Random Picts..

Someday,, these places..
Aamiin...

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Coincidences..??

Is there any coincidence in this world?

Or,, all of events happened to us are already set by Allah??

Is this a coincidence when my luvly friend and I started to fell uncomfortable in our office,, at almost at the same time??

Is this a coincidence when we both thinking about start a business instead of looking for another office-based-job?? :P

Is this a coincidence when my other friend offering private tutoring job for me whereas I consider to not extending my contract??

Is this a coincidence when the offer is exactly what I thought of activities I would do when I'm not becoming teacher here anymore??

Unfortunately,, because the offer is tutoring 3th grade of Senior High School students, I was not confident enough to accept it. Integral, matrix, bla bla bla... 0_o

Moreover, I think my teaching schedule is too tight. So, I already said no to my friend.

But, my friend texting me again yesterday. She told that she haven't got the tutor for the students. And because the students will have an exam for the next week, she asked me whether I have a free time tomorrow (which is today) to tutoring them at afternoon. Just for tomorrow. Just temporary. And because I only teach in the morning at Friday, I said yes.

Is this a coincidence when my friend haven't got the tutor whereas the students will have the exam next week??

Is this a coincidence when at Friday, I only teach in the morning??

And if everything are already written in Lauhul Mahfudz, even a single drop of rain or a fall of leaves, I'm asking again, is there any coincidence in this world??

Allah, please guide us..

Final Destination

Last month, two of my relatives died almost at the same time. One was my auntie from Ayah, died in the night of Eid Al Adha. The second was my uncle from Ibu (not real uncle, exactly,, kind of the husband of Ibu's cousin), died in 29th October, 2012.

Because of this almost-at-the-same-time circumstance, it reminds me of our closest friend. Our loyal friend. A friend that never really leave us. Death..

Usually, if we death, people who ever know us will remember about our life: what we did, what we said, what we told, how we treated them, etc.

Then, I am asking myself,, how will people remember me when I am already death?

Nobuhiro Watsuki in Samurai X write, "the quality life of someone could be determined by the numbers of mourners coming to  his/her death ceremony".

The next question is,, how many people who will come to my house when I die, praying for my forgiveness?

When I was in college, one of my senior said that death is a breaker of our grace in the Earth.

We would not meet our parents, our family, and our beloved friends anymore.

Since we are moslems, it is also known that death is not the end. Death is the beginning of our other life. The other life where we will be questioned about our life in the Earth. The other life where we will be asked about anything we did in the Earth.

And the last question is,, are we ready about that??

Am I ready about that??

...........

...Rabbana aatina fid dun yaa hasanah, wa fil akhiroti hasanah, wa qinaa ‘adzaban naar... Aamiin...

There might be something wrong with my...

... tongue.. hehe

It was a couple weeks a go when I really wanna eat sushi.

Googling for some place, I found this place.

And, it was saturday afternoon when I went to it.

Because I had not having lunch yet, I ordered anything with rice and, of course, sushi..

Enw, while waiting for the foods, the waitress gave edamane. :9

Waiting a couple of minutes, and here they were,, lying in front of me: Chicken Curry and Unagi Crispy Roll,, a kind of fushion sushi.

Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of the foods. I was busy to think, which one do I have to finish first..  :P

The Chicken Curry was emm,, emmm.. It was good actually, but its taste was the same as the taste of Sarimie Chicken Curry.. Seriously..

And,, the Unagi Crispy Roll was good also. But, as I mentioned before, there might be something wrong with my tongue. My tongue was not accustomed with the fish egg's taste. Yeah, that cute-orange-things somehow was not suitable for me, whereas the reason I choose that sushi was because of that things. Aarrrgghhh...

The hardest part was, because it is prohibited to throw foods, I insisted my self to eat that sushi. Whoaaa, such a "pleasant" activity. hehe... 

And don't worry, it doesn't make me stop eating sushi, though. I still love that Japanese food, and I decide to accustomed my tongue with the fish egg.

