It is always an exciting thing to go on a holiday. However, don't know what to pack? Not to worry! I always feel like I am forgetting something once I have packed for a holiday. Somehow, I only realize what exactly it is that caused me to have those feelings after I have reached the holiday destination. No matter where I go, I always remember to bring along
Toiletries This includes soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrush, towel, face wash, and tissue. The hotels usually provide all these except the face wash of course. However, I think you can never be too prepared. You will never know what you may need at the last minute.
Extra clothes Sometimes you just need extra clothes because you may never know what situation may bring you. I especially pack extra inner wear because it would be unhygienic if you wore an already worn one.
The electronics! Phone, camera, charger, extra batteries. I make sure to clear the memory as well in my phone so that I can take a lot of pictures without having to crack my head thinking of what to delete.
It is always good to organize what you bring so that you would not be frantically searching for things when you are in a rush. I would suggest to get travel organizers. It not only saves space but also keep your things organized. Here's a little tip. In order to fit more clothes in the bag, I actually roll my clothes instead of fold them.
Pangkor Island
Next, if you are going to a hot and sunny place like the beach, try packing something that allows good air ventilation. Besides that, bring sun block to prevent your skin from getting burned if you know you would be going out in the sun a lot. Don't forget bathing suits for the beaches and swimming pools. Do bring an extra pair of shoes or sandals for precaution purposes. If you are going to a cold place on the other hand. Bring thick clothing. Jackets and sweaters are advisable. Bring and extra blanket if you want to. Try wearing closed shoes most of the time. You wouldn't want to be shivering throughout your journey. Don't forget to bring socks as well! You would want to bring a lotion as well to ensure your skin stays moisturized. Below are more hacks for you to refer to:
To those who do not know cooking, here's a post for you. We want fast and efficient cooking all the time. Of course there is instant noodles but there are more varieties in cooking.
Rice, egg and soy sauce
I think the easiest thing I have learned to do is something called 'Nasi Bujang' if directly translated to English then it would be the Bachelor's rice. Since it sounds funny in English, I will just stick to the Malay name of it. The most simple way to do it is by frying an egg and eating it with rice. It is actually with soup as well but then there would be an issue of making a soup in the first place. If it tastes too plain eating just egg with rice then you could add a little bit of light soy sauce.
Fried rice
Next would be fried rice. It is so simple to do. All you have to do is cut some vegetables like carrots, onions, garlic, and french beans or long beans into small pieces. Saute until golden brown in some oil. It would be a good time to add egg at this stage if you want to eat your fried rice with egg. Add cooked rice, some light soy sauce and fry a little longer. Then, voila it is ready to be served.
Cream pie
Want desert? You could make a cream pie that does not require baking. First, you have to line a bottom of a bowl with oreo biscuits. Just the biscuits without the cream. Then, you must crush them until they become a paste and add some melted butter and mix. After that, you would want to flatten the biscuits into an even layer. In another bowl, take ice cream of your favourite flavour and mix it with heavy cream. Once smooth, pour over the biscuit layer and keep it in the freezer for four hours.
Pasta
If you are favouring something more Western. Then perhaps you could cook pasta. First you have to cook the pasta itself and maybe you could just buy some Prego sauce and just heat it up. Maybe add some sausages for extra flavour if you want.
If you just don't want to cook anything, you could always eat bread with jam or butter or just have a couple of biscuits. Maybe, you could even eat fruits instead. However if you do want to venture into the culinary world a little, there are many websites to refer to for recipes. Like all recipe website or real simple website. My personal favourite is Jamie Oliver's recipes.
I am a kid or better known as teenager who was born in the year 1996. Us 90s people have a lot of fond memories back in school. I'm 19 now and yet I still talk about school among friends. We really do miss school. We talk about how the Monday assemblies were such a boring thing for us. Then, we would talk about when we used to go home early on Friday's. The best part is the games and things we used to do during recess and in class. I guess we have a lot in common that maybe the era the younger generation live in these days no longer practice.
Kids playing the game.
