Inspiration

Assalamualaikum

Tahun ini dua orang orang adik yang tinggi lampai akan menduduki peperiksaan PMR dan SPM. Ibu setiap kali skype or call mesti ceritakan kerisauan melihat mereka berdua ni hehe. Sebenarnya, 5 tahun yang lalu, the same thing happened, Nadiah and I both took PMR and SPM respectively - and I believe ibu serisau ini juga dulu. In fact, semua ibu bapa macamtu kan? Sekarang giliran Sumayyah dan Huda pulak.

Sebagai kakak sulung yang prihatin melihat keliatan adik-adik dalam belajar, seolah-olah menjadi tugas pulak untuk menjanjikan hadiah lumayan kepada mereka sebagai inspirasi. Hari tu berjanji tak ingat dunia, "Nanti akak kasi itu, kasi ini kalau dapat straight A's," Time tu fikir, sementara dekat US ni bolehlah berjanji macam-macam since branded item dan gadget dekat sini murah-murah. Tapi bila fikir balik, dah terlebih janji pulak, dah lah dua orang haisss

So, tadi bila mengira simpanan dalam bank and projection di masa hadapan, haruslah dimasukkan budget yang akan lebur kalau adik-adik dapat keputusan yang baik nanti. Bukan apa, bab menepati janji bila masa peperiksaan ni memang kena hati-hati, sebab ada family history disebaliknya. A story that always makes me laugh when I think about it :)

Semuanya gara-gara ayah. Waktu dia form 3 dan kena ambil LCE (Lower Certificate of Education, iaitu nama lama PMR), kakak ayah, Mak Lang waktu itu baru graduate dan dapat kerja di KL dengan gaji yang agak lumayan. Jadi Mak Lang pun berjanji dekat ayah, kalau ayah dapat 1 A, beliau akan kasi RM50 dekat ayah. Kata ayah, waktu tu result ayah takde lah hebat mana, so maybe Mak Lang tak rasa ayah akan dapat banyak A, tapi just nak inspired adikkan, haruslah exaggerate offer sikit.

Tapi, nak dijadikan cerita, ayah dapat 6 A's out of 7 subjects. Terus jadi top student dekat negeri Perak. (Zaman tu straight A's adalah sangat jarang ye kawan-kawan. Bukan macam sekarang, bersepah-sepah.) Natijahnya, Mak Lang sampai bayar ansuran bulanan dekat ayah sebab kena bayar RM300. Untuk pengetahuan umum, RM300 tahun 1973 besar nilainya sebab gaji pegawai kerajaan biasa pun dalam RM350 sebulan kot (tak sure part ni), kalau nak lebih jelas sila rujuk kos hidup per kapita Malaysia tahun 1970-an.

Jadi konklusinya, seorang kakak ada banyak tanggungjawab untuk adik-adik, walaupun janji mungkin memakan diri. Tapi demi kasih sayang, harus kugagahkan jua diri ini hehee

For my two angels, strive for the best and remember, there is nothing worth more to me than your happiness. I repeat, your happiness, not your excellent results. Allah is always with you guys, so don't ever lose hope.

Sekian, ramadhan kareem :)

Quick Summer Updates

Assalamualaikum

It is already July and alhamdulillah the electricity is backkkk :)
Although I randomly posted about the hurricane and power outage that we went through last week, I was surprised that some of my best friends read it and asked me about my condition
"Aku baca blog kau. Kau okay tak tika?" - best friend -
Seriously, I'm grateful that Allah gives me some beautiful and supportive friends
And indeed, they are the reasons that make me think that I should blog more frequently after this - just so that we can update each other more frequently
Aww I really love my girls!

So, what have I been doing from spring to summer?

First, Midwest Games International 2012 at University of Illinois. Since this is my second MWGi, I have already had some expectations toward the event and I think the event went really well. I met a lot of friends from INTEC and I also spent some really good times with Izzati and Aqilah. Besides that, I had fun cheering for University of Minnesota football team with my fellow buckeyes weheheee. We cheered for our two buckeye friends who played for Minne's team. Seriously, we hardly know anyone from Minne but we cheered like we're one of them haha. Nasib baik champion, tak sia-sia datang MWGi kali ni :D

Exactly two weeks after that was the Spring 2012 Commencement. We had 5 graduates this year (compare to 2 last year), and two of them are my batch, Aqilah and Hazmira. We came together, went through some really fun and rough moments during our first touchdown in Columbus, and now they're back in Malaysia! Do you know what does it mean? My time is coming really soon insyaAllah. One year to go!

