two minds two voices.: Shoutouts

“Your face lights up and your eyes twinkle whenever you talk about him.”

I have never heard these words from anyone about a guy before; well, not until this guy came along. Those words were murmured when both of us were still friends and it took me by surprise on how my face can light up talking about a friend. Ever since then I wondered, what’s so special about this guy?

I never really told anyone how I truly felt about him because I saw him first and foremost as a friend; a best friend in fact. He knows more about me than anyone else – we share things with each other; secrets, jokes, events that happened in our daily lives, everything. As I got to know him more, I genuinely feel that this guy is extraordinary. He has opened my eyes to a whole different world, he makes me realize things that I didn’t before and to put it in one sentence; he simply brought colors to my life.

I strongly denied my feelings but everyone could see the truth no matter how hard I tried concealing them. Everyone said it was obvious cause it showed the way I talked about him – it showed from my face, my voice, my eyes and I was honestly stunned by the fact that someone could actually make me feel that way. I kept rejecting my feelings, I said no to myself, I denied, denied, denied until the day I couldn’t anymore. I can now say, after 4 years, I am completely head over heels over my partner in crime.

He has always been there for me during my ups and downs even though I know he gets annoyed sometimes hearing all my girly problems. He always has my back for anything – I remembered that I had a point in my life where I thought everyone was against me and he sincerely said to me “I got your back, no matter what” and I knew those words were true.

I know that in life nothing is perfect and I know we both are not but despite all the flaws, I know that I would choose him over and over again. This guy really has earned a special place in my heart. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us; I know it’ll be a good one.

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I have always loved reading other people's stories; be it on their blogs, on their Instagram captions or anywhere they might have been published - I have always loved reading them. That's no surprise as everyone knows how much I love reading books as much. So a little while ago I asked Liyana "hey, wouldn't it be nice to feature some of our closest friends on our blog and let them write whatever they want?" and of course I knew she'd agree with me.

So I approached a close friend of mine, asking her to write a little something for the blog; I jokingly asked her to write about me and to my surprise she actually did! I was really malu to read what she wrote but her kind words just warm my heart every time.

Funny thing is, I have yet to meet this beautiful girl - Yes we became friends through social media but as we shared little bits and pieces of our lives, I've grown very fond of her and I know that she is one of those people who are blessed with the most purest of hearts. So I'm going to share with you what she wrote (about me). Fret not, I am going to make her write about something else next time - She's an amazing writer by the way and she owns a blog too! Click here and you'll be able to read more of her stories! Enjoy!

To me, I could only count the number of people who were there for me at my lowest with one hand.

And Ka Sabrina is one of them.

Who would have thought the lady who was once a stranger could mean so much to me? How was it even possible that we were different in so many various ways yet she knows just the right words to console me from my grief?

My personal view is that every soul I meet along my way, has a reason for it. This beautiful soul I met -- our paths crossed to teach me that the most beautiful one is the one who is kind. Because truthfully, I used to have a narrow-minded mindset that many pretty women are snobby, arrogant and selfish. I saw her -- saw how she has a look so beautiful it had always made my self esteem to drop -- yet, I found it interesting how she was the one who would always lend a hand whenever I feel half-dead at the bottom of the world. I automatically knew my perception has always been wrong. Forget about highlighters on face, lipgloss on the lips, blush on the cheeks. Once you're kind, everything from you is beautiful.

Another thing I've observed from Ka Sabrina is that she is one tough woman. I remember her from her A'level days -- to now, her university life. Hardworking seems to be her middle name. And not only academically tough, but I love seeing how she survived from one challenge to another. Some people give up halfway. She didn't.

And if I were to be a parent, I'd the happiest person in the planet to have an eldest daughter like her.

