Diamonds

We are all diamonds, the precious stone, consisting of a clear and typically colorless crystalline form of pure carbon, the hardest naturally occurring substance. But none of us are flawless. We’ve been through difficult situations that made us flaw. In fact, we were already flawed from the start, where we were founded. The flaws we have won’t stop us, because every one of us is strong enough to deal with them. We went through thick and thin in our lives that made us, diamonds, scratched. Yet we won’t give up. The flaws are the ones that made us unique. Some of us might have different shapes, sizes, and color; but don’t worry, that’s what makes us special.

Tale to tell?

            Some of you possibly ponder what this post is about. Well, I do too. I sometimes wonder what it will be. Will it be fiction or non-fiction? Action or Romance? Will it be an inspiration or a mediocre? The majority of people in this world, including me, likes to read non-fiction romance novels. Immediately after we started reading one, we can’t seem to stop. Well, this also a concern when reading action novels. Anyways, we would promise ourselves, “one more page”, maybe because we have to rest for the night, but somehow we ended up reading 5 more. Causing us to sleep behind schedule, and be late for school the next day. We do this too often because reading is fascinating. You can visualize the story with your imagination when you read.

            Reading a non-fiction, romance novel gives us the feeling that we are the couples inside the novel. We would hope this could happen to us in the real world. The way how the couples met each other, how they ended up together, the conversations they had every night through the telephone line, how they express how much they care for their significant other. ‘O.T.P’ is an acronym that repeatedly crosses my mind every time I read this kind of novels. It means ‘One True Pair’. Fate chose these couples to be with each other, like it was destined for them to end up together.

            I occasionally wonder how it’s like to encounter your significant other. People say they can turn your whole life around, in a good way though. It’s like they’re the manoeuvres in your life that guides you into something great that no one else can. Well, basically to put it in cliché words, they’re the one part of your life that is missing and once you have that part, your life is complete.

            Furthermore, people say that, ‘love at first sight’, will take place after you see or meet your significant other. Where your heart starts to race. You would stop whatever you were doing, and you would only focus on that person. You wouldn’t think of anything else because your brain would go blank for a while; you would only think how beautiful and lovely that person is. That’s what I heard when you see your significant other for the first time. Unfortunately, some of us inevitably fall in love after first seeing or meeting someone who is nice and entertaining, or good-looking to us. This usually occur to us, like it’s a habit that we never asked for in our lives.

            On the other hand, action novels, well to be honest with you, I never read an action novel before, so they are enjoyable to read too? I don’t know. I suppose people can get the ‘thrill’ when reading an action story. Where the hero would jump off of the helicopter, parachutes and make a landing on top of a roof. He draws out his favoured assault rifle and starts to save the day. Killing every bandit he sees. Rescuing the hostages and gets the sexy girls at the end. But that’s what I understand when I watch an action movie. Perhaps in novels, the action story would be more detailed than what I’ve just summarised, as always.

            Anyways, regarding this post, I don’t know what to write. Should I do non-fiction, romance? A biography of me? An action story? Because some people are interested in romance, and the others are more into action stories. I should try to make non-fiction, action, romance novel! Where the main character and his significant other were on a date and suddenly, there’s an alien invasion. The alien captures the main character’s significant other and the main character, then realises he has the potential to stop the invasion and save the world and his girl. The guy will obtain superpowers along the way, and would destroy every alien spaceship orbiting the Earth. Little did he know, the girl he was trying to save was actually an alien too. Apparently she was the queen, the commander of the alien invasion. Capturing the girl was just a bait to kill the guy. The guy, then releases all his superpowers and explode. Killing him, the queen of the aliens and part of the Earth. A huge crater was made on Earth. Ever since then, people mark the crater as a memorial for the main character, or also known as ‘Hero of Earth’. Regrettably, the queen laid eggs somewhere on Earth because of the one night stand she had with the guy. The eggs then hatch, and another alien invasion begins. The main character is not the Hero of Earth. He is the Destroyer of Earth.

