Choosing a career : A personal experience

(This post is a mirror copy of my blog post in Web Writing).

For the last two weeks, the topic for my "Reading and Writing" class in a local university was "career". We read three articles in the textbook - and we ended up with a lengthy discussion about my students' interests and where they think they are heading to.

We discussed the reasons why people would work, and what would be my students' personal reasons. Some of their answers got me to think about myself. Like most people, I work for money - but not for a lot of money, just enough to sustain my life. I place a higher priority on learning. Yes, for me to stay interested in my job, I've got to be able to learn new things - once work becomes a routine and my learning graph becomes static, I would become restless and start looking for a new job.

That explains why in my resume, I only stayed for about 3 years in a place - or simply put as why I job-hopped. And it also explains why I now become a freelancer.

In the class, we also discussed about identifying our personal talents, strengths and interests in order to determine our career paths. And I came across some students who somehow reflected myself - they have too many interests and thus, it's hard for them to decide on a career path. Like them, I want to know and be everything. I used to dream of becoming an architect, but I was also interested in arts - and I had wanted to be a writer too. Due to my family's financial constraints though, I ended up taking a scholarship to be a trained teacher.

I loved teaching, but I had wanted to learn other things too - so, right after I'd completed my 7-years contract with the government , I'd become a web-content writer for a web-designing company, and later a subject-matter experts coordinator cum editor with a company dealing with educational software. That was when I found out that I'm actually a people person. Working in an office facing the computer most of the time had made me feel a bit lonely. I missed noises, and I missed being surrounded by young faces that adore me. So, I went back to teach in a local college.

Teaching in a college proved to be more satisfactory than teaching in the secondary school. Students were more willing to learn, thus I had less problem with class management. I had more freedom to experiment with my teaching methods and approaches too, since colleges have soundproof classrooms. But once I'd taught all subjects possible for all the faculties in that college, and my learning graph had become static again, I just couldn't resist trying on something new.

Being a freelancer, I get to continue doing what I love - teaching - and at the same time I'm free to explore new areas that I'm interested in. I am teaching in three different places on and off, so I get to experience three different teaching environments - one deals with the international students, another deals with all-male technical students and the other one deals with human sciences students from religious education background. On top of that, whenever I don't have classes, I can learn about financial planning, how to pitch for sales and at times be a sub-translator for those who are doing it on a full-time basis.

And being me - these are not enough. I'm still far away from calling myself a "writer", and I want to be one. Plus, I have another ambition that haven't been realized - I want to study interior design, and I want to be a farmer, too.

So... how do I advise my students on how to choose their career paths?

I told them they can choose one area of interest, study it deeper and deeper, and they will be called as "experts" in that area. Famous and rich.

Or they can explore all of their interests for the sake of experiencing and "knowing" about each, but they will be just like me - not established in any field. Not rich, yet content. :D

Yes, that's me - Mima.

We ended our class with a thought-provoking poem by Robert Frost - "The Road Not Taken".

TESL Pioneers' 20 years reunion

Our reunion happened on the 23rd of August 2008. A Saturday nite.

Balik malam tu aku punya bersemangat kalau boleh nak upload all photos and write all abt it in my blog , and send to the TESL yahoogroups malam tu gak... but me n th internet... memang lembab sikit selalunya... sebab bnyk sgt commitment lain yg nak dilayan, such as homework anak2 murid yg berlambak aku tk dan nak mark tu... he he... so sampai la la ni... ni pun aku copy n paste n modified je message aku kat depa...

This was 'us' during orientation week in UKM, back in 1990.

Tapi malam tu memang seronok... makan memang la tak lavish sangat mcm dibah belanja kitorang dulu, but then malam tu memang tk berapa ingat nak makan sangat sbb seronok sgt dapat jumpa kawan2 especially yg dh lama lost contact. After so many years... aku ingat ada 6-7 tahun aku lost contact dgn Noraizah and Nurazlina, housemates aku kat BBB dulu... malam tu baru dapat jumpa balik... halis, partner aku kat high school kajang dulu pun lepas practical langsung tak pernah jumpa - jumpa gak malam tu. Wan jiran lama aku, zuhana yg aku pernah contact masa aku kerja kat renong dulu dan lps tu lost contact balik, nazima n che' khai yg aku tak pernah jumpa sejak grad, dan ramai lagi lah... excited sungguh rasanya malam tu...

Bukan setakat yang mai malam tu aku dpt jejak kasih... yg tak mai pun sama... esok tu aku belek balik skrip lagu yg organizer sediakan, tak sangka siap nombor telefon semua org ada dalam list tu... buat penat aku mintak nomboq semua org je malam tu... Nampak phone number salmi, housemate aku lagi sorang kat situ... terus aku call...

