The secrets of people who never get sick - A review

So I just finished reading this book.

Lemme just share the 25 secrets (not really secrets, peeps!)

Let's first talk about number 5, if you have been reading my blog for quite some times, you'd know that I've been having issues with Khaira's cough a while ago. Among the advises that I received to strengthen her lung is to have a cold shower every morning. To begin with, she started to use hot shower the moment she went to Kindy and when the coughing drama started.

Number 6 on detoxification, I've always had  a bad eczema growing up. I have no fingerprints, so I have special letter from JPN, but the hassle is unbelievable. Alhamdulillah, I'm used to it now. My eczema is almost gone since I detoxify myself and started to eat clean. Fasting is a way to detox as well. I did mine using juices back then. And still doing it every now and then.

Number 9, garlic with olive oil massage all over K's chest and feet helped eased up her cough as well.

Number 15, napping. Rasulullah's sunnah, peeps! My favourite!

And number 24, Vitamin C, K is on supplement at the moment until she is really stable. I used Transfer Factor and Champs.

She is on Goat's milk everyday now, and I found that she has been at her healthiest since she started Kindy, Alhamdulillah.

Overall, I am happy with this book. I rate it 3.5 over 5.

The inverted U curve: David and Goliath - Malcolm Gladwell

As a lecturer, I agree with the inverted u curve theory.

Many times we thought that the academic achievements of students get better with the lesser number of students in class.

Well, actually most of the time, it works this way:

I agree that there is an ideal number of how many students should be in a class, varying from one subject to the other.

I once taught just one student for postgraduate class, I have no motivation to come to the class to teach.

For me, 30 to 45 pax is the best crowd for undergraduate and 15 to 20 is just nice for postgraduate students. Like how Gladwell put it, "enough bodies in the room that no one person needs to feel vulnerable but everyone can feel important".

 Apparently, the inverted U curve does not happen only in the size of a class, but also in almost everything that we have seen in our life, including parenting.

For poor parents, it is always hard to tell the kids "No, we can't afford that" as well as it is hard for rich parents to say, "No, we won't be buying that".

"No, we won't be buying that" requires you to know how to articulate the kids and how to make them plausible to your kids.

Then, comes the Big Fish in a Little Pond Theory.

People have always wondered how I suddenly shine like this for both my Master and PhD to where I am now.

Truth is, I have always been slightly above average. I was an advanced reader by the age of 4, I was the best student in my primary school, I always got 100% for my Maths, but then I went to one of the best high schools in Malaysia, where everybody got 100% in Maths as well, so I'm just as ordinary as everyone else in the school. I am the small fish in a big pond back then.

But since not so many people my age, my school doing Master and PhD, suddenly I shine. They thought having PhD in Engineering before I reach 28 makes me a genius.

What they do not know is that my class monitor got his PhD by 27, in Engineering as well.

Here, I am a big fish in a little pond, so I shine.

And do you know that the happiest country have the highest suicide rate? It is not that these people are totally unhappy, but looking at others in their country that are happy all the time make them more miserable.

Also do you know that in CRT test, the students got better answers for difficult questions once they made the questions harder to read (small and terrible fonts) as it requires you to push your brain to use more resources to answer them.

And that what makes autism kids become genius sometimes, as they push their brain to use more; compensation learning they called.

So many more interesting facts, guys.. I rate this 4.5 over 5.

It is easy for me to agree with this concept as it is inline with what Islam taught us, to be moderate.

Too much of something is not enough,
But something coming over me to make me wonder,
Too much of nothing is just as tough,
I need to know the way to feel to keep me satisfied.
--Too Much, Spice Girls, ones I've held onto back when I was a rebellious teenager

Reminiscing..

I have finally finished reading both Nenek's books that she gave me.

The book about her written by her. It's like walking down the lane 50 years back, when I was not even born yet, but now everything is relatable,

I couldn't understand her first book much, because it is more to politics. I'm so not good in politics. But I kind of learned a lot there.

Nenek's second book that I read is about her journey to London and some times she spent there.

This opens up my eyes a lot, understanding Nenek's perspective when she travelled means the world to me. I always fond of travelling although I'm slowing down a bit now due to the kids. I always learn something new when I travelled, but Nenek learned about a whole lot of things.

The book was written 60 years ago. Funny how you could still relate the working mom's dilemma.

Al fatihah, Nek :) May you be among the pious.

...