            Enough of that. We’ll just see how it goes. Let’s see how well this teenage brain of mine in creating stories for my blogs. Yes. Blogs. With an 'S'. This blog and shortstorytoshare.blogspot.com Check out the other blog if you have the time! New post coming soon! Stay tune!

Dad's journey to Annapurna

 

Dad posing for a silhouette picture
 

In this post I'll be talking about my dad's trip.

My dad, Shukri, also known as Uncle Bono (some of you might know him by that name), have a lot of interesting hobbies. At first, his hobby was fishing. He created a blog about it (http://croxfiber.blogspot.com/ - if you want to check it out. Last updated was on 2012 by the way). Eventually he was done with fishing. However, he found another one: editing pictures and post them in Instagram. Sometimes he would follow competitions in Instagram about editing a picture, ask us (my brothers and I) for suggestions, and if it looks good or not. Sometimes he would use his own picture he took and edit it, and sometimes he would travel out of the country and take pictures. Believe me, the pictures are beautiful.

Then suddenly, somehow my dad is interested in hiking. He would hike every hill in the country, and he did. Well, most of it. Sometimes he brings my brothers and I along. It's tiring if you ask me. I don't know how he has the energy to hike, and I can't believe I don't have much energy as he does. I'm so proud of him! Since last year, my dad went to Indonesia and other countries, just to hike the mountains. He climbed many mountains last year and this year as well. He would go for hiking training so he would be able to climb mountains easily.

Earlier this month, he went to Nepal for 14 days (5th until 19th May 2016) with his team, Team Bruneian Mountaineer and with Ravi Everest (Malaysian Mount Everest Solo Mountaineer). The Brunei Mountaineers: Shukri (Uncle Bono), Duan, Pg Sulaiman, Romie, and Zul. They have hiked 27,444 meters / 90,039 feet + - elevation in total and a total of 55 hours! + - trekking.

They trekked Tadapani (2,630 m), Chuile (2,110 m), Gurjung (2,050 m), Chhomrong (2,210 m), Ghore Deurali and Myagdi (2,860 m).

They also hit Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) twice! On May 12th for sunset and on May 13th for sunrise. Must have been beautiful.
 
Here are some pictures they took:

 

A cool picture of my dad hiking

 

 

Picture of some of the team

 

Dad reached Annapurna Base Camp (ABC)

 

Group photo of the team with Ravi Everest

 

Country flags, who climbed with the team during that time

Map of the journey in Nepal

Sooner this year, my dad will go for Everest, not the peak of Everest, just the base camp. Have seen the movie Everest? If you have, the base camp is the place where there are lots of camp tents settled there. Anyways, all the best to my dad!

Trying something new!

Hey everyone! This is going to be a short post. I'm just telling you guys that I have created a new blog. A blog where I make short stories (true and fiction) and share them with you guys!

Check out the first short story here!
( http://shortstorytoshare.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-witching-hour.html )

I hope this goes well, and I hope you like it!

Reasons why I blog

Hi everyone! In this post I'm going to talk about why I blog. Some of my friends keep asking why I keep on blogging, what makes me not to stop blogging, isn't tiring to type all the things and more. So here I am. Typing all the answers in for you guys.

But before I proceed, I would like to show you guys this. A friend of mine, Luqman, recently made a blog. He was inspired after I show him the post, "Love" and he decided to create his own blog. This is want to show you guys, what he said about blogging.

"Well shit. The thought of writing a blog has never passed through my mind, but honestly the feeling of trying to express how you feel on a computer is oddly satisfying....we'll see how this goes so, bare with me!"

That's his first ever post for his blog. I laughed and agreed with it because it's so true. Check out his blog if you know him or you're interested! (http://luqmanrizal.blogspot.com/)

Back to the main topic of this post. 

The reason why I blog is basically what Luqman said, 'the feeling of trying to express how you feel on a computer is oddly satisfying...' I express my feelings here. I open up the things I want people to know, the secrets that I can't keep inside, the feelings that need to get out of me, the words I'm trying to say just so people can listen and understand what I'm going through, and support me as I go, to stay positive, to never give up and to move forward.

