My dear little sis...

Julie, I received the news from Mum at 0537hrs. I always hate odd hour calls because they mean only one thing...

We pray that you'll be reading this in good health. Our thoughts and prayers are with you. Know that we love you and miss you...And can't wait for you to be back 'home'...

My dear little sis...

Of good runs and long terawihs...

Just got back from the gym...Had gone to terawih @ Al-Khair before that. Today's terawih was longer at 1hr 21mins than Sunday's 1hr 11mins...Disappointingly, there weren't that much people left after the 8th raka'at onwards. I even got to go to the main prayer hall. Maybe it's a weekday night...

Anyway, had a good run at the gym. Today I decided not to go for the 2.4km pace but a constant pace throughout. Accompanied by my Lifedrive blaring fast music, I ran a pace of 11km/h throughout the 30minutes except that I increased the speed to 11.5km/h at the 28th minute and 12km/h at the 29th minute. To stimulate dashing to the finish line, I increased to 13km/h 30secs before the 30th minute...All in all, I ran more than 5.5km. And I did not feel tired at all. My pulse at the 30th minute was 168bpm and after the warm-down it was 120bpm. My weight before the run, 71.8kg, had gone down 1kg since I last ran a day before Ramadhan...I am a firm believer that running is a good way to cut down one's weight...By the time I finished running it was already about 2300hrs. Did one set of my usual routine since it was already way late...

Of horrible drives, excellent short game and accurate putts

Well, as I have said in my previous post, we were gonna play golf on Tuesday and we did. Peter, his brother Daniel and Simon. This is the second time I played at Palm Villa in the last two weeks.

The previous night I had just 1 hour of sleep as I was finishing up my 2nd TMA for EDZS2092 Child Development II. I had sahur at about 0445hrs and slept at 0515hrs till about 0615hrs. By 0900hrs, we were teeing off from the first hole of the IOI Course @ Palm Villa! The weather helped a bit in that it was overcast. In fact it rained heavily around lunchtime and the Club sounded the long continuous blasts of the siren to signal that play is to be stopped immediately due to lightning. So while the other 3 had lunch, I went to the changing room and caught some forty-winks.

My total score was 123 which was not too bad, having not been playing regularly in a while. As usual, my driving was horrible. If the ball managed to fly, it would hook to the right. If it went straight, it would fly...roll rather!...an embarrasing 50m away! But my short game was much much better. I was more confident of my irons especially my favourite 7 iron. If my drive was decent for a particular hole, I would usually get on the green by the bogey shot. My chipping was ok too. Managed to let the ball fly a high trajectory near the hole. My bunker shots was nicely executed with the prerequisite sand flying together with the ball as it should be. And my putting put Simon to envy! I holed the longest putt of the day of about 30 feet. And managed to get my balls within 1 club length on long putts. Oh, managed to get a par on one of the Par 3s...Had a good shot with my 7 iron and the shot landed on the green. Frustrated with my drive, I used the 3 iron on the 26th hole instead of the driver and it went quite a distance. But Simon advised me to use my 'original' driver instead of the smaller Callaway one. Strangely enough, taking his advise, I hit my longest and straightest drive on the last hole! It flew up the slope, a good 200+ meters! The breakdown of my shots are as follows: 5% pars, 16% each for bogeys and double bogeys, 61% triple bogeys +. Well, you'll see me more at the driving range working on my driving...

Here are the guys who played...(moi, Peter, Simon, Daniel)

2nd cuzzies...

The 4 kids took time out from the hustle and bustle of the Ramadhan Bazaar to enjoy themselves...

Selamat Datang Kekasih...

...was the title of the sarahan after the first terawih at Al-Khair. I forgot that terawih on Saturdays are truncated from 20 (raka'at terawih) + 3 (raka'at witir) to 8 + 3 to make way for the sarahan. But I stayed on anyway to listen to the sarahan.

First terawih of Ramadhan is always quite an experience for me. The atmoshphere, the feeling of brotherhood, being amongst a lot fellow muslims, the start of a special month...I remembered during 1st Ramadhan 1425 I cried during terawih...There was this guy to my left who obviously had very very great difficulty even standing up - he had some motor neurone disease I think - and he took great effort in following the imam every step of the way even though he was slow. He was struggling and trying to balance himself. But he did it, the whole 23 raka'at...I lost it and couldn't control myself. Here's a guy who was not as healthy as the majority of us and he made it a point to come for terawih...and I remembered that I always looked out for him all the way thru Ramadhan.

Anyway, certain surahs affect the imams in certain ways and majority of them lost it one time or another especially towards the end of Ramadhan. Some will try to control by pausing and getting hold of themselves while some will carry on in between sobs...the latter can affect the congregation quite a bit as some of us will also do the same...

My takeaway from the sarahan is to always set targets for oneself. In Ramadhan and everything else in life...To know whether our Ramadhan has been mabrur, we just got to look at its impact on our lives after it leaves us...It is our duty and responsibility to 'tegur' our fellow muslims if they are doing something which is 'mungkar'...No more the "kubur dia, dia jawab, kubur aku, aku jawab..." attitude. When we tegur someone, come from the angle of giving him/her the benefit of the doubt. No accusations, no pointing-fingers, "Kenapa kau tak puasa? Aku puasa tau!". Embarrassing people will only make them rebellious. Rebellious folks are not receptive to any inputs! If we are 'shy', start with our kids first, then our cousins, nieces, nephews...then strangers...Do not allow non-muslims to think, "Poor thing, he is suffering, he is like that because he is fasting...'. Do not use fasting as an excuse for poor performance...

