Showing posts with label 2019. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2019. Show all posts

It's December So Goodbye Crush and 2019

Dec 28, 2019

I wanted to do a recap of 2019 but that will have to wait. I have a few instances where I can sit down and update my blog accordingly, heck, I even made a draft for November but as you can see by now, nothing was published for almost six weeks. 

I'm not sure what I want to really write at the moment but I guess I can start by recapping December.




So in the first week, I two days off which is on Monday and Tuesday. I have stayed at home for the whole time. We were supposed to go to Langkawi but Walid wasn't feeling so well. I was so glad to be staying at home  I did some tidying up, play Plant vs Zombie, cooked and I even went fishing one night which is so boring. 

On Wednesday, we had the day off since it was Sultan Selangor's birthday and I have planned to spend the day with two of my friends that work here with me. We went to KL and play laser battle and this escape game called Hauntumy. It was such a good day.  We even managed to have our lunch at Sopoong. The bingsu was so good! On weekend, I went on an ad hoc trip with my housemate which was initially to either just go for some sightseeing or watch a movie but ended up doing some facial treatment and foot massage. We even somehow managed to assemble seven peoples at the very last minute for dinner.




On Tuesday of the second week, we have our end of the year feast which I was somehow in charge of doing the backdrop. I was rather excited, to be honest, and it was amazing how diligent I was. Oh yes, fun story, I bought this large bolster pillow for our gifts exchange and if it wasn't because of my friends helping me wrapping it, I was so going to just buy something else and ideally, have it wrapped right away.




On the weekend of the third week, I had a fun run event at Jeram. We stayed there for one night and tries out this Aroma Ikan Bakar which is somehow so famous. The Ikan Tiga Rasa is good but sadly it was cold when we get it. We made a reservation and was told it will be "half-cooked" and "cooked fully" when we get there. Apparently, it got cold in seconds. The sotong goreng tepung is good too. It was heartbreaking that it got cold. On the other hand, I got to taste Family Mart's curry oden which is so good (this got "so" cause it is hot).

The next big thing is that we had an impromptu get together on Christmas Day. My friend was like, "Doing makan-makan could be fun on Christmas" and somehow it got full-blown with oden, two types of spaghetti, fruit cocktails, brownies, and even pizza! It was done at my friend's house. His husband, who was the doctor there, was so cool to join us playing the games. I ended December with a weekend shift that is how December was spent.

It feels like just a few days before when I notice that I won't go back home until next year and now it is already the end of the month.

This month was physically demanding and to my surprise, it was emotionally exhausting too. This feels stupid but I got this crush which just goes wild for the past month but now I suddenly don't have one?

It probably got wild since it is the wedding season while I'm having the most stupid crush. It is so stupid. I guess in between pondering about it a little bit too much, trying to detox him out of my life plus accepting the truth that it just won't work out somehow finally knock some sense into me that "Hey, he is just a really good friend who happens to be a guy". Not to mention the regular family issues, the fact that 2019 is ended but I don't stick to any healthy lifestyle as I wanted to, my poor financial skills and of course the fact that everyoneisgettingmarriedbutIdontwanttobutohmygodwhatiamdoingwithmylife as well.

p/s - I think I just want to be like 50kg kind of thin in 2020
pp/s - Ejen Ali is such a good movie




My (delayed) Half Year + 3/4 Year Review

Sep 23, 2019

Sometimes, like just now, my family members (usually it was my dad) will push the front door rather forcefully and it is just so loud. I mean, is it really necessary guys? The door wasn't even locked.

Apart from that, I was having a rather good month. Of all the long weekend, I wasn't assigned to work on any of those weekend shift so I got the weekend all to myself. I need to work this weekend but I got off days since Wednesday and I also got next Monday and Tuesday off too. However, even with all those free time, I just don't have the time to update my blog. I left the @twtblogger_MY account inactive too because I simply forgot. I was supposed to continue painting my brother's room but I guess that can wait so here I am.




Anyway, I've been dreading this topic for the longest time. It is almost the end of September which highlighted these three rather important things.

  1. My two-year job contract is ending
  2. I have delayed  this half-year review for three months
  3. I am still fat




Let's just get to it. As I have planned earlier this year, I need to do a review for every three months so we are now kinda killing two birds with one stone. I've been doing less of that monthly target which I should do as well in this post for October. Let's recap our New Year's resolution then.

Lose weight

All those planning to be more active dies. I tried going to the gym but I didn't continue after puasa and I thought of doing simple exercise at home which I only did once. I do eat better than before where I eat more junk food and I simply ate all the time but I still need to cut out sugar. I'm doing no sugary drink every other day and it was surprising how bad I was refraining myself. I need to eat less rice too. I was considering to join those weight loss coaching just to get their meal plan and the necessary push to actually do it. I'm not losing any weight but it wasn't increasing too so that's a win, I guess.

Reading

I'm on my eleventh book and Goodreads suggest to read one book per week if I want to reach my 25 books per year pledge. That was last week though. I thought of reading two local ebooks just to get a little speed. My copy of Langit Vanilla is still missing. I should probably finish Lord of The Nutcracker Men first. But I have read Wind/Pinball which is so confusing but feels so dear to me and also Breathe which is just amazing. I didn't read much but those that I have are some good masterpieces that just enriches me. I'm not saying that I know life better, but knowing those storyline and characters feels like I've been living those lives too. It was a good way to live life.



Money management

These past three months had seen me at  my top money management game. I needed to pay my Hannan Medispa treatments and I also needed to buy some costly stuff on top of saving money for my car's service and insurance. I just need the bulk of these settled before October. I was amazed how well I manage my money and I even got some spare to do a little shopping. I still need to donate more though. Speaking of that, I should really do a monthly deduction for donation as well. I still not menabung.

Having Fun

I forgot that I need to plan for Sabah, Brunei, Singapore and Japan. I don't go anywhere really but a target is still a target. I really don't care on going for trips but it was annoying how peoples expects me to do so because I'm young, free etc etc. But I still have lot's of fun. I spend more time hanging out and chill with my friends and collegues.  A friend of mine suddenly came to visit me the other day so we do a short trip to Kuala Selangor and Pangkor. I'm so going to watch It 2 in the since I never watched horror movies in cinemas. 