Also, I have spent 6 months tying to finish up this one book, which I did not recommend at all. What a waste of my time (T_T)

Alright, there you go. Now I'm up to date with my review, yay!

A dose of happiness

At times when I need a dose of happiness, I seldom look for Andrew Matthews.

My favourite is "Happiness Now".

With Andrew Matthews, it is not just an ordinary lengthy self help. They are filled with cartoons and short stories that you are able to relate to. Highly recommended for those who doesn't fancy reading much.

I'm sharing you the 80/20 rules from Happiness Now that I found really therapeutic at times.

The saddest book of the century

I can't believe I'm so lagging in reviewing the books I read thus far.

Have you read "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini? Oh my goodness, this guys is a genius! Brilliant author, my current favourite, please read it peeps.

It's about a never ending friendship between a boy and his servant's son. Set up in Kabul, during Afghanistan war. The before, during and after effects of the war.

War is just the side story, actually. But for once, I got a deeper understanding on how our brothers and sisters got through their day in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, it's saddening.

It got me crying the whole time. A very good read, I rate this 5 over 5.

Please read this, peeps.

The religion is simple - A review

Some time ago, my boss gave me this book.

He is one of those old slick professor, trying to give dakwah subtly in his everyday life.

When he was invited as a speaker during one of the Photonics conference, he started his talk with surah An Nur talking about light, then relate back to Photonics.

When he gave his Professorial talk, in one slide where he talked about his achievements in life, he put a figure of Kaabah in the timeline, indicating that was the year he performed his hajj.Though he didn't mention it during the talk, but it indicates that hajj was his biggest achievement, perhaps more than the professorship itself.

Nonetheless, when I was not wearing my hijab last time, I used to always listen to his advises on hijab.

So, when he gave me this book, I thought it was so typical of him.

I read the first page and immediately hooked.

You know how in school you have learned about the six principles of faith or rukun iman, but you actually never understand it in details? Well, maybe it is just me because I didn't attend sekolah agama back then.

This book talks in detail about the rationale of each principle, especially a whole lot about qada' and qadar in a simple words; QnA type.

I rate this 5 over 5 and I believe it is a must have book in every Muslim house! 

The guest of the Almighty

When my bimbo girlfriend (she's super genius by the way, we love calling her bimbo because.. well she acted like one.. happy, chirpy, loud girl, hehe.. and you know we love you for that, S!) went back from Umrah a couple of years ago and I met her, she said..

"When I first saw Kaabah, I cried and I don't know why.."

You know how when someone said it so sincerely, you could just feel it and kind of went "Awww..." and get all teary like that.. this was one of those moments.

And this came from, like I mentioned earlier.. happy, chirpy non-emotional bimbo friend of mine.

From that day onwards, I knew I just had to.

And things went smoothly afterwards in terms of financially for me. I made super easy money by involving in stocks. Alhamdulillah. We thought of leaving the girls to both my parents while we were gone, and it is only fair if I let my parents go first. They have never been there before.

Parents supposed to go this year, and both Love and I were supposed to go next year (Could not take too much leave in a year), but Dad had a hectic year at work this year. So, they had to postpone to next year.

Sedih? Of course because that only meant we could go the following year. I was so so down and of course mad at the same time.

During this year's Matta fair, Love had to visit his booth. Love is a head in Avis now, so Avis had a booth there, we came to visit. There was an Umrah fair as well, I decided to drop by.

Upon discussing with the Ustazah, suddenly Allah SWT opens my husband's heart to bring the girls. In short, it means we can go next year with both of my parents.

The rest is history and in shaa Allah we will be leaving on the 13th January. Mashaa Allah I'm beyond excited. At first I was nervous to bring the girls, but I know that if Allah brings me to it, He will surely brings me through it.

Doakan ye kawan2. I really need your doa so that everything is smooth sailing for me. I have been wanting this for years, really wanting this, I could cry thinking of it. Doakan ok :) In shaa Allah.

At the moment I'm reading the Syamail Muhammadiyah, a recollection of the Prophet's Hadis, which I totally recommend by the way, I rate this 5/5. The more I read, the more I feel that I want to go to Raudhah and meet Rasulullah, rindu yang I've never felt before. So your doa means a lotttttt to me, I really really want to go there!!!!

**Pics from Google

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell: A review

"How did you finish your PhD part time in three years?"

I received that questions A LOT

From almost everybody who knows about it.

And my answer is always the same..

"Alhamdulillah, I have a great support system."

