About finding motivation in life

Huhuhu hi guys I'm finally like back from a longgg period of not blogging and updating!! Right now I'm feeling super excited to be back in writing! (It's okay, you don't have to be excited for me, the fact that you're taking some time to read this already makes me glad hehe) Firstly I would like to apologise if I keep taking frequent long breaks of not blogging and then suddenly blogging, but I'm still a student and mind you, a Sec 4 student HAHA so please bear in mind that I'm not a full time professional blogger or anything yeah!! hehe so I hope you guys understand, sometimes I get really busy in getting the ball rolling and continue rolling and rolling so that I don't get lost along the way :-)

I decided to write about a huge and diverse topic called motivation. Recently, my school has organised and arranged a 3-day motivational and acceleration workshop for our whole batch of Secondary 4s to kind of like "set our gear steering and enlighten us about striving for our goals" and stuff so of course all of us had to attend the workshop and mind you, one single session of motivational workshop lasts for around 10 HOURS, not even kidding. That will total up to 30 HOURS of the same thing. That's like spending more than half of my time in school listening to people talk to us about motivation and self-discovery etc etc etc. 

Honestly, at first I didn't really like this whole workshop thing because I felt that it was not necessary as I feel that one can only find motivation within oneself and not listen to some motivational talk and then BAM you have motivation in life, am I right? However, as the workshop progress and I attended hours and hours of the sessions, I soon realised what our coaches are trying to tell us throughout this whole thing. 

As for me, one of the useful things that I learnt from the workshop is that we have to stretch ourselves as far as we can in order to unleash our fullest potential and achieve what we want. I mean, don't you guys agree with me? How can you achieve your goals if you continue being stagnant forever and not do anything about your life? For us students, it's more of like not doing anything to the fact that more and more assignments are piling up, more things to do in our To-Do list, more commitments, more topics to learn and revise etc.

 If we don't bother to stretch ourselves and believe that we can do the things that we once thought were impossible, how are we going to get better? If that's the case, we'll just continue being in square 1 forever until we do something abt it. I'm sure we all want to improve ourselves day by day and feel good about ourselves for accomplishing things, perhaps even simple things like completing our homework and submitting them on time :-) 

However, it is easier said than done, sadly. Honestly, I may be the one writing all this motivation crap and seem as if I'm such a great self-motivator or something but I do have my bad days too. Truth is, considering that I have quite frequent mood swings here and there as well I'm a generally quite moody princess (yes, princess without a prince), I myself have difficulty finding motivation in life to do all the things that I have to do aka more work, work and work. BUT I BELIEVE, with the following steps, you will be one step closer to finding motivation in life; slowly but SURELY:

1) Decide to GET STARTED - getting started it the first decision to make to get ahead and far

2) Have faith in yourself - follow your dreams and believe yourself a little more each day

3) Do what you're supposed to do one at a time, with a sincere heart and an intention to learn in mind - do everything with so much love in your heart that you wouldn't want to do it any other way

4) Reward yourself with simple pleasures for every accomplishment e.g. treat yourself to your favourite food/dessert (as for mine, they're CHOCOLATESSS OMG CHOCOLATES ARE BAE)

5) Just keep going and never stop 

6) Know that it is perfectly okay to fall again and again, even if it takes you a hundred times to achieve what you want, for you must have faith in yourself and believe you will get there one day

7) Know that everything happens for a reason and Allah knows what is best for you

Hope you guys will benefit a little from today's post hehe insyaallah :') This post also serves as a reminder and motivation for me too, so we can all learn together and find motivation in life. Even if on some days we feel like we're losing faith in ourrselves or motivation, always know that Allah believes in us and there's always a reason to keep going! 

Oh, and shoutout to all my friends who I know are still struggling and facing their own battle/problems, know that I'm always here for you and you have my back, always. 

                             

On a last note, may God ease in whatever things we do. Amin.

*now trying to settle myself down and start doing my March holidays homework that's piling up*

Continue fighting on and staying positive,

xoxo,

Diana. 

#Adventures_of_a_HajiLaner101 (kidding)

I was thinking whether or not I should write a post about my date with my friend at Haji Lane and since she approves me of writing it, here you go! (Thanks Kelly for encouraging me to write this post!)

