Sakinah Abdul Aziz

The other day, I visited the dentist. She's my newfound favourite dentist because she not only does her job just by examining teeth and calls it a day, she would further explain and educate me on what she had done to my teeth and plus, she's really nice. But that day, it was a painful visit. The dentist hit a very sensitive part of my gum near the upper front teeth, and as natural as it was, tears started flowing down my cheeks that even the assistant had to wipe them off for me as the dentist was still cleaning my teeth. I told the dentist afterwards, "I'm so sorry I teared. I just... had to. It was so painful." I was still surprised at myself because I never had the intention to cry, it was something beyond my control. It was merely a physiological reaction. Just like how our eyes start to tear when we cut onions. I went home that night thinking so much about tears. I thought about the times when I cried. Why do we cry? Why was this reaction even created? It...

I must say that my last week of October was eventful. There were days that were enriching, and there were days that were fun-filled. Things at work underwent major restructuring and there was a huge event where everyone came together as one, one last time. Didn't sign up for any activities on that day, but spontaneously ended up learning introductory Salsa and did archery. Super duper fun. Caught David Cook live. I was really contented because he played about like, 10 songs. I must say it was worth waiting 2 hours for him to finally appear on stage. Thanks to a close friend who asked me to come along and follow her for this event because she's a major David Cook fan. The last time I saw him was through a video conferencing the same friend won tickets for. Was invited for an interfaith dialogue (Islam-Judaism) at a synagogue. Very eye-opening as I've never stepped into one before, and I certainly have never met or spoken to a rabbi before. Had kosher food, and of course...

Say hello to the girl who cuts apples with fangs. About more than a week ago, I was arrowed to bring something for breakfast before the meeting yesterday, halloween-themed. So a dear good friend of mine sent me this link for ideas. Really creative and cute right? Anyhow, I decided to make monster jaws out of apples after some persuasion by a couple of colleagues who were in charge of the breakfast. And mine turned out like this (photo credits to a colleague). LAWLS. I tried my best. Although this was a far cry from what I intended to make. Anyway, by lunchtime where there was a steamboat lunch in the office, I was officially known by everyone in the staff lounge as the 'girl who cuts apples with fangs'. So it turned out that I was the only one who brought something halloween-themed. Another colleague was supposed to bring a pumpkin cake but that didn't work out. There was even a joke that if anyone needs apples with fangs, "Sakinah would gladly do it at 5...

There's really something about today that makes it a very good day although I'm only typing this at 10:18 am. I am a happy girl. I slept earlier yesterday (note that my early can be 12 am), and I woke up this morning feeling fresh and for once in a week or so, I feel like I've had sufficient sleep. I woke up to a nice motivational message and suddenly I feel I can do anything. Took a nice shower, picked on a simple tunic top with my flowery scarf and slipped into my comfortable denim pumps. I managed to board onto a bus that was almost empty. When I alighted the bus, there were 2 of the same buses behind me, all crowded. Am a lucky girl. Sauntered to school macs to get a cheap $4.30 breakfast meal and am here seated in my favourite part of the school library, and without having to see this regular couple hogging the power plug. Savoured my hashbrowns, went to the washroom and I stared at myself in the mirror and I see a very contented girl. I'm thankful :D So far it...

So I'm planted in Starbucks at One Fullerton with Aiman because we spontaneously decide to spend our day in starbucks with our laptops, good reads and nice cuppas. Perfect way of spending the day, there's an awesome view of the Integrated Resort, nice jazz music, and my lovely hot chocolate on such a chilly weather. And what made the day perfect is the fact that there are free drinks 5-7 pm! It's the time of the year again, folks. Totally my perfect idea of chilling, am loving the school holidays :D My list of things to watch: 1) The Big Bang Theory 2) HIMYM season 6 3) Gossip Girl 4) GLEE 5) Hana Yori Dango 2 6) My many many movies :D - So the past 2 days have been spent with my lovely girls. Went to watch 500 Days of Summer at Joy's, played Monopoly Deal and spent the evening at TWG, a totally tai-tai way of spending the night. But no doubt, the tea was good, I really think the appreciation of tea is an indication of how people grow up and acting like adults, hmmm. An...

Awesome awesome awesome. Ok as many of you have guessed, my finals were over since last Friday, ending with social psych paper. I rather not talk about how my papers went, but more of how this semester went. I think school as of this year was rather happening (only intermittently of course, but very memorable), since predominantly, it's been filled with school shitloads. Last semester was great as I had numerous outings with ze french peeps and the nusha gang, this semester seems to lack of those since ze french gang flew off to France for exchange. But the best part about this sem is really the joy of learning although Dr Penney's midterm paper was a killer, french 5 seemed a little demanding, and MNO was just full of projects and time-consuming and the many projects and presentations I've had. But they were all awesome! Bottomline is, the equation will always be learning > studying, hands down. It may seem, on the surface, that I'm biased towards my own major, but ...

