Moving on.

Photo: Jmalls

She took a glance at her watch. It was slowly ticking to 6pm. She was still sitting there, doing nothing but waiting. She closed her weary eyes and took a deep breath.


Her stomach made some grouchy noise. That reminded her that she did not take her lunch. In fact, she had not been eating very properly for the whole week. Sometimes she would just eat potato chips for breakfast and instant noodles for dinner. Lunch was no more a part of her daily diet. Or maybe it still was, but only if plain water were considered as lunch.


That was not to be blamed completely on her. But it really was her fault that she chose to ignore her health. She did actually consider eating healthily, but she just could not afford it. Not because of financial issue, but because she did not have anyone to eat with. Eating the right healthy food at the right time - alone - was a very painful thing for her. She would rather keep herself occupied than constantly feel downhearted, so she worked almost every single day.


Her family would be the last people she would tell her problems to. She would never want to make them feel worried about her. And indeed she had many friends. But all of her friends were busy with their own life. She thought that she was an independent girl and that she could live on her own without sharing her happy and sad moments with some people called friends. But she knew that was not the truth, not at all. She missed her friends. She missed her true friends. Her true friends who would just sit next to her, do nothing, yet deeply understand her feelings. She realised that she was poor in self-expressing, that was why she needed her real friends. Not just friends whom she could share a meal with.


It had been quite a while since she last truly enjoyed herself. She loved to draw and write - expressing herself with the help of pencil and paper. She has not been doing those things that she loved for so long that she forgot how to cherish her little soul. Once, she used to regularly draw beautiful picture and write beautiful words, but these days she could hardly find a minute to sit and draw or write something and take a moment of pleasure from it. Probably, she could even had forgotten how delightful she could be when a simple masterpiece was created from her rough hands.


She just wanted to live her life happily. Definitely she was greatly unhappy going through her hard times, but she was still thankful to God for she was still alive to begin with. She still had time to fix her life up. Time, the greatest chance for a change.


As she opened her eyes, the bus stopped right in front of her. She stood up straight, took another deep meaningful breath and calmly stepped into the bus.

Photo: Adelhorst

The end.

Pieces of advice

Gambar hiasan

Good things come to those who want.

New year resolutions are nothing but empty dreams if you just sit and daydream.

So plan ahead and kick away that last-minute-attitude.

Be strong, and never give up easily.

Forgive and forget, you have no time to hate.

Last but not least,

be grateful, do not complaint unnecessarily. Allah knows what's the best for you.

Remember, you are not alone!

#Okbye

Forget love, I'd rather fall in chocolate

Actually, I do not know how to continue from my last post: The story of a busy girl. Of course, I have not written anything for almost two months! But you would forgive me if we leave it right there, won't you? ^^

So what have actually happened in the past nine weeks? Let me update you with the timeline of the things you have missed. But before I start, forgive any grammatical mistakes you might stumble upon as I did not do any proper proof-reading. ;)

24 October: I quitted all of my jobs because I wanted to focus on my examination, which would be on 17, 24 and 28 of November.

28 October: I, I mean, we got the allowance from the government! Thank Allah for saving us.

Early November: I had to settle several important assignments which were due several days before the start of the final exam. Absolutely tiring and stressing. I was able to submit an online assignment on time, but to be honest, there were two assignments submitted after the due time. NEVER START AN ASSIGNMENT LATE EVER AGAIN. Oops.

13 November: We had a Farewell party for the Cohort 1 seniors that were going back to Malaysia for good. They have completed their two years of study in Macquarie University, and will do their last year of degree which is also the practicum year in Malaysia, specifically Penang. That day would be a very memorable day indeed. It's really sad to know that those who have been a very good company to you were going away from your side. Miss you all, seniors!

Some of the Cohort 1 members plus some of Cohort 2 members

A souvenir for my lovely foster! 

Credits to the guys

Me and Kak Atiq. Me holding Kak Atiq's teddy

And oh, my foster is actually Kak Atiqah Sham :)

Everyone is Atiqah

Mid November: Examination period. Revised like crazy, even had a pillow talk with my housie, Hystrix. But not just a normal pillow talk, we talked about the everything that we have revised for Sociolinguistics subject. We discussed and revised almost everything in a very casual way. Pretty effective style of revising I reckon.

Part of my notes on Educational Assessment

25 and 27 November: I joined the SCRIBE group - a study group with jigsaw puzzle style initiated by my best friend, Mint (not her real name). Those who were involved had to prepare for presentation of some topics, and had to present it to the group and discuss the main ideas. We had fun revising although it was really really intense. We had the sessions in the Macquarie University library, where there are 'presentation pods' are available for the students to use. Well, we are lucky to be placed in a private university that have almost everything that we need.

