united made life really difficult for big sam...

manchester united 7
blackburn rovers 1
english premier league
27th november, 2010
old trafford

a night of magic from berbatov with five goals! the other two goals coming from luis nani and park ji sung. everything the players did, they did it right. everything clicked! poor big sam. he must be counting his days at ewood park...glory glory man united!

there is a lot to do and achieve in life...

wednesday 16 november 2010 / 9 zulhijjah 1431h

hari anugerah

sekolah kebangsaan bandar tasik puteri

rawang, selangor darul ehsan

"ibu mana yg tak bangga...". nuff said.

...long life and we will meet yet again, insya allah!

17 november, 2010 / 10 zulhijjah 1431h
hillcity hotel & apartments
ipoh, perak darul ridzuan

Finally we met...reunited after almost 25-odd years. on this holy and blessed day... former students and teachers of sekolah rendah kebangsaan raja di hilir ekram (1977-1982) and sekolah menengah jalan pasir puteh, ipoh (1983-1985) exchanged embraces. like long lost friends...brothers...families. the sight of once familiar faces (and with some not so recognizable anymore). childhood and school day memories came flooding back. not all of us were present though. some have other commitments. and some have left us...forever. the reunion was brief. too many things to say and too much to catch up on. but that's life. and time does make a difference. shapes changed. wrinkles appeared. black hair turned to white. but the joy is the same for all. alhamdulillah, thank you Allah for this...

...students, teachers, friends, brothers, sisters, parents, children and families...

pic courtesy of mohd jamal nasir

special credit to mohd kamal mohamad noor, azaharuddin abu kassim, kalidas kanagaratnam and the rest.

live life for people or for GOD?

saturday 13 november, 2010
bukit changgang
banting, selangor

one of the tradition in the local javanese community when offering prayer for the deceased is to prepare and serve nasi ambeng ('beng' here does not sound like ah 'beng' but rather to 'beng'ang or 'beng'kak) to the congregation once prayer is finished.

of late, nasi ambeng is regaining its popularity after almost being forgotten especially by the younger generations. but now you can find stalls selling nasi ambeng in nite markets and 'bazar ramadhan'. even in some restaurants...

nasi ambeng and the concept behind it is unique. to foster relationships, closeness, spirit of sharing (as food is hard to come by back in those days) and silaturrahim among families, friends and neighbours within a village.

it is served on banana leaf in a round tray and is divided equally among 4 - 6 persons using hand (covered with plastic bag). once divided, you either tapau (takeaway) or eat it straight away from the tray. everybody will have (almost) equal portion of rice, chicken parts, vege, salted fish, peanuts, meehon, serunding, etc. this symbolizes unity and equality.

lately however through some observance, the relevance of nasi ambeng nowadays brings many not-so-pleasing-notions. firstly, food here is abound and yes, malaysia is famous globally for its food galore. people here get sick for eating too much where else in many parts of the world, many died because there is just not enough food around. wastage is the most prevalent issue here. in many cases, the takeaways turn to thrown-aways. in other cases, some of the congregation are even reluctant to take them back home. you see, many had eaten earlier at home in the evening before going to masjid or surau for maghrib and isya' prayers. many also who came understandably are senior citizens. they don't eat much, and at home they most probably stay only with the spouse. some even ends up having to take 2-3 packets home but there is just no one around to eat the takeaways.

there is a lot to be desired if we are to continue with this traditions. many especially the older generations will not accept these views. and some are pressured into doing it. we have to think of ways so that what we are doing does not contradict with what our beloved Prophet Muhammad SAW has taught us. whatever the thoughts and intentions are, we must reflect back at the fundamental reason why we are doing it in the first place. to please the people around us or to please and get blessings from Allah SWT...

a gift of life...

Revisited...Thursday 21st October, 2010

i don't have much...it's my last gift to life and human kind.

www.agiftoflife.gov.my

let life take its course...

