Day 1 : A recent picture and 15 interesting facts about me

Bonjour!

Okay, so as predicted, procrastination got the best of me and my kick start to the 30 days writing challenge got slightly delayed. Slightly.

In all honesty, I don't regard myself as an interesting person so this is probably going to be a slightly tough one for me seeing as I have to list out 15 interesting facts. This is also one of the reasons why this post has been (slightly) delayed. But I'm not gonna go down on the first challenge without even trying, so here it goes.

1. The youngest of 3 siblings.
- Yes, I am the baby of the bunch. I have an older sister and an older brother. Additional info- both of them are married with kids. Yes, that means I am the last one in line who hasn't tied the knot.

2. My third language is Sign Language.
- My older brother is deaf or what some people would call hearing impaired. My parents sent me to his preschool so that I could get an early grab of the language and I've known the language since I was a toddler. It's a skill that I take pride in because I always throw people off guard when they see me signing with a deaf person.

4. Overly attached Aunt.
- By far, I have a niece and 2 nephews. I am most attached with my niece, Nayli, who is the first niece/granddaughter of the family. Maybe it's because I took care of her since the day she was born- literally. Diaper changes, baby sitting, feeding, reading bedtime stories. I was in charge of all that before they moved to the States and I still carry on with those duties whenever they come back home. Ammar was born in the States and I did get the privilege to take care of him for a month after he was born. The latest addition is Aryan. Currently he's only a couple days old and I haven't gotten the chance to see him yet and I already miss him. I can't wait to go back home in a week plus time so I can finally see that little bundle of joy.

5. Law Student.
- If you have went through the "About the author" tab of this blog, you'll probably already know this. Or if you've read my previous post where I rambled about life as a law student and one of my struggles of law school. I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do when I graduate and get that degree, but I hope I'll figure it out sooner than later. I've had a couple of options in mind but I am fully aware of the whole "we can only plan, God's plan is the best" concept. So we shall see and hopefully this blog will be around long enough for me to post updates about that journey.

6. Hobbies = Reading & Writing.
- When it comes to reading, I can go from fiction, fantasy, rom coms to literature. But I'm more drawn into modern day poetry instead of the fancy smancy works of Shakespeare. I write poetry as well and if you've explored the tabs on this blog you'll find a link to my tumblr page that I share with two of my best friends since high school. That's where I publish most of my poetry works and random scribbles. I've gotten praises on some of my writings, but I still feel like my work isn't good enough to be given full exposure. I'd like to publish my own book of poetry someday if given the chance. I just need to gain a little more confidence with my writing and polish up my word play.

7. I used to hate my full name.
- Up until I was 18, I hated my name (no offence, mom and dad). Why? Because to me it was such a common and boring name. I mean anywhere I go, I'd hear a voice call out "Farah" and I'd find 5 other girls turn their heads, me included. It took me years of going in and out of classes and hearing teachers tell me how pretty my name was (in terms of the name and the meaning behind it) before I chose to just embrace it. And now, I'm really glad and thankful that my parents were creative enough, but not too creative to give me some twisted, complicated name.

8. An Ailurophile.
- I love cats. Like crazily love them. I grew up around people who would cringe when we go out because I will pick up or pet any cat that I see. It doesn't matter if the cat was dirty or wet. It came to a point where I brought home stray cats that I found in school. Mom hated that habit of mine, but it was one that entertained the entire family because eventually everyone got attached as well.

9. Independent but ridiculously emotional.
- I have no trouble doing things on my own, spending time on my own (that includes shopping or eating or having coffee in a cafe), and just doing what needs to be done on my own. Generally, I'm a daddy's girl who can't function without her parents doing everything for her, but since I started studying in Shah Alam, I've learned to do a bunch of things by myself and have less problems of doing so. BUT I am also very, and I mean VERY emotional. The smallest thing and tick me off and then I turn into this ball of mess with a severe case of emotionitis (a word I created with a friend which means a disease where one is highly emotionally wrecked). I feel too much- too much joy, too much sadness, too much pain. It's so easy for me to change up my mood from crying to laughing and vice versa.

