This Year

2008. Where shall I begin? Or rather, where shall I stop? Another year is bidding farewell. But to me, everything has just started. Jusssst started.

This year, I turned 20. 20 years of living. Being 20 to me now means growing up and change for the better. I mean, if not now then when, right? But ya Allah, you know that I need your help. Lots of it, please? :(

This year, more nice people have joined my VIP list. The more the merrier, they say. My family who has always had a reserved place stays at the top of the list as always. And below them, the list goes on and on. Thank you, ya Allah. Without them, I’m nothing.

This year, he came. Too much things to say. But for now, I’ll say alhamdulillah. : ) Bless us, ya Allah.

This year, studies have improved. Yes, work works. But work still works without work if You want it to work. Everything is from you, ya Allah. Thank you.

This year, I became Teacher Azie. Now I’m surer than ever. I was borned to be a teacher. Insya Allah a teacher that doesn’t just teach but shares and cares.

This year, I think less of what people say. I still do sometimes and it hurts me to know that people would believe such things but then again, it all comes back to me. Things just don’t come out from nowhere. I must’ve started something. Unintentionally, maybe. But still I did. So I take the circumstances. Things like this, it makes us think. Without it, perhaps I’d be all tangled up without realizing it. Yes, everything happens for a reason.

This year, there are so many things that I’m grateful for. No, I’m not a daughter of a millionaire nor am I drop dead gorgeous that makes people go gaga. But for the fact that I’m not either of those or even close, I’m grateful. Life. We know that it’s short. But we either ignore it or think that, “No, I won’t die young. That wouldn’t happen to me. I’ll have time to change when I’m older. Perhaps after I retire, ” We never really know, do we? I hope in 5 years time I’ll be a devoted mom and an inspiring teacher. But will I ever reach that time? I wish I knew.

This year, my hopes haven’t end. In fact, they have increased a lot more. I accept that as a good thing. Like I said last year, what are hopes without effort? So my main effort for next year, is to change for the better. It is time to lessen the fikir dunia already. So here, I ask all of you to remind me if I get out of hand. I really do want this to happen. But I’m afraid that I’ll turn all weak again and just forget everything. Ya Allah, help. Please..

This year, I’ll end with a big THANK YOU to all the nice nice people around me.  May Allah bless you. For the not so nice, I thank you also for letting me learn the true harshness of life. Alhamdulillah, I have never stopped realizing that I’m this sinful being who never stops making mistakes. And for that, I apologize.

This year, I can’t say thank you enough to ALLAH swt for everything. And I pray that I never will stop thanking Him for I truly don’t deserve everything that He has given me. Alhamdulillah.

Next year, is something that I look forward to. I don’t know what will happen but i do pray for more joy, more togetherness and more love. Insya Allah. Happy New Year 2009, peeps! May you have a good one. :D

Not too late, am I?

Okay, so I just couldn’t sit still while everyone was going in a frenzy of being a Twilighter. Though channel E almost tempted me  to go watch the movie starring the late Cedric Diggory, I kinda have this rule of not wanting to watch any movies based on novels without reading the books first.

A reason for that? Of course because, I like to let my own imagination take over the characters’ looks and also because movies always become a big disappointment for being so off track from the real story line. The 15% discount for the book at Popular plus my Popular member card discount, which means I got the book with 25% off also contributed to the reason I joined in the bandwagon. :p

I’m not going to make another book review as im sure we’ve had enough of that. But then again, being this person who wants to share most of her thoughts with the world, I do have something to babble about. ;)

First of all, its easy to like any story that has a perfect hero in it. And the fact that Meyer had to remind the reader of Edward’s perfection every time(and I do mean EVERY time) Bella looked at him may have brought the same effect to the readers as well. I couldn’t help myself from imagining my very own version of Mr Perfect as Edward. Which was very entertaining. Ok, that should stop there. What I meant to say was, Edward being a perfect human being.. I mean,  a perfect vampire very much helped the story to become more than just a joyful read for more than billions of dreamy people like me. Ladies, in particular. ;)

As I managed to read the book with almost the same speed rate as reading Harry Potter, I found the most interesting part was when Edward brought Bella to the woods and he confessed what he had to go through when he first met Bella. How their untouchable relationship affected them. How Edward experimented his ‘strength’ by kissing Bella. I just couldn’t stop thinking at this point how their relationship had a bit of a similarity between men and women in Islam.

