Nine Years...

...of Nina

It is the second year running Nina's birthday falls during the holy month of Ramadhan.

Despite the fasting month, it does not stop us from celebrating the occasion.

It is just a simple event, we just go out after the final Terawih of 1431 Hijrah and buy a simple cake.

Nina is happy with the cake and just like her during her baby years, the attraction to cakes and candles is the same for Lisa.

With Che joining in and recites the doa and has a piece of the cake, it is certainly a moment to remember.

Nina as usual, enjoys her cake to the fullest.


...

MERDEKA!

MERDEKA!
MERDEKA!

Yesterday was the 53rd Merdeka Celebration for Malaysians.

For the first time the celebration was done indoors at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil. Perhaps taking into consideration it was the fasting month of Ramadhan, the organizing committee decided as such.

The usual Merdeka Day Parade was not included in the programme this time around making the celebration the shortest ever in mad redo1's memory. But still, he was right there in front of the TV watching the historic event unfolded via the live telecast on TV3 anchored by Ally Iskandar and Ahmad Fidtrie.

Then off he went to dreamland.

In the afternoon mad redo1 and Linda went to see AKS#1 at her hostel. Her mother had busied herself in the kitchen while mad redo1 was sleeping, preparing the food to bring to our beloved AKS and it was quite a reward seeing the smile on her face.

Then on our way home we met with a usual scene on holidays or weekends.

The damned rempits were at it again!

Well, from the actions they were displaying to the onlookers it made my idea of having a legal place for them to carry out such activities sound more sensible by the day. Unfortunately under the current climate I do not see anyone willing to champion this cause due to the amount of money needed.

But still it is something worthwhile to ponder on while chewing the roti telur on the eve of the next Merdeka Day.

HAPPY MERDEKA DAY, MALAYSIA!

...

A Half Year...

...Review

Six months have passed since AKS#1 left the nest for a hostel life at SMAAZA.


Yesterday mad redo1 and Linda went to the school for a review of Berg's performance during the recent examination. Suffice to say that she did not perform too bad and as a bonus Berg is in the top ten percent among her peers.

That is something to cheer about.

Unfortunately, all are not that rosy with Berg still insisting on a transfer to another school, which something mad redo1 is not really fond of doing as a mid year transfer means disruption to her studies and also the process of adaptation to a new environment.

For me, most of her problems stem from her relationship with her fellow students as they found her straight talking nature is quite insensitive. At the same time their nosy nature of poking their nose at personal matters is also the source of irritation for Berg, and to a certain extent for Linda and mad redo1 too.

For me it is up to the individual student on how to dress outside the school during their personal time as long they do not imitate the style of Lady Gaga or Beyonce. But no, some of the students have to bring this matter to the teacher.

The teacher should have put a stop to this gossiping nature at that time and not become a gossiper herself. That if we live in a perfect world. Unfortunately, we don't.

Thus Berg's future at SMAAZA is still remain unknown for the time being.


...

Shot...

...in The Butt.

Lisa is thirteen months old now, which means she is due for another scheduled shot as advised by the Health Ministry of Malaysia.

Again, we proceed to the Rohana Seripah Clinic which has been our peadiatrician since day 1.

Lisa is cheerful while waiting for her turn. Her naivety is certainly adorable. Nina knows what is coming for her sister but still maintain a straight face.

Then the moment comes. Berg is thrilled to see another AKS receiving the jab and not her anymore.

And the wailing starts. But as usual for Lisa it does not last long, just under a minute then she is back to her usual joyful self.

Apart from her hand keeps rubbing her butt everything else is normal. Thank you Lisa for being such a good AKS.

...

A Year...

...Passes.

From the moment she cried her first wail after the Maghrib adzan a year ago, Ainnur Khalisa Shukriah has been a source of joy to all of us in the household. It is good to have a baby again, it gives you the sense of being needed by someone. But a baby is a work in progress, and the rate of its growth is something that you wish can be slowed down a bit. Just so that it will remain... well, as a baby.

Sounds a bit selfish isn't it but I believe many parents are wishing the same thing, to see their off-springs remain as they are the day they were born. Children grow up at a really fast rate. For mad redo1 it still feel like yesterday he received his first bundle of joy way back in 1997, now AKS#1 has entered secondary school phase and AKS#2 is in Year 3.

But for the third AKS, she is still a baby in mad redo1's eyes. And today it has been a year since she joined us in the family. 

Her birthday is not a spectacular event but mad redo1 hopes it will be enough to be remembered for the whole life-time.

