I AM ENGAGED!

December 29th 2007 (Saturday, 7.00PM) was the day I got engaged to my boyfriend of four years, Azizul Hakim a.k.a. Jijoe. Seeing that our Malay culture runs deep, getting engaged doesn't actually mean kneeling down in front of your partner and presenting her the ring. It consists of a lot steps, in which both sides of the family congregate and negotiate the terms (dowry, how long the engagement is, where the wedding will take place, how many gifts to be exchanged, etcetera). Fortunately, both sides have reached an agreement and everything went smoothly (thank God!).

My fiancé and I looking forward to a wonderful future together. I was so nervous I thought I was sweating waterfalls. Apparently he was too, since he forgot to unfold his sleeves :D

Sitting among my gifts for the man. It is customary for the girl to remain in her room and the man to stay out of earshot (of the discussion) until both families reached an agreement; Only then can the girl show up with her gifts for the man (normally carried by the girl's sisters and relatives/friends). My mother spent four nights of love rearranging the gifts in the baskets and stitching the sequins on my dress. Thanks mom!

Exchanged gifts from both sides - 5 from the man's side, and 7 from the woman's side.

Meet our proud mothers, Jamaliah and Florence@Faizah :D

Amongst my siblings. 1 down, 4 to go!

Both our families making a memorable day. My cousins, aunts, and uncles found Jijoe & family quite charming and took an immediate liking to them all

Here are my engagement rings, looped through my old necklace for practical reasons (I'm prone to losing them if I keep taking them off every time I wash my hands). The gold one is actually the previous engagement ring of Jijoe's mother, now handed down to me (both of us were really surprised upon discovering the 2nd ring in the box that night). My mom had Jijoe to break the tradition, so instead of having the intended's mother to slip the finger on me (as a sign of showing the other family's approval of me), he knelt down in front of me with the rings; I almost melted there and then.

He just keeps surprising me :)

Thanks, Mom, Dad, and everyone for making that night possible for the both of us. It'll be impossible for me to forget everybody's unconditional love, care and help. Bless you all and I wish everyone a safe step into/through 2008. Happy New Year, everbody!

Piccies!

ARAMAI TIIIIIII!

My cousin's relative got married last Saturday, So I had the privilege of attending a semi-traditional wedding held in Tuaran (about an hour's drive from Kota Kinabalu). I love the fact that they preserve the flavour of being Sabahan; which of course include a band of gongs, Sumazau dances, traditional garbs, and karaoke. We East Malaysians really love our karaoke sets! :)

This band hails from the Tuaran district. It's sad to see that there isn't a single young face there. I'm well aware that many youngsters nowadays in Sabah are not interested in playing it anymore (in account of not being cool or in flow with the modern world). It'll be a while before this tradition will die out.

A bevy of beauties in the traditional KadazanDusun garb. Far left is the style from the Penampang district, whereas the other two are of Tuaran District. To be honest, the getup isn't exactly complete without a few straps of himpogot and tangkong on their waist.

Himpogot: a belt of British colonial coins; before then, seashells or possibly beautifully crafted stones that can be passed down from mother to daughter

Tangkong: a belt of brass rings looped through thin strips of rattan

The materials are made of black commercial fabric: silk or velvet for ceremonial occasions, cotton (vernacular tuit) for daily wear.

A little girl in her traditional garb. Simply adorable, isn't she?

The Sumazau. The dance comprises of spreading your arms sideways and pointing your fingers upwards, or alternate to hanging your arms down after a sharp trill of "kiiiiiheiii!!", all the while moving to the slow rhythmic beat of the gongs. It is suggested that the dance simulates an eagle in flight. Notice the bands of cloth strapped onto their shoulder. If a guy or a girl hands it to you during a Sumazau Dance, that means you are chosen to be his or her partner in that dance.

The proud groom and his beautiful bride cutting the cake. The groom is my cousin's first cousin, and his wife is of Bugis descent from Lok Kawi. The groom's sister can really bake chocolate moist cakes that will have you fighting for more!


The bride's full display of wedding dress, complete with matching flower girls! Simply gorgeous!