Rupa2nya setelah aku berpisah dgn salmi lepas aku berpindah-randah dari rompin ke kelang ke penang ke kl ke pj ke cj , salmi dok setia lagi di mersing... ye lah... dia kawin org sana... but then, bab yg sedih, aku baru tau yg husband dia dah meninggal abt a year ago... pas tu salmi bg tau aku nor pun dah kehilangan husband dia abt 4 years ago... Innalillahi wa innnalillahi raji'un... Terasa sgt aku ni betul2 kawan tak guna sbb tak ambik tahu hal kengkawan for the past few years.

Tunggu bas for the visit to "STAR"

Aku memang sokong cadangan jadikkan the reunion an annual event. Mudah2an dapat jumpa lebih ramai kengkawan and refresh mana2 memories yg dah hampir pupus sebelum kita betul2 dah tua n nyanyuk (if the next reunion is in another 20 years :D). Being a cikgu for so long now, I don't mind tempat tak mahal n makan tak sedap, I'm used to it. For me, buat kat kantin UKM pun tak pe. Yg penting dpt berkumpul n feel belonged to the group once again.

So aku nak tabik spring kat semua yg terlibat jadi organizer malam tu. Thank you for the wonderful night frenz!

Irsyad khatam al-Quran

Malam ini malam majlis tahlil keluarga berserta acara khatam, hadiah hari jadi dari nenek untuk irsyad.

Cheng Ho Restaurant review

We were invited by dear Norish to taste the new food in her new restaurant on the 5th of March. She has been talking about her plan to open a restaurant for few years and alhamdulillah, now it's taking flight...

Food was umphhh... fabulous, no where that I've tasted food as good as those they served us that night ever before. The kerabu mangga was out of this world. The mix vege was excellent, nothing that I could complaint - the vege were all fresh and crisp, even the prawns inside tasted like they came fresh from the sea - like those I used to have back in Kuala Rompin. Not to mention their fried prawns... umpphhh..... can't describe its deliciousness. You simply got to taste them yourselves!

The tom yam - only now I've found one that is better or close to the one I used to like in a restaurant in Kuantan so many years ago. Can't recall the name of that restaurant though. Was it Restoran Pattani? For years, I've lost appetite eating tom yam since nothing that I've come across was at par with the one there, but in Cheng Ho, I've found that appetite again.

The last dish was siakap masak nyonya. We were almost full by that time by so many dishes they served us and was surprised that there was another one. We thought we wouldn't be able to finish it - but well, as it was so good, we manage to clean the plate. He he!

All in all, it's a restaurant that I would recommend to anybody, not because it belongs to someone dear to me, but because the food is really, really good you wouldn't regret ordering (or paying for it). Ah yes, and the kids were given oreo ice-blended, I couldn't resist tasting it - it was so surprisingly good - make sure you order that too when you happen to visit the restaurant!

And the ID, though according to Norish, is not 100% completed, is still catchy and attractive. White and red - plus black and white large buntings on Chinese Muslims' lifestyle - I really like the surrounding. Red is always a good choice for eating places - increase the appetite and make people hungry but combine it with white - it looks so stylish and create peacefulness while eating.

Location? Wangsa Maju, the road behind Carrefour, Jalan Wangsa Delima 10 - 15 & 17G - you wouldn't miss it.


I pray to Allah that this restaurant will become a success story, that Norish and Amy will be able to open more branches across Malaysia as they have planned, and that their life together is always blessed by the Almighty in the world and in the hereafter, forever.

Ameen...

Eye on Malaysia

Yes, it took us that long to finally reach this much talked-about place in the city. It happened on one fine Saturday afternoon, when DH finally felt like he could sacrifice some of his time to be spent with us rather than working.

Irsyad took it as our celebration for his khatam Qur'an. I took it as one of our special quality time spent together as one small happy family which rarely happens.

We spent the afternoon riding the giant merry-go-round. It was then when I discovered that Irsyad was scared of height. Ha ha, so much for dreaming to be the future angkasawan. Naufal enjoyed it, and Irsyad soon forgot about his phobia and began to enjoy the ride.



When we get down, we had a nice teatime with a cup of muffin and a piece of cake as Irsyad requested for us to celebrate his khatam Qur'an (pity the boy since his dad didn't want to conduct a kenduri for him). Then, the kids began to surround the clown who was there, hoping to get some balloons from her, which they finally got after waiting for abt an hour!


What disappointed us was when we prayed Maghrib, the surau was so dark without electricity,not to mention its size. How could that happen when outside they had so much light, in fact, they were having this lights and sound shows at night!

