IHSAN KHAIRIR

February 16th was my 27th birthday so the family got together for a small celebration.

The chocolate mousse cake that was completely devoured within two minutes. Because the whole family was busy with preparations and other stuff, I went to town and bought the cake myself. Glad I picked this one because usually at the end of the birthday celebration we ended up with a big chunk of uneaten cake, but this time my cake was the first one to be gone from the food table. I have chosen wisely…

The birthday feast was a simple lineup: chocolate mousse cake, mashed potato with mushroom gravy, salad with hard-boiled eggs, tomato and sliced cheese, turmeric fried chicken, and sliced oranges (Happy Chinese New Year of the Tiger, btw!)

Cutting the cake. As always, Abu my brother refuses to smile in the picture. He does this deliberately sometimes. The frown doesn’t necessarily mean he’s upset, he just wants to make a face in the picture.

This is my excuse for being overweight =). Whenever I’m home, there’s such an abundance of wonderfully cooked meals that I find it hard to restrain myself from finishing up leftovers. My family feeds me well =)

Some of the presents. My sisters like to prepare and wrap each present themselves. Plus they always make (and not buy) the birthday card so it has a personal touch that you can never get from a card purchased from the store.

They spelled ‘successful’ wrong. My sister said it was deliberate. Yeah right =D

The symbolic t-shirt. The absent present (oxymoron!) was represented by the mock t-shirt my sister made. The actual t-shirt was left in our apartment in Seri Kembangan.

Mya gave me a personalized t-shirt with my family nickname on it spelt in Korean. Besan (or Abesan) is a portmanteau of the Kelantanese word ‘Abe’ (means big brother) and the last part of my name, ‘San’ (from ‘Ihsan’).

Milah and Shaz gave me a pair of Crocs. Each half of the pair was individually wrapped in two different presents, which meant that they each gave me half a pair =D. I guess in some ways, it meant that I have to use  both their gifts equally and am not able to prefer one over the other… maybe. I thought that was quite amusing =)

Another personalized birthday card made by my sisters, with a two-layer birthday cake and a pair of candles shaped like the number ’27′.

There are presents yet to be received, and those are the ones I am quite excited about!

I am so grateful to my beloved family for the wonderful celebration this year. I have to say this is one of the best that I’ve had in a long time =)

Thanks for all the presents and the well-wishes. I am ninety percent of the way to being thirty. The past three-cubed years have been a journey, and I’m glad I got to share those years with my family and friends, and you guys, my blogreaders.

Thank you for those who’ve been there for me, both in body and in spirit. Those that I haven’t seen for quite a while, do know that I really miss you and would love to have you around. I’ve had nothing but wonderful times with everyone and I hope we get to make more wonderful memories in the coming years.

Here’s to being three to three-oh.

Cheers!

I suggest that, for those who have little or no idea of what the issue is about, the following articles be read first because otherwise none of what I’m about to say will make sense to you.

CNN Article — Malaysia: Churches firebombed amid Allah dispute
AFP Article — Malaysia defends Allah stance amid new church attack
BBC Article — More Malaysian churches attacked in Allah dispute

Or you can google ‘Malaysia’ and ‘Allah’ and look at the news results if you have several hours to spare.

Below is a verbatim copy of what I wrote in an online forum with regards to the issue. Please bear in mind that this was written in the usual communicative form of Malay and may not be understood immediately by some who are new to the language, or have mastery of Bahasa Indonesia. Since what I have to say here mostly applies to Malays and Malaysians, I shall have it remain untranslated, unless I receive requests to have it translated.

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Bismillahirrahmaanirrahim

semoga kita semua dilimpahi hidayahNya serta diberi petunjuk ke jalan yang benar. maaf kalau ada pendapat saya yang menyentuh sensitiviti sesiapa.

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I am interested to hear what you have to say regarding this matter (and for those who understood my post, regarding what I said in this matter).

They are pure, untainted, and clear. And if we look carefully, we can actually see ourselves in their eyes. We see what they see. And maybe if we learn to look at ourselves through children’s eyes, life wouldn’t be as complicated as it has been.

I wish I have a child’s pure and untainted eyes.

Just scanned this family photo a few minutes ago, thought it’d be nice to be able to show everyone my wonderful family, finally united in one picture. For the past few years, my sisters and I have been away in the U.S., Japan and England for our studies so a full family photo is something that we look forward to every time there’s a chance to get everyone together. This photo is the only one in existence that has every single one of us together, including our housekeeper.

(Click on the picture to view full size)

Top, from left: Tina, Karmini (housekeeper), Ihsan (me), Jayyid, Mya, Husna, Kim.

Sitting, from left: Shazni, Dr. Khairir / ‘Ayah’ (Dad), Abu, Rashidah / ‘Emak’ (Mom), Milah.

P/S: Hoping that soon, another person would be added to future family photos…

Lately, I realized (and I’m pretty sure some of my friends did as well) that I’ve been wearing the same kind of wardrobe and the same kind of hairstyle and the same kind of look everywhere. And it bores me. I look at myself in the mirror every morning and ask myself ‘how should I look today?’ and end up wearing that same black t-shirt and combing my hair that same side parting I wear almost every day. It’s not fun, not exciting, and not random. It feels mundane, and not the normal kind of mundane, but the repetitive cycle of the same thing over and over again like a sine wave kind of mundane. And I feel like I should get a change going on.