Monday 8th November, 2010 / 1 Zulhijjah 1431H
Kg. Sungai Gali, Gong Datuk
Pasir Puteh, Kelantan
At around 1.30am on that fateful morning, we received a phone call from kak limah. in between her sobbing, we got to know that her mother (mak long - the eldest sister of my late father-in-law) had just passed away. earlier this very year it was pak long, her husband. i can sensed my wife's uneasiness. what should we do? but without her asking i already knew what is in her mind. pondering...it doesn't really make sense. unjustly, i was also a bit annoyed. y'see...during aidilfitri i did planned to make the maiden journey back there. leave was applied ahead but for a particular reason, it did not happened. now, at this hour...with the kids already sleeping...meetings all lined up for the day...and by the way, i don't have the slightest clue on how to get there! what i felt at that time however did not seem right. the outcome seems predestined. it was the least that i can do. for my wife. for the family and ultimately for the deceased. we have to carry out this final obligation. so, we left at 2.30am for our longest journey ever by car. call after call asking for directions with abang din (thank you, bro!) we finally arrived in kg. sungai gali, gong datuk, pasir puteh at around 10 something in the morning. once everything is over, we began our journey back to kl at around 9pm and alhamdulillah arrived safely back home at around 9 something in the morning. what a trip! in a way, i am glad we made the trip. a lesson definitely learned... sometimes we have to let life take its course. we can make all the plans we want...but Allah SWT has already planned every single thing for you. Subhanallah!

citeh made life boring as they parked their bus...

Manchester City 0
Manchester United 0
10th November, 2010
City of Manchester Stadium

Another virtuoso performance from man-of-the-match, Nemanja Vidic...nothing gets past him as Yaya Toure is about to find out. Vida played like his life depended on it! United line up: Edwin Van Der Sar, Rafael Da Silva (John O'Shea), Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra (Wes Brown), Paul Scholes, Micheal Carrick, Darren Fletcher, Park Ji Sung, Luis Nani, Dimitar Berbatov (Javier Hernandez).

celebration of mookie's life

25th & 26th July, 2010

melaka bandaraya bersejarah

on and around 17th July, we were busy with something and everything, so did not do a proper birthday celebration for nur mukhlisah who turned 4 this year. about a week later, we were presented with an opportunity for a quick getaway...and we chose melaka coz there are bits of everything there.

for once we managed to begin our journey very early in the morning and stopped only at seremban r&r for breakfast. quite a number of people there already yet there aren't enough seats available. just to make a point, the layout of the eating area at this r&r wasted lots of valuable space. in short, it sucks! since, the kids were already hungry...we had to head to kfc (!) for our breakfast.

arriving in melaka before noon, we headed straight to bandar hilir for some serious sight-seeing and historical exploration...

...the weather was generally good. seen here, big foot, small foot and big plane.

only big foot...in front of a train. there's a plaque which reads KISHA SEIZO KAISHA. No.3061. OSAKA, JAPAN 1965 on one of the coaches. googled...turns out it is the name of the first japanese private locomotive manufacturing company founded by one Masaru Inoue in 1896.

...small foot and big train.

...big foot, small foot and big train.

...big mama and old train. nice with matching color scheme... :)

...big mama, big daddy (holding his breath) and old train.

...in 'muzium pelik' marvelling kites in all sorts of sizes, shapes and colours.

after lunch @ dataran pahlawan, the party checked in at our favourite haunt in melaka...hotel sri malaysia je for some serious splashing time. can't remember where we had our dinner that night but the next day became 'makan day'. that afternoon while on a recce to find umbai we discovered ASAM PEDAS KAK SU in kg. jambatan duyong. perrrghhh...asam pedas at its best and in so many varieties. nite time pulak we went to IKAN BAKAR ALA KASSIM in kg.alai. mak oi...the kids went bezerk with flour-coated fried calamari (sotong la), it was seafood galore and really a vfm! this trip met its main objective coz as we were about to go back to lie down and curl like python in our hotel room, we stumbled upon a durian seller by the roadside who personally picked and served us with what we thought were the best durians that we had ever tasted (second one was at tg.lumpur, kuantan during our cherating vacation)!

mookie was happy, the brother too...but big mama was obviously the happiest among us coz she had been longing for durian feast for so long. me...i'm just happy that everyone is happy!

syukur, alhamdulillah.

