Talent is a gift, but character is a choice..

Assalaamualaikum...

Well, for those who know my college life and experience, you should know how I've slowly given up on my education and have had my motivation sucked out of me. 

Seriously, anything you can think of that can go wrong in an institution, has gone wrong in my college; politics, language barrier, favoritism, racism, class cancellation, unqualified 'lecturers' who don't know NADA about the subject (eg: part time businessman hired, ex-students who has just graduated who didn't even major in my course and didn't ace in their course either ending up as my lecturers, etc), lack of educational resources, material and infrastructure (eg: our library is the size of 4 bookshelves, there's only 1 computer for about 1000+ students use, etc), money-minded staff, sexual harassment, leak of private and confidential information, incomplete records of past payments and transactions, and banyak lagi. 

Every time any of these incidences would occur, bit by bit I became demoralized. And every time I tried to raise these urgent issues to the authorities, they would feed me their excuses. I couldn't bare facing the people in college because I detested what they stood for, their actions and lack of work ethic. I haven't been to college for probably about three months and have left my studies in the dust. 

I channeled my attention to managing the family business, nursing several cats and kittens, traveled hundreds of kilometers to see family  and relatives in need of moral support, spent more time at the orphanage, caught up with friends, invested more 'ka-ching' in the banks (I love banking! Can't wait to get the returns XD InsyaAllah), did other charity work, did errands and I did have my laze moments and just watched Discovery for hours.

Of course, other people's actions and decisions affects our lives and the way we feel. But the point is, I chose how much it got to me. I let them bury me deeper when I was already down. I let them play with my emotions.

We have no control over a lot of things in life. We don't get to choose our parents. We don't select the location or circumstances of our upbringing. We don't get to control other people's actions. We don't get to pick our talents or IQ.

But we do get to choose our character. In fact, we create it every time we make choices - to bend the truth or stand under the weight of it, to take the easy money or earn your dimes, to bail out or dig out of a hard situation.

As we live our lives and make choices today, we are continuing to create our character.


Your character determines who you are.

Who you are determines what you see.

What you see determines what you do.

In times of adversity, challenges and the bad weather of life, what are you going to choose? Are you going to let circumstances chip at your character?


I certainly have let others affect me more than they should. And I'm not going to let them do that anymore.


Now, I choose....

Well, I dang well gonna try! Gotta keep my self motivated!


Assalamualaikum..

You know what love is...

Assalamualaikum..

I haven't heard this song for quite some time. And when I did, it brought tears to my eyes.

Whitney Houston- I Will Always Love You

I...
Will always love you
You, ooh

I hope
life treats you kind
And I hope
you have all you've dreamed of
And I wish you joy
and happiness
But above all this
I wish you love

And I...
Will always love you
I...
Will always love you
[Repeat]

I, I will always love
You....
You
Darling I love you
I'll always
I'll always
Love
You..

At first, the lyrics reminded me of some friends, who I loved and cared for. I reminisced our joyful times together. The times when we there for each other, through thick and thin. The challenges we faced and how we'd overcome them.

But of course life has its curve balls and things took a spin. Situations changed, people changed.

Sacrifices and decisions were made. Everyone took a different path. And even though I still care for these people very much, things are different. Very different.


Then, the chorus came along and it was then when the emotions inside of me overflowed and spilled over. Tears welled up in my eyes and trickled down slowly.

"And I... Will always love you.."

"I... Will always love you.."

And it came to me, like a beautiful thunderstorm.

Thoughts blew and flew through my mind. Dark clouds formed as i remembered all the wrongs that I have done. Regret drenched my soul as realisation sunk in. The tears trickled.

"And I... Will always love you.."

A whirlwind of emotions. Memories uprooted, hurled and crashed. The whole landscape was changing and the words of the chorus took a whole different meaning.


Love...


We think we know love. We love our families, we love our friends, we love our homes. Some love their countries, some love animals and some love their careers. We love our teachers, we love our relatives and we love our parents. We love all these people and things because of all that they have contributed to our lives and what they have made us felt; proud, accomplishment, validated, heard, belonging?

And in the midst of loving all these people, we forget the one love that truly matters in our lives. The one love that never ends.

Even if we could bundle up all of the 'love' in this world, the young love, the love of soul mates; an old married couple, the love of friendship, the love of brotherhood, etc. I mean, ALL the 'love' in this world, from all the different types of relationships on earth, from the first love at the beginning of time, till the end of worldly existence.

All of it will never compare to the love of Allah swt. Ya Rahman, Ya Rahim.




How much Allah loves me.

How much Allah loves you.

How much Allah loves us.



