62ND ISI WSC 2019

ISI WSC 2019 Official Theme Song by Adibah Noor

I am always thankful of how God bless me much more than i deserve. Like how i am at the right place during the right time. One of the blessings is the 62nd International Statistical Institute World Statistics Congress 2019 (ISI WSC 2019) that is currently held in Kuala Lumpur starting from 18th - 23rd August 2019. The ISI WSC takes place once in every two years in different countries worldwide and organized by or in partnership with the host country's National Office of Statistics. As for Malaysia, the National Office of Statistics is the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM). 

ISI WSC is literally like Olympics for Statistics. The first WSC was held in Rome during the 1887. Last time, it was held at Marraketh, Morocco in 2017. This year in Malaysia. And for next two years, it will be held at The Hague, The Netherlands on 2021. The mission is to promote the understanding, development and good practice of statistics worldwide. 

Truth to be told, though i studies Statistics ever since my Diploma, i never aware of this kind of congress. Shame. But this year i got to witness and experience the congress myself. Even though i am not one of the active working committees or delegates, but since i am working at DOSM, then i got about the same opportunity. Alhamdulillah. 

The first event was the World Stats (WSC) Run to create public awareness on the World Statistics Congress. I signed up for the 10km Women Government and i forced my sister to joined the 10km just to accompany me lol. We both never did 10km tbh. And this was the second run that i joined. The first that i joined time was the Stats Asean Run 2017. It was just a 3km run but i was literally dead. Hahaha such a weak lamb. 

During my 4 months of kursus at Sungkai, Perak, our Directors told us to run 5km (and 10km for the guys) and submit our pace, time, whatever to them. I did 5km in 1 hour 9 minutes which was still a success for someone like me. And for the 10km WSC Run, we made it earlier actually but we were so busy taking photos before crossing the finish line, so our time recorded for 10km was 2 hours 3 minutes. The cut off time was 2 hours hahaha. Whatever. As long as i made it to the finish line in 1 piece.  

I also went for the opening ceremony at Plenary Hall, KLCC. Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad was present at the opening ceremony along with Minister of Economic Affairs and Bank Negara Malaysia Governor. This was the very first time i saw and met Tun in real life. The way he talks already inspiring me like a lot. Crazy hahaha. Before the opening ceremony, there was a special session by Tony Fernandez that talked about Air Asia: More Than Just An Airline. It was an inspiring talk because Air Asia may be the cheapest airline in town but still, Air Asia was not built in a day. And it was not all sunny journey as well. 

On the 20th August, i went to KLCC for the congress as a representative for my division. Nothing much, just went to KLCC to see the presentations and to learn new things as many as possible. Once again, the timing was just so right that during the night, there was an event: Malaysia By Night at the Sunway Lagoon Surf Beach Resort. My name was registered during the evening, and we took the bus together with the delegates around the world from KLCC to Sunway Lagoon. It was a buffet night event with variety of local dishes and performances on Malaysia's heritage. Definitely a night to remember for all the delegates. I got to eat extra (i counted 8) dim sum than usual and even tapau another dim sum home hahaha. Thank God for good foods.

Today is the last day of the congress. And oh, do listen to the Official Song: Statistics Bloom in Harmony by Adibah Noor. It's not a lame song at all trust me. But a cool song instead. We listen to this song every morning through the PA system in our office. Hehe. I never really had a dream of presenting paper in a congress. In fact, i was not even keen when my Master's Degree Supervisor told me about presenting my dissertation paper at Center of Iizuka Research and Development, Iizuka, Japan this end of August because i was busy with my work instead. My Supervisor will be going there presenting the paper. I believe it was just not my time yet. Maybe in the future insyaAllah. Above all, Alhamdulillah for all of these opportunities. 

