Honey, I shrunk the moon.

Hello World!

ok.. now.. for the much delayed entry..

I started this entry in Abu Dhabi while on flight.. didn't get it completed coz my laptop konked out on me.. so here goes..

Marriage life is seriously fantastic.

If I would have known it, I would have gotten married 10 years ago.

But that puts my wife in Pri 2.. so I guess I really have no choice but to wait.. and we met when the conditions were perfect..

So now.. she's turning 18, and a perfect wife..

And as I had promised her..

I promised her a proper engagement..

and a proper engagement period that lasted 12 months and 2 weeks.

a proper dowry..

a proper wedding..

and a proper marriage..

And here's the details of our proper honeymoon..

its really gonna be detailed coz itz my journal for the honeymoon.. and not so much being a blog entry.. so itz chronological, dry and long.. but at least, 20 yrz from now, my children can read abt their parents' honeymoon..

but anyway, me being me, I'm always long winded..

We left for our honeymoon a month after our wedding, on 9th Feb, a day after I returned from Ahmedabad.

And this is what happened after I came back from Ahmedabad.

8th Feb 2008

I received a call from my mom, saying that my eldest brother, Zainuddin, was in the hospital, in a coma. Apparently, the night before, he started throwing up, and refused to see the doctor. His wife was with him, and she saw blood stains in the toilet after he left.

He threw up again the next morning, and his wife said that he threw up a pail full of blood. He slipped into a coma and she called the ambulance.

He never regained consciousness.

At 2am on 9th Feb, my eldest brother passed away in Changi General Hospital.

9th Feb 2008

Departing for Vancouver

At 7am, I had to be at the airport to leave for Vancouver. The timing this time wasn't good coz of the fact that I had just lost my brother a few hours before.. but the trip had been confirmed and paid for and my leave had started and therefore there's no way we could push the trip even a day further..

My parents, Mother-in-law and Sis-In-Law Sayida sent us to the airport. And so, it started my wife's first trip out of Singapore on an international flight.

We all had breakfast together at Ya Kun at T3.. Sayida blanja us all except for my wife who looked too nervous abt the flight to care for breakfast. At 8am, we made our way to the gate at A21, right at the end of the terminal.

Took a flight from Singapore to transit in Incheon Airport, Seoul. The first leg of the flight was uneventful.. except for the take-off, in which my wife managed to get over her fear of flying within minutes.. There was a Canadian fella seated next to us on that sector. And 6 hrs after, my wife set foot on Korean soil..

We had a short transit, where we had some drinks to finish up whatever Korean Won that I had with me from my previous Seoul flight. The flight from Seoul to Vancouver was pretty light, so we got a change of seats while we were on transit to get the seats right at the back of the aircraft.

It was so light that my wife managed to get a 3-seat to lie down and sleep thru the flight. Anyway, itz always good when u have friends working and somehow I had friends working on all 3 sectors of our honeymoon..

Arriving into Canada



On 9th Feb, at 11am, my bride set foot on the Northern American continent, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was nice and bright, with a slight drizzle at abt 8 degrees.

We went to the pre-booked car rental at Thrifty at the Vancouver Airport, and she got her first taste of Canadian hospitality thru the first interactions with the Thrifty Car Rental staff by the name of Brian.. Brian gave us directions to the city where we were heading to, to go to the hotel.. and to the shopping mall, which was the second largest in Canada, Metropolis at Metrotown, for us to buy a pair of boots for her.

The mall was abt 45 minutes away from the airport, a lil bit to the east towards the direction to the city.. so we decided that we should go buy the boots before going into the city itself..


Spotted some Canadian Idol hopefuls abt to audition at the mall..

So, after more than an hour of scouting, we found a nice pair of white boots.. which looks perfect for the snowy weather ahead..

And of all ppl that we met in that big mall, which was 45 mins drive away in the big city of Vancouver in the big state of British Columbia in the big country of Canada.. we saw the same guy that was seated next to us in the plane from Singapore to Seoul, in the same shop that we were in, buying a pair of shoes.

now.. THATS creepy for the three of us..

Anyway, we bought food supplies for our upcoming week stay in Canada in a Chinese supermarket called T & T, and drove to the city to check-in into the Sutton Place hotel.

I had stayed in that hotel several times before.. and the service in that hotel had never fallen below fantastic. We had a night stay there as the motel that we were supposed to stay in Whistler's were booked for that day and will only be available on the next day.

Spent the rest of the day, which wasn't much to be left with, in the city.. we went for a walk along the city street and had dinner at a Thai restaurant along Robson Street.. itz at about 5 degrees and as usual, it was raining in Vancouver..

So I used my supertraveller power as a Cabin Crew to show my wife around the city streets.. including, and especially the almost-famous Starbucks cafes located diagonally across each other along Robson St and Thurlow St..

It was raining, wet and dark.. and therefore, not much of a sight left of the fantastic city..

We shared chocolate crepes and walked ard a lil bit more and bought some nice bubble bath soap before retiring for the first night of our honeymoon..

10th Feb 2008

Woke up early the next day coz we had to check-out of the hotel to make our way to Whistler's.. we stopped over at the IGA Marketplace along Burrard St, just next to the hotel.. to get more foodstuffs for our trip..

And itz damn hard to get a full cream milk in Vancouver. almost everyone that we see are 1 to 3% fat.. and i'ld drink water rather than that.

Soon after, we made our way to Whistler's Mountain.. where the trip actually begins..


Rain.. as we were driving over the Lion's Gate Bridge..

It rains all the time anyway, so it was pretty heavy by the time we made our way out of the city..

It took us abt 3 hrs to drive up to Whistler's.. and this time, I didn't lose my way like the previous trips I had to Whistler's.. and even when I did the previous times.. it wasn't really that bad.. it was more like some missed turns and lost junctions.. nothing major.. but everything went fine on this trip..

We had our lunch in a McDonald's restaurant along the way.. and somehow, the really short time we spent there was really beautiful.. perfect cold weather.. perfect day.. perfect girl.



The perfect girl..

We made our way after McDonald's and a little candy-shopping spree at the 7-11 next door for the remaining part of the drive..

We drove pass beautiful landscapes and sceneries and a really huge rainbow that really ended next to where we were driving.. but therez no leprechauns or pots of gold.. coz I think most of them had gone back to Ireland to prepare for St Patricks day..

As I had highlighted to my wife.. the part where it tells u that u are close to Whistler is when.. the rain stops, and the snow begins..

And not too long after the McDonald's stop, the snow really began..

After 3 hrs, and a little wrong turn, we arrived at the hotel we booked.. Whistler Resort and Club.. located abt 5 mins walk away from the Creekside.. and abt 5 mins drive to the Whistler's Village..

We checked in into the hotel.. a small and modest one.. but with an extremely nice and friendly group of staff.. and went out to walk to the Creekside, to get to Village..


Her first snow..

Well.. that was what we planned anyway.. not knowing that the Creekside was not really a walking distance to the Village..