For more information about KadazanDusun cultures, visit http://www.kdca.org.my/

CHRISTMAS IN PAPAR

I come from a very mixed family, be it race or religion; so it's no surprise that even if my family and I are Muslims, we'd still wrap up gifts and visit our relatives who celebrate Christmas :) It's been a while since I spent the occasion with them. I hope this will be one of many to come!

My sister, Serene, wrapping up the last few remaining gifts. She spent the whole night yesterday up until four in the morning to get the job done.

Handing out the presents was definitely fun than receiving them. My brother, Dwen, is holding up my cousin's son as he looks slightly confused about Santa's intention. He's definitely aware of his birth date I guess, or maybe wondering if the present would bite him.

Behold, the three beautiful magical princesses from a mighty kingdom. My cousins' children make wonderful models, don't you think? :)

I don't know what these are doing behind my aunt's kitchen... I wonder if horseshoe crab is tasty at all...? Hmm...


MERRY CHRISTMAS 2007 Y'ALL!!

PREPARATIONS

I'm getting engaged on the 29th :) 'nuff said. My relatives are really excited and abuzz with preparations for the occasion. Apparently I'm the first among my siblings to cross that bridge.

A picture of my sister, Fay, and me (trying out the engagement dress before bedecking it with sequins). My aunt Hilda did a fantastic job with the tailoring. The dress is so comfy! Thanks mom for choosing the material and the style :)

Among the hantaran, or gifts, for my fiancee-to-be. We're following the Brunei custom of exchanging gifts; if the man's side hands out 5, the girl's side will return 7 (top it up with additional two more gifts). The gifts don't have to be lavish, mind you.

FELINE MALE

I'm having a busy month, but here's a single treat anyway :) Merry Christmas, everyone!

Not a Thundercat.

BLUE BUBBLEGUM

Will I ever get round to ink and colour this? Nobody knows...

HARPIE & DAEMON

I did this quite a while ago even before I read the book, but I'm only posting this up now since I plan to catch The Golden Compass with my boyfriend and sister this weekend (I'm a huge fan of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials novels). This would be my interpretation of Graceful Wings from the third & final book. Yeah... not as ugly as she should be, huh?

Graceful Wings from the third book, The Amber Spyglass

I took this test on www.goldencompassmovie.com before but I forgot what my Daemon was (although I remember its name was Gabriel). I then re-took the test for the heck of it

GLARE

Some recent thing I did...

I was watching Nona in September, and a man was showing some forgotten traditional Malay accessories and explaining what they are for. It was really fascinating. Thus, here is a redesign of the accessories on a fantasy character. She would be the daughter of a very influential man (not necessarily the head of the village).


After watching Beowulf and reading Elfquest, I attempted to design a fantasy warrior that lives in cold regions. Yet, it looks too Waterbend-ish...

OOOOOOOOOOLD STUFFS

Here are some really old stuffs I did some time ago (even dating back to 2006, wow!). Most of them are just random doodles.


Do you watch Avatar:The Last Airbender? Well, The Headband episode kinda strikes me funny because it looks as if that Katara and Aang were doing a bit of capoeira... so, yeah...


My colleague, Aimo, has an amazing superpower... she somehow seems to be turbocharged with crazy 'shocking' abilities O_O true story, I swear!


Some character, background, and prop designs I made for my boyfriend last year. He wants to model them in 3D and animate them to a one minute audio clip


She's just desperate for a bit of loving, I assure you...


A feline woman and a couple of dudes...

A really thin guy above, and some girl playing with a ball below:

Toss!

DEFINITION of 'KUSUT MASAI'

Here I am, with my first blog. I'm sure most of you will be wondering what the heck 'kusut masai' is, or why I chose that in the first place.

'Kusut masai' is a Malay word for anything that's messy, tangled, and all-over-the-place chaotic. I'm not creative with words, so I'll try not to spam this site with nonsensical ramblings. Instead, I'm hoping it will represent my other ensemble of chaos - Snippets of doodles and its like; what I see, how I interpret my perceptions, and how they are born.

Without further ado, welcome to my little attic :)