So, another sushi day?? Just call me pleasee.. ^^

Halal Cosmetiques

As a ladies, it's our fate to make friends with cosmetiques. Maybe not a complete cosmetiques like this, but at least facial wash, moisturizer, loose powder, and lipbalm are must-have-cosmetiques-item for ladies *curhat.. :P 

No, it's not only about style. Each of the items I mentioned before has its function for our skin's health. You can ask Mr. Google to find it..  :)

On the other hand, as a moslems, we have to make sure that halal is our priority.
Now, as being a ladies and moslems, the next question is, "Are our cosmetiques halal?"

Lucky for us in Indonesia, there are some brands that already have halal certificate. Here they are:

1. Wardah
2. Ristra (news about it)
3. La Tulipe (news about it)
4. Sari Ayu (news about it)
5. Caring Colour (news about it)
7. Inez

If you use overseas brands, you could take a look at this page also. Hopefully anything written there could be accounted.  :)

What about the other brands?

I think it doesn't mean that the not-having-halal-certificate-brands-yet are not halal, but it's safer if we use the already-having-halal-certificate-brands.

Or, you could take a look at the ingredients. There are some ingredients that are categorized as musbhooh because usually they origins from animal. Here they are: allantoin (alantoin), asam amino, cholesterol, kolagen, colours/dye, cystine (sistina), elastine, gelatine (gelatin), glycerine (gliserin), hyaluronic acid (asam hialuronat), hydrolysed animal protein, keratin, lanolin, lypids, oleic acid (asam oleat), stearic acid (asam stearat), stearyl alcohol, tallow (lemak hewan), vitamin A.

Personally, I think that using cosmetiques properly is good, but using halal cosmetiques properly is the best.

p.s.:

You might wanna read this also..  :)

Titip Absen

Gak di sini gak di sana, gak dulu gak sekarang, mengabsenkan dan titip absen adalah budaya yg mewarnai kehidupan mahasiswa. 

Sebenarnya, ga ada yang dirugikan dalam budaya ini. Mahasiswa yang ngabesin jelas ga rugi apa2. Mahasiswa yang diabsenin jelas bakal untung: jatah ga-masuk-nya ga berkurang, cuy. Dosen, pastinya ga bakal rugi jg. Mau yang masuk sekampung kek, mau yang masuk sebiji kek,, asal kuliah tetep ada sesuai jadwal, masi digaji kok.

Tapi, apakah sesuatu yang membudaya kemudian bisa menjadi suatu kebenaran? Tergantung budayanya se ya, tapi yang jelas belum tentu. Dan dalam kasus ngabsenin dan titip absen, jelas bukan kebenaran lah ya.

Lebih lanjut lagi, suatu hal yang sering dilakukan itu akan jadi kebiasaan. Karena kebohongan itu akan melahirkan kebohongan-kebohongan lain, brarti kan mendorong pembohong untuk menjadi sering berbohong. Nah, takutnya, keseringan ini akan berubah menjadi kebiasaan dan kebiasaan ini akan jadi pembenaran terhadap kegiatan berbohong itu sendiri. *mbulett..

Saya tentunya ga mau lah berbohong kalo nggak kepepet :P. Dan pastinya, saya gak mau banget kalo orang yang berada di sekitar saya jg jadi pembohong.

Lebih spesifiknya lagi, saya ndak mau mahasiswa saya jd pembohong. Saya ga mau mahasiswa saya jd orang yang suka titip absen. Saya lebih suka kalo mereka datang ke saya, minta ijin ga bisa masuk karena satu dan lain hal (yang syar'i tentunya). Bukankah semuanya bisa dikomunikasikan?

Intinya, jujur yang lebih utama. Titik. Ga pake koma. Jujurlah,, walo mungkin sedikit pahit. Walo mungkin akan ada beberapa pihak yang tersakiti. *tsahh.. bahasa saya.. :P

Tentunya, kan sangat aneh kalo kita teriak2 di jalan, teriak-teriak di fesbuk, twitter, ato socmed, apapun tentang save KPK, stop kriminalisasi KPK, hukum mati koruptor, dan sejenisnya,, tapi sedikit banyak kita telah menumbuhkan benih korupsi dalam bentuk ketidakjujuran td.

Apakah saya tidak pernah berbohong? Well, I'm working on it.

Sebisa mungkin saya menghindari berbohong. Takut jadi kebiasaan soalnya.

