'Posing macam ni ok tak Ayah?' - Of showering and sponging
I was so delighted to find out last Wednesday that the photo I sent to the Pa & Ma magazine is featured in the 'Mandi Manda' column of the August edition, that I showed the column to some of my colleagues.
The above photo which was edited due to space constraint of the column and to make way for other kids' photos, was selected as one of the lucky few to receive prizes. Don't you think the caption that I created to go along with the photo, 'Posing macam ni ok tak Ayah' (Am I posing correctly Ayah?) aptly describes the photo?
But my enthusiasm was cut short when at 4:20, the babysitter called me, telling me that Ikhwan had a fit due to fever. That explained why I had a bad feeling when I kissed him that morning. He was perfectly fine the night before, and still showed no indication of having a fever when my wife sent him over in the afternoon, before she went to work.
What freaked us out was the fact that the babysitter could have missed it (the fit). She too was not well and decided to sleep next to Ikhwan. She was awaken when she heard some funny noises coming from Ikhwan. Had she slept in the next room or she was too deep in her sleep? We shudder to think....
Another incident that shocked us was how she ran to a clinic across the road from her apartment building, I mean in her, possibly still drowsy condition (from just waking up and her sickness).
After the doctor had not fully successful in making his fit stopped, her husband who happened to be nearby, drove both of them to HUKM. For this, we really thanked her and husband for taking care of Ikhwan just like their own.
I arrived at the hospital just before 5 and immediately rushed to the Emergency Unit. No one seemed to be able to contact my wife. It must have been a hectic day (as usual) at the Kajang Hospital. Coincidentally, my parents-in-law were nearby the Kajang town and they decided to stop at the hospital to break the news to my wife.
My wife and parents-in-law only reached HUKM close to 9 o'clock that night. Ikhwan was cleared to go. For the first time, I took care of Ikhwan all on my own during the time when he needed a parent the most. All the while, it was my wife who stayed and spent nights at the hospital, tending for him. Those four hours of him hugging me and calling for me, would hopefully make our father-and-son bond much stronger, Insha' Allah.
Ikhwan is at the peak of being so active and so curious of trying and learning new stuffs. All of us are just amazed at his energy and bubbly nature. We just hope the fit won't ever happen again to him, Ikhwan Rasydan.... Aaaamiiinnnnn.....
The new year ...of time and how it passes us by...
It's the new year again!For school kids, the end of the year 2008 meant the beginning of their new school term.
Speaking of school holidays, Malaysia has four school term breaks a year with the one at the year end being the longest - about 6 weeks off. Usually, during school holidays, I'd try to avoid going to the shopping malls as much as possible. Why? The malls would be flocked by school kids and the sights of them sometimes suffocate and sicken me. Well, not all of them of course, but yeah, for most of them. From the way they behave (how can kids of the opposite sex who are no older than 15 years of age, can be holding hands and hugging each other in public?), to the way they dress (tattoos, piercing, skimpy clothes) and talk (talking and laughing so loud with no manners towards other people whatsoever).
Now, let's not talk about how they behave elsewhere (surely you've seen young kids on 'their' motorcycles, speeding and riding dangerously while on the roads, without helmets and and licenses). We've also heard from the news, about school boys who rape their peers and in some cases, adult women or how about those school girls who got pregnant after willingly having sexual intercourse with their boyfriends?
I may not be a social person or an extrovert during my school years but as I recall, even those school mates who were social, they were not as 'wild' as some kids these days.
Speaking of remembering the yesterdays and yesteryears, those whose puberty years were in the 70's, 80's and (early) 90's, would remember what I'm about to reminisce here (some of them may only be experienced by the Malaysians though):
Great outdoor activities would include playing pebbles or spinning tops, 'galah panjang' (a game where you stand in the middle of a court, preventing your friends from crossing over to the court section behind you and should you be able to touch a person in any way, you shout'JADIK' meaning 'your turn to be in the middle'); 'main kejar-kejar' (need I explain more? - basically you just run and run and run and run...), 'tarik upih pinang' (one or two people pulling the coconut or palm leaf around the neighbourhood, with a person sitting on it), rounders, swimming in the rivers,'nyorok-nyorok' (hide and seek), and many others.
How about indoors games like checkers (some of us here use bottle caps as the pieces), board and card games (remember Happy Family anyone?), or the 'fancy' electronic game like the one featured below. For some, they didn't even need to have the electronic game to enjoy one. They could enjoy the same with a friend by clenching each other's fingers and use their thumbs (those who played this before, would know what I'm talking about).
Other than playing those indoor games, the cartoons on t.v. were cool too. Just to name a few - Doraemon, Thundercats, Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs, M.A.S.K (my favourite), Smurfs, Jem (yeah, I watched this too ;pp), Transformers, Woody Woodpecker Show and The Simpsons (another of my favourite which is still around till today... yeah!!).
Some hit t.v. series would be like Captain Power, Battlestar Galactica, 'V' (yes, the letter V), McGyver, 21 Jump Street, Beverly Hills 90210 and Knight Rider.
Let's not forget those prime time soaps like Return to Eden (an Australian show - my whole family was a big fan), Dallas, Knotts Landing and Dynasty (remember Joan Collins anyone?).
The sitcoms were really funny and great back then and also ran on many seasons. For examples, Saved By The Bell, Full House, Family Ties, Growing Pains and of course the greatest sitcom ever... Friends.
We had some really cool movies back then, very creative and original in ideas, very entertaining and for some... very scary. I love horror movies like Nightmare on Elm Street, Poltergeist, House, The Kindred, Candyman, The Shining (arguably one of the scariest - All Work And No Play Makes Jack A Dull Boy....spooky), Halloween, Fright Night (also a favourite), Gremlins (ok, for some kids, this could be scary), Hellraiser (ugh! the brutalities...), Little Shop Of Horrors (funny and scary), Alien and Aliens (my favourites), The Thing (what a scary thing!) and Friday the 13th.