We walked around a lil bit at the Creekside, which was already closed coz it had gotten dark.. and soon after, went back to the hotel to get the car to drive to the Upper Village of Whistler's..



At the Creekside..


At the Village..

We walked for abt 1 1/2 hrz at the Village.. to enjoy the cold and the night scenery and to do the booking for the skiing lesson, and went back to our room soon after to have dinner and sleep..


At the window of our room..

Due to the tight bookings that they had in the hotel, we were not able to secure a room with a kitchen area, fireplace and fridge.. and so, thru my wife's suggestion, we actually chilled our milk and ice cream thru the days right outside our window.. by throwing it into the huge pile of snow..


Just like that..

I actually had to use a cookpot to cook dinner.. my limited-ingredient Nasi Lemak with a bottled Sambal Iikan Bilis we got from the supermarket at Metropolis, and sardines the next day, with some chilli flakes..

We actually had more food than we can consume..

11th Feb 2008

The next day, we rose up early to go up the mountain to ski..

The whole process of registration and getting the equipments took abt half an hour.. and we joined the group that was already waiting for us.. made up of mainly an Indian family from England.. and so there we were, an Indian couple from Singapore.. adding to the total number of Indians up the mountain..


On the way up the mountain.. on the gondola that brings us up to the ski area..

It was a whole day affair, from 8.45am till 3pm, with a lunch break in between.. in which I really cant tahan so I took off my ski boots coz I could almost hear my feet scream in pain.. and not long after I did, at the cafeteria.. a woman with ski boots on stepped on my bare feet.. taking off some skin from my little toe on my left feet.

GAWDDAMMIT.

tell u.. the pain was worse than circumcision multiplied by a thousand.

ok.. nemind.. I tried to ignore the pain thru the entire day and went back skiing..


My little Winter Olympian..


Us.. on top of a mountain..

And my wife.. who turned out to be a pretty talented first time skier (I was too.. minus the pretty and the talented.. just being a first time skier) didn't even fall while skiing thru the entire long lesson..

But she fell twice on the lift.. sort of like a travellator.. coz rather than standing still and watching where it was heading.. she was always bz doing everything else and talking to me who would normally be behind her..


That's the lift.. and that's her, looking back, and not forward..

I think she's the only one who have the tendency to fall on the lift..

After the lesson, we stayed on a little bit till they closed the mountain, went back down and walked and shopped a little bit at the village.. and booked a snowmobile tour for the next day..

And after the tiring day.. we headed back to the hotel and rested..

12th Feb 2008

The next morning.. we headed back to the Village for the snowmobile tour.. we set off quite early and were in the same group with several other ppl, including a lone Japanese girl who walks around with socks and crocs and an American couple from Washington State, who had been married for abt 2 centuries..

ok.. I think they had been married for abt 40 or 50 years.. I cant remember.. but itz really THAT long..

And we went on the snowmobile trip up and down the mountain for really breathtaking sights..


REALLY BEAUTIFUL..

The good thing abt Whistler's is that, itz a tourist place.. almost run by tourists..

A huge number of the ppl who works there are tourists.. I guess the kind that came and don't wanna leave.. and everyone here is really just too nice..

The place is full of friendliness and warmth despite the cold.. and thats the reason why I chose this place for my honeymoon.. and I knew that when I changed my honeymoon plans from Switzerland to Canada, my wife was disappointed.. but she saw the reason behind that as soon as she arrived there..

She didn't wanna leave..

Itz just too perfect.. and this is the only place in the world that I had been to.. and I had really been to a LOT of places.. but the only one that I felt like I wanted to quit my job immediately and move there..

So for those of you who have not planned for ur honeymoon yet.. go to beautiful Canada..

After the tour.. we walked around a little bit more and shopped a little bit more and had a romantic dessert at a nice little restaurant..


And again, after a tiring day, we went back and retired for the nite..

13th Feb 2008

We checked out the next day, to head back to Vancouver Airport.. which was kinda sad coz we had a wonderful time at Whistler's.. and all good trips have to come to an end else u are migrating there..



Our rental car.. a red Yaris.. nice and economical, but not a good choice if u have a lot of luggages..

We had a 3 hrz drive back, stopping over for a burger lunch again at the same McDonald's we stopped by on the way up..

This time, halfway thru the meal, we managed to sit right in front of the fireplace in the McDonald's, to make up of the lack of fireplace in our accommodation in Whistler.. beautiful sight, beautiful girl.

All nice meals have to end too.. so we made our way back to the city, to head back to the airport..

But then again.. before we got to the airport.. we stopped for a while to take some pics through the journey..



At Alice Lake.. but nothing much to be seen now coz the place is just full of snow..




A beautiful stopover at the highway..

We decided to stop over in the city to top up the gas for the car so we don't need to pay the excess to the car rental company.. and therefore, ended up at a gas station near Marina Drive.. and therez an extremely tourist-unfriendly law in British Columbia that states that from 1st Feb 2008, all fuel must be pre-paid 24 hrs in advanced.

That means that if you want to get some gas for the car today, you must have paid for it yesterday.

If u didn't.. too bad.

Before my frustration sets in, the cashier decided to give some leverage to me and allowed me to top up the gas.. for reasons I shall withhold..

We drove back to the airport and returned back the car to Thrifty.. and checked in for an Air Canada flight to cross the country for a 4 1/2 hrz flight across to the east coast.. to the city of Toronto, Ontario.


She just can't resist to take a pic of this guy..

Arriving into Toronto

We arrived in Toronto at abt 1am, after being delayed for almost an hour out of Vancouver..

Well.. itz Air Canada and not the world's #1 airline from Singapore anyway.. and got out to be greeted by my aunt and uncle who lives there..

They migrated to Toronto close to 40 years ago.. my aunt was a former Malaysian who lived in Singapore and met my uncle who was from Guyana, and travelled to Singapore with the British Army for the Indonesian Confrontation..

Anyway, we got a newfound addiction in Toronto..

Tim Horton's..

Itz not just the bagels with poppy seeds and sesame and cream cheese, and the hot chocolate and French Vanilla Latte.. itz the place itself.. the ambiance, color, lights.. so, for the entire duration of the trip.. we were hooked to Timmy's..

14th Feb 2008

We spent the day at home, and the later part of it just around the city of Brampton, where my aunt stays.. at the mall nearby called Bramelea City Centre and had our dinner there at Popeye's.. and to Walmart, where my wife had one of her dreams fulfilled.. to shop in Walmart..



ok.. it might not mean so much to u American fellas.. but we don't have Walmart here.. just Mustafa Centre..

Which is better than Walmart, btw..

Didn't do much else on that day though...

15th Feb 2008

We went off to visit my uncle at his workplace, which is an Islamic Cultural Centre in Toronto, called Noor Centre.. which was founded by the Lakhani family.. we did our Friday prayers there and spent the rest of the evening and money shopping in Yorkdale mall..

Where she got to go to this place..


And this..


And this.. not just La Senza..


Had our dinner at the foodcourt there and went back home..

We had our Bourne trilogy marathon in Toronto, with the first two installments on the first two nights..