Iya benar, kita bukan malaikat yang hidupnya lurussss aja.
Iya benar, kita bukan makhluk sempurna.
Tapi, bukankah semua adalah pilihan?
Dan bukankah setiap pilihan kita nantinya akan dimintai pertanggungjawabannya di akhirat kelak?

Tapi, kembali lagi, mempercayai akan adanya akhirat, surga, dan neraka juga tentunya adalah pilihan.. :)

Jadi, mulai dari diri sendiri, mulai dari hal terkecil, dan mulai dari sekarang untuk tidak berbohong.


*ditulis dengan sangat emosional penuh semangat sehabis kejadian perkara..  :P
*saking semangatnya sampe belum di-English kan.. hehe

About Reading

Personally, I think reading is a very good habit.
 

When I was a child, every week, my parents, my brother, and I went to Gramedia. No, it doesn’t mean that every week we have a new book. My brother and I just walked around there, opened some books that were looked interesting. But sometimes, we got new book though,, comic or fairytale book.  Besides books, our parents also accustom us with any kind of reading material, such as newspapers or magazines. Simply said, maybe our parents just wanted us to be familiar with reading activities and I really appreciate that. Thanks a lot, Ibu and Ayah..  :*

Now related to reading, some of my friend and I,, well, we called ourselves as a member of morning mailist, since almost every morning we share everything using email, whether it is an article, an inspiring story, or maybe an update about our lives. Hmm, really love you all, gals.. :)

Ok ok,, back to the topic. Now, some of my friends and I make a list of our book collection. We plan to make some kind of lending-borrowing our book each other. It’s such a great idea, isn’t it? Personally, I think that it’s kind of cheap way to enhance our knowledge. Hehe.. ^^v

Hmm,, can’t wait meeting up with them all.

Btw, a marriage tour of my friends is about to come. Have to prepare the permission proposal to Ibu.. Hehehehe..

English or Bahasa...???

Basically, the reason why i use English as my blog language is not because i’m expert in it. Otherwise, it’s one of my efforts to get accustomed with that language.

But, because sometimes i found it’s hard to describe something with that language due to my limited vocab, i once thought that maybe it’s better for me to use Bahasa as my blog language. Well, it’s sometimes  become a troublesome when i wanna write something but i have to translate it to English. Definitely, it takes time.. *sigh..  *curcol..  :P

But, just about a few days ago when i told about it to my luvly friend, she said, “Why? Tired of using English?” Well, tired?? Maybe, hehe..

“I consider to use English in my blog, though.” , she added.

And, that’s when i think, “Well, go back to the reason why you choose to have a blog, satya. And why you choose this language.”

Maybe it is troublesome,, but it’s worth. Maybe the advantage can’t be showed now, but who knows a few years later? Maybe an increase on my TOEFL score?? Hehe.. *ngarep..  :P

So, i decide to continue using English as my blog language. Thank you my luvly friend… *hug

Halal Foods

As a moslems, it's a must for us to make sure all foods we wanna eat are halal. Halal here means halal entirely, from the ingredients we use, the way we get the ingredients, also the way we cook those foods. Alhamdulillah, lucky for me and moslems in Indonesia, halal foods are very easy to be found here. :)
As number of moslems in the world is increasing, halal foods also can be found in this world. But, just in case someday you go abroad, especially in Europe, maybe for recreation or something, here are some ingredients you must aware for,, enjoy..
E101, E106, E120, E 140, E141, E153, E160a, E161a, E252,  E339, E430,E431, E432, E433, E435, E436, E440, E470, E471, E472, E473, E474, E475,E476, E477, E478, E481, E482, E483, E491, E492, E493,E494, E495, E542,E570, E572, E631, E635, E904.
source: here 
 

Last Assignment of EFS Course

Here was my final task for EFS Course.
Since it was in Ramadhan, so I translated an article about Ramadhan stuff,, breaking fasting according to Rasulullah..
Okee,, I know it's already Syawal. But,, breaking fasting doesn't occur only in Ramadhan, does it??
Enjoyy..

Let’s break the fast with sweet one??