And so I went to Haji Lane with my bae (before anyone else except pizza), Kelly, on a fine morning but when we reached Haji Lane it was only 10.30am plus. The shops at Haji Lane open at 11am only fyi so we were quite early to reach there. I guess we were a little too excited to have our adventures at Haji Lane? It was our first time visiting Haji Lane btw, so you can imagine it, after alighting at Bugis, we were super duper clueless on how to go to Haji Lane from the MRT. We even used Google Maps, no kidding. But guess what, we didn't know how to follow what Google Maps told us to do...#adventuresof2blursotongs And so we just aimlessly walked near Victoria Street and blah blah blah until our instincts tell us that we are approcahing Haji Lane. Thank God, we walked to the right place and Haji Lane here we come! 

No doubt, Haji Lane is a tiny little lane hidden away in the heart of Arab Street and it's just a single lane. It's like a hipster street housed with indie boutiques and shady stores in the alleys and I really love how everything's just so vintage and hipster there. There's artistic inspirations everywhere, quirky cafes, vintage shops that sell affordable clothes, sunglasses, tumblry stuff, old-school shops, selling anything you want to get - you name it, Haji Lane has it for you. It's a destination for shopaholics like me as there are many fashion stores available there. 

Since we reached there early, of course it's time to take #OOTDs and #step photos of course! Who doesn't want to take photos at the charming Haji Lane, am I right?

The  photographer a.k.a Ms Kells behind all my photos! She's really a gr8 photographer!

For those of you who wants to know the details of my OOTD:

1) Long-sleeved lace top is from H&M
2) Shoes from Vincci
3) Bag from Louis Vuitton
4) Bracelet from Tiffany & Co. :-)

Next is what I ate at I AM cafe for lunch! 

Chicken satay burger at $13.90! (mine)

Fish and chips at $14.90! (Kelly's)

Honestly, the charcoal-grilled chicken satay burger was DELICIOUS and FLAVORSOME. It wasn't disappointing or regretful at all to get this satay burger!!! Actually it was my sister who recommended me to try the chicken satay burger when I asked her what I should eat for lunch. She then recommended me to go to I AM Cafe and try the satay burger and no doubt, it was REALLY tasty. (altho most of the time i dont believe what my sister tells me pfft) BUT this time round (and prolly only this time) she never lies to me! So you guys should ask go check out their chicken satay burger or their other burgers too (I've provided the link to their website above!) OH and the set comes with fries too :-) I guess the Fish and Chips was delicious too, I don't really know bc my friend was the one who ordered it and she didn't comment anything negative on it so okay! 

Don't feel like I should spoil this good review of my lunch at the cafe butttttttt..., I personally think that the drink that I ordered at the cafe was disappointing and not up to standards (oops sorry!) I ordered the Iced Cafe Latte I think or something like Mocha something and it tasted quite bad to me :-/ I expected it to be all sweet and coffee-ish like the normal starbucks/macafe iced latte butttt then again it was really bitter and all I can taste is bitterness and more bitterness. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to go get sugar myself like self-service or something, but I doubt so as they served us the drinks eh. Hmm you guys can imagine me trying to sip my not-sweet-but-bitter coffee and trying to finish it up but unfortunately it tasted bad to me so I just had to leave it not drank haha. BUT OVERALL THE FOOD WAS REALLY GOOD so go try the burger and maybe try other drinks except the latte HAHAHA unless you like bitter drinks (really?)

OH and if you guys are wondering how much you guys will need if you want to go eat at I AM cafe, I suggest you guys prepare at least $25 because the food there is rather expensive and if you're going to get desserts, it'll definitely cost you more! 

Alright that's it for now about my day at Haji Lane during the December holidays 2k15! Oh god what am I still doing with 2015 when it's already 2016 guys. Please wake me up. Actually no HAHA it's because I took a long time to draft out this post because I kept having other important stuff to do while I was blogging so I was trying to do one thing at a time so I hope you guys do not mind me blogging about my experiences that happen some time ago! :-)

It's a Tuesday night, and it is unbelievable that I am taking the time to finish editing my blog post to update my blog guys. It's weird how I don't have more than 1 homework today to complete and I feel so alien right now. That's me; too much homework: complains, too little homework: complains #lifeofatroubledstudent

As always, what's my blog without a QUOTE OF THE DAY man?!