And that's when the interrogations happen. I guess there's no magic in my answer, hence the probing.

Then, I read Outliers and somehow I can relate to it very very strongly.

It has been a while since I last read Gladwell's intelligence. For me personally, among the four books I read: Blink, The Tipping Point and What the Dog Saw (click each book for my review), Outliers is the masterpiece!

In Outliers, the best and the most successful people are picked and studied to see what made them.. simply the outliers.. the outstanding ones.

Great soccer players mostly are born in January, because the intake for good soccer club is in December. Hence, those born in January have more time to practice compared to those, say in November.

Bill Gates is worth million dollars now because he used to have 24 hours access to computers, when computers back then were so expensive and only few people have the opportunity of using them.

Most lawyers are Jewish because their immigrant parents worked in garments industry. How does it relate? Go read Outliers, please! And why us, Asians are good with maths?

You see, of course it takes hard work and determination to achieve something. But we have too often focus on what successful people are like and too little attention to where they are coming from. Because, it matters.

Honestly, I have learned a lot from this book. In a sense of parenting as well.

I learned that it matters to send your children to good schools, because good schools produce good education system and good environment and support system.

It matters to train them in whatever skills we want them to excel daily although as short as 5 minutes a day.

It matters for them to have a good support system in order to make them the outliers.

In shaa Allah. Ameen.

Not a penny more, not a penny less - A review

Read the second book of Jeffery Archer, I must say that his style of writing becomes kind of predictable.

Not that it's a bad thing because he really knows how to draw the readers attention. But it's like a formula to it already, you know.

Not a penny more, not a penny less is about 4 strangers who thought they were being conned by a muti millionaire, Metcalfe. So they made 4 different plans to get back their money from Metcalfe at exact amount, not a penny more, not a penny less.

The idea makes it look like my kinda book.

But with Archer, he prefers the unnecesary details more than the necessary ones. So, the execution of the plans were very brief making it to have less climax for me.

Oh well, I rate this 3 over 5. Sorry Archer!

A book on Al Fateh for boys

My man doesn't read.

Especially books with lotsa reading needs to be done. I cannot imagine him reading Pak Latip's book on Al Fateh cover to cover.

For those men, who don't read and yet keen to know about Al Fateh, I suggest to read this book.

Thin, with lots of mind maps and figures in it. Very informative, but..

So not my kinda book.

Hehe.. This thin, but took me 2 months to finish it.

Have a little faith - a review

The moment I read the first page of "Have a Little Faith", I realized how much I miss Albom.

It is not easy to find such honest writing as his nowadays. The journey with Albom has always been a fun one.

This book is a true story about the life of Albert Lewis, Albom's childhood rabbi. The rabbi asked Albom to deliver the eulogy for him during his funeral when the time came. Albom was a bit hesitant in a sense that he was too far drifted away from his own religion. But he did it anyway, took his time to visit the rabbi every now and then to get to know him more so he was able to write the eulogy for him. This book is about a journey of a lost man, finding back his own purpose of life, presented in a way that regardless whatever religion you are, it still fits you well, the objective.

Albom's writing in such delicate issue is a brilliant one.

I would strongly suggest you to read this one!!

Paths of glory by Jeffrey Archer - a review

My mentor has been continuously insiisting me to read any of Archer's books. He was convinced that I'm gonna like it.

I don't really read fiction except from Dan Brown and Sophie Kinsella. But back when I was in BBW 2 years ago, Archer's books  were selling for RM8 per piece. Who said no to that?

Finally, now I have time to start finishing off all the books I bought previously.

Paths of Glory is about a man who attempted to climb the Everest way before Sir Edmund Hillary. He left his wife and kids just for the mission and promised to leave his wife's photo at the peak of the mountain.

He was found many years after that, dead just before the peak of the mountain without the photo of his wife with him. Some speculated he made it to the top and was dead on the way down. Having that said, the history might changed.

Romance and such are typical spices of this kind of novel. But it's worth noting that in the end, his grandchild conquer the mountain and left the picture of both the grandparents at the peak saying he finally completed the family's business.

Archer's way of writing is kinda draggy. I so much prefer Dan Brown.

But I won't object of reading any other of his masterpiece because he is that good.

I'm reading another of his at the moment. Should catch up with my review soon.

Melahirkan Bayi Genius Akhir Zaman - A review

I'm done reading this in less than two weeks. Don't ask my verdict. I'm bias like that towards Puan Lina Karim.