10. A natural Baker.
- I can't cook (yet). I mean I can cook the basic things, but gourmet cooking is something that is far out of my league. Although I have a handful of friends who would die for my Tom Yam (their words, not mine), and dad & my bro in law loves my Masak Lemak Cili Api, but my cooking skills are not up to par yet and I'd like to improve them. But, I am a natural baker. It's something that I discovered when I was around 20 years old I think. When I tried my luck in the kitchen, I'd always mess up with my cooking but when it came down to baking, it's very rare that I don't hit perfection on the first try. My aunts say it's a talent that I probably inherited from mom. Well I don't know about that, but whatever it is, I am grateful.

11. I can't ride a bike.
- I used to know how to ride a bike. But after I fell off my bike when I was 8 years old, I put that darned thing away for good and never really tried to hop on another bike ever again. But I can roller blade. Maybe that's because I still haven't experience any overly traumatic falls yet.

12. Social Anxiety.
- This is a problem that I have been trying and am still trying to work on. It's not that I can't socialize. I can actually socialize pretty well. It's just that it's a hard thing for me to do because sometimes I am unsure of what the social protocol is and the fact that socialized drains me of my energy. Socializing is something that exhausts me and takes great effort for me to do. Some people don't understand this and misunderstand my social anxiety for "being snobbish".

13. Never ending list of insecurities.
- I cannot even begin to list them down. I am a highly insecure person. My facial features, my body shape, my achievements, you name it- I am insecure about it. I don't know why, but it has always been a problem for me since I can remember. I have never been able to take a compliment head on with full pride because I've always felt like I don't deserve it. And no, this is not me asking for sympathy.

14. Messed up biological clock.
- For some odd reason, whenever I go back to Shah Alam for the new semester, I have trouble sleeping. I've actually done an experiment before and tried staying at a hotel outside of Shah Alam and found that I don't have that bad of a sleeping problem as compared to when I'm in Shah Alam. And when I'm back in the hometown, I don't have trouble sleeping at all. Eventually I figured it probably has to do with the mind set that I have attached to this place. Shah Alam to me just screams "work" and "stress", so maybe that's why I'm typing this at 2.52AM.

15. I can't sleep without a blanket.
- True story. The electricity could be out and it could be crazy hot but I'd still need a blanket over me or else I wouldn't be able to catch some shut eye. I find it weird too, but I guess I was just programmed that way.


And there ya go, 15 probably-not-so-interesting-facts about me. I'm sorry if it ended up turning into a snooze fest. As I mentioned earlier, I don't find myself to be quite an interesting person. I don't have much of an exciting life and I don't do extraordinary things. This isn't me trying to be humble- this is me just saying it as it is. Okay then, it's 3AM and it's probably about time for me to force myself to get some shut eye. Fingers crossed I'll have the challenge for Day 2 posted up tomorrow. Until then, ciao.

x's and o's

Thirty day writing challenge

Bonjour. 

Seeing as how my blog writing process has been going slow, and I revived this blog so I could brush up on my writing skills, I decided to restart something that I did before but stopped half way- the 30 day writing challenge. There are a bunch of these writing challenges out there, and mine are mostly taken out of pintarest. Since I'm a little bit rusty with my writing, I figured I'd start with a simple challenge that shouldn't be so hard to work on. Hence, the reason why I chose the 30 Days of Me writing challenge. 

Exhibit A

In all honesty, it sounds a little vain to me to be writing about myself for 30 days but this is something to help me polish up my writing again and what better way to start small than to start on a topic that I know about inside out and all around- right?

So I'll start on this sometime around tonight I guess. Lets just hope my habits of procrastinating doesn't get the best of me.

x's and o's

Life as a Law Student

Bonjour! 

If you went through my “About the author” tab, you’ll already know that I am currently attending law school at a local institution. 

