18th December 2007

The 18th of December 2007 was an auspicious day.

What was so great about that day you might say. Well for starters it was a Tuesday. Tuesday means MRT at Kak Ton's place in Kelana Jaya.

Didn't I attend the previous MRT and blogged about it?

Yes I did. Everybody knows that I attended the previous MRT by being fetched by no less than Elviza Michele with Acciaccatura as the navigator and later sent home right to my daughters doorstep without having to ride the now well known RapidKL bus no 69 to Amanputra Puchong.

The MRT of 18th December was important as I had permission from Kak Ton to bring my wife Fatthiyah and the whole family of my son Azrin comprising his wife Yani, two and half year old son Irsyad, daughters Ayen who is one a half year and Syakirah 4 months. Even the Indonesian maid came. Hey we need extra hands to keep the two hyperactive Irsyad and his sister Ayen. I have requested an early arrival and so by 12 noon we were in the vicinity of PKNS hockey pitch in Kelana Jaya where Kak Ton's place was located.
When I rode in Elviza's car I wasn't paying much attention to the actual route. All I remember was Kak Ton's plece wasn't far from the field. Elviza took several turns as she wanted to buy some 'buah tangan' for Kak Ton at the convenience shop of 'Seven Eleven'. That detour screwed up my recollection abit. The fact that we were early and non of the expected many cars were there made me doubt that the place we were looking at were really Kak Ton's. A few calls to Elviza failed to get a responce. She must be facing the right honurable judges or something or suspecting me of asking for another ride to Kak Ton's place may have deterred her from answering my call. When in a fix, many silly reasons suddenly play up in my mind. If only I had asked Kak Ton for her phone number all this doubt could be avoided.

It was Yani who gave me the confidence that this was indeed Kak Ton's place as she had seen the photographs I had taken of the bloggers at Kak Ton's house. Smart girl this daughter inlaw of mine. Seeing photograph of the inside of a house can make her visualize the outside of the house. With that booster to my confidence I rang up the door bell. Somebody from insde the house came out and she confirmed my inquiry of whether that house really was the house I was looking for.

I beckoned to the rest of the family in the car to alight and join me in the house.
Profusely apologizing to Kak Ton for being too early and bringing along such a large entourage (others only bring themselves, their spouse or at the most their friends) we immediately trooped to the back of the house where most of Kak ton's grandchildren's toys were located. Kids being kids immediately made it as their home to play with the toys. At least the toys kept them occupied instead of going after the many ornamental things used to decorate the house.

One for the album with Kak Ton.

'Can we play with the toys?' Irsyad was pleading.

The grandchildren making themselves at home

The reason for me to bring my wife along is for her to meet some of my friends from the blogspere. She must know what kind of crowd I am keeping up with. How I wish I could take her to Ontario to meet my good friend U Lee. Since she didn't read blogs she wouldn't know what sort of history or background U Lee had.

Prior to this I had taken her to Ampang Jaya to visit Pak Idrus and his wonderful wife who served us with great nasi minyak. She met Akmal there too.

Being early we were served with the Mee rebus early and on the way back we talked about how great the mee was. Even the children had second helpings. I didn't go for second though since my family had taken a big chunk of the food to be served to the other bloggers who arrived soon after. First to come was Captain Yusoff Ahmad, followed by Bernard Khoo who came with Tony Yew. Soon after Stephen came. Kak Ton's sister Nuraina came next. By then I was already taking leave of Kak Ton and Abang Ruslani.

Kak Ton and Abang Ruslani, the ever gracious host.

Lending an ear to Tony Yew.

Stephen, don't we look like brothers?

I couldn't stay much longer as I had intended to visit a close friend in Pandan Indah. This friend had the misfortune of having a second stroke attack. Now he couldn't even speak normally. This friend was one of the best specimen of a healthy man. Slim and finely built with no noticable tummy. He was a sportsman. Where did he go wrong to deserve such a fate. Maybe an immediate stop from hyperactivity to a slow and mundane one did the work on him. Or the high pressure of his job that did him in.