I PLEDGE TO READ THE PRINTED WORD

To be frank, i have never been a bookworm. I never really read books. I can't even remember the last book that i read passionately (other than academic books that i read by force lol). I adore those bookworms who bring books, read everywhere during their free time and even have a mini (or maxi) library of their own. I wish and i would like to be one of them but most of the time, i just prefer to do things online because it's easier and cheaper that way (such cheapskate). I spend most of time my reading things on Facebook which sometimes there are good things to read there too. I even gained some good knowledge just by being on Facebook.

For example, the very recent one was, i just learn that our washing machines are actually dirtier that we think. It might be dirtier than our toilet (!) This is because the water that settles at the bottom of the washing machine is a breeding ground for bacteria. The article promotes the importance of cleaning washing machines for hygiene and it suggests us to cleaning our washing machines once in a while by running a cycle with a mixture of hot water and bleach. 

See? Just being on Facebook is not really that bad at all. Especially everything on earth is posted online these days. But still, reading books should never gets old. Even though we are in the time where we should go green everywhere. But books should be excepted.

I think i should start a new resolution for me to becoming a bookworm and to read more online and offline. Not just because i think being a bookworm is cool but because i am very lacking in knowledge especially on general knowledge. On a scale of 1 to 10, i can say that my general knowledge is just 3. Or maybe just 2. Sad. Plus these days, my internet usage was skyrocketing because i spend most of my nights alone in my room. Hence, i browsed the internet more frequent than ever. I even upgraded my internet data from UMobile to Celcom. Lol.

Previously, i was staying in a room for one too but back then, i filled my time finishing my dissertation or sleep early during the free time. But now, since i don't do my work at home (because i prefer to get everything done before i go home), so, i literally have the whole night to myself. I was once considering to subscribe Netflix. But then nah, enough expenses on monthly basis already.

So, to start my reading resolution, yesterday, i went to the MPH Bookstore at Alamanda, Putrajaya to get myself some good books to read. As for me, i prefer motivational books above all. So as what i always did (other than going to my happy place, the stationary section lol), i went to the motivational book section. And guess what was the first word i read? F*CK. Haha.

I guess it is somehow a marketing purpose like, "Okay, let's put the word f*ck in every title to increase the buying temptation. Because people nowadays curse a lot. Those who curse, will surely buy this. And Thesaurus what? F*ck is indeed, the best word of all". Hahaha jkjk. But these books are not new actually. I have seen some of my friends posted online that they have read these f*ck titled books. All positive reviews. I might be buying these too for myself in the future. 

So, i bought three books instead of only one. Being A Quran Tag Girl, Letters to God and The Principal Girl: Feminist Tales from Asia. It's funny how the first book i was attracted to was the Being A Quran Tag Girl book. I admit that i don't read Quran that often. I used to have a mission to khatam the Quran as many time as i can in a year which means that i have to read the Quran as often as i can. Then i read somewhere, questioning the purpose of reading the Quran. Asking, why read the Quran in speed? We can khatam the Quran like 1000 times in a lifetime. But what is the meaning of the 1000 times repetition if we don't even understand and appreciate the content of Quran? Wow. It hits me hard. Then i slowly read the tafsir daily, and suddenly i stopped reading until today. But in the end, it is better to ready the Quran in speed than not reading it at all. Shame on me. 

To make sure that i keep up with this reading resolution, i will document all the books that i read in this blog. I know the list will be growing slowly like probably only one book per month or another. But at least i know that i am reading the printed word (or maybe just stories on Wattpad) without fail. I remember the first time when i started to be back active with writing three year ago. Back then i wish to write once a week or maybe once a month. I keep track with myself and always trying to find ideas to pour here so that i never stop writing. Little did i know that after three years, i am still writing tirelessly and always gets excited when i am about to blog about something. So, i wish this will be the same with me and reading. And of course, for me to frequently reading the Quran as well. 

