ramadhan mubarak!

Assalamu'alaikum...Ramadhan Mubarak everyone! And not forgetting...Happy 51st Merdeka, Malaysia! :-) It's hard to believe that we're already in the last quarter of the year. By the time you know it, it will be the end of the year and hello 2009. What happened to "take it slow" ?!? Guess that's history...

So...what's new? Nothing much, really. I visited Abang Nyah and Mariam 2 weeks ago, at their apartment in Damansara Damai. Nice and cozy! :-) It's not that far from Bukit Jelutong, but the traffic jam makes it "far" coz it takes longer to get there than it usually does.

Early last month Mama, Abah and I went to Sadrina's (my niece) wedding. Her mom, Kak Kin, is my cousin on Mama's side. It's kind of a special occasion coz Sadrina is the first "cicit" in the Ainul family and she's the first who got married. Also, she got married on her birthday, which was August 1st. :-) During the kenduri on August 2nd, another cousin of mine, Kak Nona, was there helping out Kak Kin with the wedding i.e. greeting guests, etc. Kak Nona and Kak Kin were Mama and Abah's flower girls for their wedding in 1969. See where this is going? Hehehe...

Anyway, since they were there at the same place, at a special occasion, I took the opportunity of getting a picture of the 4 of them for old time's sake. :-) And below is the result! In both of the pictures, Kak Nona is standing next to Abah and Kak Kin is the one next to Mama.



So what do you guys think? Not bad, eh? :-P I'm not an expert at graphic designing, but since the Adobe Photoshop Elements on my PC is very user-friendly, it's easy to create designs like the pic above. Aahh...the wonderful world of technology... :-) Wassalam...

family's first wedding

Assalamu'alaikum...One of the historical moments in my family's life this year is my brother's end of bachelorhood. He and Mariam were engaged on 25 May 2008 and about a month later they officially tied the knot, or as we Muslims say: ijab-kabul or bernikah. Naturally, we were all very happy and excited about the whole marriage. As this was the first marriage in our family, our relatives were all very eager to help out in any way that they can. But since Mama and Abah outsource most of the arragements and planning, there wasn't much to be done. Of course we're very grateful for the offers. Perhaps we can work together for the next wedding, insya Allah. :-) (Next wedding? I wonder whose and when that will be??)

Now that the wedding ceremonies and receptions are over, Abang Nyah and Mariam are slowly settling down in their new apartment, and life is back to normal. But I somehow feel like there's some sort of emptiness in the house and in myself. I was thinking about it for days, wondering what is the sadness that came over me all of a sudden. Then when I saw Abang Nyah yesterday morning in the kitchen, talking with Mama over coffee, I was so happy to see him. Then I realised that I missed him ever since he got married. When he was transferred to Johor from Sarawak, we only see him during the weekend when he would drive up Friday evening back home and back to Johor Sunday night. But now he won't be coming home to Bukit Jelutong for the weekend, instead, it would be to Damansara Damai - their new home. I will really miss him laa... :-( (I need to get married too so I won't feel so lonely!!)

Anyway, the wedding reception on our side went quite well. Although quite a few people couldn't make it, many others from afar came and that really touched us. Their presence proved that they share our tight hold on friendship and family values. To my friends, especially the gang, thank you so much for coming to the wedding. :-)

For those who wish to see photos which I took from the engagement and the wedding, you can visit my Flickr website at Flickr: akidura's Photostream. Up to now, I have only managed to put up pics of the engagement and akad nikah hantaran. I will add more soon! :-) Till then, I will leave you with this photo from the engagement ceremony as a teaser...hehehe... ;-) Wassalam.

my life so far...

Assalamu'alaikum...I just came back from watching "Iron Man" for the second time this week. Robert Downey Jr. is simply yummy. ;-D That aside, besides the kick-ass action sequences, I just love the soundtrack. Two thumbs-up for me!

I've also been busy preparing for my brother, Ezral's wedding. Well, that's not the whole truth. Both of my parents are doing the bulk of the work coz I'm always busy with work, but I help out when I can. What's that? Finally, you say? Yes! Finally, there's going to be a wedding in our family! And the person whom is getting married is the person whom once said that he's never getting married! :-P What irony, huh? Anyway, we're all very happy of course. So, we are hoping that all will go well, insya Allah.

So...what else is new? My eyesight is getting poorer. I just went for a check-up last weekend and apparently my glasses' power has increased. But the optometrist said I can still use the current glasses I've been using for the past year, but also to make sure that I go for another check-up in the next 3 months. I've always been proud that I was the only one in the family who had perfect eyesight. But that's history now. I'm getting used to the idea of wearing glasses already, although I've always thought about wearing contact lenses instead. Well, we'll see in the next 3 months.

