Kad Raya and Selamat Hari Raya..

This year most of the kad hari raya were given through facebook or even through e-cards. The traditional kad raya seems to be forgotten. Luckily, a boy named Ahmad Aiman is very excited to learn something new to him which is called Kad Raya. He never knew a kad raya existed before. He even asked me how to make a kad raya. I told him that we don't need to make one. We can just buy the kad raya. He was surprised by the answer as he said that his teacher had asked him to make Kad Raya to be iven to his friends in school.

He later asked me to buy him some kad raya for him as he wanted to give to his friends and teachers. Being a forgetful dad, i forgot to buy him and he got upset. So last night i went out to buy some for him while he was sleeping.

During sahur, i placed the cards on the dining table. He was elated to see the cards and asked when i bought them. He was equally surprised that there were envelopes too as he thought that the envelopes is something that he needed to make too. How naive kids eh. After sahur, while i was waiting for subuh prayers i presumed that he had gone back to sleep. But being so excited of having the raya cards he did not sleep but he was writing on the cards so he can give to his friends during school time.

I still vividly remember the joy of sending cards and receiving them. Sadly the trend is slowly fading. But upon seeing my kid enjoying the raya card i think that there is still hope of the tradition to continue.

As we are approaching raya, i would like to wish all of you SELAMAT HARI RAYA and MAAF ZAHIR BATIN. Wish all of you have a great time visiting your kampung and your loved ones. Drive safely and cautiously.

Here's an E-card for all of you
SELAMAT HARI RAYA!!

Calm and Cool

This morning was a bit of a surprise. I woke up to found out that outside was covered with fog. This morning was a bit chilly and reminded me of cameron highlands and also bukit larut.

It's like living in high country

As you can see, the Hill on the background is covered with the fog and is not even visible from my house. The weather is nice and cooling. Oh how I wish that everyday was like this.

The weather is so nice, felt like going back to sleep

No hill!! Totally covered with fog

The hill during normal days

Baling is not exactly in highlands but it is cool. Especially when it rains. Its not hard not to like this place. But at times like this i wish that my wife is here to enjoy the scenery and serenity.

Oh, and today is little afiq's birthday. Happy birthday afiq!! Bak will post something later ya..

Fasting and sahur.. a tale of eggs

This fasting month is a bit different from the last ramadhan. This year my eldest son Aiman started to train to fast. He had never fast before, so it came as a surprise when he was able to finish the whole day fasting in his first attempt on the first day of ramadhan.

He is also delightfully easy to wake up for sahur. He didnt manage to fast everyday. But almost every other day which is very good for him. I'm so proud of him. Whenever he complains of hunger or thirsty, i asked him not to think of it and concentrate on other things to preoccupy his mind. That was one of the reasons that i had allowed him to play with the PS2. Now he is getting very good with it and even manage to beat me in his favourite game Naruto.

Back to sahur time, he likes to eat mostly rice during sahur. As he always does in other meal time. Last night all of us went to Penang to send their mother to the airport as she is going back to KL. When we got back to baling it is quite difficult for me to buy anything at the stall for sahur. Aiman had requested to eat rice for sahur. Erkk.. Aiyoo, what to do. Rice i can cook but the serving? I dont think so. I spent the night scratching my head on how to prepare sahur. I then said to myself, what the heck. I'll just try to cook something. But what to cook? There is not much in the fridge and i dont think that i can cook something complex.

I scoured the fridge and the answer was just in front of my eyes. What is Aiman fav food. Eggs!! I cant just fry the eggs and eat it with rice like that. So braved myself into cooking. I decided to cook fried eggs with tomato sauce. Luckily it went okay. The taste wasnt the same standard as my wifes cooking but at least it is edible. Hehe. Aiman ate the eggs without saying anything. A good sign eh. Later he said that he liked it. But being aiman, anything with egg he would like it. Haha, success. Now im feeling that im half way being a mr mama.

The not so spectacular eggs with tomato

I've conquered the first hurdle. Maybe in the future i'll try to cook something else that requires more skill. Hehe. I wish.

From McD to Meehon

Spent the whole day thinking of what to have for Iftar or breaking fast. There is only one thing in my was McDonald. Dont know why but i did crave the burgers and the shakes.