Yet, how much effort have we put in to even try to return Allah's love for us? How much of our actions and the things we do are really sincere to please Allah swt?

The love among humans can take many forms and they evolve. Some fade away, some are rekindled, while a rare few really are true. Of course love for each other, love for people, love for animals, love for this earth, are encouraged in Islam and in all the major religions in the world too, but we must not forget or take lightly the unshakable love of our Creator.

It is the one and only love worth struggling for.
It is the one love that would lead the way to others.
It is the one love that should be on the top of our list.


As the song ended, the ruffle of thoughts inside my head settled. My emotions cleared and a calm came over me. All the good and bad memories of love, friendship and hardship, nestled back into the nook and crannies of my brain. But from now on, every time i reminisce on any of them, I'll see it from a different perspective.

May we all aim, work towards and, InsyaAllah attain, feel and experience the most important love there is.

Allah will always love us.


Do we love Him?




Assalaamualaikum...

Something smells fishy?

Assalaamualaikum..

It's getting fishy up in here!

Yep, today's post is about fish. Thanks to Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (such an English name, hee. Love it!). You might recognise him from The River Cottage series on The Asian Food Channel on Astro. Last year, he was busy with his Free-Range Chicken movement, and this year he's fist-ting up for a fish fight.

Here's the thing. European Union states that fishermen are allowed to fish on a quota. Meaning, a fisherman aiming to catch, let's say Cod, is allowed to fish until he reaches a certain amount, let's say 100,00 Cod, then he must return back to land. This quota was implemented to protect the endangered fish population and to prevent over-fishing. The fishes that are over the quota must be returned back to sea before they reach land.

However, the most efficient equipment to catch large amounts of fish are nets. I mean, we can't expect fisherman to supply the people's demand for fish, one by one on a rod now can we? And so, by using nets, fishermen have no control over what type of fish will get caught in them, especially in a mixed fishery where many different fish live together.

Fishing for one species often means catching another, and if people don’t want them or fishermen are not allowed to land them, the only option is to throw them overboard. The vast majority of these discarded fish will die.

Because discards are not monitored, it is difficult to know exactly how many fish are being thrown away. The EU estimates that in the North Sea, discards are between 40% and 60% of the total catch.

Others are prime cod, haddock, plaice and other popular food species that are “over-quota”. Fishermen are not allowed to land any over-quota fish; if they accidentally catch them – which they can’t help but do - there is no choice but to throw them overboard before they reach the docks.



So, you wanna help?

Here's how:

1. You can click here and sign up to support the campaign. By supporting the campaign, your name will be included in a letter to be sent to Commissioner Maria Damanaki, members of the Common Fisheries Policy Reform Group, and all MEPs.

If you would like to read the letter, click here!

2. Spread the word! Ask your friends and family to give their name to the cause too. To know more about Hugh's Fish Fight, visit their official website, http://www.fishfight.net/. To learn more about the solutions and ideas put forward by some NGO's on how to solve this problem, read up on it here.

3. For some scaly fun, take Hugh's Fish Challenge!

A simple act of just giving your name, WILL make a difference.

Sign up! It'll only take a sec >_<

Assalaamualaikum...

Resources: http://www.fishfight.net/

A little goes a long way..

Assalaamualaikum..

First up, thank you to Atikah Yusof for her enthusiasm and interest =) Alhamdulillah..

She asked for some simple tips on how to support worthy causes, charities, etc. So here it goes!

 Tip top tips to get started!

TIP 1

Do what is easy for you - To hear and see others put an effort to give back to the community/environment, inspires us to do the same. And when the upsurge of motivation rides us, we want to get on board, NOW.

A second later though, we think again, 'Wait a sec, I don't have a car to go to the recycling center nor the opportunity to go to charity events. I'm on a tight budget and time just always seem to be against me.'

Here's a quote for ya.

"If you always do what you've always done, you'll get, what you've always got" - Anthony Robbins

The trick is to do what you've always done, but do it differently.

Example:

a) What you do with your time online. Most of us catch up on facebook, go through new photos on tumbler, read our friend's blogs, skype, gaming, some do their research on assignments or follow up on world news and etc. We use the internet for leisure, academics and business. But we rarely use it or think of it as a way to give back to the community, help charity work or support environmental efforts.

Spend a few minutes to search for some sites that are trustworthy, such as The World Wildlife Fund, The Red Cross, GreanPeace, etc. If you come across new organisations that you've never heard of, browse a lil' through their site to get a vibe of their goals and agenda. Then, do what you can! May it be giving your name to be included in a petition or supporting a campaign or spreading the word or doing simple online activities.

b) Separate your trash and chuck the recyclables at your nearest recycle bin.

c) Keep a foldaway recyclable lil' bag in your handbag or bag. I use mine as a keychain so it goes everywhere with me! Aren't they cute?