Get the ebook here

The best RM56 I spent on (RM6 charged by pay pal; RM0 for printing sebab Love printkan, Tq Sayang!).

I especially love Chapter 7.

Some notes worth sharing:

1. Babies start hearing as early as they are 5 months in the womb. If we train them to listen to Quran, in shaa Allah, when they come to the world, they would be familiar with the Quran and at ease everytime they listen to it.

2. They have the sense of touch as early as week 8. Rubbing your tummy will generate a lot of oxytocin receptors. I discussed about oxytocin many times before in my blog. It is a happy hormone that will ease your birthing process and make your baby happier in the tummy (hence healthy and more adaptable because the baby feels loved). So, be happy especially when you are pregnant, unhappiness leads to the development of cortisol; a hormone that can cause brain damage as well as lowering down your baby's antibody.

3. The sense of taste develops during week 13 to 15. So, eat healthily. Dates help the babies to speak earlier later on. Don't forget the happy pills; Vitamin B (Acid Folic is one of them). I took Vit B with Acid Folic during my first trimester to ease up my morning sickness. Apparently, Puan Lina did mention morning sickness helps you clean yourselves internally when you are pregnant, a new insight :)

4. The sense of smell develops at week 11 to 15; they can smell the amniotic fluid which is similar to the smell of their mother; hence they recognize the mother the moment they were born.

6. At week 16 onwards, baby can start seeing and recognizing whether the outside of the tummy is dark or otherwise. After week 27, you can start stimulating them by using torch light directs to your tummy.

7. You can start a routine for your baby since in the tummy. Fix time to solat, sleep, eat and play so that it creates their muscle memory and they can hopefully continue with the sleep routine as they come out of the womb.

So many points I wish to share.. But I guess, it will never be the same; not comparable with Puan Lina's explanation.

My suggestion..

GO.BUY.THIS.BOOK.NOW.

For pregnant mommies who are reading this, happy birthing and enjoy your pregnancy because you're the chosen ones!!~

The magic of mothers and daughters - A review

2 years ago, during my birthday, I received this book from a new colleague and her boyfriend.

With PhD, then the aftermath, then books in queue (up to date, I would estimate I have 30 more books in queue and I'm still buying new ones, I really should stop buying, shouldn't I?), I only managed to read it recently.

I would rate this 2.5 over 5.

So disappointing.

I guess the biggest mistake is letting writers write these stories, they tried to make the stories too fancy, it lacks of soul. I would prefer to have normal people with interesting stories to share, it becomes more genuine.15% of the stories are just plain whining and selfish for me. A grandmother whining of having autism grandchild, sad. Parents who chased away their daughter and refused to take her back when she begged just because they were scared she would give bad influence towards the son, haunting. A woman, who thought it's best to choose her daughter over her dying mother, tragic.

"The best thing you can do is to serve your mother, then your mother, then your mother, and then you father, then your relatives."

What we learned in Islam.

"What you give up (to your parents), must be the same than what you give down (to your children)", a speaker once advised us.

I have nothing nice to say because these three stories I mentioned above haunt me throughout.

My story of having this book is, at least for me, more interesting.

Shortly after this colleague gave me the book, she broke up with his boyfriend, which was part of the reason I refused to read it. Kind of inappropriate, I was thinking.

But right when I started reading the book, they got back together and now they live happily ever after. The end.

How to talk to your toddler

So currently I'm reading this..

Why? Because seriously.. having a toddler somehow seems more challenging than a newborn. The tantrum Khaira has nowadays since Aisha was born, ya Allah..

Look at the pic below.. Whenever mom dukung Aisha..

Anyhow, I just finished reading the first chapter of the book. I found it very interesting,  how it trained you to talk to your toddler.

Some points to share:

1. To encourage your toddler to eat --> "You take a bite of your vege, and then I'll take a bite of mine"

2. Separation anxiety --> Reassure that you will return and get her interested in an activity. Eg. "I know you don't want me to leave, but I'll be back soon" or "Why don't you feed your teddy while I make lunch?" Don't do this.. "it makes me mad when you do that" or "Poor baby.."

3. Weaning from bottle --> " You're a big girl now. Just like me, big girl drinks from bottle"

4. Other people have feelings too --> " When you hit Abi, it hurts him"

5. Put off a toddler's request --> " I can't play now. I'm reading my book. Reading my book is fun for me. Just like playing masak2 is fun for you. Now I'm going to have some fun with my book while you have some fun with your bricks". Explain the reasons to them.