16th Feb 2008

Started our day quite early to drive from Brampton to Niagara to view the natural wonder of the world.. Niagara Falls..

I had seen pictures of it since I was a kid thru the pictures that my mom showed me when she went there for 3 months in 1981.. and Toronto had ever since been my dream destination.. so it was a dream come true for me to get to go to Toronto, finally.. and with my beautiful bride during my honeymoon.. it just cant get any better..

I had seen clips of Niagara Falls from the movie Superman II since I was a kid too..

And viewing it in real life is totally different from what I had always envisioned..



Coz it was all frozen..

it was freezing cold in Niagara.. and it was reflected in the glaciers that we saw..



Imagine MASSIVE volume of water from the top, crashing down to the river.. and being frozen almost immediately as they reached the bottom..


The American falls looked so small and cute compared to the Canadian Niagara.. and it was really a breathtaking sight..

And it was freezing cold where we were too so we had to cut short the view and leave.. to head down to my cousin's place at Kitchener..

My cousin, Kamal, lives with his wife and two beautiful babies, Malek and Nala.. Malek being the intuitive one with good memory and DAMN GOOD KNOWLEDGE OF CARS at abt 5 yrz old.. and 3 yr old Nala, who is the epitome of feminineness.. and have a passion for ballet..


Nala and Malek.


Us.. with the kids..

We stayed over for the night in their beautiful home.. and not only that.. the couple gave up their bedroom for us..

Thatz so touchingly unbelievable coz we never expected that from them and didn't ask for it. We would have been comfortable in the basement, and they insisted that we take their bed and they sleep in the basement..

It was a beautiful basement though.. with a big kickass HDTV, in which we stayed up for several hours watching the last of the Bourne trilogy..


Clockwise from top left.. Me, Kamal, Tracy, Nala, My Aunt Asmah, Malek, and my beautiful bride..

17th Feb 2008

Went out with my cousin to the St Jacob's village, to go to a marketplace where the Mennonites trade..

Mennonites are like the Amish.. they don't use electricity or phones, and no cars either.. so they are still with horses and carriages..

Unfortunately, maybe due to the cold weather or the fact that it was a Sunday so they might be in church, we didn't get to see any of them.. so we ended up at St Jacob's factory outlet mall.. and got quite a number of good stuffs..

like Levi's jeans for 21 bucks?

And 3-piece Samsonite bags for $200? which normally would be selling at abt $400 to $500?

After that short shopping trip, we got back to Kamal's place and soon enough, went back to my aunt's place in Brampton.. with a short dinner stopover at Bramelea..


A novelty hair salon for kids called MelonHead..

That night, we all had some rough work to do..


My uncle had to remove the ice from the windscreen for the trip the next day..


I had to clear some choke in the toilet..


And my wife was just about to shovel the snow for the entire neighbourhood.. but the snow just had to fall again..

Well.. anyway.. we spent a lil time outside at the driveway shovelling snow, and my wife collected some snow to pack it back home..

Before we left Vancouver, she actually had wondered whether were there any snow in Toronto..

18th Feb 2008

The next day.. we took at subway train out to the city.. hitched a ride from my aunt to Bramelea, and took a bus to Yorkdale.. had some bagels at Tim Horton's and then we switched to the subway to the city..

In the subway..

We spent a lil bit of the day walking around the city of Toronto.. going a lil bit here and there at Eaton Centre, the Old and New City Halls and viewing the CN Tower from the street..



Actually.. this pic was taken 2 days before that when we drove pass the tower..


Old City Hall.. and this pic too.. taken a few days before..

Nothing much that we could do there coz the place is closed due to a public holiday called Family Day.. the first of such a holiday in Canada which coincide with the American President's day..


Some kids ice skating in the city..

And a squirrel posing for a pic..

We left soon after to go back to my aunt's place coz we were invited for dinner at Aunt Venrah's place.. who is a friend of my aunt who came over and stayed at my place for a couple of weeks in December for her holiday.. she didn't get to attend our wedding, so I brought my bride there for Aunt Venrah to meet her for the first time as my wife instead of my fiancee..

After dinner, we went back to my aunt's place and packed for our flight the next day..

19th Feb 2008

We started very early in the morning to head down to Buffalo.. which is across the border in United States coz the flight tickets from Buffalo to JFK Airport was like $200 cheaper per person, compared to Toronto's Pearson Airport.. so my aunt and uncle had to drive us down to the States.. which they were definitely not excited abt coz, as my uncle put it.. u get anything u want in Canada.. so there's no reason to go to there..

Which is true anyway.. except for Disneyland.. u don't get Disneyland in Canada.. and I think thatz it..


Hanging Traffic Lights out of Toronto to Buffalo..

So we said goodbye to Canada.. after a week long stay in the beautiful country, with the beautiful ppl, my beautiful family on the second half of the week, beautiful bagels in beautiful Timmy's.. to head down to the place which is of the exact opposite.. New York City..

Arriving in New York City


The hour-long flight from Buffalo to John F Kennedy Airport in New York City on JetBlue was quite uneventful.. except that they serve naturally blue colored potato chips..

weird..

We had to take the AirTrain to Jamaica station to get to the city.. and initially, we got on the wrong side of the track and ended up elsewhere, moved back to the terminal, and finally, after asking the reception and an hour pushing and pulling the bags, we got to the NYC subway station..

Took the subway to head down to our hotel at Park Central, and almost crashed as soon as we arrived..

After checking in, we walked around a lil bit, and my wife, who had gotten used to the extreme Canadian weather by then, underestimated the cold in NYC.. with the draft blowing in between the buildings, it can get really dreadfully chilly..

Brought my wife to Abercrombie & Fitch's flagship store at 5th Ave, and she saw the Trump Tower nearby.. and walked around the street where she saw the rest of the places.. Broadway, Rockefeller Center, Times Square and the New York Public Library where Peter Parker's uncle got shot..

Rockefeller Center..



Well.. we didn't plan to park here anyway..

A mounted policeman..


And there's more where that came from..

And for those who didn't get to mount horses..


Times Square..


We walked down the street till we get to 34th Street @ Broadway.. and for her to shop at Victoria's Secrets store itself..


Too bad that on this trip, we didn't get to watch any plays at Broadway.. not that I had ever watched any plays at all anyway..

20th Feb 2008

Woke up slightly late coz of the exhaustion, and went over to 49th street's Teriyaki Boy for lunch.. which is basically a cheap Japanese restaurant.. took the train to Battery Park and a ferry ride to Liberty Island..


The Brooklyn Bridge.. from the ferry on the way to Liberty Island..



Ellis Island..

And presenting..


The Lady Liberty herself

We walked around a lil bit at Liberty Island, before heading back to Manhattan..

And to take a tour of the Financial Centre of the world..


The Charging Bull near Wall Street..

Right is for work.. left is for play..

A stretched limo..

And soon after.. we headed down to the other Wonder in NYC.. Century 21.. which is the place that no one should miss if u are ever going to NYC.. and had always been one of my favourite places.. where u can really get real branded stuffs really cheap..

