Oh my... 2017

Assalamualaikum and salam sejahtera. Oh gosh, it's been almost a year since my last post. Rasanya memang macam dalam setahun adalah beberapa posts sahaja before I start to abandon this blog again. Ada niat nak close it down permanently but somehow it never happened. The idea of keeping it alive is still going strong but to remain inactive. Ntah macam mana, tiba-tiba terbuka blog yang penuh bersawang ni. Luckily, I still remember the username and password and tergerak pulak hati nak update post hari ni. Oh my, I really, really miss blogging. Maybe I should start blogging again. Dok cakap benda ni every year but in the end, this blog is left untouched.

So, since we are here, quick update on everything that happened for the past 1 year. 

Overall, life is great, syukur Alhamdulillah. I gave birth to my second child last January 2017. This deserves its' own post. Will write about it separately. Hopefully, this won't be my last post for the year *teehee*. The experience is totally different from Iman's. Ahh, will definitely write about it. So now that my little family has grown, tanggungjawab pun semakin besar lah kan?! Can't believe that I'm a mother of 2. Rasa diri ni masih lagi macam budak-budak. Maybe I've grown my maturity tapi cuma tak terasa sahaja. Young at heart gitew, ahaks!

Career-wise, 2016 have been another challenging yet rewarding year. Syukur Alhamdullilah, I recieved 2x promotions unexpectedly. Within a year and a half in service, I was rewarded with work promotion twice. Yang sebetulnya, ini betul-betul rezeki anak. Received the first promotion after I got to know that I was pregnant with the second child while the second promotion came weeks before I gave birth to Irdina. Memang rezeki anak-anak. Belom sempat untuk berkhidmat dah on maternity leave. By the way, I'm on 3 months maternity leave. Rasanya sungguh lama and I am now 2 weeks away from resuming back to work. Syukur rezeki yang Allah kurniakan. Now I have bigger responsibility to hold and the expectation is well, bigger now. Interesting things happen to my worklife. Shall update it once I'm officially on-board. It will be my biggest challenge now to report to a new boss whom used to be my ex-client. 

And finally, I completed my Masters and I am now waiting for my convocation date. Syukur yang tak terhingga, the journey finally ended after years of enduring it. I finally submitted my thesis 2 weeks before going into labour. It was really a pain in the a*se but Syukur ya Allah, I managed to score an A- and that brings to my CGPA of 3.43. Higher than time degree dulu weyh. Mak saya pon tak percaya. Now, speaking of being a Masters graduate, what are we planning to do with it? Honestly, parts of me feels like quitting the job to further to another higher education level (Read: PhD). But right now, I really feel like focusing on family and career. Enough of exams and classes. We'll see! But if ever I make the decision to further my studies, it will definitely be full-time (and abroad). No more study+kerja. Penat weyh.

That's it for now. Now that I am still on leave, will try to update on a daily basis. Kalau rajin. Kalau tak, tunggulah tahun depan.

Till then, Assalamualaikum. 

Why do we need to study for exams?

Photo credit to 9GAG

Isn't this looks familiar?

I have to admit, I am still experiencing this situation especially when it comes to the examination week. I can never settled myself reading the book or revising the hand-outs for the examination and end-up writing nonsense on the answering sheets. Goreng sampai hangus dijilat api. Itulah strategy-nya.

I just don't understand how lawyers do it. How can they actually sit still reading all the notes that are related to their cases or revising on the case studies to firm up their arguments or reading and understanding the regulations to defend their cases. Ini gila namanya. Salute you all lawyers!

I mean, don't get me wrong. I love to read - story books that is. I don't like to read facts and data. I read fictional story books for fun not for life. Sebab tu lah tak jadi a lawyer or a doctor. Satu, sebab tak berapa cukup bijak and secondly, sebab tak cukup membaca.

Final exam is coming soon. I'm a bit clueless on what's happening this semester. We haven't touch on our main assignments yet and my individual write-up is also nowhere to be seen. So, wish me luck friends!

Monday-not-so-blues

Assalamualaikum and good morning girls (I'm assuming my readers are all girls and I'm assuming that I actually have readers who read my crappy blog posts). How are you feeling today? Hopefully, you are feeling great as I am. 

Unlike any other Mondays, I'm actually feeling very energetic this morning. Like most mornings, I wake-up quite early to get my assignments done and a quick nap before getting myself ready for work. But somehow today, I did not dragged myself to work, oh well! oh well! Big improvement I would say.