I shall share more in shaa Allah.

Ina May's Guide to Childbirth - A review

Since Ina May's book was a hype among my hypnobirthing friends, I searched for it high and low. Only to discover I could just buy it online.

Here's my first to many moree purchases using Kinokuniya Malaysia online. So efficient, now being a book shopahalic is easier. *take a scissor and considering cutting my credit cards only to realise internet banking can be my next option too, damnnnn*

Anyhow, I finished reading it a couple of days ago. At least for me I found the book rather disappointing :(

It started with a compilation of birth story which 1. I found them a bit scary. Some I even wonder why they share such stories there. I thought it's a gentle birth thingy. Hypnobirthing Malaysia has way cooler stories that you can actually relate. 2. I just couldn't relate all the stories; time difference and no I'm not gonna birth my baby in a farm.

Afterwards, the articles. Some made me better but most lagi laa scary. All the stories on side effects of episiotomy la, epidural la, some weird deseases I never heard of macam Rh negative complete with percentage.

How is that supposed to make me feel better I don't know...

So now, I'm reading Childbirth Without Fear, hoping I got that positive vibrants like the ones I have after reading Hypnobirth.

Sighh..

Anyhow, if you're interested with my review on Hypnobirth, please read it here http://drikeen.blogspot.com/2011/07/hypnobirthing-class-2-breathing-and.html?m=0. I totally suggest this for all of you pregnan t mommies!

The Lost Symbol - A review

So, I bought this book in BBW 2013 - illustrated version for RM8. Such a highlight of my day at that time, because I'm one huge fan of Dan Brown.

Like any typical Dan Brown's book, this one is very mind stimulating. On code deciphering, and action, and history, every wow factor is there.

It discusses on Katherine Solomon whose research is based on mind power (yay!), where she tries to prove the ability of our mind using science. Her brother, Peter Solomon is the 33rd degree Mason whom has been kidnapped by Mal'akh because he wants to unveil the secret of the Mason. So the whole point of this story is actually for Langdon and Katherine to decipher a Mason map for the kidnapper, so that the kidnapper would release Peter.

Complications and a lottt of fun deciphering along the way.

My brother wanted to borrow this from me. But after I finished reading the whole thing, I decided to ignore his request. Having to say that, I wouldn't suggest this to a lot of you, because like most of Dan Brown's book.. it is controversial.

Remember Dan Brown, how he claims Jesus had an unborn baby when he was crucified.

This time around, he claims that the word "we" in Bible is not referring to the plurality of the Gods, but rather God is within us, ie. our mind. Everything is controlled by the mind and "we" is referring to everybody's mind.

Hmmm..

I don't like to go there, I don't even like it how Law of Attraction and The Secret could mislead us to think that our mind can control anything. Because it doesn't stop there. I believe in the end it all relates back to the Almighty, we have good faith in Him and in returns He grants our doa, simple as that.

I don't like to go there. So I'm gonna just stop :)

Sultan Muhammad Al Fateh Penakluk Konstantinopel - A review

I finished reading this book finally. I started the first couple of pages on the way to Japan last time, and it got me crying in the airport and the last few pages left me crying unconsolably.

The extend a Sultan went through to realize a hadith left me speechless.

"Lataftahanna al-Qustantiniyya wa lani`ma al-amiru amiruha wa lani`ma
al-jayshu dhalika al-jaysh."

"Verily you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful leader will her
leader be, and what a wonderful army will that army be!"

It started with the father of Sultan Muhammad Al-Fateh, in which he was devastated as he couldn't conquer Constantinople. He asked if he was not a good leader, and that was when the people said he was indeed a good leader. And that they predicted that his son would be the one to conquer the city.

When Sultan Muhammad Al-Fateh was born, his father's mission was for him to achieve akhirat as well as duniawi. Juggling between leadership and religion and the skills of becoming a great army.

At the same time, they monitored closely to ensure they had the greatest army, those whom obey Islamic's rules. Those who woke up every night for Solat sunat, and obeyed their Sultan's instructions like no other.

When they have a great army already, their mission was to have a good rakyat. Both the father and Sultan Muhammad Al-Fateh pretended to be normal citizens to study about their rakyat. And they worked hard to stop all the corruptions and the things the rakyat did that were the opposite of Islam.

Until finally the Sultan achieved his victory with much hardship and faith towards the Almighty. Masha Allah.

