Strawberries and Non-Fictions. Life in College

I love Malaysia and all of its diverse culture-based holidays. One, more holidays. Two, more sales! 

Awesome steals during today's shopping session with mom. Almost every store is having a sale!

If there's one thing this week's theme has been, it's strawberries! 

The huge strawberries my roommate brought back from Cameron Highlands. They're so juicy and sweet and sourish! 

Speaking of food, I had the pleasure of tasting this amazing Pakistani restaurant in UTP just beside the CIMB bank. It tastes so good I totally recommend it! :D 

The chicken shaksuka, cheese naan and to-die-for mango lassi!

Overall, It's been a fairly good and hectic week what with helping out with UTP's orientation as facilitator and organizing  my schedules  and such. 

My room's on the fourth floor. I have no excuse of being fat now. My housemates are pretty awesome, they sure love squealing, but the good humorous kind haha. 

So, let's pray for a smooth and endurable semester ahead! 

  

Daily Inspiration: Agreeing to Disagree

I stumbled across this beautiful quote on Facebook today: 

It's true isn't it? The people who disagree with you are more valuable than those who do. Why? Because not only do they point out our flaws and humble ourselves, they also challenge us to gain more knowledge of the matter at hand in order to convince or persuade others in the future.

Imagine you're debating with a friend, and that person has more legit points than you and eventually makes his point. Doesn't that humiliate you in some way, even if they did make you even more knowledgeable in the process? With this humility, we can act on it to become more experienced in our field of interest so that the same mistake won't occur again. 

And that's what I find beautiful about Allah's way in making us realise our mistakes to correct ourselves. Because humans can't do it alone. We need each other to point out our flaws, discreetly or otherwise to become a better person who can lift the status of all Muslims everywhere and improve the Ummah :) 

jazakallah 

Back To College

Only 2 full days left in this home before my 4 months break ends and I would have to go back to UTP slash The Jungle.

As much as I love home, lazing around on my butt all day and playing with my cats (having to deal with my allergies later on), I do miss UTP and the whole hectic schedule of balancing classes and my club duties. There's this sense of satisfaction when you complete your subject's coursework or achieve your club's early-of-the-sem plans. 

But it is scary because if you're not careful, you could easily get lost in all the piles and piles of work. 

But I'll persevere, cause I only have 2 years of college left! Might as well make the most out of it :D

So hello 5th Semester of Chemical Engineering, and let's gear up for another memorable semester ;) 

Finding A Permanent Hand-Hold

Have you ever wondered, why sometimes people just makes you so upset? When they don't meet your expectations. Or when they fail you when you need them the most?

I have had countless of experiences like this. And in retrospect, it wasn't their fault. It was mine. But the fault never lied in my personality or the inability to mix around with people. It lied in the fact that I didn't put Allah in my heart. I allowed His creations instead to take place in my heart and let, sometimes even force, my soul to depend on them. And this is entirely wrong.

I'm currently reading this book and on the final section. 

Reclaim Your Heart by Yasmin Mogahed

And the book is as good, if not better, as they reviewed. Yasmin Mogahed is an incredible motivational speaker regarding Islam. And she mentions throughout the book to always put Allah in our hearts instead of something lesser. I have yet to fully grasp this in my daily life.

Last night, I got upset over something I shouldn't. I expect too much from the people around me and I let them control my emotions, when I should have known the source of any happiness is a strong relationship with God.

As Yasmin Mogahed puts it so beautifully:

We experience this emotional roller coaster because we can never find stability and lasting peace until our attachment and dependency is on what is stable and lasting. How can we hope to find constancy if what we hold on to is inconstant and perishing? 

As the Quran states:

".....whoever rejects evil and believes in God hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold that never breaks. And God hears and knows all things" - Quran {2:256}

I need this hand-hold. I need to always believe that everything happens for a reason, and that how people treat me is merely a test to bring me closer to Allah.

Of course, some days I fail at this. Some days I feel like I'm never getting anywhere. I see everyone around me making progress, or being happy and I wonder "When will that be me?" But as it has been explained in the book, everyone has ups and downs, lows and highs in their deen. And we must never allow Shaytan to trap us when we're in either of this states.

When you're high in deen, Shaytan makes you arrogant of your good deeds, and make you believe that you no longer need to do any more because Jannah has been promised for you. When the opposite happens, Shaytan makes you believe that you're not good enough for Jannah and will forever be condemned to Hell. He discourages you from getting closer to Allah and makes you even more depressed.

Now that I know of this 'tricks' I realise that no matter what state of deen I am, I shouldn't stop getting closer to my Creator, nor should I stop seeking His Mercy. 

And I still am working on this whenever I get upset with how people treat me. 

Looking back, with a sound and peaceful mind unlike last night's, I know that no one intentionally hurts you. No one that I know whom I consider a friend, wants to hurt me. So why should I assume that everyone's out to get me? 

I know now that everything is what it seems, only based on how we perceive it. 

