Hello 2017

Yes, I know.. it's been some time since I've last posted and I think that I want to be more focused this year in 2017. Here are some initial goals which I've drafted out for 2017:

1. Read more surahs (every week)
2. Train for marathon (13 miles) and Ultra marathon (50K) (By June and December). I'm planning to sign up for 5 races so far)
3. 6 pack abs (by March, and yes I'm that vain)
4. Try Crossfit gym (by September)
5. Read 20 books (by December, check out my Goodreads profile)
6. 1min 30 sec planks everyday (increase duration if needed)
7. PMP certification (31st March)
8. Upload a mixtape once a month (currently my Soundcloud section's empty and need some mixtapes)

​I'm currently using iCloud notes and the Productive app to track some of the items above. We'll see how this go and yes, I'll be blogging more often from now on to document the above journey in 2017.

Of White and Pink

Lately there had been heated debate between both sides of the WearWhite SG movement and the Pink Dot SG (LGBT) Movement. We've seen the ugly side of people on both sides of the fences with each side hurling incendiary remarks, judgements towards each other. This is something definitely hurting especially the Muslim community in Singapore.

As a caveat, I have to admit that I'm no Islamic scholar and this writeup is more of my personal opinion towards this issue.

Let's look at the timeline for the WearWhite movement (http://www.facebook.com/wearwhitesg/timeline). It started in June 6th and I started to see something from this movement from my Facebook timeline feed. I have to admit that during that time when it appeared, I thought that it's a noble thing to do since Ramadhan is approaching. FYI, 1st day of Ramadhan falls on 29th June and the 1st terawih prayers falls on the night of 28th June, the same day where the Pink Dot SG movement is having their yearly gathering at Hong Lim Park. Also, initially, I feel that the WearWhite SG movement is kind of reminding us of the coming fasting month, the time for us to cleanse ourselves to be back to the pure (fitrah) state. And what better colour symbolizes purity other than white

Things start to turn sour when the Wear White movement decided to release their press statement on the 20th of June. They declared formally that the main objective movement is to raise awareness in opposition to activities promoted within the LGBT community. Here's an excerpt from their press statement:

"The movement's genesis was from our observations of the growing normalization of LGBT in Singapore. However, we recognize the conduct and it's support among Muslims is due to the lack of understanding and connection with Islam and our fitrah. We thus came together initially with the expressed purpose of reminding Muslims not to participate in the LGBT event on 28th June."

Err what's wrong here? Why suddenly the focus/objective of this WearWhite movement becomes an opposition to the LGBT movement? And you're getting people to be dressed in white, to show to the public that you're wearing white via the social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, whatever)? What has the "niat" or intention become? Please be clear in your objective from the very start of your movement and inform people what is the agenda about. Having it to focus on something else along the line is certainly not right here.


The Muslim holy month or Ramadhan is when we Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. It is also the month where good deeds are heeded and everyone is encouraged to increase their good deeds "bank account" to reap the benefits of Ramadhan. This can also include the recitation of the holy Quran, giving alms to charity, or even simple deeds like being courteous, respecting others, etc.


Also to be upfront, I oppose whatever the LGBT people are doing/practising but I don't judge them. Only God can judge, not us mortal humans. And as what Mahatma Ghandi said, "Hate the sin, love the sinner". People can sinned all their lives and it just takes one "ah ha" moment to receive guidance that God can wipe out their sins and they return back to their natural state (i.e. fitrah state). So no point judging people now as their sins can be wiped out before you know it. It's easy for them to have such strong feelings to oppose and even impose judgements on the LGBT group. But have they ever considered what if the tables are turned and their offspring, siblings, close friends suddenly "come out of the closet" regarding the sexual orientation? Would they disown their children, parents, friends? Easier said than done folks.

Lastly I'd like to share something from Mufti Menk. A powerful reminder especially in the social media age.

Have a blessed Ramadhan ahead folks. 

And it's been 1 year...

Just realized that it had been a year that I had this micro-discectomy surgery done (at L5-S1). Praise to God that I'm well and there's no more nerve issues at my left leg. Guess that I will have to take care of my back (literally) now. 

Alright, c'est tout... I'm going for the surgery option!

After months of sciatic pain in my left leg (from my glutes to my hips and down to the pins and needles on the sole of my left feet), I decided to go for the surgery option at Khoo Teck Phuat Hospital next month on the 12th of April.

