War & Peace

why can't we all just get along?

headlines all over the papers carrying the names of our nations leaders and politicians; giving false proclamataions, and later adding on excuses and scandal other than that of conspiracies against him and our nation.

Puh-lease. i know you know where i stand, but really.

i am so sick of my country's current political condition. we currently still have a leader. we are not at war with outsiders, but we re at war within ourselves. And for what purpose?

focus people. The world is bigger than us. we have to focus on our people's issues. like the current state of safety? and the increase in crime rates?

do something about THAT why don't you? and to those kids who write and talk shit about politics. It's not cool to dish dirt and sound confident when u have no idea what's going on. it does not make one seem intelligent. it's just sad.

Seven - written by Najah Alwi

Bittersweet Chaos and Beautiful Disasters...
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Today at 4:44am
So, seven...
not two, not three, but seven.
Sometimes you hear about more, but I’m gonna just ramble about seven.
I know about seven. I am the seven.
Seven my lucky number. Seven Siblings. Seven Little Terrors...including moi, myself and I.

Seven sets of eyes, seven pairs of shoes, fourteen sets of kicks,
A hundred forty toes and fingers,
Seven birthdays, seven stubborn-headed, contrasting individuals,
Five girls and two boys,
Seven shouting voices, different pitches ~depending on tempo and mood- gruff in the morning, more calmer round the eve or dinner time,
Seven fashion spin (stolen dresses, shoes, and yes even straighteners!)
Seven music tastes blaring into the air,
Seven mouths to feed (albeit two very HUGE ones)... or the allergies/special requirements/ just being sulky...
Two would be giggling, while the other two will be sobbing , one will be hiding, the other two probably just watching and shaking their heads...
One takes the lead, the three tries to defy, two half heartedly obeyed, there will always be one that gets away...
At times there were Four against one, or Two against Three, sometimes we get too tired, we all just go out and have ice cream instead.
Or go watch the movies.
Or .
Divide errands.
Hah.
Or just hang out and play... Jenga, Monopoly...
recipe for unruliness, turmoil and disorder of all sorts.
Seven is diversity.
Seven is me... + six mini me’s.
Catastropic Messy Me's.

Selamat Hari Raya little ones. Maaf Zahir Batin.Cant wait for the fam pic with Nabawi and Naufal outdoing each other. Love lots ;)
x


=- i took this and just post it up because i think its beautifully written. simple but precise. :) and she's my sister anyway. heehee=-

Sahur Sahur!

its 3.10 am and i am having trouble sleeping. NOT that I've had too much sleep.In truth I've only slept for a maximum of 5 hours yesterday, and 3 hours the day before. Jet lagged? Now that's pushing it too far. hehe.

Trying insanely hard to put up photos of my Grad day for my sis to see. And old KKN shots that i took and really desperately want to share with the world; but failing miserably.

So here i am, blog hopping to see if anyone has updated in the last month. Got tired of my old template, so decided to change it as well. Still don't feel like this is me. But this shall have to do for a while.

I just realized that over here in Malaysia nobody cares if you get up for sahur or not. In Makassar, we get woken up as early as 2.30 a.m by the calls from the mosque and a few assigned teens that walks through the housing areas banging on gates and glass bottles to wake the residents up.

Calls of "sahur, sahur," in different melodic verses can be heard and shall only cease when you get up and turn on the bloody living room lights for all the other dwellers to see.

Funnily enough, i find it refreshing.

Happy sahur everyone. It is another day down ;)

Tagged: 15 little known facts

Rules :
1. Each player of this game starts off with 15 weird things/habits/little known facts about yourself.
2. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 15 weird things/habits/little known facts as well as state this rule clearly.
3. At the end, you need to choose 10 people to be tagged and list their names.
4. No tags back!!

how sure r u i'm being perfectly honest? :D here we go;

1. I actually memorize lines from movies that i love..+ hand movements, expressions and accents yes; and i can break into a dialogue sometimes when a situation calls for it. Like when i watch the same movie over and over; i little known fact 1.