This resolution is evergreen. Which it will not only going to benefit me for a short period but for a long time. I really hope that i will keep on reading and make it as my habit until the end of the time. And to whoever that reading this (if any lol), if you are not a bookworm or if you don't read that much, let this be your resolution as well. Because all good things are meant to be shared. Let's do this. Slowly and surely. Bismillah.

SHE'S A SCAMMER!

Guess everybody is well aware that the internet is littered with scams here and there such as attempts to gain our personal information, dating scams, investment scams, fake charities and many more. I, too am well aware of most of these modus operandi. Especially during this technology era that everyone can freely share about what happened in a very brief moment of time. Where we, at the same time, can learn about so many things just by being online even for just minutes.  

As for me, i don't have much experience with scammers. Though i am somehow and avid online shopper that i ordered lots of things online (and plenty more to go). But Alhamdulillah, every orders were delivered as wished. Oh, as for other type of scams, i did experience few guys even one from Saudi Arabia that Yahoo Messenger-ed me, begged me to be his wife. Lol (what even?) There was also this one Malaysian guy pretended that he didn't understand Malay but English only (duh), dm-ed me on Instagram and proposed me to be in a relationship with him online. No meet ups, just online. Hahaha. But don't worry, i'll never fall for that kind of nonsense. And i hope that nobody ever will too.

However, very recently, i was almost scammed by this one MUA on my best friend's wedding day. I already exposed about her and her Instagram account on my social media but i deleted the posts right after she refunded back my money. But since this was my first ever case that involved my money, so i don't want to forget about this and will leave it all here. In my blog. Haha. But i already forgive her already. No grudge no worries.

Long story short, i hired a MUA to doll me up as a bridesmaid on Sarah's wedding. On the day of my appointment with her, she told me that her dad passed away and she couldn't make it for the makeup session at Shah Alam since she's already on her way to balik kampung at Ipoh. She also told me to give her my account number for her to refund my money. This news was a shocking one that made me speechless of how anything can happen in a day. And all i said to her was "It's okay, Allah loves your father more". And thank God for Sarah's Mama's MUA that were at the same place with me at that time. So even when my MUA bailed on me, i still get to doll up. How God is the Greatest planner right? 

I didn't give her my account number right away on that day because i don't want to push her while her dad just passed away. So i waited few days to finally send her my account number for refund but she didn't respond to the text at all. I guess she might be busy and hit me back later on. On the next day, Sarah reminds me about the refund and suddenly we were talking about Instagram that the conversation required me to search for her Instagram account. And guess what? I just realized that she blocked me on Instagram because i couldn't find her Instagram at all using my account. 

I played dumb and asked her why i couldn't find her Instagram. And again, she just keep shut, didn't respond to any but keep being online on Whatsapp. Then i confronted her on the issue and then she just replied, "sekejap ye". But the sekejap turned out to be hours. Lol. 

On the next day, i told her to refund my money by noon. Or else, i will expose her to the public and report her to the police. Especially when she was all online on Whatsapp and active on her Instagram which was obvious enough that she was ignoring me on purpose. And again, she just replied "sekejap ye" and ignored me again for another effing hours. Of course, i ran out of my patience. Then i asked, "Kenapa tak refund lagi ya? Apa issue dia sebenarnya? Apa yang susah sangat?". Because she really was ignoring me on purpose without any valid explanation. And then she was like, "Busy. Sabo jap. If by tonight tak refund, nak report, report lah". Wow. Just wow. I told her by noon but now it's postponed to tonight. And she also blocked my Whatsapp right away after she replied that. Smh.

During the night, i was waiting and waiting and i just couldn't wait anymore. I dm-ed her using my idle IG shop about the refund because she blocked my personal Instagram and 2 of my Whatsapp numbers (!) And right after she read my message, she blocked my IG shop pula right after. SHE. WAS. INSANELY. RUDE. 