As narrated by Muslim, the Prophet Muhammad SAW once said:

"Those who show no mercy to others will have no mercy shown to them by Allah"

 And to end this post, I'd like to share with you what Yasmin mentions in her book that hit me hard. It hit me right in the chest and put me in my place: a humble servant of Allah, nothing more.

The ability to readily forgive should be driven by an awareness of our own flaws and mistakes towards others. But most of all, our humility should be driven by the fact that we wrong Allah every single day of our lives, when we sin. Who are we compared to Allah? And yet, Allah, Master of the universe, forgives by day and by night. Who are we to withhold forgiveness? If we hope to be forgiven by Allah, how can we not forgive others?

Daily Inspiration: Saul Bass & The Light

Today's Google Doodle was really interesting! 

It featured Saul Bass, 

 American graphic designer and Oscar winning filmmaker, best known for his design of motion picture title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos.

And while browsing through his amazing poster works, I found this beautiful quote:

Kinda inspires you doesn't it? Do what you love, no matter who sees it or who doesn't :) 

And it was also a beautiful coincidence I stumbled across this beautiful Quranic verse somewhere:

With the chaos going on here, it's really important to go back to Islam basics, and remember what we were born to do: serve Allah and be a good Muslim. That includes doing beautiful things whether people see them or not :)

Have a lovely week ahead lovelies! 

Good Reads: Leaning In to a Brighter Future for Women

My latest read was the amazing book by Sheryl Sandberg, LEAN IN. 

Read about the full synopsis here.

A bit on the synopsis: 

Sheryl Sandberg examines why women’s progress in achieving leadership roles has stalled, explains the root causes, and offers compelling, commonsense solutions that can empower women to achieve their full potential. Sandberg is the chief operating officer of Facebook and is ranked on Fortune’s list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business and as one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World.

So basically this is a book that highlights why there are few women in the leadership posts of companies or careers, and how every woman and man can help to over come this matter. 

Watch her amazing TEDTalkDirector here: 

What drew me to this book was of personal reasons. I'll be entering my third year of engineering studies in a few short weeks and soon I'll be doing my internship, graduating and zooming off into a career I hope to love and that will benefit me in the long term. But I don't want to be just a chemical engineer who lowers her head, works hard and doesn't get the appreciation because she's too afraid of climbing the leadership ladder. I want to reach the highest potential that I can. It was my uncle's advice and I hold it dear within me to this day. 

So how can I reach the top when it has been proven difficult by society who are gender-biased and believe that men should control everything? Even in Malaysia there aren't many women holding leadership roles. There are few, but we could use more. Because as Sandberg states, when more women are in power, we can create an equal dynamic in the workforce, gain respect for ALL women, and be credited for our abilities and potential instead of our gender and face. 

I'd say the way she wrote her book was really awe inspiring and made me realise that women (and men) are doing so many things wrong to avoid becoming leaders! There are 11 chapters in the book and I won't bore you with all the details, my explanation here shall do no justice to this amazing book. 

But I do wish to highlight some points that I have taken note of from the book and from the video:

1. When promoting a staff to a higher position, did you know that men are promoted based on potential while women are promoted based on past achievements? If we want equal rights and justice, both men and women should be considered based on past achievements and potential to bring the company to a success.

2. It takes women longer to jump at an opportunity to lead projects or accept a leadership role because they tend to judge themselves to hard. It is called the imposter-syndrome where one believes that one is not good enough for the job, even though past achievements has sufficed for the job. Men are less to judge themselves and always take the opportunity for leadership, and women should too.

3. "If you want to change things, you can't please everyone. When you please everyone, you're not making progress" - Mark Zuckerberg, Creator of Facebook.

4. Did you know that men apply for jobs if they think they fit the criteria 60%? Women only apply for the job when they're certain they fit the criteria 100%. This is why we should be more confident in ourselves and not be afraid to apply for that job even if we think we're not ready yet.

5. There was a study done in Harvard where the sociologists handed out papers for the students to read. Half of them received a story of Howard's success in life, the other half of a girl named Heidi. Now, Howard and Heidi are the SAME person only with different names. But results have shown that the students took a more liking to Howard instead of Heidi. This is why women find it difficult to succeed in their careers and still be liked. Society's perception is that the guy is always the likable one, and if a girl becomes a leader it defers from the usual stay-at-home mom we usually see, which results in more people disliking Heidi. Shocking isn't it?

6. Women tend to quit the work force wayyyy before they start having children with reasons they want to start planning for a family. By the time their child is grown up and they want to resume their work, they have lost precious years and find themselves even stuck financially at the same pay roll years before. Sandberg's advice is plan when the time comes, but never quit because career and family life can go together if your partner is willing to help you out with the house work and child rearing responsibilities. An understanding and supportive husband will allow you to lean in towards your job without the stresses of maintaining a household.