In the top of the list would be the game 'tiang-tiang' or at least I used to call it that back in school. The way to play this game is there will be one person who catches or steals a pole. The rest of us would have to exchange poles with our friends without getting caught or having the catcher take our pole. I think when I was younger, this was our favourite game we used to play during recess. The unity we managed to create among our friends merely for a game was amazing.Not forgetting, it was the only other game we could play without us having to be caught by the teachers for running around the school.
The pepsi-cola game.
Next would be the 'Pepsi-Cola'. The game is played by standing in a circle and each person will take turn to step on the next person's leg. The person who got stepped would be eliminated from the game. To decide the first person to start the game, we would sing many types of songs such as:
"Inky, pinky, ponky. Father had a donkey. Donkey dies, father cries. Inky, pinky, ponky."
"Pepsi-cola. Ice cream soda. Who will be number one?"
"Eenie, meeny, miney, mo. Custard baby on the floor. Which one will I choose? Innie, minnie, miny, mo. Custard baby on the floor."
There were many more songs depending on the schools.
The possibly painful game of our version of Scissors, Paper, Stone.
Besides that, we used to play a different version of the scissors, paper, stone. Most of us would call it 'Ozom' or 'One, two, jus'. In the game we play, it is not only scissors, paper, and stone. We also play with the inclusion of bird and water. There is a catch however. The person who looses has to stretch their leg front while the winner moves one leg back.
Hand scribbled on
The one habit we definitely have in our schooling days was doodling. No matter how much of paper you put in front of us, we would still doodle on the table or even on our friend's hand. We all somehow done some kind of vandalism back in the day. I guess the mischievous us is revealed now. It is funny how henna is also drawings on your hands. I have attempted to do henna using pen before on my friend's hand back when I was still schooling. That did not end well I would have to say but these are all fond memories I will definitely laugh to some day.
I could go on and on about the things we used to play in school but I guess I should put I stop to it. If there was still more that you want to know about the things us 90s born used to do then here is a video for you. The video below I think relates to what I used to do when I was in school.You could type 'My Generasi' on Youtube for more videos like this one.
There are times when I just want to find information and just do not know where to start. Here's a piece of advice I would like to share with you. Try to stick to the physical sources of information like books, newspapers, journals and so on. However, I understand sometimes you have no choice but to turn to the internet to help you.The world wide web as the name proclaims is very wide! Everything is at a click of a button. Then again you start to wonder, can this website really be trusted?
Honestly, ever since I stepped foot into university, I have improved a lot in finding sources of information. So to those who are still in school or those of you who still does not know where to turn to when it comes to finding information online, here are some places I search for information myself.
The start page of the application on computers.
Logo of StumbleUpon
So first of all, I would like to introduce to you the world of StumbleUpon. The logo is as shown on the left side above. StumbleUpon is basically a website with many websites in it. You can add friends, like pages, share pages, and even add pages to a list that you may create on your own. StumbleUpon has many different genres to choose from. Perhaps you want to improve your writing academically, you could put a tick on the Academic writing genre so that StumbleUpon can filter the pages down to the particular genre. There is a lot of things you can learn from this website. This is my personal favourite because it is not only interesting to stumble into something but at the same time gain information about things I would have never known before. I am very grateful to my friend for introducing this website to me. Ever since I have never stopped using it. Second page I would like to share is Google scholar. Google scholar provides articles and journals that were written for informational purposes. Most of the information you find there can be trusted. For us university students, it is important for us to site where we take information from. So, I use this to ensure that I get valid information that can be accepted in university. Well of course, in the university I am in, I can always use other websites as my university is subscribed to it but for those of you who do not get that privilege, you are most welcomed to use this one.
Next, Youtube for EDU. This is a fun, interactive way of learning. It applies audio visual learning. I remember more through watching videos like this. The good thing about Youtube for Edu is that the videos are short. Hence, it allows you to absorb information without being too overwhelmed because there is too much information to remember.
Khan Academy logo.
