hello again (:

It's been a while since I've written a post on this blog - probably my last post was 7-8 years ago. Read back some of my posts and wow, so much had happened and changed. But, I'm glad one thing stayed constant throughout which was our friendship :) 

It's Sunday today - a little more relaxed as compared to the past few weekends. I woke up early, did 45 minutes of the spin ride, ate lunch, and had 20 mins of mask time. It's a self-pampering day and I'm enjoying it so far 😍

Hm... where should I start? Maybe a quick highlight on what had happened the past years - since I have time today, so why not? 

2015

I remember my last post was about deciding what major I would like to pursue in my undergraduate degree. Well, I ended up choosing Psychology as my major. *fast forward* In 2015, I graduated with BSc (Hons) in Psychology from Sunway University. I've made new friends whom I am still keeping in touch with, some of them I've lost touch and I hope they are doing well. 

Class of 2015

** I'm not sure if I would have picked another major if I could have chosen again, but what I know for sure, I enjoyed studying Psychology. 

2017 

I went on to pursue my postgraduate degree in Organisational Psychology at City, University of London. I believe this is by far one of the best decisions I've made. I really enjoyed my time in the UK and in my perspective, London will always be one of my favourite cities. Perhaps, London will also be a place that I'm willing to settle down given the opportunity. It was my first time being away from home and living all by myself and I survived! 

I did some traveling, met new friends, got an internship in the UK and of course party and got drunk too. 

Class of 2018

Autumn '16

Hyde Park

Flatmates surprised me with a cake on my birthday - really sweet of them 

Winter '17

Christmas! 🎄

Spring '17

Keukenhof, Holland

Summer '17 

Pride in London

Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia

 City Cheerleading team and we won 3 medals!🥇

2019

I got my first full-time job in 2018. I was an intern with this organisation and after I graduated with my Masters, I came back to Malaysia and continued with them. It is a small organisation and the culture was like family, and everyone was nice and supportive. I was the youngest in the team and it felt like a safe place to fail and learn here. It was challenging being in a client-facing role as clients may have a different perspective towards me given the youngest in the team. And, this was also my first job after university, it definitely didn't help either. On the other hand, it was also fun working in this organisation because I had the opportunity to travel across Europe for work, training, and attending conferences. 

 '18

Antwerp for a work conference

Dubai 

Oh! Another highlight in 2019 was #meetthedjuliantos

with the gorgeous bride - yee ling

........ and not to forget the last trip I had before the pandemic - Shuk, Pat and I went on a trip to Cambodia. Well, us smartypants decided to have our breakfast at the arrival hall level and we got carried away chatting, which led us to miss our flight to Siem Reap. But, we managed to figure out an alternative way to get there...... it was definitely an adventure! 

Chasing sunrise at Angkor Wat

Flying fox

Chasing sunsets together too 💞

2021

COVID happened! It has been more than a year now and I have been working from home since Feb 2020. I left my first job earlier this year and moved to a different organisation. I was on-boarded to my new role virtually, and have been in my new role now for almost 4 months without having met any of my team members/colleagues in person. I took on a bigger role in my new job and I've been working longer hours (perhaps, because we are all working from home too), more challenges but no regrets. I believe I am learning and growing in my new role. *positive thoughts I'm starting to feel tired of this pandemic and lockdown - we are not allowed to dine out, go to the gym or yoga classes, not able to meet our friends. I feel all I have been doing during this pandemic was work and work. I really hope and wish everything will be better soon and I can meet my girls again. 

Thankfully we have met up, spin, and party (a little) before the lockdown. 

I've spent the whole afternoon writing this blog post, and I think I'll stop here..... I was supposed to do the 50 questions from Fa's last post but I guess.... TBC. haha! 

Note to self: You may feel lost, and unsure about your future but eventually all the pieces will fall into place. Don't be too hard on yourself, and failure is a way to learn. You've made mistakes at work, made wrong decisions, and maybe regrets on some, but hey look, you are doing well and you've learnt not to repeat them. So keep moving forward, leng. 

signing off, 

leng. 

OMG -2021

 Hi hello and omg. The last post was 2013!!!!! 8 freakin’ years agoooooooo! 

So anyway in case you guys are wondering this blog belongs to 8 of us- me (Farah), pat, yee ling, shuk, Brenda, na, Ee Leng and Wei yeen. Like.. we share this blog. 

Let me catch you up. First of all, we are all in our late 20s now. We created this blog when we were like form 4 (16 y/o) or something.

Also Ma Yee Ling got married 🥰😍 in Bali, Indonesia - June 2019

From the left : Joo Kei, Pat, Me, Wei Yeen, Feon-Na, Yee Ling, Nico, Ee Leng, Bridesmaid, Joe Ee, Shuk, Angel

We’ll catch you up tons but first since I’m checking in….. I’ll answer these questions voluntarily..

1. Single/married/divorced/widowed

2. Justin Bieber baby tiktok version. The dance is G

3. Yes 

4. Be loved

5. Battle in finding yourself

6. Dream - to be happy | ambition - to be a successful businesswoman

7. Kak Alya - Fa - Al - Ya - sayang 

8. Chemical engineer cum entrepreneur 

9. Picnic! 

10. ✨

11. T-shirt and denim shorts - my usual but favorite - 1 piece sweet vintage summer dress 

12. Hot milo + crackers & hot milk tea + butter biscuits - okay weird enough for some 

13. At the moment - what everybody is worried about. Personally me not achieving my goals

14. 

15. At the moment - Dylan & Barbara Breaking Ground

16. Oooof that hasn’t been happening for a while now but I’d say any quiet cafe with good ambience - I think either Dome or Q-Bistro lel

17. Loads! Latest one is managing the business! 

18. Loads! Fun and silly times with my bestfriends mostly! 

19. Both! 

20. Can I pick in between - uni life 😍😍

21. Bolognese babeh 

22. Oh you should see it - my closests know

23. 👰‍♀️💍🤵‍♂️✨✨ 

24. At work

25. My family, friends, roof over my head, our health and opportunities

26. Sarawak, Malay, English - bits and pieces and out of practice mandarin, spanish, Greek, Hindi 

27. WFH

28. Karaoke, dancing, POVs, binge-watch superhero shows

29. Yes

30. Wow. I remember one particular Christmas event I had in 2019. Favorite one was I gotta say the one in 2014 *wink wink

31. Definitely 

32. Nothing at the moment but I used to play a lot on my phone particularly candy crush and spider - lame - but on PlayStation I used to play a lot of The Vampire Hunter. On PC - fallout vegas 

33. Would love to perform Haj in Mecca but for leisure - Israel

34. Acceptance and perseverance 

35. My parents 

36. Tbh I can’t even remember 

37. Hahahaha so I had a date with this person and right when we’re about to vibe I had a work call and I left because there was a meeting I had to attend that I forgot about 🤣🤣 and I never saw him again 😂 thanks to the endless lockdowns we’ve been having over here

38. My bestfriend and mum 

39. YES! correction - lover 

40. This sort of cardigan thing I had since primary 😂🤣

41. Tv host for a kids show! 😃

42. One that I tell myself over and over again - Fall in love with the wrong person 🤣

43. Kamah 

44. Funny vids 😂🤣

45. Person I love - but cologne wise - Bvlgari Man in Black 😍😍🤤

46. Martial arts 

47. I’ve eaten bugs before in Bangkok Chatuchak but I wouldn’t say that’s the grossest. I have to say it has to be one of the expired meals I had in the past but I just can’t remember 

48. Omg I have too many! 🔞

49. Ones when all the people I love were there

50. Disrespect

Peace ✌🏻 out ~ Farah Alya Ali