One of the best things about Monday is the fact that I am so finir with french 5. Over and done with the final test and just ended with a debate today woohoo! I went through 5 different hurdles within a week and nothing can feel as good as feeling relieved and accomplished. Of course I've my final exams in a week but I'm gonna take some breaks as of this week :) I am excited for HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS! The best thing is I've already got tickets this coming Thurday! Even if it means 3 hours away from studying despite 3 days away from my very first finals paper yikes! So today marked the final french tutorial. Nicole and I were kinda sad that it would be our last french class ever (if we choose not to continue with french 6). But today was awesome because I bumped into francesca and chatted with her quite a bit, and then bumped into Dorisa, she finally came back from exchange in France! That girl spent a year there or something. And I had quite an awesome bo...

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...

Well, it's been way too long isn't it? Let's see. 4th week of school was so passé and I've begun to feel slightly worried about my schoolwork cos I haven't really done much about it. And also, it's been a week since I've bidded farewell to my dear Beninois. I've been busy with YOG ever since its opening ceremony. I used to tell Kai Teng during one of the June/July trainings that we attended, that I never felt any form of satisfaction attending any of those. But once the olympics commenced, I feel the satisfaction sinking in bit by bit. First of all, I had access to the village, which is an atmosphere you'd want to sense every single day. Ok, at least for me, I love the international feel of it. You walk along those long corridors of NIE, and you see people of different colours speaking different languages. Trust me, I'll never look at NIE the same way again. It's like a mini world. With people exchanging pins, basking in the culture of others...

So here's basically what sums up my Sunway getaway: - Sleeping late - And with that, of course waking up around noon almost everyday - Playing Monopoly Deal till late nights/early mornings - Social networking - And by this, knowing Kiki's circle of friends in Sunway, thank you for making my stay awesomest! (: Kiki has awesome housemates and her roommate from Sabah is hilariously expressive! - How I Met Your Mother marathon. In need to finish up Season 5 before the semester starts! - Karaoke with an unbelievable, cheap cost of 5 Sg bucks somewhere in Sunway Pyramid. It's not even those shady-looking karaokes, it's actually better than decent. Zomg, why is karaoke in Singapore so bloody expensive?! - Had the best of both worlds of food. Hands down, nothing can ever beat hawker centre food with sumptuous home-cooked meals. It makes me feel closer to home. And for what felt like the longest time ever, I finally taste the best Nasi Padang with awesome belachan! Everything fo...

Woohoo, I'm typing this away in Kiki's hostel room in Sunway campus, Malaysia. How awesome is that! Ok, so the story is, I made an impulsive (and I mean this well) decision right about two days ago, probably 1 ish or 2 am on Monday after Khai and I got chased by a cat (this is another story altogether, gonna skip this). An impulsive, spontaneous decision to follow Kiki back to her campus and bunk into her hostel room, and to relive what Nuurun and I did exactly a year ago. And the best part is, when Kiki's friends asked me how long will I be staying here, the only thing I could say is, I don't know. Haha, I'll go home whenever I feel like, so we'll see! So we just reached here 8 pm, bumped into few of Kiki's friends and drove us for dinner. Cool medicine students. Ok ciao.

Visualize a baby bottle, you know, with the pacifier and all that. Apparently I have a natural knack of being picked to do silly things. It was Sangi's awesome 21st birthday party last night at Sentosa. And one of the games during the party consists of 'quenching one's thirst' by drinking a baby bottle full of coke. The first one to finish the bottle wins. YES, I WAS CHOSEN TO DO THAT. OMG! My mouth was sore halfway through the game. I never intended to win this (against 4 other competitors), because firstly, I hate coke but since this is warm coke it was pretty alright though, and secondly, to drink from a BABY BOTTLE? Why, I must applaud Sangi's awesome sister for coming up with such creative games haha. Am really magnetic towards the whole notion of sillyness but then again, that is probably a part of me. Anyway, I feel the excitement of the youth olympics game already! Because I had my first training cum bonding session with the rest of the NOC assistants yester...

My job involves keying in data, but what's more important are the details being keyed beneath this no-brainer job. In fact, it's saddening because I have to look through application papers for social assistance and financial help from mostly the broken families, or families with a deceased parent, or children with a parent serving his/her imprisonment, or abandoned kids born out of wedlock and whom their grandparents have to take reponsibilities for. It's even sadder to imagine these young children being exposed to such turmoil at the early stages of their lives. Anyway, before I get too attached to this, my newfound colleague just had me laughing throughout the whole afternoon so much that I had to suppress as much as I can from my usual laughing outbursts. After expressing how saddening some family situations are, she told me that she has seen even sadder cases as she worked in some social assistance centre before. And this was when the joke came in. She explained how she...

Went out with the most dramatic person who I can dramatize the most comfortable with, and whom, despite meeting up very regularly, I still don't get bored of. And yes, Aishah indeed has an eye for details also when it comes to shopping so I love subjecting my choice of shopping items to her scrutiny for further assesments (LMAO). So today's awesome! We then proceeded to the new scape just for Once Upon A Milkshake just to get our yummy Cookies & Cream milkshakes (but the tanjong pagar's branch has better ambience), and then we bumped into a group of musicians and they were strumming/drumming/singing away to COPELAND! Yes, coffee! Sorry, but I just HAVE to put the lyrics. There's plenty of time left tonight I promised I'd have you home before daylight We do the best we can in a small town Act like big city kids when the sun goes down If it's not too late for coffee I'll be at your place in ten We'll hit that all night diner And then we'll see Ther...

