Sakinah Abdul Aziz

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...

There are reasons why certain people are so special and that you can immediately set them apart from the rest. Of course there are the good times; they bring joy, warmth and comfort, but it's also these same people who make you vulnerable/feel vulnerable in many bittersweet ways. It is these few people who can really surprise you with your capacity to allow yourselves to bask in this vulnerability despite knowing the associated risks that may come along. It's like scraping the different epidermal layers of your skin, and exposing them bit by bit until you've arrived at the innermost layer where you are most vulnerable to pathogens. It is with these people you can be completely yourself with and through being comfortable, you gradually expose some flaws, weaknesses, habits, weird tendencies and silly antics along the way. Other people can easily shoot you down, some may leave you, criticize you, bring you down but these people acknowledge and embrace them and perhaps shoot y...

Amidst the busy week, perhaps I had forgotten why is it that I love school. It's really sad that due to the academic workload thrown to us, we have transformed into some sort of humdrum existence along the lively corridors of school. We all have been there before. Every now and then. So why is it that I love school? If I were to look back to catch a glimpse of myself back in the primary school days, and then to the secondary school days, and then to junior college, and finally to where I am now, I see two things that remain to be in common as to be the reasons why I love school throughout the whole chunk of my academic life: 1) People 2) Joy of learning It's always been these two. I think I could go on and on if you really want me to explain why people, or rather, socializing with people, really makes school so fun and enjoyable to me. Simply put, I love socializing. If you ask me, it's really where I get my energy from. I see a friendly acquaintance or a friend or a profes...

You know what's the difference between the ladies and the gents? You rarely get to see a snaking line outside the gents. It's one of the sights I absolutely detest whenever I need the loo. But fortunately I don't really have to resort much to queuing most of the time for I am a true 'squatter'. It's probably due to the plenty of training back in Hillview where I grew up which had a squatting toilet. Really, given 4 empty sitting cubicles and 1 squatting one, I choose the squatting one 99.9% of the time. Actually, let me correct that. I automatically head towards the squatting toilet, like it's some sort of an innate preference. This must be one of the strangest behaviours ever cos I strangely find squatting rather thrilling and erm, easier. And I usually get asked by some friends while washing my hands; "Oh, so you prefer squatting isit?" Why is it that people would not, EVER, go to the squatting cubicle even if it means having to wait in a very l...

Through and through, I always believe that happy people are the most beautiful people (although yeah, it could and might work in reverse; the most beautiful people are the happiest people). But I persist to think that the former correlation is far more true. Because I've seen these people. It's really their inner soul that shines through whatever their physical appearances may be, whatever life they are leading, whatever hardships they may have faced. You can really see this glow on the faces of genuinely happy people; people with sincere duchenne smiles, people who exude positive energy, people who laugh, people who allow you to bask in their warmth, people who spread their joy and make it all so contagious. It's this ball of happiness that comes from within that is so beautiful, so strong that their faces just mirror that. To happy people out there who do happen to be reading this, I think you're beautiful.

If there is one thing I'd tell a person at this moment, it shall be; to be around people who make you laugh. Doesn't really matter if you're a giggler, or a chuckler, or a cackler, or a guffawer, as long as you truly laugh in your very own special way. Life is too short to not see the lighter side of things. And if you're really lucky, you'll meet the very few special people who make you laugh in a way that instantly ignites this small part of you, spreading to your bones and skin, and then you suddenly feel so, so alive. And the best part? You never really knew you could laugh like that. Don't miss out on it.

I am so inspired to write probably a short, brief entry on extroverts and our biases about them. It is just an observation that I thought would be worthy to write about, just because (and that I refuse to study right now). Also, I've always been intrigued about people's personality and how these portrayals of "self" can actually influence how others may treat you the way they do. And lastly, while extroversion has its positive connotations, there are some dark sides as well. Based on the layman's definition of 'extrovert', it simply describes a person who is energized by being around other people. So what I think could potentially be a bad thing for extroverts is how people form erroneous impressions of them that might undermine the true substance that makes up the person himself. What I mean by this is how people can easily arrive to the conclusion that just because extroverts possess a relatively wider circle of friends, they do not strive for depths in ...

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...

Just the urge to blog a few things. 1) I realise that Caucasian men seem to look better as they age. Why oh why. Hugh Grant. Hugh Jackman. Mr Shuester. Brad Pitt. And yeah, some other people. Like perhaps some of the professors in school, hmm. 2) But I like boys too. Andrew Garfield! Ok technically, he's 27, but very boyish look! If you're wondering where I found him, he stars in Social Networking! Awesome show with quirks here and there. He might star in Spiderman 3D in 2012. 3) Rainy weather = nostalgic! When I was in Paris, it kept raining cats and dogs, and somehow I seem to associate rain to Paris, not in a bad way though, in a good way because I love how rain gives you chills and forces you to keep yourself warm and snuggle. And when I thought of Paris, I thought of Endless Love by Mariah Carey. Amazing how we can associate unrelated things. But yes, I'm feeling nostalgic, and feeling all so good now listening to Mr Shuester's version of Endless Love (with rachel)...

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...

All I can say is Toy Story 3 is beyond awesome! It did a good closure and a wrap-up for the Toy Story sequels. And yes, partings are always sad (I'm referring to the last bit where Andy had to go for college), and AIMAN had to spoil the natural tears by saying "So, this is the part you're gonna cry?" So I didn't. Yesterday I went for another volunteering session at autism partnership. Since the kids had their 2-week break, I feel like it's been ages since I've been there. Anyway, it was quite cool to see their pleasurable faces when they jumped onto the tiny trampoline. It's as if the looks are the kind that say that if I don't do the same I'm missing out so much in life. Ok exaggeration again. But yeah knowing that it cannot possibly hold my weight, I have this sudden urge to really jump on a huge one. And have a terrific time just like the kids. As for the World Cup, I'm hoping for a Holland VS Germany finals. I think that the Germans had...

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...

"What if she was meant to be, or could have been, someone important in my life? I think that’s what scares me: the randomness of everything. That the people who could be important to you might just pass you by. Or you pass them by. How do you know…I felt that by walking away I was abandoning them, that I spent my entire life, day after day, abandoning people.” - Peter Cameron There are times when I think about this from almost the same perspective. Although not to that profound extent of the whole 'abandonment' notion, but yeah you get my drift. Have you ever wondered how life can work in the most remarkable, yet the most randomest ways? And how people actually meet and get to know one another, which may or may not lead to something greater such as friendship and whatnots? And if you think about this for a moment, it is that amazing. Imagining a situation whereby a man and a woman got married, and never knew that they had actually "collided" numerous times befo...