Other great movies are like Back To The Future series, Star Wars series, Indiana Jones series, Gandhi, Airport 77, Jaws series, Labyrinth, Rambo series, Rainman (a great one) etc etc.
It was a pop era. For some singers, they really had the spotlights shine on them (although for some, they are no longer heard of anymore). Big names with big hits are like Madonna, Michael Jacson, Richard Marx, Rick Springfield, Belinda Carlisle, Def Leppard, Miami Sound Machine, Rick Ashley (and his goofy dance moves), Milli Vanilli (oh, the deception), Vanilla Ice (a white who didn't know how to be black and went bankrupt in a blink), Cindy Lauper, Martika, Phil Collins, Michael Bolton (remember the voice?), Bonnie Tyler, New Kids On The Block, The Bangles, Debbie Gibson, Tiffany, Extreme, Chicago, ... the list really goes on....
If school kids these days compare what handphone brands they use, back then we compared pencil boxes and cases. Some pencil boxes were like a James Bond gadget - press here, one compartment would pop up, press another, another compartment would pop up. We were very good in Geography too coz the erasers had flags of different countries imprinted on them :))How about indulge in the many junk foods available and for most of them, they came with free toys too. Remember Sumi jelly, Chickadees and Tora? These foods were usually advertised over the t.v. using Mat Sentul as the voiceover.
Aaaahhh... the tiny little biscuits with icing on top. Usually ate just the icing, without the crackers, heheheee...It feels like yesterday that I had one of these foods, heard one of those songs, watched one of those movies/tv series/cartoons, owned one of those pencil boxes and played one of those games. Since it feels like yesterday, guess I'm not really that old huh? Hahaha...
What would I hope for 2009 and years to come? Very noticeable changes of course - in many, if not all, aspects of life - changes that come from within me... spiritually, emotionally, intellectually and physically.
Hopefully, the environment is treating me right too, and by environment, I don't mean just the world climate but also the economy, the political arena and most importantly, the environment within my family, our house and our neighbourhood.
I think I'd like to become a little bit of selfish too from now on, by always asking myself questions like 'oh yeah? so?', 'what's in it for me?', 'what do I care?', 'so what's it going to be?' and 'why the heck would I care/help/bother?'
Anyway, last 29 December 2008 (a national holiday here) also marked the new year (1430 Hijrah) for us Muslims. So, to my non-Muslim friends who always wish me Happy New Year during the Eidul Fitri, Eid is not really the new year for us Muslims, Awal Muharam is (Muharam is the first month in the Islamic calendar)..... ok? :))
HAPPY NEW YEAR 1430H AND 2009 TO ALL OF YOU OUT THERE!!!!!! MAY ALL YOUR WISHES COME TRUE (THE GOOD ONES AND MAYBE SOME BAD ONES TOO?, HAHAHHAA).....
P/S: Speaking of being selfish just now, lately, I see myself transformed into some stubborn and hard-headed person (as in 'keras hati'). I don't know whether being the man in the family had played any part in that, or it's the life experiences that taught me to become one. My wife sees that change in me, others too and once, my 'keras hati'ness had shocked a friend. Is that a good thing? (being hard-headed and not easily swayed). Guess from now on, no more Mr Nice Guy huh!
From books to movies...of words and adaptations...
History has seen that quite a number of books (and in some cases, comics) out there that had been adapted into movies. The books may not necessarily need to be extremely popular for the movies to sell well at the box office. Likewise, best-seller books may not be well adapted into movies and the movies may flop.
Take Stephen King's books for example. With the exception of Christine and The Mist which received rave reviews and were quite well-accepted by moviegoers, other movies adapted from his books tanked!
I remember reading Phantoms by Dean Koontz many years ago. It was one of the scariest books I've ever read. Every page of the book was so vividly horrifying. Unfortunately, the movie, despite having big actors in it, failed to attract people to flock the cinemas.
I once had a dream to write a book. A book that I hoped, could open doors to other possibilities, and one of them was which to have it adapted into a movie (or a series of movies). The book already had a title; each characters named and their characteristics visualised; the draft was ready up to Chapter 7 (if not mistaken).... in fact for some chapters, they were almost complete.
Three friends read the draft. A couple of them had even showed their willingness to be a part of it.One was willing to be my editor, while another, a talented artist, drew some sketches so that we could later pick one to be the book cover. He also drew some of the monsters (see below) to be inserted into the pages of the book - plus he also loves to draw, so pretty much, he just wanted to (draw them).
Then reality hit me. I am not that great (in writing). I may have received comments before about how my simple style of English writing can still somehow grasp their attention. But, is it enough that based on these comments alone made by only a few people, I can expect (other) readers to be hookedby maintaining the same style throughout the book? Surely readers would want something out of the ordinary and simplicities, and expect me to get out of my comfort zone of writing.
The book project got postponed indefinitely, for so many years now. It never left my mind completely though, at least not yet. Hmm... maybe I should write it in Bahasa Malaysia (BM) first, although again, I'm not an excellent BM writer either. Or perhaps I should find myself a ghost writer or a co-writer. Or perhaps publish a graphic novel instead, a collaboration with my artistic friend there. Hmm... I don't really know.
This whole thing about getting my book out came back to my mind after reading an article, about how easy it is for a 9-year-old boy, Alex Greven, who initially wrote his book and self-published it at a school book fair, became almost instantly famous. Not only his 48-page advice book, "How to Talk to Girls" became a best-seller, it has also been optioned by Fox for a possible theatrical release. The film rights to him were sold for low-to-mid six figures. How lucky of him huh?
Reading the article made me think about the path I have threaded my way through all this while, and the future paths that I should take (and plan to take). We Muslims are always encouraged to appreciate the 5 things before the 5 things arrive. One of them was 'while we are still free before we are busy' and another one, 'while we are still alive before we are dead'.
