Procrastinating

At this very moment, I have my marking to do, some thesis to be read, presentation slides for my conference in October and of course my PhD and some final stuff to settle for my holiday to Langkawi.

"Ay ay so much work to do. Never mind, can do later, work can never finish, let's blog first. I have been abandoning my blog for a while!"

Ah ha! That's procrastinating already!!

Procrastinating has been like a drug to us, we know it's bad and yet oh my god how addictive and convenient.

I once heard someone say, "If you want to make an easy job seem mighty hard, just keep putting off doing it." And that was when I knew I had to change.

"Nah, I'm gonna do this after a little facebook." And while browsing your Facebook, you found out that your friend just got engaged. Called her up for a while to congratulate.

"Well, how often do a friend got engaged." Since you guys haven't been catching up for quite some times, you talked for about half an hour.

 "How often do I call her anyway?" Then, when it's time to start doing your work, you'd feel you should have a toilet break for a while. Then met your friend, go for a tea break.

Trying to start doing your work again, boss gave another job. And then that was it, that was when it was 5pm, you should be packing but you're just about to start your actual work.

How fun is procrastinating, right?

I have an easy punishment to myself. Every day, I would use my sticky notes, writing what I should do for the day, if I couldn't manage to get it done by that day, I would stay in the office until I can finish it. Go back late = very little time for Khaira = not happy = cranky Khaira = sleepless night = full of regrets.

Usually works, my motivation is of course my little ones.

However, some other suggestions that work for me:

1. I believe in "Blink". A little planning = good. A lot of planning = equally good. Stop thinking too much, just start/decide whatever you want and usually, insya Allah the ideas flow like a waterfall.
2. If the task is hard and you feel like holding it until you have the mood, then just starts doing it. The more you push it away, the less mood you'll have.

3. Just start, even though you are 5 minutes away before lunch time. At least you get some basic idea on what you should do.

4. “Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.” - Dale Carnegie

5. Stop procrastinating with the simplest thing. When you wake up in the morning, snooze for 5 minutes, that's procrastinating already. If you can eliminate all the small things, the big one will be just a piece of cake.

Let us all aim for a quality lifestyle.

Baby steps insya Allah.

Woman :)

Pardon me for the lack of update, am currently in thesis writing mode.

Menawhile, would like to share this..

Selamat Hari Raya :)

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, everyone!! Please forgive us for all the wrongdoings! Maaf zahir batin :)

Raya has been treating us awesomely especially with Little K! Tiring but superbly awesome at the same time.

I am forever grateful for the bonus I received a couple of days before Raya, and the claims I've been waiting for nearly half a year. Alhamdulillah :)

And.. to top it all, Love got a raise in his salary. His backdated salary was paid a couple of days before Raya also. And, the best news.. :) He is now an Assistant Manager. Alhamdulillah. Rezeki Khaira!

Such a happy Raya.

With this rezeki, insya Allah, panjang umur murah rezeki, next year kena up duit Raya.

Forget about the material things for a while.

I am so blessed to get to spend Raya with my loved ones. With Love, Baby K, both my parents and in laws, siblings and siblings in laws, both our grandparents. May we meet again the next Raya, Ameen.

Ramadhan buffet review 2012

So, the first Ramadhan buffet we had this year was in Kelab Darul Ehsan (KDE), Ampang. Three years in a row we had iftar here with the in laws, it became a tradition already I guess. Price was around RM59 per adult. They serve local food, and I shall rate this 3/5 :)

However, if you're bringing a baby, make sure either you came really early for the high chair or you bring your own stroller. The place is convenient for baby though, Khaira sleeps happily while we ate.

With our friends in Uniten, we had iftar at Seoul Garden again. Price is about RM42 per person. Which was worth it. I had a lot of crabs and clams that my allergy worsen the next morning. Still, worth it :)

But, my baby seem unsettled here. It became hot and sticky when everyone started cooking. Plus, I did not eat that much because you know, taking turns to eat + cooking + talking. Haha, not the best place for babies I guess.

I must say, I am very happy with Ramadhan this year. We planned it very thoroughly and we had the chance to iftar with everyone. My grandparents, Love's grandmom, my girlfriends, SABians, supper with Ampang people.