Ainnur Khalisa Shukriah, HAPPY BIRTHDAY my baby, may be this is the first of many more to come.

...

Berg's...

Registration Day.

Yesterday Berg a.k.a. AKS#1 began her life as a secondary school student at Sekolah Menengah Agama Atas Sultan Zainal Abidin or better known locally as SMAASZA.

From experience, packing lightly is the best way when you begin life at the hostel as you try to adapt to life over there. Furthermore, with the distance between the school and our house is merely 7km thus we can always send things to Berg if needed.

 

Unlike when mad redo1 first registered himself at a boarding school back in the early 80's, this time around there was a welcoming committee which greeted the parents and students as they arrived at the school. They even helped with the carrying of the bags and stuff.

 

Then straight to the registration counters. Being an old school, the hall is quite small . How small it is? To give you a bit of a picture it could only accommodate just a single badminton court.

We intentionally went towards the end of the registration time to avoid the crowd and I believed it was the right decision.

 

We did not have to queue for long thus avoiding Linda from feeling distressed. However, there would always be someone that as Captain Haddock (please refer to Tintin) would put it: "Acting the goat".

A makcik who silently tried to sneak in front of us in the queue. Instead of scolding her we just decided to crowd her and perhaps feeling a bit suffocated she went back to her rightful place, at the back of our butts.

 

The rest of the registration process went smoothly except for a surprise to our wallet when the school told that the amount for the hostel fee has been changed by the latest directive from the Education Ministry, which meant it is higher than the one stated on the offer letter.

 

But perhaps the biggest grouse for today was the fact that the school requested the parents and students to take their seats for the welcoming speech when they were fully aware the so called VIPs have not yet arrived.

In the end we have to wait for half an hour before they arrived. Fortunately, the Commissioner of the State Religious Affairs has the grace to apologise to everybody for being late due to an unexpected matter.

But seriously teachers, haven't you heard this thing called mobile phones?

 

We decided to have some fun during the speeches but just a few short moments later mad redo1 went off enjoying the speech the way he knew best... in dreamland.

For the rest of the day, please go here.


...

Berg...

...is Leaving.

In a few hours time mad redo1 will bid adieu to Khadijah a.k.a AKS#1.

Why?

Because she is going to begin living in a hostel as she begins her life in secondary school.

As parents you dread the day when your offsprings find their wings and leave the nest. Though where Berg is continuing her studies is not that far, in fact just ten to fifteen minutes drive from our home but it is not having her around is going to be a bit strange.

Nonetheless we must accept this as part of life which always see your loved ones leaving home as a way to go on with their life, be it in order to pursuit higher education or higher pay.

Whatever it is, mad redo1 will certainly miss his AKS#1.

Good luck Berg!

...

Unlucky...

...Thirteen? Lets Hope Not!

mad redo1 and Linda celebrated their thirteenth anniversary on Saturday. The cliche phrase of 'how time flies' will be used here. It is the truth on how we feel since the moment when we were declared officially as husband and wife. Of course we have been blessed with three wonderful offsprings who we hope will grow up to be wonderful human beings.

It was quite a surprise for mad redo1 when Linda brought him to do some shopping and instead of for her, it was for him! A wonderful gift that mad redo1 hopes to use as frequently as possible on the futsal courts.

Thank you bebey!

In the evening we went for our Anniversary dinner at the Permai Inn Hotel, where they have relocated their restaurant to the newly built wing.

 

The spacious restaurant certainly made a good impression to Che' and Berg who seemed to enjoy the ambiance. Unfortunately it was not to last when the resident band who goes by the name 'Fast' began playing.

 

They played the usual stuff, a repertoire of evergreen and latest hits. Unfortunately the sound system was poorly set resulting the noise level being too high to the extent that we had to raise our voice when talking to one another, and we were seating at the far end of the restaurant.

 

We ordered the western side of the menu with mad redo1 having the sirloin steak while his room-mate ordered the tenderloin. Both were served in black pepper sauce.

 

The rest of the 'entourage' ordered fish and chips while Berg maintained her Asian roots by ordering the 'char kuey teow'. For dessert we shared the traditionally popular banana split. Nina was more excited in getting the miniature  umbrella rather than the ice-cream itself.

Overall the evening was a good one for mad redo1 and the rest of the family. Hopefully the celebration will be bigger in number and the love will just keep going on till the end.

...

The First...

...of Many.

Today is mad redo1's birthday. As usual for birthdays people will associate the special day with receiving gifts from people who care. However, for this birthday mad redo1 wishes for something special, something that is totally out of his hands.

