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Little Stories 304: The Concert ✦⋆

February 18, 2025

The Concert:

Last weekend I went to Yuna's concert. 


It was eventful; it was my February highlight. I waited since 2010. I wore something shiny, I put on glitters and diamond stickers, and I sang with her. It is good that I can just let my guard down and wear something I wouldn't wear when I want to (it used to be a struggle). 


I enjoyed those 2 hours of songs collected over years of heartbreaks, confusion, and pain. It was magical, her voice was beautiful, and her performance was amazing. My early adult self must be so happy that we managed to wait this long. I'm thanking myself for buying the ticket, it was worth it.


You know what's missing? A printed ticket- it would be so nice to have something tangible to commemorate the event ✦


Here's from her latest EP:


 
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The Exhaustion:
 
I've been pilling up activities upon activities in my already busy schedule. I am somewhat exhausted, but I don't even listen to myself anymore. I run or bike every busy week that I am having. I don't want to, but I do it anyway. Definitely managing my stress better, but perhaps I am feeling extra exhausted and probably under-nourished, and I can't seem to find the balance. I am always hungry, but I don't feel like eating. And I know what it is, sure. But I can't seem to manipulate my mind into handling it better. Having human emotion is so exhausting. 

Here I am, educating myself, self-explaining these conditions that I'm having like a third-person would because I'm well aware of this. I don't even want to ride this emotional rollercoaster, but all my efforts to navigate this better were tossed elsewhere, hidden, ghosted. I feel like I'm stuck in a loop. And I don't know what I should do. I'm not good at being stagnant in one place. 

I can't read because I'm also mentally exhausted due to the busy week we've been having lately. In my free time, I play Sofi's game (Hello Kitty Island Adventure) and collect all the tiny tidbits that we need to loot all around the island. I can't even watch anything online. 

I run or I bike, then I work, and I manage Sofi, on repeat. 

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Random:
  • Here, I designed the ebook - free to download
  • Have you tried Notion's Faces? So cute, I did mine. It is a custom portrait that you can use as your profile photo. Love the illustration ‪‪❤︎‬
  • Baca AlMulk at night and AlWaqiah in the morning - every day. It helped me; it might help you too.

Little Stories 303: My First Gathering

February 12, 2025




Hosted my first housewarming party last weekend:

I convinced myself in thinking that I need to host something for the first time at my house, to bring in good energy, to start the year with good vibes, and to make an effort to have more people in my life. I prepared for months (since Dec to be exact). Slowly, but it was definitely something that I've been mentally preparing for a while. 


I bought the furniture I believed I needed for future gatherings, ordered, waited, pushed the heavy boxes to my house, and assembled them myself with sweat and determination. Like you would be proud kalau tengok how I was pushing myself macam this was a paid small project. Then I cleaned up the house little by little, even thinking through the details of where to put the lights (there were several btw) and how many extension cords I should prepare, or where to put the charging station, or where should they solat, or crafting the e-invite (on the new Apple app: Invites) or what should Sofi wear. A lot of prepping, because I honestly never hosted any gathering at my new place (and perhaps the last one was during the Pilihan Raya several years back in the old house).  


Plus, it can be overwhelming because I will go through everything in my head, and I annoyingly plan everything. I recognize this pattern; this came from my Ma, she's super intense when she plans. It's not that I wanted everything to be perfect; on the day of the event, I flowed well; I just don't want any surprises. I used to have a channel out when I was overwhelmed, now, I need to figure everything out myself, so I rather prepare.


Technically, it was a potluck party, so I didn't have to cook everything alone, but they all chip in and cook/bought something that we can eat together ♥️


The gathering was great; there were around a dozen people. 

It was mostly a chill session. I don't know who started with the yuna karaoke, but that happened. Ha.


Alhamdulillah, it was a great sussess.

I bangun at 5am to masak2, kalau tak best, I don't want to host anything again. Hm. 


Note: I had eaten leftovers for several days after that :D


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Aside from that:

I've been feeling unwell since last week. It started with a sore throat, sandy, but no cough. I lost my voice on Friday. I was feeling physically fine most of the time, but later on the weekend, I started feeling chilly. I hid in the comforter, but I sweated because the night was hot, so it was double chilly. My body was feeling cold, but the weather was hot. Feeling a bit uncomfortable, but fairly manageable. I definitely caught something, right?   

Little Thing 283: Relearning Conversation ♥

February 07, 2025

 

On Learning How to Make a Meaningful Conversation:

Just like learning how to dance with someone new, it will usually be awkward the first few times because you'll need to learn the steps, to feel how the body fits with each other, learn the movements and the flows, where both ends need to contribute to make the dance flow effortlessly. It is a two-person activity.