With my family, this year we went to Murni Discovery, Sunway. Our new favourite makan place! They had buffet for RM 25 per person. But I just had ala carte. Maggi goreng softshell crab. Maggi goreng was nice. Guess I must have forgotten how artificial soft shell crab tasted like. But the buffet was crazy!! They serve all the Marylands and Chops, yummy! But the drinks, they serve only cordial. So, no fancy Pink Panther or what not. For me, with servings like Murni Discovery, who needs buffet anyway? So, I'm happy with ala carte.

Also, I must say, surprisingly Khaira seems convenient here. They gave her high chair. And a salesman came selling an Angry Bird toy for Khaira, so she became a happy baby. And everyone was happy, end of story. Hehe.

With Love's colleague, we had iftar at one of the golf's club in Shah Alam. Guess it was KGSAAS, a treat from his boss. Nice lady, may Allah SWT bless you. Local food, ikan bakar ultimate sedap!! And sup gearbox!! First time I found this in a buffet.

This is an open air restaurant. Quite warm for the babies. Luckily, Khaira was pretty contented with the bananas and grapes, she ate seriously a lot.

The final iftar we had this year was with my girlfriends in Murni Discovery, Taipan. Here, Love and I shared Nasi Goreng Tomyam + Lamb Chop + Ayam Pandan. The serving was quite small compared to Murni SS2 and Sunway. And the Nasi Goreng Tomyam was not as nice. But I think the Ayam Pandan was a lot yummier than SS2's.

Open air, no wind, but Khaira was ok. Ramai aunty2 melayan. :)

Owh.. with Sabians, since most of us came with our babies, we had our iftar in Hafiz's and Ain's place. Pot luck. I Love brought his yummy potato salad, yup he cooked it with pieces of bacons. Sedappp!!

And with Ampang people, we planned to have it in Great Eastern, but something came up. So, we had a supper somewhere near our place. (After a failed attempt of having burger bakar.. Stuck in a jam only to find out kedai tutup!) (T_T)

And now, to Raya mood!!!!!!!!!! Well in a while, after I'm done with my critical review.. *Chaiyo!*

Alhamdulillah..

Aren't these two best friends of mine look super pretty in hijjab?

Forgive and forget

Ramadhan is almost leaving, Raya is coming. Ahh.. The months of forgiveness :)

For the past 26 years of my life, I choose to forgive everyone and forget about their wrongdoings, every Raya. In return, I hope everyone else would just forgive and forget about all my wrongdoings for the year.

But this year, I think forgiveness is sufficient.

Evil?

Well again, it's how you look at it. Even the sweetest thing on earth, (e.g The Beaver Song by Robin Sparkles and Jesse Glitter) can be misinterpreted.

I can't bear to forget this time because if I choose to forget, I am sure I would do the same mistake twice.

Example, if you lend your money to some alcoholics only to find out they use that money to buy them some beer, would you forgive them? Yes, you might. But would you be so naive to forget whatever they did, and lend them some money again the next time and the same mistake happens.

I know I am so easy to forget sometimes.

This time around, I'm trying not to. Or rather, I would choose to just forgive and forget that person entirely. Can arr?

Quoting from a friend's twitter, "Respect yourself enough to walk away from anything that no longer serves you, grows you, or makes you happy."

Secure :)

I miss this feeling. Of security.

The month of Ramadhan brings back my sense of security, of happiness, of contented. Alhamdulillah.

I believe the feeling of 'secure'doesn't just come from within. External factor counts.

I am blessed to have a husband that makes me feel secure. I am at peace. Knowing that at the end of the day, Khaira and I are the ones he comes home to.

I am forever blessed with the family I have and the few people I called 'friends'.

I feel secure with my work. Knowing that even if something happens, I could insya Allah, find a work that suits me better. But at the moment, I am happy with my work.

I feel secure of where we are financially.

But secure for me doesn't mean I like everything to stay the same forever.

The only constant in life is change.

And the willingness I feel deep inside, for that change (if I have to) makes everything seems even more secure.