"Principles, Not Examples"

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tuesday 6 September 2016
Source here. Of course, my dorm room would not look like this.


I'm finally back to the twin tower city. Back to mahallah. Back to shawarmas, all nasi goreng, roti canai and teh tarik. After spending 3 months in Indonesia, I'm finally back to the university routine. All subjects are set and I'm ready to give my best, Insha Allah!

The first day of new semester was amazing. I got amazing lecturers, and as usual, to break the ice, they gave us some sort of introduction session and some nasihat session. The first lecturer reminded us how important it is to be alert of the surrounding and to know what is going to happen in the future - being Future Smart and I will give a separate post about this Insha Allah.

Moving on to the third lecture first, because the subject was Investment Analysis, he said that the biggest and the riskiest investment ever made is an investment of a parent to their children. Being a parent himself, he felt that a success of his children is his biggest happiness, that he would do anything for his children, including being apart from them (imagine being apart from your loved ones?). He stayed in KL for Monday to Thursday, and on Thursday afternoon, he would drove back to Ipoh to spend the weekend with the family. Hence he said, "don't disappoint mother and father that have brought you here to study". I almost shed a tear when he said that because disappointing my parents is really something that I don't want to do, and anything related to family always gets me so emotional because I love them so much.

My most highlighted lecture of that day was the second lecture.

Education, Career, Love, or Marriage? - Part I

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tuesday 10 May 2016

Topik Education, Career, Love or Marriage? ini sangat 'hot' di kalangan pertemanan perempuan, apalagi jika:
  • Jenjang usia telah memasuki kategori awal 20-an
  • Gelar sarjana sudah di ambang mata/tahun akhir perkuliahan
  • (Apalagi jika) telah memiliki pasangan
Obrolan tentang topik ini tidak akan berhenti kecuali dibatasi oleh waktu dan kesibukan, yang nantinya jika datang kesempatan lagi pasti akan kembali dibahas. Tidak hanya tentang rencana yang diinginkan, tapi juga dilema maupun kegalauan akan memilih yang mana, atau kegalauan karena tidak memiliki pilihan apapun. Apakah dilema ini juga dialami oleh para lelaki? Saya pun tidak tahu, karena sering kali topik ini diangkat oleh pihak perempuan.

Postingan kali ini akan saya bagi menjadi dua part agar pembaca paham latar belakang penulisan dan keadaan lingkungan saya pada part pertama, agar tiada pandangan bahwa saya kecentilan, kebelet nikah, dan hanya memikirkan tentang pernikahan saja, dan part kedua tentang isu yang terjadi serta pandangan saya.

Sajak Tak Berujung

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Monday 18 April 2016
Datanglah pada bila masa, senja..

Bila sudah cita kita gaungkan

Bila sudah hujan kita tangguhkan

Namun asa sudah kita putuskan

Takkan sajakku berhujung hampa?

- Kuala Lumpur, 18 April 2016

What I'll be Missing From You, Kuala Lumpur

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Wednesday 13 April 2016
Final year.

Finally, it comes to me the last semesters of my degree life. As they said, time flies fast. A year from now who knows what would I be, whether pursuing a master, being a corporate banker, or maybe.. another fate? A friend of mine showed up an old picture of us with other girls back in the first year of degree celebrating her 19th years old birthday, and there I see the old myself smiling did not recognize that would be the precious time of my degree life and maybe the last time we were all present at someone's birthday. 

Since I would not know what would be going on a year from now, I just wanted to list (apparently I love to list so much - list anything!) some highlights that I'll be missing from the capital city of Malaysia, the city that I've been residing for 3.5 years and finally I can say, my second home.

1. Teh Ais, bungkus!
This would be funny. Clearly we have different perspectives on what is Teh Ais (Ice Tea) here in Malaysia and Indonesia. In Indonesia, an ice tea is called Es Teh Manis or just simply Es Teh. While here, in Malaysia, their Es Teh is called Teh O Ais. Teh O Ais, Teh Ais, that O really matter because if we order Teh Ais only, we will be served with a Teh Tarik, their signature creamy and frothy tea that the making process requires "pulling" pouring technique. So don't be jumbled up! I was once asked for Teh O Ais back when I was home in Indonesia and quickly retold the waitress that what I actually needed was Es Teh Manis. Poor confused mind.

Oh, another one. When we say bungkus, they will tie the drinks on one of the side tips of the plastic. . No more holding the plastic, we have the tie!

Love at First Masks

Friday 19 February 2016
I couldn't deny that my affection (and curiosity) towards K-beauty started from these two products. My skin was dull, far from glow, acne-prone and simply far from nice. Since it was from early of last year's purchase, I couldn't recall the first time we bumped into each other. As far as I can remember, I was ordering the Skinfood along with Too Cool For School's Marshmallow Puff at Hermo, and the Innisfree mask was from a friend who went to Korea.

And then the magic happened.