The four of us :)

Recently, I have 3 close friends to hang out with. We're about in the same age, but with different background and personality. But when we come together, everything fits. We have a lots of fun together. We can talk and laugh about anything. And with them, I forget about all my sadness. All I can do is just have fun!

There are two kinds of friends: the one who listens and gives you advice and the one who doesn't know about your problems, but they can cheer you up. Sometimes a best friend can do both, giving advice and cheering. But some of them can only do one. Like the four of us.

You can't say that they're my best friends, because we barely know each other, but we're close enough to spend the whole two days in a row together :)

And last time, I just realize that actually each one of us has a problem, especially about love, but no one bring it up. No one wants to talk about their problem and neither asking about it. Even when we want to talk about it we're simply saying it with no emotion attach. Then we forget about it and have fun! or sometimes, we're making fun of it, so we can laugh at our own sad stories. Together, we are really good at building a positive energy surround us. We turn everything into something we can laugh about.

These friends tell me that everyone has their own problem. But it doesn't mean you have to be sad all the time. Sometimes you have to put your problems behind and have fun. When you're happy, you can think and act positively, so then you can solve your problem. Like the advice from my previous post: throw away the things that can hurt you and be happy!

I would like to thank them for being around when my days are going down. They help me to go through the path that I used to go with him. So now I'm walking down that road with a smile on my face. Because, the memories about him is no longer exist, it replaced by them :)

A Simple Advice

This is from my friend's blog. She wrote an advice from one of the greatest women in Indonesia, Fahmi Idris. The advice is simple, I bet everyone already know it. But it really helps when you're down. This advice successfully calms me down and so does my friend. Here's the advice. I'm sorry it is in Indonesian.

Kita wajib mendapatkan kebahagian karena kebahagiaan itu adalah milik kita. Jangan pernah mengantungkan kebahagiaan itu kepada orang lain. Buang jauh-jauh segala sesuatu yang akan membuat kita merasa sakit dan menderita, lupakan dan biarkan dia pergi. Serahkan semua urusan kepada-NYA, karena DIA-lah Tuhan yang maha segalanya.

I try to translate it in English, tho' I'm afraid the meaning change.

We deserve to be happy and we're the one who live our life, so don't put your happiness on someone else hands. Throw away the things that can hurt you, just forget it and let it go. Let God do the rest.

My advice, when you don't know which one is right or wrong, do what makes you happy. It's all that matter. As long as you're happy, you'll be safe. At least, you won't regret your choice that makes you happy.

(My friend's blog: http://tunsriana.wordpress.com/)

My Best Friends!

In this winter vacation, I go back to Indonesia, my home country. My purpose is to go Umrah, go to my grandma's place, buy some Indonesian traditional things for our up coming event and meet my best friends! I'm so happy, because all the plan went smooth and I almost finish with the list!

On Tuesday evening I met my very best friend in university, with an initial 'P'. She's working now, so I got to meet her in the evening. Actually it's not enough, because I can't stay out late. Well, the time will never be enough with me and her. We always have something to share with. So at that night, in our-precious-3-hour-time, each of us pick one important subject to share in details, then we gave comment and inside joke. It's nice to know that she doesn't change. She's still a girl I always run into when I have a problem and always will, I guess. After a nice chat, we walked around, we commented on everything we saw, clothes, necklace, everything. And again, her taste doesn't change either. The last stop was a photobox booth, we took the photo packages two times. Why? because of our silliness! and yes that is the same kind of silliness we did back there. Even though we had a limited time, but I'm satisfied, I'm so happy to meet her :)