Those in black are the graduates. Graduation in one of the biggest stadium in the world, Ohio State je ader bro hihi

Then, right after the commencement, I went for the most awesome trip ever in my life! I went to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, which is almost 2000 miles from Ohio. It took us about 2 1/2 days before we arrived Yellowstone and we had some really good times there. There, I felt like I was in a magical kingdom. Why? Because I saw so many things that I've never known about their existence and I found so many beautiful scenery, far more beautiful than any drawings or photos I've ever seen. Bak kata sahabat ini, hanya mata sahaja yang mampu mengingati kecantikan di Yellowstone, wallahualam..

Seperti lukisan. One of my favorite spots in Yellowstone..

Now, that I am back in Columbus and summer is here, I have no other choice but to stay indoor as much as I can due to daily heat advisory. I am taking 3 classes for 7 weeks, and currently I'm working part time at the OSU Library. So far so good. Yes, I study hard and play hard too lol.

Oh then, one worth-to-write-about event in my life happened: a short one hour hurricane and later caused power outage for almost three days for us in central Columbus (almost 3 million people were affected by the power outage across the country). Much worst, I had three midterms (out of three) in that particular week hahh! Thus, during those three days, I spent most of my time in campus because Ohio State has its own power plant and we have electricity all over the campus area. Syukur at least electricity is only 10 minutes walking distance. Kalau tak, di mana nak study semua. Alhamdulillah, all is good now and my midterms went pretty well :)

Now everything is back to normal except for the excessive heat. Hmm.. InsyaAllah this heat challenge may help to reflect our patience and increase our iman. Most importantly....... Ramadan is only few days away! I pray may all of us have the opportunity to meet this coming Ramadan and let this remaining Syaaban gives us time to prepare ourselves for Ramadan which hopefully will bring us more rahmah and positive changes, Amin.


PS: Hari ini adik kite Nadiah turned 20. Aww, adik beradik kite dah besar :')

Storms

Assalamualaikum

Currently we are out of power supply due to thunderstorm last evening
I humbly ask everyone to pray for our safety here
I have three midterms next week hahh, now I know how hard it is to live without electricity
Nak study. Sobss.

You wanna know more? Feel free to read this article from The Star

Di Sebalik Hari Lahir

Assalamualaikum

Few days ago, my friend turned 25 and I wished her on Facebook
As I opened her wall, I saw this cute little girl picture and a warm birthday wish from her mother

Twenty five years ago today I heard those joyful words "It's a girl!". My world was complete. Happy birthday to my ray of sunshine, my friend, my daughter. Love you ******. Mom.

Waktu baca wish tersebut terasa macam nak mengalir air mata
I don't know, perhaps I am too emotional
But, what could be warmer than a mother's birthday wish?
Dan waktu baca tu, teringat dekat birthday wish dari ibu on my 21st birthday last January
Ibu's wish was almost the same thing as my friend's mother!
About how grown up I am right now, although she feels like she just delivered me yesterday
In other words, the day she became a mother..

So bila fikir balik persamaan itu, what in my mind was:
Semua ibu kongsi perasaan yang sama ke pada hari lahir anak mereka? Hari lahir kita mengingatkan mereka pada hari mereka pernah bertarung dengan maut, yes, demi kita
Okay, rasa nak menangis pulakk

To the person I used to hug everyday and every night without failure for almost 19 years, I miss you, ibu. Setahun lagi insyaAllah. Tak lama, along janji. :)
Oh ye, ini bukan post mother's day. Ini post tentang perasaan waktu ini

Time flies

Assalamualaikum

It is almost May
Some of my friends here at Ohio State and US are graduating
Even friends back in Malaysia are graduating too
Time flies isn't it! Subhanallah

Yes, if other people are graduating, I will too, insyaAllah in one year
Man, one year?
If you think it is too long, I think it is extremely short
I have so many things left in my to-do list in United States
And now I have one year? What have I done in almost two years? hmm..

I really wanna write more, but I have a group presentation tomorrow
Yes, lets memorize the script -,-

Lompat sana sini

Assalamualaikum

Actually, I don't have anything pertinent to be said today, I just feel like marking this date on my blog lol
I have been blogging for almost four years and I believe that this is my first time of having 29th February on my blog's calendar, so why don't I kindle some excitement right?