I tell the stories that I think people want to hear. I tell the situations I am in that I don't think I can't solve alone; people would suggest me their ways on how to minimise or solve the situation, and I sometimes follow their suggestions; their suggestions sometimes make me open my eyes wider, I can see the situation in another perspective and realise things that are actually good and bad, or make me think deeper outside the box. To the people who've been supporting me, I thank you, very, very much.

Some people understand why I blog. They told me that I don't have anyone to express my feelings to and that's why I express it here. That's true to be honest. Sometimes, I feel like I'm alone and have no one to talk to about my problems, and even if there's someone to talk to, I'm afraid that they would not really care about it, like they have only a little interest in it. They would listen to my problems partially, they would give the face that shows that they're not interested at all. They would give fake interest or answers to my problems just so they can feel good about themselves because they're helping me and thinking that would make me feel any better.

Honestly, it doesn't make me feel any better when they think they did. I can see their body language while they're listening and giving me answers to solve my problems.

Another reason why I blog is because I'm also afraid that, if I have someone to talk to about my problems, eventually they would be less interested, or bored and annoyed because of/with me. So creating a post about me expressing my feelings in my blog, can somehow avoid the 'bored and annoyed with me' problem.

I just simply give my link to the people in social media, where my friends are in it too, and if they're interested they can click on it and if they're not, they can just simply ignore it. The thing is, I don't know whether they clicked it or ignored it, which is better than knowing them not interested about my problems after I tell them face to face. I can only see the countries where people viewed my blog from and I don't have to know who viewed it.

I only know who are my viewers when they talk about it to me face to face. They would sometimes say, "Hey I read your blog last night" and then they would ask me questions if they don't understand, they would comment on it, or they would help me get through my situation. To people who have done this, you know who you are, and I thank you guys for checking out my blog. Sometimes I think that people don't/won't visit my blog and I know it's bad to think it that way, but hey, at least it's out there. It's out in the public, where everyone in the world can see, and there's a chance where people might accidentally visit this blog and read it. 

I know that the people who have little or no interest to listen to my problems, and sometimes pretend to listen (I don't like that by the way, ever. I hate it.), just so they can make me feel better because I have 'someone' to, also have their own problems. I know that they also want help from others so they don't have to solve their problems alone. Believe me, I help my friends with their problems and sometimes they ask me, out of nowhere, on how to solve the problems, and I, just simply help them. I like and don't mind to help them because I (seriously) want to help them; make them happy, move forward and/or achieve their dreams. Seeing others happy, moving forward or achieving their dreams after I help them makes me happy as well.

Anyways, the point is, try to help others with their problems while you also try to solve yours as well. Multi-tasking basically. There are people out there, that don't know how to solve their problems, and you could be the one who might know how to solve it. You never know once until you try to help them. Even if you think your idea to help them is useless, it's still an idea (any idea could be a better idea), probably an idea that people might never think of and perhaps it could help them. If people need help, help them. If you think you can't, try. If still think you can't, don't give up; find others that can help you help them.

That's all for now. This is the end of this post.

My situation:

Please, make me try, to help me, help you, trying to help me. Please... Help me go into the dark tunnel and go through the other end of the tunnel, the exit. An exit that can free me from the problems I need help with.

Happy trails everyone! Follow the happy trails, not the sad trails and there, you can feel much better. :)

A Healthy Lifestyle..?

Hi! In this post, I'm going to talk about health. Yeah, you read it. HEALTH. That's right! I even underlined it. For some people, that word repels them. They will stop right there, and will not continue. The others, well, they like this topic, and I hope you like it too. Some people want to have a healthier lifestyle; have a proper diet and exercise so they can live longer. The main content for this post is about the method for healthier lifestyle I've gone through and maybe you could try it if you are inspired by it. Recommend to your friends or relatives if they want to lose weight!

A short story before we proceed if you don't mind. If you do mind, you can skip the 3 following paragraph.