I have another best friend in university and I was hoping to meet her at the same time with 'P'. But because of the time, I did not set it up. So I met her on Thursday, instead. Call her 'R'. She's also working, but with her family in her hometown. And she's here, back to town. So this time I can meet up early. We met around noon. I accompanied her to an English test preparation, then went to EX. We had lunch in Chinese restaurant, but before, my friend thought it was a Japanese restaurant, haha. And we spent 3 hours in that restaurant! We talked about everything. First about guys then about ourselves, our future. We seldom talk about the future, and at that time we also don't know why we end up talking about it. But it was a fun conversation. When we want to pay the bill, we kinda surprised, because it was more than 200 thousands rupiah! It is because they don't put the price on the menu, so we didn't know how much it costs. And finally we get out from that restaurant, and I just realized that the waitress shift is changed! haha well, that explains how long we've stayed there. Then we look around the mall and we moved to GI. She's looking for a shirt, a stripe shirt and yes, the same kind of shirt she used to wear. But after 1,5 hours walking around, she didn't found any shirt she likes. Then we had a lite dinner at KFC, we took photos afterward and went back home.

I'm really happy, cause I can spent a quality time together with my best friends. Even though the three of us can't meet together, but we still had so much fun together. Friends are one of the best thing you ever have in your live. So when you have a best friends, keep them and don't take them for granted :)

Lesson Learned

Last week me and my family went Umrah. It is when Muslims visit Saudi Arabia to perform Tawaf and Sa'i. There are many history and meanings behind everything we did and I wrote down some of them that really catch my attention.

1. Tawaf.

It is where we should walk circling around Ka'bah 7 times while praying. This demonstrate that we should keep on praying to Allah while going through our daily lives. Never forget to pray, no matter what happened.

2. Sa'i

It is where we should walk back and forth from Al-Shafa hill to Al-Marwah hill. In history, Ibrahim's wife (Siti Hajar) and his son (Ismail) were in the desert. So Siti Hajar searched a water for her son. She left his son in the ground, in front of Ka'bah. First, she search it in Al-Shafa hill, when it is nothing there, she try to search in Al-Marwah hill. She went back and forth 7 times until finally Allah gave her a water. The water didn't come from either hills, it came from the place where Ismail laid down. That water is called Zamzam water, it is pure and we can drink it directly. What's more amazing is that water is still available until now, even though millions of people in Makkah drink it and some people bring it back to their own country.

What we learn from the history is that sometimes Allah doesn't give what we wanted and doesn't answer your pray straight away. But don't use it as an excuse to walk away and give up. Instead, you should keep on praying and have a faith, because Allah knows what's best for you and He will give it to you in the right time.

3. Qurban

Actually this is the activity where you do it in Hajj. But last time I went to that place and being told about the history. Allah asked Ibrahim to kill his only son and the one that have been waited for 10 years. But in the name of Allah, Ibrahim agreed. When the time to kill his son, Allah change his son into a goat. The purpose was Allah just wanted to test Ibrahim's loyalty. So this story proves how loyal Ibrahim is. He is ready to give everything in the name of Allah. Today we have to give a goat or a cow in every year, to remember that history and learn the lesson.

Everything that has been given to us will be taken back by Allah. Sooner or later we have to let go everything that He asks for. If it is the best for you, Allah will give it back to you. If He doesn't give it back, it means He will give a better one for you.

Knowing all these history and lessons calms me down. I have nothing to fear. Everything that happened is part of Allah's plan. I just have to ride it with my greatest effort and let Allah do the rest :)

the story of a little fish

Once upon a time, there's a little fish swimming around freely in the sea. There's also a man with a net who just lost his fish. His friends are telling him to catch this fish. At first, the fish hesitate, whether to go into the net or not. But finally, the fish get in, and being caught by that net. After a while, for some reason, that man put the fish back into the sea. The fish feels so sad. But this little fish will stay close, just in case someday, that man will catch this fish again :)

Letting go, accepting bad things and waiting patiently are the hardest things to do. But once you can handle it, you own the world. If this life is a game, those things are the obstacles in the top level, the one we're supposed to kill the giant king. When it's done, you'll win with the great score. Same thing in real life. After successfully going through those problems, everything seems brighter and you'll be so much happier than ever.

It needs a process. No one said it would be easy, but they said it would be worth it :)
Have a faith, do it and good luck!

