Sunday, June 13, 2010

Published or Not?

This dilemma has encompassed myself since last month (May)..is how should I published my short stories..contacting several publisher who refused to work with me coz I know my short stories are not marketable in Malaysia..or maybe they do not achieve the standard quality publishers want...

I have called my lecturer, Dr. Jayakaran Mukundan, asking to get his advice...he still keep on revising my short story and will email me in a shortwhile. Prof. Edwin gives a full support upon this work eventhough it is very difficult for us to use our own literary works in class that we teach.

I can actually self-published it but I want to do it by using proper channel; through publisher. Silverfish Books, Ammeen Bookstore, Saba Islamic Media are the publisher that I tried to use their service and for the sake of the copywright of my works but some of them refused totally my works, and some still didn't reply my email.

However I really appreciate the comment I got from Zaipa Ibrahim, a Malaysian Writer who is now established in US and she's known with her famous novel based on Malaysia ..- The Gift-..she gave a very positive comment when replying my email...really inspiring and aspiring, motivating and full of sincerity

"If you write, then you are a writer Just waiting for the right time to get published in the literary world, insyaAllah. I only managed to read through one of your short stories – the serban. You are doing a good job. It reminded me of when I first penned down a short story back in high school. Keep polishing your writings and who knows you’ll become a published writer one day."Zaipah Ibrahim
Auhor of “The Gift”

Friday, June 4, 2010

Soul of Wind (Your comments are appreciated)

1) Are you frustated with your naughty students? Read and give comment this post.

http://brobayu.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/story-1/

2) Need an inspiration. This your must-read short story. Go to

http://brobayu.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/story-2/

3) I know most of you are in dilemma to find your soulmate. Read this and comment

http://brobayu.wordpress.com/2010/story-3-a-winning-nasi-kerabu/

4) Fans of Tiz Zaqyah and Remy Ishak. You will regret neglecting this post!
http://brobayu.wordpress.com/2010/story-4-light-of-love-nur-kasih/

Rating and comment these stories are appreciated...

Monday, May 17, 2010

when will they realise?

I always say to my students "Wemust always realise about ourselves; our stupidity, our mistakes, our wrongdoings, our weaknesses and anything negatives about us"

Dare to say that "Aku ni bodoh" for example. So what must we do to not become stupid because stupidity is a negative element yet it can be used to change to better one; positive. In this case, stupid to become smart.

My friend used to say to me that sometimes my words are so harsh. In my point of view, harshness might be the best solution if it can change ourselves positively.

The word "bodoh" definitely is considered so rude in Malay culture. However, do you read Seerah of our Prophet (Peace be upon him)? The moment Gibrail came to him and tried to teach him the first verse of Al-Furqan, Surah Al-Alaq. Gibrail asked him to read that verse three times and what did he say?. He said " I'm stupid and cant read the verse" stupid in arabic could be translated as "Ummi". Our prophet in this situation was willingly to admit that he can't read and he asked Gibrail to teach him.

What is the moral of the story? For me, we should..no..we must admit our weaknesses and prepare ourselves to improve. Muhammad (Peace be upon him) showed us the best way to become a good Moslem. Masyallah...

In the other hand, people especially Malay moslem do not take this as a good example (perhaps some of them do not or do not want to read seerah of our prophet (Peace be upon him)).

Some of them claimed that they are the smartest, cleverest, all-knowing and so on without noticing that they just a little on what they have learnt.

Once they gain a good grade or maybe just pass an exam for example, they boast that it is the best indicator to say 'I'm the best', "Without teacher, I still can pass my exam", "Nobody cannot object my opinion coz I got doctorate before I said it"

Nauzubillah...

Monday, May 3, 2010

The title of short stories

All these titles of short story are planned to be my next semester project. Besides reading activities, I will use this compilation as part of our drama presentation for Preparatory Intensive Programme (PIP). I wish I could finish producing them in the end of this June, 2010. Insyallah...

1) They Do Not Belong Here

2) The Journey to Dungun

3) His Pure Serban

4) For His Nasi Kerabu

5) Black or White

6) Markonah

7) Her puppy love

8) As Fisherman at Kuala Sepetang

9) Addicted

10) My Dear Blog

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

My Journey to Dungun

Since 9 pm, UJ kept calling me. Her wife was in a condition to give birth their first baby. I actually slept at that time...really really tired because I can't sleep last night as usual...insomniac...Luckily Ustaz Nizam woke me up and I replied UJ's call instantly...
Before this, UJ had asked help from me to take him to Kota Tinggi. His car was broken down (actually he wanted to trade in his Kembara).