Trying new things

I don't focus much on these because it was supposed to be that side thingss when I got extra time. But  I think I should focus more into this for this last quarter of year. There are few thing I have highlighted which is having a pet, learn paint brush, learn mandarin, learn a music instrument and be minimalist. I don't think I'll have a pet. My housemate is raising a hamster and I thought this will serve as a good exposure but I don't even hold it once. I'm not scared, it was just borderline tedious, annoying and felt incredibly wrong too. I don't agree that she buys it instead of adopting one and that she did it to relieve stress. I don't know, it just feels wrong to treat animal like that. She only bought one and now I'm sad on how alone the hamster must feel.

I'm definitely learning ukelele. I just tweet about it the other day and some online friends of mine were being so supportive. I'll buy it on my next pay day. I have all the instrument for paint brush but I just don't feel like doing it much.



I try to learn Korean instead of Mandarin because apparently, the key to learn a new language is to learn one that you particularly fond of. I want to learn Mandarin because it will help with my work and that was it. At least with Korean, I like BTS songs and I do watch their variety shows which will help me learn it better. I have downloaded Duolingo but it was a bust. I think I need to redo it lol.

Minimalism is interesting. I keep on throwing stuff that just don't work anymore or try to use whatever I have until it finishes. It just feels refreshing to not have lots of stuff attached to me. Funnily, this addresses my poetry account that hasn't been updated for the longest time. I'm going to write it all back into my notebook (thus using up my book) and just start blank. I'm not sure what to expect though. I just like the idea of a blank page.

That was it.

Fun update - I just texted my dad saying that we wanted to buy ticket to Yogyakarta since AirAsia is having promotion. He says I can't go without a mahram. I'm practically stupefied since then.

I could just get  married.


Image result for jungshook gif


Ok now, let's keep on being productive. I need to put some targets for October. I haven't been doing proper targets for months. I think the best ones was earlier this year only. Plus, since my two year contract is ending, I'm not even sure where I will be in the next two weeks but oh boy, October is busy busy busy!

First of all, my Hannan Medispa sessions. I just finished my fifth treatment and as I said before, I'll update once I finished my fourth session so yeah. There's that. Plus, since my acne is clearing up well, the staff will do this treatment (which I conveniently forgotten the name) that will cause this intense peeling and a downtime of 10 days that will help lighten my scars. I need to like at least have few off days after the session and I need to time is during my period because my face can't touch water for the first 12 hours. This is very puzzling. Omg, I forgot that I only tweeted this thing. FYI, I was having a minor breakout and I did some treatments in Hannan Medispa as they just opened up a new branch near my home.

Secondly, I need to have my car serviced and start researching more about my car's insurance plan. I will have my NCD cut plus I want to add windscreen into my plan so I guess some research is needed. I was thinking to buy it from my friends. I think there's some highschool of mine who are agents.


Image result for gif money money money



Thirdly, speaking of car. I need to give the necessary support for my sister who is taking her car and motorcycle lessons. I don't even trust her with motorcycle but Walid is adamant for us to all have both motorcycle's and car's license after we reached the legal age. 

Next, some fun miscellaneous stuff. There's two place I need to go to eat for two separate reason. The first one is this restaurant that is kinda good but some people says that the quality just decreases madly during Ramadhan. I made it a mission with my friend to confirm it. The second place is this good chicken rice place that I need to introduce it to my other friend. Also, I never watches horror movies in cinemas so I made it a goal to watch It Chapter 2. I am so not watching it alone. There's also this shopping plan. A friend at work was planning to shop for tudung bawal at this really cheap place here. We're going to bring our clothes so we could match it with the tudung. It was only RM4.90 each. We went there before and bought these two super cute baju kurung each as it was only RM39.90. On top of all of that, the most important thing is I need to buy a ukelele!




To end this, here are some blogging topic I need to write. Hopefully.

  1. My Hannan Medispa experience
  2. That library in Aeon
  3. My short Kuala Selangor trip + Mustawa Cafe review
  4. My experience eating at Big Whale Cafe

I almost forgot - if I didn't get a permanent job in the government, I need to start job hunting. Also, I need to do a good timeline on what to update in @twtblogger_MY.

July is The Past and August is For Blog!

Aug 6, 2019

I did a poll to decide a suitable name for a Twitter account meant for that community blogger and it seems that @twtblogger_MY is leading. Once we figured out the name, I'll come up with a logo and make that account. If this sounded confusing for you, just read this, this and this.

(update - the twitter account is LIVE! Follow us @twtblogger_MY and join the #bloggerchat)

Glad to get that out of the way, now for life updates. 

I still didn't do my half-year review since I don't have the time to do that just yet. I was honestly going to go to sleep since I still need to work tomorrow (plus, today is Monday for heaven's sake). But you know what made me turn on my laptop and write? My warm tea. The still-warm tea that I made two hours ago in the spirit of updating my blog but now it's already 11.30pm but I don't want to betray my tea so yeah.




As I have told before, I don't have any goal set for July but decided at the last minute rather suddenly to use the last 10 days of July to do three things everyday namely - 

made my bed, drinks 2L of water and sleep by 11pm

I successfully did my bed every day except for this one day that I got other stuff messing my room thus it feels like mehh to make my bed when my room is a mess. It was good going home to a made bed because it makes me try to also make sure my room isn't a mess too. I'm not a messy person but I usually just leave my morning hassle and put things back when I got back from work. It is more therapeutic to go home to a tidy room and be able to go straight into chilling. I remember feeling a bit bad on that one day that I didn't make my bad. I didn't think it will affect me that soon.

As for drinking, I bought a new tumbler that holds 2Lof water. I think it was on the fifth or sixth day that I drink just a little more than 0.5L because we were so busy that day that I don't even get the time to drink. Back home I got so tired and went to sleep early. There are few days that I think I only get just a little more than 1.5L. I don't think drinking water really do anything instead of peeing more often. I've been doing it for sometimes because drinking more water makes me feel hydrated and cool but that's just about it. I still keep in mind to at least drink more plain water but I don't feel the need to drink so many. The new tumbler is staying since it is easier to track how much I have been drinking.




Last but not least, sleeping early, if 11 is considered early. Funnily, the very first day I started this challenge, I got a night shift. My sleep schedule always goes funny for at least another day after it so no sleeping early for those first two days. I think there are about one or two days that I got busy so I only went to bed at 11 but the rest I really did try but I can't and by the last two days I gave up. I think I'm good with sleeping at 12 am for the rest of my life. My sleeping schedule is always fixed this way too even on weekends so yeah, not sleeping early than 12 am for me. 