What makes me decide on this is because of the following factors:

1. I've gone for physiotherapy treatments at Core Concepts since October last year after the first occurrence of the sciatic pain on my leg. There were some days where I don't encounter pain in my left leg during that early period. It got worst in November after I went for a Legoland trip with my family. I've also visited the subsidised specialist doctors in KTPH and received some painkillers. Dem painkillers do not work...
2. It got to a point where I'm feeling miserable from the afternoon onwards as it affects my mobility for my work, my time with my family over the weekend. I have to lie on the bed to relief that pain. 
3. I can't walk for more than 5 minutes unless I stop and rest for a while and wait for the pain to disappear. 
4. My M.R.I report are as follow: 

• L4/5: posterocentral annular tear and focal disc protrusion mildly indenting thecal sac. mild disc dessiccation
• L5/S1: Large left paracentral focal disc extrusion causing severe left lateral recess narrowing, impinging the left descending S1 nerve root. Moderate central canal stenosis. 

After much thought and normal conservative treatments does not work for me, I decide to go for the surgery option called Minimally Invasive Discectomy. Hopefully after this surgery, it can ease my misery and regain my mobility. Your thoughts and prayers are welcome..

Attaching a video below from You Tube about this Minimally Invasive Discectomy procedure by a doctor in John Hopkins

What's In My Bag

Alright, I decided to do a post on this. Here's a peak of what's inside my current bag.






And here's all the contents inside:



Hop on to the Flickr site to view the details of all the contents inside!

Iffah and Akif

Both are different in their own ways. Iffah, now going to Primary 2 level next year and Akif will turn 4 next year January. Felt that time passed pretty fast this past few years. Things are going to turn out to be more challenging for Akif as wife was suspecting that he could be suffering from Asperger's Syndrome.

Came to this conclusion after finding out that he does not seem to communicate well with other people and keeps saying / asking the same questions to people he know (us and our parents). He also seem to exhibit certain behaviors like lying down on the floor (in class), difficulty in talking 'normally' like other 3 year old kids and others which can be found in kids with Asperger's Syndrome. Both of us decide to send him for some developmental assessment checks by referring to the therapists in KKH (appointment made for Jan 22) and will have to see what things we can do to facilitate him to be 'normal'. Let's see what the therapists can do...

Iffah had ended her Primary school year with a good academic record. She got 2nd in her class and an award for the Best In Malay Language. Kudos to her and hopefully she can sustain her academic achievements later on.

She's good in her ballet too. But heard from her that she does not want to continue with her ballet next year onwards. Hopefully she can continue with this as well.

 

Going back to Akif, it appears that the reality of him not being able to live a "normal" life like other kids later on sinked into both of us parents. There were occasions of guilt, regret in both of us. Questions like:

• "Why we didn't detect it earlier?"
• "Why he doesn't seem to have any emotions like empathy, etc?"
• "Why he's not talking / communicating to other kids"?

There's also the guilt that I have when I scolded him. Several times I wonder whether he learns anything from the times we scolded him. It seemed now that I have to refrain from doing so to him and explore other ways of communicating with him.

We're hoping that by intervening at an early stage, he can go to a mainstream school later on. There was this case this year of a PSLE student with Asperger's Syndrome, in Pathlight School, scored 273 points. Well there's still hope for him and now it depends on both of us parents.

It'll be a long journey for us to assist him all the way and I'm hoping that I can dedicate 100% of my time and effort to his development. To end this note, I read somewhere that children with disabilities can't differentiate between what is right and what is wrong. And as such, they are "automatically" given the passport to heaven by God. So what I have with me right now is also my "passport" to heaven later on.

 

Posted with Blogsy

I'm Back

I'm back... after more than a 2 year hiatus. Lots of things had happened during this time. Here's the things which happened during those two years, starting with my career path:

1) Me leaving Thomson Reuters (in September 2011) after 4 years with the news/media company

2) Me joining Hewlett Packard after that and only to leave HP after a short stint of 8 months due to company restructuring. 3) Me joining HCL Insys Pte Ltd after that (from 28th May 2012). Thankful to God that I managed to secure another job before my last day with HP. Not so lucky for my ex-colleague in HP who is still finding a job now. Will not go into the details on what happened in HP and why there's the restructuring.