Written by: Chellsdeneira

Sabrina

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I’ve been wanting to write up a post on my trip to Singapore with my mom and my cousin earlier this June but I haven’t gotten around to do so because I was still choosing on which part to talk about. If I talked about the whole thing, this post would be never-ending as I spent 5 days there and I had quite an adventure. My mom went there for a business trip and since my cousin and I were free, we decided to tag along.

Before going to Singapore I was thinking whether I should buy their SIM Card or not because obviously I didn’t want to use my phone data while I was in another country, it would cost me a lot! But then I figured since my cousin has it, I’d just be with her at all time so I won’t actually need it. Though both of our phones were connected to the other phone with the SG SIM card using the phone’s personal hotspot so I still could surf the Internet using that. (If that was confusing; we had 3 phones, one had the SG SIM and two with Brunei SIM card.)

Upon going to Singapore, both my cousin and I listed down which places to visit and when we want to go there. So we went online and found out that every Wednesday, there will be pink dolphins at the underwater world! I am no doubt, a fan of pink so I was ecstatic when we found that out and decided we should just go that day.

Below: Pictures of a pink dolphin I took!

After visiting the ever so adorable pink dolphins, we figured we would go shopping at Vivo City before heading back to our hotel. I went to several shops there but I spent a lot of time at this one particular shop, which was Cotton On. Both my cousin and I knew I would take a while to finish shopping there because I like to go through every section of the store to see if anything captures my eyes. So knowing that, my cousin decided to go to other stores to buy some stuff and we would just meet up somewhere later.

After spending more than half an hour at cotton on, I decided to go to our meet up point but when I reached there I couldn’t find her so I figured she was still shopping at other stores. I wanted to ask her whereabouts but I couldn’t connect to any of the Wi-Fi there so I was just going around, trying to look for her but obviously couldn’t! So I told myself, I’ll just go back to Cotton On and wait for her there BUT as I passed a few shops, I noticed that I was connected to the Wi-Fi! So I quickly checked and I was connected to the personal hotspot so I went back to the few shops to see if my cousin were there and as I passed a sports shop, there she was, picking out jerseys for her brother.

I laughed to myself as I entered the store because I found it so funny on how I managed to find my cousin using that. But then after that I thought, hey, I was connected to the Wi-Fi, I should have just texted her instead of searching for her in every store I passed by. Sigh Bimbo moment right there but no worries, I love living life on the edge. You know what they say, everyday calls for a new adventure, and searching for my cousin like that was definitely a tiny part of it.

So lesson for today is guys, always switch on your hotspot so it would be easier for them to find you or the other way around BUT make sure, if you’re connected to the Wi-Fi, please text them instead of being so adventurous and trying to search for them in every store like how I did. *facepalms

On a side note, I survived going around Singapore thanks to my cousin. She did basically everything; she checked spots on where to go, how to get there, how much money we needed, even before we went to Singapore. I am so thankful and so amazed by her, thank you dear cousin! So here gorgeous, this post is for you.

Sabrina

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Why hello there. It’s been a while since Liyana and I have posted anything as we were sitting for our exams not long ago, literally, our papers just ended today but I can not wait another day to blog about an incident that happened, involving Liyana as well.

Our little cute friend, Wanna, who is older than me by 8 months just turned 20 last Saturday and my friends and I were sad that we couldn’t celebrate her birthday together with her as we had things to do on our own. When I say things, I didn’t really mean revisions, I honestly was sleeping most of the time during revision week but no matter, exams are over. So anyway, the next day Liyana and Nisa came over to my house to study together and we came up with an idea to do a surprise event for Wanna. We agreed to go for lunch right after our exams ended (which was today).

To properly plan this surprise event, Liyana made another groupchat without Wanna in it. We talked about how and where we were going to do surprise and what not. But, two days ago, Liyana accidentally text-ed us in the group WITH wanna in it, asking “Should we get her a whole cake or a slice?” and that’s when I thought, OH BOY. OUR LITTLE PLAN IS RUINED. Every one of us (except Nabil cause I think he was too busy studying, pshh, nerd) panicked! Wanna is the sharpest person I have ever known and I knew she would realize it right away. Though, I had a feeling that this incident would happen but I did not expect Liyana to be the culprit because I thought Nabil would be the one as he is the most oblivious person in our group. I think.