The goal of that three habits for 10 days is a win-win thing. If I keep doing it, means it is good for me to do but if I don't, I got to reflect why I don't and sees if it is just a matter of discipline or just learning my body boundaries.

Ok now for August!

Ever since I decided that I have a blog niche, it feels more purposeful to have this blog. I did a little tweak here and there, try to read more blog that helps me understand more on how I wanted my blog to be presented and most importantly, getting into more knacks that helps me to connect with more blogs. These knacks include getting in Bloglovin, using Disqus and do more research on a good community blogger out there. I found one good community called Bloggerstribe that I actually like (I don't know why I'm so picky like this). It seems to have more blogger with a writing style that I preferred and a rather interactive presence (as interactive as twitter can be but it is honestly the admin did a good job).

Now in the midst of all that I forgot one most important thing. I don't have content. I keep on thinking I am this now but I have very little to show that I am what I say I am. 

My new niche is all about self love, self discoveries, mental health and lifehacks/tips. Basically, it is a means for me to be better in my life. So now for August, I will focus on my blog content which means (1) more reading and (2) more writing.

August to do then includes - 

  1. List out TWO topics for the theme of self love, self-discoveries, mental health and lifehack/tips each.
  2. To publish at least three topics.
  3. To learn more from other bloggers aka read more blogs
  4. To go through with my Malaysian community blogger project.

I am so excited for this but now it is almost 1230am and I'm afraid I will wake up late tomorrow and MY OUTFIT IS STILL NOT IRONED.

night!




About July and Trying Things for Ten Days

Jul 20, 2019

It's the twentieth of July and I didn't have any target set for it. I'm too laid back. I eat what I want and couldn't care less about living healthier. But at least Ihave cooked more. I just pick up reading like three days ago. I should really care more for my skin. I am practically giving up in any traveling plan but god I wanted so back to go to that Da Vincci gallery currently held now. I didn't write much too.

But I just realized I have achieved all but one target that I had for June. That's a good achievement at least.




I finally finish my NaPoWriMo tag. I re-read everything and decided that some of it may need polishing but that's another job for another time.

I also finished Mikhail and it was just meh, just so. I decided that Ramlee Awang Murshid isn't a favorite so I'm forgoing the plan to read his other books.

I finally tried that automatic deduction from Maybank and it works. This is all nothing but just technical but I got stuck for a quite some times so that is why I made it a goal to ensure I actually put this behind me.

I have sent the batik that I got for a present to be sewed but it's still not done.

The video that I did for our department for Eid turned out cute and funny. It was so satisfying.

The blog makeover was quite a success? I tweak the code like crazy for a few nights to get the grid view smaller and that was it. I should put more work into it.

The last target would be to write one post about a topic that suits my niche which means more opinion based posts. I wrote about how music affected me. It was such an exaggerated writing but I like it dearly.


Image result for gif proud of myself


I tought of just letting July go but I got an idea this morning to make July worthwhile. I'm thinking on trying some new habits for a short period of time which in this case, I hope I'll do it for 10 days.

The said habits are -

1. To make my bed every morning - it was FlyFm advertisment that has influenced me.
2. To sleep before 11 - this is going to be so hard
3. To drink two litre of water 

Now, how do I trace this?


You know that article where they go into vivid details into life-related topics but it is like so mundane and you got confused at why they need to be this particular for, this is one of it.

First and foremost, I'm an Army.

I like telling peoples that. Did you now have a second thought about me?

I can say I'm into K-pop instead but saying I'm an Army, particularly in Malaysia, will always give out this spite and god I live for that. I live for that time when you thought I'm one thing but no, I'm so much more. Peoples are so much more. Who knows I can be this petty?

Anyway. I wasn't always an Army. I used to have a phase when every song I played is only from Bastille. I still have the biggest love for Maroon 5 and Adele is a world's treasure. As you can see here, my music taste is heavily from the western side. Minus my high school time when I watch anime avidly and remembers the OST so well or that time when I always watch Music Bank. Do you know KHS? That was a thing too.


source

So now I want to share some stuff that music has made me think deeply (maybe a little bit too deeply) and this is like so weird but seems like a fun thing to write. Plus, my new niche is all about embracing life. In all way possible.

Apparently, stereotyping a skin color/nationality/race also applies to music and I am one of them

K-pop has influenced me for the longest time. I was there when MTV first aired Big Bang and it was a big hit that then they suddenly have a show for k-pop songs. Imagine how weirded out I was. I always put MTV on (internet wasn't an option for me then) and suddenly some Korean dudes with the most intense music video are on my tv (it was Haru Haru, still my favorite until today). 

But the craze was shortlived because apparently, not all k-pop group was like Big Bang, Super Junior or Girl Generations. At one point it seems repetitive but peoples are still going nuts over it. It is only in 2017 that I started to love BTS and started to listen to k-pop again. I realized the years has been good for them. They now have so much to offer and it's sad that most peoples don't realize that simply because they are some soft Korean dudes and their fans are stupid teenagers.

First of all, teenagers nowadays are so brilliant.

Secondly, I was one of them too. I never thought of them as softies or gay whatsoever but just that k-pop is a teenager thing to do. I lived my entire life (or at least until two years back) thinking that western peoples are the best version and it turns out that US has some serious problems that Trump is now a president and Europes with Brexit and racism and begging for money so that they can continue their trip across Asia because it is a life changing experience to do. Not until now, that I let the benefit of the doubt seeps in that I understand how tough the industry is and how avid the fans are. Not until I got to a point to think that it must be for a reason, like how everything is. Like how peoples become mad with football. BUT, even if it is unreasonable, I must respect that.

Well, not understanding a thing in Korean might also be an issue here but I have started singing anime OST since high school so that is really not an issue. But to degrade others liking something because" it was stupid, you don't even understand them" is not cool. Not cool at all. Music transcends boundaries guys. Life 101. Don't you know that?





I never hated Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus or that time when I want to stop hating Taylor Swift's song but ended up hating it even more 

I never hated Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus. That Wrecking Ball is good and music videos are always so weird so it wasn't anything strange to me. But if you know me, you would know that I hate Taylor Swift's songs.

Hate is such a strong word.

