Peace At Last!

Remember the neighbor I was telling you about?

She left.

Finally.

Alhamdulillah!

Don't mean to be rude or anything... but I'm glad she's gone.

'Nuff said.

- - - > i'm out.

11 Painful Things

I got this text message from an old friend. It said, "11 Painful Things". It was mainly about love, certain situations people go through when falling in and out of love. You could agree with the message or not... but hey, I'm just here to share.

11 PAINFUL THINGS

1. bringing back the feeling you've learned to forget.

2. reminiscing the good times.

3. trying to hide what you really feel.

4. loving someone who loves another.

5. having a commitment with someone that you know wouldn't last.

6. shielding your heart to love somebody.

7. loving a person too much.

8. the right love at the wrong time.

9. taking the risk to fall in love again.

10. accepting the fact that it was never meant to be.

11. what if's.

How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise,
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints -I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! -and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

~~~~~~~

-Elizabeth Barrett Browning-

First Movie Date

Last Sunday, I went out with my family and my in-laws to Mall of Asia (which was Raja's and my first time) for a movie... it has been like this ever since; my in-laws are movie buffs and so are the kids, so everytime we go out, it's like a field trip because there's about ten to sixteen of us (sometimes with cousins in tow) watching altogether. One big happy family. hehe! But there're times too, where we split up and watch different movies then just meet up after for coffee and go home. This was one of those days... but only a tad different. We took Raja to see his first movie. COOLNESS!

We had initially planned on seeing Pirates of the Carribbean II or Lady in the Water but I couldn't shake off the thought that Raja was going to watch a movie on the big screen for the first time without us, so I changed my mind and told Najah I'll be watching The Ant Bully with her,Raja and Kazim. Shortly Hamza followed suit. I knew it was bound to happen... besides looking like peas in a pod (Raja's looks exactly just like Hamza when he was a baby), those two are joined at the hip. *sigh!* Bye-bye Johnny Depp and Keira Knightly, bye-bye Paul Giamatti and Bryce Dallas... guess we'll see you when the DVDs come out!

The movie wasn't so bad. It was really made for kids. Kazim was behaved throughout the whole screening; it was his fourth time. Somehow I couldn't concentrate on it though; I kept looking beside me... I was watching Raja watch the little ants and little Lucas on the big screen. He was chillaxin' on his Abi's lap, happily sucking on his "dee-dee" and watching intensely. He seemed to take in the whole thing--the giant screen in front of him, the sound system, the hundred or so seats of the cinema, the blue light lining the stairs--everything was new to him, and he seemed to enjoy it. He was a behaved little angel for the first hald of the movie. Yep, the first half only. The next half was CHAOS. UTTER CHAOS.

Well, I guess it was an exaggeration. It wasn't really like that. You can't hold a one year and eight months' attention the whole time, he's bound to get restless and distracted with other things around him. So, for the second half of the movie, Hamza would get up then down the stairs, seat themselves on the de luxe section where few people were watching and then go back up to get his "dee-dee". He wouldn't go to me, so he was with Abi the whole time (let me reiterate: they're joined at the hip). We joined them downstairs when the movie was over.

It was a good experience for us. At least we know our kid's not a monster inside the movie house. I've gone to theaters where there are kids who whine and are loud and kick the backrest of the seats (hate when that happens) and the parents look helpless and embarrassed. But I can't make a conclusion on a first experience. Besides, he's just a toddler, it's too young to tell how he'd be like when he's older. I just hope he doesn't grow up to be like that. I be so embarrassed that I'd probably leave the theater with a bag over my head. Heehee!

Quote

We cannot change our past...

We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only things we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.

- Charles R. Swindoll

You're SO Freakin' Loud!

Ever had a neighbor who's totally inconsiderate that you just want to bite his/her head off given the chance to do it? I did. I still do. ARGH!

I live in a two-storey unit with Hamza, Raja and Ate Lina, our househelp. On the last door lives this woman, some singer named Marge who, according to my cousin, is making an album and will be staying there til the first week of August. They needed a quiet place where they could mix their tracks. 'Making an album, eh?' I could already imagine all the ruckus. But my cousin said that they'll just be mixing songs and recording them-- no singing or practicing or whatsoever. They'll be using headphones. That's what my cousin was told. Yeah, right.

The first few weeks was okay-- i could hear faint music throbbing through our walls now and then but it was tolerable. I have a one year-old running around the house wreaking havoc day by day, so I guess they could also hear me and Raja yelling and screaming ("No, Raja!" or playing monster-monster) from the other end of the wall. Quits lang.

And then it happened. One Saturday night, they just blasted their volume and practiced like they were in a recording studio. Wow. Just when my kid was about to sleep! She sounded nice, I admit, but hey, she was disturbing my peace! I let about thirty minutes slide to see if they'd tone the volume down. But when they didn't, I sent Ate Lina to ask them to lower down their volume, and so they did, thank God. The second time was on a Sunday morning. It was about 6am, Hamza got home at 4am from work and waited for fajr before catching some zzz's. We could hear the keyboard playing loudly, as if practicing on some new material and the same song kept playing over and over and over again. Nice, huh?

Because of these unfortunate incidents, Raja's sleeping schedule's messed up. He usually sleeps around 9pm but ever since they started 'mixing their songs with their headphones on', he has begun sleeping late (1:30am-- que horror!). How many times that has happened, I don't know. I've lost count. The last one takes the cake. I think it happened about a week ago. Another Saturday night. It was 11:46 in the evening and I so desperately wanted my boy to sleep, which to my dismay, was still fully awake as he slept late again. I was watching a movie on HBO and then suddenly they started playing full volume! "What the freak...?!?!" That was the last straw!

I went downstairs then outside and rang on their doorbell. Nothing. Of course, how would they be able to hear? I went back upstairs and banged on my wall so they would at least know they could be heard from the other end. Wala pa rin! Bwi***! (pardon the language). So I called up my cousin and asked if he could hear the music from my (which he could) and told him to tell them to lower the freakin' volume. By then Ate Lina had also woken up and began knocking on their door. Me, I went there and started banging on both the door and windows (coz they couldn't hear the knocking) until my knuckles went red. That went on for about twenty more minutes. And then utter silence. I could see a neighbor peeking from his window but didn't come out. I must've looked like a monster by then; I was raging! Ever experience getting so mad that you could actually hear your heart beat and your muscles shaking with rage?! I did that night. I think my cousin called to make them stop as they were disturbing not only me, but our other neighbors as well.

The worst part of this all is that she never bothered to apologize--for the loud music, and the late night practices that they did. I mean, hey, I like music too, and I understand that she's making an album, but to practice at 11pm to 3am in a place where people live pretty darn close to each other is quite unreasonable, don't you think? Geez.

I don't see much of her nowadays, nor are there any 'mixing tracks with headphones' going on anymore. But she's still there, running to and fro, locking up her dogs (pets aren't allowed here, miss!). I'm not a difficult person to live with, nor am I a monster to my neighbors. I don't wish her ill...But I do hope she leaves pretty soon!