So, Nisa, Liyana and I made an SOS plan, on what to reply to the text and all that, which was pretty funny when you read our convos in both of the groupchats. Lucikly, we successfully changed topic and managed to sink Liyana’s little text mistake to the bottom of the ocean. After that little incident, we were a bit more cautious than we were before. We carefully checked the groupchat title to make sure its the correct one, whispered to one another when Wanna was around, trying to be cool about everything and etc. It was kinda funny to be honest but I knew deep down we were all just so excited!

I had to be very cautious not to let the plan slip out of my mouth because I was with Wanna the whole time, and it was a bit hard to do so. Though eventually, despite that little mistake, the surprise was a success! We made Wanna cry... well she cries at everything but I know she cried because she was surprised (and extremely touched, right wanna? hehe).

Happy belated birthday again Wanna, I hope you enjoyed today! We love you so much!

Oh, though she said she was confused about the text but she was too preoccupied to think about it.

THANK GOD.

and Liyana might seem a bit intimidating after reading her texts above but she's actually kind guys. Sometimes.

Sabrina

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The Opens aren't officially done yet but I sure am.

I have attempted the last and final 15.5 workout last night, on the day it was announced and maaannnn am I glad I did it!

I decided to blog about it today when everything is still fresh in my mind and I can still feel the pain I felt yesterday during the attempt. (physically too, I am horribly sore). But I don't think I will ever forget how it made me feel and the lessons the Opens has taught me.

But before that, a little bit of back story:

I have never been super fit growing up and sports was never really my forte. I tried netball when I was in high school and I think I was the reason my team lost. I tried track and field, I wasn't bad but still not good enough to be called an athlete. In sixth form, I played for my school's rugby team, it was good fun and I enjoyed it but I wouldn't say I was amazing at it. The only reason I still cared about getting out there was because I loved food and as much as I hate to say it, I am quite vain about how I looked and how much I weighed.

I joined CrossFit about 3 months ago with the hopes of just wanting to see what CrossFit is all about and liking it. A few weeks through and I have never felt so unfit in my life! I worked out alongside people who are more than capable of lifting twice my body weight, run twice and thrice as fast as me and endure so much more than I could! You'd think intimidation would creep up on me but these people are one of most supportive bunch of people I have ever met and for every little thing I achieve, their support lifts me even higher.

My confidence rose gradually and it was forced up even higher when Nash signed me up for the CrossFit Opens. He told me it would be amazing, I'd learn a lot of things and it would be the time for a lot of firsts. Was he right?

He couldn't be more right.

I learned that mentality is just as important as physical ability.

All throughout the 5 workouts of the Opens, I have learned that mentality plays a huge part of it. If you tell yourself that you can't do it, chances are, you will really fail. I have re attempted 3 out of 5 workouts because I mentally freaked out on my first attempt. My mind was telling me all sorts of things that I shouldn't be telling myself and that caused me failure. The second time around was much better because I learned how to control the negativity and fed myself with confidence.

The pain of regret hurts more than the physical pain of a workout.

As soon as each of the 5 workouts were announced every week, I have a constant debate with myself whether I should do RX or scale it down. A part of me gets afraid that I will not be able to survive it but a part of me says just try. What do you have to lose? I knew that the only thing stopping me was fear. But the competitive side of me kicked in and I pushed my fear aside. During the Opens this year, I got my first ever toes to bars, RXed my overhead squats, learned how to skip properly, RXed thrusters and most of the weights I have attempted are my very first time doing it. I surprised myself by doing RX in 3 out of 5 workouts.

Never underestimate the power of support.

