Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Test

Life is full of surprises and lessons for those who ponder.

A month before Ramadhan, a friend confessed to me that she is in great financial difficulty as her husband's business is not bringing in much dough, bills are mounting, and meeting the demands of her growing children is challenging, to a point that she had to hock her jewelery for RM3,000 to get through the month. She had turned full-time housewife ever since her lay-off 7-8 yars ago. I listened to her, mouth agape, as she fought back tears. I've been visiting her house periodically for years now, but didn't notice her predicament as she was always cheerful and always, and always gave me something to take home when I leave. I thought everything was fine. She said she didn't tell out of respect for her husband.

My poor, beautiful friend. This is the friend whom when we were younger, always wore stylish clothes and have lots of jewellery. She is still slim and beautiful, but gone are the need for make-up, new clothes and trendy shoes. Everything she does now is for the family. She learns new skills and with these skills, she helps her husband to provide for the family. She now makes nasi lemak and kuih-muih and sells them at gerais. This is a very demading job that deprives her of sleep; she only sleeps 2 or 3 hours a day for six days straight. I worry for her health, but she says, desperate situation requires desperate measures.

But my friend is redha; she says, Allah will not test us more than we can endure. She tells me now she understands and is convinced that Allah is the ONLY provider. Every rizq is determined by Him, and Him only, not by others. Allah gives her the ilham and the strength in what she does now.

I pray to Allah she come out victorious. I have no doubt she will, one way or another.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

House

My favorite tv series nowadays is House or House M.D. shown on AXN Mondays at 10p.m with repeats at different times. After checking the episode guides, I notice that I have missed quite a lot, and thanks to Google, I discovered a site dedicated to the transcripts of all the episodes; wow, it's like discovering a goldmine!

So, for those who are a fan, here's the treasure; www.twiztv.com/scripts/house . Have fun!

Postscript: For a medical discussion of the series, visit www.politedissent.com/house_pd.html. Interesting you!

Friday, November 03, 2006

Incredible Woman

During the recent raya celebration, my sister and I traded stories. We were planning to go to Tanjung Bidara when my sister recalled she has a friend there, and proceeded to tell this story. This friend is a dentist and they have kept in touch over the years through their high school alumni yahoogroups. The sequence of the following story may be jumbled, but they all happened to her.

This dentist lives in Melaka with her three children, and has a weekend husband whose business keeps them apart during the weekdays. The reason why she stays put in Melaka is to be near her elderly parents. She suffered from leukemia some ten years ago. While battling her illness, she learned that her husband was having an affair. Eew! Alhamdulillah, she recovered, and the marriage is still intact.

This year, her illness returned. So again she had to go through a battery of treatments. This time around, she discovered that she was adopted, and as a dutiful daughter turned to take care of her real parents; now she has two sets of parents to care. Alhamdulillah, she is recovering from her illness.

What is so incredible to me is that, during last Ramadhan she also sold cookies in her clinics (she has two), cookies that she made herself! Unbelievable. According to my sister, she started her cookies business many years ago to fill her time as husband was always not present, and over time she had accumulated a clientele whom she can’t refuse every raya.

Salute!