Friday, July 29, 2016

18 hours of traveling

I'm hooooooome ~

Aah, nothing like Kuala Lumpur. I've had such an amazing summer holiday in London with my parents and brother. But now I'm typing this blog post out at 4:48 in the morning from my small single-sized bed in my small bedroom. ALOT smaller than my Bristol bedroom but I'd take this one here in KL any day any time. 

It was a long journey. My mum got me a ticket home last minute so the only one that was not too expensive was by Royal Brunei. Only thing is that it was a much longer journey than if I were to fly on MAS. It was London -> Dubai -> Brunei -> KL. All in all plus waiting time, it came up about to 18 hours of traveling. 

But it was good I guess because I got to stop over twice and it wasn't a direct flight which I've grown to seriously dislike. To just walk outside even if it's just to another gate for your next flight was a lot better. Although I don't think I'd happily do another 18 hours of travel again. 

And I wasn't nauseous! Usually, flights and I don't go too well (my horror story when I was flying to London last September was... horrific) but this one was bearable. Could've been the air sickness pill I took prior to the flight that kong-ed me right out or that the flights were just really smooth. Didn't really experience turbulence at all which was great because my mum flew the day before me and she had to go through 2 HOURS of turbulence over Europe. Yuck??

But anyway, I'm home. So good to be back. First order of business was we (my sisters and my mum) had dinner at Kayu; one of my favourite places to have a meal. So wholesome and so Malaysian, LOVED IT. And then unpacking which I'm not quite done with. I tried watching an episode of a Korean drama but got so sleepy halfway that I slept. For like an hour and a half and now I'm up and kickin'. 

My mum asked what I wanted for lunch tomorrow so I have that settled (kangkung belacan, ikan sambal, udang kunyit duh?) and I might go cut my hair tomorrow. A haircut that was loooooong due. And then I'll probably see my friends at an open house this weekend and this Sunday, Tania booked tickets to watch the Big Bang movie!!!!!!!!! Soöo stoked! 

My dad to me, "Nadia you've graduated and you still like pink?" Yeah???

Papa bought a bunch of flag stickers because he wanted to stick them on his golf bag every time he visits a country to play golf but he gave it to me instead when he saw the golden opportunity of my bag's 'tiles'. These are all the countries I've visited! To many more! 

One with Papa and Zaim. Papa took the flight the day after me and Zaim decided to stay in the UK over the summer. Will miss Zaim a lot! 

Ok so now you understand why I say my haircut is long overdue!?!?! 

It's 5:11 am and I'm getting hungry. I hope Kakak buys the nasi lemak later for breakfast. 

Can't actually believe I'm already home for good! Seems surreal.

xx

Friday, July 22, 2016

Graduated!

So joy to the world; I graduated!!!! 

My graduation was on the 19th so my parents, Zaim and I drove to Bristol for the day. I wasn't nervous to be honest, because it wasn't like I had to do anything much other than salam. Well, it wasn't really salam. You had to have your hands in a prayer-ready position and the pro vice-chancellor (right?) would awkwardly cup your hands. I wonder why he does this and not just shake hands? Is it to save time? Is it just what they do around here? Hmm.

Anyway, the two good friends I spent basically the entirety of my degree life unfortunately didn't get to graduate the same time as I did so I was pretty lost and lonely. Which kinda dampened my day because I wanted to share it with them but I realise they must've been more upset than I was so for the sake of not letting that ruin my day, I took it in good spirits. 

The event wasn't long; a little under than an hour. Which was brilliant because I didn't wanna have to sit there for ages. The event was at a really pretty cathedral right infront of college green. ALSO just happened to apparently be the HOTTEST day of the year. And it very might've been. Under that robe, felt I was just radiating heat because it was just so warm. Sun was very bright and not a single cloud in the sky. Really, my dad and I tried finding one. Nada. Might have gotten a tan line on my forehead from wearing the mortar board. 




With my parents who always told me that it was the experience of living abroad that was going to be the best part of it all. 

It was seriously painfully bright.  