I guess this is due to the fun times I had with my girl over the weekend. I was husband-less last weekend and I was left alone with Iman with my assignments piling up high like nobody's business. My aim was to get everything done so that I do not have to wake-up early every morning. And Allah SWT hears me. He gave me the most obedient daughter (surprise! surprise!) that accompanied me throughout my weekends just to make sure that I completed my assignments. Syukur, alhamdulillah.

I'm not saying that Iman is not obedient. She is! Normally, weekends is where she'll bullied me to play hide and seek, running/jogging non-stop in the house and non-stop nenen-ing but last weekend was totally different. All she did was sitting next to me quietly to teman me do my assignments. Good girl Iman, good girl!

I'm glad that I have such an understanding daughter. Semoga Allah lindungi Iman dan jadikan dia anak yang solehah. Amin

Have a nice week ahead girl. Just remember to take your vitamins.

Sunday with Iman Alexandria

Last Friday marked the last day of the 3rd semester. I couldn't be happier. Alhamdulillah, it wasn't as stressful as the previous semester though. It's .... manageable. In fact, it was the best semester comparing to the other 2 previous semesters. Both our Media & Marketing Management group assignments were being picked as the top with highest marks compared to the other groups. Syukur! Syukur! I owe it to the group members. They were awesome!!

Anyways, as a celebration to the end of my 3rd semester, I decided to do a spring cleaning on Saturday and a day out with my lil munchkin on Sunday. I finally got the time to clean my room. My god, it was totally an embarrassment to see how dirty my room was. Cleaned, mopped and rearranged the room - full of satisfaction. I even hand-mopped the stairs. Semangat bukan!

The initial plan was to bring Iman to the park on Sunday. The usual KLCC park tapi ntah macam mana the plan got changed to a shopping spree in KLCC. 

A must mother-daughter selfie

Tak habis penat, baru saja sampai rumah, the boys came yesterday and oh boy, Iman was so happy to see her favourite uncles.

Anyways, I have approximately a month break before the beginning of the 4th semester and I am sure going to spend every second of it with my lil munchkin. 

She is turning 2 soon. Though, it is not going to be a big celebration this time around but I hope she likes it (I doubt she remembers). Mom is planning to have her celebration at school. Will see how it goes. 

We are heading back to Kedah on the 28th. Kesian tokma dia dah lama tak jumpa and we are really at fault for rarely going back to Kedah. It's time to spend some quality time with the other side of the family.

And to those who are already heading up to their hometown for the long Christmas/New Year break, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Be safe and enjoy your holidays.

A Mother, Student & Senior Planner

My days have been tougher each day but having said that, I am forever thankful for the rezki, the opportunity to shine in my career (chewahhh, statement tak boleh blah!), and to challenge myself completing my Masters. Yes, I shouldn't be complaining sebab ini semua, sendiri yang cari pasal but yeah, with all of these commitments, I, at some point think that I have neglected the one person that I shouldn't be neglecting - Iman Alexandria.

Last Wednesday, she had an eye infection. Tak tahu dari mana datang, bangun tidur tengok her left eye jadi redish in color. I panicked but I seriously, I can't send her to the hospital as I just got back from a week of medical leave due to the tooth surgery and I had a long list of meetings to attend to that whole week. I asked my mother for her help to send Iman to the hospital and Alhamdulillah, she's all fine now. Ini situasi no.1.

Situasi no. 2 happened also on that same week of her eye infection. I had to leave for work early that week. Iman was still asleep when I left the house. And by the time I reached home, she was already asleep. It hits me like a thunder when that situation happened and I cried while carrying her to bed.

And I started to question myself - what type of mother I am for leaving my daughter with her nanny all day long and not being around her. I started to feel like I am a bad mother. Am I a bad mother?

Maybe I should reconsider my options. Maybe I should take that lecturer scheme so that I can spend more time my my family. Maybe I should.......

Saturday, Class & coffee

And because of the guilt I have for neglecting my daughter, I decided that I really need to balance my work, study and family life. Hence, although my weeks are occupied with work and studies, I will make sure that I spend some quality time with my lil' girl.

We went to KLCC park yesterday and girl, was she happy. Walaupun sekejap sebab weather yang main-main hujan tapi within that short time at the park dah cukup buat Iman bergolek-golek sampai seluar kotor. And I will make sure that my weekends are all spend with her, Insya Allah.