I've also got hooked on this manga & anime series called "Nana". Ever since then, I've been browsing through all available websites on the series. Eventually, I discovered this website called "One Manga". The website has a collection of your favourite mangas "scanlated" --> scanned + translated; and you can read them for free! So...I've been frequenting the website almost every day to see what's happening to my favourite manga characters. Those of you who like manga, I do recommend this site for your reading pleasure. :-)

Okay...that's it for now. I want to dream of Robert Downey Jr. tonight. Hahahahaha...

long time no see!

Assalamu'alaikum...Sorry for the long silence, my readers. There goes my promise to update at least once a week...or was it once a month? I can't even remember what I promised! :P Oh well...anyway, here I am, forcing myself to write here before I don't write forever and ever. Obviously, a lot, and I mean a lot has been happening since the last time I wrote. But I don't think I'm gonna write them all in here. But! I will write about my trip to Medan, which was during the Merdeka weekend in August. Also, I'll probably let you all know that I'll be climbing Mt. Kinabalu in March next year, insya Allah. So...I have about 5-6 months to get in shape and do some serious training for the big climb! Will be back tomorrow to tell you all about my trip to Medan.

Till then, I'll leave you all with a picture taken last week when I came home from work. The Rangoon Creeper was blooming beautifully, I couldn't resist taking a shot with my Nokia N73. FYI, the creepers are on our pergola at the front door porch. Hope you guys love nature like I do! Good night!

a night in KL

Assalamu'alaikum...last week on Wednesday, 31 January, my colleagues and I (including my boss and big boss and another big boss) had a buffet dinner at Nikko Hotel, which is just next to our office building, Menara Citibank. It wasn't to celebrate anything special, but it was more like a gathering thingy. And lucky for us, the coffee house had a cool promotion for last month, which was a 50% discount for Citibank credit card holders. :) Anyway, it was a fun dinner coz I had the best dessert that night - blueberry cheese pudding. I wish I could have taken the mouth-watering seafood dishes they had, but I didn't want to take the risk of developing itchy rashes! :P Many of my colleagues commented that they had better buffet dinners at other hotels and suggested that we go there in the next 4 to 5 months. Life is about eating, isn't it?! Hahahah!

Speaking about life, I sometimes wonder what it's like experiencing night life in KL city. After working there for almost 3 years now, all I ever think about after office hours is just to get home and watch tv and then sleep. But after the buffet dinner that night, I was walking to my car with 2 of my colleagues and suddenly I had a beautiful view of KLCC from the parking lot...and it was a sight to behold. I took the opportunity of taking a picture of it with my mobile and then I felt like wanting to take a walk to the towers and enjoy the beautiful lights...you know, enjoying KL at night. Wouldn't it be nice? :)

itchy scratchy

Assalamu'alaikum...it's become a routine for me for a few weeks now. After work, I come home and have dinner with my parents and will be just in time to watch "Dragon Ball" on Animax at 9pm. Then I will come online to either check my e-mails (which I rarely check until recently), update my blog (which I updated only very recently), or just surf the web. And now I just uploaded a pic I took with my mobile, into my computer. Isn't technology just wonderful? Who would've thought about digital cameras in the old days? Or even mobile phones? We're really spoilt, you know. ;)

Alrighty, time for updates. The week before last i.e. 6 January 2007, my friends Zai + Affandi were married. I was invited for the akad nikah ceremony at Zai's house. I love their hantaran. They were just beautiful. I couldn't get pics of Zai's hantaran to Affandi, but I managed to get pics of Affandi's hantaran to Zai. The next night, Zai's family held the wedding reception at Sime Darby Convention Centre. The food was great. The starter was soup with crab meat and it was really, really delicious. But silly me, I totally forgot that I'm allergic to seafood, so towards the end of the night, my body including my face, got itchy. My right eye began to swell, but nobody noticed it...thank God! Speaking of which, I'm actually in an itchy scratchy situation. I'm trying to recall what I ate today that could've caused this itch. And so far, I can't recall anything. Sigh...just imagine. I haven't been allergic to anything all my life until about 6 months ago when I developed allergies. After seeing a skin speliacist and going through an allergy test, it was discovered that I'm allergic to almost everything due to my very sensitive skin. But my skin gave the highest negative reaction to cow's milk and banana. So...I'm allergic to those two. I'm also to avoid seafood, except fish (depends on what type of fish too), peanuts and dust mites. It's depressing! :(

