Cousin's Wedding, Konsert Islam "Untukmu Rasulullah s.a.w." (8th July 2006)

On Saturday, went to my parents' house to help Ibu get ready as she was having some difficulty getting ready. Saturday marked my cousin Amin Nuryakin Bin Haji Mohamed's wedding. After getting ready, we received news that Kak Irma's daughter was admitted to KKWCH with high fever. We then proceeded to visit them before adjourning to my cousin's wedding which was held at Woodlands Community Centre.

We attended the wedding and after many years, I managed to meet up with my uncle and aunt. Our families have grown apart over the years and I see this as an opportunity to forget the past and focus on the future. It was a joyous experience meeting up with my cousins again!

At about 5ish, my wife and I left the wedding as we had a function to attend in the evening. The function was held at Fort Canning Green and was to be a celebration of our prophet, Nabi Muhammad s.a.w. The function was held in conjuction by Madrasah Aljunied Al-Islamiah and Pergas. It was not only an opportunity to be reminded of our spiritual side, but also for me to test out my dSLR. I can safely say that it was quite satisfying on both counts.

After the ceremony ended at about 10.30 pm, my wife's friend (Aton & Yaya) and her decided to go to Mustafa Shopping Centre. It was to be my wife's first time at Mustafa and she was quite bewildered to see so many people at Mustafa. She commented that the scenes looked like she was in Makkah. Hahahaha, I told her that this is the norm, even though if it was 3 or 4 am in the morning. We bought some groceries (I bought the instant Indian packaged food, hehehe). We then went home and were knocked out after that.

Italy (2006 World Cup Champions)

It was an exhilirating match to watch. Sadly, the world cup has gone and it will be another four more years before the next one. Italy are the 2006 World Cup Champions. The Italians have not won the World Cup since 1982. Their last win came amidst scandals hitting them. Even this year has been the same, with some Italian clubs being linked to match fixing scandals. It was a fitting end to an otherwise ordinary tournament. The match ended 1-1 with both sides scoring in the first half, Zidane with a penalty and Marco Materazzi scoring the equaliser for the Italians. Deep in the second half of extra time, a momentary lack of self control, resulted in Zidane headbutting Materazzi in the chest and being ejected from the game. It was a pity to see a legend like Zinedine Zidane bowing out of International Soccer in such dire circumstances. Italy then held their nerve during the penalty shootout to record victory. The Italians took the spot kicks first and both sides were able to convert their penalties. However when David Trezeguet stepped up, he beat the Buffon with a rasping shot, but the ball hit the bar and bounced back into play. Italy were leading 4-3 on penalties and up stepped Fabio Grosso. The moment the ball hit the net, the stadium and also the Italian players celebrated. Third place for this World Cup went to Germany who beat Portugal 3-1.

In other sporting news, Rafael Nadal was unable to beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon and Amelie Mauresmo outlasted Justin Henin Hardenne in the ladies finals.

Ibu fell at home

Yesterday, after picking up my wife and having dinner at Bugis, we were on our way home. I received a call from my mum as we were travelling home near to the Tampines Stadium. She said that she had a fall and could not get through to my dad.

I became quite upset when I heard this and rushed to her house. Luckily, my wife and I had decided to go back home and did not have any other plans for that night. I thank Allah Almighty for this turn of events. When I reached home, she was in so much pain. Apparently she had slipped and fell due to some "leakage" in the study. She walked in, slipped and fell and her arm hit the cabinet. It hurt me so much to see her in so much pain and I wasn't able to do anything much other than to comfort her and put some ice on the wrists. It looked as if she had either twisted or broken some bones. I was worried sick and did not allow her to move too much. I guess the pain must have been unbearable as she requested to go to the hospital, a place which she does not really like. All this while we were unable to get through to my Dad, who we suspected was performing prayers and had left his handphone inside his taxi. I mean, come on.... what's a handphone for! It's to reach you when you are most needed. My mum didn't want to go without telling her husband first. However the pain was too much and we decided to go after Iskandar picked up Faisal first. By then, I was in a state of panic and despair as I did not want her to delay going to the hospital any longer. Luckily when I called Iskandar again, he said that he was parking his car and was about to go up. We then went to Changi General Hospital. On the way to the hospital, I managed to contact my dad and told him of the situation. At the hospital, we waited for the screening first, before seeing the doctor. After being attended to by the nurse, we waited for the doctor. That was then when my dad turned up. So he took over and sat down with my mum. It was great seeing him comfort and hug her. Me and Nor were outside as the hospital only allowed one visitor for each patient. All in all, it took about an hour for the Doctor to attend to my mum. After that, she went to the observation room and my dad came out for a while. He told me that my mum had dislocated her wrist and one of the bone was fractured. The Doctor wanted to pull the fingers to try and straighten the broken bone and after that they would cast her right hand. My dad apparently had zoomed from Clementi to Simei when he heard the news. He was in no mood to drive the taxi and he sent the taxi back to the hirer's home in Pasir Ris and I went there to pick him up.