The guilty of a mother. Sigh!

1st time experience as a Lecturer

Last month, I received an invitation from one of my Master's lecturer to be the guest lecturer for her class. Her topic was on Media Planning and she wanted someone from the industry to give a lecture based on industry practices. She wanted to expose her students on the real practices of Media Planners and for that, she invited me to be her guest lecturer.

And of course, without thinking much, I agreed to her invitation. She gave me the topic that she wanted me to talk about and that I prepare the slide show for the class.

Well, this is actually one way of me saying indirectly to the lecturer that I am up if they would like to offer me to be a part-time lecturer. I have raised this concern to my other lecturer, but according to her, USM did not have such program hence they can't offer me such position. Oh, I forgot to mention that this teaching is for the third year students of Mass Communication faculty.

Cara halus gitu. Well, this is one of my way of giving back to the society, chewahh!. I'm not saying that with 5 years experience as a Media Planner has qualified me to teach the students but this is actually me sharing the knowledge that I gained through my working experience to the students. I am still young and fresh and there are a lot of things that I still need to learn but that doesn't mean that I can't share with other people on what I have, right? After all, sharing is caring. 

The thing is, there are a few of Malay working in this industry. Most of them prefer to be in the PR sector. Kononnya, PR lebih glamor but what they don't know is that there are a lot of things that one can learn (and of course, glamorous is not part of it) if one enrol in this industry. I guess, I'm being biased because I am clearly a Media person but yes, as biased as I may sound, this industry serves interesting knowledge and there are a lot of things that one can learn from it. 

So, my mission is indirectly to build these students' interest into Media instead of PR.

So, off I went yesterday to USM, Penang to teach 15 Mass Comm students on the basic knowledge of Media Planning and I must say that I like it. The kind of response that I received yesterday was marvellous. Being a nervous me, I thought I can't deliver the lecture considering the fact that I just had a tooth surgery couple of days before and Alhamdulillah, Allah Maha Mengetahui, I did not face any difficulty while delivering the lecture and in fact, I was pain-less that day, Syukur alhamdulillah.

I didn't get the chance to take the picture while the class was full but yea, that was how the classroom looks like.

I must say that it was indeed a good experience. I don't mind if I have to go there every week to give a lecture. In fact, I once dream of being a lecturer cuma tak cukup pandai je nak ke tahap itu. This actually opens up my eyes that maybe, just maybe, I should reconsider my offer.

Maybe, who knows, someday I may pursue with PhD and be a lecturer instead of a Media Specialist. Doa-doalah kan ye!

Hello Semester 3

I actually wanted to post about my Sydney trip. I even drafted the points and put aside the relevant photos for it but after receiving a text message from one of my lecturer, I did a quick check on my September to November schedules to allow the small project that I will be doing Insha Allah. After included all my assignment deadlines and checking on the coming client's meeting schedule, I started to feel uneasy and worried over the coming few months. It is going to be another stressful months for me.

So yes, the 3rd semester is here and it is on the 3rd week already and I don't feel good about it. The confident level that I have for this semester is definitely at its lowest - at the negative point if I must say. I pointed out my worries to my husband that maybe... maybe I should just stop with this program. But of course, the reply I received doesn't permits me to do so. 

Work - well, it is going to be a busy week for me. Seriously, I really don't have the heart to do this anymore. As much as I love my work and the company that I work with but it has stopped in driving the excitement in me or probably, this is just another bad phase in my life. "This too shall pass" - I hope so!

My current emo-con except that Iman is not as big as the boy and I don't have a small baby to carry on my shoulder but you get the idea right? Juggling all at the same time is tiring... How I wish I can just be a stay home mom. Sigh!

I believe you must be wondering, after all of the complaining (yes, this is me complaining) why on earth am I still here blogging? Well, one of my definitely-won't-work wish is to be a full time blogger. Konon nya! So that I will be able to stay at home and just blog. Hey, don't be surprised that there are a lot of working mothers who quit their job and be a full time blogger. And not just any blogger, there are some who are paid to blog. In a way, they earn money by just writing a post on their blog. 

But of course, to be like them needs courage and determination. Ini posting pon ntah apa-apa punya topic ada hati nak jadi full time blogger. No of daily pageview visits pon seciput ada hati pulak tuh. 

