... and you are one of them!
The 'little' things about me...
My nameFull name is Abdun Nizar Ahmad. With the exception of few relatives, everybody else in the family and at schools (primary and secondary) called me Nizar. A couple of relatives call me Abun, while all three cousins from my mother side call me.... guess what - John McKeterk, or in short, John. Since it's a made up name, I don't really know the spelling to the second name, but judging from sound, that should be it. To this day, they still call me John, their spouses also call the same, and their children - Cik John (Cik is the short for Pakcik, which is Uncle). As for my uncle and auntie (my cousins' parents), they sometims call me Nizar, and sometimes John.
Ever since I began my college/university years, everyone there called me Abdun with very few who prefer Abun. I remember a joke made by a housemate back in the UK - he said Abun Sabun (sabun is soap). Issshhh.. of all the names, but I didn't take it seriously :)
Now, if I meet someone new, if they are relatives (like in the case of my wife's side whom I never met before OR from my side, who may not remember my name), I'd introduce myself as Nizar. But, if they are not (going to be my) relatives, then it's gonna be Abdun. Don't ask me why. I'm comfortable of introducing myself that way.
The address book in my phone Due to most people calling me Abdun, although I may not be the most important person in their lives, my name usually happens to be the first one in their phone's address book. This has a disadvantage. People had been accidentally calling me/sending me empty messages. What really annoying is that sometimes, the calls/smses caught me at the wrong times like in the wee hours of morning (if they are going to sleep with the phones by their sides, why can't they lock the phones, dang it!) or after rushing to get to the phone, only to hear people's conversations (the case of phones in their pants' pockets or handbags and the calls accidentally made) or kids' voices (obviously their kids are playing with the phones).
There was one time, my phone kept beeping due to receiving almost a dozen of empty messages, one after another, to the extent that it started to attract the unnecessary attention from people at the office. The smses were all coming from a person I met at a seminar.
Guess, I was in the wrong mood to be disturbed like that. You know what I did? I texted her, "since you hardly know me, you might as well remove my name from your phone book." Pretty nasty huh?
There was another incident where after picking up the phone, I heard a friend's conversation with another....and they were talking about me. Luckily, all I heard were compliments about me. I was smiling ear to ear....it took me a while before I hung up the phone :))
All these incidents had taught me something. In my phone book, I put
'abdun' and
'zzzdun' as the
first and last names. The
numbers behind those names
are invalid of course, so
those in the 2nd and 2nd last list are
spared from any accidental pressing on their numbers.
My nature
I have stint eyes, but without my glasses, people perceive my eyes as rather big (especially if I roll my eyes). Well, so many people had said so, guess that is true. Wife said, my bulging eyes must be the reason why Ikhwan gets so excited whenever I do some acts in front of him.
I am a quiet person and shy by nature, ahaks.... I mean, seriously.. throw me into a social gathering packed with 'strangers', I'd definitely feel very uncomfortable. I think because I hate the fact that I have to put on a (fake) smiling face, and having to think what to say most of the time.
But once well acquainted, you will probably see my bubbling nature. Heck, some even said I was naughty.
On precaution steps1. Before entering a lift, as the doors open, I always double-check that the lift floor is of the same level as the floor where I'm standing at. Why? Because stories about people who fell to their deaths when they entered the lifts which were not there (after the doors were opened) scare the crap out of me!
2. When driving, if the light is green for me to drive straight or make a turn, I will always make sure the light is really green - to the extent I have to verbally say it sometimes, for example I'd say "terus...hijau" (translation: straight...green). Sounds like I'm too safety conscious huh? Hmmm...despite of this, I still beat the red light once in a while, huhu...
3. I make sure I do these things before leaving the car (after parking it) - the gear is at PARKING, the handbrake is pulled, the aircond is off and the steering is locked. If say, I also need to switch off the headlights or the wipers or the rear window demister as well, I'd do those other things first, followed by the four, starting with PARKING, and the rest in that order. I would also sing them (the four things) in my head or hum them just to make sure they are done.