Okay, maybe I'm just a little bit annoyed. I love "Love Story" though. Anyway. It's nothing personal. It is just her songs is not my type and it gets a little overwhelmingly annoying because it will always be played on the radio. She is so famous. But weirdly enough, why must I hated all her songs? Was it because of all her failed love affairs and the songs that come with it? Everyone does that though. Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus aren't the best of humans too.

But why? Taylor Swift's songs were catchy, her voice is incredible, she is so versatile and she is a great philanthropist too. But I don't like her songs at all.

On the other hand, sometime earlier this year, I somehow just can't do any sweet love songs. The kind that is too cutely falling in love. After a few months, I realized that I never feel anything like that. I  still like my old cutesy falling in love songs. For me, as long as the lyric is beautifully done, regardless of the topic, I'm good to go. Slowly, I started to accept love songs back. It was so weird.

I realized I can't do one thing and then realized I have never been that way and somehow I got back to my old self again.

What that has taught me is that I can sometimes act way differently and just not realizing it. That changes can really creep up on me even on something that I have made myself clear that "I stand on this solidly". What I did after having such a realization? I decided to challenge my own stereotype.

I then decided to not hate Taylor Swift's song (yup, I really did that). Maybe I keep on hating her songs just because it is her songs. I decided that I need to challenge my own stereotype so I put on her tops hits together with Musixmatch, ready to sing my heart out.

I started with Blank Space cause that is my least hated music and I ended up actually hating it. Turns out her lyrics feels too childish for me and that is why I can't do Taylor Swift songs. Basically, it was my rule 101, if the lyrics are good, I'm good to go.

THAT IS WHAT I CALLED AS WHEEL OF EMOTION

Old people that say today's song is poorly made and their old songs are better is only such way because they can't accept changes



So there's this colleague of mine that I love to make fun of and he then makes fun of me liking BTS justifying his late 90's and early 2000's songs were better. I told him how could he be right when there are millions of Army out there. That got me thinking because I do have those favorite songs that aren't being made such way anymore and I finally am among those who say "there aren't any good songs anymore". My playlist is mainly of songs from a few years back and it was funny because I'm only 26!

Although there are oldies songs that I like (if Hey Jude and Hotel California are considered as such), the composition and even the lyrics are obviously not something that today's generation would wind up and be considered as a today song. They will always be referred back to that past generation. But peoples changes. Newer (mainstreams) songs cater to newer generations.

It is just inevitable. There aren't any superior generations with superior songs. Realizing this, I notice that I'm just not used to the new songs because it wasn't from my usual singers. I think I was not open enough to new things. Jonas Brothers have been reunited and Sucker was so good but it wasn't anything that the Disney's Jonas Brother would ever come up with but I still love Loves Bug and Burnin Up just the same.

I realized that I just rejecting new songs because it is new and not something I used too. It was just like when I need Writing on The Walls and Dangerous Woman to come out that I realized both Sam Smith and Ariana Grande has some powerful vocals. Although I can keep on living in the past with my old songs and simply says today's generation didn't know better cause I'm older, but where's the fun in that? I'm not letting go of the excitement of knowing new songs!

I kid you not, I really did be thinking this deep and then started to put newer songs into my playlist.





Are you as heavily opinionated on music like me? Or am I just overreacting?

Hey June (don´t make it bad)

Jun 10, 2019


Someone tweets that 2020 is in six months and it is rather mind-blowing? That's a whole another decade coming in and I have only finished reading seven books for 2019 lol.

I'm having a headache right now and it is just so sudden. Annoying too. I'll probably be rambling nonsense through this post and things that I have done that I thought I needed to highlight it somewhere,

Yes, I do notice it is already the 10th of June and I should do this post earlier. Omg, my headache is so annoying.




As there is no actual target for May, I won't be doing any recap. Although I did wanted to at least finish Mikhail. I didn't. Mikhail is an easy read and I can manage many pages per sitting but to actually sits and read was a weird kind of problem for me. Like now, I'm currently doing the night shift, and as always, I bring myself a book. However, I decided to bring along Langit Vanilla and start this new read instead of finishing Mikhail. I should really read Mikhail and just be done with it. Langit Vanilla is good though.

I also wear all my baju kurung during May. I wanted to ensure that I wore everything since I did the no baju kurung on April. I don't even need a month. This clothing rules that I made actually make me feel even more secure with my wardrobe and feels guilty to buy more. It just feel like it will be a waste since what I have now is plenty enough. Though I did found some cute blouse that are so cheap and I just have to have it. I bought two. It was a good buy. For June, I'm going to wear all my tudung and shawls. This will be tricky since I need to match it with the right clothes. More ironing I guess.

I got a week of holiday before raya and it was a bliss to just stay home and I even manage to do some tidying up around the house that I didn't get to do it before. But I have to work on the weekend after raya. My rendang turns out good y'all.

I still didn't finish my NaPoWriMo. Between fasting, working and the lack of sleep, I just don't find the will to sit and write poems. 

I realize a friend of mine is rather spoiled or too priviledged? The rich and beautiful kind of privilege that she manifested in her opinions and personality. I think no one says anything because she's pretty (I don't think many realized that she is on the rich side). It wasn't anything major but there's another friend of me that might conjure up the very same type of attitude and I can imagine how bad she's going to be condemned for it. It was in my head for sometime and is a big realization too. I just have to let it out.

Omg, I have eaten painkiller and the effect should have kick in but the headache is still there.

I bought a make up organizer and put all my make up on display instead of in my make up bag so that it is easier for me to actually use it. It looks good. The zipper on the make up bag is broken so I just threw it away.

I actually joins a run on before puasa and there is another one at the end of June. Look at me being al sportyy.

I think June is just restructuring aka "to just be done with it" aka this is going to be my life to do list

  1. NaPoWriMo
  2. Mikhail
  3. Automatic monthly deduction from Maybank (lol random gilaa)
  4. Send my baju batik to the tailor
  5. Video raya for work
  6. Some blog makeover in accordance to my new niche - the pages, about me, tags, yada yadaa
  7. Write a post acccording to the new niche

I think I will update more. I just need my life to have more of that "done" element.

I need to have my car serviced in the morning so let's hope this headache will be gone.


Btw, I did something bad yesterday but I manage to cover it perfectly and no one should be affected by it, but I still have this guilt that I need to somehow confess to someone. What should I do?