I was contemplating on wearing a skirt/blouse outfit or a batik baju kurung from my Mum's collection. Decided on the latter because thought it'd be more classic of a choice 10 years down the road. My mum wore a similar baju kurung for her graduation so I also thought it'd be rather nice and nostalgic for me to also wear a similar outfit. And this is my favourite baju kurung perhaps ever because I still can't get over how much I love the colour combination and the batik design is so beautiful and timeless!! 

If not for the conversations with my mum about her experience studying abroad, I wouldn't have known a single thing about furthering my studies in the UK. Thank you Mama, it was all because of you. 

With my brother who was very sweet enough to buy me flowers. With my mum's money and order of course but I mean, the gesture lah that counts. 

Wished Tania and Iman could've been here with me to celebrate this milestone of mine.

ALSO! Najihah came to see me from Cardiff. Her sister graduated not too long before me so she (and Ila and their mum) came over with flowers. LOVE her.

Aren't their robes really so pretty? They admired my baju kurung, calling it a 'dress' hehe

"Ok hmm now what"

Don't you just feel really warm and hot FOR me?? 

So very grateful and happy to my parents for always allowing me to do whatever I wanted to do and who always would go out of their way to make my siblings and I happy. Thanks for granting one of my many wishes dear Mama and Papa. 

So that sums up my graduation post! Can't believe I've done all three years of university just like that!! I've had the time of my life, that's for sure. Very different to what I've been used to and this was definitely something out of my comfort zone. Learned a lot and about 80% of it was outside the classroom. Hahaha don't get me wrong; I still studied. But I think I learnt a lot about adulthood and myself in general in these 3 years and I hope to be different (a good kind of different) when I come home. 

I'm forever grateful for the people I've met, for the things I've experienced and learnt, the places I've been, for the things I have, for experiencing all sorts of weather, for the times I had to learn how to do basic life skillz like washing laundry and keeping up with groceries at home. Just the small, little things that accumulated over the years that have been for me, life changing. 

The UK has been an incredible experience, I've enjoyed being a young adult living life abroad. All that homesick pettiness was just so temporary and I seriously did enjoy the company of friends and just being 20 year olds out and about in the UK. To be quite frank, I wished I did more for the sake of experience but I'm very content with all that I've done thus far. It's been just the greatest experience and I'm just really grateful that I even get to experience all this. 

I'm aware that so many people envy kids studying abroad because it IS a huge privilege and a luxury so everyday I'm thankful and I count my blessings. Take it all in, kids! When else do we get to live alone with friends abroad right???? I have a week til I go back home so although I'm looking forward to that, having to leave UK as a student for good is quite crazy to think about. Cannot believe almost three years ago, I was lugging my luggage to my then new home for the first time ever. Celebrated turning 21, 22 and 23 here!!!!! Hello???? That's a big deal for me!!! 

Will miss this place so much and I will always make it a point to come and visit in the future but it just won't be the same. So different being here a tourist and as a student.
For the time being, I'm just going to abuse my student status to get as much discounts as I can. 

xx

P/S Also thanks everyone for the congratulatory wishes, definitely made graduating so so so much more fun.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Livid

Thought I'd blog and voice my opinion on some matters that have been going on these days. 
As the title of this blog post would indicate, this blog post is me being really annoyed and angry about two things in particular. This blog is very personal to me and I try to be as honest and frank as I can so this is me just expressing my own opinions and thoughts. If you were to disagree with me, I highly welcome comments. I like myself a healthy debate so please do tell me your own opinions and thoughts, I don't mind it one bit. 
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So I woke up today seeing Kim Kardashian on the cover of Forbes with the tagline "Made $45 million from one game" and then of course she posted it on Twitter with the hashtag #NotBadForAGirlWithNoTalent. And then there were some people on Twitter who went to her defence saying how people should not call her talentless because she obviously is cashing in a ridiculous amount of income.

Ok so this is where I get really annoyed. She is not a business mogul, she is not a businesswomen. She is a personality, she is a face, she is a celebrity. When asked what her job really is, she gets really touchy and say she's done basically everything from perfume, book to now, her game/app. But did she really though?????

