Faith, health & love.

By Yours Truly, Nurul Jannah A.

[nujaaz-blog]

To Forgive & Forget Ain’t Easy

I’ve asked myself this countless times- what’s it gonna take to forget? Why do I feel like I’m living in fear and fear of what exactly? Have I really forgave? Is it true you can forgive but never forget? Till when? Almost half a decade and I still can’t forget what I’ve been robbed off. Yes, I feel I’ve been robbed. Endless regrets. I can’t live a life of no regrets now because this regret lingers. 

Oh Allah, I beg for Your forgiveness. Please have mercy on me for I’m human with weaknesses. Oh Allah, please take these ill feelings away for I doubt I’m strong enough to resist it. Oh Allah, please give me strength and guide me to forgive if I haven’t done so whole heartedly. To forget the past and not let that shadow cast over me any longer. Oh Allah, You are the best Forgiver, Beneficent and Merciful. You love forgiveness so please forgive me.

[nujaaz-blog]

It’s been a decade!

Assalamualaikum, lovely people!

We’re already in November! Soon it’s gonna be year end and then 2017! Not sure how to feel exactly. Sometimes you wish time could slow down but at the same time you want it to hurry too. Usually the latter is when you have something to look forward to and the first would be when you just need time to catch up on something.

All else aside, I’m loving November and you should too! World Diabetes Day falls annually in this month on the 14th. To show our support, we wear blue on the day. Let’s make tomorrow an awesome blue Monday!

In light of World Diabetes Day, I would like to share about a little something that makes living with diabetes easier. If you haven’t already know, I’ve been a T1D- Type 1 diabetic, for 10 years now. It’s been a decade! 😱 Anyways, recently I renewed my membership with TDS- TOUCH Diabetes Support after being an inactive member for so long. I was only somewhat active in the early years of my diagnosis.

TDS helps diabetics and our families to understand diabetes better through their list of programmes and services. I remember going to their talks and education classes which are free btw. They do have occassional fee-paying classes too. But don’t worry, you don’t have to be an ‘active’ member when you’re one.

As I’ve mentioned, the membership now includes more privileges apart from their Diabetes Lifestyle magazine, free classes, support groups meetings and also Diabetes Exercise(DX) events. The best thing is, you get a free glucose meter with every sign up! You can also get all your supllies at exclusive members prices and up to 10% discount on your birthday month! 🎂

Here’s link where you can sign up and view the membership privileges;

http://www.diabetessupport.org.sg/cos/o.x?c=/wbn/pagetree&func=view&rid=50666 

Not to forget, TDS just launched an event on the 5th November 2016 to create diabetes awareness among Singaporeans. Click the link below to find out more!

www.diabetessupport.org.sg

Let’s help do our part in creating awareness on this growing health issue. Ending off, don’t forget to wear blue tomorrow! Let it literally be Monday blue but with tons of positivity! 💙

[nujaaz-blog]

Damn, Atermoiements!

Oh hello, earthlings!

I was supposed to post a post a few seconds ago but it didn’t load properly and it’s gone. GONE. Just when I feel like posting something, things like this has to happen. 😪

Oh wells, it was gonna be a pretty meaningless post anyways. Just wanted to give excuses for not posting a lot lately when I actually have so much share-able content brewing in my head. We’ll save those for another day then. 

In the meantime, this is one of the excuses;

Have a good night, Earth inhabitants. 🌚

[nujaaz-blog]

#nujaazdiys: Ribbon Laced Shoes

It has been a very long while since my last post. Well, I’ve been busy. With life. What’s new. 🙄 But hey, I guess I’ll be blogging more often soon because there’ll be changes to my work schedule and I’ve just been more ‘happening’ lately. 😂

So today I had a long day filled with appointments and running errands but I managed to do some shopping too! Which leads me to this little DIY that I’ve been meaning to do way back when I saw the Adidas Originals Relace Low Trainers which I think can’t be found in stores here in SG and it’s out of stock on ASOS.

I had a colleague at work who got new white shoes and it had white with purple laces which looked absolutely adorable and so I thought it’s about time I did this DIY. So let’s get started!

Things you’ll need:

Plain laced shoes (I got mine from Rubi which was $30/2 pairs so technically it’s $15/ea.)

1″ wide ribbons (Wide ribbons make nicer ribbons. 🤔)

Lighter

Scissors 

Steps:

Cut the ribbons to about 45cm or more depending on how long you want the ribbons to be. 

Lace the ribbons as how you would with a shoelace and end with a ribbon knot.