More often than not, we are so busy with worldly matters, we forget about the world that follows. Then, we may say we are very busy, but usually busy for other people. In a recent Oprah Winfrey show, she said 84% of people hate their jobs. So, if we are too busy with jobs that we hate (or maybe not particularly fond of), isn't it time, we make it count? Isn't it time we become busy FOR ourselves for a change?...sigh...
Meantime, talk about adaptation from comics, you can view the trailer of the coming Wolverine movie here.
Ad 1: Fun Fun rain coat I went for a travel excursion the other day. The travel organiser provided us with a gift bag that consisted of some stuffs like mosquito repellant patches, a balm, a packet of baby wipes (they included this in because the wipes were safe to be applied on the face), a small bottle of sunblock lotion and a rain coat.
The label for the rain jacket struck my attention (see above) and made me and a friend laugh. Putting aside the possibility that the photo could have been Photoshopped, don't you think these models are rather sad/angry looking, as though they were forced to pose. I would say the brand name Fun Fun should have been Sad Sad instead. Perhaps these kid models areSad Sad because it rains, and putting on those rain jackets doesn't help in making things easier or any happier either :))
Ad 2: Sofa set
One day, as I flipped through an interior design magazine, I noticed the bi-lingual magazine contained so many grammatical errors. Whether the articles are in English or in Malay, I was appalled by the number of wrong words used. Considering that the magazine was published by a renowned Malaysian interior designer and tv personality, those mistakes should not have happened in the first place. I mean, didn't they proof read?
I do enjoy reading advertisements in papers and magazines sometimes. Since my wife and I were looking for contractors and contacts for interior items, I was browsing through the ads in the magazine too. On the second last page, there was an ad on a sofa set. Judging from the sets shown in the ad, I'd say, design wise....well... nothing intriguing about them. At least they were not as interesting as the words they used in their ad, which said:
"There is gene filling around view, it is as happiness, sweet and warm, and the thoughts are cleared in details, nobody knows where does confidence come from. Maybe it has thousands of resources, millions of embodiments, but when we are faced with the warm and real house, the confidence is easy to be found, placing myself into complete space, closing eyes such as the extending branch, colour stretching and white cloud disappearance field in deep heart becomes lovely soon....
When you want to sell something, credibility is built through proper use of words so that information about your product is delivered effectively to readers/potential buyers. I wonder if the ad was prepared by the same writers for the magazine since the words used are all too flowery and catchy, they lost their meaning. I as a reader, ended up dazed and confused - just what the heck were they trying to say here?
Now, let's quickly translate what could possibly be the message(s) that the ad was trying (too hard) to tell us, shall we?
"...gene filling around view..." and "...where does confidence come from..."
- hmmmm....if humans, animals, insects... whatever, are in the same room where the sofa is, kinda' hard to imagine that their genes could somehow exit their bodies and fill up the room.With regard to confidence, maybe it's in their genes (pun intended), hehee..
"...placing myself into complete space..."
- I wonder whether does the ad try to make us imagine being lost into complete space or it was describing what the copywriter was feeling when he/she wrote the ad. It sure sounds like the latter. Maybe the copywriter should write a novel some day.
- I think ads should always make customers understand what benefits they will get from choosing a particular product or service, and this can be achieved by using the word'YOU' instead of 'I/ME'. Say for examples, an ad for a fabric softener"Softness you can feel" or a courier service"The name you can trust!". Unless of course it's something like McDonald's tagline that says I'm lovin' it! - even THAT is putting us, the customers to say I'm lovin' it!, not the McDonald's owners/franchisees/franchisors.
"...extending branch, colour stretching and white cloud disappearance field in deep heart becomes lovely soon..."
- errrr... what?????
Ad 3: Hijama air vacuum
Hijama is the Arabic term for acupuncture. My parents have this one health gadget to help them perform hijama on their own. The gadget, just like the conservative approach, use cuppings. However, it provides a more relaxed and less painful way and does not cause blood to be drawn by vacuum since it does not involve skin incision or burning of papers inside the cup to make the cup cling to the skin. Nowadays, they no longer use it though when one day, my mum experienced some skin disorder at the site chosen for cupping.
I found the box with the gadget still inside it the other day, on a shelf. Judging from the 'instructions to use' on the box, obviously the whole thing is made in China. Then, on the side of the box, here's what the manufacture wrote with regard to the benefits from using the product:
Health care gift, old and little all proper - hmmmm, so how about those who are young and big? hehee..
Elegant features and economy enduring - great to know that the features are elegant that it can endure (if not help us to endure) the current economic turmoil.
Ego diagnosis, health care prevention - so it's recommended to any egotistical maniac out there who doesn't care about their health then?
Inside disease, outside remove, result special- I bet it is...
Traditional Chinese medicine, China treasure - how lucky we are...while archeologists spend years digging for treasures buried in the land of China, we could easily get this from the night market. Ads 4: Ad on radio and t.v. Don't you just hate it when you see or hear an ad over the t.v. or radio that ends with laughter? Say for examples, family members are laughing because the foods are delicious as mum cooks only with the cooking oil brand J or two friends can now play tennis together because they no longer have sprained muscles, thanx to the massage oil brand K or a customer laughs with a sales assistant when buying a washing machine at a well known electrical/electronic store......hahahaa, hohohoh, hehehehee...
Oh please....enough pretending already! These ads make me (and wife) sick...
So some say I'm rather different and weird - if that is so, then why do I feel like I'm so..... ordinary? .... and I feel like I need to break out of this norm, break away from this commonness, this.... comfort, stagnant and mundane life. Yes, being a family man and having Ikhwan around have tremendously enriched my life, but I'm talking about personal achievement and satisfaction here....
I obviously need some thinking to do. Hmmmm.... talk about thinking, just recently two people said in one day, that I think too much. I sure heard such a comment thrown at me before. If only I could be as impulsive - doing whatever I want to do, like.... errr... Matt.
