God's little (big) gift

Shoutout to the most beautiful people out there, whoever you are!

I think it really is a blessing from God when you know how to make people happy, and how you radiate happiness to those around you. I mean, masyaAllah dude you just know all sorts of way to bring happiness to people.

Say you might get a teeny weeny bit sad or frustrated when people don't do the same to you, but friend, they might not have the same talent as you do... forgive them, yeah?

If you feel unappreciated because they don't do the same in return, don't worry, I'm sure Allah has lots in store for you, and who knows, somebody, too, has been praying for your well-being, day and night. 

Keep up the good work! 

I pray that Allah will grant you eternal happiness, here, and in the afterlife.

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.

sticking to the oven

Remember that time, in 2012, when the whole class laughed at me for not being able to fry ikan?

source

Yeah? Well, newsflash: I STILL CAN'T. *sigh*

Let's be frank here, frying is dangerous. I never got over that episode when bibi accidentally dropped her pisang into the pan, and BAMMM - you could have guessed what came next - and then I cried, oh my God I cried, because she seemed to be in pain and I just couldn't see her hurt like that. 

At that moment, I made a promise to myself, to never fry anything. Ever. 

But bibi, huh, she went back to her oils and pans, the day after the accident, with no regrets. 

I wonder how she does that. Must be a total superhero.

going places

Places my mum allows me to go alone to:

School (like duh...)

Grandparents'

Aunties and uncles' (basically relatives... come on)

BSC, BV

Airports

More airports

Planes

Jakarta

Indonesia (aside from Jakarta, I mean)

Places my mum DOES NOT allow me to go alone to:

Alamanda 

Bangi-Kajang

there has to be an explanation behind this. 

yay june!

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

Goodness. Time flies so fast. It’s already May 2014, and soon it’ll be June (of course you silly, you’d think it’d be January after May???) but anyway, JUUUNE! MY BIRTHDAY.

You see the best thing about birthdays is… you know… sorting out your wish list. And then at one point, sometimes you want a watch, sometimes you think of a Barbie doll (cough cough), sometimes you say you need a new bag, and so on and so forth…

And then if you’re like me, you might end up not having any present from your dad, because you really don’t know what to choose. It’s the only time when your dad is going to buy that ridiculous thing for you, the one he said cannot fifty times, so you'd have to make a wise decision. 

Birthdays are nice, really. You’re literally showered with gifts, man!

But yesterday, on my way to school, I listened to an enlightening tazkirah by an Ustaz on the radio. 

He said something along the lines of;

“Birthdays… you think it’s so cool because people hand you presents. You expect them to spoil you. But if you think about it in detail - you’d realise that YOU are the one who should be giving out presents. To whom? To your mum, for carrying you in her womb until the day you were born. To your dad, who ran around frantically trying to find diapers and making sure the house is nice for you when you’re finally out.”

Wow. May Allah keep us all in remembrance of how much we owe Mum and Dad.

Uh... Ustaz should’ve said that after my birthday la. (Haha just kidding!)

But Ustaz… presents from friends ok or not?? Ok what, friends didn’t have to bear the burden of having me in their tummy, right? So um, Amalin, Ain, Alya, this from you ok??

so domestic

Bismillahirrahmanirrahim.

I love my Bibi. I do. Alhamdulillah I have been blessed to have (and had) two wonderful women taking care of me at home. 

picture off google

The first one was Bibi A, who sticked with me since my very first years up to the point where I was a jumpy 8-year old. When she had to return to Wonosobo, Indonesia, I was devastated. Fortunately, a few months later, my granddad and I had a lovely grandpa-granddaughter trip to Jogja and paid a visit to Bibi A's house. I was in tears when we departed to the airport, knowing that I won't be having Bibi A around (so what if I wailed, I was 9, get over it, haha).

Soon came Bibi Y, who replaced Bibi A. She is an amazing cook (she makes really good lasagna), a tech savvy, and one whom I insisted that she learn how to drive. Of course when she first came I felt a little distant, but now, gee I love her so much. Bibi Y flew to Malaysia when I was in Year 3, and is currently on a holiday in Jawa Tengah.

My parents frequently (and jokingly) mock me for the fact that I can't even fry an egg. Pffft I can bake and frost delicate cakes - could you do that when you were 16, Mama? Haa.

There was that one time in class when my Sejarah teacher asked me if I could make some ikan goreng and I had to sheepishly mumble "Boleh, kot..." and tolerate the whole class snickering. Oh, I bet you guys don't even know how to make ikan goreng, too. I'm not the only one, pffft.

Normally, when Bibi Y is enjoying her one-month holiday (probably off on a beach with a juice and the mini umbrella thing with her son right now), Bibi A will come to our aid. She'd fly to KL and I'd be the happiest person alive. Over the years, we grew very close and I used to have conversations with her daughters once in a blue moon.

However, Bibi A is nearing her senior citizen years and in order to respect her... I won't be having her as a Bibi anymore. 

and that, is, why, I am bibi-less this school holiday. 

or not really that bibi-less, as my aunt's Bibi, Bibi H, comes during the day on weekdays.

But Bibi H is at my cousin's on weekends, and even if she's here from Mon till Fri, she has my baby cousin to take care of, so yes, I can be considered as bibi-less.

So I learnt how to steam iron on YouTube! So proud of myself. (I bet you didn't know how to steam iron clothes when you're 16, Abah, haha). I also ironed Abah's trousers! I improved, the last time I ironed my tudung it got burnt and had to be thrown away - bibi Y laughed a little too much before blabbing on the proper way of ironing.

Abah thinks that I can't sweep. Ha, I swept and wiped the floor, it's squeaky clean now. *winks at Bibi for teaching*

I do laundry everyday! It's really easy, I mean, you just press a few buttons and voila, they're all clean. The folding part is a bit tricky, and if I can't resort on using hangers, those pants and shirts are going to look like a hastily flipped omelette. 

My bibi is garang, ok. Bibi Y would kill me if I ever messed the stack of clothing she meticulously folded. 

Despite her being strict and all, I am so, so, grateful to have Bibi Y, because otherwise the whole house would turn upside down, all the insides jumbled up as if our house had just been destroyed by a tornado (naudzubillahi min zalik). Cepat balik, bibi! Hehe.

My parents constantly remind me to love and respect our Bibi. They take care of us, bathe us when we're kids, teach us a lot of things that we can't personally get elsewhere, like being grateful for what we have and to count our blessings. Y'all crying for iPhone5s, my bibi's husband passed away when she was pregnant with their first son, can't afford to have a house, yet she's very strong, and she takes things in her stride.

God bless us with so much that we lose track of it sometimes, forgetting how He can take it all away in a flash.

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).

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.