Here are the things which happened on the persona side:

1) Arrival of my third son, Ariz Aidan on 19th January 2012

2) Bought a Fuji X-Pro 1 camera after a hiatus from the Canon EOS 3. That will be my main camera from now on and it's definitely sweet with the 35mm / f1.4 lens.

3) Besides the Fuji X-Pro 1, I've also got hold of the Digital Harinezumi 2+++ and a La Sardina camera as well.

Well, hopefully I can keep up with this blog. Will try to contribute more often now.

Don't Cry For Me Argentina

The past week had been quite a blow for me. News was out indicating a move by the company I'm working with in it's decision some of its operations to move to a low operating cost country. Apparently Singapore is not in it's list of good countries in terms of operating costs and top management decided to shift operations to India and Argentina.

The release of this piece of news was quite shocking to us especially at the time when things are quite vulnerable. Don't intend to go into the details of this but all I know is that I would have to find a back-out plan fast; Options:

i) Either remain in the company and apply for an internal position in another department

ii) If I'm given the option of moving to Argentina (or India), my wife indicated that she won't join me (due to her work nature)

iii) Move on to another job. Hopefully that my current job here lasts long enough.

Looks like I have options 1 and 3 to consider.

Perth vacation

Our family had just been on a 5 days 4 nights holiday to Perth. It was my first visit to the continent and my wife's 2nd visit there (I think). Somehow I had mixed feelings about our just-finished vacation to the city.

Firstly, as we are so used to the hustle and bustle of SG life, living for a few days in Perth where it is more laid back seemed "not normal" for us. Shops starting to close at 5 pm onwards? And by 6pm, all of the shops are closed and we had to resort to our shopping during the daylight period. That was some serious blow for us who are so used to the evening / night shopping activity in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. The people just disappear after 6pm to the comforts of their suburb homes leaving the streets with the bar-hopping crowd.

The cost of living is quite steep as compared to SG... My colleague told me that it's not enough to just change to 500 AuD for all 5 days and she was right. Bulk of the money was spent on food / drinks and public transport. And I gasped at the taxi fare from the airport to our hotel (amounts to slightly above 50AUD). OK so I guess the public transport costs are more expensive in other cities like London, New York, Paris, etc. But I think it takes time to get used to it. So that makes me wonder what is the cost of living like for citizens there, what amounts to a decent pay package for professionals like me (if I intend to work in / migrate to Australia).


So that leaves both me and my wife confirming each other that life in Australia is not for us. Even when we know of 2 other people who are intending to migrate there with their families. We rather be citizens in our homeland than be migrants in another country. As what the malay proverb proclaim (after translating), "Even the grass is greener on the other side, it is still better on our homes"

What Is That? (A sparrow)

Kudos to someone who posted this on Facebook... I almost cried watching this clip... As they say, a parent can bring up 10 children but 10 children may not able to support one parent...

Taz September Dubstep Mix by Taz

Taz September Dubstep Mix  by  Taz

Phir Milenge!

I'm all packed and ready to head for the airport. It has been a slow 1 month for me in India full of nice surprises along the way and some incidents which will remain in my memory for years to come. My work stint is OK but even for the hiccups encountered along the way, I can say that I've enjoyed my stay here in India for the past few weeks.

Bangalore is a nice place to stay despite the heavy and chaotic traffic in the city. Can say that I'm quite sheltered in Singapore and when I arrived here in Bangalore (and later in New Delhi), I get to see how the real India is like sans the Bollywood facade. It's sad to see beggars of all sorts roaming the roads, street children who live with their families in construction sites and other kinds of poverty conditions around the city. I made some new work acquaintances and let's hope that both parties in Singapore and Bangalore can work together well.

An advise that I would give to someone (especially if they're from a multi-racial society like in Singapore or Malaysia) who will be visiting India for the first time is that to unlearn all the racial stereotypes, slurs or jokes about Indians in general. Also do come with an open mind and be ready to accept them for what they are. A good example would be what my Thai colleague told me (during an encounter with a cab driver) that there are many languages and dialects spoken in India and to survive in the country, even the locals would cheat among one another. At least I come back home to Singapore hoping that I would be more racially tolerant with other after my one month plus stint here.

