Mayra tagged me on a tutorial video on FB, with comment, " Anis, draw this one!"

Was quite busy with packing and all at that moment, so I only had the time to accept the challenge a few weeks late haha. 

So here goes, a drawing of the sunset.

The process was quite difficult since the colour of the paper was VERY brown.

Shading is impossible and I had to layer the base twice haha.

Not my best but will keep it here :)

Help ?

Last two nights, as I was about to actually start studying, I suddenly got a call from Kubis. 

"CHECK YOUR WHATSAPP !!!" she said right after I answered it, couldn't even get to Assalamualaikum,-yes-why-are-you-calling-do-you-miss-me and all but okay, that will do to. 

I turned my WhatsApp on, and sent to me (by her) were photos of blouses and dresses on sale. . . Girl meant serious business when she called.  

Trying to avoid the urge to browse those online shops, I typed, "But I just bought 2 pairs of heels last night. Can't afford to shop for two days in a row," torn between hitting send and opening the site of the shop. I eventually hit send but ended up at the site anyway. Just because, ye know. I needed a break. I cannot be stressed when I'm about to study and ... okay, stop judging me.

The thing is, I JUST CAN'T CONTROL IT. How do people even do that ?!

I mean, how do their brain talk to their heart ? Just, how ? What sorcery is that ? 

If some people are more specific on what they spent on, like, "Oh, I only spend more on food" or "I am willing to starve for Lego" which for them, can be sinful too at times. 

Sir, behold , 

for thou is not as sinful.

This woman here enjoys everything. 

I like books , 

I like stationeries,

I like shoes, 

I like clothes, 

I like scarves, 

I like handbags, 

I like movies, 

I like food and the list goes on... 

and frankly, this is not something I am proud of. 

I have been telling my friends to keep me away from simply buying things but as you can see, instead of keeping me away, they notify me on EVERY sales possible. It is not peculiar at all to see me running to them after hearing the words, "Anis, **** is on sale!" 

And yes, I am fully aware that sometimes, the shops just put on the tags '50% off' although they're actually selling at normal price. Yes, I have those tricks in my pockets and I should crawl away from it. But, no . I just kept on running back to what I wish to avoid the most. 

There's this one recent event, we just got back from a midnight movie and walked past Jelly Bunny with huge "50% off" sign.

Uncanny

The shop was closed, so we went back there the next day (the effort). Turned out, it was just a clearance sale on certain shoes only and, obviously most of them are not in my size.

However, since we're already there and I already have my card in my purse, why not?

I ended up buying 6 pairs of shoes, was feeling generous enough and bought 2 for my sister. As far as I can recall, the shoes which I bought, only a few pairs were on a-few-percents-off (not ALL were 50% apparently. LIAR !) and the rest were with normal prices.
Not to mention that a few days before that, I just spent another hundreds on ... if I'm not mistaken, inner wears and Goodness knows how much those devils cost. 

Yes. I am an idiot. And this is a call for help. SOS. 

I got a lot of suggestions from concern friends.

"Only bring like RM10 in your purse every day."

 But ... what if , there's an emergency ? I can't be walking around unprepared, knowing I am not ready for what the world might smack me with. Nooo. Should I ? Noooo. Nope.

"Decide your priorities." 

THEY ARE ALL IMPORTANT.

Also, "Every day, set aside RM5 and keep it in a container." 

Yup. Did it. Spent those too. 

"Record the expenses" and starts recommending me a list of wallet Apps. 

Worked. For a few days. 

Another interesting one is, "Try not to shop." 

Duhhh. Thank you? I didn't know it's an option.

However therapeutic this is for me , deep down inside, I pray hard enough, hoping that this is only one of those 'this-is-just-a-phase,you-will-get-over-it' because dang, mama gonna be broke if mama dont stahp. 

I seriously need to find the way out, because only I can help myself :( 

At first, I didn't think this is bad at all because you know, I'm helping our economic growth. Your welcome, Malaysia *blows nails* 

However, when I realized that most of my chats with my friends consist of , "So today I bought this.." and "Maybe you should check this out" and "Isn't this cute?" followed by hundreds of photos. Okay that 'hundreds of photos' is a total exaggeration but guys, I am in deep mess. 

That is when it hits me, 'Boy, I am sick and I need help, don't I ?'  

Kubis found her way out, or well maybe not completely out but I can say she's halfway there. Whenever the urge hits her, she finds something REALLY cheap and only buy like, one or two. Hmmm maybe I can try that too. But ... but

I believe that everyone has mental illness looping inside them and mine happens to be this. Since it's happening inside, no medication would work unless I'm determined enough to make it stop. 

