Saturday, January 5, 2008

Takeaways For 2007

My promise to Zabs who had tagged me to do the tag on Takeaways from 2007 was for me to do it after I have posted my 'I Have A Dream' in my blogsite Life As I See It. Since I have already done the posting, it is time for me to do the tag now. Frankly I have tried to avoid from doing this tag ever since I saw Jaflam started it in hs blog by tagging Zabs, Mat Salo and Elviza. I thought this is something quite tough to do when you don’t have too many things happening in 2007 after being retired since early 2006. On hindsight and after putting on my thinking cap, Allah has given me some ideas on what to share of what little experience and happening in 2007 that can be considered as worthy of sharing
Here are my three takeaways from 2007:

Number 1.

Blogging

July 2007 was the month that I started blogging. All these while I was reading the online news in Malaysiakini and the Malaysia Today of Raja Petra as a source of independent news after realizing that the government controlled medias doesn’t seem to give much inkling of the other side of the stories that seems to be opposite to their views. That's where I came to know about opinions being expressed by other individuals in their blogs.

Having to register oneself in order to make comments on other people’s blog made me register an account with Google and while doing that I found out how easy it was to create a blog. So from that point I became a blogger.

Blogging introduced me to the many bloggers already happily tapping their fingers to their keyboards to put their thoughts and experiences on the internet. With 57 yrs of life behind me including those years when I was happily sleeping in the cradle when full and contented or wailing away when hungry or when uncomfortably wet in those rags that were used in those days when baby napkins were not yet invented or were yet to reach our shores or were too expensive to be affordable by my poor parents. It was a timely gift for pensioners like me when we have the luxury of time to do anything we like as long as it doesn’t intrude on anyone else privacy or be regarded by the government as contravening the laws of the land.
Meeting these friends in the real world by design when I met Pak Idrus and Akmal or by sheer coincidence when they turn up for the book signing by Awang Goneng at Kinokuniya KLCC. Another progression by being a blogger was the weekly gathering at Kak Ton’s Tok Mommy’s place for mee rebus in Kelana Jaya. This I did twice in a row and that allowed me to meet other prominent bloggers which you can easily find out by clicking your mouse here.

Number 2

The Birth of My Two Grand Children

God was so kind to me that in 2007 I was endowed with not just one grandchild but two within the period of a month from each other (Read them here). They were not twins but born to two different mothers and of course sired by two different fathers, one of which was my own son and the other a son in law. So can you figure who the mothers were?
My daughter in law Yani didn’t have problem delivering her third child in a hospital in Seremban. Being the third time Yani was confident of doing it wth comparative ease based on her previous two experiences. On the other hand my daughter Azini was experiencing her first delivery. Her initial attempt to bring her baby into this world naturally failed after several exhausting attempts and she was wheeled into the operating theatre for a caesarian. Only the late arrival of the anaesthetist that saved her from the scalpel. Though I guess the scissors were used to fascilitate the delivery of the 3.7 kg baby. It was a small price to pay compared to the caezarian.
This situation not only brought us together among the family who were gathered at Perdana Specialist Hospital in Kota Bharu that night, but above all it brought us closer to God. The gift of those babies and having my daughter brought her daughter to the world by the normal way was indeed a great gift from Him.

Number 3.

My Son’s Marriage

My last and final takeaway for 2007 was the marriage of my son (Read more here). He was the last to be married among the siblings. It was quite a long courtship for my son while waiting for his future wife to graduate from her teaching course at Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris Tanjung Malim. It was a fairly small marriage reception we had for him as is the usual when weddings are held in small towns like Pasir Mas when only relatives and close friends were invited.
The fear of the wife being posted faraway from their home in Shah Alam was unfounded when they were rewarded with the biggest gift for their wedding. When November 1, 2007 the wife started her first day of work at a school in Section 19 Shah Alam a mere 20 minutes drive from their Section 13 home

I am forever thankful to Allah for giving me and my family nothing but the best as takeaways in 2007.

How I wished I could tag my good friend U Lee but knowing he doesn't do tag I have to leave him out. Thus the 3 other bloggers I am tagging are as follows:

1. Ruby Ahmad
2. Puteri
3. Rita Ho
4. Pi Bani
5. Syana
6. Akmal

I have no special reasons for tagging the first 4 ladies, other than just the pure instinct that they have many things to share with us. If they come and visit this site, then they can consider themselves tagged. They can even plead ignorance if they want to, it is their choice.
As to syana, I am tagging you because now I know you love to do it. It will be nice to see what takeaways a young student blogger will have for 2007.

30 comments:

waliz said...

salam pak zawi...wht a wonderful year indeed...