Several routes have been laid, and more, may probably be laid upon us (me and wife). Ya Allah, show us the best paths that we should take, and please, please do ease up our journey as we thread on them, Aaamiinnnn......
Guess this blog is called Boulevard-Ijab for a reason huh?
Movies that I (and possibly wife too) can relate to right now - Ratatouille and Surf's Up. Ok, I know, both are cartoons - but heck, I'm young at heart remember.... or should I say, I'm a big boy ? :-)
Wow, almost three weeks have passed huh, since I last wrote in this blog. The thing is, I've been rather busy. Other than spending most of the time with Ikhwan, there are other non-job related stuffs that (my wife and) I need to straighten up. At times, I feel perhaps I should just give this blog a wrap. But then, there are so many things I had shared in the past, that I don't want to lose, should this blog be removed by Blogger after many months of no updates. Also, I'm sure there'll be stuffs in the future, that I would definitely feel like sharing with the whole world, especially those involving Ikhwan or my family.
But one thing for sure, should the day has come when I've made up my mind not to blog anymore, I'd print out all the entries (photos, sketches and comments included) and bind them like a book, so that one day, when I'm already old(er) and my children all grown up, at least I can share with them that their father once had a blog called boulevard-ijab.
Anyway, back to usual blogging for today. I went to a music store, VS in Sg. Wang Plaza (a shopping complex) the other day, to get the latest Madonna's CD but it was still not out yet (sori, I find the cover of her latest album too..... scantily to portray it here).
VS is my favourite store when it comes to buying the latest original music CDs. Newly released albums or albums of a particular artiste whose song is currently a hit over the radio stations, are sold at 10 to 25% off their original prices, much cheaper than other stores.
The size of VS store is relatively smaller and I'm not aware if they have branches elsewhere. But, they have a good strategy in winning over their customers. Compared to other more popular music stores which require customers to own certain membership cards or to purchase above certain $$ to get discounts on newly released CDs, VS store offers CDs at much cheaper prices with no terms and conditions attached to it. The only condition is that, you have to be quick and lucky enough to get them before they are sold out or before the store removes the albums to regular-priced items shelves.
The VS' unique sales pitch has enabled them to survive the competition, not only with other stores selling music CDs but also stores selling other stuffs, in this 4-storey shopping complex building.
The building that housed Sg. Wang Plaza (SWP) is one of the earliest built. Back then, obviously, not much attention was paid to the design of the building. As a result, on the outside, the shopping complex looks just like another square-shaped building.
Not just on the outside, the inside of the building is also rather poorly planned (in my opinion). Despite still heralded as one of the most popular shopping spots in KL, one cannot deny the fact that on each floors, SWP is crammed with so many shops along its many aisles, with some shops are rather hidden (i.e. not easily found, unless by chance) than the rest. Now, let's not even talk about Bukit Bintang Plaza, which is adjacent to Sg. Wang Plaza and within the same building. It has more stores there too..
Come to SWP or BB Plaza during festive seasons or when there are sales, you'd find the ambience, especially on the lower floors, rather suffocating and you might prefer other shopping complexes which are more spacious instead.
One thing I notice about SWP is that when it comes to product categories, most of the shops sell fashion apparels (especially for women). With Parkson as SWP's major tenant (and Metro Jaya in BB Plaza) and plenty of popular shopping complexes around, I wonder how do the smaller shops make themselves stand out or any different from their competition. What's their unique sales pitch (provided there's any)? Guess, that's why certain shops close down only to be replaced with another that also sells clothing lines... sigh...
Let's reflect having sales pitch in real life. You don't have to be in sales to have your own sales pitch. In fact, we are already good sales persons ever since babies. Babies/toddlers have their way of getting what they want (well, most of the time) like by crying, screaming, throwing tantrums, or simply, by showing their sweet, chubby and have-mercy-on-me kind of face (ok, I'm thinking about my baby here and perhaps, Puss in Boots of Shrek 2 too).
As adults, we may have to think through on our sales pitches (or tricks, as some might prefer) in 'winning over' the love of our dreams, in obtaining the blessing of our parents (and future parents in law) before getting married, getting that dream job or the promotion we're after, having our arguments/opinions/suggestions accepted, defending our rights or wanting to be included in the group of peers.
So, what's your sales pitch? Whatever it is, just don't sell yourselves short la ok or cause other people to be sickened by your pathetic 'sales pitch' :-)
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Madonna is one of those singers/entertainers whose voice is easily recognisable without the need to see her singing. Ok, so, she doesn't have such an outstanding voice that can be projected like what Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Whitney Houton and the likes can. But Madonna is an entertainer who doesn't rely solely on her voice. She has the whole package and her unique sales pitch makes her still a sought after singer to this day.
One may argue that her music styles have changed over the years and her 'older' songs are more catchy and memorable. I mean surely you can remember and may still even hum to the songs like Holiday, Material Girl, Like A Virgin, Papa Don't Preach, True Blue, La Isla Bonita, Like a Prayer, Cherish and Oh Father. Compare those with her most recent songs, the difference is highly noticable. I strongly believe that Madonna's strategy is to win over the hearts of younger people, so that she is not known only to older people like me, hahhahaaa...
I read from one reliable Internet source that individual children start developing at very different rates, i.e. they develop and learn at their own pace. In other words, as long as your baby is making steady progress, there's nothing to worry about. In fact, if anybody says otherwise, the website suggests responding back by saying that Einstein didn't talk until he was four years old :-)
The same applies to our kiddo Ikhwan. He masters his crawling skill quite later than one or two other babies of the same age, whose parents we know. But Ikhwan already has 8 teeth (as of today), compared to one other baby who still doesn't have any.
Put two guardians together and we have different patterns of how they they talk about their respective babies. Sooner or later they're bound to start comparing their babies' accomplishments, as though it were a contest (some doctors call such a 'competition' the Baby Olympics).
