3rd Month Anniv.

Happy 3rd Month Anniversary to you sayang. It's been a wonderful journey. Looking forward to more wonderful months ahead.

I miss you.

Thank you for the love.

Lompat Lebih Tinggi

Hi all. Hope you're all doing good. I apologise for not updating recently. Been really busy with my work. As you all know, parents have been around for two weeks. They flew back to Malaysia last monday. As we speak, my brother is en route to Birmingham from Dubai. Can't wait!

Anyway it's been a brilliant journey. I was kinda depressed for a bit through the weeks. It was really heavy. A burden i don't think i could explain in words. But Alhamdulillah Allah hasn't given up on me. Syukur.

Apart from that it's been wonderful. Now am working on 4-5 briefs at the same time. Got two done. Need to get the others done QUICK. So i'll post something soon ok? :)

Take Care! And EID MUBARAK. AIDIL ADHA to all Muslims around the world. May our sacrifices have a great meaning to us all.

Salam.

Miracle

I don't need one.

I just need Allah. Right now more than ever, cause I'm about to burst.

Ya Allah, help.

Hilmi Ramlan

A little too soon.

Heyy. Sorry for the lack of updates. Been caught up with Uni work and
parents. They've been around for a week or so. Heading back to KL on
Monday. Sure am going to miss them here in the UK. :'(

I'm trying not to get too attached. Cause it's difficult if i am. It
gets too emotional. But anyway I've done this before. Insyaallah it
should be ok. And besides. A few moths more and I'll be home. :)

Other than tonnes of Uni work that needs doing, we've been shopping
alot. I hope not too much. Alhamdulillah we're still given the leisure
and opportunity. We'll be in Manchester tmrw for Old Trafford and
sightseeing. Belfry Golf Course before that.

Sad news. Allahyarhamah Wan Pulau as she was called by us grandkids
passed away today Malaysian time. She's not been in the best of
conditions the past few months. I've had the chance of talking and
joking with her when it was Eid. May Allah bless your soul and your
family. Insyaallah. Inalillah. From Our Lord we came, to Him we return.

It's 3am in the morn. A little knackered from doing Ads. 2 briefs done
by Monday. And a presentation for Tuesday. I'm praying hard so I get
through really well. Amin.

Ya Allah, I pray for success and please ease my burdens. Amin. Ya
rabbal al Amin.

Hilmi Ramlan

Really not me.

Ya Allah, akulah hamba mu yang lemah. Di waktu yang senang ku memanggil nama-Mu. Di saat yg susah juga ku memanggil nama-Mu.

Ya Rabbi, aku mohon dari Mu apa yang di mohon oleh mereka yang lemah dan di saat keperluan. Janganlah Engkau larikan dari aku apa yang aku perlu. Ya Rahman, Ya Rahim. Aku mohon dari-Mu pertolongan. Agar Engkau meringankan bebanku dunia dan akhirat insyaAllah.

Akulah hamba-Mu yang lemah. Allahumma La Sahla, Illa Ma Ja'Al Tahu Sahla. Wa'an Tataja 'Alul Hasna Syik Ta Sahla Ya Allah.

I've got only four weeks to finish up my first semester. Things are looking really slow. Oh my Lord, please.

Amin

Emmanuel Moire - Sans Dire Un Mot (Clip Officiel)

Beautiful piece of song. :) Heard this on the telly in Paris.

Oh yes, i just got back from Paris ;)

Happy Birthday Hilmi =]

Alhamdulillah. Praise be to Allah. I've lived 21 years and now
stillgoing strong. Many achieved, loved and more to come.

Thank you all foe the well wishes. May God bless you all. This year's
birthday came pretty swiftly. Unfortunate my brother and girlfriend
couldn't b here to celebrate. Next year perhaps?

Anyway, had a good day in Harrods today. Terrible dinner at 'Jom
Makan'. They are so unfriendly and food was disgusting. Not even
saying thank you for our patronage and tips we gave? Too much there.

Anyway Oxford Street awaits tmrw. Maybe Westfield as well. Received a
wonderful present from papa and mama. Thank you for the beautiful
family heirloom (I consider). It will stay with me till my sons. :)

Happy 21st Birthday to me!!

Hilmi Ramlan

Project PapaMamaIra.

Hey! Cheers from London. Am blogging straight from my phone. Currently
papa, mama and ira are all asleep. Jet lagged? Hehe. I've got some
work to do. Maybe till about 11pm, I'll get to bed. :) anyway it's
nice having them around. Feel rather warm although the weather's
pretty cold and harsh today.

