Journey of Mi[rna]

Hey, hey, got my new glasses!

What a show-off! LOL

I want this Ramadhan to be different from my previous ones.

For sure, it is different. I have no parents anymore! And you know, somehow Ramadhan keep the family together. We break our fasting together, and we do prays together, like sholat ber jama’ah and sholat tarawih.

I miss those things. Alhamdulillah, Arie’s aunt invited me to come to her house so I can have dinner together with her family and do sholat tarawih there. She’s such a nice lady

Not to mention that I have my Poohbear. We discuss religion things.

I want to be close to my creator, ALLAH SWT. Sometimes I neglect HIM, not that I don’t do my obligations, but I did not do them properly.

Without having the TV for 2 months now, it’s easier for me to focus on my ibadah. I can read Al-Qur’an, and when I’m not at Arie’s aunt house, I’d do Tarawih alone at home. I wake up early, prepare my sahur, do Tahajjud. After Shubuh, I’d exercise, get ready to work.

Masya Allah! The feeling is so great! Maybe you think it’s common, but not for me. I have many things to be grateful of. Somehow, He shows me the way to become stronger and to solve all my problems.

Thank you Allah SWT……….I Love You.

Have you ever been in a situation when you felt something was wrong and you had to trust and follow your instinct? On the other hand, you sometimes ignore the feeling and just do it / go for it.

Hmmm, I wonder what the percentage of that: between following your instinct and ignoring it.

Sometimes I ignore my instinct too, and as the result, I get negative impacts. It wasn’t what I wanted or expected to happen. I doubted my instinct, where actually our body naturally will have an alert system when we are in bad or dangerous situation, even our logical thinking supports it. But noooooooooo….I just ignored those signals. Stupid, huh?

Tell me, tell me about your experience of trusting your instinct and ignoring it.

My father had a huge collection of books. Although he was a doctor, his books are various. From medicinal practice to office management, from sports (martial arts especially) to photography! He had second hand English magazines about home and gardening, cooking recipes, etc.

I did my marketing class homework based on his book collection! Amazing….

He liked to hang out at Pasar Senen and Kwitang, places for old and used books. I remember when I was teenager, he took me to those places and I enjoyed searching for comics books, classic books, children books.

He’s got 1 library on our 2nd floor, his office, and he had 1 on 3rd floor, in the bedroom. Mom would complain about it ‘cos she felt sleeping in book store, lol. But she was right. It wasn’t healthy because books collect dust.

Anyway……….All his books were moved to Medan, they weighed around 9 tons! Now I feel I need to read those books. They are interesting and good books!
Especially since I like to write and prepare websites, those can be my sources and reference.

Ummm, so sad. Regret comes afterwards.

Yogurt is one of my regular healthy snack now.
What does it do? From AboutYogurt.Com (http://www.aboutyogurt.com/healthUpdate/topTen.asp) here are the Top Ten Benefits:

1. May Help Reduce Osteoporosis Risk
   As
   an excellent source of calcium, yogurt, eaten regularly, may reduce the
   risk of osteoporosis, the thinning and loss of bone mass that affects
   25 million Americans as they age. Yogurt is an excellent dairy food
   choice for women who limit their intake of milk and cheese, and has
   many advantages over supplements.
2. Lactose Intolerant? Yogurt May Help
   Studies
   have shown that the live and active cultures present in yogurt permit
   yogurt to be eaten by many of the more than one quarter of American
   adults who ordinarily experience lactose intolerance with other dairy
   products. Some of the symptoms of lactose intolerance include abdominal
   cramping, bloating and diarrhea.
3. Immune Boon
   Ongoing studies have shown live and active culture yogurt may enhance the immune systems of certain individuals.¹
4. Versatile and Convenient
   Keep
   yogurt stocked in your refrigerator to use as a substitute for
   mayonnaise and sour cream in tuna and other salads; top waffles or
   pancakes with fruit yogurt; make desserts more healthful by choosing
   frozen yogurt. Perfect for today’s busy schedules, nothing is as
   convenient to carry with you on a hike or put in a lunch bag as yogurt.
   For the commuter, it’s the perfect portable protein boost.²
5. Combats Yeast Infections
   Vaginal yeast infections affect nearly 12 million women each year. Research suggests that regularly eating yogurt containing L. acidophilus may decrease yeast growth and infection in certain individuals.³
6. Colon Protection
   Preliminary
   studies show increasing one’s dietary intake of lowfat, calcium-rich
   dairy products such as yogurt may reduce the risk of colon cancer.⁴
7. Calcium-Rich
   It’s a fact:
   calcium is an essential nutrient, and yogurt is an excellent source of
   calcium. An average eight-ounce serving of live and active culture
   yogurt contains approximately 30 % of the Daily Recommended Value for
   calcium.⁵
8. Protein-Dense
   An average
   eight-ounce serving of live and active culture yogurt contains
   approximately 20 % of the Daily Value for protein. So protein-dense,
   yogurt is now considered a meat alternate by the United States Department of Agriculture in its school meals programs.⁶
9. Taste Kids & Parents Love
   Yogurt
   is one food that gets the "thumbs up" from both parents and kids. It’s
   a calcium-rich food that will help kids grow and start them on the road
   to good bone health in later life.
10. Variety
    With nearly 50
    different flavors and a wide variety of textures or "styles," there’s a
    yogurt for everyone. Choose from fruit-blended or fruit on the bottom
    yogurts, yogurts with toppings and add-ins, or light versions of yogurt
    sweetened with aspartame. Try frozen yogurt or yogurts with cereal and
    novelty toppings for kids.

¹ C.M. Kotz et. al., J. Dairy Sci. 1994 Dec: 77 [12]; 3538-44
² Simin Nikbin Meydani, Ph.D., Am. Jour. of Nutrition 2000; 71:861-72
³ E. Hilton et. al., Ann. Intern. Med. 1992 March 1: 116 [5] 353-7
⁴ R.K Peters; Cancer Causes Control 1992 Sept.; 3[5] 457-73
⁵ Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture
⁶ Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture