Selamat tinggal Ramadhan, Selamat datang Syawal...

Ramadhan came and went in the blink of an eye...It's time to conduct a reflection on one's own performance during the entire month. Personally, I think I did better than last year. One always hopes and strives to better oneself. I prayed more (during the last 10 days of Ramadhan, I missed terawih at the mosque only once and that was because of my Exploring Psych lecture at UniSIM. Of course I made up for it at home), I conducted myself better, I read more, I was more at ease with myself, I did not use fasting as an excuse not to do the normal things I do like exercising. Overall, I think I had pushed myself to do more. I was more disciplined. I controlled myself better. It is true, the best person to compete is against oneself. My wish is to meet the next Ramadhan and do even better than this year. Insya Allah...

Syawal is already here. I will strive to carry over the good practises of Ramadhan...I want to puasa enam. (If one fasts the whole of Ramadhan and then plus the 6 days in Syawal, it's like fasting for the ENTIRE year. How do we arrive at that magical figure of 1 year? Every ibadat that we do is multiplied by 10 so 1 whole month of Ramadhan is like 10 months and 6 days of puasa enam in Syawal is like 60 days which is equivalent to 2 months...hence 1 year...) I will strive to control my food intake and not gobble every food served! You will see me hitting the gym on Thursday morning before the 3rd day of visiting...It's very simple actually, if your intake (food) is more than your output (exercise), the excess food gets stored as FAT...If you know how hard it is to burn 300 calories (about 20 minutes of lung bursting running at 12km/h), you will think twice about gulping down that juicy, delicious lemak ayam...

Last but not least, Minal Aidin Wal Fa Idzin, Ma'af Zahir Batin kepada semua peminat-peminat ku...(last time I checked, I could count them using the fingers of my left hand...)

Have a good Raya and watch what you eat!

Ibu, I ter-fall down...

The littlest princess is very wide awake on this humid Sunday morning, busy exploring the house and engaging in small talk.

Her small talk (kids at this age are incessently talking) can send us into fits of laughter. Her ability to combine words (both English and Malay) is just amazing, "Ibu, I ter-fall down...". We have never taught her that kind of sentence structure so I guess Chomsky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky) is right...Kids have an innate ability for languages...

Just the other day, after hearing a hari raya song, she told my BH, "Ibu, I like this raya-raya song...". She makes her own songs, combining what she has learnt with other songs. For example, she uses the tune from 'Twinkle-twinkle Little Stars' and sings it using her own words. Priceless...

Oh...she has passed the "Ibu, magic word...pleeeease", phase...

69.7...and going down!

Ran 4km on the threadmill just before buka...Did a blistering 12km/h pace for 15min and 11.5km/h till the 20th minute...My 2.4km was done in 11:57min...

As usual, just before I left the gym, I weighed my self and yes...I've achived my goal of weighing in below 70kg by the end of Ramadhan when the weighing machine showed 69.7kg! From a high of 73kg at the start of Ramadhan...

Now the hard's part is in maintaining the sub-70 level...

Presenting...the GPSMap 60CSx...

After waiting patiently for about 4 weeks during which I had no GPSr (shudder...), my latest toy has finally arrived! At $150 off from what 'The Shop' @ Sim Lim Square is selling, it was certainly worth the wait. It felt good in my hands...

Wait reviews after reviews had said about the unit is TRUE! There's certainly a lot of improvements over my old eTrex Vista C (which I had sold to one of my guys after learning about the 60CSx's capabilities). The receiver is super sensitive and the unit is fast when scrolling and calculating auto-routing. The screen is just beautiful even in direct sunlight (which nowadays, because of the haze, is seldom seen!)

Here's the site that has made it all possible:- www.malsingmaps.com

Well, this will be my 2nd last indulgence for the year...the last will be a heartrate monitor from Polar (www.polarelectro.com.sg). I wouldn't exactly call it an indulgence, more of a neccessity since I will be using it to get my IPPT Gold!

Singapore Album

Here's a worthwhile project to do for those who have old photos they want to share with the whole of Singapore...I'll sure be contributing photos from Sekijang!

www.singaporealbum.sg

Counting down the days...

It's slightly under 1 month to my first paper! Yep, it's that time of the year again for EXAMS! For the first paper, DSZS2122 Exploring Psychology II, it will be on 13th November while the other paper on ESZS2092 Child Development II is ten days later on 24th November. My re-sit paper for DSZS2121 Exploring Psychology I is somewhere in between. (This was the paper I was supposed to sit for in the middle of the year but missed since national duty called and I had to be in the steaming jungles of Temburong taking care of our future defenders of the nation!!!).

