Final Cue

Hello

Since I was little, my parents have taught me to love books. From early on, reading has been a hobby for me. The more books I can read, the better. I wasn’t the fastest reader, and I am still not. I like to read the words at a moderate rate to make sure I can read and still understand by just reading the text once.

Along with reading is of course writing. Personally, I get more pleasure from reading then writing. But I do realized that writing allows me to express my emotions, organize my personal thoughts, study information, and ways to get my opinion and beliefs out in the open. Without writing there would be no reason to read at all. They come in hand in hand. 

This course, in some way is beneficial to me. It test my ability and limit as a writer. It boost my confidence on writing especially for academic writing. The style of writing that is introduced in classroom was definitely not anything that I have learned during high school and was not something I believe that I could have mastered on my own.

Hence, I do believe that I have gotten better in my writing skills compared to when I first walk into the class. It may not be a very significant change to others but with the amount of effort that I have put, I can accelerate. 

Lastly, million thanks to Dr. Sheena for helping and guiding all of us to become a better writer. And thank you to my classmates for always be there with me through thick and thin! 

Goodbye! :)

Effective Method

Hi

It almost the end of the semester. I can't believed that we're already in week 12. So last week, my classmates and I were assigned to do some analysis on the essays. We are given 5 sample essays to be analyzed which is How Sport Brings People Together and Transcends Competition Itself, Why South East Asia is the Best Tourist Destination?, Why Volunteering Abroad is the Best Choice One Can Make,  The Importance of Postgraduate Education and Why is it important to Feel Anger?. 

We had to break this essays into eight criteria which is the thesis statement, verbs that can be found in the essays, transitional words in the essay, words that we don't understand, topic sentence, strategy use for introduction, strategy use for conclusion and also the outline of the essays.

If was definitely an effective method because now I can understand better what is a thesis statement and what is a topic sentence! I really enjoy completing this tasks because now I can split the text into few important parts with better understanding :) 

Smoking as my research topic?

Hi

Today, we learnt how to write a research paper. It was a new experience for me because I haven't done any research paper writing before. Firstly, our lecturer asked us to find a topic that we're interested in and then try to search at least 3 reliable sources that we can refer to. I choose SMOKING as my topic and I narrowed it down to 'Smoking causes cancer'. Each of us are assigned to do an outline of our own research topic title before developing the points.

But after doing my reading on all the sources that I have chosen, I changed my title to 'Effects of Smoking'. This is because, I got a clear image of what smoking can do to people and how it harms not just the smoker but also the people surrounding them. It was dreadful to think that the people surrounding the smoker is actually more exposed to many health problems compared to the smoker himself/herself. 

In my opinion, this is a serious matter and the public should take notice of the harm they could get from smoking (or smokers).

Thank you 

E-Learing Week

Hi 

So We had e-learning week on week 8 and frankly speaking, even though I hate the database failure and sorts, I really enjoy staying at home. I prefer doing things in my own house. But anyhow, we started our class at 10AM and we started quite late because the database kicked some of us out from the chatroom (not good). And we proceed with our class after everyone is present in the chatroom. We have to submit an assignment from a point of view of a parents. It was a good experience because you can put yourself in your parents shoes and think what would you do as a parents.

Here is a letter from a mother to her daughter.

Overall, e-learning week is not that bad. Maybe a little fix from the tech team of UM and we're good to go!

From Juliet

Dear Abby,

My family wanted me to get married to this man, P, who happened to be a kinsman of the Prince. My dad was apparently very fond with him. I never met this guy before so my parents suggested that I meet him at the masquerade party that is going to be held at our place. However, during the party, I saw this one handsome man and I fell in love with him just by one glance. He look so dashing and have a nice figure. He was everything that I ever need. We had a chance to talk right after and we shared a kiss! I barely even know him! But oh dear, god is really cruel. I found out a day after that he happened to be a son to my dad's enemy; Montague. I am sad and depressed. What should I do? 

I know that we couldn't be together. My family has been in war with him family for ages. And in addition, what should I do about P? He wants to get married with me! And I don't even know him. Help me Abby. Help me. How do I get out from this depression? -DEPRESSED GIRL

Online Shopping whaaaaaat?

Ehem.... well hello there 

This week post is somehow very challenging for me and tbh, I have to really sit and think about it. Its like a reflecting time for me on all my so called 'therapy session'. Before I started with all of this, I need to make some clarification. I do admit that I am an impulsive spender and I do know that it is not a healthy habit but trust me, I spend lesser these days. 

Online shopping is define as the action or activity of buying goods or services via the internet. I personally started online shopping ever since I am 16 years old. I started buying small, inexpensive things at first (couldn't remember what it is), and I do admit that I had purchased some things that cost me an arm and a leg.

The reason why I started shopping online is because it is convenient. When I was 16, I have limited excess to transportation. Back then, we don't have Uber or Grab to move around. The only way for me to go out is with my parents or other family members. My parents didn't allow me to take cab because it was dangerous and sometimes overpriced. 

My parents are busy working during day time and come back home late. I have only a brother and he studied far away from home. I am home alone most of the time and internet is my closest friend at home. That is when I started venturing online shopping. Without me knowing, it became a habit ever since. 

There's a lot of instagram and online shoppers. But I rarely buy anything from them just because I have trust issues. I prefer buying from an established companies such as Zalora, Fashionvalet, Hermo etc. They have customer policies and I can said that they're quite famous because of all the advertisements.

I can't really recalled things that I bought back then but recently, for the past 5 months, I have invested a lot in buying stuffs like headscarves, handbags, backpacks skincares and makeup(s). Not just online shopping is convenient, it also offers us a wide range of choices from local to international brand. I am an avid fan of a Sweedish brand, Fjallraven Kanken. In fact, I've purchased a new backpack recently online. So even if I lived in Malaysia, through online shopping, I could obtained the things that I've been eyeing.  

I also have tried buying an Ipod on apple store online and it was a smooth purchase process. I needed and Ipod with and engraving of my name and it is only possible if I purchase them online. So I did. I waited for my parcel for less than a week and I could not be more happier. My item arrived in a top notch condition and I am impressed! So far, I haven't encountered with any major problems with shopping online because I shopped mostly at an established online companies and with certain brands that I'm familiar with and it secures my purchases. Except for that two time where I waited for about a month to received my parcel from Sephora and Cultbeauty.

All in all, online shopping could help you to distress but be careful because it can be addicting. 

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell

Morning everyone

It was a very gloomy Sunday morning and my eyes are about to fall off from reading this book by Anna Sewell. At first, I read this book with nothing to expect and truthfully, it was very hard to focus but after I got familiar with the characters, I got immersed in it and I love every seconds I spent reading this book.

It was worth it! Anna Sewell did a really good job on this book. She's not just an educator but also a good horsewoman. She displayed it well in Black Beauty. Its interesting that Sewell decided to write this story based on the point of view of a horse. This story was set in the 19th century in England when it was a time where almost everyone came into frequent contact with horses. 

Black Beauty is a story about this handsome black horse that have its ups and downs. His is the apple of his owner's eye until something happens and Black Beauty must be sold. Thus, he begins his adventurous and sad journey. He changed owner couple of times and he experienced many hardships in between. 

Throughout this story, he encountered horrible grooms, gentle masters and discovered amazing friends. Beauty learns to be a gentle and loyal companion to his masters even when they mistreated him because somehow he always finds someplace in his heart to forgive them. He is a very understanding and forgiving horse, and it does all end with a happy ending.

Black Beauty will be the book that I would recommend you guys to read. A light but emotional reading. I learnt so much by reading this book and I hope you guys can spare some time to read this book too!