Today happens to be the day the result for the Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) is announced. Khadijah a.k.a. AKS#1 sat for the test over a month ago. Perhaps it is true that Malaysia is a country with many tests for the youngsters to go through before reaching adulthood. Even now when you are an adult there are quite a substantial number of tests and examinations that you have to go through, especially in the government sector.

Thus the UPSR is the first of many for Khadijah to sit during the course of her life and as a parent mad redo1 wishes to see his first child to pass it with flying colours. If she does then it will be the perfect birthday gift for mad redo1 (for this year).

It has been raining since the last few days to the extent that the Meteorological Department has issued the 'Orange' alert for Terengganu and Kelantan. When mad redo1, Linda and the younger AKSes reach the school they are greeted with light drizzle. The head-master of the school has already started calling the students and announcing their results.

It is not a long wait for mad redo1 and Linda.

The heart begins to beat a little faster when Khadijah's name is called. Then the head-master announces "5A!" and the same heart jumps with joy. At the end of the announcement, there are 45 pupils on stage who have achieved 5As.

mad redo1 remembers when the result was announced for the 'Penilaian Darjah 5' test which he sat, there were just 11 who managed to obtain 5As. It was a shock to the system for him as he was predicting a 4As and a B but it was a good shock nonetheless.

As it turns out, Khadijah is part of bunch that put Terengganu at the top of the pile again in term of success in the UPSR.

The good news travels fast and Linda's brother Poppy announces that lunch is on him as  the way to celebrate. Furthermore it is also mad redo1's birthday. To add another joy to the day, Linda's mother receives the 'Ibu Mithali' award in the morning during a ceremony.

In a way it is a 'three in one' celebration for everybody.

The place to celebrate? The newly opened McDonald's 'Drive-Thru' Restaurant near Giant. Today is indeed a good day and mad redo1 hopes there will be more days like this in the future.

Of course this success is not possible without the hard work from all concerned, especially the teachers at SKPCT who poured everything in their efforts to ensure their charges would be able to do their best during their first major test. Thank you very much.

Heartiest congratulations Berg!  May there will be more success for you in the future.

...

Children, Children Go Away...

...or I Will Take You Away!

There are many types of people in this world. To list all of them is a task only a physcologist would love to carry out.

How do we know everything about ourselves?

Since we are the owner of the body that define us, then of course we should know everything about us. But once in a while there are going to be events or incidents that will reveal another side of us. Or it would remind us about something that we have long forgotten.

As an example, mad redo1.

Since becoming the daddy to the AKSes he has been good with children. You see, he does not like children. Ever since he was a child he would ran away whenever there was a toddler around.

This carried on and even when he became a young adult. Of course being a young adult he would have girlfriends who most of them had this vision of building a family with him. This led to the girlfriends admiring infants in a stroller or playing with toddlers who for them is the definition of cuteness.

mad redo1 would kept his distance away.

Why? I do not have the answer.

There were times when the girlfriends wondered how mad redo1 would turn out to be as a father?

The arrival of the AKSes was a life changing experience. It turned out, babies are not so bad after all. Of course, babies would grow and before you know it, they became toddlers who later turned into children.

Now AKS#1 is turning into a teenager with a bit of rebellious streak, AKS#2 is a child who is curious about everything around her and AKS#3 is an infant who would put everything into her mouth.

So, mad redo1 should be alright with children now.

TOOOOT!

Wrong. He still does not like children. Not in a way that he would cook and gobble them up for dinner but more like he just does not know how to play with them and his tolerance for them is very low.

mad redo1 just realised that all this time he would just play with the AKSes and not with other children. A sort of nepotism when it comes to playing time.

So, to all children out there and their parents, I apologise for any behaviour that mad redo1 has shown over the years that could have hurt you in one way or another.

It's not you, its me.

...

The First Day...

...of Aidil-Fitri

Nothing unusual happened on mad redo1's first day of Aidil-Fitri. Just the usual routine of Aidil-Fitri prayer, photography session, visiting the cemetery before proceeding to Linda's parents place where it was the same as the year before, and the year before when mad redo1 spent most of the time on his back in dreamland.

But of course there is one major difference for this year's Aidil-Fitri. This is the first Aidill-Fitri for AKS#3 a.k.a. Ainnur Khalisa Shukriah. It is an 'orange' themed celebration for us but we could not find and orange outfit for Lisa, thus she is dressed in all white.

One thing I wish is for visiting parents to be more attentive to their children as not to disturb a man sleeping. I do not like seeing your brats' puny face standing and staring when I open my eyes.

Tomorrow is another day. We shall see what happen, eh?


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