Among the last pages of the book, when the Sultan managed to conquer the Aya Sophia church and turned it into a mosque, he looked for someone to be the first Imam for the mosque.

He asked the hundred thousands of his army, "Who among you have ever missed five times a day solat, please sit down."

None of them sat down, people. NONE.

Then he asked, "Who among you have ever missed solat sunat rawwatib, please sit down."

Half of his army sat down.

Then he asked, ""Who among you have ever missed solat sunat tahajjud, please sit down."

Everybody sat down except him. A Sultan. God knows how busy he was. But yettt... Huwaaaa..

That left me crying. Insaf sangaattttt!! :( And so he became the first imam for the mosque.

A must read, darlings. A must.

What PECIPTA 2013 taught me

The whole week last week, I was juggling between my graduation and PECIPTA. PECIPTA stands for Persidangan dan Ekspo Ciptaan IPTA. It was an exhibition to acknowledge the university research that is ready for commercialization.

This year, I was a member for three different project. It was fun. Previously, I was a leader for ITEX and MTE in 2010, 2012 and 2013. Being a member takes my mind off things for a while.

It gave me time to observe the different leadership skills exist, and which one I want to be. I now understand that being a leader doesn't mean you have the power to command people every now and then rudely. My standard on rude is quite high.. Leaving a 'please' in your every request is unacceptable. That taught me that you're gonna be around for the longest time.. better make yourself pleased while we were at it.

I even learned something from this one little girl whom is very dear to me.. she said something like people reacts to you what you reacted to them, or rather what you feel for them.

I learned a lot from the Trump book I read, which for me was a mindblowing and I highly suggest this to all of you. He said your mind controls only 5% of your life.. another 95% is your subconscious mind. So for me.. the first rule of being a leader as I learned in PECIPTA is to really respect every member of your team. The rest in shaa Allah, the way you request something from them will affect your conscious mind.

I also have a habit of isolating myself to the max. My ex student (now a good friend) used to relate me to a malay song that I never heard of before. It sounds something like in a village, there's a really old house with a box under that house. And under the box there's a frog and that's me.

Honestly, that was a slap in the face, one valuable lesson I learned from a student. "Pick a friend who drained you or inspired you," he said. Some people inspired me in a different way.. to others they just drained me..

Anyhow.. I took his advice and Trump's.. so I walked around.. socializing.. passed around my card. But I think I'm gonna do better the second time around.

Although, the ending was the best. The three projects I involved in.. we obtained a silver and 2 bronzes. And other additional bonuses than those I mentioned above is that I never felt any closer to all the true friends I have in my lab. How blessed I am. Alhamdulillah.

My 40 days jurnal inspirasi

Recently, one of my colleagues went to Celik Momz seminar by Prof Muhaya. And up until today, I kind of regret of not going. I don't even think I have a solid reason of not going, simply ignorant at that time. Next year then in shaa Allah.

It was I guess a life changing experience for this colleague of mine. She introduced to us the '40 hari jurnal inspirsi diri' by Prof. Muhaya. Bought one and left them for almost two months with only 1 page written on it.

At first, I kind of thought it was silly, you know the journals. It has like 5 parts for you to fill in every day; on what you would like to be physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually and financially. I thought, 5 things to do a day were burdening, what more to add 5 new things for every day until day 40. I don't like setting a sky high targets that makes you stop jumping to reach it half way through.

Only recently, this friend of mine thought us how to use the journal.

It works actually for your subconscious mind.. You wrote everyday, for 40 days on what you want to achieve. The same thing, for 40 days. So it will stick to your mind that you have to do it.

For me, because I get that satisfaction of crossing things out of my list once I was done with it, I wrote things I want to do everyday for 40 days; and I crossed it everyday once I'm done with it. There were days when I was unable to cross that list, and it pressured me to try better the next day. So, I super love this book!!!

The hardest thing to do for me, was the "emotional" part. Mine was to be nice to Love for 40 days. And of course, in shaa Allah after day 40 it becomes a habit. I told Love hoping he would be flattered. However, he told me, "Ohh Sayang, I'm gonna make it really hard for you!"

He did.

He purposely make himself so lurus bendul just to annoy me. I couldn't stand lurus bendulness, so there were days I did not manage to cross that one out of my list. Once, he even let me drive his car to work without any road tax to prove a point that if you're not paranoid about it, you would't get caught. There I was screaming at the top of my lungs at the other line of the phone to him once he told me when I arrived safely at home.

Funny right, the people you thought would help you most. (T_T)