Since today i would get off early like i always do on Thursdays. I planned to take all my kids into the Stream and make way to the nearest McD. In seberang perai which is almost 90km in distance. Heh, the nearest. But what to do if you're living in the country region. Heck i cant even call Baling a suburb area.

When i reach home, i told my kids that we were going to McD. I had hoped that the news would be greeted gleefully but something was even bigger than McD. An immovable object. That got my kids hooked for the past 1 week. The Playstation2. The one that i had owned for the past 6 years. Aiman was only 1 year old when i bought it. How time flies!! Now he is able to play it. Now i'm feeling old. Again.

I had to give in to him. While he was playing a Naruto fighting game, afiq fell asleep infront of the tv while drinking his milk. Huh, there goes my McD.

So i rushed off to bazaar ramadhan to scour what to eat for breaking fast. I decided to buy the kids nasi tomato and a modest meehon for myself. Along the way, i met up with one of my patients, who is selling sup tulang and such in the bazaar. He gave me one sup tulang, and he refused to take my money. He just said that to pray for him 'a murah rezeki'. Alhamdulillah, i said to him and wished him to be more successful in his business.

Sometimes, when we didnt not get one thing, god will open other things to us, as long as we keep our mind and heart open. We just have to be thankful in what we have and insyaallah god will give us more.

Introducing... The Dinobots

A few days ago a good friend of mine said that he saw a few spiders in my blog, with it cobwebs too. I replied that the spiders were my pets and i kept them to look after my blog. Hehe.
Actually i think that he saw these Dinobots.
What in the world are Dinobots? Well, they are actually Transformers. One of my favorites actually. Their origin varies from the cartoon series and the comics. Despite the many origin, the Dinobots were portrayed as an elite team of Autobots that kick-ass and doesn't follow orders very well. They are more loyal to each other rather than the Autobots. The Dinobots consists of 5 team members. Grimlock (leader), Snarl, Slag, Sludge and Swoop.

From left to right, Snarl, Sludge, Grimlock, Slag and Swoop

Their team leader is Grimlock.

Grimlock is one of the most powerful Autobots and is equal of Optimus Prime and Megatron. He is a loose cannon and doesn't regard other beings such as humans. Grimlock can snap anything by hi steel jaw in his T-rex mode. He also has Energo-sword and a double-barrelled, self propelled rocket launcher.

Grimlock in a few occasions also has become Autobot leader and also tried to ursurp Optimus Prime as Autobot leader. In the classic animation transformers, Grimlock was pictured as dumb. But he is anything but that. He is ruthless and doesn't follow command very well.

"Among the winners, there is no room for the weak"

Dinobot Snarl

Snarl is a dinobot that transforms into a Stegosaurus. He is a loner and usually unhappy except when he is embroiled in a battle or war. His spirits will lift up when he is fighting.

His spinal tail is gold plated and helps him to increase hi strength during the day, but during the night he is more vulnerable. He usually uses his energon sword rather than a gun

"Only in war there is happiness"

Dinobot Slag

Slag is a dinobot that transforms into a Triceratops. He is one of the dinobots that possess immense raw power and strength. He is also the only one that can stand up to Grimlock. Like other dinobots, Slag likes to battle. He has few friends and most of them are the dinobots only. He also has an energon sword and a high energy rifle.

In Dinosaur mode, Slag can spew up to 3,000 degrees Celcius and up to 25 metres up. His horn can shoot a high lasered beam. His thick head can shatter almost anything.

"I have no need for friends, even less for enemies"

Dinobot Sludge

Sludge is a dinobot that transforms into a Brontosaurus. He also possess enormous strength. He like other dinobots has an energon sword along with a rifle. He does believe that a strong leader like Grimlock should lead rather than a smart leader.

When in dinosaur mode, he can use his feet to stomp on the ground and cause tremors. It is a good weapon when fighting the Decepticons.

"Stomp your enemy, crush him under your feet"

Dinobot swoop

Swoop is different from the other dinobots. Apart that he is the only dinobots that can fly, he also has intelligence superior than the others. Swoop transforms into a pterodactyl. He has 2 missle launchers on both his wings. He initially was called Divebomb but that name was taken by a Predacon. He is less aggresive compared to his Dinobot counterparts.