Around 10 pm, we moved from Bandar Penawar to Kota Tinggi and hoped there is still a bus that can take UJ to Dungun...My heart said that no bus at all because it is quite late at that time..When we arrived at Kota Tinggi, (of course by my cute Kancil) my assumption was true. I have to help UJ and take him to Dungun. His wife did not give birth yet...perhaps the first baby may take longer time..huhu.....to be continue

Monday, February 22, 2010

We never

That's the title of my song in 2010, but unfortunately God says that I wouldn't win for NAdwah by using this song...Alhamdulillah, perhaps it will make me reflect myself...always do the best in everything I do, don't be dissapointed so fast and everthing was fated to my life and I must accept it by saying Alhamdulillah...take a look to the lyrics of this song...


Chorus

Please don't fight among each other,
Trying to prove you are the winner,
For Islam brings a peaceful life,
Moslems never cheer violence,
We never kill, we never hurt,
we never hit people of the world,
We never beat, we never avenge,
We never hate people of the world,

Verse

When you saw a smiling face,
For we have been, we have been blessed,
By the God who really want to give it to us,

We hardly breath in happy space,
That lead us to unanimity,
Later bring us serene days..

Repeat Chorus

Verse / bridge

When you say we are the killers,
You're killing us with no reasons,
Destroying with no hearty sympathy,

You blame us build terrorism,
You've done it to our brothers,
take away the happiness of their families,

Repeat chorus

Friday, January 1, 2010

Why don't you want to be called "budak sekolah agama"?

I'm proud because I was a student of SMA Izzuddin Shah though some of my friends are not. When I asked them why they did not want to admit that they are the product of the Sekolah Agama called "SIS", they just simply said that because the title of "budak sekolah agama" would make them difficult to socialize with girls, some said it would make other people called them "ustaz" and asked them to lead solah. Besides, some friends claimed that they did not want to be labelled as too "religious" person. My question is "what's wrong with that?" and "Is it the title a misery in your life and make your life abnormal?



After I finished my study at Izzuddin in 2001, I felt like I must to tell people that I'm the product of that school which really taught me what is tarbiyyah,usrah,jemaah and etc. when I entered Matriculation at Kuala Nerang, i missed the environment in Izzuddin like crazy. Teachers in Izzuddin educate us to be "insan" and not only human, "mukmin" rather than "muslim". The motto of the school itself reflects what I'm saying; "to grab the highest honourable achievement" . Islamic environment that i got only in Izzuddin throughout my life so far makes me think "Will I experience this kind of life again?".

Every journey that we start must be ended either well or badly. It is same like myself. My journey as a teenager in this school started in 1997 and ended in 2001. Praise be to Him because I ended my life there with ordinary result in SPM, good rapport with the teachers and friends, and the everlasting good memory although some of my friends and I were not recognised as school prefect for doing right thing...we are fired because we reported about wrongdoings done by our junior; he drank liquor...but our principal got angry because he thought that we might give a bad reputation to our school, religious school...huh

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Drama Presentation: My experience with my beloved students.