We Don't Care April Has Ended (konon) and New Niche?

May 15, 2019



I got a revelation yesterday, I want to build a niche for my blog. Yes, I've been blogging for years and only now I decided to make a niche. But before we dive into that, I need to tell something. We went for iftar today and I knew the "terawih" here starts late so I thought I can still make it. But I got lost and when I finally found my way, it was way too late so I went back home. Yupp. I really did that. So now I'm updating my blog. 




Ok, first thing first. My monthly updates. I didn't set any goals for May because it's Ramadhan and I was just way too comfortable in my new house. Yes, I move out, again. The new place that I told before is just hot and too small. I kept on whining about it and a friend of mine at work suggest to move in together because her place is too dusty (she was being dramatic). Anyway, the idea of living with actual friends is so appealing. We got another friend of ours to move in together as well and now here we are under the same roof. Cheaper rent, more spaces, and someone to talk too after day work. It has been great. 

Ok, I'm sidetracked.

April's target outcomes.

  1. Finish reading both Kafka on The Shore and Norwegian Wood - DONE AND I TOTALLY LOVES IT
  2. Read one poetry book - i'm halfway lol
  3. Finish reading Al Baqarah translations - i only read like two pages. omg, got any idea to make it, like fun?
  4. Try to at least go to the gym twice a week - i gave up gym. if you read my depressing post before that hatyai thing,you'll know that i just don't want to that. i think i'll do more walking after ramadhan. 
  5. Try to do at least 5 brush drawing practice (i think i have lost my brushes and watercolor) - i only did once. but at least i found a blog that has this series of tutorial. i think my brushes are of poor quality that it didn't turn out well. that reminds me, i need new brushes.
  6. A detailed itinerary to Thailand that includes Hatyai and Krabi - DONE!
  7. Write all 30 poems according to prompts from NaPoWriMo and update it into a thread on Twitter - i wrote until day 15. or was it day 18? i put it all on my pinned twitter. it's going to take some time but i do want to finish all 30 prompts. 
  8. No sugary drinks except for my daily morning coffee EOD - i really did forget about this.

Wow, I didn´t do as bad as I thought I did. 

Ok now let's go onto my revelation in actually building a niche for my blog. The niche is (cue for drumroll) - ok i don´t know how to word it out. Basically, I want to do a blog that focuses on self-improvement and self-discoveries. I want it filled with things that can enrich life, life hacks and simply helping others to become a better version of themselves. It was also to help me to become a better me. Ok, tell me, what kind of niche is that.







If I Were To Go To Krabi, Songkhla and Hatyai

Apr 30, 2019

It´s April and I finally did something for my "travel" resolution of at least plans one. By the way, it feels like ages ago that I started this post and I finally come back to it and finish it for good. The idea was that the planning itself might get you pumped up. It was initially just Hatyai. A quick escape. But then I thought, I should really go to Krabi as well.


Let´s just get into it. 

First of all, getting into Krabi. My best choice would be going to Krabi and travel down from there to Songkhla and finally Hatyai. I was excited about the idea of flying to Krabi and return by train from Hatyai. But getting a train from Hatyai is tricky. I might end up needing to take a bus.

According to Skyscanner apps (I planned this to be somewhere at the end of June or early July), the flight tickets can be around RM83 to RM100.  Bus ticket from TBS to Hatyai is RM70 and according to this blog it cost her RM85 to go to Krabi from Hatyai. She did say that she get a bad deal cause it can be around RM55 to RM65

On the other hand, taking a train from Hatyai will cost me RM120 (including the train ride from Hatyai to Padang Besar). I also budget around RM50 for transportation as it seems the tuk-tuk fare is quite cheap and we just need to walk more.

Apart from that, it is estimated that the bus fare from Krabi to Songkhla to be around RM40 while only RM5 from Songkhla to Hatyai. 

But, I'm not entirely sure that there is a bus trip from Krabi to Songkhla because there is only one source that I can found showing this trip and we need to change buses at Trang. I also can't find anything on EasyBook apps so I decided it will be best to go straight to Hatyai and take a trip via tuk-tuk or minivan to Songkhla for a simple day trip and went back to Hatyai.

Now let me show you my grand table of transportation fees. I can be too detailed sometimes.



So transportation alone has cost me (pergi balik)

  • RM 300 for both - if we take a flight to  Krabi and went back by bus // if we went to Hatyai by bus and take a van to Krabi and went back KL by bus
  • RM350 if we took the train to go back
  • Need to consider extra cost to go to KLIA
  • RM50 to spare for tuk-tuk.
By far, taking a bus will be the cheapest and less hassle but it's going to be such a long ride.

Next is lodging. It seems like Ao Nang is a bit high end and from my research on Trivago, I need to budget around RM100 per night for 2 people and around RM80 to stay in Hatyai (also for 2 persons). The plan was to stay for two nights at Krabi and another two nights at Hatyai. This summed up to RM360 or RM180 per person.

So, both transportation and lodging will cost me RM480

I also budget for a simple rice dish and trying some foods at Hatyai so maybe around RM35 per day but RM50 for my food venture at Hatyai. That will be RM200.

Now everything will cost me - RM680






Island hopping packages (including snorkeling)  may cost from RM100 to RM160 but we need to survey it ourselves. So that will total up to RM840

The plan was to spent our first day at Ao Nang simply strolling around and looks for a good package. The second day will be spent on island activities. On the third day, we will go back to Hatyai and maybe go to Songkhla on that same day.

As for the other activities, hopefully, I can also go to Ao Luk but I'm not a fan of kayaking lol. For Hatyai, I just want to go to Greenway Night Market, Asean Market, their floating market and do some massage. I think it would be nice to go to the municipal park and ride a cable car. As for Songkhla, I want to go to Samila beach, Tangkuan Hill, Songkhla old town and probably this municipal park with that big dragon head statue.

How´s Life and New Year´s Resolutions Review

Apr 6, 2019

This is so surreal. How the heck it is April already??




If you guys read my New Year's Resolutions post, you will notice that I planned for the usual monthly targets and also a quarterly review of how far I have reached my New Year resolutions.

This is the first quarterly review. But before we did just that, I need to share some life's updates. 

