Terdesak

Dalam era pascamodenisasi ini, kita sering dibelenggu dengan pelbagai dugaan dan cabaran. Pada saat-saat ini, dugaan yang amat besar sedang menimpa pelajar-pelajar yang berumur lima belas tahun kerana mereka bakal menduduki peperiksaan yang mungkin akan menentukan kejayaan mereka dalam medan perjuangan. Diri saya sendiri tidak terlepas daripada ujian kurniaan Allah ini.

Oleh sebab keputusan Peperiksaan Percubaan Penilaian Menengah Rendah saya tidak memberangsangkan, saya bertekad untuk insaf. Saya ingin memperbaik kemahiran menulis dalam Bahasa Melayu dan memperluas kosa kata saya. Hal ini demikian kerana saya telah ditimpa dengan 'B' yang amat mengecewakan. 78 peratus itu bukanlah senang untuk dilupakan dalam peperiksaan yang begitu penting. Amatlah mengejutkan kerana saya, seorang insan bergelar Melayu, mendapat "Kepujian" sahaja dalam mata pelajaran yang berkisar dengan bahasa sendiri tetapi mendapat "Cemerlang" dalam mata pelajaran Bahasa Inggeris. 

Mesej ini ditujukan khas kepada insan-insan yang sudi membaca penulisan saya ini 

"Saya akan menduduki peperiksaan yang penting. Tolong doakan kejayaan saya. Apabila saya mula menulis dalam bahasa asli saya, maknanya saya benar-benar terdesak. Harap maklum."

"Pastikan 8A dalam genggaman" -Ustazah Anidah 

Ameen.

Wands, House Pride, Cedric

Gonna rant about Pottermore. If you don't like it, leave now. If you do, good for you.

My wand is a hard, 13 inches long Ash with Dragon Heartstring core. It says the wand chooses the wizard, and this beauty chose me. When I got it, I was wondering how did it choose me. After I unlocked J.K. Rowling's writing, then I knew. The characteristics fit me perfectly! 

 "Each wand, from the moment it finds its ideal owner, will begin to learn from and teach its human partner."

Length and flexibility

"Longer wands might suit taller wizards, but they tend to be drawn to bigger personalities, and those of a more spacious and dramatic style of magic."

"Wand flexibility or rigidity denotes the degree of adaptability and willingness to change possessed by the wand-and-owner pair"

Wood

"The ash wand cleaves to its one true master and ought not to be passed on or gifted from the original owner, because it will lose power and skill..........The ideal owner may be stubborn, and will certainly be courageous, but never crass or arrogant."

Core

"As a rule, dragon heartstrings produce wands with the most power, and which are capable of the most flamboyant spells. Dragon wands tend to learn more quickly than other types. While they can change allegiance if won from their original master, they always bond strongly with the current owner.

The dragon wand tends to be easiest to turn to the Dark Arts, though it will not incline that way of its own accord. It is also the most prone of the three cores to accidents, being somewhat temperamental."

Muehehehe can you see the resemblance? Suit taller wizards : the average height for a Malaysian woman is 153.3 cm. I'm 161cm. Check. Stubborn : no need for explanations. Almost everyone who knows me knows my stubbornness. Check. Bravo, my wand is a hard one, so the wand-and-me pair is not willing to change and adapt, since it's hard.

Guess what house am I sorted in?

HUFFLEPUFF

Do not mock me, or I will hex you into this house. I was a tad disappointed when I got sorted into this house as I wasn't expecting it at all. I was expecting something like Slytherin or Ravenclaw, so I was like "really? no, REALLY?" when I got sorted into Hufflepuff. 

After the Mathematics examination today, I have truly found the Hufflepuff sense in me. You see, the Sorting Hat sorts us into a house that reflects who we are and what we are capable of and brings out the best in us even if we never thought it existed in the first place. 

"Those patient Hufflepuffs are true and unafraid of toil"

I can't say for certain that I'm unafraid of toil, but I guess I am true. I avoid twisting other people's words and trust towards me, and I hate people who loves to twist words. For example, when a person tells you to read it at home, and a friend said "it doesn't say don't tell anyone". I just despise those twisting and windings. You can wind yourself up and see if you like it. 

The welcome speech for Hufflepuff by the prefect Gabriel Truman made me love being a Hufflepuff. It nudged my Hufflepuff side and it woke up to bloom, and it's still blooming. 

"Our emblem is the badger, an animal that is often underestimated, because it lives quietly until attacked, but which, when provoked, can fight off animals much larger than itself, including wolves."

"Now, there are a few things you should know about Hufflepuff house. First of all, let’s deal with a perennial myth about the place, which is that we’re the least clever house. WRONG. Hufflepuff is certainly the least boastful house, but we’ve produced just as many brilliant witches and wizards as any other. Want proof? Look up Grogan Stump, one of the most popular Ministers for Magic of all time. He was a Hufflepuff – as were the successful Ministers Artemesia Lufkin and Dugald McPhail. Then there’s the world authority on magical creatures, Newt Scamander; Bridget Wenlock, the famous thirteenth-century Arithmancer who first discovered the magical properties of the number seven, and Hengist of Woodcroft, who founded the all-wizarding village of Hogsmeade, which lies very near Hogwarts School. Hufflepuffs all."