I remembered Fahri in Ayat-Ayat Cinta (yes, I finally managed to watch the movie) said, “Men and women in Islam are not allowed to date. We have takruf,” And if we, muslims are still wondering, “Why?”.Well, the electricity wave that existed when Edward and Bella touched could be an easy example.

“Mind over matter,” Edward says.

I say, “Iman over matter.”

:)

Oh and and one more thing. Kids should not be reading that book. They should stay with Harry Potter.

p/s: I like the new wordpress dashboard!

Teacher Azie

loved the book-shopping part

now where did that come from? :p

yes, as most of you can guess. i’m doing tuition classes! im teaching English to the children of my mom’s friends. :p

Su, Muzzammil, Ira, Solehah and Huzaifah are my first ever students. as much as im excited to teach them, im actually proud to say that they’re very much excited to learn with me too!

on our first day, (which was last Monday) as their mom came to pick them up, Ira screamed, “MA!!! BES!!!”

it made me have a huge grin all day long.

they were pretty good in English already so i had much fun with them. last Monday, we learned nouns. and this morning we learned articles and verbs. i was figuring last night how to make them learn in a much more fun way. i’ve always loved rhyming poems and tongue twisters. so that’s what i used. here, have a read yourself.

(these were the tongue twisters and poems that i used for Ira and Muzzammil)

Does he know that we know that he knows.

Big Billy, who had a big belly was also a big bully.

How many cuckoos could a good cook cook, if a cook could cook cuckoos.

I don’t know what to do today.

Perhaps I’ll go outside and play,

or stay indoors and watch TV,

or take a bath, or climb a tree.

Or maybe I’ll go ride my bike,

or pick my nose, or take a hike,

or jump a rope, or scratch my head,

or play a game, or stay in bed,

or dance a jig, or pet the cat,

or drink some milk, or buy a hat,

or sing a song, or read a book,

or change my socks, or learn to cook,

or dig a hole, or eat a pear,

or call my friends, or brush my hair,

or hold my breath, or have a race,

or stand around and slap my face.

I’m so confused, and bored, and blue,

to not know what I ought to do.

I guess that I should just ask you.

So, what do you think I should do?

and these were the ones for Su:

She sells sea shells by the sea shore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells.
So if she sells shells on the seashore,
I’m sure she sells seashore shells.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,
and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Breakfast in Bed

This morning I made my mom breakfast in bed.

I tried to be careful, but burnt all the bread.

I tried to make sure that the coffee was hot,

by boiling the bit left in yesterday’s pot.

I charred a few pancakes, potatoes, and grits.

The sausage, I seared into smouldering bits.

I made her some muffins like miniature coals,

and roasted a package of cinnamon rolls.

I scorched several servings of hamburger hash,

and microwaved bacon until it was ash.

I blackened a bagel, which started to smoke.

The smoke alarm sounded. My mother awoke.

I think she was panicked. Her eyes filled with dread.

I proudly presented her breakfast in bed.

She grimaced, then silently counted to ten,

and asked me to never make breakfast again.

it was great to see that they laughed alot and had so much fun. i made them try to read the tongue twisters as fast as they could. and after a few tries, they managed! and they were so glad that they did. after reading them, i asked them to underline all the verbs. thats how we learned verbs. :)

Su, the eldest among them told me just now that Ira didnt want to go home after yesterday’s class. hehehe cute kan?

they actually really like doing the practices! every time they’ve finished one, they’d ask to do more. look at how concentrated they are.

this was taken by my mom this morning. Solehah and Huzaifah couldnt come today as they were at kampung.

that’s Su. the eldest among them. she has such great confidence that i admire. she wants to be a heart surgeon just like her dad.

having so much fun teaching them makes me want to be a primary school teacher. ive always loved kids and i think im quite good with them. Muzzammil, who’s entering standard 6 next year has been starting to open up alot. he’s been asking things that he dont know to me rather than to her sister which means he’s being comfortable with me.

his mom has been saying that he’s the most shy among them and he doesnt speaks alot. but he’s actually doing okay with me. he told me that they’re going to Genting in the next 2 weeks and he said he loves going there. so after doing our practices, i asked him. “did you have fun today?” and he answered, “yes, fun like Genting” hehehe cute.

ive got 15 more hours (7/8 more days) with them. and im looking forward to every minute of it.

:)