True?

Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air.
You name them – work, family, health, friends and spirit …
...and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball.
If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls – family, health, friends and spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered.
They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for it.

–Brian G. Dyson President and CEO,
Coca-Cola Enterprises
during his speech at the Georgia Tech 172nd Commencement Address
Sept. 6, 1996.

Recover

A bad start for the week. Kids caught flu and after a day taking care of them, I joined the club. Heavy dry cough, high temperature...for two days I did not have the energy to sit in front of my laptop. I did not even switch on my hand phone simply because I would not be able to talk loud enough for the person on the other end to hear me. Anyway, Alhamdulillah. There must be a good reason why I have to suffer. What matters most is my kids recover soonest possible. Today is already Thursday, there will be replacement class on Saturday for CNY celebration, I hope Alisya will be ok by nightfall today. Don't want her to miss too much class. Taking care of her involves being strict too - I don't allow her to watch cartoons and end up not resting/ sleeping. So far, so good. Forcing her to drink bottles of clear liquids is not something I enjoy doing but it if has to be done, it has to be done.

Maybe it is time to train them to bring their Sigg bottles everywhere they go, like they used to when they were kids (well...actually I had to carry it in my back-pack).

Twenty Eleven

1.
Alhamdulillah. Finally it is here. The first year of the second decade of the 21st century.
Nothing much of a celebration for me and my family. I had a discussion with my mentor ImageMaker on the final evening of 2010 and coincidentally met some guys who worked together for a project in Negeri Sembilan.
Saw the fireworks from the highway on our way back to KL. Personally, I am trying to make the celebration more private, just with the family, let them enjoy the fireworks from afar, with something to drink and nibble, say proper prayers, spend some time with Allah, then have a good night sleep and start the new day tomorrow with a good note. That would be a perfect way to start another year.
Being in a crowded place, music thumping through your brains, noisy crowds wrecking havoc through the night and such, is just not my preference. Not anymore perhaps, maybe I can accept it previously, on certain occasions but not anymore.

2.
Quite a number of things came up in November & December 2010...opportunities which translated into rezeki & future projects, insyaAllah....Alhamdulillah, the trips and projects in PML Labuan, KYS K.K., UniMas Kuching, JPM Putrajaya, made me more prepared to move on to the next level.

3.
I regretted I could not spend much time for holidays with my kids and wife but I feel more relieved 2010 is gone because it has been a very rough ride for me, I left a trace of my feelings and thoughts in my journal, even as I wrote it I still feel like I want to stop writing it down and just do and do the things that I wrote, the anger, hatred and all were too strong for me to handle at times but thanx to the writing instruments and the journal, I get to release it off from time to time....and I pray that it will just stay there...that;s the best place for me to tame my anger, to kill my fear (I do not have much of it to be honest), express my feelings, my deepest ideas (some have actually became realities) and all sorts of things that I have in my head...I can say now that seasoned yellow book has became my best buddy after being with me day in day out since 2008.
I named it "The book of Torque: Chapter 1"

4.
So, what's in the pipeline for this second decade? A LOT!
2011 is supposedly to be a networking year for yours truly. However it may be, now I have myself equipped with the "lessons learned" in 2010...no looking back, just looking up for prayers to Allah and looking down to help those who need help..and looking forward to a better year, a better decade. InsyaAllah.

5.
No matter what, my priority still remains the same.
+ Family
+ Family
+ Family
+ ChaptersImages
+ Everything else under the sun

6.
I made it through the barricades.....hello 2011.