one could take. I only wish that I will be accepted into one of these paths in the near future, inshaAllah.

The importance of Rukun Islam and Rukun Iman.
If you're a muslim, these two elements are the most basic foundation you must understand and practice. It really does make a difference and without it, life can never be complete.

Being humble and patient
Often said but hardly practiced. You have no idea how important are these two attributes. It is needed everywhere, anywhere, all the time. At work, school and home. It'll keep you out of unnecessary troubles and regrets. And it builds a good impression on you.

There's no stupid question
Always keep your mind working and explore new grounds. One of the ways to achieve that is to ask questions. No matter how silly it might sounds. However, do not go to the extremes and entertain unnecessary doubts; that's not seeking knowledge, that's playing around with the devil inside of you.

Don't dull over past regrets
Leave the past alone, take the lessons learnt with you and move on. It's not worth taking anything more than that. It's tiring, stressing and you'll waste a lot of time. It's part of life so learn from it and move on.

Be thankful and content
We're always looking at extreme ends of life - the past or the future but never the current. For every little thing, even just having a drink or getting a few paper work done, Thank God for it. At the end of the day, take some time, look at yourself today; what have you done, how have you helped yourself and how have you helped the people around you . Give it a thought - then you can see the good and bad. However, do not regret about what's done and do not play the blame game. Learn from the day and let it go. Take the good with you and Thank God (Syukur Alhamdullilah) for everything.

You can't achieve anything without God's will
La hawla wala quwata illa billah (There is no change/transformation nor power/strength except through Allah s.w.t). If you yearn for something (achieveing a change or ambition for example), always do it with du'a to Allah s.w.t and followed by hard work.

Note: This is just from my personal experience, if you have any feedbacks, please do share it with me.

 

Better not be a buggy one!

I think there's a equal amount of bad and good things associated with starting up your own business. The good part includes being your own boss and stuffs like that. The bad part is the stress level.

There's so many relationships you have to maintain. The customers, workers and suppliers. So many politics, dishonesty and just plain bad attitude around. I pray that I don't and won't have any of these attributes. Seeing and learning from my mum's experience running her own stall is a good eye-opener. It really shows you what kind of people are out there. You'll be very surprised.

I could go to very specific details but what's the point? It doesn't matter who they are or what race they belong to. It is just disappointing that there are people like this. Sometimes I try to put myself in their shoe but there's a limit to that, when you've promised so much and can't fulfill those words later on and lie to cover up those things. I'm left with little options.

All I can say, these kind of things can really bring you down. You're not even angry anymore just sad. The stress is just tiring. The doubts in your head go crazy. Your iman is being challenged at great heights.

MashaAllah, if this is what doing a business is like, I pray that my iman (so as my family's) will stay strong all the time and my passion to always be strong.

..I sort of came to this conclusion while cooking at the shop. I noticed that when I'm feeling irritated, sad or anything negative basically, it'll reflect in the final product. Although I got all the ingredients and techniques right, it just doesn't taste complete.

I'm one of those guys who believe that there's no secret recipes in this world only good techniques and a damn good chef. Cooking is always the same deal, you can pick any dish you want and the recipe and ingredients are going to be the same because good food doesn't just depends on these two elements. It also depends on technique but that isn't the main deciding factor either. Having a good feeling while cooking is, in my opinion, the most crucial thing to have. Because it's going to reflect in your food in a different but very obvious manner.

Cooking is like any form of art. It requires love, passion and a good positive vibe. You got to enjoy doing it. It's like writing a poem, you got to be in that exact feel and have the emotions to execute the perfect piece. The same thing is with cooking.

I think this can be said to almost anything. Life after all is like art isn't it? It requires love, passion and a good positive vibe.

I love doing quizzes of this nature. I think there's some truth in it. Not to worry though, I'm not overly obsessed with the results because I'm into doing things in moderation. I just see it as a reaffirmation to my weak points and make it a point to correct those and also I think it's a opportunity for my friends to get to know me as well. So it's all good.

This quiz is pretty interesting, it doesn't ask those direct questions. Instead, it asks you to imagine certain things and you evaluate how relevant it is to you. Anyway, here's my result:

 

Your view on yourself:

You are intelligent, honest and sweet. You are friendly to everybody and don't like conflict. Because you're so cheerful and fun people are naturally attracted to you and like to talk to you.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You like serious, smart and determined people. You don't judge a book by its cover, so good-looking people aren't necessarily your style. This makes you an attractive person in many people's eyes.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.

The seriousness of your love:

You like to flirt and behave seductively. The opposite sex finds this very attractive, and that's why you'll always have admirers hanging off your arms. But how serious are you about choosing someone to be in a relationship with?

Your views on education

Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you:

You're a practical person and will choose a secure job with a steady income. Knowing what you like to do is important. Find a regular job doing just that and you'll be set for life.

How do you view success:

You are afraid of failure and scared to have a go at the career you would like to have in case you don't succeed. Don't give up when you haven't yet even started! Be courageous.

What are you most afraid of:

You are concerned about your image and the way others see you. This means that you try very hard to be accepted by other people. It's time for you to believe in who you are, not what you wear.

Who is your true self:

You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

Pretty spot on. Take the question, share the results with me: http://www.quizbox.com/personality/test82.aspx . I'd love to get to know my friends better too.