All in this together xoxo,

Diana.

About surviving the 1st week of school (drools)

Hello friends, we meet again!! I'm so thankful that I can finally squeeze in some time from my hella busy weekend to take the time to blog! It's occasional that I can actually blog and update you guys about my first week of survival in school because most of the time I'll be stressing over school and I don't even think of blogging! But now that I finally found the time to blog, here's to another ranty-complainy-kinda blog post. I'm sorry but I just have to share with you guys and let it all out about how I feel on the first week of school so let's get into this!

On the first day of school, well I was expecting things to go real relaxing and slackish since it's just the FIRST day of school after all, right??? Nope, I'm not right. First lesson in the morning, we just got reminded and reminded and reminded and advised and advised and advised about O Levels that's coming. Of course I knew that O Level is in 2016 for me, but chill? It's just the 4th of January so YOLO right??? Okay guys don't adopt this kind of slackish mindset like me but, I hope you understand right, first day of school and being reminded 1 000 000 time about O's? Teachers, you gotta learn how to chill. Basically, EVERY SINGLE lesson we have on the first day of school consists of teachers nagging, reminding, scaring us about O's and how we should not waste our year and blah blah blah you know it...

AND OH. Every single subject teacher will also go like, "How many of you wants to go to a JC? How about Poly? Whatever option you choose, it all depends on you and your results............" I don't remember anything after that because the next thing I know, I'll be rolling my eyes secretly in the corner and sigh at teacher for being so equally classic. Of even secretly trying to fly to La La Land already (woops). And the next thing I know, every teacher's going to ask you to pen down your goals and expectations of ourselves for the Mid-year exams, Prelims and then O's. I seriously don't know how many times we've been asked about goals and expectations for 2016 which all lead to the same thing: O's. 

So as teachers set us in that mood for goals in terms of academic and all, of course I'm also forced to face the reality and think about what grades and results I would like to achieve for O's. Personally, I want to do well for O's. At least a single digit for L1R5 that can get me to good JCs like perhaps NJC / ACJC. And then teachers be like, it's not difficult to get good points for O's you know...all you need to do is work hard blah blah blah and I'm like I've been working VERY hard for the past 2 years and I'm still getting crappy and low-self esteem-kinda results. But hey, hard work, consistence and determination will help us to achieve our goals, right? So hang in there yeah especially for those of you who are taking your O's / A's / any national examinations this year! Don't give up on yourself because you're giving up on your future which is obviously very very important!! 

Next thing that has also been pressurizing and making my head go haywire is when everyone in the family starts to remind me that I'm taking my O's this year and that I've gotta study. When I'm eating, someone has to tell me about O's. When I'm going to sleep, another reminder. When I fight with my younger brother, he'll use O Levels to bring me down. Okay but tbh, now everything is starting to cool down like they have started to stop telling me about O's. And what's more, living up to high expectation of my parents. My elder sister who is in JC 2 this year in ACJC got 5 points for O's in 2014 and so guess what? I must either get the same points as her or EVEN BETTER. Because of what? "If your sister can do it, you can also do it! Probably even better. Maybe even 2 points you know. Just get straight As that's all!" Like EXCUSE YOU, "straight A's that's ALL???" Hmph, do you think it's soooo easy to get straight As for exams? At least for school exams, it's like 1 in a million years that I can get a single A. BUT WAIT IT'S 2016 SO I'VE GOT TO LOOK AT THE BRIGHTER SIDE OF THINGS RIGHT? I really want to aim for a single digit for O's and I really really want it so badly. So yeah fine, sometimes having a sibling that's smart helps to push you forward so that you got the thirst to do just as good or even better. COME ON YOU GUYS CAN DO IT TOO!!! Believe in yourself :-)

