Knocking on our door...

Hello! I’m back. Have I been away? Not really. I was just busy playing with Wordpress. Trying to out what is good and bad about Wordpress. So far, I like it…. Check me out at zaiabdrahman.wordpress.com; just a caution though… the blog is in mixed lingo… I have english and malay update that I posted over there… Hmmm… actually there are more malay post than english.., apa-apa aja lah.

Hey, do you know that something is just lurking around the corner? No? Yes? Well…if you know it is good, if not let me tell you what it is… (1) Ramadan is just around the corner. It will be knocking on our door this coming Saturday. (2) Tomorrow is a big day for me and my hubby. It is our 22nd anniversary… Wow… it has been a long journey full of ups and downs, lows and highs… but I won’t share the story on my journey with my partner in crime today. Let's talk about Ramadan….

How ready are we with Ramadan? If you are adults and  teenagers , you should be ready. Ready to give our tummy a rest for a month. But is it really a rest knowing that our society has a tendency to eat a lot during iftar? Or some might be eating and drinking for three quarter of the night. Well, if you do, cut down on that.

Okay, back to my family. Are we ready? Of course… that is always a standard answer. Right? Well, actually my two young kids are really looking forward to this fasting month. They have been talking for a week on this. If Zaki is confident that he can fast the whole month, InsyaAllah he can, I’m not sure about Zara.

Zara is only eight and she has been having some tummy problem, on and off. To be exact, she has gastric. It will be very challenging for her. Well, nothing much I can do except to make sure that her condition did not get worse during the month of Ramadan. Anyway, both of them are not at the age where it is compulsory for them to fast yet. But somehow, they need to start practicing it.

Oh ya… in this holy month of Ramadan, Insyaallah, I am going to cut down on reading those books. What books? Hah…the lovey dovey, mushy mushy novels. I’m gonna spend, Insya Allah, more time reading the Al Quran and also a few books that I bought earlier like Aisyah Ummul Mukminin, Hassan Al-Bana, Salahuddin Al-Ayubi and few others. Those books have been in my TBR (To Be Read) list for quite sometimes. Instead of gracing my bookshelf, it is time for the books to grace my nightstands and my table.

Okay folks… gtg.. haha.. what the $$$$ is that.. Well... I got to go. I need to finish this book Cooper-K by RodieR before the month of Ramadan and also wishing you selamat berpuasa.
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My two wives...

This blog has been very quiet. It slowly gathering dust, but I hope that I will come here regularly and clean the dust. Not a promise but I will try my best to be here.

Do you know that when I created my malay blog, I never expect to feel like I have two wife. The English blog is my first wife or an old wife where my malay blog is my new wife. Like a man who practice polygamy, I also felt the same. I spent so much time with my new wife, until I feel like I neglected my first wife. Nauzubillah... di jauhkan dari perasaan ini....

It is not my intention to spend more time with my new wife, but I found that sometimes, it is easier to write there than here. Maybe, I don't care about my grammar or my language on my malay blog. The language is more relax. Casual.

When I first created this blog, I was kind of free. Not much work at that time, and I kind of having lots of free time. But not the past few years. It was hectic! The workload eased after the team has more members and some of the work has been distributed to others. Now I have more time to myself to do other things...

Hmm....What will I do with this free time? More blogging time? Maybe. What else? Reading. I can't live without books. Every where I go, I must have books. Either physical book or soft copy, it doesn't matter. As long as I can read. But don't give me journal or technical document. I won't read that!

Two years ago, I bought this book, the Doctor in the House for my hubby. A very thick book and frankly speaking, I haven't read any single page of it. But I hope, really hope that one day, I will read it.

Oh yeah...will I be running out of book? I don't think so. Because this itchy hand will always find a way to surf the online shopping and click the add to cart. Two days ago, I bought 5 more books, and in total, I have around 20 books that I haven't read.

I don't know which one I preferred. Physical book or ebooks? I like the smell of the new books, and it is my dream to have a book store. Only a dream, OK! but problem is storage.

Storing my books is always an issue. I guess I need to have a dedicated bookshelf for me.. Yeah!!! Oooppss where will I put this bookshelf. Most of the space in my house has been taken. Argghhhh...Problem...

So a mixture of ebooks and pyhsical books will be better... but of late, I seldom read my ebooks. My kids always hijacked my iPad, and by the time I get my iPad back is when the battery runs out. Another problem right....

Anyway whatever it is, I still have something to reads, and I can run to the wonderful world of fictions...

Kids, Books and Reading Habit

Salam.
 

