reading regained

i do not know what happened to my reading mojo the past few weeks. i may have been too busy or too sick to be reading. but thankfully, i think i have regained that mojo. hehe.

although currently reading a malay book. surprise surprise! but not a novel though. something useful and beneficial hopefully and i think i can pretty much finish reading it in a few days.

perhaps the hype of the book festival at KL and having some friends bought for me books from there since i couldnt go. and the book inventory i am currently in the process of doing and those which i may give away. and oh, maybe its the new box i bought for my bookmark collections and possibly i just miss reading. i truly do.

so glad to enjoy reading again.

bookmark holder

past quarterlife crisis

hi. been busy these days with work and school. i like that..saying ‘work and school.’ like i have a meaningful mission to accomplish.

school has been mild going at the moment although the lecturer has started to remind us about the assignment that we need to do. its been all theories, a reminiscence of theories i have had the fortune to learn back in uni in Intro to Psychology. i was reminded of pavlov and freud and erikson. i enjoyed them. although back then i learnt for the sake of learning and was not inclined to take it up as my second major, i never regretted doing it. i chose sociology instead. again, no regrets, oh except for one, i wished i had the chance to do criminology. that would have sealed the deal. but already deviant behaviour was such an eye opener and depressing. haha.

so back in my specialist diploma class. i was introduced though, to quarterlife crisis and the lecturer invited us to reflect on that. what crisis did we face back when we were 25? i couldnt think of any in class but on the way back home, i thought about it, i guess i cannot say i did not have a quarterlife crisis. everyone has.

my crisis was about choosing a career. i was doing temporary projects at that point of time and i realised my position was in jeopardy because i cannot see myself doing what i was doing. i was thrown from one task to another without specific something to focus on, except for the sudden interest in education and curriculum. i was also teaching part time and quite put my mind and heart into it, up to a point that my parents questioned when was i going to ever spend a proper rest day at home? and then i got thrown into a fulltime job, which was what lead to what i am doing now.

and then there was the matchmake decision i had to do. thrown into knowing a man chosen by my parents and uncles. it was about whether to go for this relationship or to continue leading a single life when week after week i receive invitations to weddings of schoolmates, uni-mates, etc etc.

my crisis was with myself. too shy too boring too quiet too simple, still quite unsure of what to do with my life just yet. just look at my blogposts year 2009. 😉 heck, go straight to January 2009 and see what you get, a questionnaire with song titles. one question: what is your life’s purpose? my answer? =damn regret! (by the red jumpsuit apparatus) fuhh! that’s one for the memory lane!

it was a matter of making decisions. but i cannot say i did not have some achievements that year, no?

i have not regretted my decisions but work is really taking its toll on me.

but with all the odds, i braved myself to claim time off, left whatever pending works and took halfday to spend last thursday with recovering mother, although it was more of her accompanying me to a massage session. which i am really really glad i did. the makcik masseuse ‘untie all knots’ till i am practically bruised. and i understood why so many people have been saying i look tired! my body was really really tired, i have just ignored it. poor body. but it was pampered for a whole two hours. even my mother was relieved i finally made the massage appointment. i am glad to announce this makcik as my personal masseuse. hehe.

and then i spent the whole day friday with my mother and sisters. its been such a long time since we all girls went out together. i truly am happy and grateful we get to do this before my sisters start working and my mother well enough to get back to work. so so glad. i practically splurged on myself and on them. i feel like i was going through a wardrobe overhaul! i really did though i was very happy with the dresses/blouses i bought. i am thirty after all, need to dress well i must say. i loved the day. i wasnt even feeling tired when i had to go straight to class. i just had such a fulfilling day chatting and shopping with them. really we had so much to talk about.

slowly getting over my quarterlife crisis. slowly make the right decision. as of now, i will work my ass off. sorry the pun intended.

