Sooner than most...

Airiel's Maksu has lived with her brain damage and handicapped condition since she was 7.  She is now 28.

I remember how it was in the UK in the months of her recovery. The doctors called it a miracle. You see, she was supposed to die in that horrific car accident. And yet, she lived. She was never expected to wake up from her coma, and yet she did. She was never supposed to be able to stand up and get out of her wheelchair, but she is now able to walk with a walker. They thought she could never do anything and be nothing more than a vegetable, and yet she has accomplished so much.

She is still here.

The doctors told us that due to her condition, she will slowly deteriorate over time. In other words, living long and prosperous is not in the cards for her. We heard them say it and we knew they were right. Actually watching her deteriorate is painful beyond measure.

From allergy hospitalisations, to DVT, to depression medication, to minor surgery last year, breathing problems are now her current ailment. It has gotten so bad that long distance travel may be out of the question, perhaps permanently for her.


It may be a sign of impending heart problems. When I heard that, my heart just shattered into a million pieces. I don't know where I should start picking the pieces up.


My sister's heart maybe giving up on her, and there is nothing that Nenda, Atuk, Bonda or I can do about it, but watch it happen. 


This family is all I have.


Ya Allah, grant this family the courage to be strong. 

I am thankful [Part 2]

Hi everyone,

I shall be making these kind of posts a regular in my blog to remind myself to always be thankful. Here goes

 Airiel doing his ABC's 

 Playground fiesta! Can anybody guess where this is?

This is Airiel's version of solat. He was actually concentrating until he saw my camera..haiyaaa 

Did you know that Islam is the only faith which makes it compulsory i.e wajib for the privileged citizens to share a certain percentage of their wealth with the less fortunate? It is NOT charity tau? It is 'zakat'. Note that there is a huge difference between the two. I can explain at length...but that is a material for another post I guess.  

I hope everyone will have a good week until Friday!

Leaving

This song has been playing in my head over and over again.

Westlife, the band I grew up hearing has broken up and are moving their separate ways. This is an apt song indeed, although it was released sometime ago.

Leaving

Watching the clock on the wall

 Been a while since you called

I can't help but wait

It's late and I can't get no sleep

Something's different this time

It just doesn't feel right

Have we broken in two

Am I really going to lose you tonight

You come walking in

Tears in your eyes

Pretending like it's allright

But I know you're leaving

I know that smile

I can tell you've been crying

You're going to say goodbye

I wish I could stop you

But you've made up your mind

I beg you don't go

But I already know

You're leaving

Where does the time go

Through goodbye and hello

How did we come this

Is there something we missed along the way

With your back at the door

Want to pull you in close

And hold you once more

Even though...

I know you're leaving

I know that smile

I can tell you've been crying

You're going to say goodbye

(Don't say goodbye)

I wish I could stop you

But you've made up your mind

I beg you don't go

But I already know

(I know you're leaving)

Here come the sleepless nights

Here come the tears I'm going to cry

Here comes the last goodbye

Leaving us behind

oh, this can't be right

I know you're leaving

I know that smile

I can tell you've been crying

You're going to say goodbye

(Don't say goodbye)

I wish I could stop you

But you've made up your mind

I beg you don't go

But I already know

You're leaving

Goodbye Westlife. It was a good 14 years of music.

Coffee Stain, Solaris Dutamas

This is hands down, truly madly deeply the best ice caramel latte I have ever tasted. (Starbucks who? hahaha).

I have to tell you guys, you must come here and try their coffee. It is to die, die, die for!

My colleagues are ardent fans of the coffee here. We have to have the coffee at least once a day! And the barrista being the great barrista that he is, remembers all our regular drinks. I am 'Miss Caramel Latte'! hehehehe

Coffee Stain used to be known as Josephs and is situated right next to the Banana Leaf restaurant on the G3 row of Solaris Dutamas.

Drool.

Ok, work beckons. Bye!

Online Shopping 2012 - Part 4

I am experiencing some form of Monday blues right now, which is a bit late in the day because there's only a few hours left to Monday.

To cheer myself up, I shall post about some online shopping which I did recently.