First of all, since I have finished my PRP and now a legally licensed pharmacist, I will have a penempatan semula which simply means I will be relocated. But since this is the first time that the government is hiring us as contracts and that the contracts stated that we need to stay in the same state, there are chances that we will return to the same hospital. In which I did. I'm staying at the same hospital where I was a trainee and now is some sort of the same level as those who teach/mentor/freaking-giving-me-marks-if-I-am-actually-capable-to-be-a-fully-licensed-pharmacist. It is all so weird.

Since I am most likely to stuck here for at least another year, I decided to move out of my old room (the hospital's dorm but actually more like a studio apartment) and live in a small city nearby. My hospital is in this a rural-ish area but with Guardian and KFC. It's really weird but the small city near the hospital is only about 15 to 20 minutes drive and there is where I live now.

That's it. I thought there are so much more to it but apparently, the moving out was a big toll on me that it feels like so much had happened.

Let's move on to the quarterly review.




lose weight

The main idea was to lose one kilogram per month by eating healthier and living a more active life. I try to eat healthier (aka less rice, less sugar, less fat) but when I am PMS-ing, I tend to eat more but I'm still quite satisfied with how I have eaten less junk food. I realize that this planning thing really makes me second guessing "do I really need that food". I did lose about 3 kg but it is also contributed by how I start to control my eating from last December. I forgot to weigh myself and just follow the last weighing I did for this health program monitoring that hospital did on their staff. 

As for living a more active lifestyle, getting that 10k is impossible and it was almost annoying to fight how tired and sluggish I feel after work every day. One of the reasons I wanted to move out is so that the new living arrangement will make me more likely to go to the stadium or the gym. Apparently, a klinik kesihatan here have their own well-equipped gym. It has been three days now that I went there. I only use the treadmill or that bicycle thingy. It feels really good and I am inclined to go there every day. Let's hope I'll stick to this routine!

I still want to do that light routine every morning but well, I still don't. The gym really makes me tired and let's hope I can have better sleeps and thus wakes up earlier and then I can do that morning routine.



reading

I didn't finish my March reads and I only read one book on January so I have now finished three out of six books that I need to read in order to reach my Goodreads pledge of 25 books. As for the variety that I have aimed for, I still didn't read any local indie fictions but I am now reading Murakami's. I don't think that I want to push myself so much for this reading resolution. So I'm quite satisfied with my current achievements.


money management

I am totally flopping in this area. I simply forgot about it actually. There was always something extra to be spent on January and February so I just don't feel like putting money into my saving accounts. The monthly donation I have aimed for was also flopping. But I will make an automatic deduction since I have decided an organization for it.

As for the menabung, I still didn't do it as it feels stupid. You see, I didn't withdraw much money from ATM in order to remind myself not to spend so much since it is troublesome to go to the ATM. For the very same reason, I usually pay everything online or via debit card whenever I´m allowed to do so. So I am canceling this resolution and just focus on monthly savings first.

I wonder if I can do automatic deduction into my saving account. Apparently, I also need to take serious consideration in making sure I didn't spend too much on my daily food. I try to do this food budget but I simply forget about it too lol. I always buy outside food and never cares about how much I spent on it. I need to be more careful about this.





having fun

I have only met my friends in January and didn´t do any catching up on both February and March. I was planning to go to my friend wedding last March but I totally forgot about it and went to my aunt house since my siblings went there for the school holiday. I feel so bad about it. I really need to buy something for her.

Anyway, I´ve got some days off in April so I might go to meet my friends. I was thinking to go to Seremban and just chill for a day there. We´ll see how it goes.

I also need to have a nice, long vacation. I need to plan this well and by planning that means saving money too.


trying more new things


  1. Have a pet - my new placce didn´t allow pets so this plan might be halted till next year
  2. Learn mandarin - I´m thinking to learn some simple term from my chinese friends that I can also use at work. I´ll start there first.
  3. Learn brush painting - I just added this among to do list in April
  4. Learn to use a music apartment - this might be loud so I don´t think it will be appropriate to do in my new place.
  5. Be minimalist - my new place is basically a single room with a shared kitchen, toilets etc. It is a smaller room than my old one. The prospect of being able to be more minimalist is actually among other reason why I chose this place. I either throw out things I don´t need or left it at home. I also make sure I have the biggest possible free space. This is officially my first step of being a minimalist.


Apart from self-projects, I really didn´t do much outside my comfort zone. I´m not big on travelling but I think I need to do one just so I can venture more new things. I also need to be more disicplined with my losing weight and better money management too. I think that´s it for now. Next review will be at the end of June.


April Targets - Go Big or Go Home

Apr 4, 2019

LOL. I am definitely going home but a girl ought to dream.



I was thinking to merge my New Year´s resolutions review with April´s target but since the review is going to be wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy longer while this is just a simple post, I decided to do this first.

I have officially moved into my new place and it feels good. I  am thinking to tweak around the arrangements a bit more and made it more chic like I did with my old place but for now, this totally works. 

Since I have flopped March so gloriously, let´s hope we can do a whole lot better in April.

The targets areeeeeeeeeee

*cue for drumroll please*




  1. Finish reading both Kafka on The Shore and Norwegian Wood
  2. Read one poetry book
  3. Finish reading Al Baqarah translations
  4. Do 5 poems discussion on Instagram
  5. Try to at least go to the gym twice a week
  6. Try to do at least 5 brush drawing practice (i think i have lost my brushes and watercolor)
  7. A detailed itinerary to Thailand that includes Hatyai and Krabi
  8. Write all 30 poems according to prompts from NaPoWriMo and update it into a thread on Twitter
  9. No sugary drinks except for my daily morning coffee EOD

EOD is this universally used medical terms that means every other day.

Is there anything you wish to achieve in Apil?

I Waste Away March

Mar 30, 2019

That was it. I wasted away my young and promising March and thus I'll end up getting old being lifeless. 

lol.

I knew I wanted less thing to do in March because the targets in February seems too overwhelming. Thank god for that or you guys would feel like I am a complete loser now. 

JOKES ON YOU. I ALWAYS FEEL LIKE A COMPLETE LOSER




Anyway, back to my March's target.

Let's recap -


  1. Read two books
  2. Improve blog familiarity among other bloggers aka get to know more bloggers
  3. Post about that cooking thingy
  4. Try to walk more
  5. Eat less heavy dinner

Buckle up, this is one long, unnecessary story but I'm venting out. It's not really venting cause I'm not actually mad, I'm just so overwhelmed and so tired and now I can finally (semi) relax, I am so venting out.

