Journey in TESL VII: Random yet beautiful sceneries in UTM

I still love looking at the sky

I still remember back in Lendu, I used to look at the sky and say "Cantiknya! Rasa macam nak ambil gambar je!" but unfortunately, I didn't have a digital camera and during the first semester there, my phone's camera was VGA. wah wah.

But now, alhamdulillah my phone could capture beautiful pictures :)

This was taken when I was doing my (last-minute) work in the self-study room at the library. It was super hot that day and I chose to sit next to the window because that was the only place (with a functioning plug and LAN cable port) available.
Then the sky caught my eyes. I thought that it's beautiful, that the clouds were like radial.. Subhanallah.. There must be name for this pattern of the cloud.. I think there is..

I remember taking this photo but I didn't remember what was I doing, still not going back to my room at that time, at maghrib, or almost maghrib. hm.

This was taken during my dear roommate's birthday! While I was waiting for my friends to arrive at the pond to celebrate Epaa's birthday, I took several pictures of the pond and ducks. Tasik UTM is a beautiful place.
Oh, btw, I didn't notice my fingers were covering the lens because the my phone screen was too dark. It was very bright that evening, you see. but anywaaays, the picture still turns out well :) well at least for me. hoho.

This was the view from my room. 8th floor, Kolej Perdana. Taken after subuh. Subhanallah. Beautiful isn't it? I love the colours. They're like the colour of the tudung my roommate gave me for my birthday last year. or maybe the tudung seller coloured it sunrise-inspired. huehue.

This was a few minutes after the picture before was taken. We can see the movement of the cloud.

Look at the tiny bright dot. The sky was beautiful, wasn't it? Subhanallah.
I remember when this picture was taken, it had been weeks since it rained. It was super hot. Malaysia was super hot that time. The date of the picture was March 11, 2014. A few days later, it rained again. And thus, the 'Malaysia spring season' starts.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures during the 'spring season'.

Wait, I did, but I just took pictures of my home lawn.

Alright, let's move on.

The view from my room at night. That very bright spot was the stadium. I didn't know what was happening at the stadium, but the lights were turned on for a very long time. Maybe there was a game.
Macam exclusive sangat stadium tu ada spotlight ha. Bangunan lain gelap je with a little bright tiny dots.
Anyhow, it was beautiful :)

Indeed, a bright light in the darkness is beautiful.

That's all for the pictures part.

On the side note,
I'm already in the 5th semester.
3rd year.

Currently enjoying and hlovate-ing my life in here. haha. but I think the love part is more.
(note: hlovate = hate + love, there's love in the hate)

yup, Allah is planning something good for me. Hence the tests as tarbiyah.

believe in Him, your heart will be at ease :)

Aaanyway, I felt so lucky to get the chance to capture those beautiful sceneries. Thanks to Allah for moving my heart to look out of the window or be outside at those times to observe the beautiful sceneries.

Subhanallah.

Alhamdulillah.

Astaghfirullah.

Salam.

Short

I was planning to keep writing on the events of my life here.

but I ended up not writing.

guess I'll write randomly then.

Ramadhan is around the corner

Salam.

I have gone through Ramadhan for, um, a lot of times.

As I grow up and starts to think a lot, sometimes, during Ramadhan, I couldn't really feel the heat. Like, for example, sometimes I would become lazy to read more pages of Qur'an. astaghfirullah. or I would still be enjoying some lagha things *cough* especially during "some" season.

Credit: HDwpapers

When I look back into my previous Ramadhan, I think the most memorable Ramadhan I had was when I was in form 2 in 2007. Since then, my other Ramadhans couldn't beat that 2007 Ramadhan yet. That Ramadhan was memorable because I could finish the whole 30 juz of the Qur'an, I made reflections a lot and I could do qiamullail a lot. (eh yeke? bolela). Then, there was one night where I woke up and felt very calm, and I could do qiamullail very khusyu'-ly. That was one of the best qiamullail I had ever had.

Then, the next year came, and I kinda expected that I would have the same kind of feeling during the next Ramadhan.

one Ramadhan passed.

another Ramadhan passed.

and another. and another.

and I still missed the 2007 Ramadhan.
(omg that's 7 years ago omg I can't believe how old I am omg time flies so fast)


It made me ponder a lot.

What has made my Ramadhan less special?
Well, yeah, one of the factors could be because of the sins (astaghfirullah).
but there should be something more.

I don't know how, but suddenly this year, it hits me that:
I couldn't really feel the excitement of Ramadhan,
because I didn't make the preparation in the first place!

I had prepared the mind set that Ramadhan was coming, but I made no preparation.
I didn't do practice, like, fasting weekly (sunnah), reading more pages of the Quran, and try harder to do more qiamullail. My daily ibadah was still the same.

Right on 1 Ramadhan, only then I started to read more Quran (from 4 pages daily to 1 juz daily), fast 1 month (maybe) straight and do lots and lots of prayers (plus the tarawih)! That was a vigorous exercise without a warm up. No wonder I felt tired. I felt less joyous. astaghfirullah.
Then, during the last 10 days, I started to regret that my amal hadn't satisfy me. Then Ramadhan passed and I felt less happy.

This suddenly hits me early this month, when Rejab was coming.
Why hadn't I realize this earlier?! *dush*
Now, Rejab is leaving, and Syaaban is coming. Next, it would be Ramadhan!

Hence, I reaaaaaaally hope that I would have the chance to experience Ramadhan again.
To make the best out of this Ramadhan.

and I'm trying to make the best preparation, by:
- reading the Quran more (at least half of juz daily, well, closer to 1 juz daily)
- fasting weekly
- do more qiamullail!
- and familiarize myself with more sunnahs
so that during Ramadhan, I can practice all those more khusyu'-ly.

of course, I need to have lots and lots of input so that my heart will always be pure. A pure heart is the key to have a good connection with Allah. hehe. insya-Allah.

Why should we make the best out of Ramadhan?
because it's the month Allah has prepared for us to build ourselves and to strengthen ourselves.
a month of tarbiyyah.
to prepare us to face the tests in the following 11 months successfully,
before meeting Ramadhan again.
that is, if Allah still gives us the chance.

So yeah,
let's prepare ourselves for Ramadhan!

You'll never feel the excitement, if you didn't do the preparation.

*and suddenly it hits me that the same logic applies to death. You'll never be excited to die to meet Allah, if you haven't done enough preparation. gulp.
*the same logic applies to exam. You'll never be excited to sit for an exam if you know you haven't studied. You'll feel brighter if you know you've studied!
*the same logic applies to presentation. You'll never be excited to do presentation if you haven't prepared a thing.
*k i should stop.

Allahumma ballighna Ramadhan..

Ya muqallibal quluub, thabbit quluubana 'ala deenika wa 'ala tho'atika.

wassalam.

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P/S: is khusyu'-ly even a term? I'm sorry if I've ever destroyed the arabic word by merging English grammar into it, dear linguists.
P/P/S: Final exam is next week! Dear readers (if any), please pray for me.