Stay progressive

It has been exactly four months (yes, four) since the last I posted a blogpost here on Malinalism. I had a very very wonderful time for the past few months and still having a tremendous moment at this point of my life and hoping for more great stuff to happen in the future.

I am truly sorry for been missing for a long long time but for those who followed me on Instagram or friends with me on Facebook shouldn't have any trouble finding me updating things as well as acknowledged me being alive. LOL!

Life is pretty great now. I finally have a job, I have the best family and friends around me and the universe seem to agree with whatever that is in my mind. So basically my life is pretty good. I am looking forward for my bestfriend to be back in Malaysia for good, as well as for my Daddy (yay!) and I just need to brush up my skill to design websites and ads. Yup, that is my current job now. HTML, CSS, all Adobe softwares. Yikes. I might have the skill (I think) but I am stuck with my "non-creative" brain.

I need to create and add new ads every week (designs, wording, color codings etc.) to put in my company's website but thing is, I don't really have ideas. I will stare at my 13" MacBook and stare for another half an hour and half an hour more and all I did for one hour was, a yellow rectangle box. Yup. Just that.

I find it quite hard to think of new, fresh, never-done-before designs although I have Googled several (several? LOTS actually!) examples of any designs I could think of and I even searched for "ribbons" and "trees" on Google. I am not proud but I will do my best to be the best employee in town. LOL!

Well, overall, my job is awesome. To be able to manage events and join an awesome team to organize global events and that hustle feeling to submit things before due-dates and getting ready with materials for presentations and meetings with managers and VPs, oh boy, how I love corporate world. I'm not kidding, I really enjoy sitting in a cubicle (oh except for our office is so bloody cold and too bad we cannot control the temperature so it feels like we actually sitting in a cubicle that is located at the Northernmost part of the Earth). Everybody is wearing either blazers or knitted sweaters or windbreakers and I have this idea to bring and wear the faux-fur winter coat or something. It is that cold.

Though I will be busy with work from 9-to-5, but I will make sure that I will have time to do other things too, especially during weekdays. More time to work out, hang out with my friends, spend more time with my family, cook for dinner, more me-time because I want to have a productive day, every day.

We have one million things to do but we only have 24 hours in a day. So take the opportunity to do as many productive things as you can before you call it a day. Prioritize, progressive, productive. That is when you know you have done something in life. Whether it is good or bad, just embrace it. Seize it. The future depends on what you do on that day.

Malina A.

#qotd

VACAYLIST.

This is the first time ever, in the history of Malina’s life as a blogger or “blog-writer” since 2006, I actually got nothing in my mind to express things out. This is truly odd because usually I will always have something to say or express or to blog about whenever I am in front of my laptop.

Pressing enter.

Space. Command A. Delete.

Write again.

Oh well, it could be the heat. This weather, this hot and humid weather makes my brain to shrink somehow. Meh.

I am currently waiting for my other blog post to load, there are tons of photos in there and due to the fabulously “fast” Mr Internet right here at home, it would only takes up approximately about 4 days to load everything. Sigh.

I hate my internet connection at home.

I need to be somewhere in Japan or South Korea or Doha(!) or any other awesome places with great connection line! I live in KL, in the heart of KL but nah, it feels like I live on a tree, in a tree house in some jungle at the most remote place you could ever known.

So, the whining session will stop now, because it is too hot to write negative stuff especially with this internet speed. What a nuisance.

My life has been pretty occupied recently and I got nothing to do for the whole two freakin’ months! YAY! Why? Don’t ask me. I am unemployed. I am not proud, honestly, but with my degree year, I think I deserve something good, something that is worthwhile and cross that, I NEEEEEEED A VACATION! No, scratch that. VACATIONSSSSSS. Infinite of S!

I got some cool places I want to visit and I call it my “VACAYLIST” stored in my iPhone, with lots of new things to do like getting my diving license soon, so I need to be in some paradise (islands) to get it done. Stay there for like 5 days or so, and come back home with a diving cert and suit as well as some, burned, tanned skin. The one with burned burn, all people could see is just my teeth. Yup. I want that. I am that kind of girl. LOL! My place for getting the diving license would be Pulau Perhentian in Terengganu, Malaysia. Or maybe in Mabul Island, Sabah.

