The Sun Shines, After The Storm

PROLOGUE: Al-Fatihah to the late Yasmin Ahmad and Asri Ibrahim. May Allah blesses their soul. For all the good deeds they did to our world and humankind.

And I am finally back at blogging. After months of dreadful life.

All praises to Allah, I pass the entrance exam and officially belong here. Although some people said the entrance exam is just a formality to be accepted in, but I know I had tried my best and worked very hard for it. And for sure now, I feel liberated that I already passed one stage of my life here.

Another six months to go before I started my postgraduate course. Six months full of plans. Six months packed with pursuing my interests, exploring cultures, learning new stuffs. And start thinking about the direction of my research.

I am a man of planning. Detailed and organized. Not a multitasker. Some people said it complicated and wasting time, but I can't helped being myself because it's in my gene. I prefer to do job one at a time. And since I settled with the exam thing, now is the time for doing the next task and make it work.

In my list include: back at blogging (let this be the first post to start with), resume my reading list (The Second World: How Emerging Powers Are Redefining Global Competition in The Twenty-first Century by Parag Khanna is on my currently reading status), continue yoga (my last stretch is last year, what a long time. Miss the pretzel-ing moment), prepare for JLPT Level 2 this December and aiming to read Murakami Haruki's 1Q84 (of course in Japanese, so far no English translation yet) at least by the time I pass JLPT Level 1 next year. Pick up at least one blowing instrument before April next year, jazz saxophone is in my mind now. So much of a list, I questioned myself whether I can keep up with that or not.

But no harm listing, I said to myself. Having goals is way better than having nothing at all. Than living aimlessly.

I am happy and content that all of you are here with me; families, friends and acquaintances. We might not living within reach, but somehow I can feel the connection to make me less feel that I am so far away from home.

"My yesterdays are all boxed up and neatly put away
But every now and then you come to mind
Cause you were always waiting to be picked to play the game
But when your name was called, you found a place to hide
When you knew that I was always on your side"
-Always On Your Side by Sheryl Crow feat. Sting, 2005.

EPILOGUE: August 2006, London, United Kingdom. The moment when my life ended, and started again.