Once upon a time, when they were young

It has been very quiet here. Well, I have been busy updating my other blog.. my malay blog. Lately, I found it difficult to write in English. Not sure what caused it, but my instinct says that I have been reading too many Malay novels, and my thinking is now mainly in Malay. It used to be in English. Hah! I need to train my brain to think in both languages simultaneously. Can I? Inshaallah boleh…

Well, of late I have been reading again. At one time, I was kind of lost interest in reading, but Alhamdulillah I found the joy of reading again. Sometimes, I feel that I spend too much time on reading; staying late night just to finish the books. But, it was worth every minute.

I try to instil the same reading habit with my kids. Do they have the same passion as me? Aaahh… let start with my youngest.

Zaara or I call her my Drama Queen. I read to her every night before she goes to sleep. That was before she knows how to read. Most of the time, I enjoy our time together. It is bonding time between mum and daughter. But, there were times I just want her to go to bed without me reading her anything. 

   

She will also dictate what story or book to read and when we were out of books or stories, she will force me to come out with my own stories.

Now she can read on her own, it eases me a lot. Just like me, she will have her book next to her bed. I will be sitting next to her bed with my book and she with her book. She will read two to four pages before saying goodnight. I really enjoy the moment.

Zaki a.k.a the drummer boy or the joker. He doesn’t read all the time like Drama Queen, but whenever he has a new book, he will finish it up within a day or two. Until I buy him another book, he would spend his time practicing his air drum. Yup, this boy is going through his rock music phase. Two years ago, it was KPOP and today it is Avenged Sevenfold. With his drumsticks and iPad, he will bang my sofa to the beat of the Avenged Sevenfold song until I ask him to stop.

Amir a.k.a the engine boy or the serious one. He likes anything to do with engines. He can spend hours looking at youtube on plane, train and cars. The engine boy likes to read. He loves to read mystery and thriller books, and every week he asks me to buy a book for him. Did I get it for him all the time? Nope or else I will be broke. But, whenever he didn't have new books, he will asked for my book. Haha… I can’t share my books with him yet. It is too early for him to read my kind of book.

Syafiq a.k.a the big brother or the musician. Oh… this one, I have tried to get him to read since young, but suffice to say he is not a reader. He is like the drummer boy, into music. Not to say he didn’t read at all. He does but depends on the book. He likes inspirational book and autobiography. Other than that, I didn’t see him read much. Most of his time is spent playing his guitar or fiddling with the piano.

What about my dear hubby? Well, he reads the newspaper and magazines only. No fiction for him. Sometimes I told him to be creative and read fictions. He is my point of reference for my grammar, and my English teacher.

So, what is the best book that I have read? Obviously, it is the Al-Quran. No doubt about it.

Catching Up!

Salam,

Selamat Hari Raya! Eid Mubarak. Today is the 18^th day of Syawal, and people are still busy celebrating the Raya, attending the open houses, For me, I have been celebrating my Raya in hospital. Not exactly from the first day, but I was in the hospital on the 9^th day of Syawal.

Actually, there was a planned reunion for my UWEC mates that weekend, but on Thursday night, I was down with high fever and on Friday I was admitted to hospital. I was down with bacterial infection. Heh! I was admitted for four days and was discharged on Tuesday, the following week and I was further given MC until Friday.

I love it! Really do!  I got to catch up on my sleeps and also de-stressed myself.  It also gave me the opportunity to spend time with my kids. But what I love most was that I had lots of ‘me time’. The kids went to school in the afternoon, so basically from 1pm till 6.30pm I was totally on my own.

Haha…. I was totally selfish with my time. I spent most of my time with reading. Hehehe… I finished reading about 4 Malay novels in the hospital and mind you, they are very thick. Three of the authors are now becomes my favourite authors.

Hmm..... I need to read more Malay novels so that I would have more favourite authors. It should be balance with list of the English authors that I have,  but in order to do that I need to find a real good websites that do all the reviews. Any ideas where I can find these websites? Without any referral sites, it will be difficult for me to buy a good book.

Okay, enough about my ‘me time’ and books. On Monday I’ll be going back to work. I really hope Mr. Monday will be kind to me. No traffic jams, no urgent mails, no major issues and no stress. Hehe…. Dream on, Zai, dream on!!!!…. Yeah! I can dream, right? No one can stop me from dreaming… Dream Zai dream, and one fine day you will get what you dream for.

Okay… Got to go now… See you soon.

And the preparation starts....

Today, I attended an intensive course for my upcoming trip in October. I was looking forward for this training since I missed the basic training early this year. The training helped to clear my muzzle thoughts and doubts, and now I had a clearer picture what to expect. However, the trip itself will be very challenging physically and mentally. So I have to be prepared.

The guy who conducted the training was really good. He was relaxed and easy going, and this made the whole sessions interesting. He cracked jokes and shared his experiences with us. It was very helpful especially after lunch when everybody was very sleepy. Eventhough, he jokes around he still managed to get the message across. 

The moment he open his mouth, I immediately knew that he came from my home state. The intonation and the word he used sound music to my ear. Hah! Some of the words he used, I have not heard for years. Beautiful, beautiful sounds. 

Because not everyone understands the words he used, so only some of us can understand his jokes. The lady on my right was kind of lost. She looked at me when I laughed and giggled. At one time, I have to translate the meaning to her.

The training also helped me realized that I had so many things that I need to learn. It reminds me of my role as a wife, mother and daughter too. Huh! All this while I have taken my role for granted. I hope that this training and my upcoming trip will change me to become a better person. Insya Allah.

There will be one more training that I have to attend, and I also have to read more books on Haj and Umrah and less on romance. Heck! I have not bought any new books since May this year.

Oh! I have one more day to go, and tomorrow morning, it would be a topic on women. It will be on the dos and don'ts during the trip, and it will be very useful tips for us, the ladies. And there will be a test too. Ughhh! I hate that.

It's a school holiday!

Yeay! The school holidays has started. I'm happy and so do my kids. Zara, who has problem going to school, kept asking me how many days will be the holiday. When I told her that it would be two weeks, she was very happy. Happy because no more me pestering her every morning to go to school.

I didn't plan anything for them except to be at home. I think this school holiday will be the most boring school holiday for them. Ahh...give them PSP and books, they will enjoy their holiday. Anyway Zaki requires at least 7 days to recover from his circumcision, and Syafiq needs to study for his exam SPM exam in October. The SPM is a Do or Die exam. Failed, you will go nowhere. So, no play-play for him!

I'm worried that since they are highly super active kids, they might drive their grandfather crazy during the school holiday. I really hope not. The school holiday also means, it will be less hectic for me. No rush to prepare breakfast, and getting them ready for school.

To celebrate my moment of relaxnes  (is there such a word here), here, is a song from Cliff Richards. ‘Summer Holiday’ that I dedicated to all school children and their parents. Enjoy!

Thank you on this special day....

Thank you to all the birthday wishes. It was a lovely day for me. I celebrated my birthday with my friends and family. Hmmm... Did I feel older? Heh! No, I did not. In fact I feel younger. Age is just a number. Most important thing is how you feel. If you feel young, than you will be younger. That's my philosophy! 

On this special day, I received two books that I have ordered few weeks back from the Book Depository. So I treat this as my birthday gift. One is a book by Andrew Bernstein titled The Myth of Stress and the other book is 'Taken by the Prince' by Christina Dodd. Aaahhh! My to be read (TBR) pile is mounting. I need to make time to read those books.

My hubby got a Marshmallow Cheesecake for our birthday. Sorry, no picture here. The kids did not like it, but not my hubby. He likes it very much.


I also spent 30 minutes today with Streamyx technical support team. It been a long time since I do troubleshooting, and I enjoyed it very much. But at the end, the streamyx problem is still not resolved. They promised me it will be resolved within a week. Let's see how it goes.

Since my age has increased by one, it means I also need to up my spiritual level. There is a Malay saying that says, ‘Kubur kata mari, rumah kata pergi’, (the grave says come here and the house says go away). So one has to be prepared to accept life in the other world.


Okay, again thank you for the wonderful wishes and may Allah bless you. Salam.

Real Friends are Hard to Find

Last Monday, my friend, Balqis MZ came over to my house to drop me a piece of cake and a book. Her daughter won the cake from the contest in the FB. The cake was delicious.

Balqis is a writer. She gave me one of her book titled ‘Sekuntum Mawar untuk Adikku’, and it was a book on Islam. I told her that I wanted to read and review the book, but I haven’t gotten time to read it yet. Insyallah, I will read it soon.

She signed the book and wrote ‘To Zai, my dorm mate yang blues’. That words ‘blues’ brought happy memories during my day in college. Heh! Balqis and I were two rugged chic during our college days. We were closed from first semester, but she changed in the final semester. From jeans loving person she changed to tudung (hijab). I was somewhat lost for a while with her drastic changed. Until today, I still didn’t know what triggered her sudden changed, and I will not ask.

We lost contact for many years, but I bumped into her when I was pregnant with my first child. We lost contact again until Facebook connected us back last year. She is now a successful children book writer, and her book carries Islamic message. The book is extremely easy to understand especially for kids.

Oh! And she just told me that she has another book coming out soon. Congratulations and I wish Balqis a successful career in writing and in spreading her message of Islam through her writing. Insyallah..

Salam.