from nagaoka with love

 After a few days of no progress, this particular news hit me the most.  Alhamdulillah, finally my manuscript has been published.  To see my name written on it as the first author is something that I can't believe. This one means a lot to me. It is not an easy job, being rejected twice from another journal, I just try my luck sending to this SiELLE journal.  It was accepted but with so many revisions (corrections) needed.  Yes, there are many until I feel like I rewrite a new paper (manuscript). It took me a few days to settle all the revisions before resending them to the reviewers. As expected, nothing worth having comes easy. There comes more revisions. 😅😅.To cut a long story short, here is where the manuscript belongs. Thank you to all who are with me in this manuscript making from the very beginning, may Allah ease the next step until the end. Amiin..     To read the full paper, click here

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....

 Yeah, we got infected by covid 19 virus, yes... all of us.  It started when we went back to Terengganu last week.  The night we reached home from Terengganu, we were informed that two of our family members there were infected.   I was like, "Oh my God! There is no way to run, maybe the time has come".  After 2 years of the pandemic, and after many people around us got infected, I must say that we are well prepared mentally and physically.   What I mean is we have got vaccinated and boosted and we are well informed with all the info regarding the virus. The next morning, when Fareeha and Inara started to show symptoms, I knew that was not a joke.  Without wasting any time, that afternoon my husband and I went shopping for food stock in case we were infected too, therefore we need to undergo home isolation.  We prepared all the medicines as well.   Coincidentally, my mak in Kulai was not well and she had all the symptoms to...

 We first met in 5E ward (neurology ward), during my days in HUKM.  She was one of those tumor/brain cancer patients with whom I made friends when I took care of my daughter.  We later became good buddies. We shared stories, not only the exciting one but the sad one too.  She was the one I turned to when I was broke, lost hope, and helpless.  She soothed me when I cried. She listened to my sadness, cheered me up even though she was much in pain too.   And when we leave the hospital, the friendship remains. last 2 nights, she video called me at 12.30am, just to comfort me because I was not ok the day before.  She is Choo Mei Mei, a woman with a beautiful heart.  Most of the patients in 5E ward I knew had lost their battles. Only Mei is still kicking and alive until now.  I hope she can survive, for at least a little longer because I don't dare to lose one more life of mine.          The picture was taken before th...

Yesterday we had Imah Fauzi & family coming over to our house.  They were our old good friends once we were in Nagaoka.  It was good to catch up with each other while reminiscing our sweet memories together back in Nagaoka.  Their son, Fauzan was once Dada's best friend. Here is the photo of them. 😍 Fauzan is now a grown-up boy, studying in MTD. Good luck to you Fauzan! They have 2 new addition to the family after coming back to Malaysia, Fariha and   Fateha, while we only have 1 (Inara) Thank you for coming Imah, I'm looking forward to meeting you again. Hope our friendship lasts till Jannah💖 

It is sakura season here now in Parit Raja...I don't know what is the name of the tree but it looks like a sakura tree in Japan. Well, Sakura is the Japanese word for cherry blossoms, the small, delicate, pink flowers seen during spring. Cherry blossoms are known as the flower of spring and have become special flowers showing that spring is officially here. These flowers make spring one of the most beautiful and colorful seasons of the year in Japan. I wrote about sakura in Japan before and you can read it here . I just want to share some photos of us during sakura season in Nagaoka. and this is sakura in UTHM, Parit raja 

I love baking and eating desserts...I used to bake frequently when we were in japan back then. I think it is normal for someone who survives overseas to try out recipes just to feed the family. I love to see them eating it all as if they haven't tasted it anywhere on earth.  you name it: any bread, pizza, cheesecake, chocolate cakes, tiramisu, cream puff, cheese tart, pavlova, chiffon cake, and of course our traditional kuih muih, I have had tried it all. with my bestie, zeha we did lots of trial and error recipes taken from the internet. not to tell that halves of them ended up going to the dustbin😅😅.  during Ramadhan, I prepared the meals and desserts for iftar every day without fail, so as all my friends. you can find my post about food here in this blog under "resepi/msk2" label. for those who are new, originally this blog is dedicated to our family to update them about us when we were living in Japan back in 2008.  but you know, Malaysia in 2008, with lacking inter...

 I was checking the WhatsApp status when I saw this. I was saddened. My heart gloom. I then forwarded the picture to our family's WhatsApp group, captioned,  " Kawan kak Dada kat SEHEBAT grad arini", only to seeing Pyan reply this "😭". And I know he feels the same. 😢😢

this afternoon while we were about to perform zuhr prayer, Inara suddenly cried.  I was shocked, I asked her whether I have had hurt her accidentally or Kak Ayie did something to her.  she slowly shakes her head, which means no. A long pause, before she finally said she was not selected for the school prefect.  what makes the conditions even worse is that her best friend was selected.  I was so sad and it broke my heart so much, I hugged her tight just wanted to soothe her. A few days ago she came back home from school eagerly telling me that she had submitted her name for the school prefect candidate. I could clearly remember her excited face and cheerful voice naming her other classmates who did so too. she then asked kak Ayie, which part of the school she jaga when she was on duty a few years ago.  I told her that, it was not finalized yet, the teacher need to do some screening and only select the candidates who can really carry out the duty well.  and s...

Finally, Inara got vaccinated.  After a few arguments, discussions, and observations we finally come to the decision to vaccine her.  She was ok, everything was fine, people at the PPV were all friendly and helpful, and they were so nice to offer some sweets and candies to kids.  Yes, this is one of our efforts to protect our kids, and the rest let Allah decide.  We do send our kids for vaccines since they were small, name it BCG, rubella, measles, and all, and I think we should treat this one same too. Hopefully, she will be ok and can cope with the side effects of the vaccine. Now is 10 am, the second day after the vaccine, she is sleeping, taking a day off from school. a sleepy face the reward for her bravery