Other than, planning to go for hiking. My friend told me that Machu Picchu in Peru is definitely the place to go for a hike. I want to. Like seriously. But of course, keeping myself fit and ready is the essence.

Gunung Kinabalu in Sabah. Well, that is what I’m talking about, baby! But, anybody would care to join me? Sad.

Next up, cliff diving and scuba diving! Cebu, Philippines for the awesome place called Malapascua Island. The ocean is just, oh Lord. Would love to get some sun kissed skin from the Philippines.

Also planning to visit my good friend in London. Just to visit her, catching up and actually see London. Always wanted to jog in my Internationalist in Hyde Park. That would probably be the best activity of all. Jog in a park with your best buddy in your Nike. Uhhummm, guuurrlll. I know you want that too!

Since I only have 2 months before I get back to reality, to face and deal with my kickass life, I really need to hustle to plan and book flight tickets and plan all things out and the money, of course! Alright, I’m pumped up now.

Chillax, go travel. See the world. Life is not based on what’s appear in your 13” Macbook screen, dude.

Malina Azman, x

Trip to Doha ✈

Doha trip; last December till early January. I actually call it as "trip" because I had a very short 11-day vacation in Doha with my family, though it was more like "back to hometown". I paid a visit, just to spend time with my beloved family; studying abroad, being away from family isn't fun especially when you don't really have friends and all you need is your family. It's not that I do not have friends, I do, but most of them are studying or living abroad too, so, I don't have this face-to-face kind of friendship. All I have is "Hi-can-you-see-me-can-you-hear-me" friendship via Skype with my family and friends. Yes, Skype is actually my true, loyal friend. Thanks, S. LOL!

So, my trip to Doha.

All I can say is, fun. That was my 5th trip to Doha (I think. Or 6th? I'm not sure.) I visited during winter for most of the time and cold, chilly, windy season (December - February) is the perfect time to visit Middle-East countries.

I spent 11 days there and it would be a long post if I type it out one-by-one in great details, day-by-day. So let me just post up some photos (or you can also visit my Instagram), and let the pictures do the talking :)

Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) : 1000hrs

Hamad International Airport (HIA) : 2330hrs

Torch Tower, Doha

My outfit for the entire trip, it was so windy and cold!

Malina A, x

#qotd

"Showing off is the fool's idea of glory."

Put On Your Confidence Suit. EVERYDAY!

“I like it when clothes have a story and I like finding things that move me somehow but I think it’s very important to not make fashion too much of a thing in your life. It’s a tool to show who you are to the world but only if you’re privileged enough to to be able to worry about it.”

—Clémence Poésy

Currently in the hotel room on the bed facing the view of the bluest blue swimming pool I have ever laid my eyes on, I should be studying but taking a 10 minutes break now. Been studying since 8 in the morning today and my fingers have been stuck on the MacBook's keyboard and been holding my black-pen-that-has-turned-to-grey-colour-now since yesterday at 2pm. It has been a very hectic three weeks for me and I am so looking forward to this weekend (more trips, more hotel rooms!) and I kinda miss home and my piano. (Daddy might be reading this all the way from his house like thousands of kilometres away via his internet browser now, but Daddy, I am taking a break now! Will continue studying after I post this okay? Hihi.)

So where was I?

Oh, about whatever you are wearing. 

Like what Clémence Poésy said, "...not make fashion too much of a thing in your life", well it is kinda true. At least for me. I never really think that fashion is everything but yes I did and still do post the hashtag OOTD and OOTN captions on Instagram but I never really think that I should be worried on not wearing branded items or wearing lousy shirts or just a pair of blue jeans and oversized tee.

I admit that I am a picky person, so I am a bit too picky when it comes to colour-blocking or wearing dresses or flare pants at the beach or to decide whether I should be wearing a bridal-gown or a traditional wear for formal events and all the hassle thingy. Some of rich people that I know (again, some!), are willing to spend for another bucks at branded stores to have new outfits to go with certain events while I am the type of person who is gonna wear whatever loads I have in my closet. It's gonna take a lottttt of time to think and pick what is appropriate to wear but heck no, I am not going to spend more bucks in my account just for another function. I am not a cheapskate but I know the difference between wear your branded items and wear your confidence.