No need to bargain one.. and real some more.. not bedek ones..

After several hours of shopping, we left and walked around WTC Ground Zero, which is nothing spectacular now.. no tourist attractions, memorials.. just a construction area..


Ground Zero..

Soon after that, we went off to Times Square and got halal pizza and brought it back to the room and didn't really get to eat it coz we were too exhausted.


The Pizza Man..

And the little girl eating the huge pizza..

21st Feb 2008

Another day of shopping.. brought my wife for a bus trip to New Jersey.. to an outlet mall called Jersey Gardens.. another place with REALLY GOOD CHEAP STUFFS.. though I cant write here what we bought.. just that we did buy a number of nice things..

After that lil shopping spree, we head back to NYC, stopping over at Times Square..





REAL NYPD..

And we took a lil bit of time to visit some of our friends..


Like Samuel Jackson..


Some notty communist friend of ours..


Some patriotic ones..


Sorry Hill.. as much as we like Bill.. and we like you too... but we Singaporean Democrats are rooting for Obama..

And let me present you.. someone.. who is..

Sexier than Tina Turner..


And prettier than Michael Jackson..


Formerly from Spice Girls..


And the only girl in N'Sync..



As critical as Simon..

once again..

Let me present you..


the American Idol!

Nur Zahirah!

ok.. while she was busy entertaining the crowd.. I had my fair share too..



I met up with Gandhi..


Sang with Bob..

Counted Mick Jagger's bunny teeth..


Chill out with the Osbornes..

And sang with James Brown..

That was a tiring night..

but that was the last nite of our honeymoon..

We spent the rest of the night walking around a lil bit, looking around and bringing my wife to the Grand Central Station and a view of Madison Square Garden from the outside, and to look for food and ended up at Sbarro Pizza between 44th and 45th street..


On the streets of Manhattan, with Chrysler Building in the background..

And soon after, retired back in our room and started packing..

We started with a single luggage, a laptop bag and a cabin bag..

We ended with 2 luggage cargo bags, 2 cabin bags and 2 laptop bags..

And lots and lots of shopping..

22nd Feb 2008

Since our flight back was on a subload ticket, which means, we could only get seats if there were any left.. we had to get to the airport early.. we checked out at 12 noon, and placed our luggages at the concierge..

Went for another lunch at Teriyaki Boy and walked around a lil to look for some typical NYC souvenirs..

There was a snowstorm that morning, and even till noon the snowfall was still very heavy, and the airports had been closed..

Newark Airport, where we were to take our flight back from had been closed for 6 hrs..


The snowstorm..


The aftermath..

So we got our bags, took a private taxi and left for the airport at 4pm.. and our flight was supposed to be at 11pm that night.. but we just couldn't take any chances of getting stuck on the road without being abt to get to the airport at all.. so we became a lil bit kanchong spider to go there early and just sat there for a drink and sandwiches..

We got there at 4.30pm..

But it was ok anyway.. lots of time means that we are safe.. and the counter was open at 7pm.. we got our tickets, and waited for the flight.. and bought coffee and hot chocolate from a rude woman from a makeshift cafe within the gate area..

Damn.. we miss Tim Horton's..

Whistler's was romantic.. Toronto was sweet and family oriented.. New York was exhausting..

And we miss it.. more than Tim Horton's..

The flight back was quite light too.. a direct flight from Newark to Singapore, for 18 hours.. and we had wonderful crew on board again.. but then again.. what else can u expect from Singapore Airlines rite.. itz always wonderful.. and if I ever quit and be a paying pax, I'ld fly with Singapore Airlines too..

My wife, who had a fear of flying.. or rather.. fear for the fast speed that the aircraft takes off with, had 5 flights within 2 weeks, on 3 airlines.. and she got out of that fear within minutes of our first flight out from Singapore to Seoul..

And managed to compare the airlines.. Singapore Airlines, Air Canada and JetBlue.

And the verdict was really no brainer..

heh.. no wonder we are #1..

And so.. on 24th Feb 2008, we arrived in Singapore.. at the end of our honeymoon..

and the outcome of it all?


Our very own 1cm Pakistani fella, with a heartbeat of 149bpm..

That's a LOT of work for a lil kid..

With This Ring I Thee Wed..

Itz 17th jan 2008 now. 12.45am, and I'm in my hotel room in Seoul.

My first flight since I got married.

Itz 17th January 2008. my 2 weeks wedding anniversary.

I'm married.

I'm married.

I'm REALLY married.

I had been married for 2 weeks.

2 beautiful weeks.

Nothing is better at night than to kiss a gorgeous girl before u go to sleep.

And nothing is better in the morning then to wake up and see a beautiful face next to you.

We had spent 11 days being together for 24 hrs every day. and my first night being alone in my hotel room is not going on too well.

American Idol 7 on Star World now is making it worse. Last yr, we watched most of the episodes of AI6 together while singing the AI theme Ahh-Ahhhh whenever the commercial ends.. and rooting for Melinda Doolittle and watching The Dance Floor and rooting for Vas and Pris and the group of the funny Malay hip hop dancers (i cant remember the group name though)..

ok... I was singing the Ahh-Ahhhh and was rooting for Melinda.. she was rooting for whoever I was rooting for coz she loves me.

I'm alone now and I'm missing my wife badly.

2 weeks ago, on the 3rd of January 2008, marked the most important day of my life.

No matter how long u had to prepare for that day, no matter how much u psyched urself up, nothing can be more daunting yet exhilaratingly bipolar than the real thing..

Trust me. Its nothing short of being SCARY.

I had 12 and a half months to prepare myself mentally and it all boils down to a single date.

03rd Jan 2008..

And approximately 9.40pm, I became a married man. She became my wife.

Its the fear of the process. The process that takes a few seconds for me to utter the words..

And I made it!

Just once.. thatz all it took. If u screw it up, thatz it. Forever ppl will talk abt it when they talk abt ur wedding..

Do you remember Zul? The fella who had to repeat his vows twice?

ermz..

thatz *NOT* gonna happen..

Thank God they wont talk like that when they talk abt *MY* wedding vows..

And after that few seconds were over, and I said my oath for my husbandly responsibilities, I went into the room to meet my princess as my wife for the very first time..

The very first kiss



The moment that changed my entire life

We went thru some picture takings and congratulatory wishes from so many ppl.. and I went back to my cousin's place that night, while my wife stayed over at her place.. and we spent our first night being husband and wife being apart.

Itz just a tradition kinda thing that they asked from us whether could we just wait for a few more days before we live together..

On Friday afternoon, we spent our first day together as husband and wife walking around Jurong Point..

On Saturday night, we had a dinner reception at Lagun Sari Indonesian Restaurant.. we paid abt $11,000 for 300 pax and printed cards with RSVP requests..

ok.. here's how it goes.. abt Wedding Invitations..

Dinner for abt $35 per person.

My parents were given the priority for invitations.. I took the rest after inviting most of my friends for the Sunday's reception.. I didnt really have time to prepare the invitation listing too and ended up having to invite some of my friends thru sms and online coz I couldnt get their contact numbers on time.

