A Wider Perspective on Life....

warwick lake

hello ! how was your day? Good? Nice to hear if yes :)

Anyway, beneath it all, we always look at things at a different perspective. As to how we perceive things. How we take into account of other 'things'. Having a wider perspective can never be bad. Having a wider perspective creates more attention and makes us steadfast. 

Living in a world of conflict and conviction, we tend to realise that things happen for a reason. Or reasons for many. Allah swt has made the Qada' and Qadar written for us ever since life was created. 

What i'm trying to say here is that, we as humans tend to lose our minds when it comes to positive thinking. I'd like to include myself in that one too if i may ;) . Perhaps, we should understand that, there's always a reason behind something. Whether good or the other. 

We have to understand that, when something happens, our maturity takes control of us. If, to say that you are mature enough to handle the situation, you'll most likely brainstorm on how to get rid or resolve a certain issue step by step. By stages. Development. To have a calm mind in a heretic situation would be most wise i reckon. 

Faith in understanding would more likely give support towards your reasoning. So, i'd suggest, the next time you want to raise that hand of yours, or even your voice, i'd suggest you to sit down. Drink a cup of tea. And... well.. resolve it step by step.

The word for this whole jumble would be : Patience. Sabr in arabic. Sabar in Bahasa Melayu. We tend to lose our minds when patience steps out of our hearts. We should always practice patience in everything for it is of all a part of faith. Like the famous malay quote " Sabar itu separuh daripada Iman".

A verse from the Quran :

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

'O ye who believe! Take not for intimates others than your own folk, who would spare no pains to ruin you; they love to hamper you. Hatred is revealed by (the utterance) their mouths, but that which their breasts hide is greater. We have made plain for you the revelations if ye will understand.

(Al- Imran 118)

The above surah from Surah Al-Imran explains that Allah has made clear that, we have to be careful in our day to day talk. We ought not to speak of evil of people. :) That goes to me too hehe.

Hilmi Ramlan

Of Men...

lovebirds

what is a man without his emotions. 

what is a man without prior feelings.

what is a man without hopes and dreams.

what is a man who just doesn't...

Allah said in the Quran; in Surah An-Nisa', 

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim,

in the name of Allah, the great and the merciful

Men are in charge of women, Allah hath made them to excel the other.

(An-Nisa : 34)

You see, when people see this verse, they think that men, above other being, they rule. You know, when you read the surah more, Allah explains that, men tend to get cocky. (my own words interpreted btw).

Well, im not going to beat around the bush. Allah wants men or we look at it, MAN, to look after the women. We GUYS have been made much superior than the ladies, thus we should HELP and GUIDE. Not criticise when they are trying hard to be as par as us. When they say that they are as par as us, we are losing our position. Allah has made the ladies' hearts soft and caring. Easy to give in to their emotions. Though many do not accept that fact, they believe so inside themselves. 

From my perspective, i think everyone is equal, but as a man, i have to try and make myself more superior than the ladies around me. :) and not to criticise, but to help the 'hawa's'. guide them men. help them ;)

Hilmi Ramlan

COMPOSITION

Composition is one of the basic principles in design. May it be animation, print and etc. Composition through my eyes is a form of laying out text,images and such to form a final work which is best viewed or optimized to its maximum communication limits.

Composition also allows us to generate layouts, thus giving us a wide range of perspective and view of an artwork. Composition is also a tool for producing an artwork and helps to answer a design brief or even our daily 'brief'. By composing an artwork, we are able to design what's best to a certain element such as audience or objective. :)

This was what i wrote 8 weeks ago. We were given a brief. A simple brief to compose a poster or layout which induces your idea of composition, per se the above content. 

The concept i have chosen is: 

Perspective

Composing the many principles

Balance

Perspective is being symbolised by the dotted lines.

Composition being symbolised by the camera. As to how photographers compose a photograph.

And balance? the ball.