My sister once said this to me, "Kakak, you don't need a pair of that, you just need to be confident to be beautiful. People are going to look at you and think you are pretty if you have that confidence in you. Doesn't matter if you are wearing just a pair of flipflop to go along with your oversized Pagoda t-shirt, if you walk with confidence, you still gonna look pretty. Well, not that pretty, but at least not ugly." LOL! The last part was SO HER, but I get it.

While my mom tells me this, "Let people see you as a broke-ass girl but you have a thick wallet rather than to wear all sorts of pretty, branded clothes but you only have 20 cents in your shilling purse with that tiny zip and you only have that." HAHAH! Mom is funnier.

The point I am saying this is because there are so many girls out there who easily got jealous like, "OMG! You are wearing Chanel! Lucky you!" and my favourite one, "You are so rich, you can get whatever they have to offer in every mall, that is why you are beautiful!". Gosh, stop being so dumb. That person is beautiful because she is confident with herself, she is proud and comfortable in her own skin, she knows that nobody can tell her the opposite because she knows herself very well that she will never be ugly because she has whatever it takes in her heart and her mind.

Even if you are wearing branded items on you but lack of confidence, you look even uglier than the person who wears cheap stuff everyday.

Just some food for thought for you ladies since today is Tuesday (ladies' night out. Wait, it is on Tuesday night, right? I don't know, never been to any. Yeah, right. LOL!)

Put on my confidence suit *zips up*,

Malina Azman, x

Trip to Penang

DAY ONE.

KLIA 2

Honestly, I would prefer KLIA (maybe I am already familiar with everything in the main airport compared to the second one). I admit that the second airport is much lively with a lot of stores and restaurants and I feel like I am in a mall rather than in an airport. So many people but most of them are non-flyers. They came in a bunch of 20 to 30 people just to send one person to the gate. Holy what? But it is good, though, to welcome everybody and it does feels like you are in a mall, but in terms of the practicality and easiness for us traveler to find the check-in gates and the fact that we have to go through every store and bumped into so many smelly people in the airport and very packed, too, are just troublesome. Lack of signage for the flyers to go and check-in on time and the gate is inappropriately located at the back of the check-in counters. Seriously, I do not like it. And so does my feet.

As for the arrival terminal, it was a looonnnggggg walk to go the belt to collect bags and another looonggggg walk to actually get outside of the airport. Again, the signage is very poor. We were lost for like an hour in the airport just to get to the taxi counters, which is located on the lower ground. I think that was the first and the last I ever taken a flight from KLIA 2. What an experience.

Hi Penang!

It costs us RM 74 to Hard Rock Hotel in Batu Ferringhi from the Penang International Airport. We stuck in traffic jams and moved about 5km per hour and we reached Ferringhi about an hour later. Our flight was so late in the evening so we touched down in Penang when people were just got out from work and school. So yeah, no complains made.

DAY TWO.

My awesome team. Oh and I met a few people too!

Just kidding. Not just a few, in fact, A BUNCH OF AWESOME PEOPLE!

Later in the afternoon; went for parasailing!

Hawaiian-themed event

The award of best dress of the night goes to, US THREE!

All dolled up for the event. Mahalo! Aloha!

DAY THREE.

Woke up early in the morning just to get here on time before people decided to do something good and productive on Sunday morning. LOL! Meet, ESCAPE.

My humble lunch that costs RM 13. Squid set with rice and veggies. Oh well.

Went to Toy Museum in Teluk Bahang after working up some sweats at ESCAPE and I saw this guy, Napoleon Dynamite. HAHAH! I am pretty sure that at least half of my readers know this guy right here. He has a weird brother and a desperado uncle who wants to live in the past, back in the 70s just to play ball again. LOL! Oh oh, and Napoleon cannot live with his chapstick? GAHD! What a funny movie. Glad that I found him in here. Haha!

Back in our hotel room to pack everything up and leave for home

Thank you Hard Rock Hotel for the amazing stay, I really had so much fun!

Browsing through street arts in the historical city of Georgetown.

