from nagaoka with love

My heart broke to see this.  The story is very similar to mine. three siblings all girls she was the eldest the disease related to brain  died on the 1st of Syawal The only thing that makes the difference is I didn't have time to put on her baju Raya.  All were ready, I planned for us to wear baju raya and have a family photo on the hari raya, no matter what condition she was in.  I took both of her sisters to KL, just to celebrate raya with her. But Allah's plan was the opposite.  What I have lost was never meant to remain in my life.  What has come into my life was meant to come. I do not waiver on this belief. Believing in God doesn't make the pain go away.  It makes it manageable- there is ease and relief coming. Believing in God doesn't remove the wound, but it bandages it and helps it heals. Believing in God and fate is what reminds me that everything I experience serves a purpose. Knowing that Allah encompasses all things in His wisdom makes me ...

I was asked to tell a story during my English course "communicate with confidence" and I chose "your favorite memory of childhood" as my topic.  since I was not in the mood that day and it was spontaneous, I felt like I wasn't doing good in that session.  Therefore, I thought to share it here, in a proper way, in the medium that I think I do better than speaking.  It was during my childhood when the teacher's day celebration was just around the corner, I thought about giving something special to my favorite teacher, Teacher Janet.  So, I asked ayah to buy me a bouquet of roses to be given to Teacher Janet.  I imagined that the bouquet was nice, with a few red and beautiful roses, wrapped in a lovely plastic wrapper, then I proudly presented it to my teacher in front of my friends.  But, that was only a naive child's dream, without realizing her family condition at that time. Hailed from a moderate family,  giving a bouquet of flowers to people was some...

 Alhamdulillah, thank you Allah.  My second paper got accepted too.  It is a pleasure to have one good news after another.  It means that the paper got accepted for publishing but surely there are few (or many) revisions (read: corrections) that needed to be made before it conforms to the journal's standard. For Ph.D. students, we need to publish at least two manuscripts/ research papers  in an accredited national academic journal or international journal as  a requirement for graduation. It sounds easy but the reality is there is much work needed to be done to satisfy the journal's standard,  getting rejected is really heartbroken and something normal in this academic world, trials, and errors sending your paper to any journal in the hope it will get accepted for publishing, the long, uncertain waiting period to hear the answer from the editor/reviewer of the journal, and the publication fee you need to bear once your paper got accepted. yeah, th...

 This is the most needed one... although it was only one night trip, we really enjoy ourselves and had a whale of a time there.   since Johor was having a public holiday last Wednesday, I thought why not reward ourselves with this shortest getaways ever after all the covid thingy we gone through for the last two weeks. We played tourist in Malacca, the historic city after long years of not going there. We went for the river cruise along the Malacca River, The Shore Sky Tower, and sightseeing around Banda Hilir.  The cruise was something that one should not miss when one comes to Malacca. The Malacca traditional settlements along the riverbank, the beautiful night scenery, row of shops with their own unique decorations to attract customers, the mesmerizing mural on the building are just overwhelming even this was not our first-time experience the cruise. On the second day, we walked around Banda Hilir since many of the attractions were only within walking distance. In...

 A hectic day for me today.  Woke up this morning and got ready for Inara's swimming tournament.  Had to stay there until 12 pm, as Inara insisted to see the giving away prizes ceremony until the end 😓😓😓. Later after Zuhr prayer, we went to a wedding party of my friend's daughter.  To wrap up the day, we did some hari raya shopping.  As we will celebrate the holly Ramadhan next week, we decided to make preparation for the hari raya earlier, as we don't want to go out when fasting because it is really tiring.  Only tonight I get a chance to on my lappy and do my work. I check my email, only to find this overwhelming message: Alhamdulillah..Thank you Allah! 

 I adore her very much.  I stalk on her Ig every day, a few times a day just to check if there are any updates.  Even though I don't buy her product, I must say that this woman has a very strong influence on me. I like how she dresses, how she manages her time for family, work, and friends, her determination in business, her resilience and self-strength over  netizens and people who dislike her, her lovely and motherly figure, and her loving wife character to a husband.  I wonder how she can have enough time to read books with all her hectic schedule almost every day.  Just to take her as an inspiration, I bought some books, but I stuck with that one book for a few months now. 😅😅  I don't buy duck's shawl or scarf because they are pricey and I'm not into fashion (yes, I'm a cheapskate too), but that does not mean I don't like them.  I admit that duck products are beautiful, unique, and have a quality that is at par with other imported brands....