When we came back, I managed to sneak in to see my mum. She seemed better as she was under medication and the hand had already been cast. The doctor turned up and showed the X-Ray Results. The best part was that she could not decide on whether to release my mum or not and she had to go seek a senior's opinion first. In my heart, I was thinking, yah right.... a doctor seeking a second opinion from another doctor. Oh well, better to be safe than sorry. Later, my mum came out walking, smiling to get medication and make payments. My heart was so grateful when I saw her smile...... We sent them back home and reached home just before 12. This ordeal took almost 3 hours, and what an experience it was.

Today spoke to my dad on the phone at about 8ish and he said that she was in a bit of pain and she was resting. Insya'Allah she would get better........

Sports Updates (World Cup Semi Finals, Wimbledon, F1)

Heartbreak for German fans as their team were knocked out by 2 killer last gasp goals by Italy. Italy did a Houdini and scored 2 late goals in Extra Time through Grosso and Del Piero to end German hopes of winning the cup on home soil.

Italy will meet a resurgent France who made it to the final courtesy of a Zinedine Zidane penalty in the first half. This will be the last chance for both nation's captains to lift the cup as they are almost in their prime. Fabio Cannavaro would be the first Italian captain to win it since the Azzurri won it home soil in 1990. Zizou will try his best to win and lift the cup for the second time for France in three World Cups.

Portugal will meet Germany for the 3rd and 4th placings. Both will definitely try to prove that they are better than the other. Germany will be trying to placate their fans especially after the semi-final shocker.

On to other sports news, Wimbledon is coming to a close with the ladies semi finals pitting Maria Sharapova with Amelie Mauresmo and another all Belgian affair in the other semi finals between Justin Henin Hardenne and Kim Clijsters. The men's semi final lineup will feature Roger Federer taking on Jonas Bjorkman. The other semi final lineup is still undecided and will be between Marcos Baghdatis taking on either Rafael Nadal or Jarkko Nieminen. I hope that both Federer and Justin Henin Hardenne will win the tournament. Such gritty and classy players. Not to take anything away from the other players, but it's just my preference :)

Hooray!!! Schumacher prevailed in the Indianapolis Arena and took home the number one spot on the podium. To add more joy, his teammate, Felipe Massa managed to make it a Ferrari 1-2 and helped them to catch up with Renault in the Constructors Championship, trimming Renault's lead to 26 points. With 7 more races, hopefully Ferrari will be able to plot the downfall of Renault this season in both the Driver's and Constructor's Championship. Schumi is currenty 19 points behind Fernando Alonso. Come on Schumi, we know you can do it. Next up will be the Magny Cours circuit in France on 16 July 2006

World Cup 2006 Update

It's been a somewhat disappointing World Cup 2006 for me. Since I have not blogged for some time, the world cup has reached it's Semi-final stages with France meeting Portugal and also Germany versus Italy. The winners will then meet to decide who will be the World Cup holder for 2006!

Disappointing, because the teams that I thought would have a good chance of winning it have been dumped out of the competition. Argentina got kicked out of the quarter finals due to a tactical blunder by Jose Pekerman (Coach), Holland got booted out at the final 16 round to Portugal (This game was a refereeing bluner, that IDIOT Russian referee sent of four players and flashed the yellow card, 16 times!). Brazil were humbled by France in the quarter finals(Brazil had the most gifted bunch of players to graze the tournament). Yet Brazil could not trouble Fabian Barthez in goal throughout the whole game. Spain was knocked out by France courtesy of three goals in the late stages of their round of final 16 matches.

The most shocking and weirdest fact was that England got to the quarter finals. They were made to pay for some really terrible penalty taking and lost to Portugal on penalties (Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher failed to score). Why did I say shocking, England was DULL and BORING. I'm glad to see Sven go after this World Cup and I hope the next manager doesn't pick Beckham to be the England captain or even pick him in the England line up for the next competition. I mean, no team which plays 4-5-1 deserve to be crowned world champion and especially so a team that took an injured and half fit Wayne Rooney, a half fit Michael Owen (his playing career might actually be over, especially after rushing him back and he wasn't even tackled when he went down injured and went back home), a bean pole striker, Peter Crouch and an untested rookie (Theo Walcott) who has not even featured once in an English Premier League game. Anyway, England has been booted out and I'm partly satisfied even though not very delighted at the outcome of this world cup.