They even got through the checkpoint nicely alhamdulillah. Rendang,
Dendeng you name it. Woooh. She cooked it the day before and packed it
for me. Thanks Ma. We had rendang and toasted bread for dinner. In the
middle of London? What more can I ask for? :)

The bus trip to Heathrow was ok. Had these old couple behind me
talking about their travels and how this airport and that airline
screwed their trip. Fascinating. Haha. Had the earphones plugged most
of the time anyway. From Birmingham to Banbury to Heathrow. 2hrs
45mins. Woooh. Tiring that is.

That's all for Day 1. Will update more soon. Oxford street?
Knightsbridge? Covent Garden? Here I come!

Sent from the iPhone.

Sushi Sunday!

Had loads of fun today! Bari and Yin travelled down from Stafford and the three of us made sushi together. Not only that, Tempura seafood and Salmon Teriyaki! It was quite a feast. We didn't even finish the first set. And there was another pot of sushi rice boiling. We're aching in agony now. Stomach full of food!

Alhamdulillah we've also settled a few things regarding LensaMata. The three of us decided to get together and combine our photography styles. Each of us contributing a little bit and insyaAllah we'll have a working photography agency of three people doing weddings, events and even potraits. Stay tuned for more info!

Parents are coming tomorrow! Excited? Of course. I've still got a ton of work to do. But in my heart I know that He above knows best. He must have something planned for me. InsyaAllah. Like they say " Bismillahi Tawakkaltu Allallah" Tawakkal. I've written a whole post on tawakkal. Which means to do your best and Allah will do the rest.

Anyway I've got to take the coach to the Airport tomorrow. 2 1/2 hour journey?! What WILL I be doing on the bus. Making sure every eletronic is charged, clothes packed and sort. I'll be in London for the next few days with my parents and sister Ira. They'll be here to celebrate my birthday. Oui? Haha. I'm turning 21 this coming wednesday! Excited? Very. I've not celebrated my birthday for quite some time now. Been away and of course, at some point it never became of any importance. So yeah. But this year it's different. And I am thankful to Allah for providing me with such beautiful parents and siblings. Beautiful friends and a wonderful girlfriend who is FAR FAR away. Can't wait to celebrate my 22nd with her next year.

Anyway I'm calling it a night. Really knackered. Gotta finish up packing and I should be well on my way. Please pray for my success. I really need all that i can get. It's not easy Final Year. But not impossible insyaAllah.

salam. And have a wonderful week!

p.s: ill be in London, so i MIGHT not be able to blog properly. I might do entries from the iPhone. Stay tuned ;)

My mind's everywhere

I know it's pretty pointless to be writing alot about something that doesn't make any sense. But my mind is really going around. I've got pieces of paper here and there. And somehow I'm just not into anything.

I want to do this. Please?

Rational over Emotions?

Hi there. Glad it's the weekend? Hope you are all in perfect health. What's new? Care to share?

Anyway I had my formal workcheck for the first time in Final Year in University. It was pretty nerve wrecking. Went for it at about 2pm today and had a good chat with Ros. She's an amazing person. She treats you not like a student, but more like a person who's wanting to do great great things. So the tutorial went on fine with us looking through my layout pads. I've done quite alot. But quality wise? I might've not. We discussed and discussed further what it means to have an emotional bond with the consumers using advertising.

My negotiated project, if I may explain is one of the modules I'm doing for final year. Basically we have the dissertation. 6,000 word essay and research. This particular module is IMHO a very important one. It lets you discover what you want to in context of advertising. For me, I wanted to learn more about how Emotions and Advertising go hand in hand. How did those wonderful and POWERFUL ads like Bernbach's VW ads from years ago were done? How did Sony come up with such an amazing feat with their Sony 'Balls'. Amazing stuff really. So for me, personally I wanted to see what I could find out.

The only problem is I sometimes know and not know what I'm talking about. I kinda get lost in the midst of it. There's a subtle line between what I'm supposed to be looking at and what I'm not. Like always i get myself tangled with Design and Advertising. Now, did you know these are two seperate things? I was watching Tim Brown's talk yesterday on TED online. Amazing talk. Pair that with a part from Phillipe Starck. It was truly something. But then, realising that it was all about design and how relevant it is to life itself, it wasn't about advertising.