Presentation on the board 

 The messy table

And the hardworking students

17, 24 & 28 November: Examinations! Introduction to Sociolinguistics was pretty fine, and Introduction to Curriculum and Pedagogy was quite okay for me. But Educational Assessment paper was almost a disaster!

Early December: Some of my friends have started to leave for Malaysia. But not me, I would be staying here, insya-Allah until the end of 2012. Not that I don't want to go back to see my family, it's just that I only have two years to live oversea. And the cost would be another problem. Plus, my parents do not really encourage me to go back. "It's wasteful of money and time." I admit that I do miss my family, but not to the extend that I will fall sick if I don't go back to Malaysia. I guess I've grown into an independent woman. Woman?? Ouch, I feel so old!

12 December: I prepared some cookies for a feast held in our friends' house. The original plan was to make teacake, but eventually I decided to make 'Biskut Intan' (Diamond Biscuits/Cookies) instead. The recipe was my mum's. Our family always make them for the Eid ul-Fitr celebration, almost every year. And this was the first time I did them all by myself. It's addicting, once you eat it you'll surely want more. Our friend's parents who happened to be in Sydney at that time were also invited to the small feast. And not to forget, the father and brothers of another friend were also here and also attended. It was indeed a great one.

Biskut Intan

BBQ!

The males

And the females and Hanan's parents

Credits to Anwar whom hands were shaky

14 December: I moved out from the house. Nova Bianca. You will always be remembered.

18 December: I got a job in Killara. Great news! Working at least 3 hours a day for 5 days a week. Awesome but not really awesome. But I'm thankful still.

Other days up to today: Sazrah, my temporary room mate has dragged me into watching movies, dramas and stuff in the internet. Recently stuck with Detective Conan's series. I occassionally get headache due to daily coffee consumption. So what, I love coffee. Oh, and chocolate too. That brings me to the title of this entry.

Cheers!

The story of a busy girl

I am a student. And I work part-time. But sometimes I work more that I study, and that is not something I am fond of. I have to make clear to you about that. My friends, some of them even called me 'businesswoman'. Aha, I am not a businesswoman. But busy-ness woman, yes I am.

In Sydney, it is really easy to find jobs, to work and get good money. BUT. Yes there's a but. You must have some living skills. Well, it actually depends on what kind of job you're after, yet you still need to be able to communicate well - in English especially - if you think your skills are not good enough to make people hire you.

During my first month in Sydney, I was rather eager to work that I asked one of my senior of how to get a job, when is the appropriate time, etc etc. I was advised not to work for the first one or two months, as I should settle down with the studies, lectures, and other things that are more important. Well, I think I started working in the end of March.

Wait, did I tell you what kind of job I do? I worked as a housekeeper. Or you can also say, cleaner. Cleaner does not sound very nice, and the term is quite broad, so I prefer to use the term housekeeper as I only work at people's house. Heh. Whatever. But like I said earlier, it is important that you have the skills. I got skills in cleaning and housekeeping, thanks to mum and my sisters for making me doing the house chores when I was in Malaysia.

 Courtesy from Google

I found that everything that my mum and my older sister taught me to do - since I was about 6 or 7 - like washing dishes, washing clothes, sweeping, mopping, and all sorts of cleaning was truly useful and helpful as I work. I know, those things are stuff that girls should be able to do or at least know, to become a good wife (and a good mother). But not every girl knows how to do cleaning, you see. Some girls are brought up without being asked to do such work, as they have their mum or older sisters doing everything for them. Or maybe they have maid(s) at home, so they totally have no idea how to clean and how to keep a house clean and organized. I am lucky I guess, although I used to complaint this and that whenever I was asked to clean my house.

Courtesy from Google

But I think, if I wasn't asked at all to do the house chores when I was in Malaysia, I might not have the confidence that I have now. I gain confidence by working. I gain confidence through the good and bad experience that I went through. I feel brave and independent now. And the best part is, I am only 20 years old, and I am living in Sydney. Far away from the family and the homeland. Motivation that mainly comes from my parents keep me strong and cool whenever problems come and punch me in the face. Okay, maybe that sounds rather violent. Not punch me in the face, but fall like big-sized stones right onto my head. Heh, whatever.

I will continue with these blabberings when I get time to write. Thanks for reading anyway.

Illalliqa'! Assalamualaikum.

Say hi!

Hey people! I'm back!


Anybody miss me? Miss my writings? Nobody? Okay fine.


