the big bang

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expecto patronum

my 2:00 a.m. live stream 

Alhamdulillah alhamdulillah alhamdulillah. Amalin, Ain and Adlin and Amirah are total naturals, I had to strongly refrain myself from saying I told you so. 

Of course, everything comes from God and Alhamdulillah I have so much to thank Allah for. 

So whilst they are busy with applications here and there... I'll just sit and munch on Kettle. Like, oh look, is that an anxious Amirah in front of a white-fanged, red-eyed interviewer? Haha is that Ain being asked questions by a soul-sucking dementor? COOL. Serves them right for ignoring me on Whatsapp. *eats more chips* 

Mum & Dad's tips on How To gET IT AAAALLLLLL 

Part 1: Applications & Interviews

1. Hey peeps I'm here to show off all my golds

Be humble. But not too humble. Bahahah. If they ask you, what are your hobbies? Don't just stop at "Oh I like to draw." Add on, "I do illustrations for school magazine, and I once sold a portrait for five million US dollars, also I find Leonardo Da Vinci's artwork very fascinating, even my phone case is Van Gogh blablabla" Ok maybe you haven't sold a USD 5,000,000 yet, how would I know.

2. That form doesn't do you justice

I'm telling you, those forms don't have enough space for you to brag. Come on, only three boxes for co-curricular activities? Pfft. You do volunteer work, you recycled stuff, you did socially-desirable YouTube videos - yet you can't put those on application forms. What do you do? This is when you tell them. Alternatively, you prepare a CV (curriculum vitae) and submit it with your form. GAME ON GUYS.

3. Remember that time when you said your hobby was reading

It's okay. Me too. It's all surfing the internet now. But if your wish is to go into Economics, for example, if they ask you what books you read, omg are you honestly prepared to say If I Stay. Read a whole lot of Economics-related books and articles. If you need ideas, I've just finished Martin Lindstrom's Buy-ology and Tim Harford's The Undercover Economist series. (available on MPH online)

4. Be the creep you really are (Amalin we all know you're a creep)

Remember their name. Ok, sorry, didn't mean to sound that cray, but you see that lady who's about to interrogate interview you? Remember her name and title. She'll think highly of you if the first thing you do when you come into the room is, Hello, selamat pagi Professor X. This may sound a bit braggish, but heeeeeey, each time I do this, I win every time. #yay #perasan #berlagak #alabolehlaberlagak 

5. We're cool right? Right?

First things first - be comfortable. Ask your interviewers, How are you? Start a casual conversation, once you've established this, it's more convenient and natural for you to show off. Haha. Don't even feel embarrassed, or care about the fact that they'll judge (because obviously that's the whole point of the interview). Chances are, you're not going to see them ever again after the session anyway. 

6. Dear adults read my heart out

Why do you want to study that particular subject? What are you going to do after you finish studying? What have you done that led you to think that you suit that course? What are your biggest, deepest wish and dreams? To whom or what do you give your passion to? Whip them all up in a 500-word personal statement.

Oh yeah, well, you know, if interviewers get too difficult, just expecto patronum them.

first milestone

I'm proud to announce that I am finally a grown up.

I MOVED OUT OF THE HOUSE OH MY GOD.

Amalin says I'd never experience the whole sekolah asrama experience, but heeeeey, look who's the brave and independent one now, 10 539 km away some more. Heheh.

I am truly ready to face adult adventures, like, you know, living alone, buying a house, riding dragons and all that.

Shush... what's this shut up you'll be back in 3 months you're saying? I can't hear you, sorry.

Needless to say, I'm 10 539 km closer to Colin now.

Um Dad, I'm 10 539 km closer to Colin now simply means I'm going to study hard, nothing to worry about... trust me.

4 steps to 11

Ok guys, 11A+s eh? Easy.

I wasn't in school today, so I pondered about it...

AND I HAVE FINALLY FIGURED IT ALL OUT.