...and a new life begins

3rd july, 2010

senawang

negeri sembilan

the husband 'n the wife...after a simple (i like!) ceremony but with great food (which i like even more!). may they have a long-lasting and blissful marriage. the question now is, will i be a grandpa again for the second time soon?

life is definitely merrier...

20th june, 2010
bandar tasik puteri
rawang, selangor

boys club is back, mark II.

haris 'n saif...clowning 'n mocking around.

but sometimes things can go overboard...someone got on someone else's nerve!

so you need a third party to help patch things up and see things from a completely different perspective!

life is full of twist n turn

12 & 13 June, 2010
Kg. Pasir Puteh
Ipoh, Perak


since i am not able to take any leave from work throughout the 2 weeks school holiday period, we decided to pay mum a short visit and spend some time with her. her 69th birthday is coming soon on the 22nd of this month so it makes sense to go back and celebrate this occasion. doesn't have to do it on the day itself, right!? and it just so happen rizal & co are also gonna 'balik kampung'. i don't know why but lately have been missing all the nephews and neices. no proper plans, yet am hoping to get everybody together. let us man plans but Allah SWT decides.



first twist - this girl is really on a mood swing. one moment she's singing and dancing happily to be back @ opah's place. then, suddenly she has her arm folded and a pout so high it almost touch her forehead! wonder where she got it from...



and then turn - around asar prayer time, sad announcement was heard over the masjid's pa system that imam for the masjid, Imam Bakar just passed away in Ipoh GH. His remain was brought back directly from the hospital to the masjid around 6pm and immediately after maghrib prayer, jenazah prayer was performed - amidst a full house - which is not always the case on normal days. a great loss for the kampong folks indeed. weathering the light drizzle, both me and pak long grabbed the hoe with several others trying to finish the burial as fast as we can. not an easy task i tell you. we had to constantly take turns. such a contrast with what i saw at the last funeral in banting. kampong folks there who work in palm oil plantation did so swiftly compared to us office workers :)



more twist - almost 9pm. we went ahead with the plan to celebrate mom's birthday. a tad dissapointed that ijun & co did not make it. they're in kl(!). so, what's on the menu? well, nothing fancy. chocolate cake and finger lickin' good fried chicken. it's the company that matters. we all sing mom/opah a birthday song and the rest followed...



now the turn - the next morning, took the kids to a car wash. stopped over after that to fill up petrol. kids really gone wild when they're in a group. poor naurah got her finger trapped at the door! alhamdulillah, imad only push and did not slammed the door...now its his turn to get the bashing from the rest! with a girl crying (out of shock instead of pain...i certainly hope so) and the others screaming, i had to look for a quick solution to get things back under control!

final twist - (from left to right) mookie, naurah, imad, saif and haris enjoying every kid's best friend. aaahhh...the quietness!

south africa 2010 world cup

my first xi fantasy team

sergio romero . argentina

argies normally are tight at the back (no punt intended here). he's currently playing with az alkmaar in holland. one of the up and coming goalkeeper but will he be in maradona's first eleven?

patrice evra . france

a united player and is the best left-back in the world. period. not sure bout france though. currently the team are better in 'handball' instead of football...

nemanja vidic . serbia

another united player. one of the best central defender in the world. hard as nail but prone to err against fast players.

douglas maicon . brazil

had excellent season this year in inter milan's colour with italian treble . steadily building a reputation to be one of the best defenders around. please sir alex, get him!