Oh yeah, as a matter of fact, I wanna let you guys know that leap year is so special for me
Neither I was born on 29th February nor anyone special in my life
It was just that I skipped grade on a leap year, which was year 2000
Or in other word, "Aku lompat kelas pada tahun lompat"
How fancy I were! Don't you think so? :D

p/s: Yes, two weeks and counting! Bunga dah mula mekarrrrrr and I know spring is here! :)

Disturbed

Assalamualaikum

Hari itu aku tengah kerja di laundry
Sedang melipat sarung bantal, ada pulak hama ke debu ke menusuk ke hidung, terus bersin.
Haccummmm... Phew. Alhamdulillah keluar dari bibir.
Tiba-tiba Abdul, pak cik sama dalam laundry tu bercakap:

"You..you muslimah! You should say alhamdulillahirabbil alamin!"

Sambil buat gaya bersin.
Note that he is almost 80 years old. Not pak cik I guess. Atuk lah kot.
And he is a Moroccan, tak reti pun cakap or baca English. Cakap Arab je.
Time tu aku pun cakaplah, dah, dah cakap dah alhamdulillah.
Tapi dia nak argue argue pulak.
Geram sikit, aku dah cakap kot, dia yang tak dengar ggrr

Sebenarnya takde lah berkait sangat dengan cerita ni, cuma teringat ustazah kat sekolah pernah cakap, orang Islam ni sangat special, sebab bila-bila pun dia sentiasa mengingati Allah. Kalau ada benda terjadi. even barang terjatuh dari tangan pun, "Ya Allah!" tak pun "MashaAllah", cepat je meniti di bibir. Tidakkah indah begitu? Dari sebut "Oh mak kau" or "D*mn it"? Peringatan untuk diri sendiri jugak ni.
Sebenarnya pesanan ustazah ni berkenaan dengan hadis di bawah:

"Sungguh menakjubkan urusan seorang mukmin, semua urusannya baik baginya dan kebaikan itu tidak dimiliki kecuali oleh seorang mukmin. Apa bila ia mendapat kesenangan ia bersyukur dan itulah yang terbaik untuknya. Dan apabila mendapat musibah ia bersabar dan itulah yang terbaik untuknya." (HR muslim).

Amazingkan seorang mukmin? Awesome kan Islam? Islam adalah agama yang mendidik dan sangat positif. Mana tidaknya, banyak ayat al-Quran dan hadis berbicara tentang musibah dan kesusahan, mesti diberikan pula apa kesan positifnya kepada kita, seperti dalam surah ash-sharh:

"Kerana sesungguhnya sesudah kesulitan itu ada kemudahan." (94: 5-6)

Tapi jangan expect lepas satu kesusahan kita dah lalui, kita akan senang selama-lamanya. Hidup ini singkat, tapi ada bermacam cara Allah nak mendidik kita. Senang cerita, jangan expect sekarang aku belajar susah-susah takde masa semua, nanti dah grad mesti hidup aku senang.

Haa ni selalu orang cakap. Belajarlah rajin-rajin nanti kerja gaji besar, senang hidup. Dulu mak/ayah/atuk/nenek takde peluang nak belajar, sebab tu hidup susah etc.. Hasil dari kata-kata ni, lahirlah satu generasi yang hidupnya belajar bersungguh-sungguh kerana nak hidup senang di masa hadapan. Dapat result bagus, dapat masuk universiti, dah rasa okay takpe susah tapi nanti senang. Yang belajar dekat oversea, terfikirlah pulak, aku belajar susah, hidup susah, makan susah, takpe, nanti dah balik gaji aku besar. Takpe sabarrrr. 

Tapi bila dah habis, dia terkejut. Eh, tak senang pun? Banyaknya benda nak buat. Bila nak dapat hidup senang macamni? Dah penat-penat belajar dulu. Betul, niat tu memang suci, nak balas jasa ibu bapa, tolong keluarga etc, tapi didikan tu kurang tepat.

Orang-orang berjaya yang aku kenal personally, tak jadi senang satu dua malam. Dia tak senang tanpa korbankan apa-apa. Dia korbankan tidur, keluarga, kesihatan, baru dapat ratusan juta ringgit. Jadi kenapa kita kena expect selepas menempuh alam belajar yang susah ni, boleh jadi senang? Benda tu seolah-olah menyamakan, lepas dah banyak cabaran bercinta, then kahwin, happy ending. Obviously semua orang tahu itu fairy tales semata-mata.

Okay fine, tapi ada juga orang dah berkorban macam-macam berpuluh tahun bekerja keras, tak senang juga? Macam mana tu?

