Obama Mania

Barack Obama is finally elected the 44th President of the USA. The first person of colour to do so. Such a historic moment. For some odd reason, I was glued to the CNN (and BBC and Al-Jazeera too) all day long. It does bring back the March 8 memory in some ways. But I was mighty impressed with the CNN coverage - from the technology used right up to its oh so eloquent celebrity news anchors.
But in between hard hitting (and poignant moments) news coverage of the presidential election, there were some "light" news too. Interestingly, it is Obama mania the world over and why not when, especially the man himself possesses some form of connection to African and Asia.
But I do feel "kelakar" watching the non US citizens celebrating away, some were seen more excited than the American themselves. I guess, its human nature to feel good about the election of Mr Obama as the US president especially if you have some kind of connection (no matter how remote) to the man himself... but to celebrate melampau-lampau... that's silly and funny.

Here are some of the silly moments that I managed to watch:

1. The celebrations at Kogela, Kenya, Obama's ancestral home (the father hailed from there). Apparently, they are having a carnival to celebrate the momentous occasion for days, mengalahkan the Americans. And the Kenyan president declared a public holiday for Kenya the day after the win. Reaaalllly!!!
2. Kids at Fransiskus Asisi Catholic School, in Central Jakarta, Indonesia were seen screaming and dancing in the school courtyard after the results became official. Okay, Obama studied there in late 60s for three years but for the life of me, I could not not even begin to imagine why this young kids should be so over the moon. They are barely 12 years, in fact most look much much younger.
3.Apparently there's a small town in Japan called Obama. And of course one very creative musician wrote a song entitled "Obama loves Obama" and then he got a few residents from Obama to sing the song in his music video.

I rest my case.

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?