Now that it's the weekend, looking back to my diary, I've got a whole looong list of homework for me to complete. There's like about more than 7 homework to do and that doesn't count revising and studying shit that I forgot since the December holidays. Honestly, I need to get my brain oiled before it continues to get even rustier and then regret. Okay, you can do this man. First week of school too and we've already started the syllabus for all the subjects especially A Math and Physics and these 2 subjects never fail to make me go even crazier a.k.a lost and lost and lost. But worrying for myself doesn't help, so I've planned to seek help from my tutor during the weekends and revise the stuff by myself too so I believe you guys can do it too! Don't wait for the last minute a.k.a mid-years / common tests and then you start to panic and sit for the exams without understanding the topics! Okay honestly I sound like a study pro but honestly too, I'm not. I'm still trying to adapt to life in Se 4 a.k.a close-to-hell year and getting into the correct mood a.k.a serious and focused. It's definitely not easy but slowly and surely, you'll get used to it and don't let distractions go in your way. 

On a side note, I can't express how nerve-racking and stressful I am feeling right now, since I'm receiving my Malay O Level results this coming Monday, 11 Jan :-( I'm really really really scared like what if I don't get an A1??? :-( So many people are going to be so disappointed with me: teachers, parents and teachers and parents. I don't even know whether I can face them anymore :-( I hope you guys can pray for me just like how I'll pray for everyone's success. Insyaallah. Good luck to those of you getting your O Level results on Monday including the Sec 3s in 2015 since we're getting back our MT results. 

May the odds be ever in our favor with God's will.

I trust in Him that whatever results I get, it's the best one for me and Allah knows best. 

Never giving up,

Dee

 

#Throwbacktotheholidays2k15

December Holidays 2015: Port Dickson

Hey friends! :-) Before I start sharing with you guys about my holiday to Port Dickson on 19-21st Dec 2015, I'd like to wish you guys A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! May 2016 be a better year than 2015 and may God bless us with a year full of happy days and nothing less. 

Now it's time for me to share with you guys about my trip to Port Dickson!! It was my first time going to Port Dickson actually, but according to my parents they said they actually brought my siblings and I there before when we were younger (but i'm very forgetful so oh wells). 

So we went there by car obviously because it's just at M'sia. It was a looonggg and tiring car ride of 6 hours, survived through the endless highways and finally reached our hotel called Lexis Port Dickson. We stayed in the Deluxe Water Chalet room and here's a few snippets of our resort! 

Lexis Port Dickson

Now let's take a look at the interior part of our hotel! :-) P.s. I was quite amazed by the solid glass panel on the floor where I can look at the sea right below me hehe (but actually there weren't even a single fish that I saw there pfft)

Swam there too so here's a few pictures of the swimming pool: (and me hehehe)

We also went to the beach there but I can't remember what was the name of the beach haha. So we went banana boating and just went for some beach swimming. 

Oh! And we also went to the night market there and there were a loooooot of food, drinks, clothes and all there. My family bought food for dinner since we went there at night. So we bought satay, kebab chicken, Ramlee burgers, roasted chicken wings, Roti John and many more I actually forgot HAHA. And sorry I didn't manage to take any pictures at the night market there! Woops haha. 

Oh and do you guys wanna see my holiday essentials? Okay I'm gonna post it up here anyways but the picture's not that worthy of Instagram so I didn't post it on my IG hehe. 

1) Coach handbag,

2) Hat from Cotton On,

3) Body lotion by Angels Only from Victoria Secret, 

4) Body spray 'Forever Pink' from Victoria Secret, 

5) Hand and nails lotion 'China Blue' from Marks and Spencer,

6) 'Daisy' travel-perfume from Marc Jacobs,

7) 'Daisy Dream' make-up bag from Marc Jacobs.

Honestly, Port Dickson isn't a place where you can spend your time shopping because during my holiday at P.D, I did not go to any shopping centres to shop. And that's a really big achievement for a shopaholic like me hehe. Because honestly, Port Dickson does not have many shopping centres for you to shop until you drop; it's more of sea-side viewing, water activities and calm-your-mind kind of place. So if you want to calm your mind and do more of like island-hopping and beach-hopping, Port Dickson is the right place for you. But don't expect any high-class or posh shops there because there isn't! 

Before I end my post, I'd like to wish you guys good luck in opening a brand new chapter of 2016! We can do this!!!!!!!! It's going to be the first blank page of a 365 page book so write a good one so you'll never regret it next year :-) 

Praying for the best of 2016,

Diana D.