But then again, blogging gives me the opportunity to improve my writing skills as well as to firm up my grammar. Let's face it, my English is as bad as a kindergarten kid (I bet theirs is better than mine) and this is just a way to improve them. After all, I can always set the date of my posting to when it is published. I write 2/3 posts over the weekend and set them to be published on a different day of the week. Senang cerita.

So yea, back to the main objective. This coming 3 months will be a stressful one for me. Seriously, I don't think I can manage them all considering the fact that all papers I registered for this semester require high % on the exam portion and knowing me, I don't study for exams. It will be madness!

Praying hard that I can do this. Bismillah.

1st year, 2nd semester

As mentioned on the previous post, I am currently doing a triple job - pursuing Masters, my Monday to Friday 8 hours a day job and a mom to lil Iman Alexandria. And I must say that my brain cells are damaging before its time.

Hard work, definitely yes! 

When I first started enrolling myself with my Masters, I didn't expect it to be this hard. Hard in a way that I have to juggle and plan my time properly. I have to unsocilize myself with friends and family. My schedule is fixed. It's either I'm leaving for work or to classes else I'll be at home spending my limited time with my growing-very-lasak-lil girl. It's tough that sometimes, sometimes it breaks my heart to know that I'm pushing myself chasing the uncertainties. 

Give-up, yes!

There are times when I feel like giving up everything - work, studies but not family. They are my life! But due to the high level of stress, it tends to go overboard. There was one time when I nearly, nearly submitted my resignation letter as I don't feel like I can cope with work and studies anymore. I have the letter prepared and ready to be submitted but decided not too! Nasib baik, kalau tak ada yang jobless sekarang ni. Seriously, I really can't handle the stress anymore with the crazy campaign that I have to handle and the killing PR assignment that I have to submit. My life gone haywire! 

And with that situation, I decided (at that point of time) to quit studying. Same reason as the above. Nasib baik tak buat. 3 bulan setengah tak lama mana pon.

And today, the day has finally arrived. The results is out.

Syukur alhamdulillah. I made it! Though it is not as good as the previous semester, I did it!

I owe it to the family for the support. Million thanks to the husband for having faith in me, for not giving up on me, for being my ears to listen to the countless complaints and to be my shoulder to cry on. I love you big time. Bag LV jangan lupa!

Also, a big huge thank to my team-mates. They are awesome. Without them, I don't think I can reach this far. Syukur alhamdulillah.

This was taken during PR final presentation.

Sepanjang seumur hidup, ni lah results yang paling membanggakan. Even during undergrads dulu pon results tak pernah sebersih ini. Masyaallah.

To a better new semester. September, I am not ready for you yet!

Rezeki Ramadan

I received a call from one of the lecturer last month persuading me to apply for this programme. Well, the intention has always been there for me to pursue with Masters but I never really go and apply. The deal is to let the husband to continue first and then I'll think about applying. But the call that I received really, finally push me to apply. It was only a 2 days process as the lecturer helped me in applying. Actually, the application date has passed but the lecturer really helped me with this. I settled with my application in just one night, submitted the form to her the following morning and made the payment on the same day itself. Settled!

But I wasn't hoping to get. Ha! Jiwa kacau.

So, last Friday I thought of checking on my application. Sekali dapat. Alhamdulilllah.

It was actually a mixed feeling for me. I'm happy and clueless at the same time. I don't know what to feel or how to react on this. Dulu, time degree bila dapat tahu application dapat, melompat-lompat bagai nak rak, yang ini I seriously sat on my chair blurry don't know how to react with no feelings or whatsoever. Clueless.

I waited awhile before texting my husband to inform him on the news. Clearly, he was more excited than I am. 

One thing for sure that worries me is how am I going to juggle with work, family, Iman all at the same time? My working hours doesn't always fix. I'm still actively breastfeeding, nanti sure susu akan berkurangan. Musnahlah harapan nak bf-ing till Iman 2yo. Plus, Iman is just 7mo. But after consulting with my family, I am going to go for this and pray for the best.

When I think about it, it actually a great platform for me to pursue. I mean, I have always wanted to apply and this is my opportunity. Of course, there will be obstacles. Life isn't easy right? I have to juggle and face it with strong body, mind and soul. Chewahh.

I accept this as Rezeki Ramadan. Rezeki anak juga. The good always say, bersusah-susah dahulu, bersenang-senang kemuadian. So, I shall bersusah dahulu for a bersenang kemudian, Insyaallah.

Go! Go! Ajlaa!