phillip lahm . germany

he's that good that i had to include him in the team even though he's playing for bayern 'lucky' munich!

xavi hernandez . spain

the brain of barca.

andreas iniesta . spain

the heart of barca.

dejan stankovic . serbia

originally nani occupies this spot but now ruled out due to his collar bone injury. less flamboyant compared to nani but he did won the italian treble with inter. so he can't be bad and the price seems right.

park ji sung . south korea

another united player. the star of asian football. captain of this team.

wayne rooney . england

the final player from the red brigade. best season so far with united this year. he'll either set the world cup on fire or he'll set himself on fire! explosive...

gonzalo higuain . argentina

outscored ronaldo, kaka and benzema for real madrid in la liga this season. a player i would really love to see in united shirt.

there is more to life than football

tonite south africa 2010 world cup will kick off. every amat, ah chong, mutu and samy (this phrase is a local representation of tom, dick and harry - but samy is also included here to represent samy vellu's indians which are 'different' from the normal indians in malaysia) - on the streets are talking about it.

for the next 30 days or so the whole world (except maybe the us where they are in the world of their own when it comes to sports - even when their national soccer team also qualified) will be gripped with footy fever.

however for some ... they much prefer to be 'gila basikal' rather than 'gila bola'!

mookie with her spankin' brand new machine ...

vroomm, vroomm...all set and ready to ... (n then we heard the mum hollering from inside the house, "jangan pegi jauh2...depan rumah je!")

mommy...penat la, teh o ais satu!

all changed n ready for religious class but still managed to curi2 few minutes to ride the bike. this 'fever' has been going on for the last couple of weeks and looks to continue way after the world cup is over. n while everybody will be cheering their rooneys, ronaldos, messis, etc. spare also your thoughts and prayers for our brothers n sisters in gaza n palestine. may Allah SWT gives them strength to carry on...

all life will come to end (but till then life needs to go on)

al-fatihah

friday 21 may, 2010

kampung labohan dagang, banting

the morning sky above us mirrored the sombre mood in the family. last nite at around 7pm on thursday 20th may 2010/6 jamadilakhir 1341H, my father in-law Muhammad Mahmud breathed his last breath at the age of 69. the last 100 days (since the operation) have been such a trying time for both arwah and the family. now after almost 4 years battling with illness, the time has come for him to finally meet The Creator.

moving into the final destination and leaving everything in this world behind. all that we have for this journey is our 'amal & jariah'. may ALLAH SWT forgive his sins and blessed his soul.

by around 10.30am, family members, friends and villagers bid their final farewell. may this be a reminder for us to always strive and be the best as we can as muslims. our time will definitely come...sooner or later.

... but until then life goes on but we must be prepared as RASULULLAH SAW said, "when a human being dies, all his deeds are terminated except for three things; AN ONGOING SADAQAH, A KNOWLEDGE (FROM ISLAM) FROM WHICH OTHERS BENEFIT & A RIGHTEOUS CHILD WHO MAKES DU'AA FOR HIM".

in life sometime u win, sometime u lose

manchester united 4
stoke city 0
old trafford
sunday 9th may, 2010
on the final day of the campaign, the LUHG tribe really made their presence felt to the owner. the main grouses this season, not so much with the performance on the pitch but more on the manner of the owner in the boardroom.

wayne rooney who shouldered the bulk of the responsibilities for united after the departure of ronaldo and tevez with one of his accolades for the season...barclays player of the season (the others being football writers' player of the year, pfa's player of the year, matt busby's player of the year). one six-foot-made-from-mustard-striker from chelsea pipped him to the league's golden boot award, though.

the players and the manager did not do that bad this season. carling cup winner, last eight in champions' league, only one point behind chelsea, 22 points more than liverpool, 10 points more than arsenal...when everybody was saying at the start of the season that we will crumble without the 2 of our most influential strikers! well done, lad. we'll pip liverpool for the 19th title next season. by the look of it, they won't be winning it that soon!

