Hello world. I've decided to move out of blogger and into livejournal. It was a hard decision, but I eventually did it after contemplating for a few weeks. Nevertheless, I shall not delete this blog cos there's so many memories in here, I don't wanna erase them, and I can't possibly post them all back on lj.

That said, relink me, if you will.

http://peachytones.livejournal.com

Thanks for reading.

Shakirah (chocolatier-post.blogspot.com)

Wow. Another week over. :-)

I'm emotionally and mentally drained. And I don't know why. I'm guessing that it's because of school. Dealing with kids that are 10 years younger than you is no mean feat.

On another note, thanks to Fitrah, I now know that A level results are gonna be released end of this month. I have flutterbies and cockroaches in my stomach now. Even as I'm typing this entry, my hands are cold and my feet are frozen. Really. I'm not even exaggerating. I've thought long and deep about what I intend to do in uni, that is, if I qualify, and I'm pretty much sure that this would be the most near-perfect decision that I'll ever make. No associations with whatever I've studied in college so far, except for Econs. Haha. Yes.

Here's how the convo with my parents went a couple of nights ago:

Mum: So Shakirah, have you thought about what you want to do in uni?
Me: (nonchalantly) Yes, pretty much.
Mum: So what's the decision?
Me: I was thinking of taking Banking and Finance.
Mum: And end up like your dad?
Me: What's wrong with my father?
Mum: He travels a lot.
Me: Ain't that good? I've always loved to travel.
Mum: So you're not interested in research work?
Me: No.
Mum: Oh, I thought you might be interested in becoming a financial analyst or financial adviser.
Me: No. Thanks.
Mum: So you're going to work like your father, a marketing manager for the bank?
Me: It's BANKER, mum.
Mum: Ok, so that's settled. I suppose you need to go for a Biz Ed degree.
Me: Yah. I also think so.
Mum: Thought about where to study?
Dad: I've asked my clients, and they said that studying in Sweden or Australia would be good.
Me: Oh.
Dad: While you're taking banking and finance, you can also try Islamic banking. It's going to be the IN thing, especially since Hong Kong decides to follow islamic banking these days. There's a demand for it in the market.
Mum: Yeah, and you can go work in Bahrain and specialise in Islamic banking.
Me: Yeah okay. I thought 'bout that too.
Dad: I'm glad that after many years of changing your ambitions, you finally decided on something good. You go be a banker, and you can be one of the wealthy Muslim merchants in Singapore.
Me: Okay. (goes off to eat dinner)

Wow. Amazing. For once, I agree with my parents on my future.

My neighbour has a young child. About a few months old. Saw the baby when I was on the way home, and my, that baby's really cute!!! I can feel my maternal instincts right now. Hahahhhh...After marriage eh.

Self-chuck of the day: People who overuse cliché phrases. You hear it a lot in business, “push the edge of the envelope”, “think outside of the box,” but most of the time it’s completely irrelevant and not motivating. My favorite is “you can’t have your cake and eat it too.” Honestly, I just don’t get that one. If it’s my cake, I’m eating it…WALL!

I love self-chucks. They remind me starkly of how stupid people can get sometimes. It's not that I go around, looking at people's faults and their obviously-it-is-so-obvious mistakes (not that I have a lot of time on my hands, that is), but sometimes, or rather, most of the time, it is so apparent that it makes me chuckle. Yes, a very fine word for replacing "snigger". Laugh and brawl all you want.

If you noticed, I've changed the blog title to "An Essaouira's Tale". For most of you, you might not be familiar about who is essaouira. Actually, besides being a state in Morocco (which I've been before), this place called Essaouira exemplifies my inner being. It's a really calm place, where it seems that everything stood still. Everything is organized, though not that fully structured. Lots of breezes and cool winds, which is really soothing. Yes, that's the inner being of me. That's me on the inside, though it hardly shows.

They say that there could be no one that can really understand us left right center. I agree. Cos I myself am discovering amazing things about myself that I know I could never dream of knowing.