Results so far:

Group A (Germany, Ecuador, Poland, Costa Rica)
Germany 4-2 Costa Rica
Poland 0-2 Ecuador
Germany 1-0 Poland
Ecuador 3-0 Costa Rica
Costa Rica 1-2 Poland
Ecuador 0-3 Germany

Group B (England, Sweden, Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago)
England 1-0 Paraguay
Trinidad & Tobago 0-0 Sweden
England 2-0 Trinidad & Tobago
Sweden 1-0 Paraguay
Paraguay 2-0 Trinidad & Tobago
Sweden 2-2 England

Group C (Argentina, Holland, Ivory Coast, Serbia & Montenegro)
Argentina 2-1 Ivory Coast
Serbia & Montenegro 0-1 Netherlands
Argentina 6-0 Serbia & Montenegro
Netherlands 2-1 Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast 3-2 Serbia & Montenegro
Netherlands 0-0 Argentina

Group D (Portugal, Mexico, Angola, Iran)
Mexico 3-1 Iran
Angola 0-1 Portugal
Mexico 0-0 Angola
Portugal 2-0 Iran
Iran 1-1 Angola
Portugal 2-1 Mexico

Group E (Italy, Ghana, Czech Republic, United States)
United States 0-3 Czech Republic
Italy 2-0 Ghana
Czech Republic 0-2 Ghana
Italy 1-1 United States
Czech Republic 0-2 Italy
Ghana 2-1 United States

Group F (Brazil, Australia, Croatia, Japan)
Australia 3-1 Japan
Brazil 1-0 Croatia
Japan 0-0 Croatia
Brazil 2-0 Australia
Croatia 2-2 Australia
Japan 1-4 Brazil

Group G (France, Switzerland, South Korea, Togo)
South Korea 2-1 Togo
France 0-0 Switzerland
France 1-1 South Korea
Togo 0-2 Switzerland
Switzerland 2-0 South Korea
Togo 0-2 France

Group H (Spain, Ukraine, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia)
Spain 4-0 Ukraine
Tunisia 2-2 Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia 0-4 Ukraine
Spain 3-1 Tunisia
Saudi Arabia 0-1 Spain
Ukraine 1-0 Tunisia

Round of 16
Germany 2-0 Sweden
Argentina 2-1 Mexico
England 1-0 Ecuador
Portugal 1-0 Netherlands
Italy 1-0 Australia
Switzerland 0-0 Ukraine (Ukraine 3-0 on penalties)
Brazil 3-0 Ghana
Spain 1-3 France

Quarter Finals
Germany 1-1 Argentina (Germany 4-2 on penalties)
Italy 3-0 Ukraine
England 0-0 Portugal (Portugal 3-1 on penalties)
Brazil 0-1 France

Semi Finals
Germany vs Italy
Portugal vs France

What's Up!!!!!

I know! It's been like many many many months since I last blogged. Hehehehe. Well, been kind of lazy to update the blog. Always waited for the next day, then the next, and the next.......infinity.....until today

Well, first things first. I just blew my performance bonus (so called wanted to save the money) into a rather expensive hobby (a NEW expensive hobby AGAIN). I bought a digital SLR. After buying the camera, bought an Alpine Lowe backpag to store the camera, bought a Electronic dry cabinet also to store the camera, some camera accessories. I got an Olympus E-500 with twin lenses kit. All in, I blew away nearly two thousand bucks. Not only did I just spend that large sum of money, now my hands are itching to grab hold of some other accessories..... namely a good flash, a macro lens, some other faster lenses, a tripod, etc. That will set me back nearly what i just spent on the initial outlay. I guess I'll have to sweet talk my wifey though.

Speaking of which, she has been having a rough time lately. She has just recovered from a viral fever that kept her out of work for 2 weeks. It's been quite hard for me to see her seem so limp and fragile. I couldn't bear to leave her when she was sick. So I dropped her off at the mum's house so that I can go to work with a somewhat peaceful mind and also to attend to other necessary daily chores that were required.

She has also been having some hiccups at work. The ugly truth of private sector work has flashed before her eyes. She's not handling it that well, but she's holding up right now. I will provide her with anything right now...... just for her to be happy. Even if it means that she has to quit, I have already given her my blessings. Sometimes life is unfair, but in my opinion, what goes around, comes around. And for all those people who have in any way caused her unhappiness, I wish you the "BEST"!!!! So, I guess spending more money is currently out of the question, even though it is going to be very hard. I guess that this is part and parcel of the tribulations in life that everyone has to endure, but I feel so helpless right now. I can't even imagine what she is going through. But I will try my best to cheer her up, considering that she has been a tower of strength to me. Furthermore I do love her and through thick or thin, we shall prevail.

Now my list of MUST buy monthly magazines have increased, got to find some magazines which I think I will have to stop buying (Part of sacrifice, hehehe).

Anyway, will have to work on my photo taking skills. I'm still trying to improve myself in this area. Luckily it's digital.... i.e. if you don't like it, you can jolly well trash it.

Hopefully everything turns out fine. We have discussed our plight together and there has been some solutions thrown up. Which solution to take, will mean a different road for us to trudge on and ultimately, I just want my wife and I to be happy. Love you very much dear........