In that evening, when I saw college schedule which shows all activities that we should do throughout the year, my eyes was focusing to one activity that PIP lecturers who teach English must do; DRAMA FEST. It sounds grand and seems great. For me, it depends on how you interpret it. Perhaps it is just a role play, some lecturers say it is a short theatre, but most PIP students need this activity to get 10% of their carry marks. Hmm...in this post, I want to share my experience altogether with my students from two classes; PIP 1 and PIP 5 who performed their drama on October 19 and 20 2009.
For the first phase, we started the project on week 10 where I gave the compilation of fairy tales. Cinderella, Beauty and The Beast, Rapunzel, Goldilocks and Three Bears, Thumbellina, Jack and The Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood and so forth. When I gave these stories without giving them the authorities to choose, some of them moaned and some of them accepted it without excuses. But, hey...I wasn't close minded and let the students felt upset about it, so I discussed with them. "Those who want to change the fairy tale that I gave you, please see me after the class". Like what I expected, there were some groups of student who wanted to change the given short story. THE SHINE felt uneasy with "Goldilocks and Three Bears". Their reasons was they don't like the bears character. (Even though I think the bears in this short story is cute and not too wild...hehehe). I suggested to them. "What about The Beauty and The Beast?". It seemed that they like it or maybe they are familiar with this story. I wasn't sure. Other groups like ARAMAITIE and LUCKY LAKI didn't like the stories that I suggested to them at first but I guessed they got no choice so they had to choose "Rapunzel" and "Jack and The Beanstalk". I tried to give different short stories to different groups. (It is to make sure that we will watch the same drama presentation every night...huhu). This is because I don't want them to copy to each other when they want to do the drama documentation. When I gave the short stories to all groups, this is the time for them to start READING. Reading means understanding. When it went to this process, some students moaned again. "Why this text is difficult to read?". Well, reading is a process and of course it takes time. One of the factor that I thought made them difficult to read is because the words used in those text are not familiar for them. Plus, the culture which exist in most of short stories is Medieval English not Modern English or Malay or at least Malaysian setting. (I just laughed when they tried to figure out the meaning of certain words like "RAMPION", "ENCHANTRESS", " MERCHANT", "SWALLOW", "COTTAGE" and so forth). At least they learnt new words and learn new culture. For me, this process will involve students with the reading abilities and enrich their vocabularies.
The reading skills need students to analyze few aspects or elements in short stories which brought them to the next phase . Yet, they should know what should they analyze ? Definitely they have to go through elements like character, characterization, plot, setting, message and theme. Perhaps my students would grumble "Why there are lots of things to do in drama?"hmmm, and I answered "It is because to have a very good drama performance, you should undergo many processes before you get the best product." I would use a delicious plate of Fried Rice as a illustration of it; to produce the best fried rice, you must have good ingredients, kitchen utensil, experience, knowledge, skills and maybe luck. I asked again to myself "What should my students analyze?"hmm...of course they should know first about character and characterization in those stories. What on earth is character? What are the differences between character and characterization? They seems similar. I explained confidently to my students "Character refers to a person, people, animal or anything that are very important and play certain roles in short stories". I hope they understood. Hehehe...Actually I had just simplified the term from "Eight Edition: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama" by X.J Kennedy and Dana Gioia. "What about characterization?" I asked them again. Nobody answer my question. So again, I have to answer my own question like a stupid man. "Characterization can be categorised with two; character traits (attitudes) and physical traits." "Can you give examples from the fairy tales that you gave to us, sir?" asked one of my students trickily, trying to get the answers from me. "Start reading now!" ordered me to ensure that they would apply the knowledge that they had learnt on that day.
Climax? It sounded so "alien" to my students but they need to know to continue to the next phase. I tried to give hint to them. "Plot..., Do you know what is plot?". Again, they showed a blurred face while shrugging innocently. This was to show that they never heard that word before? Then as usual, I explained wholeheartedly to my students "Plot is a storyline that consist Beginning, Rising Action, Climax, Falling Action and Ending,". Suddenly they reacted "Oooohhhhh....I used to hear to those words."What the old trick?" I whispered. Actually they tried to say that they knew but had forgotten about it. Of course I was not trapped with their reasons. I challenged them again "If you know what is plot, can you tell me what is climax and how do you identify it in short story?". This time they showed their mimic face, pretending that they understood and knew the answers...(To be continued)

Monday, August 3, 2009

Viruses or the reminder from Allah?

Every 5 years, world will be attacked with new diseases, viruses or 'disasters' that can make people feel panic, shocked, prepared, and frustrated. H1N1 is the most "popular" now. Believe it or not, until August 3rd, there are 8 people has died because of it in Malaysia. Most of them come from Malacca, Selangor and Sarawak. Several schools, colleges and varsities are closed because of its attack. Who did plan this attack?
Terrorist? Politician? Doctors? Entrepeneurs? None of them. The experts say it comes from pig and because of that the symptom is known as swine flu.
Should we blame pigs? They are just a creature that most of people (except Muslims and some people) eat . They give lots of benefits to the country which trade them to other countries (including Malaysia). There must something that can be explained? There must be reasons why the viruses should exist? There must be logical causes why it comes from pig? There must be at least a good opinion why the symptoms only attack human? not to plants, not to other animals. I let the questions to be answered by you because you are human.
I hope that the title of this post might give you some clues or hints, ideas and wisdom, fact and opinion...happy blogging...

