@20070520

Makin chun melechun laaa anak dara gue ni!

1.
The weekend was spend with my kids. Received a call on Sunday morning from Mak asking whether I have forgotten about Chik Amin's invitation. Yes, I HAVE forgotten. Totally. I am really bad when it comes to honoring weding invitation. Ever since I was a kid I just do not like to attend weddings. Crowd, noise and havoc really make me feel messy....butthat is not ther eason why I have totally forgotten about Chik Amin's invitation. I really have no clue about it! Hectic is one thing but the sense of importance to be with the kids 24x7 over the weekend has made me almost neglect in total whatever happenings around me. It has always been "The weekend is ONLY for my kids". I just have to do something about this....soon. What I have in mind is to take a 10day off and do a "tour" back to Johor and visit all my family members that I have not met ever since I had babies. This will have to happen by the end of the year, when we should already have a bigger and more comfortable and more reliable family car. InsyaAllah. This would be the immediate milestone in my new "milestones in life".

2.
The Saturday was spent spinning around in my old Persona. Had to take the kids (all of them) away from home because Mama had to do a cupcake class. After about an ahour spinning around, the kids still would not surrender, I had to throw the white handkerchief, bought some drinks & grubs with them at the neighbourhood 7-Eleven and we spent the rest of the afternnon lying infront of the TV watching movies. Had a late lunch (cum tea cum dinner!) in Tesco and shopped for groceries and formula milk (Aliya is needing more than her usual monthly allocation already!!) and an early retirement for me. The fatigue-ness of the course and thinking all week really is taking toll on me.

3.
Sunday started a bit late. Went to SS16 to deliver a the cupcake set ordered by Syahril. Meeting point was is at the MSC - the big bike shop. Boy! If only I can fart money!! One day, insyaAllah one day I'll have one of those beautiful monster as my own.
Mama decided to bring the kids to their first movie (she has promised the twins to bring them to see Spiderman 3 couple of weeks back). Aliya had to stayaaaaaaacvn, (sorry, that was Alisya & Naufal trying out my Psion!)
Aliya had to stay at home and we managed to get th5 5pm movie. With more than 2 hourds to kill, Mama treats us at Starbucks. I had the time to work on this Psion Netbook @ Dino. Alisya & Naufal has been doing their own rendition of Jin "super power" and I am struggling hard not to laugh and roll on the floor!!

4.
We still have 1hour and 30 minutes to go!

5.
There's always the first time.
As for Alisya & Naufal, they have experienced their first movie outing - Spiderman 3. It was fun. They enjoyed the movie and we enjoyed the time soent together. More to come after this but they would not get it too easy, they have to "earn" each movie by doing some "good deeds"!

6.
I received a shocking SMS from Ted late Saturday. Palie, Ted's assistant and best buddy, drowned after saving 2 friends who felled into a river.....he died as a true hero
He is a very friendly chap, we'll miss him a lot...

Cupcakes and grubs

Naufal-dhino - at Zharif's b-day bash
Naufal is starting to show his atheletical capabilities.....

NOTE: Late post - busy meh!

1.
Ever since she got her first digicam, Alisya has managed to capture a number of shots....but currently she's being "barred" from using the digicam - we found her not taking good care of the digicam and she'll have to behave and be good until we are satisfied before she'll get the chance to use it again. On the other hand, Naufal is happy with the non-tech related stuff he got. When he is ready he'll get his first digicam too insya-Allah.

Note: I will Insert Alisya's shots here!

2.
The cupcakes & birthday cake business is picking up quite fast. Almost every week we'll be dealing with small bundle of boxes for delivery and inquiries are pouring in everyday.
Some people are comparing CoffeeTorque with other more established cake makers out there - it is like comparing durian to apple (or rather BlardyWindows to Apple-Macintosh!! Ahahah!) but hey - I'd take it as a compliment (positive mindset always!) since though we are just few months in "operation" already they are comparing with the established players....Alhamdulillah!
There is only one big difference that we promise in each of the cupcakes - they are made with "passion" - my wife just love doing it and each piece means so much to her, like a piece of art she'd love to share to the world! That is why we don't do mass production and we have order ceiling. Thank you for the supports people!

