Dayang Noor's Blog, page 5

KL NOIR - RED : Every city has a dark side

In sya Allah, KL NOIR: RED will be launched on 27th February 2013. I contributed a short story about 4,000 words long for this anthology, which was inspired by a real life experience. How dark is my short story? You can decide after grabbing a copy of this book at major book stores (except Popular) in March. Online ordering date will be announced soon. 
KL NOIR : RED  - Full coverYou can like KL NOIR fan page here for latest news, announcements, discussions and photos.

Pink Pashmina In Heaven

**Note: This short story is not edited so that grammar Nazis can have a field day.

Razak waited impatiently for the girl in pink pashmina to arrive. He nicknamed her ‘Pink’, the colour she liked most. Her name was Nur Hana Humaira Husna Hazira which Razak found quite difficult to remember and she worked as a junior programmer in the company. Razak was planning to discuss with her the program code she submitted yesterday that did not meet specifications.
She sauntered toward her cubicle at half past eight; water bottle in her right hand and a fuchsia sling back on her left shoulder. A dual tone pashmina of pink and cream was her choice for the day. Razak grinned as he got up from his comfortable, leather chair. Pink looked pretty today, she should be in a good mood.  The printed program codes were in his hands – all 500 lines of them.
 “Hey, you! Good morning!” he called out to Pink. He couldn’t remember her full name, and he couldn’t possibly call her Pink in front of the others, so he decided to just address her as ‘you’ whenever they conversed.
“Good morning Encik Razak!” She smiled coyly; her eyes were bright and the new bronze eye liner she had on made her looks glamorous. Razak pulled the nearest chair and sat next to Pink. “I need to discuss this program codes with you.” He put the stack of papers in front of her. Pink glanced nervously at the notes scribbled by Razak in red.
“What’s wrong with them? I think all the logics are correct. I tested the program on my workstation and it worked,” said Pink after reading some of the handwritten notes. Razak gave her a long gaze. She was only 24 and had just joined the company for 4 months. She had a long way to go.
“You see, the logics are not the problem here. What I’m trying to tell you is that these codes are not efficient; they are using a lot of computer resources. Last night, when I tested this program on the server, the CPU and memory shot up to 100%. Can you imagine what will happen if two thousand internet users access the web and click on this program simultaneously?” Razak tried to appear as calm as possible.
“So, what should I do?” asked Pink innocently. Razak squeezed the red pen in his hand and reminded himself not to shout at the junior programmer. “You will need to rewrite this program, my dear. But before that I need you to do your own research on how to make it efficient.” Razak saw the colour drained from her pretty face. It was a 14 day effort for her to come up with 500 lines.
“When do you want me to submit it?” Pink’s voice quivered. She knew she would need at least 3 weeks to do the research and rewrite – the logics were really complex.
“Well, the truth is you can take your own sweet time, unless….”
“Unless what?” Pink’s thumb was twitching as she held her breath.
“Unless the test engineer wants it by this Friday,” said Razak nonchalantly. He knew the deadline was Friday; he just didn’t want Pink to get the surprise too early.
After dropping the bomb Razak’s cell phone rang and Zahar’s name appeared on the screen. Razak quickly answered and made a beeline towards ‘Heaven’, the only smoking room in the office – hence the name.
“Morning, boss!” Razak greeted his superior, the software development manager.
“Hey, Razak! I need a big favour from you,” the husky voice echoed in Razak’s ear.