cycle of life

Complete The Cycle
Bandar Tasik Puteri

Saturday 8th May, 2010

first they learn to crawl, walk and then they start running. a natural progression is to then learn to cycle. kudos! finally, after few days of trying haris managed to conquer his fear and found his balance to ride the bike properly. all in all, it took him about a week after constant coaching and words of encouragement (with also some threats here and there!). it really made our day especially for the mom what with the mother's day coming up. the best part about learning to ride a bike is that once you have mastered it, you will never forget how to cycle for the rest of your life. just like babies when they found out what their limbs are for, the boy now just can't stop wanting to ride his bike...

next in line...mookie with her pink easyrider.

good things in life can just pass you by

Taman Rekreasi Air Panas (TRAP)

Felda Sg Klah, Sungkai, Perak Darul Ridzuan

Sunday 2nd May, 2010

For the last five years, we passed by the signage almost everytime we traveled back to my hometown in Ipoh. Never paid much attention to it. Never thought it is something worth checking out. After all what can be so exciting somewhere in the middle of Felda's palm oil plantation? The name came up by chance when talking among office colleagues while working on a tender submission. So, during the recent trip back to visit mom last Friday, we took a 7km detour from the main road to see it ourselves. We did not immediately went into the park but just by peeping from outside, the park looked 'promising'. Still with some lingering doubts, we decided to stop at a nearby warung. Alhamdulillah, here we got to sample the best 'pau' (abu king abdullah's secret recipe) and 'jeli air kelapa' (manjung coconut jelly) we ever tasted in our life. There and then we decided to come back ... priority to pay mum a visit first. So, on Sunday we reached TRAP before noon. Did not expect to see such a big crowd! Entrance fee quite reasonable and yes, the place does look good. The kids and everybody had a time of their life splashing around the waterpark. We stopped once hunger strikes. However, all agreed we definitely have to come back here again...also for the 'pau' and 'jeli air kelapa'! Wondering we could have missed all this just because of ignorance and prejudice ...

life is never easy at the top!

six footer custardman scores after coming in as a sub!

where's the linesman?

man united 1 (macheda)

chelsea 2 (cole, drogba)

premier league

old trafford

3rd april, 2010

the team did not turn up for the match in the 1st half. emerging and looked promising in the 2nd half, though. can't really blame the officials 'coz we're just not good enough even when the opponent was not at their best. the team let themselves and the fan down with 5 more matches to go. berba really blew it!

does this signal the end of our over-achieving season?

bayern munich 2 (ribery, olic)
man united 1 (rooney)
champions league quarter final - 1st leg
allianz arena
30th march, 2010

not what you want to see at this stage of the season. losing the match is bad enough but losing our man-of-the-moment to injury could spell the end of our so far over-achieving season. will others step up and carry the team to the finish line victorious? what will the final outcome be at the end of the 2009/2010 season? come on sir alex, squeaky bum time is truly here and now ...

earth hour 27th march 2010 @ 8.30pm - 9.30pm

observing earth hour for the 2nd year running...

colours of life

taman rama-rama

kuala lumpur

saturday 27th march, 2010

went for a mini walkabout in and around taman tasik perdana on a bright sunny day. took a ride on the 'train' and head down to the butterfly park. never been to this place despite having stayed in kl for almost 20 years. finally we made it. entrance fee quite ok la, rm8 for adult + rm4 for kid.

fascinated with what nature has to offer

once you step into the enclosure, you will see butterflies here there and everywhere. like a secret garden. a sanctuary. first thing that came out from your mouth ... waaa! strange, not many locals around. mostly, middle-easterners and mat-sallehs. we locals are not into this kind of things, i think. unless if you are a photo buff ...

enjoying natural cooling effect

with the abundance of greens surrounding you, can't help but notice the cooling effect inside the enclosure compared to the searing heat outside.