A box filled with love -
Specially made for Zharif's Birthday Bash

3.
One of the best part of helping my lovely wife with her cupcake business is we get to help others in expressing their love to their loved ones.
The first of such case would be Elisa Taufik who lives in the Middle East. She got in touch with my wife and the deal ended with us delivering a specially made package of cupcake to her 4 years old nephew on his birhday....we were informed later by the family that they loved the design so much that they save it to the last moment - tak sampai hati nak makan! My wifey also had some "special package" for Mother's Day celebration. Well you can read more in her blog CoffeeTorque
The best, (for now) would be those she made for the kids's buddy - Zharif - Bawal's hero.
The birthday bash was fun-filled..the kids enjoyed it very much......

Mama's work of art! (the cakes....& photos too!)

Zharif & his cupcake

RC Racers eager to burn some rubbers!

Alisya & her MonsterTruck RC

Aliya and friend

Here comes the little dinosour!

I guess, the early years birthday bash would be one of the most important things in life, for parents who loves their kids so much....Alhamdulillah.

Street Life...V1.5

Couple of my latest shots...took this one in less than 5 minutes after I had lunch with Shamshahrin (a photojournalist).....saw the subject on my way back to office, did not take much time to pull out my 70-300 "lens cap itik", smiled to the subject and nodded (for approval to shoot)...and the shutter went to work....

We used to have mamak selling kacang putih on old Raleigh bicycle with big heavy tin carriage on the back. This particular machaa is the closest I can get to that original version! (Would really love to shot the original if I ever found the subject!).

Even though he is "orang kurang upaya" he still tries his best to earn a proper living......kudos Machaa!

Next time I saw you I'll buy something from you - was rushing back for a meeting did not have the opportunity to talk to the Machaa.

It has become my "natural" habit to carry my beloved DSLR (and some other stuff!) with me everyday - almost everywhere I go I'll have the DSLR with me all the time. Maybe I am just taking this passion too seriously? Well, it is doing me no harm so why not!
Have been frequenly visitng the likes of NatGeo, MagnumPhotos, FredMiranda to see what the world famous professionals works are like and try to "emulate" the learnings and translate it in my own ways.
As I have mentioned, one of my favorite subject would be street life.....and I will always try to find time (and excuses!) to go out there and literally "hunt" for an interesting subject. Sometime I can get it within 30minutes outing, sometimes I will get nothing worth keeping for a whole day attempt! That is just something that I have to learn to accept. Some professionals that I knew spent months at a location (far away from home) just to get the subject they want. They have to - it is their bread and butter anyway! In my case, I can allocate certain amount of time and commitment to improve myself and do the best out of that allocation. Am not a professional - not sure if I ever gonna be one (or really wanna be one for the sake of argument!) but one thing for sure, I think I have finally found out what I want to do when I retire...insyaAllah.

The year flew past me again!

My baby girl...on the same "buaian"....two years apart!


My baby boy...on the same "buaian"....two years apart!

It is their birthday again...and they are growing faster and faster each year!
28th APRIL 2003....the day I became not just a daddy - THE LUCKIEST DADDY IN THE WORLD - EVER!!

We had a small celebration.....yeah and they had their share or presents...more to come during the next celebration!(bigger celebration will be done in June - insyaAllah (for a reason which will be revealed sooner or later)....Mama made a special cake for the twins (this time Alisya gets to decide)
....hmmm...the doll looks quite like Baby Aliya...
"No way!!! I am much prettier lerr!!"


MY babies.....how they have grown well! They used to ride their trikes....

....but they have out-growned it...
...quite tremendously!

They have been riding bicycles for the past 1.5 years or so.....

.....and they have been falling,

....but they just get up on their own and get back on their bikes, taking it as part of the deal...

....and they are no longer afraid of this "Paper-Lama" van they used to call " Taw-taw" when they were just toddlers!

I am convinced....when they grew up, they'll be strong and confident to take on anything that comes their way, insya-Allah....

Alisya & Naufal....no words can describe how much I love you both.....

Happy 4th birthday sayang!