Wassalam

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

IN THE RIGHT WAY OF ISLAM & THE ONLY GOD

The title of this post actually reflects the title of my song that I composed recently (In the right way of Islam) and when I was in university ( The Only God). What can I say about 'em are...fantastic. the inspiration which awarded to me by Allah was in the right place, in the right time, to the right person..hehehe (insyallah). I also met a very talented person who gave "soul" to my song "In the right way of Islam". He is Sheedan who is studying at UTM, Skudai. He had arranged the music for my song only one day. What a talented person he is and I guess I will use his service again for my next song; ISLAM=PEACE and "Jalan Kehidupan".
The sweet moment had been carried with "In the right way of Islam" and "the Only God" because for a very first time they was presented to audience and judges during nadwah KPM-KM at MARa College Seremban, the nasyidians of MPCBP won the first runner up in that competition. I had formulated the strength of unison vocal for each of them then combine them with a so - called "all out" technique and we succeded to get second place.
It is so meaningful to me because of two reasons; lack of preparation but we won, the essence of the song which insyallah come from the bottom of my heart. I will explain more about this in the next post in "Especially For You :) My Students. I will also attach the lyrics of "In the right way of Islam" and "The Only God" in the next post.
Wassalam...
Bro. Bayu

Monday, November 17, 2008

Click to the score sheet to see your grade and marks



Assalamualaikum,
brothers and sisters

first of all...
Thank you because you are willing to take efforts to score in my subject ENG 1011. Most of you got A and B for this subject.

Secondly...
Congratulations to all of you because none of my brothers and sisters from PIP 3 failed in this paper. It is so amazing. One of my dream in my life is to see all of my students succeed in their life and believe or not, you are one step ahead.

Thank you to my lovely sweetheart, yoshi for helping me editing this post (hehe..I'm quite blinded technology person). I love you, honey. Brothers and sisters, please pray for the lasting relationship of us.

You are welcomed to comment to this blog, anytime you want. Do not hesitate to drop your ideas and critics to any posts in this blog.

.....I Believe I Can Fly

this song is dedicated to all my students...

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

...to let you go

This lyric and song is made specially to all my students. Brothers and sisters, please try to understand the expression of our heart as your educator...(bro.bayu)

I held you close within my heart,
tried to surround you,
protecting you, care about you,
with my concern and love.

To keep you safe,
from the darkest side,
from the lies of life,
ensuring you, to hold stronger,
evade the breaking down

chorus.

letting you go,
setting you free,
like freeing the bird without the wing,
but now i realise, I can't confine you,
your happiness, when I'm without you,
my dismissal will heal your heart,
now I dissapear, to let you live,
Go from my sight, and don't look back,
I wish my prayer is not proved with vain.

I'm hoping,
the tears of joy,
will swap my grief,
to see you breathe,
and to survive,
in the sinister days.

repeat the chorus.

Songs and Lyric are rearranged by: Bro.Bayu
adapted from "...to let you go" by Mr. Joe

Saturday, March 1, 2008

Tamyra Gray-Dance With My Father Again (With Lyrics)

to my dad...

Me singing Dance With My Father - By Luther Vandross

to my dad...

new semester, with new spirit

Assalamualaikum brothers and sisters.....

we have just begun new life in this new semester, so everyone must has at least a new story in their phase and episodes of life.....(sounds like sequel of star wars, he..he)

if you dont mind, why don't you share with BRO.BAYU. you can just write your story by blogging this "Especially For You:) My S_ _D_ _T"

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Friday, February 22, 2008

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Music and me part 5

we meet again..where was I?

oh yeah....my "music" life at matriculation....well.... i play a role as a main vocalist in the nasyid group here...even though ..i got no experience (forget about the lousy audition...) but maybe there were no students who dare to show their talent...i still remember the first nasyid song that i sang at that time was "Selawat ke atas Nabi" by In Team....

i wasn't sure I had sung well or not because nobody comment about it....but one thing i always remember is..once i become a nasyidian....it is like a big responsibility was burdening myself at that time.....i have to become a very kind, polite boy....every mistakes that i did even though it was a small issue and matter would be viewed as something that cannot be forgiven...

I needed to accept it...i have started it....my life as a nasyid singer....and i won't stop just because of that challenge....The steps that i had been taken made a gateway to next level of my life in the varsity, UPM.........

Bro.Bayu

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Music and me part 4

Well, perhaps I was a rhetoric man because of the statement of indication that i've made before. But i always believe that there always be a second chance in life. God is fair. HE is the Lord of justice...

(sigh)...i used to feel frustrated towards music because i felt insulted..humiliated...being fooled by the people who involved in music...music should not be blamed because of this.....

So, my matriculation study made my new life for me, in fact...my life is totally changed...from a person who always being oppressed by the irresponsible people in music to the top person in who always being appreciated because of his talent in music. hmmm...from zero to hero.

I will continue later.....