Speaking of comparison, here's an interesting one. I observe how differently two male guardians talk about their babies compared to when two female guardians are doing the same. The example here is just based on my own personal experience only, so DON'T take this as something that represents typical behaviours among any gender whatsoever.
Conversation between two male guardians:
Male 1: How are you and how's your daughter? What's her latest development?
Male 2: She already knows how to crawl and is learning to stand up by grabbing on to us or to a nearby furniture.
Male 1: Oh really, that's fast coz my son is hardly lying down on his tummy. He'd quickly flip over to lie on his back... guess that's because his skeletal frame is rather big, he gets tired easily. How many teeth does she have already?
Male 2: None, yours?
Male 1: The fourth one is starting to form...
Male 2: Is it true that babies will be down with fever everytime a new tooth is forming...?
Male 1: Not necessary, I mean that didn't happen to our baby. It's not that he fell sick everytime...
Conversation between two female guardians (the females here are not necessarily someone I know, ok! :-p): Female 1: The other day, my niece called me up. She is such a cute girl, so talkative now that she knows more vocabularies than before and knows how to call me... (conversation interrupted)
Female 2: Wait till you hear my niece's voice. Hearing her voice can make you feel like you want to go over to her place and squeeze her cheeks... (again, conversation interrupted) Female 1: Can you believe she asked me to go to the zoo, I mean how was that possible? I was at the office and her house is way over there, the other side of the city... (talking very fast, now gasping for air)
Female 2: I actually took my niece to that Aquaria last weekend. It was a blast and she enjoyed seeing those fishes very much. Maybe I'll take her to the zoo next time... (beaming with pride)
Hmmmm.... I wonder, who's winning here... heehehehe..
Anyway back to the topic. For babies to develop, it is common for them to explore and immitate. In fact, imitation and repetition are key ingredients in early brain development. They discover the use of their hands and fingers; try to mimic our facial expressions and words; finding everything as fascinating - from the wheels of the stroller, the mats, the cabinets and drawers, the ointment bottles... there's just so many things to explore, feel, bang together and bite on huh? :-)
My son is no exception - he is such a natural explorer and a good immitator, for a good cause of course. At times, whenever he's exploring something like playing with his toys or looking out the car window, I like to look at things from his point of view as well.
There was a day when Ikhwan, who was in his car seat, was focusing intently to a particular object. When I bent down, I realised he was looking at the traffic light. He must have seen how the traffic light changed from yellow to red. Upon realising my face was on the same level as his, immediately he said "Ohhh...", probably trying to tell me "The colors are the same like in the book you read to me last night" (or perhaps he was saying "Don't sit too close"? Haha).
Ikhwan has started exploring to use his mouth and tongue (for playing) since a few months ago. He can intelligently create some funny and weird sounds by 'manipulating' his tongue. Only until recently, did I manage to record such moments. This video made my wife and I smiled. But what really made me laugh was the voice of my wife in the background. It sounded really funny (to me at least, I mean she was a bit embarassed upon hearing it).
With the election in Malaysia is just around the corner, I feel like voting for whose voice sounds funnier. Hmmmm... for this case, I think I'd go for my wife's voice (sorry Ikhwan). But I'd still definitely vote for Ikhwan for being the main attention grabber (sorry Ayang, you are a different kind of attention grabber laaa, haha)... Hope you guys enjoy the video!!!
P/S: Speaking of the election (this coming 8th of March), who do you vote for, my fellow Malaysians? The ruling party seems to be trying so hard, with airing all those lengthy commercials on tv and radio. Enough is enough already. I mean haven't they heard, the harder you try, if you fall, the harder (I sure hope so) it must be. They (the commercials) are really starting to make me sick, literally... I wonder whose money did they spend on making those useless commercials and paying for so much airtime huh? Well, upon saying this, guess you know who I'll be voting for!!!!
PP/S: Speaking of tv commercials, currently, my son is sooo into that latest Nokia N82 (Storytelling) ad. He'd stop immediately from whatever he is doing at that time and stay glued to the screen during those few seconds. Only after the ad has finished, would he resume his earlier activities (yes, it can be a number of activities, hehe). I wonder what makes the ad so interesting to him...
I obtained my car license more than 10 years ago. But after obtaning the license, I hardly drove, up to the period slightly more than two years ago. In fact, before I got my first car back in November 2005, I drove less than 20 times (whether short or long distances). Why? Well, blame it on self-confidence (or the lack of it). I was just scared of being behind the wheel with all those other vehicles around, especially those motorcyles, lorries and busses (hmm, that pretty summed up almost all other vehicles huh? hehe). Further, I also found myself hard to concentrate while on the road. Weird how my mind easily wandered off in the past. Combine those with the fact I was driving somebody else's car, had really put me off from driving.
But lucily, nowadays, I am more brave, self-composed and focused. I can't really say I'm an expert driver already (really, there's no such thing as expert drivers, just drivers who are familiar with the roads they are taking, don't you agree?), but the roads and the drivers in KL (especially), have really taught me to be aggressive (at least, while driving) to the extent that my wife had said one day, maybe driving has brought the dark side of me to emerge, i.e. easily hot-tempered and impatient.
In the past, prior to us having kiddo Ikhwan in our lives, I sent and picked up my wife from work (even at times when she was on-call). Jalan Tun Razak was one of the roads that I had to take, be it if I left from the office or from home. This is one road that had showed me what does it take to brave through the jams and to change lanes or take over other vehicles at the slightest opportunity available.
I remember one day, during a heavy downpour, a journey that usually took me 15 to 30 minutes to reach her workplace, took me exactly 2 and a half hours. That long of a ride could have brought me back hometown in Muar Johor (or I would be resting at my folks' house for half an hour already - if the highway was not busy and I was speeding a little bit, I would manage to reach there in 2 hours, Insha' Allah).