The eye is a symbol of my point of view. :) a simple yet straightforward strong poster(i think). with red as a strong feature, i wanted to attract the viewers. Then make them interpret. 

p.s: this isnt the final layout because the texts werent editted a.k.a grids and such 

comments and critiques pls tq :)

Hilmi Ramlan

Winter withdraws a slow....

no no..it is still winter.. hahaha.. im just dreaming that it was over..hahaha :P

today was an enjoable day though. had lots of fun watching DAN IN REAL LIFE. :D haha its a must see movie people ;)

was abit more religious than usual tonight. was reading the holy book from 8 till 10pm without noticing. haha

anywho, my father once said to me... well through an sms la! haha..:

you must balance yourself in five aspects of life.

1) Education ( mind, studies, success, career)

2) Social (watching your favorite movies, songs, friends)

3) Physical (exercise, fit)

4) Mental (reading your favorite books)

5) Spiritual ( pray, zikir and such)

these were the main things i did when i felt esteem leaving my door steps. i had only my father to show me the way. but the path? i had to walk myself. 

Alhamdulillah, now i'm on the right track. insyaAllah im doing what i was initially here for. Education. Experience. 

etc.

Many things change day by day. But one doesn't. Commitment. towards family, friends, studies, religion.

Allah has asked us to take ablution. Which is what we always do before prayers. Everytime my face is struck with the calm water, i feel a certain serenity and steadfast of inner strength. I feel that, all my 'dirt' is cleansed. With Allah's water, we clean ourselves before we start praying to him. 

Water is ladies and gents, a strong element in this earth. Water being the most thing available around the world. Why did Allah ask us to take ablution with water? not with something 'hard' to find? difficult to see? rare to look at? Allah has made everything easy for us. Everything laid out in front of us. 

Though in Chinese Horoscope, i'm an earth dragon. yes yes... i might bite. :P but apparently, i like how water slowly moves around. how it can affect change. how it can create disasters and peace. what do you think?

let that question be the full stop for tonight. :) 

 

Hilmi Ramlan

Time...

This 2008, i celebrate it with a new watch. to tell me the time. to keep me on track. 

ladies and gents------> by FOSSIL

price of item £95.00

BullRing Birmingham

Into the New World..... :P

A new song given to me by a good friend(cough....cough) of mine. From the other end of the world we communicate and such. Thanks mate.

I've been working on my composition work.

 And still, i am not that happy with it. It looks too simple. YET! it has such a strong NOT MADE UP concept about it. Will post it up someday.

Below is me and my sister Syakirah Ramlan. I love her till death do us apart. Wallah I swear to Allah i will take care of her and of course my brother if it takes my life into account.

Brotherhood is someting where people tend to lack these days. They call themselves brother and sisters but they do not have that quality to lead nor to be a role model.

I remember how my sister usually asks me. Abang, how does this go? Why is this like that?

and...?

i'd answer her with the most truth. Unlike some who would just prance and say "go and find out yourself!". Some don't even tend to reply. Keeping the sibling lost at bay.

Syakirah, my sister is a potential person is lingual departments. She has strong features i tell you that. Smart. Cunning. but still lack of knowledge and needs to be guided. Somehow we'll be there to help her out ;)

Nothing much happened today. It was all just work and work. Went for Jumaah prayers just now. Missed the khutbah. Haih.....

Anywho, will post again soon! :)

Hilmi R

I HATE... -text only layout

Hi! Had a tutorial session with Bal today. Regarding also the text&image work. And guess what?! HE LIKES IT!! :D

So yea below is my humble double page spread. Though, i still need to fix the centered alignment of it. In order for it to be able to be imposed as a magazine layout per se. 

Concept of work: 500 word essay turned into a TEXT ONLY layout.

Application of Principles:  a) Rule of Thirds

b) Golden Spiral

c) Visual Hierarchy

d) Gestalt Rule of Geometrical Shapes

e) Colour Hierarchy

Concept in Mind: - IMPACT! DESTRUCTION! DEVASTATION!

With these principles in place, i believe that the viewer would be able to read it as to how i WANT them to read it. Do comment and critique tq :)

-pls note the image is of low resolution to not encourage stealing and etc.

Hilmi Ramlan

Composition

What Composition means to me:

copyright of Birmingham City University Students and of Muhammad RAMLAN

Brief: 1) compose a poster/layout, may it be landscape or portrait and explore the principles of design and implement it.

ie: Rule of Thirds

Visual Hierarchy

Balance

Colour Mood and Combinations

Typography

This is the chosen concept and has been editted a few times by myself. The second stage would be of my lecturer Bal Nandra and David Oz to tell m

e what they think. Pray i did alright ;)

Do tell me what u think.

the artwork was based upon Lissitzky's artworks. Constructivism.

