Sunday bloody Sunday

As I was sitting here, in my room on a balmy Sunday afternoon looking out the window, my mind was wandering up and over the canopy of trees. The light rain just stopped, showering the parched surrounding, making the trees and grass greener and more fragrant with a little wash... Nothing special was today, just a normal Sunday afternoon...abang is away in Kuala, anchaq is away at school, najiha is sleeping in the crib, the house is quiet. The INTAN bus just pulled up in front, trying to manouver around the annoyingly parked cars to enter the gates, the rain just started pouring again...

It is actually quite a rare Sunday, as it is a peaceful one. My Sundays are usually packed with stuffs to do, so, to be able to sit in a quiet house is actually something of a luxury. Next week is the Eid Al Adha, on a Sunday and Najiha's aqiqah event, so that is a busy Sunday right there. The week after is my nephew's wedding in Kuala, on a Sunday following the Nikah ceremony on the subsequent Friday...looking forward to that, its been awhile since I've attended a wedding...

As the rain pours, becoming heavier this time round, I am reminded of the fact that what luxury Sundays have become, a day usually reserved for rest and regenerate to prepare for the coming working week. The same goes to my life as well, there is no rest for the weary, or so the say. I thought with no thesis to write, my life would return to its normal pace again but what is normal? My life is fervently changed, I may never be able to reclaim that life back, but question is, do I want my old life back? On the other hand, I am rather looking forward to live a new life ahead of me, together with the rest of my family, a new beginning..I am supposed to move to my new room at the new office building, actually looking forward to redecorate that room! Yeay! So that is it people, enjoy this Sunday, while we still can.....

Class of 2011

It's that time of the year again, convo time for many IPTs. Last week UKM had their's. Next week UM pulak. To my dearest cousin Chiyan, congratulations atas kejayaan, the first (and certainly not the last) of the 6028ians to do so, with more to come. To sport science students...this is the beginning, never the end, congratulations to all of you!! Selamat menempuh alam pekerjaan pulak lepas nih...muahaha!

As for meself, was inspired tgk Chiyan trying on the robes in her FB pics. My dearest friend, Dr. Fuadah pun dengan baik hatinye picked me (and the baby's bassinet) up smlm for our own robing process..still tak teruja lagi nak g convo, may be when the time nears nanti kot. Or maybe sebab kitorang (or is it just me) dah tak berapa nak muda dah baru settle study ni...tak taulah...all I know is it is a bit anti-climax. Don't get me wrong people...I am forever indebted to all my supporters, especially on their du'as for me without which I will never have made it through, but spending all those time, across two continents, with all the drama that a person could handle...just getting the letter saying that the "Senate agrees to award" moi pun dah cukup dah rasanya...

So why am I doing the convo thingy again? you ask? Mostly to meraikan the effort and belief, the faith that my husband and parents had in me, to salute my fellow graduands, the academic fraternity, hopefully to motivate my sibs and inspire my children...education is a lifelong process, we are being educated still every second of our lives...choose education !!

I always loved the movie "Gladiator", so to all the graduands of Class 2011 wherever you are, we salute you! To my own clan, Strength and Honour!

The Comeback

There seems to be a pattern here. I only update my blog once a year, and always near the Fasting month..why? Well, maybe because Ramadhan IS the month to reflect. Fact is, I almost forgot about this blog...was browsing through opot's blog and saw my own listed as blogs she followed..was surprised at the blog myself...how crazy is that? If I use the perennial "busy" word to explain my absence, it would be an understatement..so I won't do that...but I will try to be more "active" in months to come....or so I thought...;D

As I am in the "reflection" mode, I supposed the reason why we blog (or at least why I blog) is to reflect on the changes that happened within my own life, things have been pretty mundane for the good part of 2009/2010. There was a wedding, and two arrivals of babies in 6028, so that was something! Beginning 2011, life seems to pick up a pace for me, I was finishing with my thesis and after 13 years, I was pregnant again...so that is pretty life changing matters right there...

Today, am back at 6028, in my 30th day of confinement, trying to rearrange my life around these changes and am looking forward to new challenges in life...am happy that it is Ramadhan again, my favourite month of the year....see you guys around...

p.s. Congrats to M-O-M who's my confinement mate next door!