I bought mine at Jusco, though you can buy these at souvenir shops, art shops, Giant and even at some top quality pasar malam.So the next time you purchase something, kindly decline the plastic bag, just whip this out and tadaaaa...! Intsant bag out of nowhere 0.0

d) Turn your lights off when you leave a room

e) Turn off the tap when you brush your teeth

f) Use a biodegradable plastic bag for your rubbish bin. Its only a teeny bit more pricy.

g) For those who have a printer at home, buy two types of paper. A cheaper, thinner 70gsm, 60gsm or even 50gsm paper and a heavier, better quality 80gsm paper. Use the 70gsm paper for test printing or light printing work and use the 80gsm paper for important documents and for double sided printing.

h) support 'Green' products and companies.

i) when photocopying simple notes or work just for your reference, ask to photocopy in 'image com'. 2 original papers will be copied on a one side of a paper, half for each original page. And if you ask for back and front photocopy, 4 original papers will be photocopied on a single piece of paper, 2 on each side of the paper. Yeah, that sounds a lil' confusing, sorry. It might take a second thought to figure it out, haha. Give it a go though. The writing will obviously be smaller but still readable. It'll save ink and paper! Kill two birds with one stone =)

And there are lots more things you can do. InsyaAllah, I'll post when I can. The point is, whichever one you choose to do, do what feels easy for you. Don't overwhelm yourself. You don't have to straight away join a charity society or go to an orphanage or drive to recycle centres or do hours of voluntary work. Start with baby steps and we move on from there. Fit in these new little changes in your daily routine.

Simple changes, a little effort here and there, will snowball into a real positive difference for this world.

Hope this was helpful! More to come, God willing.



Assalaamualaikum..

No more "I love you"s. The language is leaving me.

Assalaamualaikum..

Hi everyone =)

It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry for neglecting this space for quite some time. My schedule leaves me worn out at the end of the day and I postpone any ideas of posts for this space. InsyaAllah, I'll jot 'em down soon.

Alhamdulillah, more students are registering at my mum's tuition centre this year. It's been a slow start because mostly everyone is still in their holiday mood.

A new student just signed up last week and his story just tugs at my heart. He is a form 3 student this year. He goes to school at a boarding school somewhere ( sorry for the lack of info) and he is on his break now. Unfortunately, a month ago, he had an accident. He sleeps on a double decker bunker and his bed is the one on top. He got up one morning, maybe feeling a bit dazy having just woke up, he knocked his head straight into the rotating ceiling fan. The force from the hit injured his memory. The doctors say it might take at least 6 months to see whether the injury is permanent or temporary. The parents sent him for tuition to try to trigger his memory back and recall his studies. His first class here was Mathematics and the teacher later informed us that he can't remember how to multiply or divide. He only managed to count up to 5 and do very elementary addition and subtraction. He struggles in all the other subjects as well. On his attendance, we observed that he couldn't write his name consistently and every time he would go to the washroom he would ask where the switch for the light is. His memory has really suffered.

Despite his injuries though, you can see a sparkle in his eyes and when he smiles, his sincerity is written all over his face. Despite his learning disadvantages, you can see his determination to re-learn all that he has forgotten. Despite all that he has gone through, you can see his will to be a better person because of the accident and not feed off of other people's sympathy. MashaAllah, may Allah bless him. 

It makes you think though, doesn't it? How one moment can change your life, completely. Moments like important exams, entering college, getting married or going out into the workforce, we can somewhat be prepared for and expect. But moments like these, incidents and accidents that affects you physically and emotionally. And these changes aren't mere life adaptation to a new surrounding or new people, but a total life change.

Tapi ini lah kehidupan. The challenge is change. May it be many small changes or one big change and may it come sooner or later, all of us will have to face these challenges. What we can do though, is to be better from them.

Of course, change is scary. The unfamiliar makes us nervous and unsure of ourselves. We worry and we are afraid.

But, what we have to keep in mind, is that God knows what is best for us. He wants what is best for us. Allah gives us only what we can manage. And no matter how bad the situation may seem, know that there is always a positive outcome. We just have to find it, work for it and be patient. And no matter how daunting a challenge may be, know that something better is waiting for us.

"Be sure we shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods or lives or the fruits (of your toil), but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere" - surah al-baqarah, ayat 155

I've had my share of challenges in the past year; health issues, surgery, college, family and losing a close friend who I cared for the most, really took a toll on me. But this ayat is what has kept me going.

Folded and tucked in the heart.


Assalaamualaikum..