Snip off any excess length and you may cut it the end into a W shape if you’d like. 

Use the lighter to heat seal the ends of the ribbon so that it’ll not fray. Be careful while doing this because you don’t want to end up burning the whole ribbon. You’ll just want to gently go at the edges of the ribbon.

I actually also found another way to end of the ribbons so that it’ll look exactly like the end of shoelaces. Here’s the link so you can go check that out too!  

http://www.theribbonretreat.com/blog/ribbon-shoe-lace-tutorial.html

Well, that’s it for this short DIY post. Maybe I’ll go prancing around in my new shoes tomorrow and take more photos of them.💃🏻 I’m already planning more DIYs for the future! 

[nujaaz-blog]

Exercising in the... Elevator?!

Hey there, lazybums! If you’re indeed a lazybum, you’re sure gonna love what I’m about to share with you. My secret to stealing time to get some workout done daily! 

As the title suggests, yes I do these exercises when I’m in the elevator. Alone. I have yet to attempt this with another human being in the same elevator with me. I’ve been doing this for quite a while now. I work in 2 separate buildings- my office and labs aren’t in the same building, hence involving some walking and travelling in between floors. Taking the stairs is definitely a great option but well I am a lazybum at times. Make that most of the time. 😁

These are 3 really basic exercises that you can do in the elevator. Let’s get into it! 💪🏽

#1. SQUATS

I initially started out just doing squats because they were the only ones I could think of. Why was I even thinking of exercising in an elevator? 🤔 Well, it just hit me that my elevator ‘rides’ can be quite long despite just going to the second floor. And also the lifts were just not crowded with people. I often find myself alone in it. So I started counting how many squats I can do once the door closes till it reaches the second floor and opens. I can actually do 5. If you take the elevator about 4 times in a day that makes a total of 20 squats. Which I think is absolutely not bad. Maybe in a year you can achieve those Kim K bums. 🙊

#2. CALF RAISES

As simple as it can be. Calf raises and squats are usually done with weights but in this case we’re just relying on our own body weight. Calf raises can pretty much be done anytime as long as you’re standing. You can even do these on the bus or while waiting in a queue! It’s not as noticeable when you do it in public.

#3. WALL PUSH UPS

Another easy peasy one. Certainly you may start with the basic moves and than try the fancier ones once you get used to it. My ladies, this one’s great for the chest and arms.Of course just by doing these you can’t expect wow results. Regular, proper exercise and healthy eating habits have to come in too but these quick and simple workouts keep you on your toes especially if you're not physically active for long hours in a day. There are many other ways you can sneak in a workout. Just thought this is a fun way you can do so. Self entertainment. Especially if you have a longer ride to maybe the tenth floor or so. And definitely not limited to workplace elevators but your home too. But beware of the elevators with cameras ok. You wouldn’t want to be caught and probably Stomped. 😜

[nujaaz-blog]

Grab or Uber?

Happy National Day, people! Sady, it’s not a holiday for me because I’m working. Boohoo. But right now I got some free time so let’s do a quick post. I’m sure most of you are out and about so that calls for public transport if you don’t have your own vehicle. Hence let me share a little on my experiences with the latest trend of getting around with Uber or Grab- I call these the atas cabs/taxis. I’ve tried both but failed with the latter.

My bad experience was with Grab. It didn’t last long to even call it an experience lah. Maybe encounter would be a better one. I guess people would try to talk me into giving it another chance and maybe I will. My brother introduced Grab to me and he stills uses it. You know when you invite people and then you get like $10 off or something. Well he used me. Apparently Uber works pretty much the same way too. I mean the part where you invite people to the app and you’ll get a dsicount or even a free ride. 💰

So one day I was running late then remembered I have the app installed so why not give it a try. I was mad late actually and my house area damn hard to get cab one. So I fiddled with the app and got myself a Grab car. You know they have the map on the app so that you could see car’s journey to reaching you. Well it was arriving. Yes people, arriving. Then he cancelled! Wahhh seyyy, damn pissed I tell you. I ended up flagging a cab soon after. So then I decided to boycott Grab.

I know lah like just because of that? I just got cabs onwards. I always end up having to call cabs and the wait is always super long. The wait for the operator to pick up, the wait for them to search for cab, then the actual wait for the cab to arrive. Aren’t there tons of cabs in Singapore? And I call ok got surcharge tau. Don’t they make more money if people call? Still don’t want pick up. 😪

Recently, I tried Uber. I guess Uber is kinda more popular to Grab? The app pretty much works the same way. I was out and about carrying huge shopping bags so I decided to cab home from Tampines One. The queue for cab was pretty long so I thought why not give Uber a try. 