I get so annoyed because there are so many other entrepreneurs out there who REALLY start from scratch and really had to climb a million hurdles to find any success. Those people are the real entrepreneurs and creators. Kim Kardashian is not; she is JUST a celebrity just stamping her mark on anything marketable. She has people doing things FOR her. She doesn't know the coding and programming of her app/game so in really basic, plain sight, that is NOT her developing something. Would that game still be interesting if I was the main character???? I don't think so. It's just the fame she is enveloped in ok, girls. 

A talent is the innate ability to do something without having to learn it. Business, entrepreneurship, marketing is something you learn, it is not something you are inherently blessed with. When will people understand that being business savvy is not a talent; it is just hard work. I have Kim K on Snapchat and just this morning she was snapchatting her game and she was saying she was reviewing it and all she had to say, "Hmm I think this coat needs a little more black...".

THAT IS ALL HER OPINION OF HER GAME that she's cashed $45 million and gotten on the cover of Forbes for. I highly disagree with how people can say she is smart to market herself. She is *just* a person who became famous from a string of events (a leaked sex tape, hello???). 

We need to find better and more accomplished and more intelligent women to look up to. More substance, basically. I don't like to openly say this about another person, what more another female, but I think it's high time we really find someone else to focus our attention to. We're cutting ourselves short if Kim Kardashian becomes someone we aspire to be. 

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Just in recent days, Raha Azlan posted a message that was sent to her by a complete stranger on Twitter basically telling her off for not wearing "appropriate clothing". Raha is a local Youtuber and also just happens to be my cousin. That said, I'm not saying all of this just because she is my cousin but because she is a girl. And I don't tolerate any condescending behaviour towards women at all. 

I won't post a screenshot of the message here but I will link it > here < if you wanna read it. It was really outrageously rude and insulting to not just a hijabless girl but to ANY female. And in true narrow-minded Malay men fashion, he concluded it saying he was only telling her all this because it was his duty as a Muslim.

...

"Perempuan basi" in the same message as "tanggungjawab saya di muka bumi Allah ini".
What??? How???

FIRST, I am so fed up with this whole notion of telling people off and then concluding it with, "Oh but y'know, I'm telling you all this because I'm trying to be a good Muslim". No, you are not being a good muslim if you insult and borderline harass other people like that. Allah says to jaga your relationship with Him and also to the other people you share this EARTH with. Allah never tells us to be rude to one another, He wants to see us tolerate one another in the kindest way possible. If berdakwah and preaching is really what you want to do, do it nicely and do it gently. How effective do you think it is to tell women to cover up by being very condescending? Also please understand and realise that berdakwah does not only mean amongst Muslims, it also can mean to berdakwah to other people of other faiths so when these things go viral how do you think our religion will come off to non-Muslims??? 

SECOND, I abhor this thinking that if we don't don the hijab we are more prone to rape. How dare you tell us it is easier for us to cover up to prevent rape than for men to just not have horrible sexual intentions???????? It's not OUR problem we aren't covered up, it's YOURS for not being able to curb your pathetic sexual desires and fantasies. Get it together lah. What is this kind of mission going in Malaysia to have all women covered up???? We have so many things in the world to occupy ourselves with, let us deal with donning the hijab on our own terms and at our own pace!

THIRD, the replies and the comments following this message is really on another level. Some people have gone so far to BLAME Raha for posting it on Twitter and publicising this guy! Err? Why would she ever try to save his sorry ass? Why do people think that HE is more entitled to say what he's said than for HER to show people how she's being treated???? Rude rude RUDE. Berdakwah ada tempat, masa and CARA dia. You must be having a laugh if you think what he said to her was a form of 'berdakwah'. If anything, people like him give a bad name to what 'berdakwah' entails. Get it together, we don't dress and we don't live for you. We'll get on with our lives just fine because unlike you, we've got things going on for us. What was said to Raha was just ridiculously disgusting and rude and should not be tolerated by anyone who knows a thing or two about manners. We don't live in a closed off, backward society anymore and we're not about to so stop with all this.

