Say Something...

I never understood why people stay silent when it is obvious they want something so badly. This song is about relationship, but think about it, it can be for anything. Even something minor like the sharing of food!!! (A foodie may take this example to heart. haha...)

Anyways, I guess innately, we have the thinking that "I shall remain silent so I will not hurt him/her" or "I do not want to ruin his/her future, I shall keep my feelings to myself".

No matter how noble it is, is it really better to keep the other party in the dark? Come on...  Isn't it unfair to him/her? Any decision made by your beloved would be biased because he/she was not informed of the whole aspect of the situation.

The best examples will be the plots in many dramas - not informing a blind parent that his/her child has passed away, hiding the love for someone just because he/she will be going overseas, etc. Keeping hush always end up in regret, sadness and anger for the oblivious one once he/she uncovers the truth.

Trust is harder to repair after it is broken. Just tell the truth and allow the other time to heal.

  

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.