Reflections of a Pencil

My last entry was August 2009, it's close to March 2010 and we even ushered in the Year of the Tiger in between. So many things had happened, all things good and bad. I was touched by chiYan's story of the pencil. As I was reading it, could not help but reflect my own fortunes as well as misgivings. Regrets I have many, but I hope I learnt my lessons. I want to be a good pencil, but sometimes there are many obstacles that a pencil must face. I suppose we don't have to wait for a new year to start erasing our misdeeds or sharpening our points. Every day is life lessons' learnt. Thank you chiYan..for a truly inspiring anecdote

Re Start

Dah sebulan kelas start, next week dah convo. Kejar puasa lah tu... Some students dropped by the office after picking up their academic robes. Felt very old, when your students are graduating..*sigh*..

This session is also a close friend's PhD graduation...me and tuty are planning to suprise her with some killer pollens!! and started me thinking of my own graduation..biler lah agaknyer..

abis tu biler la nak boleh buat..all these admin work yang due..terkejar2 nak siapkan..semalam baru abbis antar file kursus for audit, itupun ade satu lagi file due..do not even go there...

Semalam my supervisor reminded me on the edited chapters, which are due, as usual. By Khamis I have to finish reading and commenting the PhD thesis of my student..I mean how sick is that? My student is graduating way ahead of me..I mean kudos to my student but boo-hoo to me..aww life sucks!!

So again, another note-to-self, must cleanup room (after the juggernaut that is "Audit File Kursus") so that I can start (or re start) reorganizing my thoughts towards my unfinished chapters... fin...(God!)

On a more private note, we are happy to announce the arrival of the baby girl by Awang & Co. For now I call her Jidan the sequel, sbb kakak die Wijdan..look forward to call her proper name... now let me check my diary, I should be making that visit to my gynae anytime soon..(God!!)..

My Worry List

The semester starts on the 6th of July. Some classes were cancelled for the new undergraduates, like my Edu Law class. It's the H1N1 scare thingy. Now kena ganti lagi the missing 5 hours tu, kat ner nak carik tatau lah (My first worry).

As it were, jumpa my supervisor semalam, handed her my progress report (or pro-stress report as i'd like to call it!). She envisioned that everything would be ready for submission in the next few months, of which I concurred. It is a do-able thing, I said to myself....(My second)

Next in my worry list is the research write up, and some of the underutilized research funding, still sitting pretty while the clock is ticking. All reports are due September/October 2009. Pose dah dekat, which would slow down some of the research thingy..which is worrisome. This weekend is already fully booked as were the last weekend. G PD lagi, kena wat module for some IPTS, the organizer kata ada saguhati, which is nice...one less thing to worry about..

Life Post Scripts

The last week was a blur... semuanye nak cepat and nak sekarang. Managed to hantar all the results and answer scripts to both faculties, not exactly on time, but more importantly it's off my table now. I thought I was not going to make it.. but somehow, I found out that we will always find a way. By hook or by crook..they say lah kan.. I'm just glad I'm out of the woods.. now looking at the aftermath..all those assignments bertaburan, nak kene clearkan..so that life could move on. I do this every semester, always making note to self that I will do better next semester, in terms of organizing all these tasks. .but just when I am all prep up to do it the organized way, there will always be a glitch, of human kind, mind. Tak leh sangat nak plan2 ni, tu yang I ended up with the motto 'go wit the flow' tapi kalau flow die tsunami caner? kan? so how, you ask? I really don't have the answer. All I know is, I have deadlines, and I try sticking to it (underline TRY). There are times yang I was dangerously close to not accomplishing it. Tell me about THAT! I had my fair share of dissapointments, all life's lessons learnt..but as I have said in my last post..nothing is without value, your winnings as well as your losses, in my case especially my loss..now as I was blissfully unhampered by the thougts of massive mountains of answer scripts to attend to, my attention is turned to my other commitments. Which is equally massive in volume, and requires my thinking cap again. The campus is becoming less populated now, with the semester holidays on, everything calm and quiet..the best time for me to finish my writing up, get that book(s) out, finalise the draft articles, send the research reports, apply for more research grants, google that article up, help a friend with the proposal, help myself to my oen proposal......etc..etc...