My first year working anniversary

Today is my first year anniversary working as RA in this university. Gosh, I feel old. I remembered, last year, at this exact moment, my first day was a chaos. I havent finished my Bachelor Degree yet at that time. Still one more important final paper in 2 days time and final year project needed to be done. I have got my own room though, that I was so proud of since it wrote there..



Well, anyways, my first week did not go well. I have no friends, no one to have lunch with, no one to talk to and was so depressed with my fyp since i did not get any result by then. And when i finally found a lab full of girls, I felt so out of place. I mean, owh well.. they're so.. urm baik, and i am so.. urm ordinary?

But it took me only 2 days to not feel awkward with them. I felt so blessed to have met such wonderful human beings; as if i was entering a whole new world. People come and go over the year. And yesterday was Darling Dida's last day after getting a nice offer in an Oil n Gas company, now in thesis writing mode and waiting for Viva. I'll be with her in a while.
But as for now, I am at peace here. Thank you dearest colleague, for the helps and the good times all along. I appreciate. This piece is for you, with love..

Work hard, play even harder :)

Have u ever? Dedicated BFF Maria

Have u ever had someone so close to u, staying just a few blocks away, but hardly met that someone?

..

And that u used to tell her every single little things happening in ur life, but just hardly find time to do that anymore, though u r just a call away, or a few blocks away?

..

And that u watched each other grew up together, year after year, realizing, part of u is that someone and part of that someone is you tho u haven't spend much time together over the years?

..

And that u spent hours talking to ur current closest friend when u have a problem just so u feel better, but 5 mins with this precious someone, it's as though all ur worries went away?

And when this one fine day, u have found time to do the cathcing-ups, u thought, "there's so much i need to tell over the months we have lost." But then, it feels as if u haven't missed telling that someone anything at all. It's like that someone was with u all along?

..

Well, I have. And it feels wonderful. :)

Busybody vs Caring

Gosh I miss living in KL! Despite of its endless traffic jams, everything else were great! Easier to get to places, all my friends were few blocks away and all my neighbours were caring. I would have a 60 yrs old Indian uncle came over at 11pm on weekends to play board game with us, and some weekends, my neighbours will popped outside our house bringing foods and chatted for a while. Thinking of that make me sick already. I miss my old small house, where everyone treated me with respect as much as I respected them.

See, it's not that I dont like my new neighbours or something.. no, not until this weekend. (Except a chinese guy next door and a chinese family next next door, which i'm grateful of, owh.. and the Malay policeman, just the hubby not the wife and the family with baby Ariff, that's it.)

Forget about the times when I drove to work and bumped into some of my neighbours and stopped by to say 'Hi!' and they just looked away. Forgive me for being over-friendly, in my old place, it is called decent. And the times I went outside asking around whether our area is available for Streamyx yet or not, and having them looking at me like I tried to flirt them or something. Sigh..

However, surprisingly, although they dont seem to care to get to know about their neighbours, they do seem to over caring about other stuff, u know.

Like the other day, one of this house rented by a whole bunch of "caring" Malay guys actually approached my mum about me getting home from work late at night alone (if 8pm is considered late). About me going out with Love almost every week and asking when are we getting married. About me going back late on Fridays with different cars sending me home.

I dont care if they asked that to me, but MY MUM? Not only the comments made her cried, but also jeopardizied my relationship with her.

If this "caring" neighbours just spent some time to get to know me, they would know that my parents gave me such freedom because I dont smoke, I never went to a club, I dont do drugs, I dont drink. I only have 1 serious bf in my life and Insya Allah I'm about to marry him, I'm a virgin, I have a good career lies ahead of me, I dont waste time lepaking and I love volunteer works.

And if he spent just a little time to know me and my family, he would also realized that I went home late at night cuz I'm struggling to finish my Master in a year, so I have to work hard dont I? I'm going out with Love because I have a life and the biggest part of it is him. And lately on Fridays, i went out to spend quality time with quality ppl, including visiting a charity home last Friday, Love and I offered some help and so we went back at midnight. And that although different cars sending me home, other than Kide last Friday, if they cared to look who is inside the cars, it's Love every single times with different company cars.

And if they ever asked me about the times I chatted with Cheng outside my house till late at night is because Cheng is a Dr. in Nottingham and he only went back at 11 pm and I do need to talk to knowledgeable ppl to inspire me, right? Owh.. did they even knew Cheng got his PhD in Electrical Engineering when he was 27? Well, they would if they tried to mingle around rather than stalking out their neighbour's anak dara, wouldn't they?

P/S : Tho i'm thankful for how much Ibu and Ayah trusted me that they chose to ignore them, Alhamdulillah. That all that matters, I guess.

Not just Jean Perry

Last Wednesday after work we went shopping for 5 hours from from 5 until 10pm, first shopping for Dermalogica in Equinne, where one of my friends said she wanted to take a look at the items first but ended up spending nearly RM900. Well, yup.. the promoter is quite pushy and annoying at times.

But it's not what i'm here to talk about.. then after the beauty saloon, we went to Jusco Equine. I didn't want to miss the sale, so I decided to buy a new nice comforter for.. urm.. my engagement party, which is months from now, but who cares. So, I found this gorgeous silk comforter in purple from Jean Perry that blended perfectly with my room. It was kinda love at first sight. And it was 70% off!!~

I called my mum, psyched. Even more it was cheaper than my allocated budget. But my mum said it was quite expensive. I became demotivated and started to call everyone to motivate me to buy the bedsheet + comforter. Tho I asked the very kind-hearted promoter to just issue the receipt, I was going to buy it anyway, just need some extra boost to not feel that much guilty.