Anyway, we did enjoy the lights and sound shows, and just couldn't resist buying some souvenirs as the moments we spent there were beautiful. The time we spent there has opened DH's heart to spend such time with us again in the future, of course in other tourists' locations that we've been neglecting to take our children to all this while. :)

Kakiku ditoreh

Berbulan2 tumit kiriku sakit. Segala refleksologi dan urut x meredakan kesakitan itu. Aku dikhabarkan bhw ia mungkin bpunca dr kegagalan buah pinggang yg mnyebabkn asid urik bkumpul d tumit. Maka bila si tkg bekam kata bekam blh mngeluarkn asid urik dr tumitku, aku pn setuju melakukannya. Kusangka darah akan disedut melalui leliang roma. Mana ku tahu kaki ku akan ditoreh2 sebegini. Lbh 2 minggu aku menahan sakit bekas torehan di kiri kanan tumitku. Manakan tidak, tiap kali berwudhu atau keluar tandas, pasti dibasahi air. Menurut si tkg bekam, ia akan bertaup dan xkan meninggalkn parut. Tp sehingga hari ini kulit yg tertoreh itu blm bertaup sepenuhnya dan masih berparut. Rasanya aku dh serik nk berbekam.

Taekwondo acts

Aksi Irsyad sms ujian taekwondo sabtu minggu terdahulu. Terkejar2 aku balik dr USIM nk hantar dia, rupanya dia ikut tati celebrate bday irfan. Panik kejap aku takut dia x dtg test. Call tati x dpt2. Last2 gi tpt taekwondo rupanya dh ada kat sana. Irsyad lulus dn dpt green belt. Paling gempak si nabil dpt double promotion, tego 2 terus...tak sia2 sponsor dia.

ELSP in USIM

As I prepared to leave my house on a saturday last two weeks, I kinda regret tht I hd accepted this task of being a facilitator for this program since I hv to leave th kids n x able 2 spend th weekend w them. But as th day went by, I actually enjoyed spending time helping th stds to get prepared 4 MUET as I had liked them. They were polite and nice; eventhough they were sleepy, they tried to hide it from me. He he. There were abt 28 stds in my class. Most r weaker than my FKP students last sem, but they r just as cooperative. Overall, tching in USIM hs always been a nice experience for me n I'v already planned to teach here again nxt sem. B-)

Today's theme: A floral visit

Paying a visit and a closer look to all the flowers in my front yard that I've been neglecting for quite some time, today.

Luckily, you guys still bloom nicely to give me a nice welcome home greetings!




I don't really know what's the name of this plant or what people call the flower, but I like it anyway... :)

This is an exotic tropical flower... again I don't know what its name, but I call it 'pokok pisang' (banana plant) since the leaves look like banana plant. Orange has always been my favourite colour.

I used to plant the white version of this flower back in Kulim. Somehow, I prefer the pink ones now. The white ones remind me of my late dad a lot. I always remember how I tried to plant the white lilies on my dad's grave but somehow, it wouldn't grow there like it used to grow in my frontyard.

This larger orange lily was given to me by sis Tati when she was moving out fro her house in BB Bangi, and has been planted, and replanted, potted and out for a few times since.

I used to think of this plant as 'pokok rumput', something that I'm not so keen to have in my garden. But Irsyad liked it and had actually brought it home and planted it. So now it's there, and has given us so any flowers that I finally think that it's quite charming in its own way...

The name? Again I fail!

This 'kemboja' plant has been with me for a long, long time, since kulim if I'm not mistaken, and it's my only bonsai attempt that has ever survived. :)

This flower that looks like the malay 'siantan' flower tht my late grnma used to have in her frontyrd hd caught my eyes when I first moved to work in Cyberjaya. There were so many of this flowers alongside the road near Ericsson tht it made me crazy of wanting to own it. I found this plant first in a nursery in Seri Kembangan, but somehow it died aft I'd bought it. This one I found in a nursery in BB Bangi, and this time I made sure I asked for tips on how to take care of this plant. Alhamdulillah, this one has survived being in my possession for over two years now.

This one is called 'bunga mahkota' (direct translation: crown flower). I used to feel so impressed when I first saw this plant, that a cacti can produce so many beautiful flowers! Oh wow.

This one is really, really 'bunga rumput'. Nevertheless, it has nice purple flowers that look like buttons. This one is planted outside my house. I don't remember how it has reached my house but I guess it must be another Irsyad's project somehow.

Maka terhasillah...

Naufal's self-taken photos!

Gaya si irsyad merakam gambar diri sendiri

diperhatikan oleh naufal...

Pengaruh Ben 10

Dh 2-3 hari naufal x lepa dgn jam ben 10 nya sejak babanya kena ketuk di hentian awan besar.