A Birthday Wish...

...for Someone.

It is the last day of April and there are a couple of people I know celebrate their birthday today.

To Azlee and Bu'Ain, enjoy your day in the sun!

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Time Flies...

...so Fast.

The saying applies when you are spending time with your loved ones.

Don't you think so?

That what mad redo1 feels as he realises that Khalisa Shukriah has been under his care for more than two months now. How he feels it is only yesterday that he is reciting the Adzan and Iqamah at her ears after the safe delivery by Linda.

She was so small, fragile and with a lot more hair.

Today, she has grown so much and lost a bit of her hair. As mad redo1 stares at her face, he is reminded of his time with the older AKSes when they were at the same age.

The looks were almost the same.

Khalisa has begun responding to her surrounding and it is a treat for both mad redo1 and Linda when she smiles and lets out small cries of joy.

How he wishes that she will take her time growing up.

Coincidently, the eldest AKS, Berg is spending the weekend away from the family for the first time in our life. With the UPSR looming in the horizon, she is attending a camp to prepare her and her friends for the exam.

It is a bit weird not having her around though it is something that will eventually happen when she leaves the nest to further her studies.

It may seem to be a long away still, but I believe ten years in the future I will be saying the same old thing again:

"How time flies..."

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Blown Away...

...at Anfield.

Going back ten years ago to the month of May, Arsenal fans congregated on the away section at Anfield to watch The Gunners taking on defending champions Liverpool in a match that will decide the destination of the First Division title.

Two Scots were at the helm of both teams, Kenny Dalglish for Liverpool while Arsenal were coached by George Graham. Both were legends at their respective clubs during their playing days.

Liverpool were the favourites and they needed to draw or in the worst case scenario, just a single goal defeat which seemed very unlikely as they were unbeaten in front of the Kop all season long.

Alan Smith glancing header from a free-kick put Arsenal ahead. However it seemed Liverpool will settle for the 1-0 defeat as it meant they would be crowned champions again. Steve McMahon famously indicated they were just one minute away from achieving that objective.

However, with just moments to spare Arsenal managed to break down another Liverpool attack and John Lukic threw the ball to Lee Dixon who played it directly into Liverpool's half. Smith laid the ball into Michael Thomas's path, aided by a deflection suddenly found himself with just Bruce Grobelaar to beat.

He kept his cool and prodded the ball past the goalkeeper and as the ball hit the back of the net, Thomas just lost control in wild celebrations with his team-mates.

That morning, I aced my economics paper.

Then yesterday another thrilling match was played between the two with Liverpool needing to win in order to push Manure all the way for the Premier League title.

True to script, the home side banged on Lukasz Fabianski's goal throughout the first half but to no joy. The young Polish goalkeeper who had a match to forget against Chelski on Saturday displayed the reason why Arsene Wenger brought him to the Emirates in the first place.

Then against the run of play Arsenal took the lead. Andrei Arshavin finished smartly as the Gunners capitalised on an error by Javier Mascherano and went off the pitch at half-time one goal to the good.

Unlike their predecessors in 1989, the current Arsenal defence are more vulnerable and against Liverpool there was always the possibility of them conceding.

True enough, ten minutes into the second half the home side was already leading 2-1. At that time I did not see us coming back but Arshavin certainly proved me wrong.

 Calm and composed he drilled home the equaliser after Fabio Aurelio gifted him with the chance in the 67th minute. As it was previously, the lead did not last long and a well taken goal by Torres five minutes later brought the score level again.

I thought the match will end all square but when Fabianski's punch found Walcott, whose pace brought him into the Liverpool area, I thought we could find ourselves winning the match. The England youngster found Arshavin whose left foot shot showed the quality that he posseses as the Russian beat Pepe Reina for the fourth time in that match.

But when it was announced that there would be five minutes of added time, I knew that we would concede again. Sadly, I was right but it was such a match that a draw was the right result for me.

How I wish our local football could be at that level.


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A Happy Evening...

...for mad redo1

Why?

Because today the scene that I wanted to see unfolded near his place of resident. It was the weekend in kT and usually the 'mat rempits' will travel in large group and use the straight road as their race circuit.

These suicidal racers made illegal u-turns before revving up their bike's engine and went the opposite direction in their familiar 'Superman' style.

Today, while attempting to make the u-turn, one of the bikes were hit by a car, sending the rider sprawling on the bitumen. The driver of the car made the right decision in driving away as he/she could be in big trouble had the 'mat rempits' manage to get their hands on him/her.

But mad redo1 could not help but jumped with joy at the sight of the damn 'mat rempit' lying on the roadside. But there were some of us there who were more human than mad redo1 that helped carrying him into a car that stopped by choice to take him to the hospital.

The motorcycle he was riding was gone in a matter of seconds and none of his racing mates were willing to accompany him to the hospital.

In the end he was taken to the hospital alone by the good samaritan. Judging from the scars on his body I believed that this was not his first time having intimate time with the road.