2. I hate waiting for people when they bum a ride for me. my limit is 20 minutes. If i stay silent when u get in the car. i'm pretty pissed.

3. I love and know all disney animated songs by heart. hello? "I can show you the world..." "hakuna matata" even mulan's, "i'll make a man out of you"

4. I vow to eat less every day of the week and NEVER follow through :P and became a vegetarian for 5 days.

5. I secretly want to be Angelina Jolie. Gorgeous, Intelligent, warm-hearted yet intimidating as hell. Having Brad Pitt on my arm is not a bad bonus either right?

6. I literally am a klutz with my hand phone. I've dropped it, smashed it, left it everywhere, lost it and even now i have no idea where my phone is. "Eh, have you seen my phone?" is synonymous with the name Nadiah Alwi.

7. i get tired texting past the 7th sms.I'm the phone-call type. my fingers aren't strong enough to keep pushing the buttons.

8. When I'm studying i like to do my hair in many different styles. Sometimes I'd start with a braid, after 2 hours of studying I'd twist it into small Leia-like buns. and sometimes I'd play with a scarf and wrap it; Alicia Keys style.hehe.its a weird habit.

9. I simply LOVE RPG (Role Playing Games) Games on my PS2. i love watching the 3D graphics, i am always fascinated by the story lines and characters they come up with. Final Fantasy 8, Legend of Dragoon was a fave and Breath of Fire was classic. I can play and not sleep for a whole 2 days, Just to finish the quest.

10. I don't like it when people see me cry. I somehow miraculously believe that it shows that i am weak. it isn't just me right?

11. I like it when tall guys have to bend down to hear me talk. because i like feeling small. hehehe.(not much of a request since I'm only about 5"1..)

12. I made a long list of things to do before i turn 25. And now i have 2 years to complete it all.Which i am not confident i can finish..although i have crossed off quite a few.

13. I fear the thick skinned and slimy lizards of all walks of life. cockroaches i can deal with, snakes too. but not lizards. they r just creepy.

14. Love writing, as in letters, old school hand-written letters to friends and family members even though my hand writing is barely readable. And i used to have quite a hand full of pen-pals; Ornsiri Vorayos (Thailand) Emma (U.S.A). Kat (Asia) and a few others..(err..forgot their names- means it never got further than 2 letters maybe. haha)

15. Finally, i have

no freakin idea

what i am doing with my life. So I'm taking it day by day and pray to Allah S.W.T that whatever i choose to do is going to get me through my life blissfully ;)

how weird are those facts? not so much eh?

i'm tagging: zaza, kak wani, farissa, faiza, farahana, shida and hazel-nut!

Why so serious?

KKN is over,

and yes Kak Wani. i am one of the few that keeps playing each detail of everyday in my head, and reminisce the "beautifully painted" good times i had.

And honestly, it was 3 parts fun + 2 parts stress for me. personally. I made new friends, improved my local knowledge and interaction skills, helped the local community as fas as i was able and came home feeling relieved yet a bit empty.

Maybe its because when i got home, my house was empty. My housemate wasn't back yet, my pets Ella and Mocha were still at H's house. I unpacked, cleaned the house, did my laundry and just sat in the living room thinking of the others; how we would usually play cards at this hour. Or walk together to the 'bakso stall'. Heck, i even miss the morning banter for the bathroom rights.

But i am postively cured now. How can i not be? even when KKN was over a week ago, my posko mates and i have met up twice for karaoke sessions. And boy they had a lot of fun. Surprisingly, whatever tension we saw between some parties earlier on were faded down to Nil. Which i was happy about.

Oh, and I got my KKN grade too. A ;) Alhamdulillah.

Now..i am again stressed..but for the preparations of this coming grad ceremony. Sure, its only for S.Ked. Our 1st graduation. But wearing the robe and cap is a right i think we all earned after these long 3 years eh? So why so serious?

Oh what Luck!

Came home for the second time during my 8 week posting and yes. it has been a struggle.