Next on the list would be Khan Academy. The objective of this website is to help give quality information to anyone for free. What sound better for a student than when we hear something is free? So, use it to the fullest. Khan Academy is derived into various subjects to choose from to increase your knowledge. I like it because it is very interactive and consist a lot of animation. My friend actually introduced me to Khan Academy back when I was in high school. She used this to understand what she was learning in school better. Then, I decided to use it.
Back in school, I had to do a lot of presentations. I used to use only Microsoft PowerPoint to do my presentations. Then, I came to university and learned that there are literally so many presentation software we could use to spice up our presentation a little. If you school or place you are studying has internet facility in classrooms, I suggest you use these presentation softwares. For example, Prezi, Slidebomb, Powtoon and so many more.
I hope to have shared knowledge for those of you who are a bit lost. There are a few places I search for information. Hopefully, you manage to find what you need too.
As my previous post said, I am a born Malaysian but I also mentioned that we are derived of many cultures and beliefs. So, this time it is to share about my culture. I am an Indian and I follow the religion of Hinduism. Instead of talking about the typical explanation about Indians itself. I would like to talk about the ethnic groups we are divided into. Not many people know this but we are divided into several ethnic groups. Some are Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and many more. I, on the other hand, am a Malayalee(also known as Malayali). However not all Malayalees are Hindus. There are Malayalee -Christian , and Malayalee-Muslim as well.
My mother tongue is Malayalam. Me and my immediate cousins cannot read or write Malayalam. However, our parents can read, write and speak Malayalam. Most of us Malayalees are originated in Kerala. As a Malayalee, I celebrate two main festivals which are Vishu and Onam. Vishu is the Malayalee New Year whereas Onam is the harvest festival. There are other festivals as well celebrated by the Malayalees.
On Vishu, the elders would decorate the prayer room, food will also be laid on the floor and there will be a mirror as well. The younger ones have to wake up early on Vishu morning with eyes blindfolded. Once they reach the prayer room, their blindfolds will be removed so that the first thing they see would be the decorated prayer room. This is one of the famous songs sung on Vishu:
Onam is the harvest festival. I personally look forward to Onam more than Vishu because it is one of the most exciting festival in my culture. We get a variety of food. In Kerala, the festival is celebrated more grandly with snake boat race, flower decorations on the floor that we call 'pookalam'.
We also have our own clothing called the 'Kerala Saree' which is usually a white Saree with a gold border.
Just a little bit more input, click here to find out a bit on Malayalee weddings. The information about Malayalee weddings is too long but the irony is as far as I know, eventhough information is long, Malayalee weddings last only about 30minutes.
The
festival is marked with offerings to the divine called Vishukanni. The
offerings consists of a ritual arrangement in the puja room of
auspicious articles like rice,linen, cucumber, betel leaves, matal
mirror, holy text and coins in a bell metal vessel called uruli.A
lighted bell metal lamp called nilavilakku is also placed alongside.
This arrangement is completed by the women of the house during the
previous night. On the day of Vishu, it’s a custom to wake up at dawn
and go to the puja room with the eyes closed so that the first thing a
person sees is the Vushukanni. The Vishukanni is later distributed among
the poor. People wear new clothes for the occasion and the elders in
the family distribute tokens of money to the children, servants and
tenants. These tokens are called Vishukkaineetam and are usually in the
form of coins. People carry out this custom believing that in this way,
their children would be blessed with prosperity in the future.
Vishu is considered to be a day of feasting, wherein the edibles consist
of roughly equal proportions of salt, sweet, sour and bitter
items.Feast items include Veppampoorasam (a bitter preparation of neem) and Mampazhapachadi
(a sour mango soup). - See more at:
http://www.malayalifestivals.com/malayalifestivals/vishu/aboutvishu/#sthash.Eqds7jPi.dpuf
The
festival is marked with offerings to the divine called Vishukanni. The
offerings consists of a ritual arrangement in the puja room of
auspicious articles like rice,linen, cucumber, betel leaves, matal
mirror, holy text and coins in a bell metal vessel called uruli.A
lighted bell metal lamp called nilavilakku is also placed alongside.