I thought the energy and support of the community would diminish during the Opens because everyone would be too focused in doing their best in their own workouts. But I have never been so wrong! The support doubled or if not, tripled!! The energy of everyone in the box was crazy! I have always known support does wonders to people, from my experience in Toastmasters (this would also deserve another post of its own soon) but I didn't know it could lift you this high.

Take my last and final workout for example. It was the keeper of all hells. But they say, if you're going through hell, keep going. But that was easier said than done. I chose to attempt RX because I know regret would haunt me if I didn't. It caused me terrible pain physically and mentally. I don't think words can even describe how I felt then. My entire body burned and ached. My clothes were drenched in sweat. My hair was all over the place. My body cried out to stop and all I wanted to do was to slump down and stay there forever. After every lift, I got lightheaded and my vision blurred at times. I shook my head in defeat countless times and I groaned that I wanted to give up. But who didn't let me? The community. My friends. My support system. They were there the entire step of the way. I pushed through my pain and told myself that I have to finish it. It hurts like hell now but it would hurt more if I gave up. And I did it. I freaking did it. I stayed on the floor shaking in pain after the workout. I couldn't get up and I couldn't feel my arms. Who was there to congratulate me? The exact same people who stayed with me through all the pain. My eyesight blurred and I couldn't think about anything else but I heard all the wonderful things they had to say and that was more than enough to ease the pain.

I have learned to do it because I love it.

I no longer do the workouts because I have to but because I want to. I have learned that it gives me enough satisfaction to want to do it and in everything I do, I aim to do my best.

Believing in yourself is vital.

Everyone knows this but not everyone lives by it. I've always known that self confidence is important but it was only proven to me now. If I didn't have an ounce of belief in myself, I couldn't have fought through all the challenges and pain. Because after all, no one else can make you do anything but yourself.

All these lessons I've learned will stay with me for a very long time and hopefully forever and I'd like to thank everyone who has made all these worthwhile!

Shout out to Team Pogi for being an amazing team!

And how can I forget the amazing Coach Nash for standing by me and supporting me the entire time!

The entire community has been nothing but wonderful!!

Liyana

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After the super sweet post by Sabrina, I was incredibly touched that I decided to return the favor because inspiration has been overflowing recently. The photo above was taken after only a few months of being friends and clinging onto each other like sisters (before we officially declared ourselves as sisters) (I assume her post for me was an officially declaration by her) (even though I've officially declared mine long ago) (I remind her everyday too).

I've known Sabrina for only less than a year despite being passer-bys in sixth form years ago. The first conversation exchanged between us was during our first semester in university when our paths met again and that was because we both had mutual friends or friend - Nisa (this crazy person will be in another post - hopefully soon -). We had almost all the same classes together in our first semester and that's how the friendship sort of started and bloomed. We both started taking group assignments together and working with her has been nothing but absolute bliss! It eventually led to camping out at each other's places to work on group assignments with our other two main ladies (Nisa & Wanna) and also revise for exams. 2nd semester came and we got even closer with more classes and lectures together and even getting to know each other's families. We even found out that we're actually distant relatives, much to my joy and her dismay! (Just kidding, she loves me, man).

Spending time with this lady can go from stupid jokes to deep conversation in a second. I've always felt like I could tell her anything at all and I wouldn't feel like I was being judged. Being brought up almost the same way, with disciplined parents and education as the main goal, she understands me completely. I don't think this girl has a single judgemental bone in her body. Smart is her middle name and she can rock gorgeous anytime! (probably not funny but worry not, that's what I'm here for). She is the person who shuts me up in class (or anywhere, for that matter), keeps me sane when working on assignments and spoils me with food. She sounds like my boyfriend, doesn't she? Apart from Nash (worry not, this amazing person will be featured in another post soon as well) and a few others who mean the world to me, she genuinely supports me in everything I do and is constantly there to lift my spirits. What more can you ask for from a sister?

We're so close like PB&J, which is why we made this blog hehe (sister points +10 for this post)

Liyana

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