I’m sure most of us hear that sentence frequently. Yes, that is a tagline from one of beverages commercial.  If we hear about sweet, we will connect it to one material, sugar. That is why, most people usually break their fast with kolak or other beverages containing with sugar, such as es campur, es teler, etc.  As a moslem, we are recommended to follow our prophet’s Sunnah, aren’t we? So, what Rasul has told us about breaking the fast? Anas Ibnu Maalik said, “The prophet used to break his fast with fresh dates before he prayed. If he did not find fresh dates, then he would use the dried dates. If he did not find that also, he drank a few sips of water” (narrated by Ahmad and Abu Dawood).

So, next question is, “Does dates have any similarity with all those sweet beverages?”. If I were you, I would answer it certainly, “Nope”. Maybe you would argue me since the dates is tasted sweet, just like sugar. But actually, fresh dates is not that sweet. Fresh dates is high nutritious fruit with low calorie. The dates imported to Indonesia is confectionery dates. As we know, since it is confectionery, a lot of sugar is added to the dates. In Indonesia, it is very rare for us to find fresh imported dates.

The next point differentiating dates and those beverages is their contents. Dates is a complex carbohydrate, while sugar, as contain in sweet foods, is simple carbohydrate. When we are fasting, the quantity of glycogen in our blood  is decreasing. Because dates is a complex carbohydrate, it is needed more time to change it to become glycogen, while a simple carbohydrate is faster. So, if we break our fast with sweet beverages, the quantity of glycogen will increase simultaneously. And this is not good at all.

As we know, the quantity of glycogen in our bloods is maintaining by insulin hormone, which is produce by pancreas. So, we could imagine what will happen to our pancreas if there is a significant increasing of glycogen’s quantity in our bloods. Yes, it will work harder than normal condition. Furthermore, it is also known that the reactions of insulin hormone also have a connection with the way of our body in storing fat, the quicker the response, the more fat are stored. In the other words, breaking our fast with sweet beverages will make our insulin hormone to response quicker, so our body will store more fat.

Why risking our health?? Let’s not break our fasting with the sweet one, but with dates or water.

source: a note from MSI Ulul Ilmi

A new semester.. ^^

Huweeee,, it's been a month since my last posting..
Been busy about lokakarya, crash semester, etc.. *excuse..excuse..  :P

And,, it's been a year I'm here. In this semester, I'm given responsibility to handle the class alone. Only by myself. Whoaa,, it's such a horror.. hehe..
Handling the class alone means I can do whatever I can do,, yeayyy..  :)
But, I have to find a strategy, a new way about how to make others understands,, since, sometimes, it's so hard to make others understand what we mean.

Moreover, I have to handle a subject with no syllabus. Hmmm...

Well,, what will be happen in this semester? Let's see..
Fighting, Satyaaaa... *put on a headband.. :)

Recently Touring.. hehe..

halahh,, sok banget judulnya... :P

There are many calendar system in the world.

I think, all of people already know about Maya Calendar because of it's 2012 doomsday rumor.

Others maybe more familiar with Gong Xi Fa Cai's event,, an event which is identical with red, angpao, and barongsai. Gong Xi Fa Cai is one of event in Chinese Calendar.

Moslems also have special calendar,, Hijriyah Calendar, a calendar which is based on Moon Orbit and known for it's special month: Ramadhan.

And, last but not least, Masehi Calendar, common calendar used by most people in the world.

Now, I wanna tell a little things about Hijriyah Calendar. Just like Masehi calendar, Hijriyah calendar also has 12 months. They are Muharram, Safar, Rabiul Awal, Rabiul Akhir, Jumadil Awal, Jumadil Akhir, Rajab, Sya'ban, Ramadhan, Syawal, Dzulkaidah, and Dzulhijjah. Between those 12 months, there are haram months,, months when we are prohibited to do war. The haram months are as follow Dzulkaidah, Dzulhijjah, Muharram, and Rajab. Usually in these months (except in Muharram) and in Sya'ban, most Javanese do happy things: marriage.

This year, Rajab and Sya'ban is lie in June and middle of July. And during this period, every weekend is like a marriage tour for me. hehheehhee...  :)
Fourth week of Rajab     : went to Surabayaaaa... hehe..