“Anything boss, you just name it.” Razak leaned against the half opened window and watched the ceiling fan tried its best, chasing residues of tar and nicotine away.
“Well, our department’s third quarter performance is worse than the last quarter’s – a lot worse. So I was thinking if we could do something about cost saving.” He paused to give Razak a few seconds to make a few guesses.
“Do I have to fire anyone?” Razak asked jokingly and let out a hearty laugh. Zahar found it amusing and joined him laughing. “No, we are not that desperate yet. I just need your programmers to take up more than one project. We have a few on-going software development projects that need to be fast tracked.”
“That shouldn’t be a big problem. These young programmers are always hungry for more. They’d kill each other for more responsibilities. I’ll do the assignment as soon as I can get my hands on the project files,” Razak gave his assurance and Zahar couldn’t help but admire the senior system analyst’s optimism.
“You’re my man!” said Zahar, gratified as Razak smiled proudly while visualizing himself sitting behind a manager’s desk soon – his name engraved in bold letters on the glass door.
The junior programmers, including Pink started working 16 hours a day to complete the projects. They needed to prove themselves and they knew they could deliver, so no one complained. Razak noticed that Pink was wearing the same blouse and pink pashmina for a few days in a week. She looked pale and rarely left her cubicle. She must have spent a few nights in the office. Sometimes, he pitied her for having to multitask and work with challenging deadlines but every programmer had to struggle during their first few years in the work force.
“Do you want me to pack lunch for you? I haven’t seen you going out for lunch for quite some time,” Razak offered one afternoon. Pink turned to face him and gave a blank stare. Her mind was miles away, he could sense that. “No, thank you. I brought sandwiches today.” She raised her food container. Her voice was weak. “Okay, then,” said Razak before he left to join his friends.
The long hours went on for 4 weeks before two of the projects were completed. The junior programmers were celebrating except for Pink; at 8.30pm she was still busy writing program codes.
“Hey, you! We’re going for steam-boat. Let’s go!” Razak was standing next to Pink’s desk. She shook her head and flipped her pink pashmina. “I don’t think so. I still need to complete this.”
“We’ve just completed two projects, that one can wait, can’t it?”
“No, the test engineers want this by tomorrow. I’ve been asking for deadline extension many times because I had to complete the other two projects,” Pink mumbled. Razak shot a glance at the program codes on Pink’s screen and recognized them immediately. “Oh, yes! You were supposed to finish this weeks ago. Make them efficient, okay? I know you can do it!”
Pink told him to go and have fun with the rest. “When you guys eat, don’t forget to think about me!” She gave a faint smile as Razak bid her good night. It was a long night out as they continued celebrating at the bowling alley, followed by a karaoke session.
When Razak arrived at the office the next morning, no one was in - not even the junior programmers. Pink was not at her cubicle. She must have finally completed her codes, Razak thought. Her place was tidy as usual except for a coffee mug with her lipstick stain on it.  Before entering his room, Razak noticed something else. The coffee mug on Pink’s table was placed on a piece of A4 sized paper. There were writings on them.
Curiosity got the better of him and he decided to go and read it:
“Thank you for giving me hell. I hope you are happy.”
Razak looked up from the paper and that’s when he saw Pink in the smoking room – the heaven as the guys liked to call it. The long, pink pashmina was around her neck and one end was tied to the ceiling fan. Pink’s pale body was hanging lifelessly. Her eyes were wide opened and stared accusingly at Razak.

