Thursday, July 31, 2008

Getting Connected

Wow, here I am finally joining the half-million bloggers in Malaysia. According to April figures, Malaysia has about 500,000 active bloggers, ranking the country among the highest in the world after Indonesia and the European Union.

I have been wanting to join the fray for a long time, but I guess I never did take the first step until Tuesday, July 29. And the idea came out of the blue, or was it because of my recent foray into the Facebook world? But the real driver was my colleague Zukiman Zain, who is an active blogger through klazz.blogspot.com.

It all started when I showed him my page on Facebook, and like a teenager who has just been given a computer -- but of course with internet access-- by her parents, I became all excited over this new tool, said to be the second largest social network on the web with around 60 million members.

And it was Zukiman who prompted me to create my own blog. Instead of going direct to the main website, he asked me to click on the ‘Create Blog’ icon on his weblog and the rest would follow. And just imagine my joy after seeing my own blog, named after P.Ramlee’s popular song Getaran Jiwa appearing on the net!. Let’s hope that I am not infringing the Copyright Act. But look at it from the positive side, I am also promoting P. Ramlee’s song too, am I not?

I have been receiving quite a handful of e-mails from friends and colleagues who have joined in the Facebook bandwagon and most of them have created their own photo albums, and I found myself getting hooked to this too.

Like other social networks, the site allows its users to create a profile page and forge online links with friends and acquaintances. Ex-colleague Parameswaran Ponnudurai (Param in short), now with AFP and based in Washington D.C. has also written in to me and some other colleagues through Facebook.

( Facebook Inc. was founded in 2004 by a Harvard sophomore, Mark Zuckerberg, who began life catering first to Harvard students and then to all high school and college students. It has since evolved into a broadly popular online destination.)

Whether you are a Facebook kaki or a blogger, your primary reason is to communicate. Facebook is more of a social and even business networking platform for its members, but the weblog provides an avenue for bloggers to express themselves on issues. Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries.

The whole idea is to get connected, Right?

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Getaran Jiwa

Hi,

Welcome to my blog, Getaran Jiwa. This is not a tribute homepage for the legendary P. Ramlee, but just a platform for me to pen my thoughts about life and share my experiences with you.
Rather a late bloomer, but thanks to my Bernama colleague, Zukiman Zain (klazz.blogspot.com), I am now officially a blogger.

To kickstart my page, I am dedicating this stirring and touching song from the movie Antara Dua Darjat to all P. Ramlee fans out there. Below are the lyrics of Getaran Jiwa, and hope you enjoy the song as much as I do.

Getaran Jiwa

Melanda hatiku

Tersusun nada

Irama dan lagu

Walau hanya sederhana

Tetapi tak mengapa

Moga dapat membangkitkan

Sedarlah kamu wahai insan

.

Tak mungkin hilang

Irama dan lagu

Bagaikan kembang

Sentiasa bermadu

Andai dipisah

Lagu dan irama

Lemah tiada berjiwa

Hampa