You forgot this hot ahem, brave Hufflepuff

"So, as you can see, we’ve produced more than our fair share of powerful, brilliant and daring witches and wizards, but, just because we don’t shout about it, we don’t get the credit we deserve."

I think I'm gonna cry D':

This is Nymphadora Tonks, another brave Hufflepuff.

"...it’s true that Hufflepuff is a bit lacking in one area. We’ve produced the fewest Dark wizards of any house in this school. Of course, you’d expect Slytherin to churn out evil-doers, seeing as they’ve never heard of fair play and prefer cheating over hard work any day, but even Gryffindor (the house we get on best with) has produced a few dodgy characters."

Does a certain rat ring a bell?  

"We are the only house at Hogwarts that also has a repelling device for would-be intruders. ...the illegal entrant is doused in vinegar."

"You will hear other houses boast of their security arrangements, but it so happens that in more than a thousand years, the Hufflepuff common room and dormitories have never been seen by outsiders. Like badgers, we know exactly how to lie low – and how to defend ourselves."

"... you will emerge into the cosiest common room of them all. It is round and earthy and low-ceilinged; it always feels sunny, and its circular windows have a view of rippling grass and dandelions."

" There is a lot of burnished copper about the place, and many plants, which either hang from the ceiling or sit on the windowsills. Our Head of house, Professor Pomona Sprout, is Head of Herbology, and she brings the most interesting specimens (some of which dance and talk) to decorate our room – one reason why Hufflepuffs are often very good at Herbology. Our overstuffed sofas and chairs are upholstered in yellow and black, and our dormitories are reached through round doors in the walls of the common room. Copper lamps cast a warm light over our four-posters, all of which are covered in patchwork quilts, and copper bed warmers hang on the walls, should you have cold feet."

"Our house ghost is the friendliest of them all: the Fat Friar. You’ll recognise him easily enough; he’s plump and wears monk’s robes, and he’s very helpful if you get lost or are in any kind of trouble." 

"I think that’s nearly everything. I must say, I hope some of you are good Quidditch players. Hufflepuff hasn’t done as well as I’d like in the Quidditch tournament lately.
You should sleep comfortably. We’re protected from storms and wind down in our dormitories; we never have the disturbed nights those in the towers sometimes experience."

That Seeker is Cedric Diggory.

Hail Hufflepuffs! 

Vitamin D

Need.

More.

Vitamin.

D.

I found this article on Yahoo! when I was looking at my inbox for any possible Pottermore e-mail. I have to say this article is very interesting. Ah, the sweet satisfaction of knowledge. Enjoy. I think I'm gonna ask mummy for vitamin D supplements... We only have vitamin A and vitamin C supplements here.

VITAMIN D
This vitamin's biggest claim to fame is its role in strengthening your skeleton. But vitamin D isn't a one-trick nutrient: A study in Circulationfound that people deficient in D were up to 80 percent more likely to suffer a heart attack or stroke. The reason? Vitamin D may reduce inflammation in your arteries. Also, a University of Minnesota study found that people with adequate vitamin D levels release more leptin, a hormone that conveys the "I'm full" message to your brain. Even more impressive, the study also found that the nutrient triggers weight loss primarily from the belly. Another study found that people with higher D levels in their bloodstream store less fat.

The shortfall: Vitamin D is created in your body when the sun's ultraviolet B rays penetrate your skin. Problem is, the vitamin D you stockpile during sunnier months is often depleted by winter, especially if you live in the northern half of the United States, where UVB rays are less intense from November through February. When Boston University researchers measured the vitamin D status of young adults at the end of winter, 36 percent of them were found to be deficient.

Hit the mark: First, ask your doctor to test your blood levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. "You need to be above 30 nanograms per milliliter," says Michael Holick, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of medicine at Boston University. Come up short? Eat foods like salmon (900 IU per serving), mackerel (400 IU), and tuna (150 IU). Milk and eggs are also good, with about 100 IU per serving. But to ensure you're getting enough, take 1,400 IU of vitamin D daily from a supplement and a multivitamin. That's about seven times the recommended daily intake for men, but it takes that much to boost blood levels of D, says Dr. Holick.

Scourgify

My blog's gotten dusty. So here goes... scourgify. Now it's impeccably clean from any physical (verbal dirt is still there though, I do remember my swearing posts) dirt and/or dust.

I went to Taiping to celebrate Eid. Yaya and I were supposed to go back to Machang but we sort of... feel left out whenever we're there. We only had each other and it was depressing T.T I like it at Taiping because I'm close, no, ditch that, I'm metaphorically stuck to them. Especially the eight-year old one. Her name's Farah. I call her 'Baby'. She's so gonna hit me if she (ever) knows of my blog.

For the record, I did help out in the kitchen. Don't scoff at me. Sure, I played games (I downloaded a game when it was only I think four days shy of one month to PMR), but I helped out... I babysat the none too angelic baby brother of mine. I secretly think he's going to be the next Voldemort LOL. I never woke up later than 10 (I think).

The great thing about that place is, I don't want to go back. It's so peaceful there. Sure, Taiping is not exactly known for it's village-sceneries-and-touch but it's better than the concrete jungles here. The trees here are bald compared to the trees there! Bald I say, bald. 

The bad things... I don't even want to talk about my mom's constant nagging and ordering and mood swings and anger management issues etc. She'd easily pass for an angry bird in an audition.