And so, right after that, i posted a screenshot of her Instagram account on my social media accounts. Yes. It was a viral attempt. I spill everything on the posts because i believe that if she can do that to me, lied to me, blocked me and took my money, it is possible enough for her to do the same damn thing to another. Imagine if she did this to 10 people or 20 or many more? And i stand with berani kerana benar philosophy. Because there's no way she can twist me on that issue. NO. EFFING. WAY! All the evidence are with me, i got all the screenshots and whatnot. I mean, i hate doing the harsh way but if i had to, i will do it. 

And guess what? After only about 15 minutes of the viral attempt, she unblocked me on Whatsapp and returned my money back to me. Alhamdulillah. She told me that she was really busy. Then i thanked her and said that i don't mind if she didn't has the time yet. But why blocked me everywhere? And just like that, she blocked me again for the very last time. Hahahaha. I swear it was the funniest of her. But don't worry girl, i got my money back so i won't find you no more. Don't even want to. Enough energy i spent on you. 

Let this be a lesson to us all. This can happen anytime to anyone. I pray that i don't have to face and deal with such scammers no more especially on my big days such as engagement day or wedding day. Amin YRA! It's sad and pathetic especially how people want to take for granted and ruining someone's big day by being a scammer and steal their money. You have no idea how devastating the feeling would be. Nauzubillah. Please be reminded that during this lifetime, we can simply take people's money and belongings, twist the story, be mad at them when they are angry for your wrongdoing, shut them down and after few phases, they are tired with your crap, so they let you go. You may feel good with the current situation and proceed with another prey. But, in the hereafter, whatever you do, no matter how far you run, JUSTICE ONLY FAVORS THE TRUTH. Because Allah is never unjust in the least degree. For verily, Allah is not unjust to His servants. 

MY BEST FRIENDS ARE MARRIED!

MY BEST FRIENDS ARE MARRIED! Alhamdulillah for all the blessings. My BFF, Sarah got engaged on the 28th January 2018 on her 25th birthday. I was the only friend present at the ceremony at Bukit Jelutong. And ever since, the wedding preparations were on and on, this and that until the day of the wedding. I didn't contribute much on her wedding but what can i say is that, i've seen how she's going back and forth, here and there, how crazy worried she was over a very late reply from her MUA, how the nikah was supposed to be on the same day with the wedding reception but then the plan changed and etc etc. The hustle was just as real as it gets. 

And i am so happy that in the end, on the wedding day, everything went well just as planned. Yes, there were lacking here and there but that were only the minors and i bet no other people really see the flaws but the bride and close relatives / friends. So yeah. Alhamdulillah and i am as always, really happy for her. 

Guess i don't have much to say to her because i've said it all since i am such a grumpy mom. Lol. But knowing myself, i know there are always a lot to say especially to her. So here we go again. 

To the girl / woman who give me so much assurance that i will have that one close friend forever, that she even grow me into an independent someone who don't even bother to make time to find another close friend in the world because i know i already got one for life (but i do make new friends guys! In case if people think that i am so, whatever lol). Sarah Yazmin, tomorrow marks a week of you being a wife. And i am still stuck in between believing that you are now such a grown up woman and sumpah lah Sarah dah kahwin ni (?) Haha. I am beyond happy that you wedding was held so beautifully. Your 1+ year of planning, saving and hard work are all paid off. Since i am such a momma but sometimes sucks at giving good advice, so i've been reading and take note on few out of many marriage advice online before i blog this. Lol. Hence, here are some for you (and me) to ponder to becoming a good wife:

1. Be your spouse's best friend. By being his best friend, you got to show interest in his interests (not just vice versa). I believe that not everything that your spouse likes could interest you but do give your spouse the space to pursue his interests in whatever he choose to have interest at. So there would be no such thing as being the lame-only-stuck-with-wife guy after marriage. I'm not saying that it is the bad thing, but you know what i mean. We've seen few bad examples. So let us together avoid that. 