I did not travel much during my stay. I thought I would want to visit places like Mumbai, Goa, Jaipur and Udaipur. I decided to visit New Delhi and Agra (including Taj Mahal). I realised that travelling alone can be very lonely and I would want my family to be by my side, to experience the joys (and also the hassles) of travelling and exploring new places. Definitely I would return back to India some day (with my family) to experience the grandeur of Taj Mahal and the above mentioned places.

Just settled down in Bangalore

So it's the start of my 1 month work in Bangalore. This is my first time here in India and I want to make the most out of this one month stint. Flew together with my Thai colleague in SQ flight. Journey was rather bumpy due to turbulence along the way. Once I reached the airport, cleared immigration and got back my luggage, I had a small problem with the India customs as my haversack apparently has a chalkmark X drawn across it. I carried 2 laptops with me and many cables, wires of all sorts for my gadgets... So maybe that explains the customs fiasco...

Once we got out of the airport (it was around 1030hrs IST), it's pretty cold and windy. Our journey to the hotel is quite OK as we start to get acquainted with the road users here. Lorries have a sign at the back "OK to horn" and our driver keeps on beeping at lorry drivers, motorcyclists, other motorists.. So I guess that it is OK to horn lightly. Try this back in Singapore and we will get the driver to chase after the person who horned.

So we are going to stay in The Residence Indranagar. Pretty decent place. Pics will be up soon. It's sleep and rest time... Another day beckons ahead later.

Paris review from a colleague

One of my colleagues just went on a holiday spanning London, Scotland, Rome and Paris. Had a small chat to find out from her what her experience of Paris is like. She informed that it's full of Senegalese touts, gypsies and her friend almost got pick-pocketed in a fast food counter (but was foiled by the sharp-eyed cashier). From the description that she gave, it made as if Paris seemed a dangerous place as a tourist. She also claimed that London (and Rome too) is very much safer than Paris.

I've been to Paris in 2004 during our honeymoon and it is indeed a beautiful place, with the Eiffel Tower, Musee du Louvre, the wonderful Paris metro stations, the various gardens, Fontainebleau, etc. Our experience with touts was only at Montmarte where we were forced to buy a friendship band for 10 Euros from this Senegalese tout (who claimed to be a Muslim) after he had tied it on my wife's hand.

I hope that this does not stop me from visiting Paris again but I also wish that the place is free of such touts, pickpockets to make it safer for tourists.

Checklist of items to bring for BLR trip

Now that I'm more or less being tasked to go to Bangalore for work (for a month), I'm trying to list of essential items which I need / might need for my stay there. I've come out with some:

1) Baby wetwipes. Convenient for me to clean my hands, seats, etc on the go
2) Dettol hand sanitizer
3) Medication for indigestion or bowel meltdown situations
4) DVDs to watch during free period (that include my long list of French movies recorded from Starhub cable)
5) Macbook (don't intend to lug my company laptop around for short trips within India) rigged with Adobe Lightroom, Reason, Logic 8 and The Sims 3
6) iPod
7) Ricoh GR Digital camera (with 24mm wide angle lens attachment)
8) Skype phone for communication with family in SG
9) My Sony portable DVD player (when I get bored at airports or in trains)
10) A book; "Underworld" by Don Delillo

Lift Pee Pee

There's this idiot who keeps pissing in the lift of our in-laws' block EVERYDAY and all that the Pasir Ris Town Council did was just put a warning note on the lift. Not even a CCTV camera to catch the culprit pants down...




























Just recently, a resident of the block took a citizen vigilante stand by posting his own notice on the wall of the lift. Lousy stick figure version but at least he gets his message across. Hope that culprit will be caught soon.

Tampines 1 Mall car park = FAIL!!

Just been to the spankingly new Tampines 1 mall and my first impression of it (using my car to drop by the place) had been quite bad. Knowing earlier when it had just opened that the car park situation was quite bad, I thought that visiting the place during a weekday office hour (Thursday 30th April) there would be not much of a problem. But alas no!! Here's the rough timeline of what happened during the visit:

1450hrs: Reached Tampines 1 mall vicinity. There was a short queue outside. Noticed that there was a car park FULL and number of lots available sign outside. Queue movement is pretty slow as it goes down inside the carpark ramp.