Happy New Year 2013 !!!

We celebrated the new year in Melaka, at a homestay in Umbai, called Limastiga. The place was quiet, we were the only guests. According to the owner the place had been busy during the school holidays. As school was opening in just 2 days, it seemed we're among those who just didn't know how to slow down. School opening doesn't mean that all the fun should stop, right?
There's a wading pool and an adult pool (depth about 5 feet, I think)
At this age, my children are only interested in swimming pools, play grounds and video games. When we went to Langkawi in November, they complained when I suggested to visit some of the historical places. Thankfully Langkawi is a chocolate haven. So, it didn't take me long to convince them that we should do some chocolate shopping. 
We're in the water most of the time.
My children love water. We should find a house by the lake, someday.
Mr. Hubby invested in a new Olympus camera just because of underwater shots.
Rumah 2 of Limastiga. Just nice for our family.

Di Sebalik Dinara - the making of

Aku dah cerita dulu, kan, bahawa aku cuma mula menulis pada June 2011. Sebelum itu memang tak pernah tulis novel atau cerpen. Cuma pernah tulis skrip drama untuk teater sahaja. Itupun teater komedi. Jadi, bila mula menulis, rasa macam banyaklah pulak benda yang nak ditulis.

Pada hujung bulan August 2011, aku ada dapat satu FB message daripada Amir Muhammad yang menguar-uarkan tentang Sayembara Fiksyen Sains yang dianjurkan bersama oleh UTM dan Utusan Melayu. Aku adalah baca sekali lalu message tu, tapi masa tu tengah excited nak tunggu pelancaran novel Jerat, jadi aku tak lah terfikir nak masuk sayembara tu.

Bila Jerat dan dilancarkan, dan aku pun sibuk promosi kat kawan-kawan, ofismet dan rakan-rakan FB. Lepas tu sibuk berulang-alik pejabat pos juga.

Sedar-sedar dah bulan Oktober 2011. Masa tu baru terfikir nak tulis satu novel fiksyen sains dan sertai Sayembara tu. Padahal, tarikh akhir untuk hantar karya ialah pada 30 November 2011.

Maka, dengan selambanya aku pun mula menulis dengan penuh khusyuk selama beberapa minggu. Selepas kira-kira 5 minggu maka, siaplah manuskrip yang aku namakan Di Sebalik Dinara. Memandangkan tarikh tutup tinggal 2-3 hari saja lagi, maka aku terus print dan poskan penyertaan aku tu. Terkilan juga sebab tak sempat nak semak balik untuk hasilkan 2nd draft ataupun minta pandangan daripada rakan-rakan yang boleh buat editing. Tapi, apa nak buat..... suka buat kerja last minute, sapa suruh, kan? Nangis airmata darah kryptonite pun tak guna.

Jadi, sebulan dua lepas tu, aku dapat surat daripada UTM mengatakan bahawa manuskrip Di Sebalik Dinara tu layak untuk dipertimbangkan oleh panel penilaian. Masa ni memang terkejut besar sebab novel aku tu memang langsung tak ada falsafah ke, apa-apa ideologi menarik ke. Ceritanya stail macam yang aku pernah tulis dekat FIXI juga - kasual, tentang keluarga, tentang persahabatan, tentang karier dan adalah tentang IT sikit-sikit.

Tak lama lepas tu, dalam bulan April 2011 aku dihubungi oleh pihak Utusan pula mengatakan mereka dah buat layout dan minta aku semak kalau ada apa-apa pembetulan yang perlu dibuat. Ha, part ni lagi terkejut sebab aku tak tahupun manuskrip tu layak ke peringkat seterusnya. Menurut pihak editorial lagi, novel Di Sebalik Dinara memang dah confirm akan diterbitkan sebab ia adalah salah satu pemenang sayembara tersebut. Okey, part ni yang paling tak boleh diterima akal. Setahu aku (seperti yang dipantak oleh penulis-penulis otai yang lain ke dalam kepala aku ni) -- first draft always sucks.

Pada bulan November 2012, aku mendapat undangan daripada pihak penganjur untuk menghadiri majlis penyampaian hadiah Sayembara ni. Sebenarnya, masa tu apa yang bermain dalam kepala aku ialah, "hmmm mungkinkah aku akan mampu membeli sebuah hand bag baru?" Tak senonoh betul cita-cita aku ni, kan?
Jadi, pada petang 6 Disember 2012, aku pun menghadirkan ke majlis hi tea merangkap penyampaian hadiah merangkap pelancaran novel sayembara tersebut di PWTC. Alangkah terkejutnya bila aku berjumpa Sri Rahayu duduk di meja pemenang. Dia dah 7 kali menang HSKU (Hadiah Sastera Kumpulan Utusan), okey!! Pemenang lain pun semua otai dalam bidang penulisan termasuklah pemenang pertama dari Musim pertama sayembara ini iaitu abang Amer Hmzah. Aku rasa kerdil betul masa tu sebab aku baru nak belajar-belajar menulis ni. Buku Creative Writing tu pun baru baca 3 bab je. Masa tu memang terfikir, Ya Allah kenapalah aku submit first draft padahal nak kena berentap dengan mereka-mereka yang dah otai ini?