This is from How2shop 

This is from Love Heart E-House

This is from Bolster Store

Ok. Hope this shopping mojo will be enough to last me till the end off the month!

SKII (part 4)

Hello everyone,

Would just like to share updates on my skin after 2 years using SKII products.

I love how my skin is! There is definitely less flakiness. I still remember how Adis, my groupmate in honours use to look at my forehead masa time honors and tanya 'Za, dahi ko tu ada apa?' hahaha, padahal that was just my skin flaking off, yes it was that dahsyat! Skarang ni, my flakiness tu still ada lagi, tapi 98% less I have to say and taklah teruk sgt.

More updates on it as time goes!

Have a good week ahead!

P.S - Happy Father's day to all fathers!

My Diablo III experience

Warning, spoilers ahead. Please leave if you do not want to know how the game ends.

I have completed Diablo III, Normal mode!

Now, the background story to Diablo III takes place some 20 years after Diablo II. Deckard Cain is back (aye, he is!) with a charming little lady called Leah (who unfortunately as you will learn later, is special for a bad, bad reason).

Anyways, we are back in Tristram or New Tristram as it is called (you would know that the original Tristram was completely destroyed in Diablo II). Events have unfolded and we see a star falling from the sky into the Cathedral in New Tristram. We arrive as the Nephalem (no matter what class you choose - for me it is the Barbarian of course!). In a nutshell, let me just tell you the important events in the game:-

1. Deckard Cain dies later on in the game;
2. Leah is the daughter of Adria (remember her in the original Diablo?) and the Dark Wanderer (that would be you aka King Leoric's son in the original Diablo who defeated Diablo the first time and decided to contain Diablo within himself - ahhh what a dashing hero he was); and
3. Archangel Tyrael (from Diablo II) strips his own wings and chooses to be human to fight with us; and
4. Leah's body will eventually be controlled and completely taken over by the essence of Diablo and his lesser evil brothers, and unite to become the Primevil, the Legion.

Now I know the reviews for Diablo III varies from some saying that it is a great game to some completely hating it, simply because I think the fans waited years for this game and was expecting way too much from it.

The Pros and Cons

1. Diablo III has a pretty linear storyline, but in my opinion it is way better and more complex than that of Diablo and Diablo II. That being said, anybody who wants a complex, layered storyline and quests should go play an RPG game you get what I mean?. It is a hack and slash game, and it stays true to that genre, which I am glad it did.

2. The game is way too short for me. I did not play it religiously (I do have a day job to think about) but I managed to complete the entire game in about less than a month. I wished it dragged on longer, and perhaps the dungeons and monsters could drag on and on (remember  the dungeons in Diablo? All the 32 levels I think? That was so cool and painful at the same time) but alas, most dungeons would not go on for more than a few levels. But then again I have not played nightmare mode yet, so we will see;

3. What I absolutely love about Diablo III though are the random items, and the auction house. There are some really insane powerful items out there, with amazing powers, the possibilities are endless which you can bid and buy out;

4. The best Diablo III feature which has been the underlying theme in all Diablo games so far is the random game generator. You know when you leave the game and resume it later, the terrain, monsters are never, ever the same. It makes the game always exciting and the replayability of it endless; and

5. And the best thing is, this time around your follower gets to equip stuff and have a personality and level up with their own unique skills! I found the banter with my faithful templar follower quite entertaining!

So what kind of rating do I give this game, a solid 8/10! It is a good, solid game which will keep you entertained for months and years to come!.

Now go out and get yourself a copy!

P.S - I do not own the pics above and they are all credited to their owners.

Ragam manusia

I was minding my own business today.

Went to Shah Alam Court, did my thing and stopped by Giant Shah Alam for my fave nasi lemak. I had to share a table with 2 females.

I was so happy with my nasi lemak and then came along this woman who stopped at the table and started screaming at one of the females sitting at the table with me. She was literally screaming her head off. I was shocked for the first 10 minutes, annoyed the next 10 minutes after that and angry at the tail end of another 10 minutes. Yes, she screamed for 30 minutes non stop before being asked to leave by security.

I was like WTF? I am trying to enjoy my nasi lemak man! What the hell are you doing invading my space dawg? At one point (maybe 20 minutes into her screaming) she was approaching the woman who was just sitting quietly eating and ignoring her, to hit her presumably when I had to open my mouth and say 'JANGAN NAK PUKUL PUKUL KAT SINI, SAYA LAWYER!'

It worked...she looked (more like glared) at me and stopped in her steps but then carried on screaming for the remainder of then 10 minutes.

She was later escorted by security outside, arms flailing and all. I lost my appetite but tried to finish my food nevertheless (hence the request for more paru-paru from the dumbfounded makcik). I was listening to what the 2 females was saying and managed to glean that the story sort of goes like this:-

Husband (I can't keep my thang in my pants) having an affair - Wife (aka calm female) found out - Wife divorcing husband - Husband wants wife back (aka gila talak) - Wife tells husband to go to hell - Husband realizes wife is love of his life and dumps screaming ( aka I can't keep my vajayjay in my pants which are 3 sizes to small) mistress - Mistress angry and scolds wife in public place.

I was like, apa ke jadah? Ada kes perempuan simpanan plak nak marah the rightful, lawful and wedded wife of the guy? Who by the way, is also the mother of his 3 children? Apakah?

You know what made it worse? It was the content of the mistress' seemingly incomprehensible screaming. She was saying things like:-

1. The husband has a small, reallyyyy small thang;

2. The husband does not know how to have intercourse properly;

3. The husband is a '2 minute' man; and

4. Other really embarrassing things which I simply cannot put in print, so graphic it was.

And here I am thinking to myself 'the guy had an affair with THIS?'. A woman who is saying all these things in public to embarrass him?  The woman who dare scream at the mother of his children? If I was a guy and heard this, my balls (literally, both of them) would have shriveled with shame.

My mood for the day has been absolutely ruined!

Aishh!

I am grateful - Post 1

Further to my newfound resolve to be less whiny and not complain so much. I am going to constantly remind myself about the things that I should be grateful for.

I shall start with this blog post. Pics away lads!

My son, all grown up and tall and handsome playing golf in my room 3 weekends back. See how he improvises? Hehe

Airiel going crazy over cupcakes at Wondermilk in Citta Mall. Honestly, I wonder why Citta Mall is not as successful as lets say Tropicana Mall or Paradigm Mall. The location is good with ample parking. I would love to see a movie theatre open up and some nail places or spa places or something like that. That would complete the mall! 

Bubbles galore! This was 3 weekends ago I think when Aries had to stay in JB for the weekend for the wedding of his friend. I had Airiel all to myself for the weekend! It was fun mommy and Airiel time! 

Airiel's cooking classes during the school holidays which he loved at his playschool. He would run towards me when I come home, dragged me to the fridge and sat down in front of me to watch me and Aries eat the food sampai habis. 

The pleasure of good coffee in life. Have you heard of Josephs? Now known as Coffee Stain in Solaris Dutamas? The coffee is to die for.  

Airiel's (and secretly Aries' hero as well I think) hero, Ultraman show in Paradigm mall last weekend. 

He's hitting on me on purpose and making my heart melt like he always does, this man *Grin*

Thank you Allah. May it last, Amin.

And you got problems?

I was about to whine in my next blog post, I really was.

And then I saw this picture.

And then I realised how small and insignificant my problems are. I cannot understand how anybody can do this to another human being.

If this picture does not make you flinch, you might as well shoot YOURSELF in the head. This was no arrest, this was an execution pure and simple. The guy was shot in the head while in handcuffs. What the f&^%!!! What threat could he have posed in handcuffs.

I do not care what kind of business relationship my country has with the Israel. Malaysia should END it.  These people are obviously the real terrorists.

So friends, stop complaining how the traffic jams bother you or how malaysian drivers suck.

Stop complaining about how you're in a long distance marriage (i do this all the time).

Stop complaining about how your kids misbehave or do not want to eat vegetables.

Stop complaining about how you had a fight with bf/gf (belum kahwin lagipun? boleh?) and that the world is coming to an end.

Stop complaining period.

Because some people in other parts of the world have REAL problems.

I have been such a whiner. May Allah forgive me.