I was supposed to have a penempatan semula when I got my license. It was scheduled on Monday last week. Amidst all the goodbye feasts, nervousness on going to a new place, packing stuff yada yada - I got the same hospital back. That means, I'm stuck here for another two years.I'm not even sure how to  react at that.

However, right from the start, I was ready to move out. Even if I got the same hospital back. I wanted to live somewhere else - a fresh start and stuff. Now, the packing and unpacking adventure starts. If you know me, I hate this kind of thing. Packing only to unpack? Pfft. Sign me out. But of course, there is no way out.

Since I'm still staying at the same hospital, it will be a waste to move out in the middle of the month so I'm stuck to live in a place where most things were packed and living bare for another week. Some of my stuff was already packed and were now in the car. So I have also live for a whole week with all kind of stuff in my car like some kind of hobo in a car. Not only that, I start to officially rent the new place on Monday. It was such a big pain in the ass to juggle working, tired from working and moving out. 

That was a horrendous two weeks. 

I lost Norwegian Wood for a good two week only to discover it in my car. 

My Mi band is out of battery and it has been a week but I still didn't found the charger. 

My favorite blouse got a big hole burned out when I first start to iron in my new place. '

I got so sleepy on Wednesday and Thursday at work from the lack of sleep and got real quiet on Thursday that my friends notice it. I only tell them it was because I'm sleepy and it is too hot. '

IT IS TOO HOT. The air-conditioner in our pharmacy is still down.

I got some acne breakouts and when one gets better, a new one pops out. IT WAS FRUSTRATING.

I was stress eating a lot.

With all of these happening, do you think I care about doing my goals? 



But that does not stop me from falling in love with Haruki Murakami's work. He is amazing! Oh ya, both books for my March reads are from him. I'm halfway through Norwegian Woods and I have also started reading Kafka on The Shore's ebook. I love these two so much. I decided to read these two first because Namjoom has suggested it.




Also,

Since my sister's phone got broken, I leave my laptop at home so that she wouldn't die out of boredom (our home PC was broken). I was going to buy some tablet-ish that will be easier for me to carry around but is still big enough so that I can do my blogging and watch Netflix. That left us with no laptop for the entire month. That is why there is still no update about my cooking thingy and the blogging around that I'm planning to do so that I know more blogs.

Funnily, I was looking out on my diet plan really well at the beginning of the month until I started to feel a bit bummed, y'know, the usual - need to continue my FRP life in the same hospital and all the trouble of needing to move out. I did a lot of stress eating.

I'm just not able to focus on anything until I finished my moving out so no trips planning too.

That zumba thing? With my room, all messed up and tiredness from lack of sleep and of these things happening? No.

But there are some good things I want to highlight.



1. We were staying at a cheap hotel in Shah Alam so that we don't have to go out early morning to lapor diri at JKNS. There is a thailand/japanese restaurant near called Madam Salma so we went there for dinner. It was so good and affordable. I haven't eaten good food for a really long time.

2. I did bought a tablet but it is somewhat a 2 in 1 tablet/lapto.  Basically it is small like a notebook but the tablet part is detachable. It is such a good buy. I'll make a post reviewing it.

3. I forgot that I actually own a bigger screen smartphone which means reading e-book is a whole lot comfortable. I snuck some reading when things get sluggish at work!

4. DID I TELL  YOU I FINALLY READS HARUKI MURAKAMI? IT IS SO GOOD.

5. I didn't meet my old friends but I did went out to eat with my colleagues for a few times which is refreshing.

6. I just tried the Shinjuku bake from Secret Recipe. IT SO SO GOOD.

7. I don't think I will ever like korean fried chicken. It is among "good things" because I like discovering new things about myself.

8. BTS new album will be coming out soon and the trailer, Persona, is awesome! The beats was quite chill but I was more attracted to the lyrics. I can't wait for the whole album!




9. The best thing of all, as off this very moment, I finally move out and arrange everything nicely so that it is appropriate for a living mess called Afifah.

But I just notice that I lost my scrunchies and my favourite singlet.

Well, you win some and lost some.


p/s - I'll do April's goal in a separate post as I need to also do my quarterly review of my New Year resolution.

February Wrapped (so bad) and March To Do (hopefully)

Mar 3, 2019

February has been a disaster.



Hello folks. It is a lovely afternoon on the 3rd of March. How wonderful. The passage of time that stops for no one with me wasting out my youth and vigor. Such an interesting sentiment. Much wow.

Anyway.

Let's go through my February to do and put more BTS related and appropriate gif to truly portrayed how messed up everything is.




Read Lullabies and 30 Hari Mencari Tuhan (I know I've said no more self-help books but I've bought it already ffs)

Omg Lullabies is so boring and I'm just not cut out for Hilal Asyraf's writing style. 

The funny thing is, I knew I've read some of Lullabies but I don't have any memory that I actually finished reading it! Lullabies was just so hopelessly heartbroken, not poetic enough (at least for me) and just so not for me that I just forgot I actually have finished it. How is that even possible? But I still re-read the whole thing. 

For 30 Hari Mencari Tuhan, I just finish reading it like just before I started to write this post. It is just not my kind of self-help book. I know I can only tolerate certain style of self-help book but trying to finish this in one month is such a hard task for me. The points in the book are like any regular dakwah styled self-help but the way it was arranged to be like one chapter per day and how kind the tone used is good and refreshing (I always feel that the sentap style is too exaggerated). Plus, the inclusion of many Quran sentences to justify chapter just made it so appropriately evidenced. But still, it was boring? That sounded so wrong. 





Study and publish discussion for five poems (on @afifahwrites) + Published all the poems that are left from January (on @afifahwrites)

I am three poems behind and it was because I put off everything until the last week of February. \ I'm planning to finishes the three poems left and uninstall Instagram because I'm going into an Instagram detox in March y'all. 

Check out my poetry discussion at my Instagram highlights at @afifahwrites. I even did one from Robert Frost (that guy who wrote Roads Not Taken in our high school literary text, remember him?)


Plan an itinerary to Singapore

I always told myself that "I need to check what I planned for February instead of lazying around" and then come to a conclusion "don't worry, I remember everything" - I don't. I have completely forgotten about this one. I'm not even sure where my itinerary notebook is.




Have 10 days of more than 5k steps + Track weekdays calorie

No.

