List of Useful Phone Apps

Insyha Allah, someone else may find these useful as I have. 
I shall add more as the time passes. 


Islam: 

• Muslim Central Audio 

• Ayat Al-Quran (King Saudi University Project) 

• Quran iLite

• Bayyinah TV (needs subscription to Bayyinah TV)

Time Tracker/Saver:

• OFFTIME

Expenses:

• Monefy

Travel:

• HERE WeGo (Offline Maps & GPS)

Personality Test - Mediator

According to 16 Personalities, I am a 'Mediator'!

That explains a lot of my actions. Almost 90% of the description is spot-on. I planned to improve on my weakness and being self aware is the first step.

Hopefully everything works out...

2017

A new year, a new beginning. Forgive and forget the pain, remember the lessons & MARCH ON!

HappyDino

Life Lessons

Have you ever noticed that the tests in life are repeated over and over again until you learnt the 'true' lesson behind them?

For example, since I am naturally short-tempered, I have come across people in my life who loves pushing my buttons. I am like a porcupine yet there are always some people who just love to poke me to observe my reaction. In anger, I wish to shoot my quills at them but I just cannot. Why? Because they need to be in contact to my quills for these 'mini-missiles' to target them, and they are smart enough to use a stick rather than their fingers. So, I will explode in anger and they will be miles away from me. That makes me look like a crazy person to others.

Well, that lesson came too often that I realized I failed in every one of them. My feelings and actions to the provocation was too dramatic. If you were to look at it as a game of life, it means I never made it to the next level. I was stuck! It sucks to know I was at a plateau.

Then again, patience is not a skill that you get immediately after the realization. I am still improving on that. My limits of patience has increased and so has the level of difficulty of these provocators. You have the minions, the middle bosses and the big bosses.

I learnt to not take the minor problems to heart, to maintain my heart in equilibrium most of the time (mainly by supplicating and becoming God conscience), and to always think before I react.


Just something I wish to leave a note to myself and all... A reminder to my and all 'future self', to carry on in life knowing that "Hey, you did well! You changed for the better ^_^".    

Mine

Numb Heart

After everything that had happened, I realized how numb I was to emotional pain. My logical mind is now in control. It sensed the danger of any incoming possible situations that would hurt me and it will trigger my defence to be up. I will close myself from that person, which includes staying away from him or asking him straight if he meant to hurt me. 

My mom described me as being hard-hearted. I called it "a way to protect myself and survive in this world". I admit that is not the right way to handle things, but for now, it is the only way I know to buy some time for my broken heart to heal. 

I read a quote "Truth is, everyone is going to hurt you; you just got to find the ones worth suffering for". It made re-look at my state. Maybe I just have not met the right person. Am I expecting too much from a person? I admit that I am not perfect so I should not have expected anyone to be as well. 

Even in this state, I believe that my family will always be the core of my heart.   

My Hardest Battle, with Myself

"Life is not meant to be easy. If it is, there will not be a need for heaven."

A quote I read online. And I agree. 

In my short time here, I realized that challenges are there in life for us to learn and mature. It will also repeat itself until we pass them. It is like a game with many levels, without destroying the boss of that level, there is no way one can go to the next level (unless you have cheat codes). Plus, everyone is at a different difficulty level. Most adventurous gamers would go for the highest difficulty, while others prefer the easy or medium. In life, the type of challenges all of us are facing is dependent upon the resilience of the individual. Unfortunately, we do not know of our breaking point. But God knows, he is our creator, of course he knows. All the challenges he gives, is at a level that is catered for us individually. It is like a personalized game dedicated to each and every one of us.

My biggest challenge is the emotional aspect. Maybe I am too logical, too black and white, too square. I am now learning how to handle relationships. I had never analyzed the meaning and dynamics of family, friends and colleagues. It is surprising that I managed to breeze through life in ignorance. Things happened, and I was forced to think about them. I acknowledge my ignorance, my stubbornness and my failed logic in many disillusioned conclusions. I questioned "trust". 

Years passed and I am still learning about it. But, I am grateful for everything that happened. I will never say it out aloud and will feign disappointment in public when people ask about it. For all the bad things that happened, the good things outnumbered the bad. And when I looked back at the bad things, there is always good lessons that comes out from it. ^_^ Thank you, God. 

Korean Language Studies

I have been studying Korean Language on-and-off. Before that, I tried Japanese Language and Arabic Language. In all of my language classes, I was always the odd student who attend class just for my pure intention of appreciating the beauty of the ONLY the language itself. Most students were interested in the culture and music. Because of that, I tend to lose my passion of learning those languages to completion.


Anyway, here are two great online resources to learn the Korean Language for FREE!

1.  Talk to Me in Korean (TTMIK)

There are lots of sections to focus on here (grammar, vocabulary, culture, etc.). Their lessons are in bite-sized which allow easy digestion and absorption in the brain. There are 9 levels with each level having 20-30 lessons.

For each lesson, there are notes in pdf and an accompanying podcast (less than 30 minutes long). The notes can also be downloaded in bulk as an e-book for a small fee. There are also other paper-form books, such as workbooks and vocabulary books, that can be bought from their store.

Overall, their curriculum and resources are very comprehensive and their teachers are friendly. Their app is available for download into your phone. It makes for an easy listening while commuting.  

    

2.  The Cyber University of Korea (CUK) 

This is a recent found. It is a decent resource for those with some background in Korean language. I read that it was started last year. At current, they are focused for those who know the English or Spanish Language.

There are 4 levels with each level consisting of 15 lessons (less than an hour for each lesson). Similar to TTMIK, they provide notes in pdf but instead of a podcast, they have a video for each lesson. The rate of the videos are too slow for me. Fortunately, its speed can be forwarded to x1.25, x1.5 and x2.  

After each level, students are able to seat for an online multiple choice test. With the completion of each test, student will be given an online certificate indicating their completion. Since CUK is made in collaboration with Korea University, I believe the certificate will be of value. However I read that these certificates only extends to the equivalent of TOPIK level 3.5. If you are one who prefer a more worldwide recognized certificate for Korean Language, I recommend going for TOPIK tests in your own country.    

I hope this is helpful. There are lots of resources out there, but to be able to locate these gems are rare.

  

Detachment #2: Time-Wasters

I waste my time a LOT. I never intended to, but majority of the time I do. Facebook and Youtube are my source of time-wasters. I only blame myself for not having a strict rigid schedule for my life.

Is anyone like me? Everything I do is dependent on my mood. Take this post, I had the urge to write what is on my mind and I am typing it now. My "To-do" list is empty, mainly because everything I intend to do has no set deadline. And when someone push a task to me without prior notice, I will get upset even if I am free at that time.

So many defects in myself. Well, no use in drowning in my own self-pity. I am going to change. Gambatte!

I will now commit myself to not wasting my time. There will still be entertainment, it will just be limited. Throughout my life, I have had successful time-saving strategies. Unfortunately, I tend to drop the habit as soon as my amount of responsibilities lessen or when I felt that I was too extreme. Another reason will be to numb myself from the situation I am in. I have been trying my best to find the balance in freeing up my time for family, friends and self versus immersing myself in my interests (learning new subjects or skills).



Step 1: CHANGING MY MINDSET
My mood should not dictate my activities.
Time is precious, do not waste it.
Be a productive human.
By these 3 simple sentences, let me reboot my mind and code them into my brain.


Step 2: LIST ACTIVITIES, SET A TIMETABLE & STICK TO IT
Paper, pen and Google calendar. I shall give myself this coming week to adjust myself to the routine.
It will be a long-term commitment and will not be easy. Let's see how this goes.