I literally downloaded the app right there and then. Like so excited lah don’t know for what. 😂 The entire set up was quick and I managed to get an Uber quite fast too. I was just getting worried when the driver called and was asking me where is the taxi stand location. I was scared he would cancel on me when he couldn’t find it.

Alhamdulillah, he finally found it and I got on my ride. The driver was new to Uber too. He said he just started about a week ago. He was friendly and we chatted during the entire ride.  Really interesting stories shared about his new experience and some bits about the whole Uber thing. It wouldn’t take more than a post to tell you people about it.

He did mention that Uber is actually cheaper and I’ve heard about this too from others. Is it true? Maybe I should try Grab some time. But well, my journey came up to the following amount;

It’s definitely cheaper than normal cabs. And I can go cashless with the use of Paypal. You’ll also go paperless when your receipts are sent to your e-mail. I’m all about recycling and stuff so this gets my green stamp of approval. ♻️

Cutting the story short, it was definitely a pleasant journey and experience. Seems so much easier compared to getting normal cabs. And if you were to get into some luxur-ier cars then can feeling atas-atas lah. 😂 Uber also has the carpooling option which is again, ♻️. I think it’ll be awkward though but when you have friendly and considerate drivers I’m sure it’ll be a totally fun journey. 

If you haven’t got the Uber app and is kind enough to want to give me a free ride please kindly download the Uber app and use my special invite code! Arigato very much! 🙈 

[nujaaz-blog]

Novel (Thriller) Melayu

My close friends would know how much of an avid novel reader I am especially when it comes to Malay novels. When I’m into it, I would take any opportunity in a day to read like while I’m eating or while I’m walking. I don’t remember who or what got me started but I did at such a young age back when I was just in primary school. That was the secret to me acing my Malay Language. 💯

I thought it would be awesome if I could do book reviews of whatever I’m into at the moment or super awesome books that needs to be shared with the world. There’s just too many to choose from! I don’t follow the Malay novel trend where the novels are either gonna be made into a drama or already has been made into one. As for English fiction I sometimes do follow that sort of trend like what’s being adapted to a movie but then I usually get disappointed with the movie because you usually expect so much more.

Disebabkan tak pernah dengar orang share fasal novel thriller lah I was surprised to find one. Ataupun mungkin selama ni saya terlalu gemarkan genre cinta-cintun sampaikan tak pandang langsung genre yang lain. Ni nak review novel Melayu jadi saya cuba gunakan Bahasa Melayu sebanyak yang terdaya ok. 👌🏽Susah sebenarnya nak post dalam bahasa Melayu ni sebab tak tahu nak guna bahasa pasar ke, bahasa baku ke. Cara kita cakap bila nak put into words tu macam lain. Jadi kita rojakkan jelah. Rasanya pada zaman sekarang ni payah benar nak dengar orang kita berbual dalam Bahasa Melayu penuh tanpa merojakkannya.

Jadi ceritanya, saya sebenarnya suka sangat beli buku-buku sendiri buat mini library kat rumah tapi tulah rak-rak dah penuh. Lagipun kalau novel-novel ni saya suka beli kat Malaysia sebab lagi banyak pilihan and of course lebih murah. Haritu saya dah tengah shiok sangat baca novel sampai dah takda lagi novel untuk dibaca. So lepas kerja tu terfikirlah nak singgah library. Pinjam je lagipun free dan banyak juga pilihan.

Satu lagi sebab kenapa saya jarang pinjam buku kat library sebab kadang-kadang tu saya ni perfectionist sikit. Tak suka buku yang dah lonyai-lonyai. You know what I mean? Kalau buku-buku yang saya beli sendiri saya akan balut dengan plastik jadi boleh kata sentiasa dalam keadaan baik. Bila baca pula takdalah sampai kemek-kemek cover atau mukasurat dia. So cara saya pilih buku kat library tu is to scan for buku-buku yang masih “rangup-rangup” dan terjumpalah novel Kabut hasil karya Fitri Hussin. Buku ni pun terbitan Alaf 21- syarikat terbitan bahan bacaan yang popular kat Malaysia.