HERE'S HOW:

1. Focus in class

My lab mates and I have this thing called exchanging stories and fangirling in class. So basically, what you do is, you either sing, share something you found on tumblr, or have shushed conversation with the person next to you, passionately telling her about your new boyfriend who apparently doesn't even know you and lives in a different timezone (it's ok, we feel you, Ain's in love with Luke, so is Amalin with Jack...)

We're so engrossed and focused in imagining situations that would probably never happen in a million years in our studies, even the teacher doesn't interrupt.

2. Get enough sleep

courtesy of theramencup

You know how they say that in order to be a top scorer, you've got to stay alert and stuff, and you're gonna have to sleep for at least 6-8 hours to unwind? Yeah? Well, ok, 30 minutes during Sejarah, 30 minutes in Biology, a couple of 30-mins sometime else, and huzzah, before you know it, 6 hours: DONE. This is so easy.

3. Help one another

One of the fundamentals! I teach my desk mates how to bake cookies, Amalin preaches about her precious belongings (including a Petrosains dino), Ain gave a tutorial to my desk partner how to log on into tumblr, all our lessons held during classes. We're all cool with sharing knowledge, they stay in mind longer like that.

4. Be brave and ask

Sometimes lectures really are baffling (think Chemistry and Physics?) Say if you're confused of how you should do this and that, don't be shy to ask! It's not like people still eat one another. Cannibalism is so over (never again, na'udzu billahi min zalik). I'm the Common Law and Leverage encyclopaedia, remember? For qestions on 5SOS and One Direction, kindly contact Amalin Kamilah and Qurratul 'Ain. I'm not sure if they have Meet & Greet or VIP passes, but it could be worth to ask.

With all these 4 steps in hand, you're all set to 11A+!


Ok, ok, I'm kidding.

my kind of syllabus

I'm in the middle of my finals, but I couldn't help but to post this teeny weeny post.

Spent a few gruesome days being friends with my textbook and well... it's not entirely my fault if I came up with this.

You know what I'd much rather do?

If given the choice, I would choose...

Potions over Chemistry.

History of Magic over Sejarah/History.

Quidditch/flying lessons over PJK/PE.

Care of Magical Creatures over Biology.

Arithmancy over Maths.

Ancient Runes over English & BM. 

and do all the others (ok fine, I just couldn't decide on what their Muggle equivalent are); Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Astronomy, Divination, Herbology (probably gonna hate this one though).

Pretty sure I'm more than happy to study for the Os. Straight O's, even.

super cool tutorial right here

move it

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Assalamualaikum.

Instagram is brilliant, really. It's lovely how I could see my friends' life through their respective lenses.

I was on the pc website, and my hands were just resting on top of the keyboard (aside from scrolling down, of course, that's the right hand).

Abah told me to raise my right hand. It was so out of the blue, but I obeyed.

He continued, "Good. Now turunkan sikit..." and I did what I was told. "Sikit lagi..." and boom.

Guess what my hand came into contact with.

What a bummer. It was my chemistry reference book. It turned out that I inadvertently placed my Success book juuuuust beside my laptop.

"Not funny."

Then he laughed, grabbed his keys and entertained Afiq's continuous request for bread, at 9pm on a Thursday.

My End-of-Year exam is in 2 weeks. I flipped the pages, searched for interesting images, and it was barely two minutes before I slammed it close. I googled some useless stuff, and a few minutes later, I heard his car.

Immediately I shut the laptop, went back to the book, pretended I was reading.

Bhahahahah. Sorry Abah, you know I love you so much. (he reads my blog, creepy, I know).

tearing stomachs with log

Bismillahirrahmanirahim.

Assalammualaikum.

It's the second week of exam aftermath, and so far I've been... well... Alhamdulillah, I'm okay. Heheh.

Our Add. Maths. teacher handed us our papers today, and oh boy, t'wasn't what I expected but I'm grateful for the A, Alhamdulillah.

The questions were just on Indices & Logarithms, so there weren't any simultaneous equation, inverse function thingamajigs. 

What I enjoyed the most was probably the conversation I had with Maziah.

"It'd be super cool to get an A+. I mean, like, I've never gotten A+ for add maths." Yes, I am still hoping for a miracle.