At the Palace of Justice for a Mooting assignment

When people ask me what I do for a living and I tell them that I’m (still) a law student, there are a couple of reactions that I’ve become accustomed to and let me break them down to you:

1. The fortune tellers.

• Now this is specifically referring to those who says “Wow, a future lawyer”. To which I always respond with a polite smile and an “Insyaallah”, but only God knows my urge to scream out profanities. Now, the normal belief is that people taking law will indeed turn out to become lawyers, and I don’t blame people for thinking so since well- the course itself is “Law” and of course when people think of “Law” they also think about lawyers and their monochrome wardrobe, their black briefcases and how cool they look presenting their case in a court of law. But personally, I get so stressed out when I get this kind of a reaction because it gives me more unnecessary pressure than I already have to bear. It’s stressful enough to be in a course that has so many options for me that choosing a path as a career choice becomes overwhelming. I really do not need the added baggage of pressure called “expectations” because my life has never been about meeting other people’s expectations (and I learned that lesson the hard way, believe me). Now this is again, a personal view for me and probably not all law students feel this way. But I’d appreciate it if people didn’t throw such high expectations in my face, only to burden me with the fear of being a disappointment. 

2.  The Holy Judges.

• This is where people say “Well, people always say lawyers already have one foot in hell”. Strangely enough, this is the remark that I seem to always get from taxi drivers. And no, I’m not joking. Ehem, excuse me monsieur, while it might be true lawyers do have one foot in hell but it doesn’t mean that you’re not already guaranteed a spot over there either. I’m sorry if that sounds rude but people need to really learn to be less disrespectful with their words if they don’t want snappy comebacks. Of course, I have still been polite enough with these so called “uncles” to not reply with whatever that goes running through my head at the moment, but believe me when I say the temptation is strong.  

Of course, there are more but let me just stop there because that’s the most common ones and the most annoying ones as well. So what is it like to actually be a law student? 

Late nights, early mornings, LOTS of caffeine, REALLY expensive books, piles and piles of case laws to be read, constantly worsening eye sight (due to having to read all those cases in bed), converting into an insomniac, a river of tears and constant moments of wanting to just quit and be a hobo. And trust me, I am not over reacting. I am just an average student with a very average CGPA and I blame no one but myself for that because I just don’t have enough will power to risk losing my sanity to hike my CGPA to a measly 3.00. But to my batch mates who managed to maintain a CGPA that’s above a 3.00, well I salute you. Much respect. 

This semester is kinda like a free semester for me because I failed one subject during my exams last semester and our law school operates in a way that is slightly different (as far as I am concerned) from others where in our final year, we are placed in firms and we are exposed to the real life opening files and all those hands on making documents related things so you can’t enter the final year if you don’t pass all your papers from the previous 3 years. So basically, I’m extending a semester because I didn’t pass my Corporate Insolvency paper and I’m re-taking that paper this semester. Hence, why I have so much time on my hands to revive my blog. Aside from focusing on this one subject in the hopes of getting a higher grade so that I can hike up my CGPA, I’ve also been revising some notes from my 1st semester of law school after listening to my friends (who did make it through to the final year) complain about how the lecturers expect them to know and remember everything they’ve learned the past 3 years. Haha. So in a way, I am actually counting my blessings because I kinda have a feeling that if I did had made it into the final year, I’d probably be dead by now. 

Then again, every cloud has a silver lining and I guess after crying and being mad about this one subject that I have to re-take, I finally saw my silver lining and I’m okay with it. I kinda am okay with it. It only sucks on days that I’m bored to death with nothing to do. Aside from that, all is good. 

So to those who are considering of taking law as a path of choice, don’t say I didn’t warn you. It’s not all bad. I actually enjoy it most of the times because I personally like to learn new things. It’s the having to memorize everything word by word and vomiting them out during an exam that I don’t fancy. I don’t like being pressured by a 3 hour time limit with a bunch of elements and defences and case laws that needs to be written down in proper and readable hand writing. So far, I’m just learning to enjoy the journey that I’m already on and make the best of it (while occasionally complain about it). Gotta take the ups with the downs. I'm still not good at this whole "being positive" and "looking at the bright side" thing, but I'm getting there. 

x's and o's