Advertising is in a field of its own. Effectively harnessing emotions in advertising is like you having complete control. But I always look too much into research and facts. Perhaps I should start thinking as a human more than a designer. There's just so much I need to do now. Alot will be happening in the coming weeks. Parents are coming and I've got to balance out. It's not gonna be easy but i'll manage insyaAllah.

Difficult. True what Ros said early during the start of the semester. " Blood. Sweat. Tears ". It is all about how hungry you are and how far you want to go. I just need to pick myself up now. "Success is going from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm" Churchill said. I agree with him. So lets stop at that and I'll get on with my work.

By the way, in the picture above are Jon and Michelle. Met them just recently. Had a really fun photoshoot with them in the studio today. Haven't been in there for awhile. Was a little awkward with all the buttons and things. Anyway photos are up on flickr. Do have a look ;)

Hope you guys are having a wonderful weekend wherever you are. Do come and say hi once in a while. It kinda helps. Knowing that people care. =]

salam

Ford Focus New Ad

Beautifully done. I love how the music, mood, emotions and simple SIMPLE idea been put together.

Congrats to Wunderman for such an amazing job!

Too Small a Perspective?

(credits to Bored-Panda)

To photographers, it can also mean 'wide angle not wide enough?'.

Just had a good chat with Mama. Got to learn about a few things. But to sum it up, it was pretty dissapointing. And a little tiring too? Sometimes, we've just got to grow up. I'm still growing up. You should too.

May Allah bless my parents for being the best. Which without them I am no one. Same goes to my siblings. I hope they'll always remember that.

We should always look at things from a step back. Only then will we be able to see the bigger picture. Anyway I have loads of work to do. I've been sulking over it but not done much. At all i think.


Anyway i've bought myself the new Magic Mouse from Apple. Wonderful tool. I needed a new mouse anyway. The old one was bad enough cause the roller ball was spoiled. The clicks sounded like gun shots. Haha.

So enough for tonight then. Salam.

Does my opinion count?

Sometimes I wonder when is it right for me to jump in and have a say at something. I have this fear inside me where I might sound like I'm trying to prove something. But then I was wrong even at my first stance. I jumped in. What do I do then? I've seen on many occasions people look at me in such a way that I feel like I've done them injustice. I wonder. Have I? If I have, I surely would love to apologize.

For me, being taught by mama since young, always apologize, even if it isn't your fault. Dale Carnegie once questioned why we make the other person feel inferior? Just apologize and be done with it.

It might sound like another daily ranting, but for me it's a really personal thing. It's been on my mind since forever. I always worry about what people say or think about me or my actions. Perhaps I do things differently. Perhaps I do things in a different manner. But that does not entitle you to pull a face and make me feel bad. You or I have no right. That's what I think IMHO.

But what can I do. People just like doing that. Sometimes it just hurts when you try going round the bush. You don't have to! My heart and ears are open. I'll listen. I won't kill you know. So why the face and with so much of my curiosity, I feel that you've got something you want to tell me or 'correct' me. Go ahead? I don't mind a little piece of advice. Whether I apply it later on would be a different issue. Lest the issue remains, people tend to have this 'I want to tell you but it'll hurt you so I'll just make faces and be as sarcastic as I can'.

May Allah bless you with whatever it is that you do. 'Cause for me, I know I've not done you any wrong. So why should I bother? I've got things to do anyway. To start off, my life.

On a side note, my family excluding E-am are coming over to Birmingham in less than a week. Looking forward to it. Got loads of work to do though. Today's workcheck was postponed due to shortage of time. I was really worried they might postpone it to next week. But Alhamdulillah, Ros and Clive agreed to settle for this coming Friday.

Other than that, I've got loads of things i need to do. But tonight i want a good night's sleep. I've not been sleeping well due to the work load. The idea that I don't have anything to show for today (which didn't happen) made me restless. But Alhamdulillah now all is good. Now to set things right. InsyaAllah.

Salam.

Happy Birthday Papa!!

Wishing him a superb birthday! He's the best of the best out there. I pray hard that Allah would bless you in everything that you do, reward you in all you do and make real your doa and wishes so it'll come true. InsyaAllah.

I know it's been a tough one for all of us. But we've managed so far. InsyaAllah, God is Almighty. He will only take something from us when He has prepared something MUCH better. I pray Allah will strengthen you in physical, mental and taqwa. Let's put a smile on our faces and fight on!

Surprisingly, they're playing mercun out there. Maybe to commemorate your birthday? haha. Can't wait to see you. REAL soon.

With love from you son,

Happy Birthday Pa.

You're the man ;)