1st-i like to read mlayasiatoday, malaysiiakini and fan of Raja Petra too

2nd-congratulations on becoming a DATUK..this title is really meaningful compared to the other datukship..

3rd-congratulation for having a new daughter (inlaw)..the more the merrier...

Syaliza Abdul Rahman said...

Salam Pak Zawi :o)

What an interesting tag :o) I was thinking along the same lines of what 2007 had been for me. I hope you don't mind me tagging myself hehehe


Congratulations on being a grandfather :o) & getting a new family member :o) The family's expanding :o) yeay!

Unknown said...

Pak Zawi,
Again, you did it nice.
The number one, well, I understand how significant it is. But number two and three, well...I'll let the time teaches me how does it feels like(",).
It sure is awesome to add more member to the family, eh? Your number 2 and 3, both are about that.
Those experiences, worth to live by Pak. Thanks for the sharing, and I am pretty sure, more and more takeaways are up this year, and you do the tag again next year. Hehehehe. Younger geneation benefits from this kind of tags you know?
Have a nice weekend(",).

Pak Zawi said...

waliz,
Salam di terima.
Malaysia Today is the source of independent news. YM Raja Petra is a gifted writer who writes with impeccable English. He can be a very successful writer just like Tunku Halim if he so wishes.
Thank you for the congrat. If you read my other earlier blogs I am going to be the grandfather of 7 children when the latest come to this world by April this year. Going to be quite a big family soon whatmore with the blogger and facebook families that are fast building up.
Unfortunately there is no more sons to be married off otherwise you would make a nice candidate for a daughter inlaw. How about a foster son for you? Just kidding you OK?
When is graduation day? Remember the offer of the bouquet of flowers on graduation day is still on provided I know which Uni and when is the date. I maybe at the wrong venue on the wrong date hahahaha.

Pak Zawi said...

syana,
I am glad you find it interesting. I will be tagging you in awhile and will edit the posting to include you. It is hard to find people willing to do tags sometimes.

Pak Zawi said...

Akmal,
How silly of me not to have tagged you. It would be great to see takeaways of 2007 from the perspective of a young man like you and being a student too. Consider yourself tagged. You will be included.

Unknown said...

Pak Zawi,
Oh, OK....now I am tagged. I should have came out as an anonymous in the first place like you did hahahaha. Just kidding Pak. Give me some times OK. I am doing something for the International Braille Day yesterday. Not many are aware of it, so I think it's worth a posting. I'll do this tag after that. Nak kena perah otak sikit ni hahaha.

Pak Zawi said...

Akmal,
This is Akmal of 2008. New look eh? Now people will think you are 29 already. Look out, you will be hounded by the young female bloggers soon. Instead of you applying the U Less's Ninjalogy, they will be applying it on you.
Take your time Akmal. Just do it well. I guess there are many takeaways of 2007 from you that you havent shared with us. Bring them out. It doesn't matter how many that you have. Don't just limit it to 3. you can do 10.
Carry on doing the good things for society.

Unknown said...

Hey Awie,

Go on blogging. You certainly are 'capturing' more and new visitors to your blog. Wonderful and congratulations. Carry on posting interesting writes.

Well for your info my 'business' website has been updated and moved to another address;

http://www.geocities.com/idachmy_handicrafts/

Say, if your were to get another 'cucu', why not get one..huh?

Good work on your blog.

Pak Zawi said...

Tuan Haji Azmy,
Thanks for the encouragement. I am trying my best to write more and better, but you la my best is definitely not good enough.
Can I get 100 percent discount ha? Very poor now after I spent some RM3K on a new laptop plus a wireless router to fascilitate movement hahahaha. You better buy a router too so I can go and surf at your place with my cucu everyday. Otherwise u come to my place.
Thanks for the URL. U better put it there whenever u make a comment on my site. I wont charge you anything for now. Later when your business is good I may have to charge u la hahahaha.

Pi Bani said...

Aik? I came earlier my name was not there. How come tiba-tiba dah ada pulak ni?

ZABS said...

Salam Zawi,
Thank you for the great 2007takeaways. Two down and another one to go and I would have acheived my mision for this tag.
Happy blogging and at the same time, enjoying your datukship role again, isn't it? Has your cucu from Labuan arrived yet? Take care and God bless. TQ.

Pak Zawi said...

Pi Bani,
If I dont tag you now, somebody else will tag you later, so it might as well be me hehehehehe. I think you are too good to be passed.
Enjoy it Pi.

Pak Zawi said...

Zabs,
Now I must thank you for tagging me. I really enjoyed it very much. Though I was just mentioning the same thing that I used to blog about, it was for a different purpose. I am happy that you like it.
I took the liberty of tagging more than 3 peoples hahaha.
My cucu will arrive at 4.05 pm at Kota Bharu airport. Cant wait to see her.
Thanks again Zabs.