I got tagged by Wahab ages ago but uh, malas ah nak buat. But today, I'm feeling good so here we go:

1. I hold the same dream/ambition since I was 16. I'm 21 now, and the passion is still strong. Hopefully I'll be there in 27.
   
2. I love cooking. Man, exploring flavors and techniques in the kitchen, that's fun.
3.  And of course, i love eating what I cooked too.
   
4. I love food lah basically.
   
5. With that said, I think my ideal job would be working in a kitchen's R&D department.
   
6. I love hip hop because it brings people together but these days its becoming a reason to separate and divide people so I'm not sure if the love is still there.
   
7. My first hip hop gig was in Skudai Parade, JB.
   
8. When I was around 13-14 years old, I did my first ever video documentary on this breakdance crew based in Skudai, JB, using my dad's old videocam. I mean the cam's so old, it wasn't even using dvtapes, man. It was the slightly fatter tapes. Around that time, Too Phat's Anak Ayam was hot.
9. I never liked school. Fuck school.
   
10. But hey, I kinda like Republic Polytecnic. Problem-based learning is like my kind of learning man. But fuck it, those lazy staffs and students just got to killed the beautiful concept.
    
11. I'm pretty much a home person.
    
12. I love long road trips. I'm known for not sleeping throughout the trip. It's fun to look out the window and watch the world pass by.
13. I organized, published and sold out my first hip hop compilation when I'm around 16. Shoutouts to all VFB dudes and dudettes. Wouldn't be possible without yall, man.
    
14. Organized my first gig when I'm around 19. Slightly late, but it was a good experience.
    
15. Free Yo Soul, in my opinion, is the best open-mic gig concept ever.
    
16. I don't really like how most people loves to make things theirs. Like how some malays love to treat Islam like its only for them. I think it's too rigid and extreme.
    
17. I love rainy days, man. There's so much you can reflect on while staring out the window when it's raining.
    
18. I pretty much don't really like loud people.
    
19. I'd like to think of myself as a more spiritual person.
20. I need to stop here because uh this is getting boring. 

So back to Kranji for another fishing trip. This time things were a lot calmer. The wind was very strong, not good for lure fishing but splendid for relaxing and enjoying my chilled soya bean drink and roti kari. After the wind settles down during the later part of the day, cast a lure a few times but no bites. Almost gave up since it's already late but something urge me to just cast a few more time, suddenly, I registered three hard bites consecutively but no hookup. Two more casts and got this beautiful peacock bass:

It really made my day, I'm sure Mustafa (my cousin, and also fishing buddy) was happy too. It certainl replenish our hope. We finally got a fish out of this reservoir. But not done with it yet. Only once Mustafa got a fish out of this place, then we'll move on to the next reservoir for more freshwater fishing.

Till next time!

Got up early, pack my bags and off I go to the reservoir. Find a good spot, put together my rod, tie my knots, fix my bait and cast my line. Get back to my seat, look over the calm waters, gaze at the beautiful rising sun and wait.

Now what? Like how people usually do; I was expecting a huge fish (preferably a snakehead, toman) to bite my bait, sending my reel spinning and rod twitching but that turns out to be tiring. Expecting an ideal outcome while doing absolutely nothing is tiring and boring.

But. Luckily, I pack with me one of my all time favorite book, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Flip to my favorite chapter and I was in Andalusia, reading the life of a dreaming shepherd. But that turns out to be exhausting, it just doesn't feel good. Makes me feel out of place. Maybe dusty Sahara wasn't exactly the right atmosphere I'm trying to dive in while waiting.

There was just too many 'but's and sometimes I wish I can just 'let the day flow' without expecting anything or feeling anything. Just let it flow; think about or do anything but still you're in a greater peace. I only achieved that peace for only about 15 minutes during the day, other than that I'm always bothered by other little happenings or thoughts and I invested too much feeling into those short moments thus dragging myself into a bigger and straggling nuisence in my day. =\

Next weekend, it's back to fishing for me.

Last week I went to visit my local barber. That's right; long hair days are over, it's back to the feel-good, airy and short hair cut. I think it makes me look younger. Not that I'm that old but uh, I look old.  That sucks.

So. The barber. I love going to the local neighborhood barber/cybercafe, there's always someone strange to meet. Someone new who will definitely inject you with some weird perception or ideas. On that day, there wasn't a lot of people there. Just four, three of them are the staff themselves. I remember one of them, he was the one who was reading a book about Wali Songo when I patronize that shop ages ago. I find that to be quite interesting. I love sufi subjects. I love meeting people who are interested in sufi subjects.

The fourth guy doesn't look very good. He's a chinese guy, probably in the 40s range. He looked lost. He's holding to a old and dusty looking suitcase and every few minutes he'll trouble the staff there to use the computer inside to check his email or send a fax somewhere. According to the barber there, he's been there for like half of the day, doing the same thing. He looked like someone who is going through very, very tough times.

I thought I was living in a miserable life but when I look at that guy, someone who possibly is married but looks like he doesn't have anywhere to return to. That's more miserable. Makes me derieve to yet another perception; there's always someone else more miserable and I should look at the bright side of life.

Well, just another barber shop experience.