I know the people I surround myself with and I know they're an intellectual lot so thankfully they don't share the same sentiments as the guy who sent the vile message but it's really scary to know there are PLENTY of people who do. This is just very basic common sense and logic, people! Don't be rude, don't be condescending and don't express your sexual desires outwardly to people you DON'T know. Islam does not teach us to be so so I really don't get how people think doing all this is your DUTY as a Muslim and that somehow this is all allowed???? Being a Muslim is not a shield for when you do stupid things. Don't do things in the name of religion to make yourself feel better. 

ISH.

xx

Sunday, July 10, 2016

Aidilfitri 2016

Selamat Hari Raya everyone!!!!! Maaf zahir batin, sincerely apologise for every wrong I might have done and/or said. I love Raya - it's my favourite ever celebration and I look forward to it every year. This year, hmm a bit different. I actually enjoyed myself and I told myself that it was just an experience celebrating it abroad (London, no less) with some of my very good friends. I spent Raya at my friends place where we ate and borak borak. Watched some Youtube videos and Home Alone haha! We watched a Christmas movie on Raya day but still very good hahahaha and in very classic Raya fashion, we all felt very sleepy half day in. No different than how it is in Penang! EVERYONE sleeps after lunch. 

Definitely missed family though, especially my grandparents. They *always* make a big do out of  Raya because it's some of the only days the Penang house becomes very lively and very meriah with all of the grandkids there. I Facetimed them for a bit very early in the morning and wished them Selamat Hari Raya. Can't wait to see them again in KL and beraya with them properly. Nothing beats bersalam-salaman with your elderly. 

I completely forgot to bring my baju raya along last September and so I was decked in a blouse and a pair of jeans. Sad!!!! Tragic!!!! Where's the Raya semangat???? I hope people still have open houses later on this month because I miss my baju kurung's.

The night before I left Bristol for good, went to meet Nana for our routine Korean dinner at one of my favourite places to eat in Briz. 
See, told you I'd have a photo of my bed. Looks so untidy and lived in but that's exactly how I wanted it to look because it was never, at any point in time, tidy. It was already ruffled and tunggang terbalik because I never saw the reason to constantly have it neat since I basically lived under the covers. Sighhhhh love you bed thanks for being so warm and comfy for me. 
This was when I was waiting for the cab. I wanted to initially have the taxi driver take a photo of me with my bags in front of the house but i) I was SO late for my bus because I forgot to book a cab earlier and it was peak time ii) The taxi driver looked so DONE with me when he saw my bags ahahah so this photo would have to suffice. MISS YOU HOME!!

With Tariq - one of my very good guy friends. Most of them dah balik KL so I was glad/relieved Tariq stayed back. And yes, I HAVE told him to cut his hair. 

My Raya outfit - how exciting right?!?!?!?! #teamrayaLondon #boringoutfits!!!!

Also, Pana stayed back!! Yay!!!!! I would've been surrounded by boys if not for Pana. 

And as the technology-driven 20-somethings we are, a Raya selfie. 

Aww cute Raya portrait with tuan rumah sat in the middle.

2nd day of Raya I spent it with my brother who is also here for the summer. We went for burgers (WHAT IS NEW WITH ZAIM) at Stax and I tried out the Stax Insanity and it's perhaps one of my favourite burgers EVER! The maple glazed bacon strip was ~ heavenly ~



We wanted to go have a shop around but we both didn't get anything. It's sale time everyyyyywhere so of course that would mean the amount of people have also multiplied. I don't mind the crowds too much (because it's not Oxford Street if not for the crazy crowd), it's the having to go through racks and shelves that gets tiring. After having gelato at Snowflake, we parted ways and I went off to see my friends for dinner at GBK. 

The next day was another day of shopping, this time with Pana. She had some things to do and things to buy so I just tagged along for the fun. And this time I found so many things I wanted to buy!!! 

Like this pair of chunky heeled shoes... y'know for graduation purposes...


BTW I freaking loveeee the living lights out of my coloured lensed sunglasses. I ordered them from yesstyle but they took ages to come!! Literally 2 days before I had to leave my Bristol home! This was obviously Korean popstar inspired - don't I look like GD yet?!?!?

