... and you are one of them!
I will always remember...Ikhwan's sleeping habits...
A quick glance at the above photos, may make you to think that they show some kind of skin rashes or diseases or something. Or perhaps burn marks?
Well, neither is correct. Actually, that's what happen whenever little Ikhwan sleeps on my hands a little too long - he would leave his 'ear' mark on my skin.
Ever since he was less than a year old, he really likes to sleep on our palms - guess they are just the right sizes to be his small pillows!
Only when he is fast asleep, would we gently lift our palms away. Cute - if you ask me. I just love watching him falling asleep. How he slowly dozed off - eye lids could hardly remain open (and in the process, I too would start to doze off, haha...) On the occasions that he slept for too long on our hands (his other favourite is to put his head on the lower arm, close to the elbow), our hands would feel so cramped, we could hardly move them.
Surely, when he's grown up enough, this sleeping habit of his would be a thing of the past. He may not remember it anymore, but I will surely remember it, and thus, 'documenting' it in this blog is one sure way! Even now, he's slowling starting to 'drift away' from this habit. He would rather, despite how cumbersome it is, cling on to his Thomas, Percy and Toby trains than to hug our hands before he sleeps, and Thomas, Percy and Toby trains would be the first things he would look for when he wakes up. Talk about 'obsessed' huh? Which reminds me, how at one time, he liked the song Obsessed by Mariah Carey :-)
Anyway, here's another photo which clearly shows my hand being pinned underneath Ikhwan's head while he was asleep. See how my palm is directly under his cute chubby cheek?
That's our 'little' Ikhwan....
© Copyright Abdun Nizar Ahmad
Labels: 'Little', Love, My Children, My Families, Time
I remember the time...when I took my first roller coaster ride...
Time is.... 2:43am of 1st January 2010. You may think that I stayed up, to wait for the 2010 countdown on t.v. or because I just got back from celebrating it elsewhere. If the latter, with Ikhwan in the picture? No way, and for me to abandon my wife and kid just to do that? Even more no way...
Actually, the whole family was 'unconscious' (sleeping) through midnight just now :) At least this year (or should I say last year?), all of us were home on new year's eve. During last new year's eve, my wife was on-call. That night, I already put Ikhwan to bed before the midnight came. Only when the fire-crackers were lit up to mark the beginning of 2009, was I awaken and remembered 'Oh... It's new year...'
So you see, new year, or rather, new year's eve is just like any other day and any other night. Not just to me, but also to my family and parents. We never went out to celebrate and sometimes, we hardly waited in front of the t.v.
Looks like this year, the fire-crackers (whether the ones at KLCC or at the nearby lake) were not loud enough to make us wake up and cheer Happy New Year 2010. Nonetheless, I am wishing this to you - For the brighter future in 2010 and beyond.
Anyhow, I would like to start the year by blogging about the past. While it is true, no good will come out by reliving and pondering about the past, especially the bad memories and mistakes, but it is from past bad memories and mistakes, that we learn to grow. After all, there is no tomorrow if there was no yesterday, right?
However, what I'll be blogging (now and more to come) is not about past bad memories and mistakes. But rather, those unforgettable memories worth to be documented, in multiple colours and white and orange (as opposed to black and white, since the wordings in this blog are in multiple colours against white and orange background - see the joke? Hahaha....).
From the entry title, I reckon, you can guess what memory that I'll be sharing with you today.... The year was 1999. The ride was Space Mountain in Disneyland Paris.
Why was it memorable? Not just because it was in Disneyland and that it was my first time, but also because my life could have ended that day.
Now, the latter statement may stir some questions, like did I almost get hit by the roller coaster or was there a serious technical failure? Well, neither of those.
When I agreed to go to the Disneyland with some friends, little did I imagine how frightful a roller coaster ride would be. I also forgot how I was never fond of heights, and that roller coasters and heights - they mixed together! Guess the word Disneyland had clouded it all...
When we got there, the guys decided to take the Space Mountain as the first ride. As the que moved slowly, fear started to sink in, but for some reason I just kept it to myself. Probably because I still wasn't sure what to expect and thinking, it was only my normal reaction since I was about to try something new.
What made the ride so frightening, other than the swooshing and turning and twisting, was... the whole place was so dark! The ride was enclosed in a building (and with the lights off!) instead of out in the open like other rides in the park. But that was not the worse part. The worse part was, despite how frightened I was, I couldn't scream at all... I couldn't let my fear out - not even a short shriek. Luckily, the ride didn't trigger any abnormalilty to my heart conditions that could lead to...death? Yikes!
I was grasping so hard on the restrainer (each passenger was restrained individually, unlike what is shown in the picture above), had the ride been longer, the metal would have dented by my clench. The fact that it was dark around me, made it feel like I was thrown into the space. I couldn't shut my eyes either. Perhaps, it was fear of the unknown and I was looking for something visible that could comfort me.
Then, the ride came to a sudden halt. Slowly and surely, the train was climbing up. As we were ascending, the passengers were cheering by the sights of planets and stars, temporarily litting up the place. The others may be enjoying themselves, but not me. Do you what I did? I was hell bent on trying to 'escape' by trying to push the restrainer open. Had my attempt been successful, I could have fallen to a certain death...Yikes!
After reaching the peak of its climb, the train descended to such a great speed, that I could feel my head was dangling at certain points. My friends later told me, the 'dangling' feeling that I had was due to the train making a 360-degree loop (or loops).
The train stopped (finally!) at its starting point. But that was not the end of how close I was to danger... or death. Funnily, or rather, stupidly, while others exited from the train by stepping out to their right side, I, who was sitting on the left side of the train, stepped out to my left. Immediately, the train was filled with new (exited) passengers. Puzzled, after realising all the others were on the other side of the track, couple that with my dazed and confused feelings, resulted from the traumatic roller-coaster-ride experience, I felt the urge to climb down onto the track (to get to my friends). Had I not been told by the security, that there was a door that I could enter to exit from the place, I could have followed that urge (to climb down) and be electrocuted...Yikes!
My friends were shocked to learn that I had suppressed my fear. They taught me to just let it go - scream it out... I followed them and took other rides after that of course (Heck! it's Disneyland). From thereon, I just screamed and screamed... even when I was not feeling that scared. Alhamdulillah... I survived the first and those other rides. However, at this age, no more rides for me, thanks. Kiddy rides... maybe... with my kid(s), hehe...
Meantime, I leave you with some photos, taken when I went to Disneyland the 2nd time. Yep, I went there twice, with different groups of friends.
© Copyright Abdun Nizar Ahmad
Labels: Friends, Life, Time, Travel, Travel photos
Penguin Rush