IN the last week, my kordes (group coordinator) and our only other male group member was involved in an accident. they both attained quite visual bruises and cuts; which turned out to go deeper than what was visible. So, they were taken back to Makssar, the main town for treatment. So we were going then , going to be without a coordinator, nor any male counterpart for the most busiest week of our stay.

then Wayan, the coordinator went ahead and told me to coordinate our messed up group. I was already treasurer with much hatred blown my way for somkehow taking the post away from the previous treasurer. So i refused at first, then i realised in truth that my group mates have been taking it all for granted. No work gets done without the boys. i wanted to change that.

And so only after 2 days of my holding the post, i was labelled "Power-crazy chick".
Yes, i made sure nobody showers more than 10 minutes and woke everybody up by 6. But in my defense, our programs started at 8. I'm a planner. for things that i know, i can control.

Today though, is a different matter.

heidy Ika and I left our post in Suppa at 6 am to arrive in campus at 10.30am. Alhamdulillah i found out i got an A in acupuncture! Although Huey beat me to the highest score. i was just ecstatic that i could graduate this september. Then we went up to the production house; where we were supposed to take our grad photo (all dolled up in kebaya and bun) only to find it empty and locked. We were told we should come back tomorrow.

All happy and with one goal in mind (de-stress) we headed to MP (mall panakukkang) for lunch and a movie. (Batman two rocks. though it is a tad long. Joker is saddistic. yet classic.) by the time i got home, it was 8pm. And just when i turned the lock of my front door, all the lights went out. Dang.

So i waited it out in the dark, illuminated by the few candles i could find for 40 minutes before i gave up waiting and decided to go to a friends house and shower.
On the way though, i misstepped in the middle of the road and broke the strap of my brand new sandals. I dragged my feet all the way to Rusunawa (the apartment building) amidst the laughter of a few passerbys.

Oh what luck. Thankfullly that friend was home and got to clean myself, shower and pray before i settled in to update my laptop as well.

Everything happens for a reason. Maybe i'm just meant to get abother pair of shoes. Hehe.


I may be deemed power crazy. but at least it works. for these people. and me. I know i can do it.:0)

It was still early in the day, about 2 hours after leaving the house, we were already in Pangkep.
I sitting on the passenger side of Huey's Honda jazz as i took in the breathtaking view.

In a moment, i felt a sense of deja vu. The view was not exatcly the same (how can it ever be?) but so similar..rocky beach side to my left, as we drove a narrow barrier-less road, with sloping greenish hills to my right. I was taken back to my road trip in NZ with my sis. The only thing different was my companion, and the music playing in the background.

Sulawesi is a cyclist's paradise; or so i read in an article once. It was writteb by a norwegian cyclist who travelled this very road i was on with his son more than once (i believe he said four). driving away from the hustle and bustle (or dust and noise) of Mkassar, i found the rest of the southern island to be peaceful and beautiful. Pangkep is a small, clean and organised. Pare=pare; my point of destination was a bit more of a complicated town with winding hills and increasing traffic. But cleaner, and more peaceful to the eyes than mkassar was.

Anyway, the drive to my post was only 4 hours long, and it turned out that the village i was posted to was one of the few modern ones. At least more than 40% of the residents had functioning toilets (be it indoors or outdoors), access to clean water and good sense of hygiene to keep away diseases. However, my post was known for experienceing endemics of DHF (dengue High fever) and HIV positive patients. Wasn't i scaredwhen i found out..

All in all, we are sent to do our jobs and help the residents to overcome the health crisis and educate them towards a better understanding of how everything SHOULD be. And we are given 8 weeks to do so.

Its been 3 weeks now, and the most i got to learn is that these people are pretty hard headed. Some would accept your help, and knowledge but most would choose to live ignorantly. This is definitely a challenge. And i am still trying to find ways to reach some of them.

We have planned programs that includes:
- public toilets
- sewage lines
- bird flu and DHF awareness
and etc.

4 weeks. that's how much time we have left to act upon our research and evaluate the outcome of our actions.

so far, i have to admit. it has been fun.