4. If there are routines that I do in the car, I also have own routine before leaving the house, especially where travelling is required, using the Power of 2 'formula'. Two things in my right pants' pocket - car key and hanky; left pocket - house keys and card holders (that hold credit cards, shopping reward cards and Touch N' Go card); elsewhere around the waist - small comb and wallet AND phone holder with phone in it; and upper body area - wrist watch and glasses. I hate forgetting things which may cause unnecessary strain to the brain. Even with having these routines, I still forget sometimes, usually involving bringing the phone holder but without the phone.
I'm a sucker for......
zombies. Movies have portrayed zombies to be moving so slow like....errr, the dead (but somehow still able to catch and eat the survivors, like in Shaun of the Dead), or can still run so fast, you might s*it your pants while trying to escape (like in 28 Days Later). Fast or slow, the zombies are either undead (Dawn of the Dead) or they are not yet dead, just infected with some kind of disease (I Am Legend). Either way, they are hunger for flesh and blood. Don't let them catch you, as they will devour you alive. If only your certain body parts are eaten or you were bitten or scratched by zombies, be prepared to join the zombies club soon. Movie-makers always come out with fresh storylines and some horrific/gory scenes never before seen involving zombies being killed or zombies killing people. Apart from zombie movies, as I also love horror and slasher movies. Hmmm.. maybe I should just say, I love movies. Period.
Friends and The Simpsons. I can watch all Friends episodes over and over again until I throw up (I've never actually done that, hehe). So far, no other sitcoms can beat Friends in terms of great storylines, and along with them, come those funny lines (Joey and Phoebe gets the best lines), outrageous acts (like Chandler's quirkiness), memorable characters (Monica's constant urge to clean) and unforgettable scenes (like the one where Rachel and Ross had a big fight when Ross, who thought they were on a break, had slept with someone else). Some favourite episodes would be (among others): the one with the wedding in London, the one where Phoebe tried to seduce Chandler who had been secretly dating Monica, the one with Brad Pitt as a guest, the one where Joey learned French from Phoebe, the one when Joey confessed to Rachel that he's falling for her etc etc etc.
With regard to The Simpsons, just like Friends, I've been a fan since school time. The longest ever running sitcom received its well-deserving airtime last Halloween with a dozen episodes shown back to back. I had a great time, especially since for some of the episodes, I've never seen them before.
I believe in...
respecting other people, regardless of differences in ages, ranks, races and faiths. Say, for example you have a kid niece or a nephew, it doesn't mean you as an adult can easily look down on him/her, because when they grow up, they can easily strike back at you. So how does it feel to be at the receiving end for a change?
good personal hygiene, which I think, should be taken seriously. It's understandable if after a long day, you still haven't gotten the chance to freshen up. What I can't tolerate is those who constantly disregard their personal hygiene. Heck, their bad body odour foul the environment and public places very early in the morning and they expect us to talk or be around them? I also can't stand those who spit in public. Sadly, we Asians are well known for this bad behaviour (other than generally being bad drivers and like to talk at the cinemas). I remember reading how the New Zealand government was trying to educate the Asians not to spit on their sidewalks. Wonder how that went...?
Movies that I watched this year and can't seem to get enough of:
Cloverfield and Bridge to Terabithia. Read my reviews on the movies here and here. While, here's the theme song to the latter. An excellent attempt from a cute-cum-excellent young actress: I really feel like going....
to so many places in the world. One of them would be New York - probably influenced by how NY is portrayed in TV shows and movies, like in Heroes, Cloverfield, CSI:NY etc etc.
am mostly awed by...
God's given gift - the human intellect. How babies develop physically, mentally and spiritually, starting from not knowing anything; new inventions are discovered numbering thousands every year; new catchy songs keep coming out, each sounds usually different from the other, considering there are so many singers for so many years and each album has at least 10 songs; ideas may be repeated but brilliant writers always know how to make the stories fresh and interesting.
scenic places - whether it involves beaches, mountains or lakes/lochs. Top that with a peaceful friendly neighbourhood and nice weather (the latter is open to your own interpretation). I always love to travel. I may no longer be able to travel extensively like in the past, but whenever opportunity to travel comes along, I always take some kind of memorabilia home, and it can be as simple and cheap as a nice looking paper/plastic bag that I get after buying a magazine. I still keep those bags, some, for 10 years now, that I collected from travelling. Now, I shall leave you with this beautiful photo that I found from the Net. Not sure where the place is, but it looks like Bergen in Norway. 