And so suddenly, the promoter asked me, "untuk ape ni dik?" (She's around the same age with me, or maybe younger). "Wedding ke?"

I replied, "Tunang je"

She asked again, "Nak save budget ke?" I gave her an ironic look for asking me that question, but I nodded. She smiled and tore the price tag from the bedsheet's bag, and issue a new receipt. RM 20+ cheaper than the discounted price.

I asked her with my eyes wide open, "Are u serious? Is it legal for u to do this?"

She just smiled and said, "Untuk tunang kan. Dah jom, akak letak kat counter."

Amazing ok! I'm not even asking her anything, but she was so thoughtful. So thoughtful, that my friend who didn't have any intention to buy any comforter, bought one, exactly the same design as mine but different colours. Because of that RM20 less she offered to me, she even got another customer to buy that comforter.

She makes my day. Not because of that RM20 which honestly didnt make that much of a difference, but because of her kindness. And because of that, I can ensure u the next comforter I am going to buy is definitely from Jean Perry. I'll keep coming back because this girl (Noor Ain.. yup, I glanced through her name tag) reminds me that the world is still full of love. That not all promoters are pushy and annoying.

Jean Perry, u should be lucky having this girl as ur worker. May Allah bless u, Noor Ain. :)

The day I met a woman from "Chicken Soup for the Soul"

Few years back, when I was doing a Community Service in HUKM, I met this wonderful woman named Datin Seri Evelynn. She was a volunteer in the psychiatric ward, spending her every Wednesday doing play-doh for the children. Again, I shall write down the title before her name here.. "DATIN SERI". She's already filthy rich, and she can just spend her money to go shopping all day long, relaxing at home with her three daughters, vacationing with her dearest hubby, etc.. But despite of all the fabulosity, she's doing a volunteer work in HUKM. And I said to myself, "One day, I'll be just like her".

Then, when I became a volunteer for FESPIC '06, I met a whole lot of mesmerizing ppl. I remembered this one Aunty which we used to call her 'Mama' and because of that I forgot her real name. She trained us on how to handle ppl with wheelchair, blind ppl and etc. She was so old, as old as my Grandmother. Despite of spending her remaining life with her grandchildrens, she chose to be a volunteer work for an OKU. So, again, I said to myself, "One day, I'll be just like her".

I have met quite a number of amazing ppl throughout my 24 years of life. I wish to remember, if not all, at least some of them in my heart. I hope, few years later, once I read this article again, I would probably be one of them already.

Yesterday, when I went shopping with 'Love' in Jusco Equinne, an Indian lady approached us. Her name was Manu and she was a reporter in NST. (I googled about her in NST just now, she was telling the truth). One day she went to a house where some ppl left their parents or 'special' childrens there, and she was so touched. So what she did was, after work, she would wander around, asking help from ppl like us to buy foods for the ppl in that house. I can't find myself saying, "One day, I'll be just like her".

Why? Because u need a lot of courage to ask money from ppl, even for a good course. Someone might think u are a con, someone might yelled out in front of ur face, someone might even throw u out from that place. But this wonderful woman, she had the courage to do it with love and care.

I admire her so much. But, yet I still can't find myself saying, "One day, I'll be just like her".

Dedicated to all the wonderful women and men who woke up in the morning with a heart full of love and slept at nigh with a contented heart.

Distance makes the heart grows fonder

It is an ironic morning today. Wonderfully ironic.

My best friends during high school, Fai and Sya are both in Scotland currently. They're meeting each other in a country far away from ours, holidaying and i bet talking about Sabians in Malaysia until they are home sick and counting days till they are here again.

I'm so sad that they are world away from me, but happy that they are not world apart.

See, last three years, all of us were in Malaysia. Me in Bangi, Sya in KL and Fai in Shah Alam. How long will it take for us to meet each other? 1 hour. And what it takes for us to drop a 'Hello' to each other? Just a phone call away, that costs us probably 60 cents per minute. How many times we meet each other in a year? Maybe once during raya. Call? Maybe once during Birthday. The excuse? Hectic schedule.

It's funny now that they're world away, we talked to each other more often. Once in two weeks maybe. I knew about them more than I knew about friends who lived in the same state as mine. Thanks to the technologies. Who made it? Engineers like me. :)

Even more ironic, a best friend who lived in Cyberjaya couldn't even come to our best friend's engagement last year. But Fai even extends her holiday in Malaysia to witness my engagement.

It's true what ppl say, 'Friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance'.

Undecided

What is ur bad habit?

My youngest brother has the funniest habit of all when he was little, he kept foods inside his mouth for hours like a monkey. It's funny but i thought it was cute. And as for me, I used to love biting my nails a lot.

But, I'm nail-biting free now. Why? Cuz my nails became ugly, plus it was disgusting and what more we called it as a bad habit, so logically thinking, why should i continue right?

But after having half of my lifetime biting my nails, I can say that it's not an easy thing to forget. When I was nervous, I fought the urgency of putting my now-beautiful finger inside my mouth. Again and again. Sometimes I failed, at times i succeed. But before I can remember, I have totally forgotten that I had such silly habit once upon a time ago.

To achieve something, we often have to sacrifice something. Especially if the thing that we need to sacrifice is totally unworthy and not to mention again.. disgusting.

The same goes with relationship. Sometimes, we knew that it's getting so lame like an old habit, but we refused to leave it.

Why? The answer is simple..

We are too comfortable of what we're having right now.

At least, I am.