But...let's look on the positive side. With all the pantang that I have to go through, it will be a lot easier for me to lose weight! Hehehe... ;) I just need superb self-control and self-discipline to go through it. :P

Anyway, back to the wedding, I met up with many SSP class of 1991 alumni. The reception was also a mini reunion for us. :) For photos, click here: http://akidura.fotopages.com

Then this past Saturday i.e. 13 January 2007, was Affandi's side of the wedding reception at Dewan Perdana Felda. Alas, I didn't have the chance to take any photos that night, but it was a beautiful reception. :) Yesterday was the majlis aqiqah for Shahril + Bayani's daughter, Myiesha. It still amazed me to look at the cute bundle of joy of the proud & happy parents. My friends are parents! :D I also visited Akmar + Tina's baby girl, Mira, at Akmar's house in TTDI. She's soooo cute and tiny! Again...my friends are parents! Heheh... :P Anyway, here's shot of cute little Mira yawning.


I wonder when it's going to be my turn...???

another new year

Assalamu'alaikum...Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha and Happy New Year everyone. Where has the year 2006 gone to? Did everyone actually fulfilled your 2006 resolutions? I know I didn't and I'm a little ashamed to admit it. :( My self-discipline wasn't strong enough, I think. And perhaps I didn't have enough encouragement. So...I think I should bring forward those unfulfilled resolutions to this year. And I'm going to make sure that I fulfill at least one of them! :D

So...what's been happening with me? Nothing much. Was under a lot of stress during the final months of 2006. Personal stress and work stress. At first I kept everything to myself, which was really unhealthy, but I couldn't help myself. But eventually, I just had to talk to someone and that someone was my colleague (let's name her "A"). I would have wanted to confide in my best friend or maybe a family member or other close friends, but in the end A was the person I thought would understand my situation. It's not that I didn't trust the other people, but they had problems of their own and I didn't want to burden them with my tales of woe. Anyway, it was a relief to be able to release my anguish, worries, or whatever it was that I was going through. I don't know if I'm 100% "recovered", but I'm getting there. :)

Now...for happier tales: I went on a baby-visiting spree two weekends ago and it was both tiring and wonderful. First it was Shahril + Bayani's baby girl, Myiesha Khayra (isn't it a beautiful name?). And she's really beautiful too. And let me tell you, I've always been scared of holding a baby coz I'm afraid that they would start crying, but when I gathered enough courage to hold Myiesha, I was glad that she didn't mind my carrying her at all. Here I was in Bayani's suite at Pantai Medical Centre, holding Myiesha:-



After that, I went to Sue's house to see her and of course, her baby girl, Asha Zahra. I couldn't believe that Sue is now a mother and I told her so. Hehehe... :P Asha also seemed to like my holding her, and for that I was really glad. :)



And finally, I visited Nina at her mom's house in DU and saw her son, Gibran Zayd. He's a cute little guy. ;) I didn't get to hold him, though, but it's perfectly alright. He seemed content to be sleeping in his cot and then be in his mum's arms. :) Here he is:-



And you know what? Akmar + Tina just gave birth to their baby girl, Mira Amelia on Monday! Congratulations to the new parents. Insya Allah, I'll be visiting them this weekend. I can't wait to see their new bundle of joy! :)

Alrighty, I actually have more news, but I'm getting really sleepy. This will be continued tomorrow night...hopefully! ;) Oyasuminasai y'all...

berikan aku diari ku tulis setiap hari...

Assalamu'alaikum...don't you just love the song "Diari Seorang Lelaki" by Pretty Ugly? I can't get enough of it. :P Anyway, I haven't written in here for months now so I reckon my readers have gotten bored of taking a peek and finding no updates. :P Oh well...work has been taking up most of my time. And truthfully there were times I thought of never writing anymore. Then there were times I thought of writing but just never got the chance to. In the end (people always use the phrase "at the end of the day", which just irritates the hell out of me coz I hear it more than ten times a day at the office, so I'm not gonna be a statistic!!) I thought, what the heck, just write whenever you feel like it! And it just so happens that at this late hour whereby I should already be asleep I suddenly felt like writing, here I am. :P

Frankly speaking (here's another short phrase my brother likes to use, which sometimes irritates the hell out of me, but I'm gonna use it anyway now), I have nothing interesting to write in here. Some of you might wonder what happened to "The Wedding (Part 2)". Well, it's probably gonna be after a few more entries until I tell that story. :P As I have probably mentioned somewhere in my previous entries, weddings make me depressed sometimes coz I'm not the bride. :P So...I'm gonna leave this entry with a happy thought: I finally got to go to Kuching, Sarawak, and Abang Nyah brought us (me and parents) to the Cat Museum. And it was really cats galore!!