I know I have not written anything for months. MONTHS. It is a lot of time indeed. Some readers may wonder - like WonderGirls, or if they are guys, WonderGuys - why on earth does this blog owner does not write a thing in her blog? She calls herself blogger, but she does not update her blog for such a long time.


Well let me make it clear to you. I was and still am busy, with assignments + works + classes + sleeps and although I do have free time in between those activities, I just didn't have the eagerness to write. I didn't have the enthusiasm to express myself. I didn't feel like updating the blog. Okay I don't want to give excuses anymore, let's move on.


Numerous things have happened to me since the last time I updated this blog. I  recently realised that I need to write to express myself, to share my joys and miseries with other people because as I stopped writing entries for the blog, I could sense that I have become rather secretive and quiet, passive and perhaps, pessimistic. I don't want to be that kind of person, I want to be an optimistic, motivated, active and happy girl. Obviously, I will need to keep writing in the future so that I will not turn into a gloomy person, or zombie. ;P


Anyway, I need encouragement to write. Some motivation from you would be greatly appreciated. 


*Hint: drop a comment!* ;)

Selamat Hari Raya (Happy Eid-ul Fitr) and cheers!

Let's have a tea....

Lately, I have been greatly busy working. But yesterday, I have decided to quit one of my jobs (yes, I have more than one job) thus making me free for today.

So what did I do? What do you think I would do when I'm freaking bored to be alone at home and feeling freaking lazy to go out at all?

Uhm, what? Clean my house? Well, yeah. But I did that yesterday.

Too hard to guess? Okay. So today, I did something a little bit extraordinary. It's not what I commonly do when I'm bored.

I baked a cake. A tea cake. For your information, it is called tea cake not because it tastes like tea or has tea(bag) inside it. It is named tea cake because it is usually eaten during tea time. Well that's what I believe the reason why it is called with that name.

I got the original recipe from this book: The Australian Apple Recipe Book. I bought it in Tasmania during the trip I had few weeks ago. I had to modify the recipe because of two reasons.

1. There is no more apple left in the refrigerator.
2. I had actually tried the recipe before and it didn't really work, probably because I didn't use mixer to mix the ingredients. So I took a look at some tea cake recipes in the internet and I found myself adjusting the quantity of the ingredients. Because...I don't know why. Just followed my instinct. Aha :P

So the new recipe is more or less like this. (Notice that this recipe is not the original one [Apple Tea Cake] as it has been rewritten by me)

Tea Cake with Honey and Cocoa Topping

Cake

1 egg
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoon butter
1 cup self raising flour
a little milk to mix

Mix sugar and butter. Add in flour and whisked egg and rub the mixture together. Mix to a cake-like batter with a little milk.

Turn mixture to a greased baking tray. Bake in oven with the temperature of 180 degrees for 25 minutes. (I use fan-forced setting)

I divided the mixture into two parts and poured one part into this baking tray. Which means that I baked two pieces of cake because there's only one tray. Wait, do we call it tray?

This is the plain cake, fresh from the oven!

Topping
(I created by myself) :P

Two to three teaspoon of honey
Cocoa powder

Spread honey evenly on top of the baked cake. Sprinkle cocoa powder (can be replaced by chocolate powder) on the cake.

Voila! Ready to be served with a cup (or a jug) of tea!

This is how my tea cake looks like. I actually added some Coffeemate to the cocoa powder, just because.

Now, let's have a tea cake! ;D

Writing from Windows Live Writer

Hi there!

 

I’m writing this post from Windows Live Writer that I have in my pc. It’s quite interesting because I can type on the page of the blog itself. It is very cool too because I can see how my post would look like in the blog when I post it.

 

Actually I have never known this stuff before, until I unintentionally opened the software and started to link it with this blog.

 

Well, I guess that’s all I want to say.

 

Have a great day! ^^

 

Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens

And that's why Muslim girls cover their body and hair

A non-Muslim guy asked a Muslim: Why do your girls cover up their body and hair?

The Muslim guy smiled and got two sweets, he opened the first one and kept the other one closed.

He threw them both on the dusty floor and asked the non-Muslim: If I asked you to take one of the sweets which one u will choose?

The non-Muslim replied: The covered one.

Then the Muslim said that’s how we treat and see our women.

Courtesy of Google

Day 1 — Your favorite song

I didn't expect that I would be taking so long just to decide on my favourite song.

I enjoy listening to many songs, varying from classical musics like Canon in D Major to some reggae songs like Price Tag by Jessie J. But for this post, I choose a rap song. Well I think it is a rap song.

It's a song sung by three people. Yet they're not a band. They're...friends. Yep, they are YTF.

Okay, now what is YTF? o_O

YTF stands for YouTube Friends, I believe. But some people say that it stands for Yesterday, Today, Forever.