So here’s me putting myself in the line of fire, parading horrendous profiles of myself over the last few years, and asking you this question: Which is a good look for me?

1. Short or almost bald

I wore this hairstyle quite a few times… back in the days when I felt like a trip to the barber’s a waste of time and munny. The situation was usually like this: I wake up in the morning, look at the mirror and see myself with my big bed hair. Back of my neck tickles, my head feels too warm, and my hair is all over my face. Electric hair clipper plus an hour in the bathroom results in the look you see above plus gaping stares from friends who just saw me with my long hair the day before.

2. Side parting

I have been wearing this look forever. My friends say I look ‘preppy’ (or ‘skema’ in Rojak terms) when I have my hair side parted, long or short. I usually have my hair like this when I don’t feel like standing out, or to look older or more formal in some sense. A hairstyle I would almost always wear to job interviews and conference presentations.

3. Long or semi-long straight or wavy hair

Usually the hairstyle I maintained for a couple of months before suddenly going bald (see collage 1). I love having my hair long and straight but hate it when the weather’s hot and humid and makes my hair stick out unmanageably in all sorts of directions. And it gets everywhere too. I have my hair long (and big) mostly because I have a family history of baldness on my dad’s side and it is almost inevitable that I would end up being a bald grownup, so I decide to enjoy my hair while it’s still on top of my head.

4. Random, et cetera

Side parts, middle parts, crew cut, greased, messy, thin, short, et cetera. Whatever style that’s possible given the current condition and length of hair.

5. Care not about the look of the hair and cover it up with headgear

I used to love winters in the States because it meant that wearing my hair long won’t be too hot or warm on the neck and shoulders, and that I can wear my snowcap without looking like a ghetto-street-wannabe. Other seasons I just wear a cap whenever I felt lazy to do anything with the hair. The songkok is worn on special occasions and with certain attires or when I go to the mosque to pray.

Right now the length of my hair is somewhere between collages no. 2 and no. 3.

So how do you think I should look? 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5?

Or should I just leave it to the hairstylist / barber to decide?

Feedback and opinions, personal and/or professional, are welcome. Critiques are fine as well.

P/S: ‘Like’ or ‘Tweet’ this if you think it is necessary that more people see this and give their input. Thanks.

So today is 09/09/09.

Doesn’t matter if you’re from America and have the month first before the day, it’s still 09/09/09.

It’s been ten years since 9/9/99.

Bored yet?

Sorry.

Of course 09/09/09 is cool and all, but 9/9/99 is a more important date to me.

I blogged about it last year. You can read it here.

Should I tell you the story of 9/9/99?

Maybe, if enough people ask me to.

Here’s to 10 years since 9/9/99.

I have issues with the 1Malaysia theme: Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian Diutamakan

Generally, the theme translates to ‘People First, Achievements Prioritized’

I’m keeping all my political inclinements aside (you should too) for the moment as I’m typing this.

I have issues with the theme. I don’t like it. In my opinion, it’s inappropriate, it sounds weird, and it gives the wrong messages.

Please put away the parangs and the torches and bear with me for a while.

I have said that the issues are entirely personal. And here they are:

1. As a theme for the National Day 2009, it’s just too long. It’s the predominantly the longest theme so far (compare the lengths here). Plus, 1Malaysia is not even a word.

2. National Day themes are usually meant to inspire the people to greatness (see past years themes here). Look at this year’s theme. Do you think it’s meant to inspire the people, or to reflect the aspirations of the government?

3. ‘Rakyat Didahulukan’ (‘People First’). When someone is put first, someone else is put behind. This part of the theme begs the question: who’s being sidelined here? The foreigners? Non-taxpayers? The Nine Rulers? The government? Government cronies? Like I said, wrong message here.

4. Also on this year’s ‘Rakyat Didahulukan’. It’s as if previously the rakyat (people) wasn’t first, this year we’ll start being first. So it some ways, it gives the message that the government has not been putting the rakyat first. Also it kind of in some ways acknowledge some people’s opinion on the government not putting the rakyat’s interests first. It gives the message that the government wants to change to a ‘people first’ government, and saying that this change is for the better acknowledges the existence of bad governance in the past. Again, wrong message here.

5. ‘Pencapaian Diutamakan’ (‘Achievements Prioritized’). This sounds like some milestones have been set and we must achieve and possibly go beyond those milestones. And achieving these milestones must be prioritized. Sounds so… corporate governance. This is not the rakyat’s aspiration. This sounds more for an organized body than the general public. An organized body like the Cabinet, the government departments, et cetera. Again, this is more about the government’s aspiration instead of the rakyat’s.

In general, my issue with the theme is that the theme is more suited for to promote the government’s aspirations and goals. The National Day is for the rakyat. Let us have a theme for us instead. After all, we the rakyat should be first, right?

What do you think about the theme for Malaysia’s 52nd National Day celebrations?

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P/S: Some may judge me as narrow-minded, ignorant, leftist etc for posting this. I say let them judge. I know who I am, inside and outside.

My computer has lost its internet connection for almost two weeks now.

Sorry for the lack of updates for those who expect them of me.

I am looking for ways to remedy this situation within a few days.

After that, I shall try to resume to my almost daily routine of updating.

And I shall catch up on your blogs too.

Wish me luck ok?

I need it.