My brother becomes a blogger ... and my wife creates another blog

a) My eldest brother, Mior Azli, has finally succumbed and now he, too, is a blogger. It's long time coming for him though as I always believed that he should have one (the blog, I mean) a long time ago. Although a trained engineer, he also dabbles in self awareness, team awareness and leadership awareness and development programmes. designed by himself, I must say these are very interesting programmes. And with the blog, now he can share his thoughts and takes on those issues which are very dear and close to his heart. To know more please visit Mior Azli.

b) My wife (mrsgoodthings) has came up with another blog. The existing blog is more like a lifestyle blog where she writes about stuff she likes, primarily cooking and baking. Now that she's venturing into Internet business of her own, she decides that she needs another blog - a more business-centric one. Hence, the new blog at AzianHasan.

Happy Blogging and Happy Reading!

Our Syawal Annual Visit

This has turned somewhat into an anual event for us. I'm talking about a Raya visit to Anom and Nasir's place in Gombak. For the past years, it seems we only visited them during Raya...(fortunately they do come over our place more often than that). And for the past years, it seems its the only time we bumped into my uncle Ayah Chik and Achik and family - either at Anom's place or their place yang tak jauh dari situ..Apa punya anak sedara ler nihhh.
And yesterday, we drove over to their place for our annual visit.... hehehhe beraya di saat-saat akhir. And what a feast awaiting us... the mee kari and rendang prepared by Anom were simply delicious. A+ la, Anom.
And both Nasir and Anom had quite a few tetamu over as well --- sedara mara, friends and neighbours... ala-aa open house. AyahChik came with his MIL, Mek, whom I have not seen for like bertahun-tahun. And there's Mima (Anom's aunt) and her family too.

Sorry gambar blur... but the tuan rumah having a laugh with Ayah Chik and Mek.

Ayah Chik and Achik watching their family makan ....

I am so going to be killed by Asma for posting this pix but I am the bapak......hahahaha
Asma duduk dengan santun di samping Mak and err mak mer...eh ...silap Mima.

After realising who Mima actually is... Alia and Asma larik duduk dalam bilik kahkah kah...

I'm having so much fun yesterday hik hik hik.... we left Anom's place around 5.30pm and sped to PJ towards MPH Warehouse Sale. Semangat... semangat...semangat.. Arrived there around 6.15pm and the girls went wild and brought back one basketful of books. Then we went to Ikea (lama tak pergi and Yan's kind of rindu the meatball and all) Had our dinner there and then jalan-jalan somemore.

Weddings!!!!

I was going through my old boxes earlier and stumbled upon these two vintage photos.... and had a good laugh with the girls.... Its the wedding pictures of their grandparents. I must say their weddings looked much more happening than ours. Hmm.

1961 - My father in law with mother in law. In their western garb... a must for many Malay weddings even back then. And there's a typewritten caption at the back of the pix: Perkahwinan Antara Suami & Isteri. Ia-Itu Si-Hasan Dengan Si-Siah. Hahahaha... how very 60s.

1962 - My bapak and mak. In a more traditional getup fit for Raja Sehari. I noticed too that in those days, the pelamin(dais) usually would be decorated with plants or pokok bunga yang ditanam sendiri di rumah.
1993 - Our wedding. we didn't do the bersanding and therefore no pelamin for us. And this picture is the closest thing that we have to the bersanding ceremony.


Three weddings different decades... wonder how my daughters (panjang umur and murah rezeki) weddings will turn out?
By the way, one trivia question.... The three weddings above had one thing in common. What is it? Take a guess....

It wasn't an open house.... but it feels like one..

Raya mood is still in the air!!!That's the three of us feasting on the many Raya delicacies - from mee hoon soup, ketupat and kuah kacang, pulut kuning, rendang ayam, daging masak hitam, ridiculously delicious lemang (courtesy of my neighbour Rushdi), a hugely popular brownies, ice-cream cake (which I somehow, sadly, I didn't get to taste), and a variety of home made cookies. Looks like we are enjoying an open house do, right? The only thing is, it was not an open house really and we are eating merrily at home. Yesterday.
No, we didn't hold an open house... it wasn't suppose to be one anyway, but it ended up feels like we are hosting one though.
It started on Thursday or Wenesday when my daughters brilliantly invited their friends to beraya at our place. Although she pledged that she'll keep it simple this time, Yan, being her usual self, still whipped up one dish after another. Not that I'm complaining.
Anyway, since we are having people over, we figured that it was good to invite our two brothers and their families over to beraya bersama-sama... since we haven't done it as yet.

