Prayers

1.
It is another Ramadhan. The first for Aliya. We went back to Kampung on the first day of Ramadhan. It has been months since we last balik kampung. Tok Mak & Tok Abah will spend Ramadhan & a few days of EidulFitri in Makkah so we were there to send them to JB where they will join the congregation for a bus ride into Singapore before they board the flight in Changi.
Since it has been months from our last balik kampung, the relatives were just happy and surprised to see how well Aliya has progressed...she'd probably the chubbiest baby in the family at her age....and "user friendly".

Alisya & Naufal preferred to stay at home (their definition of kampung is the house of Tok Mak & Tok Abah) and that means we only go out with Aliya most of the time.

One intersting thing about Ramadhan in Segamat would be the Bazaar Ramadhan. Yeah I know every other place has this but we have our favorite dishes & beverage available here....because I am sure you cannot find Air katira anywhere else in Malaysia.


The kids met their cousins and they had fun.

Of course, the hardest part was when it was time to say bye-bye to Tok Mak & Tok Abah. They will be spending more than a month in Makkah and that means we will celebrate eid without them until the 4th day of Eid. Well, they have been wanting to do this for so many years and since the last attempt did not went well due to Tok Abah's bad cough, this time thy are really going to enjoy their stay there insyaAllah.

The congregation met at masjid Sultan Abu Bakar JB. It has been at least 25 years since I last ever been there!!! Of course I took the opportunity to take some shots to preserve the moments.

The other opportunity I took was to actually tell Mak & Abah that I love them so much. I don't know when was the last time i ever said that to them but most probably it was way way waaaaayy back, years ago. So, I kinda released some pressure off my self, I have always wanted to say that verse especially since we have Alisya & Naufal in the family. It took Aliya's presence to make me feel guilty enough to hold it back thus I just did it.

As for Alisya, Naufal & Aliya, I would say I love you to each of them everyday and they will reply back and at times they will give me a big hug too.
Hopefully they will continue to do it forever!

2.
My good buddy Rahman Roslan has made his first big achievement in the world of professional photojournalism. He will be in cambodia with the best photojournalists, war photographer of the world soon to undergo a special workshop for selected few. all the best to you buddy!

3.
The news about adik Nurin Jazlin is really really disturbing. My sincere condolences to the family. I am not going to say much since there are so many loose ends if you read the news and blogs but what I really want to see happening is the bastardo who did this to be caught and be guvenb the proper punishment in this world and for the hereafter, may the bastardo earn eternal damnation.

Clawdagger

This is what you get when you reunite a bored wannabe VIIPhoto photojourno with his prime lens....

Everyone..say hi to Clawdagger...Naufal's pet dragon!

Shot was done on my D70s (what else laa!!) using 50mm f1.8 Nikkor prime lens - yg dah lama member pinjam (adeh!).
Creative Lighting System applied - one Speedlight (SB-600) triggered by on board flash.
More to come...if only I still have my Aile Strike Gundam....

Still in Merdeka Mode

It has been a very hectic week for me and for my family, the last time I updated this blog. Then I have another round of hectic week....werghh...good ting I am allowed a free day this Friday ....which I really look forward to.(done already when this is being posted!)

So obviously this post is late and I took time to finish it... and the images comes later or somewhere in between the time I started writing this entry and the actual posting time....eheheh!

Actually when I started to wrote this I am sitting at the foyer of the big hotel where we'd do the many sessions of fora throughout the year, trying to reflect what happened since I last updated the blog....what I can quickly say is I feel relieved that the other forum for the yuppies are over and done with. Yeah we were stretched (my team) but we made it through and pulled a real good one I should say. The AV team was the same team which have been with us or the previous (and future) sessions of fora. What I would like to write is my observation during the session held at a rather well known hotel in the city.

1.
Some people seems to have problem when it comes to saying words of appreciation. Maybe it is not about appreciation for them at all since they "think" they have "paid" the others to do what is expected and they have all the "right" to treat the others the way they seem fit. as long as they get what they want - sometimes it was never mentioned in the agreement up front! What I am trying top say is actually some of us are just a total failure ro realize that we MUST TREAT HUMAN AS HUMANS! Regardless how much the company pays the contractors to get the job done it does not mean YOU ARE THE APPOINTED SLAVE DRIVER!

....end of the day the one that can get along well with all working levels would be in the ultimate advantage. They may not be rewarded by the top leaders but they get things done and make people feel appreciated & connected while doing so.

2.
Then there is this bunch of people who has this wonderful capability of ignoring others except those with high ranks and titles. They will ignore you as if you are not in the same dimension they are in although you are right in front of them and smiling friendly being the natural friendly person you are.

And those blardy idiots will just continue to ignore you existence UNLESS either one of these occurs:

a) A higher ranking leader - the likes of a vice President of the President himself happens to pass by and says hi to you and engaged in a short conversation - THE PARTICULAR BASTARD WILL EITHER TRY TO JUMP IN AND TRY TO ENGAGE IN THE CONVERSATION (regardless what level of knowledge the bastard has with regards to the topic, as long as they can get some airtime - bastards are bastards aye?) OR AT THE VERY LEAST THE BASTARD WOULD SAY HELLO TO THE HIGHER RANKED LEADER AND GREET YOU BY YOU REAL FULL NAME.....just to show that although being a bastard he/ she remembers you name - especially in front of that leader...it is very very important for the bastards to be able to "connect" with the people that those leaders can connect to, naturally.

b) Same as above but as the leader was passing by you just greeted him/ her naturally and "all of the above" happened...

c) The wonderful bastard greeted a leader as he/ she was passing by and in turn the leader realized that you were there and all of the above - again - happened

What am I trying to say? Nothing much but as long as we have the sincere intention to do what is expected of us for the good of the organization, we don;t have to try hard to be noticed. People will notice our commitment and efforts - if they don't the BIG GUY UP THERE will...and that is all that matters anyway.

3.
What made me wanna really write the item 2 above was when recently I was involved in this forum for young leaders or whatchamacallit....when a senior leader holding a position as one of the VicePres were talking to a bunch of 'yuppy' or politically correct name would be - young leaders of course - I was passing by and naturally greeted the VicePres (yeah he knows me because I was the one responsible for designing his speech and key messages & made clear what he is expected to deliver) and the leader then introduced me to the erhmm young leaders which - to his surprise - none of them actually knew me! He was saying something like - how come you all don't know Torque (replace that with my real name lah!)?!!

Ahahah! Young leaders....yeah....whatever.

4.
The Merdeka celebration with the kids was marvelous. Aliya, Naufal & Alisya enjoyed the fireworks, the time we spent together over the long weekend. The only regret was it had to be another round of hotel nights immediately after the celebration....

5.
Ramadahan is coming soon...what a joy!

50 Years already

The Merdeka Celebration this year marked the 50th years of independence. I think my kids are enjoying Merdeka Celebration very much - for Aliya, this is her first experience (second one actually if the one when she was still in mama's tummy is counted!).
Maybe they will soon understand how much it meads to be independent.
For now, at least they know the word Merdeka!