Another yearly update....

It's been a year since my last update (again....hahahaha). In that time, I have been blessed to see the birth of Muhammad Hanafi Bin Arfi Shahrin, to experience fatherhood. Seeing him for the first time and holding him in my arms will forever be etched in my memory. Alhamdulillah.

He will be eight months in a week. My, how time really flies. It seemed like yesterday, I was holding this small precious bundle in my hands. Now he's already 8 kilos. I miss him so when I'm at work. All my troubles and worries take a back seat when I'm holding him.

Looking forward to the Deepavali weekend (long weekend). Been enjoying these long weekend holidays ever since my posting to an office hours environment since April. The three of us will be heading up North together with my my mum and dad. Pity that my in laws couldn't make it. Would have been interesting to go together as a big family again. Anyway, Insya'Allah will be heading up to Langkawi, maybe next year. Carl's Junior, Sushi King, Subway, Nando's, etc..... here we come (Gluttons!!!)

Signed up for the Standard Chartered Marathon (21km run). However, I have not been training of late, due to work commitments (excuses....). Got to try and start preparing for it again, it's like a month away.

Too fast, too soon. Will I see You again the next time you come around?

It seemed like only yesterday that Ramadhan was upon us. How time flies, and one month of fasting has reached its end. Conflicting emotions abound, happy to welcome Syawal, sad to see Ramadhan go. Will I still be around when the next Ramadhan comes, only Allah knows.

Left with some minor touch ups with the house chores. This year has been a coordinated effort, i.e. no "rush jobs" on the eve of Hari Raya. Thinking of getting a sofa bed today and placing it in the study. The study room will soon change into a different room, I guess. In future, it will be my son/daughter's bedroom. Looking forward to being a father. I'm pretty sure that my wife is looking forward to the future too.

Actually, it's been way too long since I updated my blogs. Well, I'm up and running, thanks to Epul. Will blog soon enough, got to go and mop the house.

Big Hole in Pocket after Sitex 2007

After going to SITEX 2007 at Singapore expo over the last 3 days, I have burnt a hole in my pocket. Why?

Handphone/Ipod holder for the car - $10
Mobile Power Source - $59
500GB Hard Disk - $209
'N' Router - $99
USB Travel Charger - $45
IPOD remote - $37.50
XD Card - $31
Sony Cybershot Battery (Wife's camera) - $35

Total - $525.50

No more tech stuff till maybe next year, ......... hehehehe

Getting old

It's been so long since I last logged into blogger, that I actually forgot my own username. How about that? Since the last post, Goldcoast seems like a distant memory. Since that time, my wife and I took a trip to Bangkok with her brother and sister. Then we went for a four night stay at KL. Which was folowed shortly by my wife going on a trip to Kelantan with her aunts and uncles.

Currently my parents are on a short break to KL and Malacca. They just called a few hours ago to inform that they had reached Malacca and the journey from KL took more than five hours.

I have been keeping busy since yesterday, going to the COMEX show at Suntec. Today went to Suntec for COMEX again after Friday prayers. Guess, tomorrow, you'll also see my face at COMEX again. Been collecting brochures to browse through for tonight before deciding on what to buy tomorrow. Buying the stuff tomorrow, because claiming for the flexi-bonus will commence on 1 September. You know how sometimes when you go around shopping looking for some items, the items that you presently have decides that it is going to cause you problems? Well, the same thing actually happened to my MP3 player My Creative zen started to jam itself up, and when it did play, it sort of made a remix of a couple of songs by joining the songs together. So far, been looking at music players that could play video as well, i.e. the Apple Video, the sony walkman and also the Creative Zen. But must admit that the Apple Ipod seems the most value for money, $609 for 80gb of storage, whereas the other two which are cheaper and slimmer seem to be lacking in storage capablity, both only maxing out at 8gb. That's ten times the storage capability. Hmmmmmm.

Next stop ..... Goldcoast, Australia

Gee whiz, it's been frightfully long since my last post. I haven't been catching up on friend's blogs either. Went to the NATAS fair with my wife the other day. We were planning on a trip to either Australia, New Zealand or just a long cruise. We've never been on any of these trips and the feedback that we have had so far were quite good. The first choice was definitely a trip to New Zealand. But looking at the rates over the past few NATAS fairs were in excess of $3000/-. It was no different this time round. So we went to look up the trip to Australia and the Star Cruise offer that they had. However the Star Cruise option was only available for the higher end cabin accomodation and we decided against that option. So we finally settled on a trip to Goldcoast, Australia. We'll be away from home in the first two weeks of May. Woohoo!

But the drama did not end there. Hmmm .... We had actually booked a confirmed flight on Emirates which was non refundable and also paid for the whole package, including the stay. We discussed and found that it was too rushing. It was a rollercoaster weekend, thinking about alternatives and also what ifs. However, on Monday, after calling up the Pricebreaker sales staff, they informed us that the flights and accomodation had not been booked yet, and we were able to put all of OUR anxieties to rest and we're gonna stay in Goldcoast for another day, so that we would be able to take in most of the sights, without the rust. Alhamdulillah.

We also booked tickets for the Phantom of the Opera. Quite hard to get good seats especially so since we decided to book the tickets LONG after the initial sales launch. So sweetie, hope you get to enjoy the show again, and we would be able to reminisce the last time we caught the show in our Poly dating years, hehehehe.

Insya'Allah, we will be able to enjoy the next few months ahead, and hope those that are working towards the 15th April deadline do not get too stressed out at work. As a favourite song of mine goes, Don't worry, be happy....... Ciao.....

Challenges in Life

Life is full of challenges. To me the most important thing in life is how you respond to these challenges. From the moment that you were born, the moment that you took your first steps, your very first words, your first school day, your experience of the death of a loved one, these are all challenges in life that Allah has put in our path. How well you respond, how well you cope and how best do you overcome these obstacles in life is a measure of how much of a person you are.

How then do you ease the burden in your life, when others around you look up to you for guidance and also for strengthm, when you yourself are the one in need. How do you comfort someone when you yourself need comforting. I can't go on feeling this way without penning these thoughts down.

I'm sorry, but this post just comes at a point in my life when I require a helping hand in itself. I have to turn to Allah for guidance and also to help me ease my pain and suffering. And hopefully make me a better person. May Allah have blessing on all of you and ease our pain and burden and also light up our way till our last breath, Insya'Allah.

Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays........

Twenty days into the new year and this will be my first posting in a long while. Today also marks the first day of the Islamic calendar. Wishing one and all Muslims a joyous and fulfilling year ahead.

"Checked In" to hotel Pasir Ris yesterday after my wife went for her operation. We hope and pray that this round of treatment is successful and hoping to be proud parents when the time comes in October or November.

Yesterday also marked my mum's birthday. Regretfully we could not celebrate it with dinner as my wife is currently on strict orders from the "Three" to stay at home. Hehehehe. Bought a Jubah from AC collections for my mum.

Best wishes to other birthday girls this month, Aton and Atek.