I'm doing this post because people have been asking me how I lost all my weight, and some of them have complimented me. When people do ask, I just tell them what I've gone through, and few days later, another person would ask. Believe me, I've answered the same question for like 5 times or more. It's not that I don't like people asking me, I love it when people need my advice. So, for me not to keep answering the same question over and over again, I will just give them the link to this post.

Before I did the method of healthy lifestyle, my friends and family have told me to lose some weight or else I'll regret it when I'm older. This method wasn't my idea. I was inspired to do it. This one friend I had, Nadirah, helped me with my weight loss. After I told her my weight was 102.5kg, she got shocked and told me to lose some weight. She told me to have an objective on why I should lose my weight, or else it won't work. So I told her my objective is to impress her, I liked her (again) that time so that's why. She laughed about it,but had faith in me.

After she gave me her advice, I started to follow it. Surprisingly, my weight was 102.5kg, and the last time I checked, I was down to 86kg in 2 months and 15 days (I lost 5kg every 3 weeks), lost 16.5kg in total because of her and some support from my friends and family. I've checked that weight I think few weeks ago? I don't know how much I weight now. I said "This one friend I had" in the previous paragraph, is because things went complicated with her. She broke a promise that broke our friendship, I think, because after that promise thing, we barely talked to each other. I can't forget about her because she was the one who had faith in me and motivated me to lose all the weight. So if you're reading this Nadirah, thank you for your advice, your faith in me, and your motivation to keep me going and not to give up. Thank you so much!!

The method for healthier lifestyle I've gone through.
Now to some people, this might sound crazy and extreme, I've heard people say it when I told them what I did.

Here's the list of what I did for 2 months and 15 days (Long list by the way):

• Don't eat anything with sugar. This includes sweets, cakes, any fizzy drink, etc. No sugars at all! Even if sugar can give you energy, just eat the natural sugars from fruits.
• Don't eat any junk foods. (Definition of junk food: Junk food is a pejorative term for cheap food containing high levels of calories from sugar or fat with little fiber, protein, vitamins or minerals. Use of the term implies that a particular food has little "nutritional value" and contains excessive fat, sugar, salt, and calories.) This includes any potato chips, and to the people who are living in South East Asia, No Indo-Mee, Maggi, or any noodles that contains high sodium. Stay away from foods that had high sodium in it.
• Eat less oily foods. If your mom is cooking your food, try asking her if she could use less oil on yours or use healthy oil. 
• When chewing food, try to chew it until it is little watery so you can swallow it easier. I don't what this does, but back then, every time I eat, I only chew few times and swallow. After I did this, I've lost some weight.
• Don't put a big chunk of food into your mouth at once. Cut it into little pieces or just eat little by little. This will help you chew and swallow easily. Every time I eat, I will cut my food into little pieces. Like what people say, don't big chunk of steak at once, or else that chunk will stay in your stomach for few days. I don't know, that's what my mom told me, but just don't eat your food in such a big chunk.
• When you have your meal, don't have large portion of it. Just have a small portion. What I did was, I never eat until my stomach is full. To Muslims, this is Sunnah. Just eat until you don't feel hungry and stop before you stomach is full.
• During eating, don't forget to drink your water. Stop eating for a while and drink your water, not all of it.
• Do not eat any chicken skin! 
• For Asians, I know how you love to eat rice, me too, but you should stop eating them. I only had a small portion of rice every 2 weeks.
• You can eat 3 meals per day. During breakfast, lunch and in the evening. At night don't eat, only drink water or Japanese Green Tea. Fruits are accepted to eat at night. After 5:00pm, you should stop eating. Wait for 13 hours and then you can eat again during breakfast, like you are fasting, but you sleep through the night for like 8 hours.
• If you are starving like very hungry at night, just eat fruits, drink water or eat 2 half-boiled eggs.
• Every night, drink a cup of Japanese Green Tea before bed. People say that green tea can help you lose weight, so I did that every night and look where it got me! 
• Drink more than 2 Litres of water everyday. Do not miss a day. Seriously, drinking water helped me lose some weight. Keep yourself hydrated. There's a saying, "If you drink more water, your brain will work better." 
• Have cheat day once a week, where you can eat large portion of food during that day, but you still can't eat at night and still no sugars except from the fruits. If you are up for a challenge, try not to have a cheat day once a week, try once in 2 weeks.
• If you feel you had too much food in a day, try to be more strict the next day, like eat lesser portion of food than usually, make the gap for each meal longer than usual, or eat only 2 meals a day (Breakfast and evening)