The beautiful Picadilly Circus at night. I can never do it justice through my camera phone but it's such a pretty sight! 

I was telling Pana how much I was craving for apam balik and she told me there was apam balik selling in London! If you're wondering, it's at Brick Lane. I haven't been to Brick Lane before but it pretty much resembles Camden Market - a bit smaller but exuded a very similar eccentric vibe. I loved it! 


Fun fact : Apam balik is my favourite tea time snack. Ultimate. Specifically, the nipis one with no jagung. I know some people might say the jagung is the best part but I feel it's too sweet for me so I like mine just crispy with sugar. And I think it's so cute how they named it as a 'pancake' here - never thought of it that way. Just like how cekodok was dubbed 'banana buttons'. Cute right?!?!?!


And obviously the guy who was manning the stall was a Malaysian and it was just so nice to speak to someone in Malay. Not that I don't in my normal daily conversations!!! I speak Malay to my friends all the time but outside of friends, it's very rare I get to converse in my mother tongue. When we went to Roti King, the waiter spoke to us in Malay and I was just very pleasantly happy about it hahahaha #timetogohomeNadia



Also at Brick Lane, there was a stall that sold coloured lenses sunnies!!! I got a blue one as seen on top of my head in this photo. I am obsesseddddd I am so going back for more! 

So that's been the past few days for me! Been a pretty mellow Raya - maybe because there's not that big of a hype here in London than it is in the rest of Malaysia but grateful to have friends and family here. I can't imagine not spending it at all with anyone! It was sooooo lovely to see everyone's Raya photos on Instagram, I tapped like for every post I saw!! Everyone looked so colourful and made up, it was so wonderful to see. I hope everyone had a great Raya regardless of where you are and regardless of who you spent it with. Time to forgive and forget and time to gain back all that weight we lost in Ramadhan. And even if you didn't lose weight, can we really say no to lemang and rendang???? I actually asked my mum to bring a whole balang of jam tarts here because it's my favourite kuih and can't believe I'm missing out!! 

Take care everyone! Selamat Hari Raya again and hope to beraya with everyone soon insyaAllah!!

xx

Sunday, July 3, 2016

June Favourites

By the time I blog or IF I blog about July Favourites, it'll be from home ! To think it like that makes me really happy heh heh

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1. Garnier's Ultimate Blends Shampoo in Olive Oil
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... this might be my favourite shampoo I've used ever.

I don't usually rave about hair products simply because I don't really care. When it comes to hair, I'm really low maintenance. I don't use fancy masks, treatment or anything of the sort. It's just very difficult for me to see any sort of differences pre and post hair care so I just don't invest in any. Fun fact : I've never owned a brush/comb. The only time I had one was a hair detangler which looked more like a brush for horses than it was for human hair. I kept to that for like 2 months at most before abandoning it. So for me, most shampoos and conditioners are not really impressive and I never stick to one. I always change it up after I've emptied a bottle. 

But recently, my hair started to get really, really dry. My hair is already dry so I was kinda immune to it but we're talking haystack-for-hair kinda dry. It was just unpleasant to the touch and I was getting peeved because like I said, I was drinking a lot of water. Why is drinking 3l of water not doing anything??? This coincided with the time I had dry flakes on my skin so it could be because of the change in weather... or because I washed my hair every single day. And add that on to the fact that I haven't had my hair cut in ages. Yikes. So anyway, I was running out of my shampoo and I went to get a new one and came across this one. I just saw "DRY HAIR" and paid for it. COMPLETELY missing out "Olive Oil". I know right? Only me. Only I would miss that big round sticker right smack in the center of the bottle.

Came home and showered as usual and when I shampooed and washed it off, my hair felt ~ soooo ~ smoöth. You know how when you use a shampoo and your hair feels stiff and that's when the conditioner comes to rescue? Yo seriously not even joking, I feel like I can get away with just using the shampoo ONLY. It felt like a conditioner and my hair instantly, INSTANTLY, felt softer and less penyapu like. I didn't even have to use it 3-4x to see results. It was INSTANT. (which is how it's supposed to be ok GAME OF THRONES FANS who say "No Nadia, you kena tengok sampai episode 6 baru dia best"!!!) 