Now, I supposed most Singaporean bloggers will harp about the flood at Orchard Road. I shall skip that, although I'd like to add that I actually woke up this morning (11 am) feeling so good because the weather's nice. Little did I know for two hours there was a flood at Orchard Road and to think that such occurences are rarity. Ok I hope they would start doing something to the drainage system. Working at Media C. for 2 days was quite an experience, except that Aiman and I did nothing much on Sunday and we kind of did a million more things on Monday because we had ongoing tasks to do. Plus we've met exciting people and also, hmm, interesting people (of whom we secretly gave nicknames for us to refer to). I suddenly thought of The Devil Wears Prada and I actually wonder how the life of assistants are in this line of work, are they really treated like shit? Is that a part of climbing up the ladder in this career path? Ok random. The awesome thing is really to see how they swi...

Now I feel like doing just one thing and that's just it. So far I feel like I've been running around doing a million random things, like tuitioning, and then to autism centre for volunteer, and then interviewing dialysis patients. And then soon I will be helping khalilah with a one-day media corp thing and there's gonna be YOG training soon. I need to just do one thing, I'm feeling kind of bored just being here and there, and everywhere. KL for 3 days was awesome. Being high during the course of the trip was an understatement. Shopping there was a disappointment though, hopefully I'll be able to go there again in July and perhaps the sales would be better. But food wasn't a letdown at all. I wish the trip was longer though. Actually, I just feel like being in some faraway place to get a good feel of holiday mood because I don't feel much of a holiday just being in Singapore. Dream on. I also need to find some good deal of time to read. I hate it that everyti...

I've been stepped on the feet by numerous heels as of late. Ouch. Ok this is too random. I see this as an indicator of the increasing pace of the people in downtown. And of course my uncanny vulnerability towards things like these. Go figure. I'm currently stuck in this dilemma where I have to make up my mind as to whether I should volunteer or to earn money, and whether it's possible to juggle both. As much as I want to volunteer, I feel that this school holiday brings good opportunities to collect some money (when else can I do this?). But this comes with some effort since finding a job that suits your needs and fields of interests can be pretty tough. I went down to Autism Partnership yesterday and the supervisor showed us the classroom and the kids. I immediately felt that I would absolutely enjoy volunteering there. The moment I saw the classroom, the toys, the activities they have to engage in, the psychological theories being applied to them and definitely the impres...

Hello world! I know that I've been gone for more than 3 weeks. I don't even have an entry on the last day of my exams but yeah! It's all over now and summer break's in! Even the exam results will be out in a week's time. To tell you the truth, I have no idea how exactly time flew for the past 3 weeks. But here's some: Nuurun has already been discharged and she's been doing good! I'm grateful that you made it through my dear. Strut with those nice shoes and your pretty shawl and we can go out again and enjoy the summer break! The usual, random socializing with people! Went to apply for volunteerism at IMH and Autism Partnership, we decided the latter and still waiting for confirmation if we can volunteer to work with the kids :) Was thinking that since I have free time, why not volunteer? But of course I need to get a job quick too. Had tuition marathons with tutee. 5 different tuition sessions but we're having one-week break for now. Hope he does wel...

Some things just had to be mentioned! Like say, last Friday night I went out with a bunch of crazy french class friends. Initially I had been studying and then around dinnertime, these crazy wackos were going for dinner (and I was still contemplating). So this Nicolas&Amey went to find me just to convince me and they LIED to me so that I would go out with them, saying that it was Yvonne's 21st "birthday"! So I obliged ok mainly because I did want to have some fun before the reading week and also because of the birthday! It was only at Ben&Jerry's that I found out it was a prank! IT WASN'T ANYONE'S BIRTHDAY! Tsk LOL. THANKS MAN guys haha! But I did have so much fun! And I totally have to mention this incident! We squeezed seven people in the car (so there were 5 of us sardined at the back!). This reminded me so much of India because we squeezed it SIX people in the tiny, auto rickshaw a few times! Suffocating to the max hee. Anyway, during the ride, Nic...

Friday night was super, had dinner with the just-turned-21 Nuurun, with amey, alvin, adit and jessie. Then just like what we always do, went to chill at Arab Street. The Iced Mint Tea served at the place we went was really refreshing. Played another crazy game of charades! Smashin' good time with awesome company as always :) I took a rather small break this long weekend, getting amused by all these Ris Low issues and whatnots, watched movies at home, and just reading. You should watch Diner De Cons because it is so hilarious! It's regarding a group of friends who bring idiots for dinner and treat them as objects of mockery until one fine night, the biggest idiot of all screwed the day of the protagonist throughout the course of one day! What faddy said about French movies are right, they comprise loads of talking, very few locations/scenes but the movie quality is good! I just watched La Chevre also, this movie is rather old (but not ancient), it's about how a klutz helped ...