Mama, I love you.

O&G for me is the most frustrating subject. I can happily take out my Paeds book and restudy it for God knows how many times, but I can't digest this O&G more than once.

Frustrating. I understand this subject, the problem is that it won't stick in. And it's 59 days till the written exam and I'm..

I don't know. I'm a female but I don't feel any connection with this subject. In actual, this subject makes me cringe. It makes me worry of the state of whatever in me in general. But just because I don't like it doesn't mean I don't have to study it.

It was worst before and my focus refused to cooperate at one time. Until I was reminded that I have to study well to ensure the safety of the mothers of ummah and future jundullah.

Make sure the precious ladies of ummah are safe. Make sure I can pick out the impending complications. Make sure I don't screw up and both baby and mother are safe and sound and can continue to contribute to Islam.

Women are so complicatedly created. Please appreciate them more, they're already having a hard time handling their own self.

Allahu ghoyatuna. Go slow if I must, but I can't afford to ever stop.

STEP 2 - The Mascot

It wasn't exactly established that STEP last year's mascot was a giraffe, but everyone considered it as such because the emcee kept having giraffe in his pantuns. So this year, as an animal activist myself, I proposed to my committee's boss that we needed to establish a mascot since the beginning and use it in all elements of STEP 2.

Balqis the Gen 08 niece with last year's mascot. 

I was considering penguin, because penguins are handsome and Allah made them to be a mascot thus need no rationalization why they should be a mascot. Presented to my boss, he said "pelik-pelik la maskot pun nak ada".

Such response was not unexpected, but I was undeterred.

A few days later, Allah sent me an epiphany in the form of white pigeon as our mascot. My reasons were:
1- white pigeon is the universal symbol for peace and no-suffering
2- a symbol of hope between these two conflicting genders

and most importantly,
3- it is Protocol Committee's niche. Heh.

Originally we didn't plan on officially announcing it to the rest of the crew, just dictate that the pigeon is to be used in all designs without telling why, but muallimah asked openly about the mascot during meeting so someone had to answer. The crew's booming reaction was expected (given the third reason) and approval was granted.

Boss was peevish, though. He considered it was a sabotage on my part, but hey, he should have approved penguin while he had the chance. Kehkehkeh.

We then proceeded to use pigeon in the gimmick design and in every single pantun by the emcee. 

Three hours of hard labour with only an hour of sleep, and the only picture I have of it is blurred. I blame the Media Committee boss for distracting me hahah.

Haha. I had too much fun.

Countdown 68

68 days to final and we will be starting ours with Obs & Gynae Written Part 1. The pressure has started to get to us, study groups are mandated (they made me group leader. The first thing I did is name our Viber chatgroup as Study Group 5 Cemerlang) and challenges are being issued.

The race is on. Renew our intentions and ask for Allah's forgiveness. I look forward to winning and collecting my bragging rights May the best wins. Heh.

Dissecting STEP 2 - Prologue

Disclaimer: I promised beloved Fatimah Che Rahimi to share something from our last Friday's STEP 2 - When Mecca Meets Medina with Pak Utih. But truth be told, as one of the committee I spent my time between running around doing whatever God knows and slipping backstage to make sure the guys didn't screw up (okay this sounds so conceited, haha). The only time I was in the hall trying to listen to Pak Utih's talk, my mind was running ahead of me.

Regardless, I want to share something. So bear with me.

The Cool STEP 2 Clan

The first objective of STEP 2 was to enlighten the participants on the differences between guys and girls so as to be better prepared at dealing with the opposite gender.

This is important because whether you like it or not, the opposite gender is a part of your daily life. From your own family members to the people you work with and those patients of yours. If you don't know how they generally work, you'll end up baffled and to a greater extent, stressed and unable to come to terms with the verse that Allah said how He created us in different genders to complement each other.

Puhlease, I'm Not Getting Married Anytime Sooner

Last year's STEP, Dr. Harlina Haliza Siraj said there are three categories of male:
1- your family members
2- your brothers in Islam
3- that special someone
each with their own unique ways to deal with.

So don't limit your scope that When Mecca Meets Medina is all about knowing the opposite gender in order to better deal with when you're married. Heh. Yes you will probably get married one day insha Allah, but there's more to life than getting married. #BukanKahwinJeBest, iye dop? Haha.

I like to quote Dumbledore, "First you have to know, then understand, and only then there will be acceptance" or so he said to Harry at the end of The Fifth Harry Potter Book.

Understanding; Towards Efficiency

Understanding is important for efficiency, which according to Community Medicine means the capacity of proper utilization of the available resources to achieve the operational objective. Guys have their own strengths and limitations, so as girls. Understanding these will better help us measure our expectations and tailor our strategies accordingly.

Some may say I am manipulative, heh. But that's just another way to depict our isti'ab dakhili (What the heck is this, you ask? Go figure, haha!)

As the big sister, I can't boss John around the same way I boss Melle around. Melle will probably comply no matter how I exert my dictatorship but John will rebel just to make a statement. In the end, all I wanted was for John's all-rounded well-being but if my method is wrong, none of us will benefit.

(And I will lose. This is unacceptable because I like to win. Haha.)

Some Guys Can Shop, Some Girls Can Read Maps

Like medicine, there is a whole range of spectrum for a disease clinical picture on a patient. A diabetic patient may present with mild disturbance of vision or Random Blood Sugar above 300mg/dL and comatosed with diabetic ketoacidosis. And in life, just because I am a girl doesn't mean I hit like a girl. (It is amusing that guys and even girls have recently taken the habit of calling me "akhi/bro".. but I feel like hitting them all the same.)

Splitting people up into guys and girls doesn't mean they are equally categorized. (Or is this the right moment to throw you a fact that "there are three types of people on earth: Guys, girls and Hana"?) Stop for a moment and throw away the generalizing dimwitted "All guys/girls are the same" mentality.

Girls are generally better at being domestic, but I am not at par to the average of them. I know for fact that Abang Effy is better domesticated than I can ever be. On the other hand, you can depend on a guy to not get you lost but trust me when I say I am awesome at directions while some guys have directional dyslexia, haha.

Subhanallah, Allahu akbar! These distribution of attributes should open our eyes to appreciating individual traits and respect each person as his own unique self. John will always be John and James will always be James and Hana will always be Hana, and each of us can be a better us. I am forever thankful for my parents for treating us siblings differently according to our personalities.

Give No Excuses To Be Weak

"I'm a guy, I don't do multitasking."
"I'm a girl, I can't help that I say something but mean something else."

Let's live in harmony and not play the blame game. Generally knowing how each gender works, their strengths and limitations is not for laughing in amusement, and then that's it. It is not how good you are, it is how much better you are becoming. A Muslim is a better person than yesterday!

So use those knowledge to improve yourself. You know your own strengths now, so figure out how to use them for the sake of Islam and the betterment of ummah. You know your own limitations now, so figure out how to overcome them also for the sake of Islam and the betterment of ummah.

Guys can slowly start to be expected to multitask while girls can slowly start to mean what they say. Life is a journey of self-improvement. Hehe.

May Allah ease us in our path to become a better person solely to please Him. Allah ghoyatuna, right bros and siss?

---

What are those gender differences? Well, that's for another post... maybe. See ya ;)