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steampunk bookmark

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i have been having visions of this bookmark for days! and i realised i had to do it, otherwise it will continue to haunt my mind! so out of impromptu-ness, i did it right about 10 minutes ago! and the feeling! it felt like a craving satisfied. i love how it turns out though :))

my brain could finally stop thinking about it. i was glad i had the stuffs that could materialise the bookmark, or dare i say i would go straight to PS or 313@Somerset tomorrow and find the items that fit the vision. although, it has always been, i have a vision or a picture of it, look through my scrapbook boxes to find the flowers, papers whatever that fit the picture, glue them here and there, and it just happen.

just me. just like writing. i can go for days or weeks without doing any writing or scrapbooking and when the sudden ilham comes in mind, it just goes pooff and i really need to sit down and do something about it.

happy bookhoarder

i just had the best power nap i think.

im at my first home and just had a rest in my sisters’ room which is now installed with an air conditioner! its been a long while since i get to sleep with the cool nice aircon on. me and hubby have been going ‘green’ with just the good ol’ fan. (of course its just because the air con in the other home has gone bonkers and hubby thought its not economical for a new one, not yet though :/)

and sis’ pillow feels just nice. my headache disappeared the moment i lay my head on it. ok that’s exaggerated. i think i just had such a nice nap i am appreciative of the things that contribute to my deep sleep half and hour power nap.

anyway this house is totally zombified. everyone is watching Walking Dead. even my parents!

i just received my 1001 inventions book!! and guess what, no surprise, i go and buy some more books. tsk tsk tsk. but i just saved 30bucks on my book purchases! i am so happy with opentrolley online bookstore! i found out about it recently and i received $10 off voucher with $80 purchases. so the story goes is that i have some books in my amazon cart which i didnt get to buy because they are a bit expensive, especially the shipping, oh dear, the shipping is more expensive than the book itself and mind you, it’s in US dollars! so i have been waiting for the right time and the budget to get them. so since i got this voucher email, i tried my luck from opentrolley. searched for the exact same books on wishlist from amazon and i was so happy that they are available at opentrolley!! bought all three titles and surprise2, it just add up to about 83 $ing dollars. i got my three books, i got them eligible for $10 discount, and delivery of only $4.90 which was waived due to payment via dbs cards. i paid only slightly above $60! you have a happy customer opentrolley! no..this is not a paid advertisement. i am just happy thatbi will get my books which i have wanted for so long!! and i hope to receive them in the next 4 days! i cant wait!

actually i want to talk about another thing, but another post coming along. this is so off topic already haha!

well a happy nap makes a happy book hoarder!

the hipster’s learning

i am finally done with my mosque officers course. well, it had been a good learning experience, this one. and like a true sacrifice-during-studies drama, my parents were warded one after another, to and fro the hospitals, rush to and fro work. SubhanAllah. today was a final assessment and presentation. our group did way better than expected. great.

such a turnaround of expectations on this course, it truly had been useful and engaging, trainers were great too. despite taking away two working days every week for the past 6 weeks, i felt that it was put to good us, and hey, a good escape too at times. the dread is the amount of work left pending and truly i have pending tasks which would have been completed much earlier. so now it’s back to normal working routine. i probably would miss the monday-tuesday learning escapades.

my learning journey does not end here though. i may have mentioned it somewhere around here, i will taking up a specialist diploma on children and youth counselling. it was a decision of do or die, or in my case, its either do or be intellectually stagnant. i wanted this and alhamdulillah had my husband’s support. and the course will start this friday night! i am nervous-excited as people normally do when they start their first class. i hope they dont have too much group work because i dont think i can handle anymore groupworks at the moment. was pretty lucky i had a good group for mods course, although there were some personality clash but it worked out great at the end.

and this weekend, i will be attending an NLP course, something i had always wanted to attend as well and another just do it decision. so it’s going to be an enriching week!

now what’s left to do is to sign up for as much Islamic courses or workshops available out there. i dont care even if the speakers are my acquaintances or people i used to work with. for learning sake. we are never perfect and we will always need reminders. and hopefully, going to these courses will spark interest from my siblings and hubby as well…

on a sidetrack. i am listening to warpaint and chvrches while typing out this post and i am beginning to regret not going to laneway last month (there were chvrches and daughter among the lineup). so say perhaps warpaint reach this tiny island, i may just go for it. i am a closet hipster after all, so they say.

friday it’s ok

I find myself sitting productively in front of my laptop and the brain actually functioning and focusing at the task at hand. and this happen on a friday.

not that i am complaining, i am more amazed. maybe the solitude and comfort of my home, some recharge me time before this, is helping me at this point of time.