"Fear can reach targets unreachable by bullets"

Dinobots smash!!

That's one of my collection of transformers. I'll be updating one by one as i grow my collection of G1 transformers.
And by the way Nik, i've sent my spiders away for a holiday. Hehe.

Flu Bug...

It seems that the word H1N1 is becoming one of the famous words in Malaysia nowadays. Even my 5 year old boy knows the word but he doesn't know the meaning of the word.

The pandemic outbreak of the infuenza virus started in Mexico earlier this year and now has spread to all the continents in the world. In Malaysia until today has 874 cases involving locally transmitted and imported cases. The WHO also reported that the total number of cases worldwide is now 133,755 cases with 760 deaths from 155 nation. That means the percentage of cases is about 0.6%.

Last week i got a bad flu but it is not H1N1 as i'm not in contact with anyone with possible H1N1. I was out the whole week. But i had to brave myself to go to work. After 1 week it became better but now my little Afiq got the infection from me and now has gotten sick.

He started with mild fever and vomiting. And now has progressed to cough and running nose. Last nite his chest is getting thighter due to the phlegm. After giving milk to him last night he vomited out the milk along with all the phlegm. I had to wash him up at 3am in the morning and also clean up the vomit. It's tiring after recovering from the flu myself but i pity the little fella. He must be feeling really awful and bodyache as he wants to cling on to me most of the time.

I need to start him on antibiotics this evening as the phlegm is turning yellowish. I really hate it when my kids get sick. I hope this episode of flu would settle quickly.

Down The Memory Lane

It's always nice to take a trip down the memory lane, albeit a short one. Yesterday i took a very short trip. Down to the Kinta Valley or to be precise to Ipoh Town. I went there to attend my childhood best friends' wedding in Ipoh.

This trip is a bit extra special, as this is only the second time i met him for the past 20 years!. The other time that i met him was 7 years ago in Midvalley Kl. His name is Masrudy Asfar Mastor. He and Razman my other best friend during that period of time plus myself were unseparable. I could say that we were the 3 musketeers (without D'Artagne of course). The 3 of us would go anywhere together during school hours. And all of us were school prefects. I was the chubby one, Masrudy was the skinny one and Razman was the handsome one.

I would sleep over to his place during the weekends and brought along my SEGA console (which was very cool at that time, hehe) and some Transformers toys. We would play together with his 2 younger brother and a little sister that we shunned. No girls allowed policy at that time. And sometimes Masrudy and Razman would sleep over to my house. We had the time of our lives during primary school. Sadly after UPSR we went our separate ways. Razman went to STAR Ipoh and Masrudy went to SMK Raja Permaisuri Bainun Ipoh while i went to Anderson Ipoh. Then i shifted to JB and lost contact with them alltogether.

Yesterday, i finally got to go back to see him and went back to his home that we had so many good times together. All grown up. He was no longer the skinny one as he had become much bigger than me. Hehe. I couldn't make it to the Kenduri during the afternoon so i decided to go in the evening to his home. Luckily i still remember the way to his home but at near his house i got i bit confused as there were more houses now. They were planning for a short Sanding at the Pelamin inside the house for close family. I was fortunate enough to see them Sanding. The bride and groom wore a pearly white Baju Melayu and Dress which were matching.

I was treated with dinner of Nasi Minyak with Ayam masak merah, rendang, ikan tenggiri pedas, sate and cakes. It was worth the 2 hours drive. After a brief remininscing our childhood times, updating the present and discussing the future, the bride and groom were ready for the short bersanding. They were very happy. And i was too, seeing my old buddy after so many years. After the photo session, i made my way back to Baling. I'm glad that i decided to go to see him. It brought lots of great memories.... now, to find Razman and maybe the 3 musketeers will get back together...

getting ready to cut the pulut

one, two, cut...

wahhh... so manja....

a simple pelamin with the bride and groom

can't wait for tonight... haha

with the bride and the groom.. my old buddy Masrudy

A nice custom made choc bar that they made for the wedding