Bila tengok buku cenderamata, seperti yang aku jangka novel Di Sebalik Dinara adalah salah satu daripada pemenang Hadiah Penghargaan. Tiada pemenang tempat pertama. Novel Sri Rahayu yang berjudul Equilibria dapat tempat kedua. Tempat ketiga ialah novel berjudul Detik yang menceritakan tentang pengembaraan masa oleh Dr. Amir Husaini. Novel abang Amer Hmzah dapat Hadiah Penghargaan juga, judulnya id-InterDimensi. Satu lagi novel yang dapat hadiah penghargaan ialah Bekamorfosis oleh Haji Jali Kenoi.

Bila dah siap majlis penyampaian hadiah dan pelancaran, aku baru tahu para penulis tak dapat sebarang stok (macam yang selama ini aku dapat daripada FIXI dan aku boleh hadiah kat kengkawan.... hehehe). Malang sekali aku tak bawak cash tadi. Maka aku tak dapat nak membeli stok buku sendiri. Haih... sedih.

So, kalau korang terjumpa buku aku ni kat kedai buku Utusan ataupun kedai-kedai online, bolehlah beli kalau berminat (aku tak dapat royalti pun.... hehehe).

Novel Di Sebalik Dinara (sumpah aku tak kenal  cover model tu.)
Dapat trofi ini. First time sertai sayembara dan first time dapat trofi. Hari yang sangat bersejarah. 

Last day of November 2012

30 days of writing consistently can bring you somewhere. At least you can come up with a first draft of a novel. This year is my first time participating in NaNoWriMo. I spent about 2 hours a day writing about 1,200 words everyday during the first week. Then, on the second week I went for a holiday and really slacked in writing. On the third week I started catching up but trying to write 3,000 words a day wasn't easy. My last sprint was in the fourth week but I had to spend more time to come up with the words as I suddenly decided to change the third act and the ending. Earlier this morning, I managed to reach more than 50,000 words, validated my novel and got myself this badge! Yeayyyyy!
NaNoWriMo Winner Badge
A friend sent me a message telling that NaNoWriMo won't help you publish the novel and I said, that's okay -- I just love the adrenaline rush. And didn't I tell you earlier that the best part about writing a novel is the writing process? Once the novel is completed, printed and put on the shelves, all the excitement dies out. It'll just stood there, waiting for the next hand to grab it.
I hope I'll have enough energy to participate again next year!!

Ending ending ending!

Now that my NaNoWriMo is back on track, I'm taking a few minutes to post some updates here.
My NaNoWriMo novel is in English and it's going to have a sad ending. I'm not a fan of happy ending because of a few reasons.
First, happy endings make us less human, I'm not lying. Whenever a story ends happily, we stopped caring or thinking about the characters because we will think that, oh she/he is now in good hands and will live happily ever after. Readers will not feel the need to revisit the characters i.e think about all the 'what-ifs'.
Secondly, there is no happy ending in real life. Life is always full of ups and downs. You'll be happy for a while, then suddenly you receive news about an old friend who is diagnosed with a critical illness. Happiness and sadness are temporary. They are not suitable to become the endings that I will appreciate.
I prefer endings that will make me think and make up my own conclusion.

November Rain and NaNoWriMo

Another crazy thing I'm going to do this year (as a closure to 2012), is participating in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). I'm going to write an English novel in 30 days, insya Allah. It sounds impossible, but I completed Jerat in 5 weeks and it has 60K ++ words. So, that can be a motivation. 
This is my first time participating, so I don't really know what to expect. So, I'm putting the widget on this blog as a reminder, in case I slack. 
November is going to be a wet month, I'm sure I won't have many activities. Let's hope I have enough energy for this. 

Mari! Mari! Jamuan teh dan pelancaran BOLA!