After postponing for so long, a year in fact, i resume my facial treatment. i was lucky the package i took does not have a due date and the spa centre has been dilligently reminding me to make an appointment. i had to do it. it was nice. really nice. especially the face massage. that had me lulled to sleep!

next on the list will be some wash and cut for my pretty little hair nowadays (ella wannabe ;)) and maybe a massage one of these days. just today the lady who did my facial said my body is so stiff- you-should-take-our-massage-package. not that i do not want. i believe in going to one-two masseuse because these ladies will know your body and what it needs better. and furthermore, in this body preparation mode for pregnancy, i kind of prefer to have one or two personal masseuse so they know where to massage. so i guess its time to call my mother and make a massage date perhaps. hmm….time to find a day for that almost overdue off in lieu.

anyway, i find myself in front of this laptop, sending and replying to emails, which demands my attention, since i have been away for a course, having internal and external meetings as well as a day devoting just to settle fee subsidy applications. and i have to finish, i must, 3 proposals. one as an assignment, two more for a cluster projects.

i am honestly on a writer’s mode. because i am also excited to blog about many things! about my course, my personality and yes, the book i’m currently reading, Quiet, which does not require a review but a screaming in my head reflections. so many rediscovery of myself that i feel so much better being myself now. and yes the yuna concert me and hubby went to at the very last minute. that was somehow a nostalgic experience for me.

but i have to stop for awhile. cooking dinner!

back to school

I have finally braved my self and sign up for a specialist diploma course. with the support and consent from my husband. it is a specialist diploma course on counselling for children and youth.

I am still digesting this idea of becoming a part time student and honestly pretty nervous of how my body and brain going to react on having to study extra 6 hours per week to study. I am just glad that this course will be dependant on assignments rather than exams, but who says assignments are easy, hmm..

but I guess I need to have some form of learning in my system before I go stagnant, so to speak. I think the course will be helpful in some ways to understanding the students and most importantly, be able to help them. I mean I know my line is in education, but at this point of time, I am not able to commit to long periods of learning. So let’s try out 6 months first and see how I can take it. Anyway, it will only start in March, I hope this month I will be able to do some rescheduling of my life timetable and body system as well.

It’s going to be exciting, I hope.

😉

chai latte

I am your minah teh tarik, kakak teh ais, and now your chai latte lady 😉

thank you to the babes, I tasted my virgin chai latte and instantly fell in love with the taste. especially after a hard day at work (ok, not really, a day at a course) and knowing I have a presentation I have yet to prepare the very next morning, I challenged the odds and spent a bit of time with girlfriends. because, well, we just needed it.

it was supposed to be a café hopping kind of gathering, but what how many cafes can we cover from 6.30pm onwards? well, 4 actually.

tiramisu hero has the best ambience, I Am have the best crepe, ogopogo for the oh so refreshing chai latte (and personally pretty vintage design as well) and hmm, I don’t know, your back to basics by the street café Nasrin for a fun polaroid session!