This arrangement is completed by the women of the house during the
previous night. On the day of Vishu, it’s a custom to wake up at dawn
and go to the puja room with the eyes closed so that the first thing a
person sees is the Vushukanni. The Vishukanni is later distributed among
the poor. People wear new clothes for the occasion and the elders in
the family distribute tokens of money to the children, servants and
tenants. These tokens are called Vishukkaineetam and are usually in the
form of coins. People carry out this custom believing that in this way,
their children would be blessed with prosperity in the future.
Vishu is considered to be a day of feasting, wherein the edibles consist
of roughly equal proportions of salt, sweet, sour and bitter
items.Feast items include Veppampoorasam (a bitter preparation of neem) and Mampazhapachadi
(a sour mango soup). - See more at:
http://www.malayalifestivals.com/malayalifestivals/vishu/aboutvishu/#sthash.Eqds7jPi.dpuf
Sometimes there are no medicines to help you in times of need. I have been in that situation and have used some home remedies to help treat me in these kind of situations. So here are six home remedies that you can use using the everyday things you find at home.
...
Having an annoying pimple and want it to go away? Just apply some toothpaste that contains fluoride on the pimple and leave it over night.
Caught a flu, have a cough or have a bad soar throat? Try eating some honey everyday at least twice a day.
Got a blemish on your skin? Apply a dab of honey then cover the area with a plaster. Honey will prevent infections from occurring.
Have disgusting fungus growing on toe nails? Soak your toes in some Listerine or lemon to prevent it from spreading and healing it over time.
Hair drying out too fast? Try applying massaging some coconut oil on your hair 20minutes before bath. Then after washing your hair, apply a little bit of oil to the half damp hair. It keeps your hair from drying out.
Need a face mask? Mix green tea leaves (it can be leaves that has already used for drinking but must be dry) , rice flour (if possible a bit coarse), and honey. Then apply it on your face and leave it on for 20minutes.
Got a cut or wound and need to treat it fast? Mix turmeric with water and use the paste to cover the wound. Its cooling properties reduces inflammation, reduces pain and has anti- bacterial properties.
Need more home remedies? Look at this blog for remedies for face and hair.
Being a university student, I can definitely say I took living at campus for granted. Of course there is home sickness and all but I never expected to get a culture shock. There are just so many different kinds of people to deal with and so many things to cope up with.
I want to share a few tips with you before you step into being life as a university or college student. Do remember that your university orientation would be one of the best days of the university life. Here are few tips on surviving life in varsity:
Friends in university
Make a lot of friends. You will realize that you would be needing friends in order to know the latest news that is going on in varsity. You would not want to be outdated on what is going on in varsity.
Learn how to make notes. Knowing how to make notes and which style of taking notes best suits you is important. You would be using those notes later on to revise. Besides that, the lecturers are no longer going to wait for you to finish taking the lecture notes. That is why it is important to be fast when jotting down notes.
Be patient with all the attitude you are going to face. Not everyone would be in your favour. Try to adapt to situations and build patience within you. Just be nice to everyone even if you do not like them to avoid any misunderstandings. You do not want to end you life as a varsity students with enemies.
Be active in extra curricular activities. These activities will not only look good on your CV when you apply jobs. You also gain the experience. Using that experience, you would know how to improve yourself as a leader and also know how to conduct events or programmes better by learning from the mistakes that were previously made.
Enjoy your life as a student. Do not miss out on things you should have done while in varsity. There should always be time for you to relax and enjoy yourself. Never be too stressed up with all the work that is piling up. Learn as much as you can while you are a student. This knowledge can be applied later when you are in the work force.
Extra curricular activities
So, these are the five general tips I think is important while you are in that stage of your life. Just for extra information, I know hostels, dorms or wherever you are staying can get a little bit congested. So, I just want to share a few tips on how you could possibly organize your things. Hope it is of good use to you.