DCampbell aka Puteri said...

Zawi,

Congratulations on being a grandpa, and a father-in-law thrice over.

You tagged 3 bloggers? And you end up with what 7? Hehe. Ok, I will do the tag. 2007 Takeaways. Bukan Takeouts, ke? Kalau takeouts, banyak cerita! Hehe.

Pak Zawi said...

Puteri,
Thank you for being such a sport.
. Its sharing your experiences of 2007. Anyway the originator (Jaflam) called it Takeaways so I presume that is the name for it. However feel free to make adjustments. Treat it as takeaways or takeouts as you deemed fit.

jaflam said...

Salam Zawi,
Enjoyed your takeaways and meaningful for my future scenario planning. You did the right thing by tagging our young friend’s too bcoz the learning is actually both ways. Their sharing will definitely make us appreciate/understand the younger generations better and not assuming our young day’s rules still applies at all times. It will also help me in parenting my teenager’s children. Many thanks from sharing Zawi.

Pak Zawi said...

D.Jaff,
Its the payback fro trying to escape doing the tag actually hahahaha. Again my apologies to you.
Sincerely your initiating this tag is appreciated by all only that you have to really put on your thinking cap if you have too many takeaways to be shared or the lack of them for people likeme. Its definitely different from the 10 or 30 standard questions that are often associated with tags.
Lets give Akmal and the rest abit of time to do some reflections to choose their best takeaways for us to share. Each and everyone of us may have different views of things which maybe similar but seen from different perspective. There is definitely something for us to learn from others.

Mat Salo said...

Bang Zawi..

Ha-ha, read about me in 'I have a Dream' but more on that later...

Looks like you have a daughter-in-law called Yani. Mmmm.. I LIVE on a rig called Yani. But is she the daughter of Billionaire Ariffin Pinogoro? No. She's more blessed than that. She's got Pak Zawi as a F-I-L and I'm sure she's so proud of you! Congrats to her for being so lucky to be posted nearby. Itu berkat namanya. Syukur Alhamdullillah.

Oh ya, Congrats to you too Bang for hitting several milestones last year, one of which you are most proud of I'm sure, is finally being a grandfather..

And lastly (ok, 2nd last), I thoroughly enjoyed the 'Mr. Fox' story. I think you have what it takes to do this sort of blogger-journalism because you a natural knack to with people. I like the breezy tone that engages the reader. More 'street-style' stories of this type please...

And about the dream Bang, let's just keep it a Dream.. Ha-ha. But thanks for thoughts anyway.

Pak Zawi said...

Yani is the daughter of Ariffin Pinogoro? Oh my God she never told me that her father is such a rich man. I guess my son Azrin wouldn't have married her if he were to know that Yani comes from such a rich family.
Anyway my daughter Yani hails from Kamunting Perak, being the daughter of Meor Aminudeen. So that makes her a different Yani from Yani Ariffin Pinogoro.
Richess doesn't ensure hapiness bro. Having sufficient is good enough. We live a frugal life and always remember to save some for tomorrow. At least my wife does hahaha.
Bro have been a grandfather several times over now bro. Rember the eldest Budak Puchong is already 7 years old.
I wish I had more than the one hour that I had with Mr. Fuchs. That was all the time that I had with him and withing that time I was trying to coax him into telling me as much as he could. Who knows Mr. Fuchs maybe sending me more stories via email after he read this posting?
The dream of you producing a book as real today is Sunday. With your flair of writing things and the clarity of putting your message across, I don't see much problem to it. Elviza has already booked one. I will book the second one.
So wait no more, start putting pen to paper and let the idea flows through it.

Lee said...

Hello Zawi, nice post this. Can see you a real proud grandparent and enjoy looking after babies, ha ha and keeping the skeeters from biting them as you promised your daughter. I never forgot that as it made me laugh. You so original!
You keep well Zawi and enjoy your times with your grandchildren. Best regards, Lee.

Pak Zawi said...

Lee,
Not only I enjoy looking after the grandchildren, but I am getting to be an expert with them. Quite adept at bathing them, dressing, feeding them and the most difficult part, getting them to sleep so that I can have a respite.
When I was with the older ones in Puchong, I had to apply some ninjalgoy to get them to do the same thing. Once I threathened to leave home for Pasir Mas when they don't behave but I never scolded them like their highly strung mother did. After raising 4 children of my own I guess working with the grandchildren is easier.
Remember now I have to cook too so that when my wife returns from work, there is already food in the pots though not on the table hahahaha. Now I know how tough it is to be a housewife. Luckily my wife does all the laundry BEFORE she goes to work at 7.15 in the morning. Waking up at 5.50 AM is easy for us because we retire to bed at 10.30 PM.
Problem now is that the baby is so used to sleeping at 1 AM. Need to retrain her to sleep at the same time as us.
Failed to prevent a mosquito from biting her yesterday cos her mother wasn't careful enough yesterday. I think a bite or two is necessary to develop some form of immunity in her.
6 months of blissful time looking after my grand daughter.
Thank you for the visit Lee.