Out of those invited, 1 RSVP-ed saying that he will come.

He didnt.

Out of those invited, abt 40% replied to my sms saying that they could not make it..

Thatz a day before the reception.

Abt 20% didnt reply.

And therefore, on the very day of the reception, I was left with almost 50 seats empty.

Thatz abt a pro-rated $1750 worth of empty seats..

I didnt really invite that much cabin crew and pilots coz of our work schedule.. but some made it..

And those who dont fly for a living told me a day before that they are not even in Singapore..

U'ld be surprise on how many of ur non-cabin crew friends are in England on the day that they tell u that they will attend ur wedding. Seriously, 4 ppl told me that.. and 1 in Petaling Jaya.

These are the ppl who asked to be invited.. and some of those whom I met during my reservist and when they found out that I was getting married.. they said.. jangan sombong eh.. kawin mesti invite..

So I put my arrogance aside and invited them..

Répondez s'il-vous-plaît

Thats what RSVP means..

It means.. Please Respond.

ok.. fine.. I know that my wedding is not really that much of a priority, but my advise to u, my dear friends.. when u receive an invitation, do RSVP.. so at least we know what to do with the remaining seats when we have time to do something abt it..

Especially when u asked to be invited..

My mom and brother became my miracle workers and filled up the entire hall within a short span of time.. so it was still a full wedding nevertheless.

ok.. the post-mortem of Lagun Sari's wedding receptions..

It is so simple in theory for these wedding planners.. u have the place and u have the manpower and contacts.. most of the stuffs are outsourced and u have everything all in place.. itz a matter of ordering fresh flowers and cakes and food..

So.. after hearing what was proposed and promised, we settled on a simple gold & white themed wedding, which is, with white table layouts with gold trimmings and individual bouquet of flowers for every table, a 6-tier cheesecake, a white and gold dais, a dance performance and a good MC.

These are what we got..

Gold and white dais and a good dance performance by malay dancers who probably does it every week, and a good video cameraman..

Those are the ONLY things that turned out proper.

The table ended up being white. and single stalks of roses with petals scattered. Cheaply done.

The table arrangements were so bad that some of the tables were hidden behinds walls.

The Mak Andam that was assigned to us was bad. The choice of gowns were so limited and we ended up renting another gown from the another Mak Andam..

Its a wonder how different ppl do things differently when both have the same options and priorities..

Our costume fittings which was done several weeks before were done badly.. And coz she didnt really get in details, we thought she knew what she was doing coz she seemed experienced..

And the end result? it was so screwed that my wife's sleeves were short and my jacket made me look like spongebob.

It was bad and atrociously horrendous.

We didnt really have a choice coz when the frustrations sets in coz it was within 2 hours of the event.

We were set to meet up at Lagun Sari at 5pm, and she called at 1pm to say that she wants us to be there at 4.

HEEELOOOOOOO? I live in Tampines. my wife was in Jurong. my brother Azman who was driving us lives in Toa Payoh and I have a best man and a bridesmaid to fetch. And u tell us 3 hours before that I had to drop every other preparations coz u took up another appointment just before my reception?

She left us within half an hour and another woman who we had never met before became the Mak Andam and having to take all my frustrations and shoutings and became the target of my anger on my wedding day.

The dinner was ok.. the food was good.. or thatz what we were told coz we didnt get to eat anything coz we were rushed for time..

Then we went up to change for the cake cutting ceremony..

The 6-tier cheesecake turned out to be a 2-piece fruit cake, and 3 pieces dummy cakes.

Ang mohs have champagne. so they wanted to simulate that.. but the least they could do was to give us a fruit punch or something.. and what did they really give us to drink?

Plain water in wine glasses.

What the $%#&^@?

A few weeks before the wedding, we heard really bad stories abt Lagun Sari and the wedding planner, Mr Sonato. Stories abt him not fulfilling what he promised..

There were even some stories from ppl who had been outsourced before about him not paying them on time or not even being paid at all.

When we confronted him before the wedding abt the complaints against him and Lagun Sari on the web, he assured us that the complaints were anonymously made and therefore itz not fair to penalise him and we decided that we are gonna give him a chance when he assured us that he will do his best.

So whatz the result of his best?

CRAP.

So, my advise to those who wants to hold their wedding at Lagun Sari is DONT.

And unlike what was claimed by him previously, I dont make the complains anonymously. Feel free to email me and we will give u our contact number, IC number and whatever identification to make a non-anonymous review by a couple who just had their wedding dinner at Lagun Sari.

And from what we gathered from the guests, the service crew did a terrible job too.

Lagun Sari is a bad choice for ur wedding reception. If any of u had planned to have it there, please please please change it.

On Sunday, we had the wedding lunch at my wife's side.. and this time, the mak andam is this girl called Yatee from Lyanaz.. itz her own business and itz obvious from how she works that she has the passion for it.. she pays attention to details.. REALLY CLOSE ATTENTION. and she works so precisely and everything just works.

Her selection of clothings are like tenfold of what the other mak andam has, and she is pleasant and does a very good job despite being young. so, if u are looking for a Mak Andam for ur wedding, call Yatee. Feel free to email me to get her contacts.

We got the bridal gown for the Lagun Sari dinner from her as well..

Another example of how she works..

We requested for a white lenggha and kurta for our nikah day.

She dont have any.

She said that she might be able to borrow from someone.

She didnt.

She bought a totally new pair just to give us what we ask for.. and it was beautiful.

Sunday was a nice day for the wedding, besides the fact that the leader of the kompang group died suddenly a few days after our wedding due to a massive heart attack.

I swear I didnt have anything to do with it.

I spent the next 3 days staying over at my in-laws, despite the initial plan of a week coz my sis-in-law had to sleep in the living room to accomodate me sleeping over.. so after 3 days, we left and on the 12th Jan, we had another wedding reception in Johore for our Malaysian relatives who are unable to attend the Singapore wedding receptions.

As what was done by my wife.. I hereby thank the following ppl..
(if its too long, scroll down quickly)

My Parents, Mr Mohamed & Mdm Zaiton

My Parents In Law, Mr Syed Hamid & Mdm Wahida

My Sister In Law, Sayidatun Nur who doubled up as the Mak Andam for our Johore reception..

My Brothers In Law, Syed Najib, Syed Mohd Syafiq and Mohd Firdaus

Azman & Wife who diligently drove me to anywhere I wanted and belanja me makan..

Azlan & Wife who made some beautiful gifts for my wife..

My sister, Suryati and my niece Ameerah.

My Best Man, Firdaus..

Zahirah's Bridesmaid, my niece Aisha

My Cousin Mr Nordin and wife, Mdm Zaiton and their family..

My Cousin Mr Samsudin and wife, Mdm Jamaliah..

My Cousin Mdm Fadhilla and husband, Mr Kamuri and their family..

My Aunt who flew in from Canada, Mdm Asmah..

