This is a CONTEST!!! Yep you read it right! A CONTEST!!

Translate this article into the English language and win an AUD30 book voucher!! Hooray !!!   

Dear readers


I think I mentioned in my brief one-liner post below that I am currently working on translating a well known piece by a famous muslim scholar. The piece is basically a letter of advices that Imam Hassan Al Banna wrote in reply to a letter from a youth who was troubled with how he saw his heart. Dead. Defunct.Lifeless. 

The reason that I am attempting to translate this article into the English language is because I thought that its a good piece to share with everyone and it would be a very good language exercise. And I have failed after browsing through 4 Google result pages, to find this article in English. As 9-gaggers would say it 'if its not there in the first 4 pages of google, it probably doesn't exist'

Halfway through the entire article, something suddenly crossed my mind during my lazy noon shower today. Instead of translating it myself, maybe I should find more talents across my sea of acquaintances and friends who would do much better jobs than me !

So here is the deal:
1. translate the article 'Surat Rijal kepada Hassan Al Banna' or its equivalent article in any other languages into English. A translation from the Arabic version would probably have the best advantage in terms of subtlety of language and meaning. AND please make sure that your attempts are honest ones, and not actually results from your far superior Googling skills or copying from other sources. Lets work with the system of trust and honesty. Feel free to extend the invitation to any of your friends.
(Many apologies to my readers with no other language than English in hand. Obviously this does not apply to you because the purpose of the contest is for you to be able to understand the article =) ) 
2. Send it to azfar.nor@gmail.com before (considering the traffic this blog gets) 30th March 2012.
3. I'll get some language hot shots to read it and evaluate it
4. The best translation wins an AUD30 book voucher ! and will be contacted through email.If you can find no use for an australian currency book voucher (i.e. you're in Malaysia or the UK or NZ or India or somewhere else), we will work something out.
5. The translation will then be posted here and be read by thousands of people on a daily basis. *cough2*..so much for a system of honesty and trust

Up for the challenge?! Go for it!

Yours truly
Azfar

Friends pick us up when we fall down, if they can't pick us up, they lie down and listen for a while

 Off a post in 9-gag. No photos, I'll let you picture it yourselves.

P.s.: Working on translating a well known piece. Otherwise I'm trolling around playing video games and pushing people when they are trying to aim for a head shot in their video games. I'm starting the semester with a hilariously confusing and laid back elective term. Nothing to do + denial of medical student status = fun !! and hopefully some outside-of-medicine productivity as well...of course... 

Lots of Bee Gees too, admittedly. Its so weird.

Borborygmus

My gut is telling me that its going to be an awesome year this one. Yes, gut. I hear you. And I'm liking the song.

bor·bo·ryg·mus

  [bawr-buh-rig-muhs] 

noun, plural -mi [-mahy] Physiology .

a rumbling or gurgling sound caused by the movement of gas in the intestines.

The Past by yk

Hi all !

This is a blog post of a friend that I have only recently discovered. I feel quite connected to it and asked his permission to post it here so to share the post with all of you. My mate here is studying medicine at the same Uni as I am and he is also making some really really awesome music !!(reminds of me of the days when I used to listen to heaps of metal music, until the 'death grunts' in the music scared me off for good). For a treat of the awesome music I mentioned, here is the link to his myspace webpage:

ykmusic.net

To yk: thanks for this article mate! I have just omitted some of the content as I felt that some of my readers may not feel so comfortable with it. Otherwise nothing else is touched =). As I told you, the world needs more of positive minded people to spread goodness around, thanks for being one of them.

Enough of my own worthless chat, here is the article: 

Hey everyone! It's been a while but I'm back!

Sorry for leaving you for so long, I've actually been unwell for a little, but I'm finally getting better! I've returned to the recording studio to do some work on a new track, and I can already say that it's going to be very heavy. With all that is happening right now I'm hoping to get it released (as well as all of my songs to date) by the end of this year via an album release !! Thanks for supporting yk and please continue to follow our journey!

I've recently been using my blog to explore various issues, and today, I wanted to deal with none other but the past.

The PAST

If we look back on our lives, we can undoubtedly identify moments that have wounded us, events that have scarred us, and people who have left us feeling hollow and hurt. And although it is easy to complain about society, highlight flaws in the world around us, and even talk ill of those who have wronged us, this often brings us no closer to what we truly seek, which is peace, which is freedom from our past.

On Demons Behind Wheels, Under the Skin

The holidays are here.  I think it has been four weeks since the last exam and semester, which to my great relief I have passed.

One year of undergraduate medical studies to go mates !!

The prospect of working though has placed itself in a love-hate relationship spot in my heart. I love the student life and the do-everything-without-responsibility part of it but the 'everything' don’t really happen that often. I actually want to practice medicine. Its something I really look forward to doing. 

Since the four weeks of holidays in Malaysia, I have been occupied with the waiting task of a chauffeur and inevitably, the accompanying joys and pains of the job. A scene that has managed to replay itself on my windshield and side view mirrors, sadly is that of horrific driving attitudes of our fellow motorists.

Need I delve into the details of what I call 'horrific driving attitudes' and share it to all of you my respectable and very honorable readers and drivers ? I think not. If you live in urban Malaysia, you will have at any time of your life experienced first hand the swerving, butting in and the confused and confusing usage of road marker lines and indicator lights by our drivers.

Once I was stuck in a traffic  jam for 90 minutes during my adventure to pick up dear mummy from her office which is around three to five kilometers away from home. In angst and fury, I fully attributed the lengthy drive to the overwhelmingly numerous attempts of motorists who  were cutting the queues and my weak heart, full of anger eventually got tired of trying to calm myself down and putting on a fake smile and being optimistic. I didn’t really see that other things may have caused a longer than usual delay in traffic, I just firmly believed that these queue cutters were the sole reasons. And every time I turned to see the faces of these drivers, who have mastered the art of wearing the mask of indifference, I would see that these drivers are chinese, or indian, or female, or a sheikh with  a kopiah or sometimes a turban on. Seeding from this conviction and observation was then a solipsistic attitude during the final part of me being stuck in the traffic jam. Namely the over zealous acts of not letting others cut my queue, not even caring if their wives were giving birth in the car and they needed to cut the queue to get to the hospital ASAP and triggering a thought slightly tarnished with elements of racism.  Not only that, I also got quite verbal in the car, exclaiming loudly about my disappointment (using not the most appropriate of words, I must admit) towards the driving sheikhs who should by all means set a good example to other muslims and non muslims driving on the roads, and I also nearly slipped out a few curses in the presence of dear mummy who would've had the most stressful time of listening to his dear sonny saying things 'like that' after a stressful day at the office.   

Afterw