Had lunch at Kaffa, located just outside the main entrance of the airport (PIA)

Cheers to more adventures, and beyond!
Malina A

Overcome Your Fear(s)

Acrophobia (Wikipedia)

from the Greek: ἄκρον, ákron , meaning "peak, summit, edge" and φόβος, phóbos, "fear"

An extreme or irrational fear of heights, especially when one is not particularly high up. Most people experience a degree of natural fear when exposed to heights, known as the fear of falling. On the other hand, those who have little fear of such exposure are said to have a head of heights. A head for heights is needed by those hiking or climbing in mountainous terrain. Acrophobia sufferers can experience a panic attack in a high place and become too agitated to get themselves down safely. Between 2 and 5 percent of the general population suffer from acrophobia, with twice as many women affected as men.

                                                             -------------------------------

I admit that I am (or, was?) afraid of heights. Usually I will get this tingling sensation whenever I am on top of the building or at the edge of a balcony or high-storey corridors. My palms and my feet will get all sweaty all of a sudden and my heart beats fast and sometimes I get dizzy too. I still remember the feeling I had when I joined cheerleading team back in high school and I was among the lightest of all team members so I had to be one of the flyers. My team and I were doing some tosses (basket toss, cradle, extend etc.) and that was my first time doing it, as my team pushed my feet up to like 10ft above the ground, I screamed out loud and told them to put me down. Yes, I was that, lame. Well at least, I was.

LOL!

I went to Penang recently, for a quick rejuvenation trip and overcoming my fear of heights was never on my to-do list. I would never, ever brave enough to overcome this acrophobic feeling, not now, not ever. My passion is more to underwater world, like, snorkeling, diving, swimming or anything that is related to water or ocean or rivers or lakes or even plastic pools.

But on the other side of the parallel universe, unlike me, my sister loves to test herself about this whole height-thingy. She loves to do bungee jumping, parasailing, flying fox and all air-y, flying stuff. She is not afraid of heights, she just loves to feel the adrenaline rushes onto her entire body and so she insisted me to join for her little adventure of "be a bird" for a day. Two days, actually.

The second day in Penang, we went for parasailing. IT IS INCREDIBLY FUN! I hesitated to do it at first but I need to, at least once in my life just to know how it feels to be up there and to test myself. But my main concern was "is it safe?". Then the dudes told us that we can actually fly with an instructor if we have never done it before. The parachute tied to a boat and the boat pulled us up and the boat driver drove about half a mile from the shore. What an indescribable feeling. I flew about fifty to hundred feet from the sea level and I can see the whole stretch of the white sand beach from up there and I feel like a bird! Now I understand why people love to fly and do it again and again because it is so much fun and very addictive, though!

Day three.

My sister and I went to this awesome place called ESCAPE. It is an adventure park where you can climb on ropes with harness and head gears provided by the park and you can also enjoy flying fox, jungle trekking, doing acrobats and the fun part is the, bungee jumping.

Again, Malina's mission to overcome her fear of heights, part two. A whole new level of overcoming fears. Extreme ways.

FRIGGIN' BUNGEE JUMPING.

The ropes or they called as, Monkey Business was easy-peasy (pfft... *rolls eyes*, well not really), then my sister and I tried the flying fox and they named it as "Flying Lemur", maybe just to tell people that lemur is ten times better and awesome-r than fox. Who knows. But we had fun, flying across the jungle with 150-meter rope from tree A to tree B, fifty feet above the ground, with nothing but harness and a strong faith and some of woohoos and wees and sometimes ahhs like our long lost Mr Tarzan.

Next up, bungee jumping. Frankly speaking, I was not experiencing any nervousness, at all but I was all giddy and excited to do it! We lined up for 20 minutes or so and we witnessed many kinds of, well, reactions from them jumpers. Screaming, crying, and some of them backed out because they cannot handle the height and the tingling on their feet and stomach.

I truly understand.

Then, my turn. All I could say is that, you guys should try it. Really. Now I understand why people love to take it to the next level. Start small and then go for sky diving. But my next mission would be a proper bungee jumping, jump off a bridge or a solo paragliding and then next would be sky diving, hopefully. InshaAllah.

I love to experience new things and can't believe I am saying this but, I had fun overcoming my fear of heights! Acrophobic, no more.

Flying Lemur

Bungee Jumping (Yes, that is me. LOL!)

The Monkey Business

Parasailing

Adrenaline junkie,

Malina A.