As much as I want to start a tag on this, I've learned my lesson that people are not going to do it. But you are welcome to share whatever little things about you that you don't mind other people knowing.
Labels: 'Little', Cartoons, Creativity, Hobbies, Life, Movie photos, Movies, Music, My car, My Families, Nature photos, Reading, Road Safety, Travel, TV shows, Video clip, Weirdness
Walk the talk.. walk and talk...walk and laugh...walk and run...walk while looking somewhere else...
Tuesday, 21st October 2008 marked an important date in our lives, especially to Ikhwan. It was the day when he made his first steps on his own, willingly, without being encouraged or forced upon. Yes, he started walking that day, witnessed by my parents who were in town last week and my wife. I was not at home due to working.
True, Ikhwan started walking rather late. But we are proud of him nonetheless. This was only one of his shortcomings, which could (or could not) have something to do with genetic, since both his parents started walking late too. Surely, as a human being and as he grows up, he will have and discover other flaws. As long as hopefully, none of those flaws would impede him from becoming a soleh Muslim; an obedient child; a smart, intelligent, caring and responsible person etc etc.. you know all those things that any parents with a sound mind would want their children to become.
Other than his walking development, in other areas, he develops normally, if not quite fast, compared to other kids of his age. He already has a full set of teeth, he knew how to sip his drinks using straws since only a few months' old, and he's always full of energy and with such intensity whenever he crawls as shown in this video clip which was taken at my folks' house!
I'd say that his crawls are equivalent to walking and running, while his walks are equivalent to.....ermmm... driving a car. Why? Because on the first three days after he started walking, he already tried running a bit (like speeding while on the road), walking with his eyes wondering about instead of looking straight (ok, this could be equivalent to a hazardous driving hehe..), encircling us (like making a 6 o'clock turn at a roundabout) and walking for a distance, then making a U-turn (I mean, literally, the way he turned his body around was like making a U-turn). As though wanting to catch up, not a day is missed without him walking (because I read there are babies who after discovering their ability to walk, may skip some days without wanting to walk at all).
He also discoverd on his own, that instead of struggling to stand up from his sitting position, he can use the palms of his hands to push himself up... Now, he's learning to throw some rubber balls while standing up, although at the moment, we try to discourage him from doing so frequently, especially if he's looking rather tired and unstable.
On another development, Ikhwan has always been amazed by cats. In fact, 'cat' and 'meow' are two of the early words we taught him. Now, he knows where to point at whenever we ask him to show which one is cat from his alphabets chart.
My parents own a cat (of American Shorthair breed), bought by my sis back when she was in the States. I mentioned about him quite a number of times before in this blog. The cat goes by the name Sky. The thing about Sky is that he gets easily intimidated by strangers, especially noisy and active small kids. Well, you can pretty much guess how Sky would react to my son! In this video, my son was looking so curiously and intently at Sky who was having his meal. The 'peeking' made Sky rather restless of course, but a cat's gotta eat when a cat's gotta eat right? :))
In this final video of today, we really enjoyed his laughter and would like to share that moment here... (I think he got the idea to laugh that way, probably from the way I peek-a-boo at him). As seen here, he was standing by his car which was a birthday present from my parents-in-law.
UP NEXT:
1. The 'little' things about me.
2. The 'little' things about Ikhwan (P/S: How about the 'little' things about my wife? Hmmmmmm.......maybe I shouldn't go into that....)
3. Ads that go wrong...
Labels: Life, My Children, My Families, My Videos, Parental, Sky, Toys
Penguin Rush
I got a call from my dad last couple of days, saying that my mother was vomiting for 7 times the night before and didn't sleep the whole night. The call came as quite a shock to me. First of all, because just like babies, older people tend to dehydrate quickly from diarrhoea or vomiting and this could lead to more serious complications. So, the news got me worried and I'm still worried. After all, she has reached the stage where a simple headache is enough to get me all uptight.