My wife's Aunt, Mdm Esah, and husband, Mr Hussein who's cooking I would not recommend to anyone.. coz once u eat her cooking, u'll be so addicted and u wont settle for anything less.. Mami Esah cooked for our nikah and lunch..

My wife's grandfather, Mr Sani..

My wife's other uncles and aunts and cousins..

My relatives.

My wife's relatives.

Mistaken Pirates.. I'm so glad u guys could make it.. my true friends..

My groomsmen.. who had been my buddies for ages.. namely, Meraj, Alfan, Yazid who couldnt make it for the ceremonies but spent the night helping me calm my nerves, Manazil, yang sampai kena hang dengan budak kecik, Maizie & cat, Yazeid from Psychedelic 4 who came down to wish me the night before my nikah..

Erwin

Ili Rozana

My wife's schoolmates from Boon Lay Sec

Yatee, our Mak Andam from Lyanaz

Nizam, our perfectionist photographer from Theme Photography who guided us thru the things we should do

Kamal, our videographer from Lagun Sari, who helped us through our dinner reception

My Pageboys



My flowergirl with her secret dress and noisy shoes



All our guests who turned up that night



And in the day



And in Johore

My brother, Zulfikar and sister in law, Shireen who spent all the time, money and lots of risks to be with me.. and got us a cheesecake in Johore for us to cut coz they knew how disappointed we were with the Lagun Sari wedding cake

And to our distinguished guests..

Chief Minister of Sarawak & Wife

Dato' Dr Ngoi and Wife

Governor of Medan & Wife and their family..

4 tiring events..

But I got the girl in the end and that makes it all worth it.

This girl

Race you till the end..

OK.. I wanna talk abt a damn sensitive issue..

But this is a damn boring and long issue too.. so for those who are not into longwinded and whiny entries, click on the X at the top right hand corner of ur window..

I just need to whine, as usual.. and I have not blogged for a long time coz I didnt have anything to whine abt..

but before I go on.. lemme just say that itz not about race. itz not abt discrimination of ppl who come from any particular country. itz just abt attitude of some of those who came here.. and those who had been here..

If this can piss the authorities off, i'd suggest that they take a hard look at the situation with an angle of view coming from a minority layman.. i'm not trying to stir the hornets' nest here but just hoping that it can be an eye opener to whoever who have the capabilities to make a change.

Recently, there had been a spate of letters in the papers regarding the employment of foreign workers here.. from domestic helpers to expatriates..

Singapore had been having foreign workers as long as we had been in existence.. in fact, besides the Malays, all the rest of our ancestors are foreigners who had localised themselves thru the hundred years or so..

There had always been a social stigma and stereotyping of foreigners here..

Filipinas and Indonesians and Sri Langkans are maids.

Filipinos are musicians.

Thai males are construction workers

Thai females are formerly males

Indians are software engineers

Bangladeshis do everything that everyone else dont want to do..

Ang Mohs are good looking

Ang Mohs are smarter than we are

Ang Mohs are superior beings

Ang Mohs can fly, run faster than a train and wear their underwear outside.

China ppl play ping pong

and so on and so forth..

but of course.. there are Filipinas who are company directors, Indonesian tai tais, Filipino engineers, Indian contract workers, Bangladeshi supermodels, China nationals who works at coffee bean and Ang Mohs who are jobless and pretend to be handicapped and rent their maids out to others.

but we still stereotype.. and we look at the bad side of any given race except for the Ang Mohs..

There was a guy who wrote to the papers citing that when he was working in Australia, he was warmly welcomed and was wondering why Singaporeans treat foreign workers differently..

and i'm pretty sure that he was NOT referring to our Bangladeshi friends who help make Singapore move so precisely like the ticking of a damn expensive rolex watch..

He might be referring to why we cant accept our China national friends who work at coffee bean and cant speak English and the Ang Mohs who are the expatriate bosses of the expensive investment companies..

or maybe he wasnt..

But are we really that transparent that we dont look thru races as differences?

dont get me wrong.. I love the diversity of races that we have here and I dont have problems with foreigners as much as I have problems with the locals.. different ppl of different colours make up an interesting world as long as we dont succumb to supremacists..

again, as I had alwayssssssss mentioned, i'm an Indian man with a Chinese paternal grandmother and I have a lot of Malay friends..

so I'm really quite indifferent abt skin color as long as they are not green and with antennas on top of their heads..

but Singaporeans are not really color blind.. if the Government have not stopped companies from recruiting Chinese and Mandarin speaking ONLY candidates for jobs, Malays will all become footballers and chauffeurs and Indians become condominum security guards..

but thankfully the authorities had put a stop to it and now we all can sit in offices to work for our Ang Moh bosses..

Even then, still some places are openly racist abt job candidates..

Yesterday, while walking around Eastpoint in Simei, I spotted a shop that was looking for shop assistants, and the candidate must be able to converse with Chinese customers..

So what happens if a Non-English speaking Chinese national apply for the job?

might as well put my picture outside the shop and write NO INDIAN CUSTOMERS ALLOWED

coz i'm sure as hell I cant understand Mandarin except for wo pu che tao.

Recently, while at Coffee Bean in Forum Galleria, I was ordering some drinks and wanted to borrow a pair of scissors from the girl at the counter who was taking my order, to cut a packaging from something I just bought..

she went.. huh?

I went again.. can I borrow a pair of scissors?

huh?

sccciissooorss.. and I made a cutting motion with my two fingers..

and she asked me in Chinese whether can I speak Mandarin..

what the hell?!

I assumed that that was the question coz she said something that ends in Hua Yi and I'm pretty sure she wasnt talking abt a secondary school..

I'm an Indian man, for goodness sake.. and we are in Singapore.. I would understand that the situation would warrant it if I am in Shanghai or Beijing.. but here? in Singapore? where I had been living for the past 35 years and have a perfect Singaporean slang.. I'm expected to speak Mandarin?

I dont really care if she cant understand Singaporean accents coz she must... if I am working in New York and I cant understand the New Yorkers heavy accent, should I ask them to speak in Malay coz thatz the only other language that I know?

ok.. so now.. what would happen if I go down to the shop in Simei and wanted to buy something? and I dont speak Mandarin.. hmm.. an outcast in my own country.. dammit.. now I feel so foreign..

or issit a must now that I do learn Mandarin? what if I dont wish to? isnt it my personal rights NOT to learn to speak Mandarin?

or maybe coz itz HER personal right not to want to learn to speak English in Singapore..

My mom related to me once before abt an incident before at her old workplace where a Chinese man called in and spoke in Mandarin..

She asked him to speak in English coz she didnt understand him.. and itz not like as if he couldnt speak English.. coz he went like this..

"Why you dont know how to speak Chinese? you are in Singapore. the Government wants you to speak Mandarin"

She replied.. "no.. thatz only for the Chinese who speaks so many other different dialects. in Singapore we speak English"

and he insisted and got frustrated and asked to speak to her supervisor to complain abt her not being able to speak Mandarin.. so my mom had to transfer his call to herself.

The poor Indian woman had to be harrased by an a sub-intelligent human.

