And then, somebody offered me to be an examiner. and I thought, since I’ll be around invigilating thus permitting me from going anywhere, why not examine the papers too? right? Little did I know I was putting my head on the guillotine.

And Allah is Maha Pemberi Rezeki. My old friend offered me to teach English Form 5 at his tuition centre. And I thought. why notttttttttttt? I did not foresee that I might regret this decision later. *cringe*
So, during this holiday, I was juggling three things. Invigilating. Marking and Teaching. I might have bitten more than I could chew. I was running around like mad while everyone else is enjoying their holidays with family and friends. Invigilating in the morning and in the afternoon and teaching at night and on some days I rushed back from Examiner’s meeting in Ipoh and arrived in front of the tuition centre just in time for the tuition class. At night, I was flat out, and I haven’t even start marking for the day.
I received around 300 scripts to be marked. By hook or by crook, if I want to finish on time, I need to mark 20 scripts per day. I was never this disciplined. I am an excellent procrastinator and still is and this moment of typing, but to my own amazement, I followed the schedule and due to fantastic *puke* time management, I finished earlier with a few spare days for emergency.

Invigilating was boooooring. Marking sucks the life out of you. Teaching? is fulfilling.
Teaching gives you a sense of achievement. There’s this feeling of watching the faces of your students who want the knowledge from you, who listen to your explanations without batting their eyelids, eagerly waiting for your next handouts, and watching the imaginary light bulbs goes “ting” on your students’ head is indescribable. The feeling is beyond words. Only another teacher knows how I feel.
That’s why, however stressful I was because of marking during the day, I looked forward to my tuition class every evening. Even though I was really tired from driving and meetings, there’s somehow some hidden energy that fuelled by the passion that gave me strength to teach these kids English.

plus, the money’s sweet too!

It’s school holiday and I’m jumping on bed like crazzzzzy!

will post a new entry soonish, be patient!

for now, I just want to relax on bed with my fluffy pillows!

God bless those who invented pillow!

xoxo

And this time, I’m so excited when October is finally here. Not just because of my birthday, it also means that I survived the September Freeze! YAY!

so okay Nisa, what the hell is September Freeze?

weeeeeeeeeeeelll.

I got to know about September Freeze from this blog (http://smartandsassywithsprinkles.blogspot.com/) , I was inspired by her courage and determination to cut her spending and to create the same atmosphere with less $$kaching! involved. Reading her blog made me realize that I too have spent too much on unnecessary stuff. There are so many things that I could do without and the money that I could have saved. So I thought, the first step is to admit that you have a  problem.

So, hello everyone, I’m Nisa. and I am not yet a shopaholic but if i go on at this rate, my house will explode sending clothes and shawls everywhere.

Yes, I do have a spending problem. I can’t stop buying clothes. But don’t go all Rebecca Bloomwood on me. I love buying shawls and scarves and skirts but not to the extent till I have a lot of Credit Card debt. nope. I rarely used my credit card. And I do this because I don’t want this habit to even go to that extent. Prevention is better than cure! hah!

You know how scarves and pashminas are so cheap? they could go at RM9 per piece, and I would always go “eh apelah sangat RM9 ni”. “murahnye! murahnye!” and what hurt could it be by just spending RM9? but little do I know, that habit is uncontrollable and by the end of the week, I’ve bought more or less 3 shawls. at least.

RM9 x 3 = RM27 x 4 weeks = RM108 !! and that is just scarves.

I blame it all on capitalism.

So with determination I started on the night of 1st September (while glancing my closet that is bursting with clothes) that I would stop buying anything clothes related, even accessories in this month of September.

It is hard. oh yeah. No one said that it will be easy. I cringed everytime I saw scarves sale at GIANT’s entrances and suddenly I realised, the sale is everyday! pfftttt.

I stopped browsing through blogshops and I stopped stopping by at my mom’s friend’s boutique after each groceries shopping.

I rummaged through my shawls drawers and took out plenty of scarves that I bought but never use. I categories them and took the ones that I never use and will probably never will in the future (and why did I even buy them??) and wrapped them individually. I gave them as a present to my Form 5 girls.

They’re happy, I’m happy

I took out all my skirts that I bought before and start matching them with different tops. I now have different attires by recycling my old clothes.

But it was easy since I avoided going to places that I frequented. I thought “will I start buying like crazy again when September ends?” and came the ultimate test. My friend Ainur came from Penang and was telling me that she needs new clothes (OMG!). So, I took her around town for some shopping.

You know what happened?

I did not feel the need to buy things anymore. I saw gorgeous tops and dresses but my mind finally said, “No, you don’t need this” or “No, you already have 5 black pants!”.