Halfway to Pandan Indah, we were caught in a heavy traffic snarl. My headache acquired from lack of quality sleep start to build up. Thinking that it will only get worse if I we were to proceed to Pandan Indah, I told Azrin to proceed directly to my other son's place in Shah Alam, much to the relief of Azrin who was driving. He had cautioned me about my plan to go to Pandan Indah at that hour but didn't dare to object being a filial obedient son. I will have to make a spcial visit another time and time my visit perfectly to avoid the high midday traffic level on the way to Pandan Indah.

Getting away from the maddening traffic of KL was one way of easing my headache. Thinking of getting a swim in the pool and have a sauna after that tricked my mind of the pain the headache was giving me. Immediately after arriving at Azuan's 13th floor apartment in Shah Alam, the grandchildren quickly changed to their swimwear. This pressure us adults into doing likewise imediately and so we trooped to the recreation area on the fifth floor where the swimming pool, gym, surau, library and the games room were located. The sauna is one floor below accessible by a short flight of steps. This is the benefit of apartment living though the homes were mere cubicles high up in the sky. Ample fascilities were built in into the package beside the good security. I believe security at Brunsfield Service Apartments was adequate. I wonder how things were at nana's Acapella a few minutes drive away. It being newer and more posh was definitely something to dream about. The tenant immediately in front of Azuan, a Datuk, had moved to Acapella immediately after it was completed. It must be something definitely better than the one at Brunsfiled otherwise why would he vacated his unit at Brunsfiled.

The swimming pool at Brunsfiled is what attracted the grandchildren to come here most. So today, the four of them (Syakirah is still too young to enjoy such facilities) had fun splashing in the childrens pool. I took to the pool before going for the sauna which like most other well maintained facilities on weekdays seemed to be under utilized. What a happy situation for retired people like me who can choose the times to use them whenever I am in Shah Alam. The sauna could really relieve the tension and hopefully the headache in me. How I wished I could have a sauna in Pasir Mas. I used to do my own repairs to my house and up between the ceiling and the roof, the situation is just as warm as any sauna. Maybe I should go up there more often to enjoy a free sauna.

Irsyad swimming in his birthday suit.


They love the play ground too.

When evening came, my eldest daughter Azura arrived bearing the birthday gift for the mother. The 18th of December being my wife's birthday is another reason for this date to be auspicious. After what the children did to me for my birthday in October in Pasir Mas, a similar affair though as small was definitely due. This was the first time in our life that we get to blow candles. Let this be our day even though it was just this once. Remember such events has never been a custom in our family. So let us too at this late age, enjoy it like the grandchildren does. Remember the Shakepeare's Seven Stages of Man? We were getting to the 7th stage hahahaha.
Azuan came home with a cheese cake from Secret Recipe. I heard cakes from Secret Recipes are nice and the children deemed it fit to buy one for the mother to blow her candles on. When the time came everyone including the grandchildren stood around the mother and sang the birthday song. Of course Shakirah didn't stand or sing as she is only 4 months old.

The cheesecake from Secret Recipe.

Irsyad being nearest to the cake blew away most of the lit candles except for one which was left for the grandmother to blow away. Young kids don't know whose birthday it was and must have thought all candles on a cake is meant to be blown off by anybody. Yummy, cheesecakes from Secret recipe is really delicious.

Singing Happy Birthday to mama.

Another one for the album

Next was the giving away of the gift. The eldest grand daughter Lis (Real name Nor Alia Jazleen, the one who called herself Budak Puchong) was given the honour to hand over the gift to her grandma. It was a Dior's perfume, the 100 ml Tender Poison in a gift box bound by a Dior ribbon. The gift definitely brought a happy smile to my wife. She was happy to be remembered on her birthday with a gift rather than the usual sms and phone calls from the children which was the norm for earlier birthdays.

Tok Ma proudly posing with the gift from the children.

Opening the gift.

The sarong is definitely comfortable at home. Why cant we wear it to the office?
With that done over we began to shovel in our dinner, so happy to be together with our children and grandchildren again. Azini, Lokman and daughter Nur Aqila Balqis were too faraway in Labuan to join us.