Several months ago, there had been several cases of road accidents involving Chinese nationals who got hit while crossing roads and The New Paper published their sad story abt how they came to Singapore in search of a dream and got it all shattered in the middle of the road..

I do feel sad for them.. but they should have been educated more abt how we are in Singapore..

WE HAVE TRAFFIC RULES.

Which is unfortunate for those who came from China coz the pedestrians dont comprehend the meaning of RULES.

If any of u had the chance to go to China, please do find out for urselves..

If u cant go to China, take a slow drive in the evenings at the junction of Upper Changi Road East and TPE, leading towards Tampines and see the number of Chinese workers cycling along the expressway..

I hereby suggest that foreigners who come to Singapore must be educated in our traffic rules, especially those concerning pedestrian crossings.

Those who intend to work here must be educated in our spoken English and understand that Mandarin is *NOT* the national language.

And btw, my beloved grandmother was a China-born Chinese. and she's VERY Chinese and she didnt get hit by cars.

She died of old age.

My condolences to the family of the dead China nationals but to prevent further accidents, do not cross the road while a vehicle is approaching towards ur direction, even though u might assume that the vehicle have brakes.

now come the Ang Mohs..

i'm not an anti-SPG or anti Ang Mohs coz when they marry our local girls, they produce Pan-Asian supermodels that we can be proud of.

an Ang Moh friend of mine used to say that he loves being in Singapore coz of the preferential treatment that he gets here and in surrounding Asian countries coz we treat the Ang Mohs like kings.. we cant really blame them for liking it coz if u have a privilege, u'ld take it right?

so blame who?

Ourselves lor..

or if u dont want to blame urself for putting them on such high pedestals, dont whine when they take ur girlfriends away.

I have to reiterate the fact that I am neither xenophobic or racist, but merely stating an opinion. and if God had created so many races, who are we to hate them?

letz whine abt something else.. some geeky stuffs..

HP.

I sent my laptop for repair in late October coz it just konked out on me one day..

Waited for 8 days and still no call from them to even give me a quotation. So I called them..

Took another 3 days for the engineer/technician/whoever-the-servicing-fella-might-be to call me and gave me a quotation..

Took them abt 3 weeks to change a stupid motherboard..

they waived a $95 service charge coz I told them that their service sucks so they shouldnt charge for it..

All the 4 ppl who attended to me at the HP Service Centre were abrupt and unfriendly, even though they had a poster stating that if we catch them unsmiling while attending to us, we'll get a surprise gift.. but looking at the faces of those unfriendly ppl.. i'm almost pretty sure that the gift can surprisingly explode and their mission was to kill their customers.

so of course, being me, I told them that they should remove the posters.

But being them, they didnt understand sacarsms..

After making a complaint to the SERVICE QUALITY girl, she told me that she takes it VERY seriously and she will look into it and will email me within 3 days. even after I told her that I cant be bothered abt the reason behind the stupid delays as long as I get back my laptop, she insisted that "it's her job and she will definitely investigate and get back to me by monday"..

hah!

it had been TWO FREAKING WEEKS AND STILL NOTHING.

so apparently, complaints that goes thru to the HP SQU are taken VERY VERY LIGHTLY and they might be sitting inside the office laughing their asses off talking abt how crappy the complaints that their customers have..

Service Quality... but they didnt say Good Quality or Bad Quality..

so in that sense, they are not really wrong. It's just me being petty. They were merely trying to upkeep Bad Quality Service.

poor HP people.

And when I brought back the laptop with the change of motherboard, the DVD drive couldnt be detected even though it can be physically accessed (open/close/read) .. and the CMOS does not include an option for the IDE settings so the DVD was listed as Unknown Hard Drive in Windows..

So it was obvious that the drive was not set to be auto detected in the CMOS and we cant change it.

And for two weeks I had to bear with it till I had the time to go back to HP Service Centre and met up with another SQU fella.. or rather.. SQU SPECIALIST by the name of Haizam.. and the girl who attended to me was mysteriously missing even though my case sheet had her name on it..

My unit was sent in again and a few hours later an engineer/technician/whoever-the-servicing-fella-might-be called me and told me that my DVD drive had always been working and suggested that they could FORMAT my hard drive for me..

FORMAT MY HARD DRIVE FOR WHAT?!

Stupid fella.. I asked u to just set the CMOS setting and u want to format the drive and talked to me like as if I am so stupid.. I could just hit his stupid head with a book full of 8086 instruction codes.

Aiya.. u think I dunno that u had set the IDE settings before calling me meh?

HP SERVICE SUCKS BIG TIME.

Next time I'll buy a Mac.

yeah.

right.

ok.. end of whining..

now letz talk abt the good times.. :)

things are almost all prepared for the wedding.. and now we hear bad reviews abt the wedding planner at Lagun Sari..

dammit.

time to take out my whip to whip anyone who screw up my wedding plans..

3 weeks to go before we become legal. and itz so seriously exciting.. things between me and my wife-in-3-weeks-time is fantastic and now the stress of planning for a honeymoon.. met the Mak Andam to choose the costumes that we want and finally managed to get for her bridal gowns that are beautiful.. so we can forgo the one given by the Mak Andam contracted by Lagun Sari..

and seriously serious.. she look gorgeous in those gowns..

but then again, she always look gorgeous.

I love you, Nur Zahirah.

It had been a looonngg time..

Yepz.. too long.. almost a year since I last blogged that I almost forgot how to do it..

a lot have changed. and a lot have not.

I'm still engaged. Sadly.. coz it feels too long.. Counting down the days to the wedding..

I WANNA BE MARRIED.

For a man who refused matrimony.. yepz.. the irony.. coz I ate my own words in the end..

a month to go then she'll be my wife.

Seriously.. for those of u who think u know me and for those who thinks that itz just another mushy entry by another fella.. lemme tell u that as much as I love being engaged, I do wanna get married.. for real.

when u find that someone, it just works..

Sure.. we do have our share of arguments... but itz not that much, itz not long and never serious.

the kissing and making up is always beautiful.

I had never been so much in love.. and this time, I would never get out of love.

For you, my beautiful wife-to-be-in-a-month-time, I promise you that I will take care of you and love you forever.

I had never wanted to be married.. never believed in matrimony, never wanted anyone too close to me.

but I proposed to you several days after we met.

and it had been more than a year now, and if I have a chance to rethink abt my decision to have you as my wife, I would not even need think twice..

of course, she's beautiful.. for those who thinks that she's not, please.. take ur sour grapes and envy elsewhere and eat them privately.. but therez more to her than just her beauty.. she's the most wonderful person who had ever entered my life.. and I'm not saying it coz she's reading it..

I have a choice to leave if I want to throughout the entire engagement coz we had been engaged for almost a year. She have the choice to leave if she wanted to.

But after 11 1/2 months of engagement, I have to admit that I'm totally in love, and having the time of my life.. Our relationship is like a permanent date. especially now coz her exams are over.. we can spend our time on my off days just relaxing and enjoying ourselves..

and in a month time, we can start our date when we open our eyes in the morning..