Arakian maka tersebutlah al kisah kononnya pada tanggal 3 November 2012 kelak akan diadakan satu jamuan teh yang maha meriah lagi gilang gemilang bersempena pelancaran antologi cerpen BOLA yang comel lagi menawan. Maka, ayuhlah kemaskan gendongmu dan berarak beramai-ramai ke kedai buku Silverfish, Bangsar untuk acara ber'mingle-mingle' dan mendengar kisah ceritera daripada para penglipurlara yang bakal menghadirkan diri.

Pautan ke acara tersebut ada di sini dan anda semua yang membaca catatan ini, secara rasminya adalah dijemput untuk turut serta menjamu selera dan bergembira, bersuka ria.


Daripada angin yang bertiup kencang, khabarnya MASKARA shorties juga bakal berlangsung pada malam itu. Hah! Apa lagi! Ayuhlah singgah dahulu di Silverfish sebelum kita meneruskan kembara seni terus ke MASKARA shorties selepas itu. Dedikasikan hujung minggu itu untuk aktiviti sastera dan seni. Moga-moga makmurlah negeri!

Makan bola, minum bola, tidur bola, main bola, baca BOLA!

Okey, cuba bayangkan, ye... Kau memang suka dan berminat tentang sesuatu, dan kau hari-hari dok bercerita tentang benda itu. Dengan kawan-kawan pun, kau ngam dengan mereka yang punya minat yang sama. Ibaratnya, kalau jumpa tu confirm semuanya tenggelam dok bergossip pasal minat yang satu itu. Mesti syok, kan?

Kemudian, dengan tak semena-mena, kau dijemput untuk menulis tentang benda yang kau minat itu. Haaa... tak ke terlompat-lompat kau sebab teruja, kan? 
Itulah yang terjadi pada aku bila diundang oleh Buku FIXI untuk menulis cerpen yang bersangkut paut dengan BOLA. Tajuk antologi tu pun BOLA. Projek ni bermula dan siap ditulis pada bulan Jun 2012. Kesemua penulis yang diundang memang berlumba-lumba menyiapkan cerpen masing-masing sebab cuma ada 19 slot untuk cerpen dan 1 slot untuk cerpen bergambar yang diperuntukkan. 
Akupun tergolong di antara makhluk-makhluk kiasu juga, maka aku dengan gigihnya menyiapkan cerpen aku yang bertajuk LIGA MANDREM dalam masa 4 hari. Orang lain dah ramai yang siap lebih awal daripada aku, tapi oleh kerana aku kena pergi ofis, jaga anak etc etc, maka tak dapatlah aku nak pulun habis-habisan bila part menulis bahan-bahan kreatif ni, kan? Pada masa yang sama, dokumen projek kat ofis pun ada jugak yang aku perlu tulis.
Cover Antologi Cerpen BOLAMaka, seminggu kemudian, antologi cerpen BOLA sudah siap ditulis. Haaaa..... power tak power penulis Malaysia ni. (Alangkah bagus kalau projek-projek kerajaan pun boleh siap lebih awal daripada deadline, kaaaan?)

Jadi, apa tunggu lagi? Buku BOLA ni boleh dipesan secara online di fixi.com.my. Kat kedai-kedai buku seperti MPH, Popular, Times dsb memang confirm takkan ada. Sama macam buku KOPI dulu jugak. Siapa lambat, memang kempunan, uolls!

Sedutan cerpen Liga Mandrem 

Puisi tentang gajet

Semuanya nak yang canggih,
sanggup duit diperabih.

Guna kejap dah rasa nak tukar,
apa lagi bila kawan ada yang terkini;
konon gembira nak bikin gegar,
bolehlah ditunjuk-tunjuk sana sini.

Duit keluar macam air,
beli aksesori, walau tak perlu,
segala aplikasi popular, wajib dipasang;
angkut gajet ke hulu ke hilir,
orang tengok rasa berbulu,
ada juga yang rasa nak terajang.

Dalam asyik menaiktaraf gajet,
simpanan susut, ASB tak ditambah;
Bila nanti dah bocor poket,
Baru sedar langit tinggi ke rendah.

Keluar lagi gajet baru, air liur kau pun menitik,
Hai bersabarlah dulu, gajet lama tu kan masih cantik?