Sakinah Abdul Aziz

I was told by numerous colleagues to "enjoy this honeymoon period" and I decided that I should make the best out of the free time that I have now. The last time I stayed in the office just about 30 minutes more than my supposedly knock-off time, I was shoo-ed away by my colleagues. Fancy being kicked out somewhat because I have "lots of opportunities in the future to stay back". So since I'm under probation (if you know what my job is, you'd find this pretty pun-y and funny really), I find myself having lots of energy and so I thought of channeling this excess energy into constructive things rather than just bumming and sleeping all the time. And so I decided to run. I used to jog pretty regularly before I entered uni. I run whenever I feel stressed, I run whenever I feel sad, I run whenever I feel ok, I run whenever I feel triumphant, I run because it was part of my CCA, I run as an excuse to go outside and see the world in a flash, I run to clear my mind...

I felt very inspired a few nights ago after I met up with a very close friend who had shared a great deal about her life journey. Her life journey, although cannot be identical to my own, somehow resonates with me. And to see how this person grows after having experienced from one ordeal to another, and now has attained so much joy and peace, only confirm my outlook in life. There will be times when we will be afflicted with trials and tribulations, and that the world may seem bleak, but only through these times, we can actually find strength. Although intuitively, we all know how it really feels when life sucks. We feel we are plummeting into this deep, dark, black hole and everything else will be a downward spiral just when we think that that is the end of it all. The most re-assuring thing is, there is no other way to go because that's the bottomest kiddo. We can only head towards that one direction, and that is to keep going up. And the next re-assuring thing is, only through...

The perks of running your player on shuffle (: I chanced into a good, uplifting song. "If you have peace within yourself, nobody can touch you no matter what happens." - Mariah Carey Well said, Mariah! Here you go! They can say, Anything they want to say, Try to bring me down, But I will not allow anyone to succeed hanging clouds over me, And they can try How to make me feel that I, Don't matter at all, But I refuse to falter in what I believe or lose faith in my dreams Cause there's, There's a light in me, That shines brightly, They can try, But they can't take that away from me From me Oh they, They can do Anything they want to you, If you let them in, But they won't ever win, If you cling to you pride, and just push them aside, See I, I have learned, There's an inner peace I own, Something in my soul that they can not possess So I won't be afraid and the darkness will fade Cause there's, T...

Yes, do not let events ruin your day. This, should be everyone's mantra.

You know, the bad thing about not having the time to blog is that, I keep relying on the "save drafts" option, which obviously haven't been good at producing entries for a month! Well for obvious reasons, it's either I lost the mood to continue where I left off, or that I couldn't bring myself to sort out my thoughts well. So I shall give a summary/accumulated/condensed version of what's been written on my "save drafts"; - How much I have to read my psych texts - How heavy my eyelids were while doing so - How fast time flies - Eid - Being known as the "polar bear" by the MNO tutor, sheesh - Sat for a French listening comprehension test without knowing it was on that day, double sheesh - Universal Studios - Best popcorn bought, everrr. Voila, saves lotsa words ain't it? So that while I'm here I can blog about more recent things. So finally, I am so over and done with the mid-terms. Of course the pending presentations are still not d...

So this morning, I totally felt defeated. I guess language acquisition is really hard. Really, really hard. I went back to reflect upon myself how in the world do I acquire English and Malay in such a progressively easy way. And I realise that the only way to acquire language so well is to speak it everyday. And by everyday, it means, every single moment, every single opportunity you take to communicate with someone else. To utilise it in our speech everyday, and to listen to others when they speak. Because otherwise, you can never get across what you really want to say, and you can never understand what others want to convey. Acquiring a third, forth, fifth (and so on) languages at a generally older age IS hard. I used to have this confidence that if you throw me in a French-speaking country, I think I would be able to hold conversations. Yes, that's true. Normal conversations at a rather average, slow-ish speed. But I don't want to feel limited when I communicate (I do admit ...

1. Never ever walk with anything else but flats (and NOT wedges) when you're walking uphill with winding paths to an isolated, important place, that seemingly feels like 400m worth of distance. So I established that amongst all kinds of shoes, flats are totally made for me. 2. I ate the best cheese fries ever today after such a long time. 3. I love food, and it's not only because they taste good, but I like how some of them look and the whole presentation of it. The best part of it is how pretty they can actually look in pictures! 4. I rarely take the train, but when I do, I actually enjoy the rides (the un-peak hours of such rides). And each time I take the train, I would find myself wondering how long it would take to reach from one end to the other in another city (considering the fact that it only takes about at most 1.5 hours to do that here, in Singapore). 5. The thing is, I do feel like being in another city each time I imagine as such. 6. I love cozy cafes with beauti...

“The unreal is more powerful than the real. Because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it. Because its only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. Stone crumbles. Wood rots. People, well, they die. But things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on. If you can change the way people think. The way they see themselves. The way they see the world. You can change the way people live their lives. That’s the only lasting thing you can create.” - Chuck Palahniuk

Let's play hopscotch in malls. Let's drive fast with the top down. Let's turn up the music as loud as it'll go. Let's put a couch on an island in the middle of the freeway and wave at everyone on their way to work. Let's hug strangers in parking lots. Let's hand out secret messages at traffic lights. Let's make lists of all the things that make us smile and tick them off, one at a time. The world will carry on without you and me when we're gone. Let it carry on without us, today. Source: I Wrote This For You

And if you look a little closer, you'll see that if a person believes that life is terrible, they’ll constantly look for proof of this, to confirm their view of the world. They’ll find quotes and situations and events in their life and magnify them a hundred times. If a person believes that life is wonderful, they’ll look for the corresponding signage and behave in a similar manner to the previous person with their view of the world. Often, this is the same person on different days of the week. Source: I Wrote This For You

Your head is only a physical entity but your mind contains a whirlwind of thoughts. It often fascinates me how much we can think in a day, limitless and boundless of things, some logical, some are processed midway and hanging, some totally nonsensical. Sometimes when you think so hard that your brain might explode and when you hope that there's an end to a thought, you realise that some things are infinite. Nevertheless, there is yet again the abhored phase of this period of time where you must set aside trivial thoughts in your head, just so you can focus on the more important things, your center. What is your center?

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies Succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight Build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness,they may be jealous Be happy anyway. The good you do today, people will forget tomorrow, Do good anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough Give the world the best you’ve got … anyway. You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God, It never was between you and them anyway. — Mother Theresa