And those are just the small things I learned from the book. I hope it sparked an interest in you towards this book. I highly recommend this book for all aspiring girls who have dreams and ambitions to make it to the top and make a positive impact in this world with the power that we have. 

Happy reading :) 

Tips in Buying Cheap Books in Tax-Driven Malaysia

A few weeks ago, MPH Click (a local bookstore in Malaysia) posted this at their Facebook page:

And if you read the comments on the right side, many people are saying that books nowadays are getting more expensive what with the taxes of importing international books. 

Of course, in Malaysia everything imported is immensely expensive. If a book in London on average costs around 10 Pounds and in the USA costs around 15$, then in Malaysia no doubt it will reach around RM30-RM50. Which not many people can afford. Hence, the result of many complaints. You can't blame the bookstores, because book taxes are really high now compared to 10 years ago. And if you think MPH is expensive, you haven't seen some of the prices at Kinokuniya yet (and still their business is going strong because of their diverse selection of books!)

I know I am truly blessed with supportive parents (an my extended family on my dad's side) who has always encouraged my reading habits ever since I was a toddler. I know of friends whose parents don't even consider buying books for their children because of the price. So that's why kids opt for comic books or local reads cause it's much cheaper. 

But when you think about it, reading itself is a great investment to your future, it improves your vocabulary, use of language, knowledge and helps you be more confident because of all of these. 

So, in my post today I'd like to write about how to buy international books at cheap prices.

There are a lot of ways really:

1. KEEP A LOOKOUT FOR DISCOUNTS/BOOK SALES.

- They're EVERYWHERE. I know MPH and Popular has tons of discounts every month at their physical stores for different kind of books. I always buy books on discount unless it's a book that I MUST read NOW (which happens more than you think). These 2 bookstores give reasonable discounts, from 10%-25%, on some really popular and great titles. So you save a lot when you accumulate books. They even do school holiday promotions so it's a good way to encourage your children to pick up the habit at home when they're free and have nothing else to do all day except watch bad TV. 

And if that's not enough Big Bad Wolf Book sale makes an appearance once in a while this year to sell very very cheap books (like discounted-95% cheap). Though they sell old outdated books, it's worth it if you just want to find cheap reads and don't care about the latest published books :D 

I personally prefer MPH (even if they have less discounts compared to Popular) because their books are more up to date than Popular. Not sure about Borders, but I know Kinokuniya has some discounts at times but too bad it's so far away in KLCC :(

2. MAKE USE OF YOUR BB1M VOUCHERS (for college students)

- Seriously RM250 to buy any books/magazine/comics (meh) that you want?? Who wouldn't want that? And if you're still complaining that books are expensive, you're just being whiny. 

3. PURCHASE BOOKS ONLINE

- Some bookstores (eg: MPH, Kinokuniya. Popular and Borders have long disconnected their online website) have online offers that aren't available in physical stores. And if your total purchase exceeds a certain amount (RM50 for MPH, RM300 for Kinokuniya), you can get your books shipped to your house for free! Otherwise just add RM6/7 :) So save money and time now that everything is literally a click away. Aside from famous local bookstores, you can also purchase very cheap books from discounted online bookstores such as Bookalicious and DeBook Room. They're local Malaysian online book providers which sells cheap books, and you only add RM7+ for the postage! 

- You can also buy books from international shipping companies like eBay, Amazon.com, and even Book Depository , but the downside of it is that you have to pay for the international shipping fee which can be a bit expensive (though Book Depository offers free international shipping) and it takes weeks for your books to arrive. 

4. FIND ALTERNATIVE PUBLISHERS FOR A BOOK

- Not many people know this, but one of my tricks to finding cheap books is finding a cheaper publisher. Though this rarely happens, it does happen at times. Especially for classics books. One of the affordable and cheap publishers is Penguin. Their classics are usually below RM15 and their young adult fiction are usually RM30 and below. Compared to other known publishers this is considered cheap since some books can range RM40-RM60 for other publishers. I've experienced this for all of my classic books and a few John Green books :) 

5. TAX REFUND 

- This is probably one of the best things of buying books in Malaysia, you can claim your tax relief from you books and they will deduct RM1000 from your annual tax income! You can definitely redeem back the expensive book tax that you were complaining about, who doesn't want to save RM1000? :) 

I hope these tips help you and encourage more youngsters are more interested to read. Statistics have shown the average number of books Malaysians read in a year is only 10-12 books. That's not much honestly. If we want a more improved and knowledgeable nation, we have to pick up a book/newspaper or read more of internet articles/journals. Forget those gossip columns or artist magazines, it's time we read something that feeds our mind with valuable knowledge.

Don't make  money the issue when it comes to reading, there are always the pdf-versions of books and local libraries (though they tend to be far and not very updated, but still worth a try) and infinite sources of reading on the internet. 

It's whether you want to pursue the knowledge or not :)

Happy reading and have a good weekend! 

Do Not Enter

Taken from Tumblr

I need to print this and put at my dorm door whenever I'm in my zone haha