My writing has become somewhat incoherent, so I guess I'll justa end here for now. School tomorrow, yay, tomorrow's casual Friday! Can wear jeans, hohoooo!

Self-chuck of the day: Was listening to the radio on the way home from work today. The DJ was asking for callers to call in and talk about their most memorable experiences. Then, a few minutes later, a caller by the name of Aisyah called in, and the DJ thought that this was the Aisyah who is a ghostbuster. Asked her whether is she really the ghostbuster Aisyah, the woman said no, and then said, "But I have encounters with ghosts before." She then went on to talk about her ghost moments, and she swears that she saw a ghost without a body once, without legs once, and without a head once. DJ asked again, "Why are you always seeing deformed ghosts?" ---WALLS

I'm pretty tired already. I feel rather exhausted by the time it hits 8.30pm, even I couldn't concentrate on Deal or No Deal. Haha. And it was the Hunks special. Looking back, the hunks weren't really THAT hot. They are in fact, normal mats on the streets. That's it to that.

You know I always have this habit of putting on a ring as an accessory on my fourth finger? Yeah. Some kid in school came up to me, and asked me, "Cikgu, cikgu dah tunang eh? Hari tu saya nampak cikgu balik naik kereta." Lol. When did I ever return home in a car? And I'm not even engaged, for Pete's sake! And I don't intend to in the next few years. ---WALLA.

Baby, I could tell that we're heading for even greater things. Why not just get on with it?

*Whatever I've said in italics are part of my imagination. It has nothing to do with my life. Really.

By the way, some personality test I took said that I am in need of a sensitive guy who reads Shakespeare to me every night. ---WALLS---Who wants Shakespeare's stories as bedtime stories? My ears bleed when I hear 'em. Metaphorically, not literally, of course.

And I haven't seen you in years. I can't go without letting you know.
How much I yearn for you.
How I dream of you day and night.
The heart aches every time I hear some voice - -
Telling me that it's you --
Tell me it really is you. . .

Hello world. I'm still alive.

I'm sucha twerp. I was putting cupcakes on microsoft word for the kids' birthdays, and printed them out, and cut them out one by one. After which, I intended to send it to the printing cum laminating auntie in the office to help me laminate these cupcakes. Then after I cut out the last cupcake, I realised that I could have actually not cut these cupcakes and get them laminated first, then cut them out. Sheesh. I now have to do double-cupcake-cutting. I'm sucha twerp. I knew it.

I decorated the malay room! Hooray! The theme was that of a garden forest, cos, well, there are lots of materials for this theme, so I might as well save some bucks and use them. Lots of flowers and grass and grasshoppers, the only exception being the birthday bulletin board, in which lots of cupcakes and other birthday shiznits are displayed, and a lone duck in a raincoat. Haha. That duck is too cute to be left in the dusty cupboard, so why not take it out for a little ride, eh? ;)

I'm feeling super-duperly generous to my kids today. Handed out God-knows-how-many packets of mini M&Ms, and lots of other chocs. I guess I wanted to treat them the way I want my teachers to treat me previously when I was still in primary school. So they were happy. Excellent. Now for the next plan. Agent H, please get me the materials. Hahahhh..Sounds like a freaking conspiracy to brainwash students.

On a happier note, I've been lookin' forward to school these past few days, well at least since the week started. Life is great and I'm lovin' all these little moments that I knew could never be retrieved once let go.

I can't think deep enough like Fitrah. No wonder she needs a boyfriend who reads to her Shakespeare every night - and a weird one on top of that. Read her blog for more details. No advertising fee included.

Shakespeare makes my ears bleed inside out. I know this is not what is expected of me, since I did Shakespeare for most of my teenage years, but hell, don't ask me how I survived. The feeling's like I'm stuck with an engineering class for the rest of my life. But I'm glad Shakespeare is so over, I mean, I'm glad that I'm not doing it anymore. I can't imagine reading just one more tragedy by this great man, no, not even Romeo and Juliet, though I think I am within reach of my perfect Prince Charming. Hehhhh....;)

See the image 'From girls to guys' under the Link list over on the right? Well, you guys can try going there. It's such a lovely website, keeps your curiosity going. Hahahh...and I'm only doing this because Nurimah's one of my old buddies, so heh, a little advertising does not hurt. The image is clickable lah!