But now, things have changed. If in the past, my wife would be sitting next to me in the passenger seat, now the view is replaced with our kiddo Ikhwan in his car seat. Nowadays, me and wife have have to drive to work separately. In the mornings, I'd be in charge in sending Ikhwan to his sitter's place. If wife can get off work on time (although that rarely happens), she'd be picking him up in the evening (since her official working hours ends 30 minutes earlier than mine).
Not just our travel arrangements had changed, the interior of our cars too, thanx to the creative child in me. My wife's colleagues had commented how the interior of her car looked like a nursery, that our son must be enjoying himself everytime we take him for a ride (Wallahua'alm, we sure hope so, hehe). If only they had seen my car interior as well :-))
Just as much as I enjoy being in charge of my wife's travel-to-work arrangement, I enjoy being in charge of sending Ikhwan to and from his sitter's house too. My son has always been such a good boy whenever he's in his car seat. Sometimes, even the way he's slumped in that seat, or how he moves his leg (or both legs) around, tickles me. At other times, the way he looks at his surroundings makes him look so much matured than his age.If only I've had the chance to record a video on him, trying so hard to look at me while I was driving, to the extend that he'd turn his head around and slant it forward. In other words, his head would be about 45 degrees to his neck (kind'a hard to describe it, really). He looked really cute and cheeky, looking at me like that, I AM JUST SOOOO PROUD OF HIM!!!!
In my opinion, the bonding between children and their mothers is much easier to form than between children and fathers. I mean such a bond can occur naturally and quickly with mothers. After all, the children have been in their mothers' tummy for months right?
But with fathers, I think they have to work a little extra harder to create that closed knit relationship with their children. I mean, that's just my opinion...
In this one video I took a couple of months ago, I was trying to make him utter or mumble some of his baby words. We had just arrived home and were still at our parking lot. I tried to make him communicate with me by calling out his name a few times but to no avail. But still, I had fun. This may look nothing special to some of you viewers, but, just like any videos with my son in it, I've watched this video, including showing it to Ikhwan, a countless number of times.
By the way, the song that you (probably could) hear coming from the radio in the background, was Tongue Tied by Faber Drive. I lurrvveeeee this song, and so, here's a video clip on the band too:
The chorus goes:
I need a little more luck than a little bit Cuz every time I get stuck the words won't fit And every time that I try I get tongue tied I need a little good luck to get me by I need a little more help than a little bit Like the perfect one word no one's heard yet Cuz every time that I try I get tongue tied I need a little good luck to get me by this time
10,000 B.C. (Blog 'Comers') - Of blogs and readers
First of all, NO, I'm not going to talk about the upcoming movie, 10,000 B.C., due to be released in March this year (although I do find the poster above pretty 'cool'). Frankly speaking, I'm not even sure if I'm going to watch it, in view that Roland Emmerich's (the producer) movies tend to be all hyped.
Well, I'm actually referring to the hits counter for this blog which had passed the 10 000-visitor mark, a day after I posted my review on Cloverfield. Glad? Yes, I have to admit that - I consider it my personal 'victory' that the number of visitors are slowly increasing. Proud? Absolutely not... for if you read properly, I did say slowly increasing... :-0
When I started off this whole blog project, I thought of it as more of my personal diary (but for the whole word to see? haha). Then, occasionally I put up stuffs that I got from emails and those things I read from somewhere and I began to comment on them. I had also published some of the things (mainly poems) which I wrote when I was still a member to Toastmasters Club. Then, there are also movie reviews plus my insights on some of the issues out there.
After some time, I found myself eager to write on things I see, stuffs I experience, thoughts I ponder and those feelings inside me.Perhaps, my liking for writing was screaming to come out. After all, I've always loved to write - I started keeping my journal back when I was 10, and became the head editor and contributed articles (Malay and English languages) for my school magazine when I was 12. Not to forget, the monthly magazine Ragam A. Nizar, that I religously 'published' for my own safekeeping.
Despite the eagerness, due to time constraint, I can hardly keep this blog regularly updated, unlike some of the more popular blogs out there which are updated daily. Frankly speaking, I find it amazing there are those who really have the time in doing so; their entries even come complete with photos and drawings every time.
I hardly bothered to actively promoting this blog in the first place other than informing families and friends. Speaking of the latter, honestly, I admit that I don't really have that many friends (which is why I'm so thankful now that I have my wife and kiddo in my life). I guess that was why I flunked out at those network marketing bussiness which I ventured in. Let's just say - I'm sucked at it!!
Whenever there are emails involving those from my previous schools, more often than not, they would be discussing the activities that they used to do together when we were all still studying. In order to avoid feeling a bit sad and left out (since those activities didn't really involve me), I usually tend to NOT read them. After all, as they say, ignorance is a bliss, right?
I am loner by nature. Yes, that's right - that's who I am. In fact, if I recall correctly, I was always (or perhaps am still) excluded from being a part of any group meetings, group discussions or group outings. Usually, that's fine by me - although I have to say, I just hope my son will fair better when it comes to making and having friends.
Who are friends really, and what makes it ok to say they are your friends? Ok, so I've met some new people from those internet networking groups I've joined in, but is it really enough knowing them just from their photos, the messages that they send to you and having their contacts and email addresses? If I were to put it the same way as Dr. Addison Shepherd had said in an episode of Grey's Anatomy, "If I had gone missing, I wonder how long does it take for anyone to notice". Likewise, if I want to be mean, I can also say that I may be hardly affected if some of my contacts are missing from my life.....Heck, I hardly know most of the people whose emails and contact nos. I have anyway. In fact, I doubt it'd make any difference if I delete those 'unknown' contacts from my address book and phone memory.
Back to promoting this blog; I have this as my email signature - http://boulevard-ijab.blogspot.com/ - For those who matter and for things that count. Explore thoughts in my head, opinions I can conceive, experiences I encounter and talents that I possess.
I usually email my contacts whenever I have posted an article worth telling them about, or have a latest video on my son that I wish them to view.
My memberships in those Internet networking groups may have also helped to propel the no. of hits (since I provide a link to this blog in my profile).