"Sesungguhnya besarnya pahala itu bergantung pada besarnya cubaan. Sesungguhnya apabila Allah itu mencintai suatu kaum maka Dia mengujinya. Barang siapa yang rela menerimanya, dia mendapat keredhaan Allah, dan barang siapa murka, maka dia pun mendapat kemurkaan Allah" (HR Tirmidzi)

From my very limited experience, I have met and seen so many people, both highly educated and less educated, climbed, reached the stars, enjoyed them, helped others, but then, they fell down, learned to walk again, reached the starts back. This happened over and over and over again. That is why I guess atuk dulu cakap belajar elok-elok, nanti boleh buat baik dekat orang. Kata atuk, keturunan kami tak pernah dididik untuk jadi kaya, tapi dididik untuk jadi ikhlas.

Man, life is not easy. If it is easy, Allah tak turunkan manusia ke dunia.

In fact, if it is easy, I won't be here typing this. Nampak sangatlah I am totally disturbed now kan? haha.

Tapi sebab tu kita kena bersyukur, even benda sekecil bersin sekali pun. Sebab apa yang ada hari ni, mungkin tak ada esok and vice versa. Dan syukur itulah membawa kepada ketenangan bila ditimpa musibah. Setiap kesusahan itu ada kemudahan. Dengan izin Allah, pastinya.

Bintang Malam

I will make sure that someone is going to make a proper video recording when I go to Europe
No, not really, next spring break trip kena start buat video dah hehe :p
Good night bintang!

21-10

Assalamualaikum

I have turned 21 10 days ago
Big thanks for those who remember
To be honest, being thousands of miles away from your motherland makes my birthday more special
Thanks to technology, I have received birthday wishes from my parents, sisters,grandparents, uncles and aunties who have never forgot my birthday since I was born. They are the best family members I tell you.
Not forgotten, many best friends from Subang, Shah Alam and Intec
Those people have never failed to wish me on my birthday
And as my best friend Farisha wished me on twitter, I suddenly realized that she has been constantly wishing my birthday for almost 15 years. What a great figure and how I love our friendship!
Note that I hid my birthday on Facebook, just so that I don't have so many people wishing me on my wall
Geli budget famous lah kau kann hahh

If I were asked to describe birthday in two words, my answer would definitely be:
Prayer (Doa) & Death (Mati)

1. Prayer
It is because in my family tradition, birthday celebration is started with a prayer, asking Allah to bless the one who is turning older with more imaan, taqwa, and good akhlaq etc. Ayah will specifically said the birthday girl's name in his prayer and I still remember my youngest sister Safiyyah used to be mad because ayah didn't say her name in someone else's birthday. Aww comelkan Safiyyah?

2. Death
However, at the end of the prayer, ayah will say the prayer to ask Allah to ease our death and let us die in husnul khatimah. That makes me realize that for every year I gained, I am just a weak and helpless human being who is approaching death.

These are what inside my mind when I woke up during my birthday last week:
I am 21
I am one and a half year away to get my bachelor degree insyaAllah
I am working part time for money and getting some great experience
I am healthy
I have a beautiful family
Hardships do exist but I know I am maturing because of them 

"Then which of the favors of your Lord will you deny?"

Throughout my life, I have met several people who hardly received birthday wishes from their own family and alhamdulillah I found myself to be among the lucky ones
My parents and sisters do not only wish me 'Happy Birthday' early in the morning, they usually give me hugs and kisses every year as I turn one year older
In fact, I have had my birthday parties thrown almost every year with so many foods and people
Not to mention, the awesome birthday presents and moneyhh hehe

Someone ask me if only I am disappointed that this year is perhaps my dullest birthday ever and I quickly said  "No I am perfectly fine. I have had enough and I thank Allah for all those moments"

Yes, I just wanna turn into a better person

I humbly ask apology for those who I have wrongdoings

Mari buat homework yeahh

Winter Break 2011: Part 2

Assalamualaikum

Sebenarnya tadi dalam class banyak jugak mengelamun teringat kawan-kawan kat Intec
Sindrom tengok semua orang baru upload gambar winter break di Facebook mungkin
Kemudian teringat dekat dua orang kawan yang boleh dipeluk bila-bila masa - Eton and Izzati
So rasa nak update pasal Florida sikit lagi. Last part lah kot.

Jadi lepas balik dari Bahamas, kami pergi pula ke Key West
To be honest, kalau bukan kerana trip ni, Key West pun tak tahu apa
Yes I am a loser :S

Alright guys, presenting Key West FL, Paradise USA O.o
Sebenarnya Key West ni, like any other islands
Sama je, ada pantai, boleh mandi manda, bersukan dan sebagainya
Tapi apa yang buat Key West lain daripada pulau lain ialah dia adalah tempat paling selatan di USA
It is the home for southernmost point of USA

Ini adalah main picture spot untuk semua tourist yang datang ke Key West walaupun dia cuma satu monumen kaku yang berwarna warni. Apa yang menarik tentang monumen ni, tourist dekat sini educated. Untuk bergambar dekat monumen ni pun ada barisan yang sangat lurus lagi teratur walaupun takde sesiapa suruh. Good people good. 