My beloved country Malaysia. We are a colourful country. We have diverse races. Malaysia is unique as we can live as one even though we live with people of diffirent culture and beliefs. As a Malaysian what do I think makes us iconic? Us Malaysians are special and there are few things we have brought to our culture.
I think every Malaysia can agree to the fact that we have our own language. We call it the Rojak language or also known as Manglish. Yes, Malaysia's official language is Bahasa Melayu. However, we also speak Chinese, Tamil, and English. At times there could be all four languages in one sentence. Basically, the Rojak language is a mix of all these languages. Sometimes our sentences can be of one language however the meaning of the sentence might differ slightly.
Besides having the mix of languages, we, the people from Peninsula Malaysia also tend to use the word 'lah' a lot (if it is even considered a word) whereas in Sabah and Sarawak they use 'bah'. The foreigners would usually question what 'lah' actually mean and usually I would explain that it is just a word us Malaysians tend to use. Here are a few examples of sentences us Malaysians use:
Where can like that one? Explanation: It basically means how is it possible for it to be that way?
Don't be so sombong lor. Explanation: It means to not be so snobbish. The word 'sombong' is from the malay language whereas 'lor' is the chinese slang.
Anne, one mee goreng mamak tapau. Explanation: It means that someone is calling the person in charge to pack some noodles for them. 'Anne' is the Tamil word for brother, 'mee goreng mamak' is a type of fried noodles that is usually cooked by the Indian-Muslim restaurants whereas 'tapau' is the Chinese word for pack.
Just do whatever you want lah.
Die loh, I haven't finish my homework. Must pass up today. Explanation: I am going to be in trouble. I have yet to finish my homework and we have to hand it in today.
Interesting isn't it to know about us. Here's a short video by Jinnyboy tv.
As the pictures says, we should take care of our body. Hence, it is important to keep fit and stay healthy. First of all is to eat healthy.
Many of us think that eating 3 times a day is a healthy diet. That is wrong. We should actually eat 5 times a day in small quantities. This will ensure that we do not eat too much at one time and do not turn to junk food if we become hungry in between the main meals. Honestly, I do not follow this rule but I was advised to by my doctor to ensure a healthier body.
Try eating vegetables and fruits as snacks instead of fast food or junk food. Vegetables and fruits are good fiber and also provide your body with enough nutrients at the same time. I try to stop myself from eating junk food or fast food even if I crave for it. This is because I know it is my body that will be affected if I do not control my diet. When eating fruits and vegetables it is better to eat from 5 colours which are red, blue/purple, white, yellow/orange and green.
Next, get some exercise!
Exercising helps you reduce stress. Besides that, it gets rid of the wastes in your body because you would sweat. To ensure you don't gain that extra calories, it is important that you burn it off by exercising. Exercise can be in the form of dancing, workout, going for sports and many other activities. When you just feel like a couch potato, force yourself to go out for at least a walk. You would thank yourself later. Laziness is a dangerous attitude to have because being not active could cause you to fall ill easily
Another tip that I follow is totalk to someone you trust. It is not only important to be physically healthy but it is also to be mentally healthy. You don't want to get depression or too much stress. I talk to someone to allow myself to calm myself down and get rid of things that I am frustrated out. I think it is important to let your emotions out so that you would not feel so overwhelmed. One way you could let your emotions other than talking to someone is by screaming in the pillow. It really was and I am the living proof of it.
Last but not least, the thing that is of utmost importance is to keep your surroundings clean. The last thing you would want to do is to live in a house like the picture on the left. Who knows what could be crawling underneath all that filth.You would feel too disgusted to even live there anymore. I ensure my living surrounding is clean because I do not want to increase my risk of getting diseases from any creatures like insects, rats or even the surrounding. Falling ill would only mean more expenditure on medical bills.