Kak Zai (Yan's sister-in-law) and her daughter Nisa (yang berdarah manis .... kwang kwang kwang)
Aidil became the fisrt cucu to make it to our place....here's with Wan Yan fussing over and pakcik Fudhail seemingly contented after eating
My brother Chor and his kids Safia and Adam having it a go at the dining table. (Safia, Ayah Ngah just got this one pix of you if you want to post it on your blog ler... suitable meh, makan dengan penuh kusyuk.)
A handsome young man with his Wan
He came, he parked himself in front of the telly and let his mama makan in peace. Good boy!
While ayah and Mak watched SiBadol over TV3. It's a comedy film but somehow these two anak-beranak look positively sombre..hahahaha
The surprise of the day was when earlier in the morning I've received a call from Adzman. He is my classmates from Form 2 right up to Upper 6. In fact, when I was in Form 4 and 5, we were the only two Malay boys in the class. So we became firm friends. I haven't met him in 25 looooong years since we left school. God, I feel old. Naturally, I promptly asked him over. And he gladly obliged.
Asma was over the moon too as her bff (from primary school and now went to different school) Amira also came over. They have not met for say... about 8 months??? hahahah
Alia and her best gal-pals Maryam and Elfa.
I didn't realise they have had quite many friends... (it's always the same three or four girls who came over but they were many more laaaa. like yang amat pemalu like that girl in purple who goes by the name Iman)
More friends. They only invited their girl friends. And one point there were about 20 female in the house and one male -- me!
Asma and her friend Farha sprawling on the sofa after makan..
Adzman and his family... one more to come in December. He was surprised to learn that Yan is the daughter of our Form 2 BM teacher. "Patut ler kau selalu dapat A," he quips.Yan was equally gobsmacked upon learning that Adzman's younger brother, Azhar, was her classmate in school. "Kiah and I always bully that poor boy lar," Yan remembers.
More friends....apart from makan-makan, the girls went around the condo complex snapping pix of themselves... even in an elevator. Girls!Some like the regulars to our place (like Farha and Atin) here, helped themselves to the food many times....isn't that swell?

Aaaah manusia!!!

Lumrah alam
Adat dunia
Resam berzaman
Tabiat khalayak

Kala hidup diulit susah
Kala jalan ditabur duri
Kala mentari terik membakar
Kala bulan kelam gelita

Baru ingat pada
Yang Esa
Minta bantu ... mohon tolong

Itulah manusia ... hanya sang hamba..

My 2008 Raya

My Girls Moments Before We Drove Back to USJ.

I’ve been meaning to write something about my Raya this year (just like in previous years). However, somehow I felt something was amiss during this year’s festivity. Sure, we did the usual balik kampung and cooking, eating, and visiting families and relatives stuff but it just didn’t feel like Raya as in previous years. Perhaps I was simply tired (still am) – who wouldn’t if you have been following the political and economic saga of Malaysia a tad too closely. Very unsettling... The truth is my mouse kept on gravitating towards Malaysiakini website and a few popular SOPO blogs. Sigh!
Having said that, Raya 2008 was still a happy occasion though... maybe this time around, when we went visiting, a couple of our relatives were feeling under the weather. Even my mother was down with high fever on the second day of Raya (alhamdulillah she’s better the next day). It’s kind of a reality check for me though that we are all getting older...
And I haven’t even met and beraya with my eldest brother and his family yet (as they balik kampung to Dungun this year). We missed out on meeting each other as they visited my mak at the tail end of Ramadan enroute to the east coast. We came back one day before Raya
Then on Yan’s sides, my two brothers in law too didn’t come back home too(fortunately the Cheras kids came back on Raya pertama minus their parents). And Yong our eldest sister celebrated Hari Raya in her baju kurung Kedah at home in Simpang Pulai jaga her new cucu.
But Raya this year’s also had its fair share of “drama” for our household.

* First was the incident at Jalan TAR – on a Sunday before Raya. You can read it here

* Then on to the eve of Hari Raya, soon after we settle down after buka puasa, suddenly a cicak out of nowhere accidentally landed on Asma’s lap. That’s kampung life, girls. Deal with it! And she screamed and screamed and screamed and screamed.... It’s rather funny, I must say. But Asma really was scared so much so that her Opah Temoh offered her wheelchair to Asma, now that she won’t touch the floor no matter what. So for the remaining of malam Raya, Asma sat on the wheelchair and wheeled her way around the house.

* Then a certain niece who happen to be an engineer brought back her kek batik for all to share only to find that the cake turned rather hard. In the end, with semangat Raya still lingering on, a certain resourceful aunt brought out a hammer to help cut the cake. Yes, we used a hammer to cut the cake. Instead of feeling offended (I know I would) the said niece was such a good sport that she joined in the fun. But I‘ll still give the niece an “A” for her effort (as opposed to another certain niece who did nothing whatsoever considering that she’s a stay at home wife -- hint hint!). And the cake turned out quite tasty, I must say.

Anywaaay, the highlight of a our Raya, unfortunately, was when all five of us trooped to Sunway Pyramid TGV on day 5 to watch the delightful Mamma Mia The Movie. Meryl Streep was simply glorious in the lead role. And the ABBA songs? Need I say more????? Go watch the movie....
And enjoy the Rumah Terbuka!!!!

Gambar Raya...

Juadah Raya Tahun Ni

AidilFitri 2008 berlalu sudah. Seperti tahun-tahun lalu dan seperti kebanyakan orang, kami balik kampung. Tahun ini kami berhari raya di Temoh. Tetapi dek kerana dekat, emak mertua serta kakak ipar dan keluarga datang beraya di pagi raya. Tak jadi hal. Mereka sampai tatkala orang kampung datang bertakbir raya di rumah Mak di Temoh. Meriah sungguh suasana.
Setelah itu kami berombongan beraya di rumah saudara mara di sekitar Air Hitam Labu, Bukit Pekan, Malim Nawar. Kemudian kami juga ke Ipoh, melawat ibu-ibu saudara yang demam di hari raya dan anak saudara yang terpaksa berpantang di bulan Syawal. Saya mencipta rekod pada hari raya ini --- buat pertama kalinya (seingat sayalah) saya tak tidur siang di hari raya pertama.... hahahaha.

Alia

Asma n Arissa

Cousins

The mothers, the wife, the daughters and me.

Puteri-puteri bersama Opah-opah.

Yan melayan Dania

My Asma, Arissa and Alia infront of Opah Temoh's place (Raya Ke4)