2. Love his family as your own and NEVER force your spouse to choose between you and his family either directly or indirectly. Because he may choose you and pick your side today and tomorrow, but in the end, same goes to us, we will realize that it was our family who were there first before our spouse. I believe that in marriage, there should never be things like, "my family" and "your family" because all together are one family now. I remember this one quote from Cinta Paling Agung movie. Not exactly but the quote sounds like this; "Suatu hari nanti, dia bisa jadi bekas suami kamu. Tetapi mama dan papa tak akan pernah jadi bekas mama dan papa kamu". The quote hit me hard of how parents and family always comes first no matter how we try put anyone before them. 

3. Last but not least; It's not about the amount of money that we spend, but it's about the thought that goes into something. I believe that this is nothing new to both of us. And so far, i guess, we did well in this department. We did and do spare our thoughts and effort for everybody that we love and care. But somehow, being a gender that have good reason for such caution, i know that we talk a lot compared to our spouse that we tend to listen with the intent to reply instead of listen with the intent to understand. What i have learned is that, to be unified, talking and listening to each other is absolutely necessary. So, always listen to him either when he was talking or when the silence do the talking. And of course, he got to listen to you too. I mean, duhh! Haha. 

After all, this is not just the advice for you but also for myself, for my own reference in the future. In the end, everybody knows the basic 'rules' and secrets to a long marriage. But how we understand and practice the 'rules' makes us differ from others. No two relationships are ever the same in this world. Therefore, we know ourselves better, we know us better compared to others. And all we can do is to always have faith, give our best and make du'a to our only Creator. InsyaAllah, the relationship and marriage will happily last forever. Amin YRA. 

Never to forget, my one and only Nadia Natasya, the one that always next to me with her marching horn / french horn for solid 5 years without failed. My cakap laju champion kinda friend, even my jemah highest level cannot beat her talking speed. Hahaha. Tasya got married the same time as Sarah. Tasya reception was on the 27th July 2019 which the same time with Sarah's reception where i was Sarah's maid of honour. 

Funny story was, i've already told in our WhatsApp group that whoever want to get married, please do not get married on the 27th July because i will be so unavailable no matter what. I remember Tasya texted me and said "Kalau aku nak kahwin juga 27/7 tu macam mana?". I was like, okayyy what now? Can i cut myself into two please? Lol! But since, i don't love Tasya that much to sacrifice and cut myself to two to death (i mean, i wish to live longer haha). So i went to Tasya's at Pekan, Pahang the next day after the reception to give Tasya her precious wedding gift, which is me in front of her eyes. Hahaha.

I went to Pahang with my sister. Thank God for the economy class flight that me and my sister can go from KL to Pahang in just 40 minutes. I wonder how cracked i would be if i have to drive all the way featuring my barai-ness from the previous reception. First stop was Tasya's house at Pekan, then we went to Kula Cakes and Teluk Cempedak together with the newlyweds, Qistina (my long lost 2 years bedmate) and Tasya's Japanese friend, Saco. It was a well spent Sunday. 

Dear Tasya, congratulations on your union with Shadiq. I am happy that you choose Shadiq to be your husband. I believe that he will be a very good husband of yours and i have no doubt of you being the best wife to him. I apologize for couldn't make it to your bachelorette party, your nikah and your wedding day. But please be known forever that if i was all available on that day, i am 1000% sure that i'll be there for you. I know you have so many close friends now that we are not that close anymore but thank you for still expecting me to be there on your big day and told me about your happiness and few disappointments during the wedding. Which i know that you still trust me even today. Please read the three bold-numbered paragraphs above as marriage advice from me to you as well hehe. May Allah bless your union and shower His blessings upon you and your husband. And unite both of you in goodness. Amin YRA. Enjoy your final year in Japan. Please come back to Malaysia for good. And even though i didn't make it to your wedding on time, i really hope that you can make it to my wedding in the future. Hahaha. Life is unfair. But at least we still love each other xx