Hilmi Ramlan

UPDATED-------

Bal said it was as though i rushed the work and fit in everything i could think of. He gave a comparison towards my text&image works which were far more superior and worked better than the one i have above here. He said it didnt work because there are just too many things to look at. 

Should i be mad? sad? depressed?

actually.. im relieved that he declined that idea. :) because i didnt like it as to how it look. even my so called made up concept is just shite. haha.

ill do a better one. i already have something in mind :)

cheers!

Memories of Us

Hilmi Syakirah Ilham

I've had lots of memories with 'us'. Good ones. Memorable ones. Bad ones. Sad ones too.

Despite the fact that we're suppose to love each other ever since we were born. We tried to cope with each other. We fought with each other. We cried with each other. We slapped each other. We karate kick each other. lol!! and yes. I love 'us'.

There will be nothing else that comes closer than us. I love us always. I promise us to never part ways. Ever. If anything was to happen, i'd help us get together. InsyaAllah.

;)

Us with mama

Anyway, did lots of composition and text&image work too today. Went to town and posted something for my parents and my family back in Malaysia. And also for the people in Jakarta too! :D

Having my composition class tomorrow. Please pray for me i've done good :D i hope all will go alright tomorrow :) wait for my next update to know more! Im as enthusiastic as you are. Trust me.. heheheh..

Salam,

Hilmi Ramlan

-listening to TENTANG DIA- weeeeeee!! thanks hens!!

Nature of Humans

Nature's way

I've been working on my two projects avidly now. My text and image: I HATE... project and my Composition poster/layout project. Have been working well with InDesign. It is a superb program i tell u. :D

for now it's all good and as planned. alhamdulillah. but i did went through lots of bumps. and im telling u. those bumps are really annoying. haha.

i've met these kind of things before. but does that mean it is the same? true enough that experience has taught me not to give in to self 'bad' talk. but what good does it do if we thus force ourselves still? 

i learned from the things that happened to me when i came back from malaysia. in class i was given a huge slap on the face when mr.B said i could've done better. at that time, in my heart, i had the most laziest idea of.. GET THIS DONE WITH ALREADY. but then i thought. He must be right. i AM better than this.

How many of us actually do think of the positive side of things? how many of us actually do think of positive elements when things are going on?

Possibly we only think that, when things go a fail, we tend to give up. Sometimes, giving up cant be the only choice. Though, choices seem to be very limited these days. haha.

anyway, whilst doing work on the computer, i get sms's from my parents. asking if i'm alright. if im coping well now. I REALLY thank Allah for giving me the opportunity to have such great parents with me. They are tolerant. Strong at heart. Lovable and caring too. :)

This 18th January they'll celebrate their 21st anniversary together. :) all those hardships they've been through. (and still is going on if i might add :P ....). 

Congratulations!!! :D

anyway im going to call it a night now. It's been really tiring. Today had lots of things happening. 

Photography @ the studio with Amar. Helped me a bunch. thanks man! :D

One 2 One lesson with the Mac people. Very friendly they are :)

bought myself a new watch.... weeeee!! from Fossil :D

and yeah... got back at 9pm.. and started working. hehe..

my stomach's growling right now. haha but hey. morning is a come :)

so yeah do enjoy today's photograph entry. ain't much but do enjoy it nway :)

Salam

Hilmi R

Hard Disk Maniac

ARGH!! i just bought a new external HDD for my MAC back in KL.. thought it would work...but NO!... it CANNOT do anything except read the files on it... i have to use my windows to put in things.. what's the point?!? argh!!!!!!!!!! hmm...

besides that, i had a gathering with the University of Birmingham Muslim students. We had a talk and had lunch. :)

Besides that, im really annoyed right now. And im going to go to bed as soon as i finish typing this. For i am TIRED and im sleepy. argh!!

hmm anywho...... will post something decent tomorrow. internet's abit slow. maybe due to rain.hmm rahmat.. haha.

salam

Hilmi

Resolve

SALIDA 1991 (Exit 1991) - Malaga

This 2008 i am going to put certain things straight. 