Have 10 days calories deficit (not including fasting days)

I'm pretty sure that my calorie intake is like all over at least every other day




Fast for three days
At least this is done although I got my period at 6.30pm for the last day. To be honest, I knew my period is nearing but I wanted to tick this one off so bad. I only got my dinner at 7pm so like, puasa lah tu.


Choose a yoga/stretches routine for de-stressing after work

To choose one, I need to try it first and see if I like it. So the problem was that I thought I need to follow a certain set of yoga from any yoga Youtube videos because I thought that is how yoga should work - do a certain set. But then keeping up with the set is exhausting since I am the most not flexible person and even though it states the "for a beginner" - it was so hard to keep up. So I  just find a list of movement to do and just slowly go through it one by one. Here is the list - afifah yoga thing.


he is disturbingly flexible

February feelings - try to write and publish (on @afifahwrites) three poems about nostalgic feelings.

It was great to find a certain emotion and feeling within me and try to channel it out. But I notice that my flow is so not flowing. I'm not sure why. I know I didn't write much now but I used to have times I didn't write for a long period but I have never felt out of flow. You guys can check out my poems in my Instagram account @afifahwrites.


Keep track of daily spending habit
Apparently, even though I'm quite responsible about spending, I notice that I have a few spending commitment which is quite a sum of money. Plus I like food and treating food for others so there was where my money went. I need to learn to save money because my job now is a contract basis. I might be jobless in a little less than 2 year. Yay future.



Blog - write around the theme of "being free and not let anybody affect you" and my cooking for one for one week thing.

I do wrote two post but I change the cooking one with my lippies collection. One of the reasons why everything is messed up is because I am everywhere. I plan to focus on my monthly goals during the weekend but I'm almost always somewhere or some chores to do every weekend so that means stocking up food will most likely end up spoiling it. So I post about my lippies instead. I just did a week of grocery shopping for cooking last Thursday so I will come up with part two of that cooking thingy this month. 


Hangout with wani? That seems interesting.

Like I say before, my weekends was busy so I don't have time to spend with my friends.


Some things that I have not planned but I did and I just want to share it here

We went to visit my baby brother at his school and it was a simple hanging out and eating food. We brought him out and spend a night there at a cozy homestay. There was a paddy field right beside us. So that one weekend out. 

There is this one weekend that I wanted to bake cookies and went to a river but it all went south when my aunt got hospitalized for unstable angina. She is fine, nothing serious, so I thought. She was only at our house because she loves visiting us and she always stays for a few days.

Much to our surprise, the next week, my uncle (the husband of the said aunt) also got rush to Emergency for being unconscious. He was having a really high blood pressure but it wasn't too serious and thus not warded. At the very same day, his grandson, broke his arm while playing with his friend. The poor boy need to go into surgery to put some wire to align the bone. The week got even more complicated when my aunt get hospitalized again. We are now waiting for a check-up at HKL to see if she has any more health problems. Thank god she was at home this time. At least her children are close. So we went to spend the weekend there.




I know these sound a bit gloomy and drama filled but it was honestly a good weekend. We splurged on Mc Donald for breakfast on Saturday and got happy meal's toy for the kid with the broken arm (he was so stressed out during his hospital stay because he can't get off his bed unless if he need to use the bathroom). My aunt makes curry noodles on Sunday (yup, the very same aunt that got hospitalized twice in the span of one week). 

I also got to meet my cousin newborn daughter. I think she is like three or four months old now but god she has grown out so much from the last time I saw her. My baby cousin still favour my sister over me (yes, I have a cousin who is still a baby, a two year old actually, but I'm still calling him a baby) and my other cousin's 2 years old have now learned to say "tak boleh" to practically everything, or probably just me.

I also watched Back to The Future - part one and part two. It was good especially since it is one of the pioneer movies in time travelling and sci fi in general. But I just don't feel like I need to watch the last one. It is basically time travelling. I do appreciate how the Doc explain stuff and making all thing sounds legit.



I also finished watching Bad Genius (I started watching this last Eid lol) and The Age of Adaline (I almost forgot that I have watched half of this). Bad Genius was lengthy but the ending was good. The Age of Adaline should have more details on Ellis and Adeline love story plus it was something seeing Blake Lively and Harrison Ford in the same movie. 

I also watched two Korean movies - Old Boy (so traumatizing) and Lucid Dream (good storyline but the lucid dreaming part is just wrong and unrealistic). Oh ya, I watched Ponyo too! Ghibli Studios never fails me. I did a few night shifts so it was either watching Netflix or reading. But my "to be read" are so boring and I can't afford making myself sleepier so Netflix it is. Funnily, Netflix movie is only like one hour and a half but I still hope they have fast forward option cause I have limited attention span but I a people of culture. I need to be appropriately movie cultured.

Oh ya, I did a Twitter free February and decided that I love spitting nonsense on Twitter so I'm back at it.

Wow. There are so many things happened during February.

SO THAT WAS IT. THAT WAS FEBRUARY. 



So for March, we are taking it a step back by making 6 things only.

  1. We are reading fiction  - Norwegian Wood (my first Haruki Murakami's) and I'm still looking another fiction book. At first, I want to read The Nutcracker Men (a fiction book about World War One) and I am down three chapters when I decided that I'm not spending March with this fella. I want to be truly involved in a storyline which usually means some Young Adult's novel. Do suggest one for me!
  2. Improve my blog familiarity among bloggers - I have 496 followers now. I don't really care about it but it is something to be 4 followers ways to 500. So I'm focusing this month to learn about more bloggers and just add more blogs to my reading list. This usually means more blog walking and following and if you guys got Twitter, I'll be following that too. I still need some kind target so let's do this until I got 500 followers.
  3. Write one post about my cooking thingy and one post about how life has been being over 25 years old.
  4. Since I'm too lazy to go out and get that 10k steps - we will be doing zumba. I'm not putting any target except for trying to do it as much as possible
  5. Write an itinary to hatyai that includes krabi and to Singapore.
  6. To skip heavy dinner every other day - I need to take my diet seriously.

seokjin slim waist and broad shoulder = dorito is a good motivation


I took almost two hours writing this. OMG. 

I need dinner.



ps: If anyone got annoyed with the amount of BTS memes/gif, my goal has been achieved. If anyone is actually entertained by it, good, my goal has been achieved as well. I like to think I'm so cunning this way.