I am glad I spent a bit of time with them. oh yea, got to work on that social bit of thinking. I totally fail in this friendship/communication department. I have always been so quiet and yea, I get it, introvert, psychologically speaking. I have been blessed with some very understanding friends, I mean that is what friends are for, accepting the way you are. but I get frustrated with myself for rather being the listener than sharing my stories. I definitely take time, a long time, to get used to a person and open up to them. so like if my friends bring their other friends or spouse along, I kind of shut myself off. its a natural response. I do not have control over it, eh. I will work on this slowwwwly I promise. but when a cool friend says you’re cool too because of the music I listen to, well, that is a compliment for your timid little seri ok! haha!

to dear friends, thank you for knowing me and understanding my need to be quiet. I enjoy your company all the same. 🙂

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cycle noob

one thing about turning 30 is the ability of knowing your body well. I am more in tuned with my body, I listen to my body and what I need and/or capable of. i know when to stop and when i can push my self further.

you see I was never a sporty person. I didn’t do sports back in school all the way to high school, hey, my school don’t have sports back then, being an all girls’ school. the sports we had was all self initiated. there was that occasional badminton games we play among friends and for a while, a soccer fever in the all girls’ school with kains and all until the teachers couldn’t say anything to us all because we were always playing ball! I knew then I was never going to be interested in soccer. back at home, dad was an avid badminton player. he was our unbeatable badminton hero. 🙂

and then there was ye-ye, an old school game rubber bands tight together to make a rope and two persons will hold each ends going up from the knee to the highest level while the rest will take turns to go over it. i can say i was among the best in the game.

so i was choosy. but what i know now is i love badminton, second only to cycling, and always will be, archery. (Now, archery, I am so going to return practising that, I had so much fun during Uni years and I never regretted taking it up as part of my extra curriculum activity, and its a sunnah plus point).

I have always loved cycling. the funny thing is, i only realised my body relationship with cycling today. it helped that hubby loves cycling too but he has more stamina and he cycles much faster than I can. so it always makes me wonder (I just realised I am an analytical person anyway), what works and what don’t for me. Cycling is almost becoming like an art that I need to learn.

Well, today I realised that this bike hubby bought works best for me (I have tried many other bicyles, they don’t always come out as faves). It was not heavy, light tyres and the gears, thus far, I know I can go gear 5 and mind you, up a hill at that gear ok. I was smiling ear to ear when I could cycled up ok! and your noob here just realised that even the height of the bike seat also determines whether I can cycle fast because otherwise, it just feels terribly hard to pedal comfortably, your leg should stretch out the whole length so the thighs will not be too strained out when you pedal down. your posture as well, how at times you just need to bend forward to preserve a bit of energy. hah, it take me to be 30 to finally realise these! but i still havent mastered the art of breathing though. It was fun nonetheless.

psst, I have been cycling 25 km all this while. Yes, just found out about that too. 😉

Starting out as not a sporty person, I can finally say I am taking care of myself by doing sports, and doing it with the man I love nonetheless.

hmm no, no running please, my knee cannot take running.

there I know my self.

2014

oh well, I am sure many people are also doing reflections and resolutions. I started the year with a nice homely breakfast, just me and husband, of warm French toasts, baked beans, some nuggets and nice hot milo. hopefully it is a start of a new habit I hope, making breakfasts for my husband.

and I have been spending the morning reading The Silver Star by one of my fave authors, Jeannette Walls. I bought the book quite some time ago and just thought I would read it on a good day and what better day than the start of 2014? so far, I cant seem to put the book down! about sisters taking care of each other. I am just taking a break from reading otherwise, nothing else gets done!

2013 had been crazy. but surprisingly good in some ways and it had been a year of travelling for me. work will always be crazy for me and I guess it had been a fight over time management and what arrangement suits best for me. seriously. I had been trying to balance work and family and my own self. There had been some form of almost balance some where but I found out it was never perfect. I still had not spend as much time with my family as I wanted. I only find myself more exhausted than ever with all the Sundays I went to work and Fridays of trying to finish work and all. although Fridays had been fun because I had sewing class which I truly enjoyed and proud of myself for actually taking it up. I am able to make skirts and a simple blouse now! talking about this makes my fingers itching to sew! I need to practice and I must make time for that.

I still owe my blogspace all the travel posts. I will make time for that. heh, I guess 2014’s mantra is ‘Make Time’

2013 was also a search for myself. and no I am not done yet. so 2014 may be the best year yet.

Looking forward to 2014 and better time management and love for my self. I have many plans for this year and I want to fulfill them. In Sya Allah.