This Ramadhan, I will aim to do the following (Insya Allah):-

1. Solat Terawih 20+3 EVERYNIGHT! No more discounts i.e. 8+3. I will solat at mosques as far as humanly possible.
2. At home, I will solat jema'ah with my BH more often, if not all the time.
3. I will not procrastinate my solat.
4. I will be more patient with people around me.
5. I will read the Quran and religious texts more.
6. I will remain focus on tasks at hand and not be distracted.
7. I will continue exercising 3 times a week as normal.
8. I will carry on my golfing as normal. (To prove this, I will be playing at Palm Villa on Tuesday...Insya Allah!)
9. I will not waste food during berbuka.
10. I will only buy food that is healthy and non-fried.
11. I will eat in moderation during berbuka.
12. My eyes shall not glaze when it sees all the food at Bazaar Ramadhan. I shall not be tempted to buy every single good-tasting food!
13. During sahur, I will eat more carbohydrates to give me the energy to go about my daily activities and go thru the 6-pill regime as recommended by my BH!
14. I will not be hanging curtains, cleaning up the house on the LAST day of Ramadhan. My target is to get EVERYTHING ready when 1st Syawal strikes after Maghrib. No more of that staying up way past midnight to get the house ready thing. On this note, we shall be coming up with a timeline of things to do, things to buy, places to go in the lead up to 1st Syawal.

I guess it is really a reflection of one's maturity and understanding when one looks forward to Ramadhan much more than one looks forward to Syawal. One should be sad at the departure of Ramadhan because one doesn't know if one should meet it again next year...

I came away from the syarahan greatly inspired, greatly invigorated...that Ramadhan is here...it is a chance for me to excel in all areas of my life and to overcome my worldly and humanly desires...

Selamat Datang Kekasih...

1st Ramadhan...

Just came back from the gym...

Did 2.4km in 11:09mins at mostly 12.2km/h with about 400m at the 1.2km mark at 13km/h...siong...but happy with results!

Then did 8km/h till the 15th minute gradually increasing to 12km/h till 29:30min ending off with a dash at 13km/h for 30secs. Completed 5km in 28:28min and at the end of 30min, ran about 5.3km. Pulse rate at 147bpm...an improvement from the previous run.

Did 3 sets of chest pulls (80kg for 12 reps), quad stretch (50kg for 15reps) and sit-ups (40reps/set)...

Weight was 72.9kg! Probably due to the Shepard's Pie at Secret Recipe just now!

Going for my first tarawih soon at Al-Khair! It's 1st Ramadhan already...so fast...

Selamat Berposa Y'all...

A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step...

72.7kg...that's what the weighing machine in the gym showed when I took my weight on Thursday. My goal by the end of Ramadhan is for my weight to go below 70kg! And since what you put in your blog is for all eternity (even if you delete your entire blog, somewhere some server would have backed up your data so it's not really deleted!), I hereby commit myself to this goal! Insya Allah...

Hit the thread mill for 30 minutes at an average pace of 10km/h. My pulse rate averaged 140bpm. Ran at 12km/h for 12mins 20secs and completed 2.4km in that time. Then ran at 10km/h till the 20th min and finished off at 8km/h to 9.6km/h till the 30th minute. Then did 2 sets of 40 sit-ups each, 12 reps of chest pulls at 80kg and 12 reps of 50kg quad pulls. Will do this at least 3 times a week with increasing weight and pace.

Any exercise less than 20min is a waste of time as your heart rate would not be sufficiently stretched for it to be of any use. And any exercise that does not increase your heart rate sufficiently is also a waste of time. I have seen people on the threadmill at 5km/h without breaking a sweat...what's the point? Just hogging up threadmill time!

I love you...

My BH taught our 2 princessess the handsign for "I love you" a while back and both were quite pleased at the effect it had on people!

Well, Shahira came back from school the other day and informed my BH , "Ibu, I showed my friends this!" while proudly displaying her hand as shown to the left...

"That's very good! Who did you show them to?", my BH enquired, curious...

"All the boys in the class...", Shahira said innocently enough!

Horrified, my BH asked further, "And what did they say?"

"SPIDERMAN!!!", Shahira said...

Boys...

Please...magic word...

We try to teach our kids to have good manners. Constant reminders and gentle cajoling usually works. Sometimes however, it has unintended consequences...

Alisha: Ibu, nak bread...

Ibu: What's the magic word?

Alisha: ??

Ibu: The magic word is 'please ibu...'

Some time later...

Alisha: Ibu, nak bread...

Ibu: What's the magic word?

Alisha: Please ibu...magic word...

So now, 'magic word' almost always follow the word 'please'...oh well, better than nothing I guess!

First golf in over a year...

Well...what kind I say...I finally did it after putting it off for so long...Back to Palm Villa...this time with Peter...