Dekat cover buku ni dia dah letak genre thriller jadi saya pun terfikirlah wah menarik. Tengok buku dia pun masih ranggup mungkin baru diletak atau takda orang nak baca sebab genre yang berbeza dengan apa yang mainstream. Terus saya ambil walaupun bukunya agak tebal. Tapi kata novel kan. Mana ada novel yang tak tebal. Dalam buku-buku yang saya pinjam, saya baca yang ini dulu. Sehari membaca dah timbul part-part yang mengerikan- gory sangat. 😖

Teruja sangat bila baru-baru baca sebab rasa macam wah novel Melayu ni boleh kata dah standing novel Inggeris yang sama genre. It is that good guys. 👍🏽 Jalan cerita dia pun best, buat kita suspends(where did this word even came from because it totally has a different meaning in English), buat kita jadi macam CSI detective in guessing apa kes dorang ni. Seriously menarik and tak boring. Mungkin sebab dah kerap sangat baca novel cinta jadi bila tukar angin tu kita dapat satu pengalaman yang berbeza.

Mungkin kalau ada guys yang nak mula baca buku cerita Melayu boleh mula dengan genre yang macam ni. But don’t be surprised, my adik lelaki baru-baru ni pun started reading novel Melayu. Sebab dah terjangkit kakaknya. Wah korang, my post panjang gila ni. Nak cerita fasal buku punya fasal. But seronok sangat dapat cuba-cuba tulis post dalam bahasa Melayu. Maaf kalau mengelirukan. Kalau rasa ada macam bunyi Malaysia sebab tengah phase gila baca novel and tengok drama Melayu. 🙊 Semoga tak serik nak baca post-post saya yang dalam bahasa Melayu ataupun bahasa rojak. Saya cuba dan saya harap korang terhibur. 🤗

[nujaaz-blog]

Stigma?

Have you tried searching #t1dsingapore/#type1diabetessg on Instagram? Or even here- Tumblr? Well I did and I couldn’t find any results. Does this shows that there’s actually a stigma about it? I would say yes to a certain extent. Maybe most Singaporeans with T1D are not ready to be socially open about it.

I honestly don’t mind letting the whole world know that I’m a diabetic. But of course I don’t just randomly go around announcing that I have diabetes to people I just met. I do believe it is important for people to have that awareness not only for the diabetic’s safety but also so that they somewhat understand what diabetes is all about.

Yes, diabetes is pretty common and do get talked about BUT it’s mostly Type 2 diabetes that gets discussed. The following is part of an article extracted from the Straits Times;

http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/only-five-and-living-with-diabetes

I still remember the first years after I was diagnosed, my dad would be telling people of my condition when health conversations arised and my mum would try to shush him or make a remark after that it wasn’t something you need to be telling people about. They thought I would be malu about it. At that point of time I guess I still didn’t know very well of what diabetes was and was feeling so-so about it. 

Another incident happened at a wedding, also years ago, when some makciks recognised me and mentioned to the makcik next to her, “Ni cucu Haspa yang kencing manis tu.” Those weren’t the exact words but something like that. The other makcik then shushed her when she noticed I saw and probably heard them. Again, I think they thought I would be malu.

People, what’s there to be malu about? I just happen to be sick with what is categorised as a chronic illness. We diabetics still can lead a normal and very healthy life. Yes, there are struggles but insyaAllah it’s something we can overcome. We’re a little different from normal healthy people but we’re not aliens and definitely don’t look like one.

I would like to add that it is very important for people around a diabetic to know of his/her condition so that they know how to recognise and respond to hypers, hypos or whenever something goes wrong in school, at work, in public, etc.

Living with diabetes in Singapore? Why not hit me up and let’s connect! I would love to hear from someone close. I had the chance of connecting with someone from Malaysia through Tumblr! It was years back though but alhamdulillah we do somewhat keep in touch still but haven’t got the opportunity to meet. 

There’s so much we can discuss about living with diabetes. It’s all about living a healthy, happy and fulfilling life. 💪🏽☺️

[nujaaz-blog]

A Tumblr worthy photo this morning during my run. 

[nujaaz-blog]

Post #1

Assalamualaikum, may be peace be upon you!

Can’t believe I decided to be on Tumblr- again! I was once active here but left after a hiatus that was never ending. I decided to be back again simply because I miss writing. I kinda want it to be a sharing platform for whatever it is under the Sun that may be of benefit to my (non-existent) readers. 😅

As you can already see from my Tumblr title it’s Faith, Health & Love. I wish to share my journey as a Type 1 Diabetic living in Singapore where I think is very different from what you see in the western countries. For one thing, pumps are not common here. 💉

Well, that’s just a little introduction on what this Tumblr is gonna be about. I’m excited but let’s hope it’s not just another semangat seminit lah ok. On a side note, I prefer Bahasa Rojak- a little of whatever languages I know. Kalau tak tahu can Google ok. 😉