Well, it's not the thing I want to talk about. Now let's get back to the topic. What was the topic again? *eye-ing over the title*

Oh, ya. My favourite song. I choose this song.

.

..

...

....

Sung by Chester See, Kevin Wu and Ryan Higa. Yes, I did mentioned Ryan in this post. Well, I rate this song as VERY COOL!

And if you like the video, this is another version by Kevin which is slightly different from Ryan's video.

Nice Guys

Source: LYBIO.net

CHORUS – Chester See
Nice guys finish last,
That’s why I’ll treat you like trash,
It’s not what I really wanna do.
But, you only date bad guys so,
I’ll give it my best try to,
Treat you the way you want me to.

VERSE 1 – Kevin Wu Aka Kevjumba
I never open a door,
or pull out a chair.
You can tell me how your day was
but I don’t really care.
And if you ever get cold,
you’ll just have to hack it,
Cause I’d be cold too
If I gave you my jacket.
Like WHOA, you ain’t sittin up front,
Front is for the homies you can sit in the trunk.I never answer my phone,
Whenever you call it
And when the waiter brings the bill
I never reach for my wallet.

CHORUS – Chester See
Nice guys finish last,
That’s why I’ll treat you like trash,
It’s not what I really wanna do.
But, you only date bad guys so,
I’ll give it my best try to,
Treat you the way you want me to.

VERSE 2 – Ryan Higa
And Ima BEAT you!
At every competition.
Going out with the girls
You better get my permission.
Wait no, i take that back, you can’t go,
House is on tonight
And that’s my favorite show!
Do I look fat in this dress?
Hell yeah you do!
Wait lemme speak your language
Cows go Moo!Mooo Moooo Mooo MOOOO!

CHORUS – Chester See
Nice guys finish last,
That’s why I’ll treat you like trash,
It’s not what I really wanna do.
But, you only date bad guys so,
I’ll give it my best try to,
Treat you the way you want me to.

BRIDGE – Chester See
But behind the scenes she means the world to me.
Wanna tell her that she’s beautiful, and show her that she’s loved.
Hold her hand when she’s scared, tell her how much I care…
But that won’t win her heart BECAUSE….

CHORUS – Chester See
Nice guys finish last,
That’s why I’ll treat you like trash,
It’s not what I really wanna do.
But, you only date bad guys so,
I’ll give it my best try to,
Treat you the way you want me to.

Ho!

Source: LYBIO.net

* * * * *

TEEHEE!

Hey, that's not all! There's another an acoustic version of the song, sung by Chester See. Have a watch!

Cheers!

Dare enough to take up the game?

Challenges are what make life interesting;

overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.

- Joshua J Marine -

Hi readers!

I've decided to give this challenge a shot. What challenge? Let's take a look!

30 Things in 30 Days Challenge

Courtesy of Google

This is an easy game. Just update your bloggie/fb everyday. Answer the questions. Every entry should be followed with at least 1 photo which is relevant to the questions.

Day 1 — Your favorite song

Day 2 — Your favorite movie

Day 3 – Your idea of the perfect first date.

Day 4 – Your favorite photograph of your best friend.

Day 5 – What makes you different from everyone else?

Day 6 – A song to match your mood.

Day 7 – A photo of an animal you’d love to keep as a pet.

Day 8 – A picture of your favourite memory

Day 9 – Your current relationship, if single discuss how single life is.

Day 10 – A photo of the item you last purchased.

Day 11 – 5 facts about you.

Day 12 – A photo of something that makes you happy.

Day 13 – A picture of your favourite band or artist

Day 14 – A TV show you’re currently addicted to.

Day 15 – Something you don’t leave the house without.

Day 16 – Short term goals for this month and why

Day 17 – How you hope your future will be like.

Day 18 – 5 things that irritate ME about opposite/same sex

Day 19 – A picture of something you want to do before you die

Day 20 – The meaning behind your blog name.

Day 21 – A photo of your favorite place to eat.

Day 22 – A letter to someone who has hurt you recently.

Day 23 – Your dream wedding.

Day 24 – A photo of something that means a lot to you.

Day 25 – Who are you?

Day 26 – A photo of somewhere you want to go.

Day 27 – What kind of person attracts you?

Day 28 – In this past month, what have you learned?

Day 29 – Something you could never get tired of doing.

Day 30 – A photograph of yourself today + three good things that have happened in the past 30 days

Well this post is just the beginning. Day 1 entry will be posted next!

I hope that I still can write well.

And if you wish to give a go to this challenge, you are very welcomed to do so! Just leave your blog link in the comment section so that I will be able to follow the posts! :)

Cheers!