can you believe that it’s november already?! hello hello 

alhamdulillah, as of today i only have one paper left for my A level, which is psychology 3. i’ll be sitting for on the 19th, insyaAllah. wish me luck!

to be honest i am trying my best to make this blog not diary-ish, but more like something for me to share my thoughts, lessons etc, or in simpler words something for me to share knowledge.

BUT 

this one may be like an exception.

a bit.

this week started with my socio 3 exam. fyi, socio is my weakest point. i didnt score well for my nov ’12 and june ’13 AS, but i did improve by two grades. but it wasnt enough. im grateful though because overall i have improved except for my math ( it dropped by 7%) and i jumped 3 grades for my psychology. well skip skip

my biggest problem with socio is i just dont read enough. socio is all about willing to read (and actually give a spit) about what the sociologists think. my sir’s been telling me to read more since last year but i…. have issue with willpower *cricketcricket*

well anyway, alhamdulillah the exam didnt go like my internal tests and exams. i have always had trouble writing fluently in my exams and tests, because as you know i didnt read and memorize enough facts. almost 30% of the time was usually used just to recall and cross out what i wrote down on the paper. mind you that in socio the 1.5 hr is NOT usually enough to write everything you have learnt in that one year (3 hours in the case of A2) so minus the 30% you actually barely have enough time to actually write something relevant and meaningful. i didnt have enough time either to write everything on the paper for my recent paper, which is actually a good thing. 

because i usually have time to waste.

during that exam i took up to plus minus 95% for writing. though incomplete, i could recall almost all facts i have revised. FINALLY for the first time i felt the joy of writing (hopefully) enough facts. i can never forget how my sir have always said ‘write more, write more’ to me. it’s funny though that he never smacked me for failing to write enough for most of my assignments. honestly he is the most supportive teacher i have ever had. the way he believes in me is really unbelievable. like seriously, i failed my nov AS but he still pushed me to go beyond what i have shown him. he knows that im capable of doing better. when i told him i almost got a C for my june AS he simply said ‘yes, i know. you can get an A, even’. HOW COOL IS THAT?? he has always told me that i can do better despite of failing to do that. every single time. well i finally followed his advice for real and hence lesson learnt -always listen to your teacher.

well the 5th of nov we (my family) celebrated my parents’ 34th wedding anniversary. 

and on the 6th i attended the 3rd SOASCIS International Conference (SICON3), and it was the best event i have attended so far. the theme this year was “Towards A Healthy Youth Culture : The Role of Islamic Family and Educational Values”. around 20 plus speakers were present from Brunei, neighbouring countries, Europe, USA, Australia, S. Africa, Kyrgyzstan and few others ( there were like 13 countries if im not mistaken). the event went on for 3 days until the 8th. honestly it was an honour to be able to be in the same room with all the scholars. they have shared many things that were linked to issues such as family and education from Islamic perspectives. every knowledge that i have gained from the conference is totally priceless. they were very frank in answering questions we threw them and they really treated us like their own students. we even actually ate together! not all of us though, but you know what i mean. the discussions went beyond the formality of the event. at times we approached them individually and asked them some questions related to their area of expertise. i cant list out every single lesson that i have learnt from all the speakers because that would take the whole day to write everything (we got 20 speakers!) but one tips given by a scholar who memorizes the Qur’an and many,many hadith by heart was WATCH WHAT YOU TAKE INTO YOUR BODY VERY CAREFULLY. this includes eating halal and good food, protect your eyes from seeing bad things, and think positively. Also refrain yourself from indulging in useless activities so much and enjoy the nature (he is from somewhere in the Middle East, he said Brunei has so many beautiful places). really, the conference was very eye-opening. it gave me an insight of Islam from a totally new perspective and changed my way of thinking and perceiving things as well.

so 3 days of conference and we got a new family member in between!

And it’s another boy :3