I do not think this incident will put some sort of fear into the 'mat rempits'. They will be back again next week, and the week after, and the week after. But it is moments like this that give us the long time sufferers a sense of victory, even though it is a small one, the taste is as sweet.

for mad redo1, he will continue hoping the 'mat rempits' will die a terrible death but the moment they decide to stop then I will pray for success in every good thing they do.

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Bowling...

...at Diman.

On Friday mad redo1, Linda and the three AKSes were joined by Linda's siblings at Diman Superbowl for a couple of rounds of bowling. The biggest bowling alley in Terengganu certainly has the capacity to accommodate the weekend crowd that come to have some fun with friends and family members.

It seemed that without much practice mad redo1 managed to get a few strikes here and there though he was disappointed with his inability to get the spares when it seemed like the easiest thing to do.

In a typical mad redo1's style, he blamed it on the ball. (Yeah, right...)

mad redo1 was proud with Linda, and at the same time a bit concerned when she began picking up the bowling ball, fearing that there would be reactions to her body which still is not in the best shape.

Well, good for her as she did not exert herself too much though later as expected there were a few minor complaints about muscle pain here and there, nothing that a few rubs would not help.

After a satisfying outing at the lanes we went for dinner.

Where? Find out here.


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Shootout...

...at Sultan Mizan!

The other day during a conversation with Terengganu Head Coach, Ken Worden; mad redo1 mentioned that he used to play as a goalkeeper. Then he went on asking a question to the Pomme:

"How many goals can you score past me from the penalty spot?"

"How many attempts do I have?"

"Ten."

"Then I will score ten."

That conversation led to the event that unfolded at the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium this afternoon before Terengganu training session begin. To make things more interesting, Worden also baited his assistant, Mohd Nik into the whole thing.

Both men were confident of getting a perfect score of twenty between them.

So mad redo1 put on his boots and donned his gloves as he faced the former Malaysia, Selangor and Sabah coach.

What do you know... I managed to keep one out (above pic).

Then it was Mohd Nik's turn, and mad redo1 got his hands to the ball, again...

...and again while the other one flew high over the bar.

Of course most of the time the ball did go past mad redo1 as he went the wrong way.

But keeping five out of twenty penalties was good enough reason for mad redo1 to celebrate, especially considering the lack of training on his side and the extra kilos by his sides.


WUHOOO!!!


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Shocking...

...Death!

With much of the country under cloudy skies for the last few days, mad redo1 began to feel the effect and eventually came down with a bout of flu. Coupled with a looming deadline for a presentation his body sent the signal that it needs to rest.

Thank God, the presentation went smoothly today and there will be another one within the next fortnight. It will be interesting to see the outcome of this opportunity that does not come often in one's life.

Well, I will talk about this later and hopefully it will be something of a positive post.

Unfortunately, this post is about a piece of sad news that mad redo1 received on his fB. His friend during secondary school passed away after being electrocuted while carrying out a landscape assignment.

I cannot remember meeting him for the last time but I am sure it was during one of the reunions that we have from time to time.

It is certainly a reminder for us all that our time here could end just like that, without any notice to the soul such as: "you need to vacant this premise within fourteen days" or things like that.

Though as Muslims, we are told there are signs that will come to us about our impending death in intervals. If my memory serves me right, it is a hundred days prior to the big good-bye, then forty days and the last ones within days of the visit of 'Malikil-Maut'.

I cannot say that I am ready to die but one thing that I pray to Him that I will die as a Muslim. There are so many tests when we are about to go to the Alam Baqa' that could change our final destination they we pray for that is Al-Jannah, and found ourself heading for Jahannam instead (God forbids!)

To Hulaimi, Al-Fatihah.


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Supper...

...at the Beach.

It has been a while since the four of us go out for supper. So, last night mad redo1, Linda and the AKSes went to A&W at Batu Buruk Beach. This was the first time Khalisa Shukriah joined her elder sisters for a 'makan-makan' session.

It was indeed a good supper for all of us.

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One Way...

..Street.

Effective yesterday traffic flow in Kuala Terengganu has been changed into one way streets in order to make it smoother as the number of vehicles coming into town keep increasing by the year.

The City Council workers has started working in converting the streets a few days before the end of March and managed to complete them by the time the new flow came into effect yesterday.

As always, it will be a while to get used to the new flow but I hope it will work to ensure a less stressing drive into town though even at it's worse it was nothing compared to folks in other cities such as kL, Penang, jB; have to endure on daily basis.

But as long it is making mad redo1's life easier, why the heck should he be complaining, right?

The new traffic flow is illustrated in the map below.

Happy driving.


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The Fools' Day...

...it was Not!


There are several people I know who first breathed the air of this world on this Day of the Fools.


Of course all of them proved they are smart despite the association with the day, many are leading successful lives of their own.


So, Happy Birthday you all!


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