So all in all I have 3 papers to sit for and tons of chapters to revise...I am currently awaiting the order for the oil called "Midnight" which I will be burning from now till end of exams!!! I heard business for this brand of oil is very good during exams! ;)

Other than exams, I still have 2 more TMAs (Tutor-Marked Assignments) to finish. One is due next Tuesday and the other on the eve of Raya (ooh fate...how cruel art thou!)...So far I have been doing fine with my TMAs especially for Child Development II which has seen marks of 70s and above...

So, if there's no regular updates here, I hope the reason is pretty clear...Gotta hit the books now...

Antara Cahaya & Kegelapan...

The sarahan after terawih just now was entitled, "Antara Cahaya & Kegelapan". In short, it was about knowledge and how it will lead us to enlightenment. The BH and I had 'deposited' the kids at my MIL's before heading to Al-Khair. It was the usual 8 raka'at of terawih followed by the 2+1 of witir except that for the last 15 days of Ramadhan, the 1 raka'at of witir has the doa qunut after ruku'.

Thinking back to the sarahan, I am glad that this year's Ramadhan has been very different for me for many reasons...I guess it all boils down to WILL POWER, FOCUS, DETERMINATION & DISCIPLINE. One thing that has been different is that fact that today, 9 days before Syawal, we have finished the major part of our Raya prep!!! We have changed ALL the curtains (day and night curtains), changed the sofa covers, changed the living room layout, brought out the carpets, changed the dining room layout, tidied up the storeroom (it's now possible to walk in and do a u-turn inside without things falling on top of you!). In previous years, this would have usually been carried out like 48 hours before 1 Syawal! But no...this year was gonna different.

The ustaz rightfully said that most would be concerned with the prep for 1 Syawal and miss the last 10 days of Ramadhan's barakah...That, IMHO, would be missing the whole point of celebrating on 1 Syawal. The journey IS as important as the destination...So, since we have done the major part of the prep, we can concentrate on reflecting the true meaning of Ramadhan...

Ah well, we are left with only the 'minor' touches to the prep like filling up the green packets (hmmm, what's the market rate this year I wonder!?!?), filling up the containers with kuih-muih raya, changing the picture frames with new pictures, getting fresh flowers for Mum, MIL and our abode...

For my one and only sis...

Marsita, Shahira, Alisha & me would like to welcome Julie back to the 'real' world! Glad that you are reading this post from the comforts of your own home...We hope that you will be strong and go thru whatever is necessary to regain your health...


May the warm thoughts and wishes that surround you lift your heart, brighten your world and give you renewed strength for tomorrow...


Get well soon...


Here's the latest picture of the girls to cheer you up!

Run run away ah...

Ran at 1825hrs today...time it such that I can break my fast at the end of the run.

Ran at 12km/h for 2.4km. Did it in 12mins 10sec. Then went at 11km/h all the way till 19min 30secs before picking up the pace at 12km/h for 30secs and at 13km/h for another 30secs to simulate sprinting to the finish line. Pulse was at 168bpm at the end of the run.

Weight before the run was 71.0kg and at the end it was 70.8kg.

Did not do any sets as there wasn't any time.

Happy Children's Day

Got a photography 'assignment' today. My dear instructors had 'invited' me, for the longest time, to capture them in their footballing glory. I had promised them I would do it today...even though it's early Sunday morning! Had thought of not wanting to go because of what happened yesterday. But...a promise is a promise...

It was a cloudy day. Not too good for outdoor shoots. Charlie Football Club beat the team of young punks we were up against 3-1. They had some issues with obeying the referees and following rules. Ah...but that is the 'exuberance' of youth I guess... Took about 200+ shots. You can see them here...

Then I went to CDANS Bukit Batok Driving Range to practise my golf. Been a long time since I've been there. Surprisingly I could still use the card even though it was many moons ago since I last used it. Hit about a 100 balls. My 7-iron was ok. Got about 120m with it. Accurate too. My 9-iron went about 100m. My pitching wedge was accurate also! Got about 75+ meters with it. My driver is improving. Some errant shots were inevitable. But a few were beautiful. One went all the way to 180m! Need to practise more driver shots...

The afternoon was the highlight of the day for my girls. They had been looking forward to Jayden's 3rd birthday party all week. It was held at the function room. Suffice to say they had lots of fun...oh, including the Mom and Dad...who relived childhood memories by blowing those soft balloons...we won that game! Oh...yup, we skipped the girls' afternoon class for the birthday party...c'mon, it's not often they go to a birthday party...

We broke fast at my maternal grandma's house. It's always a practise for us to break fast at both my grandmas homes during Ramadhan. Brings them a bit of cheer and chaos! We did a conference call to Julie at about 2130hrs...it was nice to hear her cheery voice...

Ah...a Sunday well spent...