I love cats. Have always wanted to have one, but because of health problems in the family with regards to cats, no cats are allowed as pets. Another depressing thought. Sigh...I had to make do with the fake giant cat in the pic above. :P Anyway, besides the cat museum, we went to the cultural village and walked around it in the blazing hot sun, and it was worth it. Even got a passport, completely stamped! :D

Oklah, I have to realize that tomorrow (or rather, today) is a working day, so got to go to sleep!!

The Wedding (Part 1)

Assalamu'alaikum...Happy Labour Day to all you labourers out there. :) It's nice to have a long weekend, doesn't it? But it always seem so short somehow. I guess you just have to make the most of it.

Anyway, Akmar + Dayang are finally married. Last week I attended the akad nikah at Dayang's casa in Pulau Pinang. We were lucky that her house is just opposite of the hotel in which we were staying, Vistana Hotel. I flew via Air Asia on Saturday morning with Zai and Affandi. Ameer, Shahril and Yai drove there Friday night and by the time we reached the hotel, they were still sound asleep. :P Apparently, the akad nikah was postponed to 12noon instead of the initial appointed time, 10am. So we had time to iron our clothes and freshen up. When it was time to leave, we just crossed the street to Dayang's house and met the calm and composed groom and family. ;) The bride was waiting upstairs in her room, nervous yet serene.

Then the historical moment came and went after just one lafaz and there were tears of joy in the eyes of the groom, the groom's father, yours truly and even Shahril...hehehehe... :P Yang lain tu ada la jugak, tapi tak merambu-rambu... :P Zai and I went upstairs again to inform her of the good news. Her tears were threatening to come out but she held them back...nanti rosak pulak make-up! ;) Lepas tu, the usual lah went on i.e. penyarungan cincin, salam-bersalaman dengan family members and relatives, then makan time. After our stomachs were filled, we lounged in the living room until almost everyone left...punya la tak malu!! Hahahaha...sampai the groom's family were leaving, then only we left. :P

Back at the hotel, we freshen up again to go out. Just wanted to jalan-jalan and maybe shopping, so we drove to Praning Mall (I think) and shopped a little, had snack at McDonald's and headed back to the hotel to get ready for the night reception at Kompleks Tabung Haji. We got a little lost on the way, but managed to find the place nevertheless. Went up to the couple's suite to see them get ready and take pictures. Sometime during the reception, Mirza + wife and Isman + family came. Lama sungguh tak jumpa, so it was to chit chat a little with them. :)

Then as usual, after the rest of the guests left, we stayed back to take pictures with the couple on the dais. Our table was the only one that wasn't cleared up! :P The rest of the food, tables and chairs were cleared up and stacked away. Aduuhh... macam tak nak balik aje! :P Anyway, we left at about 11pm and then Ameer wanted to go to Gurney Drive (the relocated one) to have rojak, kuey teow goreng, pasembor, etc. Penat dan ngantuk tu tak ambik kira la...pegi jugak since we were already in Pulau Pinang la katakan. So, in our baju melayu and kebaya, we had our supper immediately after dinner. :P On the way back, kaum lelaki, Affandi terkecuali, sempat singgah kedai mamak nak beli nasi dhal. I'm amazed by how much space they have in their stomach!

And as much as I wanted to have a lazy Sunday morning, I had to wake up early to get to the airport. So the three of us (Affandi, Zai and me) flew back to KL on the 8:20am flight. After the both of them dropped me off at home, I felt like I didn't even go to Penang. I can't tell you how much fun I had that weekend and was kinda disappointed that it ended so soon. Sigh...

the one with the soon-to-be married friends

Assalamu'alaikum...phew! What a busy month it has been. It was one project after another. I didn't think I could go through with all of them, but thank goodness for the great team at work, including my boss. :) But it was not all work, work, work for me. I need some downtime too, right? ;) So...since it was March last month, I had my birthday dinner with the family at one of our favourite Italian restaurants in Shah Alam, at Plaza Shah Alam. And since Ameer and Bayani are also March babies, we celebrated our birthdays with the gang at Las Carretas in Taipan. Great Mexican food, great ambience, great company and great cake, courtesy of Zai. :) I took some photos with my camera, but this particular picture taken with Akmar's camera is my favourite.



Our next gathering will this weekend in Penang for Akmar + Dayang's akad nikah and reception. Congratulations in advance, guys! Hope things will go smoothly and we're all proud to be a part of it! :) Can't wait to see all of you there.