We had remained together thru the 11 1/2 months without any problems. maybe some ppl might think that u need challenges in a relationship to test it.. but who cares abt testing and if u think u need challenges in a relationship, have it in ur own.. ours is nicely untested and we dont wish to test it and we are satisfied with the way it is, thank you..

Hopefully, after the wedding we gonna start making babies.. if I am not shooting blanks..

but of course.. some ppl speculated that she's pregnant.. and thatz one of the two reasons why I wanted the engagement to be for a year.. the other was for the fact that we wanted her to complete her exams first..

For those friends of mine who had been influenced by my negative thoughts abt marriage.. ermz.. sorry ah.. itz really nice being engaged and I'm really looking forward for a beautiful marriage.. so those of u who had been influenced, go get married.

I had promised her a proper engagement ceremony - done.

I promised her a proper engagement - done.

I promised her a proper dowry - done.

I promised her a proper wedding - on the way.. we are just completing the little details now.

and I promised her a proper marriage and a proper family..

For you, my beautiful wife-to-be-in-a-month-time, I do promise you that.

It had been 9 months since I quit smoking.. something that I never thought I would do.. being a heavy smoker who had been smoking for the past 24 years.. and after 9 months.. I had lost all cravings for it..

I do think abt smoking once in a while.. but just thinking.. thatz it.. not wanting it.. I never want to restart smoking.. and thatz for my beautiful bride. she's the reason why I quit and I dont regret it.

For you, my beautiful wife, I love you.

I'm sending out my invitations soon. If you have not heard from me, please email me.

If I dont respond, it means that u are not invited.

ok.. anyway.. the rest of the previous entries are not gonna be published till it had been edited to a point that my kids can read it. so for the upcoming entries, therez not gonna be vulgarities or negative influences.

ok.. now for the current events..

like everyone else.. letz talk abt the top PSLE student.. the girl with the stailo milo name..

I'm proud of her..

coz her mother was a stewardess. yey.

But she's malay.. and suddenly, coz of her, everyone is claiming to be malays.

ermz.. those ppl whom when I gave them the dayung sampan joke* started to tell me all kind of family history that deny them from being pure malays.. those like.. my dad was an indian, my grandmother is a russian, my mom is javanese, I'm indonesian kinda shit.

some really wak kang faced ppl even claim to be of Dutch origin tau.. mana tah datang tu Dutch..

* (courtesy of an arab friend of mine whoz name shall not be mentioned so he dont get killed by the malays who have the capabilities to run amok)

BTW.. if u are an Indonesian or Javanese or Boyanese or Bugis or whatever, it means that u are a Malay. Coz ur heritage comes within the malay archipelago.

And I'm marrying a hindustani.

Hindustani tau.. tu pasal dia jambu.

A top PSLE student being Malay does not make all Malays smart.. and coz u guys suddenly claim to be Malays now does not make u Natasha Nabila..

releks dok.. lu masih boleh lepak.. takde orang paksa korang blajar.

somehow, the Malays have another hobby besides claiming to be Natasha Nabila.. besides Tammy.. I think most of the 3gp local porn videos are from mats and minahs..

kesian papa.. papa jahat sangat tu..

so the malays still got a lot more to prove.. either u should prevent the mats and minahs from distributing their homemade toilet gangbang videos or u should start making them speak english in those upcoming episodes so it'll be harder to distinguish..

whatever it is.. papa masih jahat tau..

Restart

ok.. my hands shivered coz I didnt blog.. but then again.. I dont think I shall be blogging often.. just as and when I feel like it..

time to update abt my life..

I'm happily engaged now.. to the most beautiful girl in the world, Nur Zahirah..

and not only she's beautiful.. SHE'S INDIAN!

yeyness..

and for those who have read my previous postings abt my views abt life and marriages.. as I have said before, I would rather be single and happy than married but miserable..

and now I had finally found someone whom I can love wholeheartedly, without any boundaries, and someone whom I wish to spend the rest of my life with.. and someone whom I wanna make LOTS of babies with, and someone whom I know I will take care of with my own life..

and for you, my beautiful fiancee.. I promise u that I will take care of u with my life, and love you with my heart and soul..

herez some of the pics from our engagement..



My baby Fiancee..



our engagement ring that I use to handcuff her.. sorry eh.. now u are untouchable already..



with our mothers..



and my beautiful fiancee again..

and having a young wife means that she can really give me LOTS of babies.. :)

I'm preparing myself to be a perfect husband for her.. and to be a perfect dad for our upcoming kids.. in which we wanna start by the end of this yr, right after the wedding.. and if I am not shooting blanks.. we should be getting a baby by Sept next yr..

another yeyness..

and darling.. I really appreciate ur efforts tau.. and from the first time I tasted ur cooking, I know that u'll make me even fatter than I already am..

I'm in Zurich right now, in the crew lounge, a few doors away from my room.. right in the middle of winter.. and itz cold and snowing outside that I cant really be bothered abt going out of the hotel..

Switzerland.. ahh.. where my baby is gonna be created in 2008..

an elderly passenger of mine had invited and insisted that we visit her during our honeymoon here if we do decide to come here for it..

of course.. if that is ok with u k Sayang?

ok.. for the other updates in life..

Sad news at the end of 2006.. one of my old time friends passed away on 31st Dec.. Ayu a.k.a DINDA a.k.a Dindayu, an IRC chatter in #melayu2 abt 5 or 6 yrz ago, died of heart failure after 2 yrz battling with respiratory problems..

I was reading her blog where in her last posting, abt a month or so before she died, she mentioned that she dont think she can live long..

and according to Hainie.. during Hari Raya Aidil Adha, when she did a korban, she mentioned that she herself will be korban..

I guess itz true that ppl can sometime feel when they are leaving..

either that or she felt really sick..

so, for Ayu.. I wish u a blissful journey to the other side..

the band had gone on a hiatus now.. and so far, since the last gig, I have met them only once at Esplanade..

and my online life is zero, except to read up on some programming stuffs that I had been working on..

and for those who wants to know.. Lazarus rocks.. though I still love Delphi, a code-compatible Object Pascal, which cross compiles to other platforms, like ARM and Lintel, is a breather.. and definitely much easier to use compared to Kylix coz the Kylix widgets are too platform specific..

to compile in Lazarus, u just need to change the targeted processor.. THAT EASY.. and thatz it..

just that for now, Lazarus binaries are much bigger than Delphi, so if u can afford that trade off, then go ahead.. so far, it works well for me..

that aside.. as for myself now, I'm preparing myself for the upcoming wedding in 315 days time.. but as it is, I'm not as excited abt the wedding itself compared to the life after the wedding with her..

and yepz.. my fiancee is 18 yrz younger than I am..

I know of some ppl with attempted hits and misses and reaching their 20s without anything in sight..

unfortunately, it still stand true that when girls reach their mid 20s, and no possible suitors, u'll be very close to be left on the shelves..

as for my own baby, I know that I will take care of you.. and by the time u reach that age, we'll be scurrying back and forth sending our kids to school k?