And therefore,

Starting from today onwards, I have decided that I will try my best to control my behaviour.
I promise that if I ever do anything stupid and go spend my money like a crazy woman,

I will have to pause from shopping for a month. 

Gosh I hope this works. 

She was a beautiful savage

I just discovered this one male poet and most of his writings are about standing up for women!

How cool is that ?

And no, he's not gay. Haha

Nevertheless, I can't seem to find his books, 'Born to Love, Cursed to Feel', and 'Whiskey and Shovel' in the bookstore. Maybe they're not here in Malaysia yet.

Saw him posting a sneak peek of his poem and it led me to this drawing

She was a beautiful savage

unapologetic but sweet

delicate but tough

brave enough

to walk through hell

in search of her own piece

of heaven

unafraid of the flames

-r.h. Sin-

Okay first of all, that past tense in the beginning of paragraph sparked my curiosity the most, I don't know why! And the way r.h. Sin ended her endurance of hell to find her piece of heaven that once belong to her, was just ... liberating.

And don't even make me start about the oxymorons of her characteristics. Haih. Loving it.

Poems with the manifestation of tenacity and perseverance are always my favourites :)

Hoping to add more in the list

Vietnamese Spring Rolls for the whole class !

So last year, we had a micro teaching class (well we have it almost every year haha but last year was more specific on lesson plan). I have been dying to upload our activities in my classes and found this one photo of our activity last year. If and only I am as determined as those people on Pinterest, I surely have a lot to share !

We focused on the topic 'How To Write a Process & Procedure Essay' last time... and what we did was, we actually brought the real ingredients to the class and taught them on how to make Vietnamese Spring Rolls live.

I don't wanna bore you with the hum drum part of how we conducted the lesson but here goes, our own recipe of the rolls and ah yes, I made our own signature sauce .

Ingredients for one roll ( frankly, you can just put the amount of the ingredients up to your liking. Sorry la. Saya melayu. Takda measurement) :

Vermicelli Noodles (hydrated/boiled until el dente)
Leaves Lettuce (1 or 2 leaves per rolls)
Mint ( no need to chop. Put a few leaves )
Sliced Carrots (1.5 tbspoon)
Chopped Coriander/Cilantro (2 teaspoons)
Chopped Basil (2 teaspoons)
Boiled Prawns (3 or 2 slices per rolls)
A few Rice Paper
1 or 2 dollops of Aioli (Can buy from the stores but we made our own. I will share below just in case) - aioli will act like a jam, so if you would like to have more savory taste in your rolls, you may put extra aioli :)


Aioli Recipe :
Click here
OR
Into 2 tbspoon of mayonnaise , put these :  a garlic clove ( finely chopped), sprinkle some salt and grounded black pepper, and squeeze a lime juice and sprinkle some of the mint


Steps for Rolls:

1. Boiled your prawns (with shells on) on the stove until its is cooked. Do not throw away the prawn water as we can use it later. 
2. Slice the prawn into half , then you can peel of the shell and the dirt. 
3. Wash your greens and start preparing a bowl of warm water. 
4. With your warm water ready, dip the rice paper into it for 1 second and gently lay it on a flat surface. 
5. In a row across the centre, put down your sliced prawns first, followed by lettuce and hydrated vermicelli noodles on top of the rice paper.  
6. Spread a dollop of aioli, place the mint, carrot and cilantro.
7. Fold the corners (the two sides) inwards and roll from the bottom over the ingredients. Make sure to be super gentle as you don't want to break the rice paper. 
8. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. 

You may refer this video on how to roll your rice paper :

Well , some people like to have the rolls with the peanut butter sauce but I don't really like peanut butter haha so here's another way to make the sauce ...


Ingredients for dipping sauce :

1 cup of boiled prawn-water from before
3 teaspoons of fish sauce (my ultimate secret ingredient haha)
2 cloves of minced garlic
2 spoon of sugar
5 nicely chopped chilli
2 lime
Salt (accordingly)

Steps for sauce

1. Reheat your prawn water on the stove and add the sugar. 
2. Pour the garlic , chilli and the fish sauce. 
3. Add sugar according to the taste. 
4. You may want to add some finely chopped shallot but it is not obligated to. 
5. Turn off the fire and squeeze your limes.
6. There is no harm in modifying the sauce according to your taste :)

Okay I guess that's all for the time being. Will try my best to post more recipes but knowing my inability to write down specific amount of ingredients, I don't think I'll be able to do so quite often 😂😂😂 This is why you don't ask a Malay girl about recipe. We like to 'agak-agak je' haha