Life

Life is like a roller coaster, or a spinning wheel. Sometimes you're up high in the sky, but in the next second you'll be down under, even lower than the ground. This change is changing quickly. I know, the purpose is to be thankful for what you got right now and never take things for granted. Because nothing is last forever. So you gotta maximize what you have til the limit.

The funny thing is when you're up there, all parts of your life also makes you happy at the same time and vice versa. When you did great in school, your family supports you and you have many friends around. Everything is in line. Everything makes you happy. Sometimes, this what makes us forget to thank God.

And when you're down, when something happens in your family, your performance at school is decreasing and other things. Everything happens at once, until you can barely handle it. There are uncountable tears that falls from your eyes. Many questions that pops into your head, especially: 'why this is happening to me, God?'.

But, do you ever ask the same question when you're happy? NO. I bet you never ask God why something's good is happening to you. It's not fair, right? You only ask and pray more when you're in a bad condition.

I just want to remind everyone, especially me: to always be thankful for what you've got now, good or bad. Because it won't last long and there will be a beautiful plans ahead.

When something bad happens, you gotta stand up straight and look forward. Don't let the situation drags you down. Remember:

1. Always believe that you can handle it, because God will never give a challenge to you, if He knows you can't handle it.

2. If you think the challenge is too hard, always think that it means your level is high now, please..give yourself a credit. And when you finally can get through all this, your level will even higher.

3. It will be over soon. So held your head up!

4. Never ask why! Because someday you'll be thankful of what have had happens.

5. Don't think too much. Follow your heart, instead.

6. Pray and be thankful. Even you had a bad day, at least you should be thankful that you're still alive today :)

"Never expect, never assume, never ask and never demand. Because if it's meant to be, it will be"
"Que sera sera. Whatever will be, will be. The future's not ours to see"

'nightmare'

Last night, the whole class felt like they were being 'slapped', somehow by our Professor of Turbulence Management. There are 2 Professor that teaches us for that course and last night, it was the-not-so-favorite one turn to teach. He was supposed to evaluate our mid-term assignment briefly and continue to teach the next lesson. But instead, he took the whole 3 hours class only to evaluate our assignment! What he did was ask the best 3 groups and 1 additional group to present their mid-term assignment and then he tell us how is the best report looks like and how does it correlate to a suit? at this point, I was like.. 'What? what does it had to do with Turbulence?' Well then, I just keep it for myself and trying to survive in that class with no interest at all. Until the end of the class, he still says something about our assignment. So then some of us discussed about what is actually his purpose. His assistant told us that some of our assignment is not focus enough. We just explain and answer it briefly, not to the point.

Well, this is the case. The instruction for our assignment is not clear enough. There's no border line for the assignment. When someone asked him, 'what should we write? should we write about this or this?' then he answered, 'you can write anything you like, anything. Use your creativity'. So then we write according to our group interpretation of the question. We analyze all different aspects. Not so detailed, but clear enough that we put all the possible aspects. Frankly, what he wanted is we have to specify and analyze about just one aspects. But he never told us.

I know, we are an MBA student, so he expect us to think in a business oriented, which is focus to analyze just one aspects. But most of us is in their first year, even first semester. Our mindset hasn't build yet. We still need a direction. It's okay if he doesn't want to teach in detail, but at least, he gives it for assignment, so that he can get what he wants.

I was shocked that it bothers me a lot! I didn't experience this kind of things in other classes. It's because they do give a clear instruction of what they want. Well, yes, people are different. But for this one, this is the basic rule in our live. 'If you want something, say it clear', right? Hello, we are not a mind-reader. Do not expect us to know what you want. We all have a different perception, moreover we have a different background and nationality, which makes our perception diverse even larger.

A good lesson in this case are: (1) "Say clearly what you want. Repeat if necessary" (2) "Ask everything that you don't know, in detail".
I hope that there will be no more miscommunication and I hope I can still fix my mistake and get a good grade. Amin :)