Another picture spot di Key West, Mile 0 sign board. Seperti kanak-kanak noob, I didn't even understand why such signboards could attract tourists. Luckily ada mereka terangkan apa significant nya signboard ni geographically. Basically, Mile 0 ini adalah starting point untuk US Route 1, which is the major south-north US Highway. Highway ni bermula dia Key West dan habis dekat border US Canada dekat Maine, nun jauh di utara. Bayangkanlah berapa ribu batu panjangnya. Okay yang itu agak menarik.

Besides that kitorang juga pergi Ft Zachary Taylor Historical State Park, the southernmost state park in the US. This place is interesting and beautiful, bayaran masuk pun murah. Yes, I loike lawatan sambil belajar sejarah.

Our next destination was Universal Studios Orlando
Yes, I have been to Universal Hollywood before but obviously I don't mind going to Universal Orlando again because I wanna go the famous Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
Lagi pulak, dulu pergi Universal cuma 1 hari and so much things to do, so this time rasa nak relax sikit, so we bought 3 days pass. Okaylah I guess. No rushing at all and we had a good time.

To be honest, lawatan ke Universal Studios mungkin akan jadi sedikit bosan kalau kita dah pernah pergi mana-mana Universal Studios. Lawatan ke Orlando hari tu agak bosan pada hari yang pertama, which I went to Universal Studios production set. Mana taknya, almost all of the shows are pretty much the same, even the rides! For first timers, I bet they had so much fun, like all my friends from Iowa State. :)

Then here it is! The main attraction of Orlando, Hogwarts! As a fan of Harry Potter, memang rasa nak pengsan  sebab dapat masuk Hogwarts. Okay I am exaggerating. Tapi serious rasa sangat magical. With all those living pictures inside the castle, I must say that Wizarding World of Harry Potter sangatlah best. Kalaulah boleh transfer credit, dah lama apply Hogwarts. Tapi Hogwarts ada offer engineering ke? Yang di bawah ni adalah our only one group picture. I love this one. 

Tapi hari kedua adalah awesomeeee. Sebab ada Harry Potter! :D That is the only reason I wanna go to Orlando anyway. So puas lah hati. Lagi-lagi untuk orang yang tak berapa nak naik ride, like Izzati and I. Bila je pun dapat merasa nak pergi Hogsmeade and Hogwarts kan? Yang paling best in Orlando, I had the opportunity to spend so much time with my best roommate ever, Izzati :)

Since I am blessed with quite an average height for women, I am allowed to ride all the rides, but who cares! I don't do outdoor rides. I prefer to be the camerawoman when it comes to all those things. I guess people like it because I can take care of their stuffs while they go for the rides hehe. *Okay memang penakut pun. But that is the reason I love travelling with Eton and Izzati. Even Eton loves doing all those things, dia sangat supportive bila time nak naik rides, tak macam certain orang nak ejek-ejek penakut whatsoever. She holds my hand even on very simple rides. Izzati pun sama. See, thats why I love them so much :)

Kalau nak compare Universal Orlando and Universal Hollywood, memang dua-dua ada kelebihan masing-masing. While Orlando has more interesting and challenging rides, I think Hollywood's show and filming sets are more exciting. In fact, I think Hollywood serves more toward educating people to film making compare to Orlando, which the main point is to make people having fun.

Since I know that Universal Studios will bring so much fun to all my sisters (especially Safiyyah the youngest one) I was thinking of bringing them to Universal Singapore. Yes, Piah has always been excited when she looked at my pictures with all animated characters. Nanti ada rezeki kita pergi eh Piah :)

Sebelum balik, we went to Miami. Oh ye Miami adalah bandar yang sangat mahal while takde banyak attraction sangat pun kecuali it is just another beach. Tapi menarik jugak sebenarnya pantai dia exclusive. Personally, I see Miami as the 'Little Vegas'. Dekat Miami mandi laut sikit lagi, enjoy the heat, makan kfc halal, and then head back to Ohio. Back to winter.

Basically thats all what I did during winter break
Now class baru start seminggu, tapi rasa macam dah start 9 minggu
Atikah tolong jangan buat perangai -,-