First week of Sya'ban     : ---just stayed at home---

Second week of Sya'ban : went to Kertosono, Nganjuk
Third week of Sya'Ban   : went to my childhood's district, but still in Malang
Fourth week of Sya'ban  : went to Probolinggo

And just in case you wanna know, here are a little stories about the trips..

 I went to Kertosono with my friend's friend. "Lucky for us", it was coincide with holidays for students. So, we were like a pindang fish in the buses,, squeezed by dozens of people. We were stood up too since there wasn't an empty chair, but just for a while. In our way home, the situation was better. Since a friend accompany us to the bus station, we could get chair. We leaved Malang at about 7 a.m and arrived in Malang again at about 6 p.m.

Later, I went to Probolinggo by university bus. It was very comfy since there were a dozen of people on that bus. Unfortunately,  I got flu. I spent most of time during the trip by sleeping. But, I still be able to take some picture of Pasir Putih Beach. Here they are..

Since I wasn't stop by, sorry for the blurred photo.. :P

Well, although this beach is known as Pantai Pasir Putih, it doesn't have white sand after all. So, it sould be Pantai Pasir Hitam.. hehehhehe...

Yepp, it has a black sand...  ^^

Really like the nightfall...  :)

Going through dozens of kilometers, meeting some friends, seeing the bride and bridegroom's smile, eating so much dishes * hehhehe... :9 *,, yes, it was so much fun trip after all..

Useless

Useless is
when we wanna do something,
but the only things we can do is
doing nothing.

We just can't do anything.

And, it's sucks.
Terribly.

Ranah 3 Warna, Another A. Fuadi's Book

Have you heard about Negeri 5 Menara (N5M)?? It's one of national best seller novel, written by A. Fuadi. It's also title of film, made based on the novel. The protagonist's name of this novel is Alif. This novel tells us about Alif's life in Pondok Pesantren,, overturn common opinions about Pondok Pesantren, that Pondok Pesantren is for bad child or that Pondok Pesantren graduated will be worked in Religion field only. Well, from this novel, I conclude that those opinion are wrong. A really great novel, actually.  The point of this novel is man jadda wajada. It's an Arabis saying that means whoever do something earnestly, he will be successful. So, whatever it is, we must strive our dream. Man jadda wajada is like Alif's incantation.

Ranah 3 Warna (R3W) is N5M's sequel. While N5M tells about life in Pondok Pesantren, R3W tells us about Alif's life after he graduated from Pondok Pesantren. Alif want to continue his study to an institute. He want to become engineering, just like his idol, B. J. Habibie. Well, the story is happened in 1993 or 1994. In that time, the only way to become institute's student is by passing UMPTN. We all know that he "just" Pondok Pesantren graduated. In Pondok Pesantren, Alif also studied about chemistry, mathematics, and physic. But, unlike in regular senior high school, the portion of those subject is little. Plus, Alif didn't have senior high school's certificate, the main requirement to participate UMPTN. Remembering that being an institute's student can open an opportunity for him to achieve his other dream,, going to America,, he must figure out how to overcome those obstacle. Certainly, he must struggle in doing that.

So,, can Alif achieve his dreams,, getting senior high school's certificate, passing UMPTN, becoming institue's student, and going to America?? How can he struggle?? Is man jadda wajada enough??

Well, man jadda wajada is not enough. Alif needs another incantation: man shabara zhafira, whoever have patience, he will be fortunate. Wait a minute,, fortune?? Do you believe in fortune?? What is fortunate, actually?? Quoting this book, fortunate is the result of struggling, praying, and having profuse patience in doing something. So, it's not a free gift from Allah. It is something we must fighting for.

And, how about the novel title itself?? What is Ranah in English?? According google translate,, since I lost my dictionary in English class, I couldn't use it anymore :),,  it's sphere. It's like area, field, or sector. So, yes, this book will tell us about 3 area. What are they?? Well, it's better that you know them by yourself.  :)

p.s.:

Actually, I own this book since August 2010. But, I always feel "eman" (what is "eman" in English,, hehe..) when I wanna read this. So, it's just standing on cupboard, waiting to be read. And finally, I read this last week. Finished it on 3 days. 

And, when I'm still a college student, I meet A. Fuadi in Airlangga University on his book review (N5M),, together with my friend. Okayy, not useful information I think. But, just in case you wanna know.. ^_^v