First off: ATTITUDE

i will my tilt my perspective on how i think about things and of how i react to them. how i perceive things are to be different from now on.

Second: HABITS & STUDIES

i will get new things to do. like pray 5 times a day and of course do the things for Allah because i want to.

i will start working hard for whatever i want. grades. results and such.

Physically and Mentally i would get things to boost myself up.

Third: SOCIAL

i will spend time with my friends and try to schedule things proportionately. 

Fourth: FAMILY

i will be a role model for my brother and sister. i will be a proud son who will make his father and mother proud. i will listen to my parents advice and of their saying.

Fifth: PERSONAL

i will be a more caring person and will reflect on mistakes and success. i will not fall just like that without a fight. i will work myself off for what i want. 

Though there are only 5 listed down, i believe that there are more that i could achieve and maybe none of the ones above here are achievable by the end of 2009.

i once asked someone, what was your 2007. What meant 2007 for you? her reply? .... someone who left for England right when they were just getting along fine together. Someone who she could count on but had to sacrifice certain things to gain others. 

t'was me she was talking about. i believe yes it was my fault. but so far, i've known much more of her since we've been staying on different islands.

There was a joke that came in between when me and her was taking a photo together. Suddenly the kids said "aww.. look at the two lovebirds..". I wonder what she was thinking. Were we in love, love? are we? i'd wait a million years for that answer honestly. 

Hilmi and Akma 2007 

anyways, i've been living a good time here in birmingham. and i wont let just a small thing in class disrupt me the whole journey. Going gets tough, tough gets going. Aye sir! :D 

anywho, will write more soon :) ta!

Salam,

Hilmi Ramlan

Granada 2007

Al-Hambra - Granada - Andalucia- Spain

Hi!! I shouldve done this so long ago. and yes i'vebeen spanked for this.hehe nways. i went for a trip to spain a month ago with some friends from Southampton and of birmingham. they were really friendly people. :)

Enjoyed the trip really. learned lots of things. we went to Al Ham

bra, the Andalucian city of the muslims until they fell to King Ferdinand of Spain. Well lots of history went on and on. Though, we learn through our mistakes. We learn from how we perished.

A person of wise just told me yesterday, " Remember!! Success is a journey!.. and when things get tough, the tough gets going "

t'was my father who gave me advice.

I was falling apart in my own world these few days. Why?

list:

me being homesick

me being lazy in assignments

me slacking

me not working hard enough

and more of me..

so yes, i asked for the most suitable advice. from my dad. :) he's always there for me. he's always there to advice. he's always my dad. ;)

anyway, i promised myself this 2008 to work my arse off. InsyaAllah, Allah will guide and lead me towards goodness and success. 

Amin.

Enjoy the photos ;)

Back in Birmingham

Hey people! im back in my residence in Birmingham. So far, all's well. Flight was alright and as usual the weather cold and chilly. Yesterday aliff came to birmingham. Took him around for a tour and after a few hours, he went off. Oh and yea, i've got a new toy for 2008 :) thanks papa. 

i promised papa that this year, ill prove myself worthy of my grades. Ill get those grades. You'll see :)

InsyaALLAH, tomorrow is the Awal Muharram, or the New Year for the Muslims worldwide. So hope the new year is a great new start for everyone. 

Other than that, im gonna start working harder for 2008. Im gonna make sure all the money spent on me here on this island is gonna pay off. :) insyaAllah.

will post up some photographs soon!

Hilmi

a proud MAC user

Return

Hey! m returning to Birmingham on monday. a.k.a reaching birmingham n tuesday. :)



m so stressed out with all the meeting with people and food. haha yes yes. been having good food recently ;)



nways, m being tired out by my whole going around. my FIRST time driving in KL to Low Yat plaza. Ya ampun. it was hell..hahahha driving isnt as easy..woohoo.. i couldn't feel my legs nemore. haha.



rain rain rain..hahaha..hmm nways.. just tried driving a new bmw 530i yesterday. below isnt the exact picture. and it isnt mine. so yes. copyrights reserved for original owner :)



promise to write more before i leave :D



salam!