1458hrs: Managed to go inside the car park. Noticed that within the car park there are NO empty lots sign available (unlike in Tampines Mall and Century Square).

1505hrs: After 2-3 turns merry-go-round round the car park, still no vacancy. Noticed a BMW parallel parking into an empty single lot.

1508hrs: After another turn round the car park still no vacancy. Beemer still trying to parallel park (BMW driver FAIL!)

1515hrs: Gave up on trying to find an empty lot. Went out of the place. Cashcard deducted 50cents. Frack!

1520hrs: Went to next door Tampines Mall. Immediately got an empty lot. Walked out next door to Tampines 1... Blegh...

Bad car-park planning!!!

Parenthood Chapter 2

I know I'm quite sucky in updating my blog. Well here goes and I hope that the update frequency will catch up soon.

I'm proud to say that I'm in the Chapter 2 phase of parenthood. Our 2nd child was born on 5th January 2009, the second day which our dear Iffah started her nursery 2 school in Kids Meadow's kindergarten. Our son, Akif Nabil was around 3.2 kgs and our Iffah now has a younger sibling to take care of. Initially she was rejecting the idea of having to a baby boy as her younger sibling but upon his birth onwards, I guess her feelings melt immediately and she's now all loving and protective of him. Photos will be uploaded soon!

Azlina had just fininshed her maternity leave on 27th April and here are some of the things which happened along the way for all of us.

1) School for our dear Iffah can be an emotional rollercoaster ride for her. Getting her to go to school (and making her wear her uniform) is a herculean task for the whole family. But now, I guess she is quite adaptable to her school environment. Friendships are forged and she kept telling us of her friends in school; their characteristics, whom she likes and don't linke (she even has Mii characters set up in our Nintendo Wii!)

2) Iffah had finally begin to take her oral medication after not doing so for a really long time. This happened just recently when she got a viral fever infection after going to the library in White Sands. After seeing her crying in pain when being given suppositories and after 2 visits to the A&E department of KKH, she now can take some of her oral medication. At least those medicine which she's beginning to take now can help to remedy her fever which dragged for slightly more than a week. I'm proud of this milestone for her.

Books for Iffah

"In September, on the very first day of kindergarten, Ms Bradley said, 'Each day of school, ...' "

These were some of the parts of a book (taken from Nancy Carlson's Henry's 100 Days of Kindergarten) which she had memorised and able to recite it by heart.

I'm glad that Iffah picked up reading at an early age, even though there were some attempts at getting her to know words via flash cards or watching Dr Titzer's VCDs when she was still a little baby.

Trips to the local branch library proved to be fruitful for her reading accomplishments. She would borrow some and we would read to her before her bedtime. Before long, she's able to relate the things which she encountered in the books to her everyday activities eg going to pre-school (ref Henry's 100 Days of Kindergarten) to baking a cake (ref Harvey The Baker).

As such, I managed to scout some 2nd hand Nancy Carlson's books on ebay and got them quite cheaply. These books are recommended for toddlers 3 years and above and also those who are going to pre-school.

Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come!!











Henry's Show And Tell

Nasty car accident

Something happened today which made me think that God wanted to give me a second chance at life and thus prolong it.

I was involved in a 3 car accident (including my car). Was coming back out of my work place car park ramp after my night shift. Saw an incoming vehicle turning into the car park entrance ramp downslope. My immediate brain reaction was to lift my foot of the accelerator and to jam the brakes hard. But instead of the brakes, I accidentally floored the accelerator instead. So you can imagine the speed upon flooring the accelerator and as such, my car hits the oncoming car (at the driver's side). Also, I had a 2 sec moment where I lost control of the vehicle and swerved my car to the left going into the main road and hit an oncoming taxi in the outer lane before my car came to a complete stop.

I was in a daze for a minute or two after that. I kept thinking whether anyone is hurt in the accident. I'm reliefed that no one is hurt and the drivers involved are rather reliefed too that they are not hurt as well considering the speed of my car at that time. My car is damaged at the front (it is practically smashed, but engine should be alright) and it had to be towed to the assessment centre for insurance claims.

All this had to happen on my wife's birthday (31st July). My wife appreciated me more that I managed to spend time with her on her birthday despite the car being towed away. We had plans to go out at night for dinner somewhere far, bringing Iffah out for a night stroll, etc..