Although those who comment on my writings are still pretty much the same people, the statistics have shown the daily hits have doubled and at times, tripled from how it was used to be. Nothing to brag about, since the numbers are still very small, and this is still a 'small' blog compared to some blogs out there, whose loyal readers can be up to a few hundreds (if not thousands) and which have the Netizens raving about.
Despite personal stories cover about 80% of the things I write in this blog, like I said before, I do cover other topics and issues as well. Thanx to that (the somewhat wide range of topics), people have also come across my blog by chance too, after searching certain keywords vide the internet search engines which had lead them to this blog.
Weird enough, sometimes, this blog doesn't really have anything remotely related to those keywords and yet, the search engines point to this blog as one of the results. I have nothing to complain about that. At least they get to know there is a person by the name of Abdun Nizar, whose blog is rather philosophical at times, with witty thoughts here and there; whose best friends and life companions are his families, especially his wife and kid. They (wife and kid) are his life, they are his soul - they give him purpose, they give him hope and they fill the void inside him. Although sometimes his patience, courage and fear are tested and he has to face off his inner demons once in a while, he realises that having and keeping a family is a no laughing matter.... and he's willing to brave them (inner demons) like a warrior facing a monstrous creature (see above poster)!
When the movie ‘Blair Witch Project’ hit the big screen almost 10 years back, it made headlines and created a lot of buzz, especially among the Netizens (those who frequent the World Wide Web). Long before the movie was released, the movie makers aroused people’s interests due to the whole movie was documentary-like, i.e. shots made by some ‘student filmmakers’ who were investigating the eponymous local legend, the Blair Witch. In other words, people got to view the horror that the characters experienced after getting lost deep in the woods, through the lenses of video cameras taken by them. Back then, some viewers were naïve enough (if not foolish) to think that it was a true story and those characters did actually get murdered.
It was said that the movie’s documentary –style was inspired by the opening scene of another hit horror movie, (the original version of) Texas Chainsaw Massacre (TCM). Another unique feature of the Blair Witch movie was that its cost of production was so low, the profit that the movie had reaped could be considered staggering.
If TCM inspired the makers of the Blair Witch movie, the latter had inspired the making of another movie, released this year. The year 2008 opened with a bang, not from the firecrackers that lit up the skies during New Year celebrations, but from the roar of a new monster movie - Cloverfield. Talk about a monster movie, surely one would suspect, it must be influenced by another monster movie. True enough. Well, let’s just say, combine Blair Witch and errrr, sadly to say, Godzilla, plus a little bit of Alien, a reminiscent of the 9/11 tragedy and the movie Escape from New York (which inspired the Liberty head scene), Cloverfield was born. Then, as Manal had commented (see the comment section), it was probably inspired by those live recordings (as recorded by human activists) on the horrors of the Israeli regimes tormenting the palestinian kids too (although I doubt this was the source of inspiration).
If you were not a fan of either the Blair Witch or Godzilla, don’t be put off to watch Cloverfield. This is one good example of how one can use ideas that have been used before, but still end up with something that is somewhat original, impressive and awesome.
(A word of caution: continue reading this at your own risk - spoilers ahead!) Through the lens of a video camera recorded by a character, Cloverfield shows you the mayhem that ensues when a monster attacks the city of New York. Hear the horrific sounds that the monster and its children make (yes, you read that right, this particular monster brings along it vicious little children to terrorise us humans). Despite no music score whatsoever, with the help of Dolby Surround sound, the shriek of the monster(s) is menacing enough, the blasts of the guns and bombs are shattering to the ears and the screams of the people feel very close to you.
In Cloverfield, unlike most other monster and disaster movies, you don’t get to see hi-tech gadgets and weaponry, nor any heroic characters trying to save the world. In Cloverfield, everyone is pretty much trying to save themselves. You won’t hear people throwing comments and theories over the origin of the monsters, or ways to kill them. In Cloverfield, you pretty much hear comments made by the person behind the camera most of the time, and comments made by those around him.
Putting the monsters aside, Cloverfield centers around five young people – two brothers, Robert and Jason Hawkins, Lily (Jason’s girlfriend), Hud (a close friend to the brothers), Beth (Robert’s close friend cum soul-mate?) and Marlena (Hud has a crush on her). The movie starred Mike Vogel as Jason (he is said to be Hollywood’s next action hero who appeared in the remakes of Poseidon and TCM before); Michael Stahl-David as Robert (best known for his role in TV series, The Donnellys), Jessica Lucas as Lily (starred in She’s The Man), Lizzy Caplan as Marlena (known for her role in Mean Girls) and the rest are relatively newcomers.
Back to the movie - Robert and Beth were long-time buddies. Jason got his job promotion and would be transferred to Japan. What a perfect timing for romance to spark between the two and for them to cross over from friendship to relationship. But when Robert’s brother and friends threw a surprised farewell party for him, Beth showed up with a date. They both ended up having a fight and Robert threw some sarcastic words just before Beth left the party.
During the party, Hud was appointed by Jason to record goodbye wishes from those who attended the party. Reluctant at first, Hud was tricked into doing the job after hearing Marlena would be there that night. From that point henceforth, Hud would be the man behind the camera, recording the events that followed.
The first tremor was felt while Robert was discussing his Beth issue with Jason and Hud. A few blocks went dark for a few minutes after electricity was cut off. A news broadcast suggested an earthquake, and reported an oil ship had toppled over near the Statue of Liberty. Since Robert’s apartment was close to the Statue, they thought of getting a better view from up the roof.
While up on the roof, they heard a few sirens had went off. Tensions flare. At that point of time, Hud brought up the same thing I had in mind. What a spot on! He said something like this to Robert, “You wished you had left sooner, didn't you, Robert?”