Nightwing said...

Helo Pak Zawi,

Sorry for being late. Congrats on being a Datuk...:)

U have a good week ahead...:)

zaitgha said...

hi Pak Zawi,

Salam. You reminded me so much of my late dad. He was so apt at doing house chores you know like cooking, washing and he just wonderful with his 20+ grandchildren and 1 great grand daughter. One of his way to get the babies to sleep was stroking their upper noses ( between the eyes area) ....the babies like someone sang them lullaby would go to sleep .....

I myself enjoyed tremendously my 2 months maternities when i had the 3 boys.....i was on my own for the first 2 birth and i got a very good maid after my 3 boy...i was and still am never a tidor siang person so i just stared at the boys when they asleep. Babies sure sleep a lot kan?

Take care Pak Zawi and keep well....

Pak Zawi said...

nightwing,
Your never late for anyting. Been a datuk for the last 7 years hahaha. Just got a double for 2007.
Have a good year ahead yourself.
Thanks for the visit.

Pak Zawi said...

Zai,
The housework makes my day abit varied otherwise it will blogging, blogging and blogging and nothing more than that.
Now with one of the grandchildren home, I will be having more fun taking care of them. In my younger days I was always away from home most of the times. It is like making it up to them by being close to their children.
Stroking the babies definitely gave them a great sensation that more often than not put them to sleep. The point on the upper noses between the eyes are sensitive areas. I will try on Balqis later to see how she will respond to it.
Thanks for the info. May come in handy one of these days.
You too take care.

Unknown said...

Hello Zawi,

As the saying goes:

'Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans'...

I believe in that saying as it is akin to 'We can only plan, but God decides'..when I read you were blessed with two grandchildren within a month..WOW! That is quite something..well definitely great gifts of life! Also with your son's marriage and yet you managed to blog as well..ha ha! I think it is better to lead a busy and interesting life than otherwise.

I am honoured you remembered me for the tag. Though most people would say arggghhh!! Ha ha. I am now indulging on a cruise speed in blogdom, but I will keep this tag in mind. It will be done sometime in 2008 as our takeaways will always be evergreen and special kan? Thanks for sharing.

Pak Zawi said...

Ruby,
Is that an English or Malay saying? It maybe your own original one. It sounds so nice and I would like to believe that it is your own.
Happiness is when Ruby says she is going to do the tag hahahaha. Thats my own original one of course. Do it whenever you please as long as yu do it.
My daughter and daughter inlaw is competing against each other and soon my eldest daughter will give me number 7! How great can it be?
If possible I want to tag all of my friends because everyone definitely has something to share.
Take care.

FiSHY@iKe said...

Salam pak zawi, muiz aka fishy@ike here, I'm friend of akmal, heard many great things about you from him. Read you 'takeaways for 2007' just now (I need to polish my memories back because I was tagged by akmal) to find some idea to write for the tag. Unexpectedly, i think i found my number one in your number one. Actually, I've been blogging since last year (early January) but i can't seem to find a connection with other bloggers in the blogsphere and my posts are decreasing due to the fact that I got to focus on my study (I'll wrote this in my takeaways later). Thats why I suddenly abandon my blog but with akmal as my classmates, he keeps telling me stories about wonderful people he met online. With his help I'm back. For your number 2 and 3, congratulations, addition to the family always make us happy rite? Hope you will be blessed with more of them in the coming years. Take care, salam...

Pak Zawi said...

muiz,
I must thank Akmal for telling you about me. Via that I have gained another friend even though just a net friend at the moment. One day we will meet and attain a higher friendship level.
I don't know what great things that Akmal has told you. There is nothing great at all about me hahaha.
You have been a blogger several months before me. Surely you have posted alot of sharings about your life experiences. Just recall anyone of those experiences in 2007 and you will have something to blog about for your tag. There are times when we miss the simple things in life that we consider as too trivial from our own perspective. Give those small things a thought and you will find many things that are worth to be considered as your takeaways.
A new member brought into the family will bring cheer to anybody and the demise of a love one is also true in bringing grief and sadness to a family. I am counting on getting another 'cucu' this April.
Thanks for the wishes.
Salam kembali.