What I did, to make sure I will lose some weight:

• Drink only juice for breakfast, or just have a banana, or just a small portion of healthy cereal (Kellogg's Special K) with Skimmed Milk. Can't have Full Cream Milk. 
• During lunch, just eat salad, vegetables or fruits.
• In the evening,
• Exercise at least an hour every night. Do push-ups, sit ups, run up-and-down your stairs etc.
• Use the stairs rather than the elevator, unless the floor you're going to is high. If it's 3 floors up, just use the stairs. 

BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN YOU ARE STARVING, YOU CAN HAVE LACK OF MALNUTRITION WHICH IS VERY DANGEROUS FOR YOUR BODY!

I might forget some things, but don't worry, I'll try to add if I remember. That's basically everything though.

I know it sounds crazy, extreme and strict! but hey, I lost 16.5kg because of it. Everything on the list above, helped me. I've went through to all of it and right now, I'm used to it, which is better because it's healthier.  Just remember, this is the method I've gone through. If you're not ready, then don't follow this method. You could try this method and see you do lose some weight.

I believe that's it for this post. If you have questions, do ask, don't be afraid! Recommend this method to your friends or relatives if they want to lose some weight!
If you are ready to follow this method, you can start next week or tomorrow! All the best to you! Happy trails everyone!

Playing around Part 2

Part 2 of the previous post. I wasn't joking about having lunch, the salmon with mashed peas. I took a picture of it, ate it and it was delicious. Thank you mother! Love you so much!!

 

Anyways, continuing where I left off..

All new for me

29th April

On the 28th April, I told my father about my school clothes, told him it was getting bigger, the shirt and the pants. People kept mentioning about it, like,"Look at his pants, it's big" or, "Dude, you need to get a new pants, your belt is killing you. It's making your pants (on the thighs) look big."

So I had enough of that and told my dad about it. My dad said we'll make new clothes the next day.

Had the best day with my dad! I thank and love him so much for what he did!

He already bought the material for my clothes, I don't know what type of material and was worried, but he told me not to worry because it's high quality. So I just go with it. We went to the tailor shop first to measure the cuttings for my new clothes. The tailor kept complimenting me that I've lost weight, my hip was 42 inch, and that day he measured it went down to 37.5 inch. I thank him for complimenting me. My new clothes will finish on Monday, 2nd May.

After we were done with the tailor shop, we went next door, to a retail store. There I bought a new belt, after that, we went to the opposite of next door we went to, the barbershop. I told my before if we could get our hair cut, he said why not, so there we were. My dad thought I was going bald again, but I didn't. My friends kept telling to try to cut my sides only and leave the top of my hair; make the sides look fading and the hair cool. Another word for it, Dapper; Definition: (typically of a man) neat and trim in dress, appearance, or bearing.

After that, dad asked me where I want to go. I told him about the glasses I wanted and I knew in my country, it would be hard to find. Dad said he had to go to the bank, and coincidentally, beside the bank, there was optic shop. After dad was done with his bank business, we went straight to the optic shop.

There I tested my eyes again and found out my left eye it more blur than the right eye. I believe this is my own fault of borrowing my friend's glasses, the glasses he had was the one I wanted. So yeah, it's clearly my own fault. Anyways, after the test, I asked the optician if there's a semi-rimless glasses. The optician went off somewhere for a while and got me one! Exactly what I wanted and it fits perfectly well. 

Got everything new. Thanks to my dad. Love him so much!! We had dinner together at home, and asked my mom if my new hair cut and glasses fit me. She was jubilant with it.

That one week, I've went through, was probably the best week this year so far. I'm done with this post. I will make a publish a newer one soon. This is the end of the post.