What was great about the movie is that as Hud’s camera moves about, we feel the movie is taking us along for the ride. We feel like the attack is real enough and the monsters (especially the ‘mother’) are actually right in front of us. We feel the adrenalin rushes through our veins, as the characters run for their lives; how loud and scary it would be to be caught in the middle of combat as the armies try to shoot down the monster; and how shocking it must be to witness the Liberty head being thrown off or the bridge ripped apart or the slanting apartment building, lying precipitously against another building or the giant monster, crawling its way through the city.
Some memorable scenes would be the first giant explosion with debris hitting the nearby buildings, the Liberty head rolling along the street, the attack at the Brooklyn bridge, the first close up view of the giant monster caught by Hud’s camera and the final REALLY close up view of the giant monster caught by Hud’s camera.
The movie brilliantly shows the first glimpses of the monster (and its children) via news broadcast over the TV, as air and ground news cameramen caught shots of them. I too found myself peeking, hoping the TV news would do justice in showing how the monster looked like.
The movie had a few scenes that evoked emotion of sadness. Like the scenes when the monster attacked right above Jason’s head, when Robert relayed the news about his brother’s death to his mother and the final death scenes.
As I mentioned earlier, due to the ‘nature’ of the movie, the movie feels real. As a result, the conversation among the characters doesn’t sound scripted and the acting looks natural. If this were real life and you were one of them (character-wise), who would you be? I think I’m more like the Hud character – speaking my mind that irritates people (like the scene in the tunnel when Hud remembers the story about the homeless being torched to death – not the kind of story you wanna hear while walking through a dark tunnel, would you?), easily manipulated and used by other people (Hud was tricked into recording the party, remember?) and still wanting to record despite people telling me not to.
With regard to the latter, a friend commented the movie is illogical since Hud still wants to continue recording despite the life and death situations. But then, as Hud had put it, “People are gonna wanna know you know, how it all went down.” After all, if we don’t put logic outside the door, many movies (if not all) would not have been created in the first place.
But I do want to comment on one particular scene though, i.e. after Jason was killed. It would have been perfect if Hud doesn’t focus right on the faces of his friends, especially Robert’s. I mean, Hud is not some heartless news cameraman whose only interest is to capture people’s expression during times of sorrow and broadcast that for the whole world to see. Hud too is a close friend to all of them, especially Jason and Robert.It would have been perfect if Hud just drops the camera and tries to comfort his friends but at the same time, despite lying on the pathway, somehow, the video camera still manages to record them (since this is quite an important scene and I think Stahl-David’s credibility as an actor is tested here). Also, the part where the soldiers agree to allow Robert to rescue Beth is very Hollywood-like.
Despite its flaws here and there, Cloverfield is still a splendid monster movie to start off the year and is one of the best. Buy a ticket or two, join the ride – you won’t regret it!
P/S: Just a reminder to my fellow Muslims, if you do want to watch this movie or any movie for that matter, let’s not forget our duty for Allah, shall we (you know what I mean)...
The Oxford Dictionary says "boulevard" means wide city street, often with trees on each side. As for me, "boulevard" is the path that I thread my way through in life. At times, the trees give me protection from the hot sun above. While at other times, no amount of trees can comfort me when it pours. Come rain or shine, the road continues to provide me with the journey of life until it reaches its destination.
People say I'm sweet, kind, a gentleman, caring, romantic and observant (let's just concentrate on the good attributes). I love those who matter to me, and care about things that count. I'm a Malay Muslim and proud to be one. I DON'T think Islam should be judged by those nasty followers. Islam should be judged by the religion itself; its teachings and the purpose behind them. I mean, humans will still behave like humans right? Usually, regardless of religions that they embrace. It is also in my nature to please, since I believe that TO PLEASE EVERYONE IS AN IMPOSSIBLE FEAT, BUT NOT TRYING TO PLEASE ANYONE OTHER THAN ONESELF IS A POSSIBLE DEFEAT (own quote). Apart from sharing the things I read, watch and listen to, I'd also share my thoughts and feelings, and express my views on certain issues. Last by no means least, I WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM EVERYONE OF YOU OUT THERE ABOUT ANYTHING! If we knew each other 'in the previous life' and had lost contact, or we hardly contact each other nowadays, do email me or comment on my entries. Feel free to explore my blog & website (http://members.fortunecity.com/abdunmy/). Cheerio & Wassalam.
Sometimes, to boldly go (where no one has gone before) at warp speed may cause you unnecessary troubles.
Own quote, based on Star Trek
Lesson from the quote: Rushing to reach your destinations or goals may get you there fast, but may not always be the smartest thing to do!
"Note The Quote (Malay translation)"
Kadang kala, perjalanan (ke tempat yang tidak pernah ditujui) pada kelajuan maksimum boleh menyebabkan kesusahan pada diri sendiri.
Rekaan sendiri, berdasarkan dari Star Trek
Pengajaran: Terburu-buru untuk sampai ke destinasi atau matlamat hidup mungkin boleh membawa kita ke sana dengan cepat, tetapi langkah itu tidak semestinya yang terbaik!
You have to find something that you love enough to be able to take risks, jump over the hurdles and break through the brick walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don't have that kind of feeling for what it is you are doing, you'll stop at the first giant hurdle.
George Lucas (Film Director and Producer)
"Favourite Note The Quote 2"
A sign in a mosque on the need to switch off handphones:
P/S: Email me if you wish to receive a "Weekly Note The Quote" newsletter, a compilation of quotations that appear here in this column or in any of my blog entries within a particular week. Please put Note The Quote in your email subject. TQ.
If you have a specific field/term to search on Islam, you can also enter your search item(s) at Islamic Web Directory, available at the bottom of an entry entitled Proofs. For your convenience in accessing the Directory, Proofs is available in "Other own (cool) stuffs" column. Thank you.
Penguin Rush
I was so delighted to find out last Wednesday that the photo I sent to the Pa & Ma magazine is featured in the 'Mandi Manda' column of the August edition, that I showed the column to some of my colleagues. 