Had a nice good long chat with Hafiz just now. Pretty interesting topics, with pretty interesting responses. I just wished that it had been different from the start. Just wishing.

On to another note, yes Isyah, I've been stealing time wherever I can to blog. Cos you see, behind my desk, there's a computer, the desk cubicle next to mine, also have a computer, laptop to be precise. Lol. Anyways, the urge is there, with a few ideas which I can nicely map out onto a post. So there you have it! My very own blog posts. Hahahhh...It's always overlooked, fyi.

Started madrasah at Al-Irsyad today, for PERGAS lessons. Really interesting, but I have the unfortunate luck of sitting at the very front. Cos me and Raudhah (lucky her) got the desk at the back, inevitably pushing me to the front. Met Luqman, Izzah and many others from AJ. The class size is huge, and get this, for Fiqh, which they call it ilmu syariah, we're studying munakahat, which in fact means nikah, which means solemnization, which means marriage. Hahahh...And the ustaz was just saying that people always score high for this one because of "personal interests". And he's a really funny man. And everyone's oh-so-attentive. I couldn't help but chuckle. Cos I used to do this topic when I was studying at another mosque. And I fell asleep everytime this topic was taught. So does that mean I don't have "personal interests"? I don't know. Go figure.

Ahh...lesson plans. I haven't done them yet. The kids were pretty good to me this week, and I went shopping on Saturday! Wooply doodly doo!!!! Being able to spend money (my gaji haven't masuk la) is excellent. Bought lots of clothes and everything else, was tempted to buy this ring which is made of corals and stone, and blown with heat, but it was too expensive (69 bucks, yo!) for a ring like that.

And baked doughnuts. Thought of giving some to Rau, but thought that perhaps, if I bake something better, I mighteth give it to her.

Why must we stop it just like that? Can't we just keep it going?

And Isyah, thanks for the lovely gifts and card. Appreciate it lots! And remember to give me a treat when you get your first paycheck uh!

SELF CHUCK OF THE MONTH: Was staying on the second floor of an apartment floor number one. Floor number two,…the other day there were literally four relatively young people waiting for the elevator to go down to the first floor….if you are capable of walking down the stairs, one floor is not going to hurt you....LOL!

Wow. What an amazing day.

I want to make an announcement: I AM OFFICIALLY TIRED AND EXHAUSTED.

Alright, stop scoffing. I really am. Somehow, somehow (stress on the second word, second syllable), sometime or the other, some devil decides to penetrate into my lessons for the P1s. I don't know how, and I don't know why. Because those kids, well, they aren't exactly cooperating with me today. And I don't know why.

It's tiring when we have to run around and speak slowly and repeat our sentences over and over and over again. I guess it's all part of the whole package. I hope these kids can't really see that this person is "initferthemunnyslashmoolah" kinda person. Lol. But that said, I take full responsibility for my words. *Bows gracefully*

And you know what? It's kinda fun, doing lesson plans. I had so much joy flipping through the text books, and looking at pictures and such. Really.

And did I mention that I 'stole' four of Cikgu Aidil's students? Heh. Cos he asked me too. Lol. These kids (due to them being underage and minors in "the eyes of the law", I shall protect their identity and keep their names a secret), wow, they speak a flitter of Malay. They speak majorly English, and they remind me of me. Hahahahhhh....And one of them, oh-so-cute, gave me a drawing of a banana with a person's body and labeled it as 'Han'. Cute, isn't it? I had so much fun when I'm with them, because I can relate to them - somehow.

And it's so cute and so endearing when I see you smile. Yes, that's the way you smile, baby. That's the way you smile.