I SURVIVED! Alhamdulillah. The feeling to go into those shops and came out buying nothing is great! *does cartwheels across the room*

So ladies, if you feel like you have nothing to wear, look into your closet again and mix and match your clothes.  Do not go out and buy more clothes.  Remember all those money that you could save to buy an expensive handbag! or a trip to Krabi !

So, for October, I’m continuing my Clothes Freeze and I would stop eating out. for real. This is harder I think. It would be harder since my birthday is in this month too. *cringe*

wish me luck guys!

Nisa,

xoxo

Black pants from PEACE / polka dot dress from a booth in SACC / Dark Peach shawl from KAMDAR / Handbag GUESS.

* saje gedik buat outfit post.

** if you are looking for big pashmina/shawls, KAMDAR is the place to go, plus, the price is also cheap.

twas a good weekend. seriously. i dont know when was the last time I had such an enjoyable weekend.  Being the only TESLian in Perak (well, there’s Ah Ying in Teluk Intan but we hardly meet each other) and all my close friends are scattered all over the Malaysian map, I have been deprived of good company.

and Thank you Allah who put everything perfectly for He is the Mighty Planner, I was blessed to meet my beautiful angels Ainur, Rosyada and Farah.

Ainur arrived on Thursday night, whilst Syada on Friday noon. Ainur had to go back on Friday evening as she has to attend a ceremony with Muhyiddin the DPM. *rolls eyes* (seriously Ainur, you chose Muhyiddin over us?). despite the time constraint, we had super fantastic time catching up on stories and gossips, debating about politics and history and pretending to be philosophers with our nonsense philosophies of life.

*ainur and syada on bikes*

so Ainur left us feeling miserable because we could not persuade her to stay, and came Farah on the next Saturday morning. It’s been 3 years, but Farah and I picked up where we left before. 3 years feel like one day and we were all still exactly the same. the same habit, the same blurness. heheh.

On the same day, we went on a short trip to Ipoh to attend our Macquarie friend’s wedding. (SUNNY & GIHA ! CONGRATULATIONS!) and on the way back we stopped at Kellie’s Castle. Being a local, I was never and probably never will be fascinated with the building, but Syada and Farah were very excited. layankan ajelah.

told you they were excited.

and on the way back to Manjung, i received a call from Nishak (my super best friend) and she’s on her way to Lumut for a surprise visit! but it was only 30 minutes. boo!

Nonetheless, it was nice seeing your best friend who is working in Sabah. eventhough for a very short time.

*nisha donned her hijab Hana Tajima’s style*

Things could not get any better than this *grinning widely* *heart does a cartwheel*

* this is getting crazy long, I think I’ll continue in another post (bajet orang kesah je)

Toodles,

Nisa xx

Selamat Hari Raya! Maaf Zahir Batin. dah puasa 6? hehe i haven’t started mine yet. probably I’ll start next week after I got back from the conference. How was your raya? Mine is simple and as the same as every year.

Its been hectic. My students are taking their SPM’s trial and I’ve been sick like a dog.  Again. I swear man 2011 is the year of sickness. I think I fell sick every month and this time is the worst. The flu lasted for 3 weeks and I am now suffering from chesty coughs though I’ve been to the doctor thrice and taken different antibiotics. none of them works. huks.

Everyday I’m suf-fer-ring ( sing to the Everyday I’m shuffling tune).

On  a lighter note, my bestfriend is coming to town! weeehuuuuuuuu!

we’re attending the International Conference on English Language Teaching in Swiss Garden Damai Laut, she’ll arrive two days prior so we can berjimba jimbo an! heheh.

the funny thing about this conference is that I’ve planned to go months ago, since May but I haven’t had the chance to register and pay the course’s fee which is RM300 by the way ( I was hesitant at first. i could get a Nine West handbag with that money!!) . After much stalling and thinking, (and after Syada told me that She had paid already) I planned to get it settled the day after, and on the same day  I received a letter from JPN Perak saying that I have to go to the conference and all expenses are paid. I even got to claim mileage! weeehuuuu. Thank you thank you thank you to beautiful angels in JPN who chose my name. Amongst all the 10 GC and DG44 teachers who were selected from Perak. I am the only one from the humble section of DG41. I am thankful Allah. RM300 could be spend on something else. ehem.

ok suddenly i’m craving for milo ice.

ok bai. see you guys later. xoxo

I wake up everyday at the most odd of hours. I dont believe in waking up at 5.00. I believe in 4.58 or 5.01.

I even told my friends to come and pick me up let say at 6.33? It was never 6.30 or 6.35 and I hate 6.40.

Hurm.