We've all had those downsides. You would think that no one would be able to understand how you feel unless they were in your shoes. I've been in that place before. It comes to a point where you feel that you are not worth much to the eyes of the community and the people you love. Well I may not know who you are reading this but I can tell you this. You are worth all the blessings in the world. You are not useless. You are destined for a lot of good things. Try to reach goodness. Believe that you can get to that place. Let me tell you a story, I've known someone who had a broken family, doesn't talk to her dad, her closest friends went against her and her mother lets our all her frustration towards this one girl. Oh, forgot to mention that she was the only child. She thought that no one would be bothered even if she was longer in the world anymore. She tried committing suicide multiple number times but she failed. Believe me, it takes a lot of guts to actually commit suicide. She was not brave enough to take away the only life she had. Anyone can say they are caged and living in darkness. Once, even she did. However, it came to a point where she tried yet again to take away her life then she asked herself, "Why should I show people that I'm afraid of the life they put me into? Why should I give in so easily?" The question that mostly affected her was, "What if I my fate or the life destined for me was a lot greater than I thought it would be but I would not be alive anymore to live it?" So, she had hope in herself. She always remembered that no matter how much she thinks she is suffering, there are others who are in a worse situation than her. She always remembers that she has a long way to go. That girl was actually once me. Well you see I realized that most of us humans, we tend to take the things we have for granted. We are actually quite lucky that we have a lot of things that some people could just dream of having and that includes basic needs. The hunger statistics shows that 795 million people are unable to provide themselves with sufficient amount of food. Now, lets snap back into our world. We have enough nutrients to feed ourselves with and on top of that we waste the food we take. We live under the roofs of comfortable homes but what about those who are abandoned in the streets or even those who share a room which barely allows them to be able to walk. I think we should be grateful for the things we have. I definitely am now. When you feel like giving up always remember this, no one can make you feel intimidated unless you allow others to make you feel that way. No one can change you but yourself. There is always a path for you for a better and brighter tomorrow. Just get up and stand strong. I believe you will get there some day. If you need more motivation, you could watch videos in TED or even from Youtube from people like Nick Vujicic.
What can I say about music? To me it is art. It takes me into another world especially if it was produced well. I love A Capella music as well as instrumentals. There are certain music that calm you while there are others that makes you stressed up. It really depends on your preferences on how a particular music can effect you. An example of music I particularly love:
Hope it brought back memories of the past. Anyway, I think music works like magic. It could do miracles. It could lift your mood. It could even make you sad. A study was done to prove that music can actually cure illnesses better. For example, music therapy is used to help cancer patients.
Being a pianist myself, I know how music can effect a person. When I am very upset over something, I tend to turn to my piano. I start playing the piano to calm me down. Believe it or not it actually works. I too initially didn't believe that it could do anything towards my mood. Over time, I realized that every time I did turn to the piano, I actually felt better.
Lately I have been listening to songs or music by Berklee College of Music on Youtube. The legendary A.R. Rahman received is honourary doctorate from the college. This is one of the song he had collaborated in is this video on the side.
Music keeps me together. I use music while I study as well. Here's a random fact: If you cannot concentrate on what you are studying, listen to song that they play in video games. Songs that are used in games actually cause you to want to concentrate more on the game. Hence, if you put it for a better purpose, you could use it while you are studying.
This is the first post of this blog. Everyone has their own preferences in doing a blog. This blog is about many different topics all chosen at random. That explains the blog name which is 'Out of the Hat'. The words out of the hat means in random. Thesaurus actually helped me find a name for the blog. Truthfully, I initially ran out of ideas. So, credits goes to thesaurus.
The video explains the basic of this blog. If you prefer to read, then, this blog mostly features several random tips and information like beauty tips, cultures, do it yourself tips, survival tips and so on. Hopefully, you would learn something from this blog.
Living up to the topic of being random. Here's a random fact for you beyond the introduction of my blog. A banana contains 50% of the same genetics a human has. The fact is shocking right? If you do not believe me click this: Banana containing the same genetics as humans. As shown, it is all over Google
If you are going to a cold place on the other hand. Bring thick clothing. Jackets and sweaters are advisable. Bring and extra blanket if you want to. Try wearing closed shoes most of the time. You wouldn't want to be shivering throughout your journey. Don't forget to bring socks as well! You would want to bring a lotion as well to ensure your skin stays moisturized.