So the more we practice dancing with that person, the better it gets. Some people can dance the first time together and get everything flows effortlessly, that's beautiful - the chemistry feels divine, kan. Tapi for most of us that don't do that much dancing, they might feel slightly wonky, awkward, you don't know when you should do something, you don't know how to take the cues or take the lead.


Every time you dance with other partner, it is totally different, you will need to restart, and it is important to be open to learn about each other. Some people just don't want to dance with you, some people take a lot of time to be okay with the idea of dancing, some people love to dance but they don't know how to dance with a partner, some people love to lead a dance, some people feel awkward to dance with others but okay with dancing alone. You know, there is this level of openness. 


I am not exactly talking about dancing, but that's how I relate to it in making sense to myself when I'm trying to have a meaningful conversation with people. I am at this stage where I have to make an effort to put myself out there and face the fear of connecting with people, and it needs a lot practice. So, I had this moment yesterday when I relate the similarities between making a conversation and having a 1-on-1 dancing session. 


When I see it this way, it kinda make sense kan. Why having a conversation is actually hard (for me), I can be quite intense and honest, but I can also be totally out of it as well, depending on who I'm talking with. When they put me in this challenge, it make me think about how to make conversation more intentional, so I do need to make some sort of research beforehand, to think through what I want to know and ask, and how to make the conversation 'meaningful' for both of us. 


My supervisor asked me; "What's about conversation that you feel you want to learn, because the scope is wide." 

That also make me ask myself, "what do I feel I'm lack of and what do I want to improve?". 

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It is hard enough to reach to other souls and put your heart bare on a silver platter each time, but at the same time, as D put it; "Don't care too much", as long as you get the clarity and the message right, just do you. Don't focus on sounding stupid or ashamed of what/how you think/feel or assume what others might judge you for, because you will never know unless you try, plus, you can't ever stop people from judging you anyway.


I found the advice quite useful.


So, I'm going to bare my soul to reach others souls as much as I needed lah, and be okay with difficulties and challenges, because I am not perfect and this needs a lot of practice to be better with. You know how Howl gave Calcifer his heart in exchange of magical power, that also make Howl detached from any emotional attachments and his tendency to avoid relationship - because he got no heart? 


Yes, putting your heart on a silver platter is needed to form a meaningful relationship, as being honest and open are needed in forming a good conversation. I guess I need to keep on trying until they accept my hands and try to have a dance with me. And if they don't, it is also fine. 


Happy Friday.

Glad to be back 


Little Thing 282 : TLC for Ladies ✿

 

Okay, I'm going to share with you life necessities for women (or men, as long as you have a wife, sisters, mothers, or any ladies that you care about in life). This might be useful.



1. The Soothing Tea - Learn to make this warming and soothing tea for your hard days (pre-menses and during menses). So I bought this in bulk, poured everything out in a big container, mixed it, and kept it in the fridge. Every time my body needs some TLC, I make this for myself. Click on this list to buy it on Shopee, this is from my go-to shop:

If you are too lazy to do this, you can buy the cube version of Ginger Tea with Molasses (bloaty and nauseous phase). It is a bit too sweet for my taste, but try it. I love it when I wake up early in the morning and can make this tea, especially when I'm bloated from hormones and everything. 

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2. Magnesium Spray—I have a sleeping problem. I always wake up earlier than I should. Maybe it is hormonal, or maybe it is stress; I don't know. So, this magnesium spray helps me have a much deeper, longer sleep. Sometimes, it works, and sometimes, it doesn't, count the good days. 

But I always appreciate the nights when I have a completely 'full blackout' session. 

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3. The Weighted Blanket - I got this for my birthday, my blanket is 4kg. It is supposed to help you get a high quality sleep, yes, it feels like a hug, and it feels good when your body is sore from physical activities. I'm always cold, so I'm a blanket person. Get this blanket, lay on your sofa, and rerun Pride and Prejudice or Bridgerton (your pick). 

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4. MOOM's - cramp/less or de/bloat 
My cramps are manageable, so I don't take anything. But my bloaty phase is really bad and I needed a quick fix, I take Moom and it usually works. I bought it several times already because it just works compared to all the other things in the drugstore - and this is natural. 

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5. Good soup. The basic one is the egg drop soup, very easy to make.

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All my life, I wish someone would take care of me when I'm having my menses (sebab it can be awful and dreary), but I buat sendiri je lah semua.  So, I share this with you, go do something nice for your closest family and friends because this cycle repeats every month kan. Cmana la we can go on living our normal lives when our body is feeling so awful, I don't know how we do it every time, we are just amazing. 

If you have anything else useful to add, feel free to add in the comment! ✿