It was then I picked up the bottle to see what kind of magic they packed in here and it was only then I realised that that magic was olive oil. And man, I cannot say enough. It smells good, it feels good and it looks good. I love it and I recommend it. I don't know if it's in KL but if it isn't then guess who's buying 10 bottles before she goes home.

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2. Serial Podcast
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So I was recommended this podcast by one of my college juniors, Dina, when I met her at Hanna's place in London.

I've tried giving podcasts a go but it's very hard to reel me in because as I'm listening I'm also doing a million other things on the web so it gets very distracting and I often lose focus but this podcast. THIS PODCAST is so good.

So a little background : This podcast was apparently very famous back in 2014 when it first started. It's about this case that happened in Baltimore in 1999 and a Korean high school senior, Hae Min Lee who was found murdered and subsequently her ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was convicted and who since then has been in prison. But did he really kill her? That's what Sarah Koenig, the host and reporter, is looking to find out through this podcast.

It is *immensely* fascinating and fun fact #2 : I love crime stories. I love myself a good unsolved mystery case. It gives so much room for conspiracy theories so this podcast is just right up my alley. Have you guys watched Buzzfeed Unsolved?? SO FLIPPIN good. Scary lah but really interesting.

I know it's part of the job of the reporter but Sarah really goes the extra mile in gathering bits and pieces of the case to come to a satisfying conclusion. She is in close contact with Adnan Syed and recordings of their phone calls together (him from prison) are included in the podcast and it's just honestly, super super fascinating. I've never really seen a real case being studied so much like this that ISN'T fictional. The case is a huge mess to say the least and when you listen to the whole season you'll understand what I mean by that. 

Listen to it > here

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3. Sophie Amoruso's #GIRLBOSS
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I've seen this book before but never got around to buying it. Til Dayana blogged about it only did I decided to go and get it.

Sophie Amoruso is a the founder and CEO of NastyGal ; an online retailer. 

To just summarise in one word, this book is inspiring.

I love her backstory, I love her determination, I love her go-getter attitude and just from reading it, her bad ass vibe is so contagious. Every time I put down the book, I just get so pumped and feel like I wanna start doing something. She's such a classic example of how at the end of the day, if you have the willingness to do something and a burning passion to succeed, you WILL succeed. It's amazing what she's done and most importantly, HOW she did it. I've read real life rags to riches stories before but this was extra fun to read because she's in the fashion industry so I felt like I could relate to it more. But even if you're not into fashion, it's a great read. 

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So July is a pretty exciting month for me!!! 

First and foremost, it's Raya in a week! Bummed that I won't be home but pretty excited to be celebrating it with friends. Come to think of it, I've never celebrated with friends and I foresee it being a very very chilled very very laidback Raya and I'm totally ok with that hahahah I don't even have a baju raya and it's too late for my mum to post it to me so I'll try and figure things out with what I have.

And then a week after that insyaAllah the parental units are coming to town!!! Yay yay! I've convinced my mum to go watch Aladdin the musical (have I not blogged about that yet? Basically the best thing I've seen lah) and she seems pretty interested so we might be doing that amongst other things. And a lot of eating. Considering I'm moving out of the house on Monday, I have to clear out my kitchen and my fridge so I've not gone grocery shopping so I've been eating bread, pasta and ramyeon. So I'm very ready to have good food without having to pay hahaha

And then a week after that I'll be graduating!! Alhamdulillah! I've just gotten the email from university saying I've passed the course and as I read that, I wiped the big fictional sweat off my face. Was pretty anxious to be honest because I wasn't too sure how it was going to go but alhamdulillah!

And then a week after that I'm going hoooooome insyaAllah I've already listed the amount of food I want to eat and the places I want to go. I don't want to act like I've been away for *so* long but there are so many eateries I've never heard nor tried at so I'm really looking forward to all that. And now that I won't have to try and fit everything within a 3 month window, I can just chill and be home. So excited YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW.

I hope July will be a great month for everyone! I hope you have just as many things, or even more, to look forward to as I do.

xx