"I know right." Maziah nodded.

Right on cue, the teacher (one of my favourite teachers too) announced, "A guy in 4-" - I wasn't exactly paying attention to his class - "was the highest in his class. He scored 95."

"Oh well, not that I'd want to be a mathematician anyway. I saw his bio on Twitter." I mumbled.

"I know that Add. Maths. is important, but who operates people with log?" Maziah raised her eyebrows. She's a future obstetrician or a gynaecologist... or both?

"Ain probably loves these stuff." I replied, eyes fixed on my own paper. "I'd learn investment and all... and hire an accountant." 

This post isn't meant to offend the guy or to brag. It's generally about the conversation. And yep, I do realise we'll use Add Maths in the near future (tertiary education).

studying: not my thing

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Assalammualaikum.

"How do you study?"

Riiiiiiight. The question that sends me grinning sheepishly every single time.

"Let me just... eh. I'll..." - this would be me fumbling for words.

There are times when I just wish that I could be like one of those girls who'd say, "Oh, I do this and that, plus I make sure of this and that... yadda yadda yadda," confidently.

If you think that this post boasts effective study methods, let me advice you on one thing: close it.

It's not.

My best friends would know just how lazy I am.

Let me show you the truth.

1) Liars

After the final day of Summative One, this was Ain and me;

"Oh my God this was the most horrible thing ever. I should have studied like a month earlier or something."  

"Yep, for Formative Two, I'm going to study way way earlier. No more last minute-studies."

Three days before Formative Two, this was our conversation;

"Wei it's so scary I haven't studied anything."  

"Omg me too! It's okay, bantai can lah." 

So much for dreaming big.

I guess some would say that studying a week or a fortnight earlier would be good. I don't know, I have never tried this.

If I used that method, I would've forgotten 50% (or 100%) of the little details by the day of the exam. Haha.

So I choose to study the night before. That way, I'd be able to retain a lot more.

So that's why sometimes studying at the last minute is okay and I love doing it... or that's probably because I'm too lazy. Pfft.

2) Eh let's watch movies

My parents rock.

Now, if you think that my parents are always beside me saying "Honey, you can do this. It's only a few more chapters." or "Please study, I will buy you a lot of ice cream!" or "Come, let me help you with Chemistry," well then, you're confused of somebody else's parents.

In my case... it's the other way round. When my parents see me revising, they'd be like;

"Eh what are you doing, you've been on that way too long."
"Hey let's check out this Hansgrohe tap?"
"We're going shopping. Come on, let's get you a new pair of shoes."

Oh yes, the occasional "Let's go watch movies. There's this new movie that seems to be cool blablabla-"

And then the despicable thing was, I'd say yes.

But hey, isn't it good to relax? (I do understand that watching movies is probably lagha, do correct me) Really, if you're all too stressed out, it's pretty hard to keep things up there, especially phospholipid bilayer or meiosis or some other weird stuff that I have absolutely no idea about.

And besides, not studying sometimes make you feel really guilty, and you end up studying after getting home because weiii you don't wanna fail.

3) The Duchess of Procrastination

It is a well known fact that I'm really, undeniably, extremely, without-a-doubt, drop-dead annoy lazy.

Even if there's a month before the deadline, I'd still send it in on the final day (or the day before to make me look diligent and goody-two-shoes).

You won't see me sitting at the study table with a 500ml bottle of Spritzer. I don't do that. Freaky. I try to memorise (it stays longer if you memorise and not read) whilst laying on the sofa, posting on Twitter or crushing candies on Candy Crush. Even on exam days, I stay up late... not to burn the midnight oil studying, but to game. Heh.

x

I enjoy being educated but school is a definite NO. When it comes to creative writing or journalism however, oh I love my laptop to death.

Please make lots of du'a for us! We'll be sitting Formative Two next week, starting 29th of July.

or you could just wake me up from my deep slumber when it ends. 

p/s: for study tips, please kindly contact Qurratul 'Ain. She's good. Bhahaha.