jumaat baik

got a long weekend break with sarawak celebrating g.f. went over to brunei for daytrip stuffing face with good value sushi, yes you'd never link brunei with sushi, but there is a very good chain there that serves up pretty plump sake for a couple brunei bucks. its really a makan angin for the family, they have been cooped up in the house for over a week as our munchkin got the fever and now lingering runny nose (she calls it leaky nose). also dropped by to get some kain for baju raya, yellow is the theme this year. got some stuff for the munchkin for swimming and playing at the beach. next break will be the gawai week off, still deliberating on where to go, most likely to kk. we enjoy that place and flights are still reasonably priced. we thought about visiting a friend in indon but the flights are a bit too prohibitive now close to 4k for the 3 of us. if our friends are still there, we will certainly do indon but not from miri lah...

mighi

4 months have whizzed past since we landed in the new place, phonetically pronounced as the title of this blog post. i've always known it as a place to go for end of term hols during my boarding school days, and know we have pretty much settled in. the fact that i am now signed up for my first monthly medal at kgm is testament to it. it will be my first ever monthly medal, even though i have been a golf club member for some 8 yrs now. will be cool, just hit and hope and see what happens.
the mrs is getting into the rhythm of things, and will start to enjoy exploring this 'city' since we now have the crv here. our lievert is doing well, its amazing to think it is now over 9mths now since the day the nurse popped her into my arms with her screaming hello world. she still screams now and again, punctuated by some other noises.
its nice to be back again, sort of back, its not quite home, but close enough. hope its a place we will miss when its time to move on, we'll see.

tak leh tidur lah

Eezie cafe
been a long time since i find myself unable to sleep. lil l nazeefah's mum has put the white flag up and needs me to take over the duties...its the weekend so its no problem, except that i am getting a cold as well. took some lemsip, and hope it will help. since i cant sleep, thot i scribble on this page, my first for 07. life has never been the same since end october last year, but it has been much better. enjoying this dad thing a lot, it comes with its own set of challenges, but the reward makes you forget about it all. its great to see the progress they make...will do it again :), but not so soon lah ok..
just got our new passports from the london high com, after almost two months. i am not very lucky with passport renewals, always takes forever. means now i can progress my work permit appl for miri. indeed we are heading there next month, this will prob be my last blog on this side of the world...gonna miss the life here, but theres always something to look forward to. it does mean that the mrs has restarted the london trip talk again...well, as they say, satu empat jalan.
wouldnt mind doing the london things again for the last time in a while, lobster noodle, nahar, ayuthiya, selfridges sandwich, yo sushi, fortnum mason cookies...seeing a trend yet? of course, we will be getting books for the lieverd, not sure what the stock will be like in miri...prospects are not too good for that sort of thing...my mate lan might be in town as well...wud be good to catch up again since his last trip last summer.
so, till the next time, tot straks.

New chapter

Eezie cafe

its daddy izi in the house, as i write this with my new status as a dad...the little one has alhamdulillah arrived on 20 oct bersamaan dengan 27 Ramadhan. imanee nazeefah is her name and she is now doing fine after a little rough and tumble start to her new life. we celebrated raya this year with only me allowed out, with the wife and baby in the hospital recovering from the birth. it all went so quick, i was in a daze for a good couple of hours after it. the whole thing took just over 4 hrs, from the first real contraction, to me saying Ya Allah, the baby is coming out! it was an indescribable feeling to see your own flesh and blood joining you into this world....luckily there was plenty of help in the OR (last counted 9 of them excl us!) so i didnt have to fumble with the camera. she looked so fragile, i have a little phobia about holding newborns, but man, when its your own for the first time, all that is put aside.
she is now almost two weeks old, and already starting to make an impression of her own...she must be:
- warm (toasty)
- dry
- fed properly
the first i attribute to being an anak malaysia. none of this cold weather business...mind you it was very warm in the ICN unit at the hospital, so she could have gotten a quick liking to that from there.
nuff said for now - i havent blabbered for a while, not sure when the next one is, so till the next time.

casema digitale

Eezie cafe
got this digital tv set top box installed at home recently, with the grand expectation of not missing the 64 games to be dished out during the world cup. the experience so far is below par, and i think this dutch tv company is screwing their customers...especially when you are used to what astro offers. they have 8 sports channels, and so far i have only seen 2 of them being used, showing the same thing! call me a grouch, but there is more value that can be added.
talking about football, we took my brother down to cologne for a weekend break, and made a quick stopover at the stadium..the stadium where we gave up our place in the queue hoping for some tickets to the last 16 game there...had to give it up, with the state the mrs is in right now...at least we have seen the place. plus we got a real bargain with some world cup jerseys...if you want a good deal when buying in volume, go to the footlockers store in cologne...the chaps there almost halved the price on the jerseys when i picked up 4! wouldnt dream of that in nl, i can bet an arm on that. unfortunate for the weather, its all going haywire at the moment...i think we had our summer 3 wks ago, and its gone backwards towards winter again! anyway, x the fingers for some more better weather. all this points to how we are treating the world right now, and my favourite gripe about kl not having enough trees to cool it down! considering that we are insya'Allah having our first, it makes you think that bit more about what the future is going to be like, and perhaps that turns into some form of action rather than rhetorics...
going for our next scan this week, another piccy to add to the new album!

hello spring

Eezie cafe
i managed to perspire on the walk to the office this morning, and that with a light jacket on. its 11deg today, double digit after being buried in low single digits for months. but the wind is blowing today, i had a real boost walking back home that i wished i was on roller blades, i could have coasted home....but the side effect is i arrived home looking like wolverine out of x-man. indeed, time for that long awaited haircut...been procrastinating for weeks, i think i will get 'rimas' from all that bundle of hair. our tulips are already starting to peek their tips, soon we will get to enjoy our patience, and it will be for a week or so, but its worth it. gonna try to get to the keukenhof this year, might well be our last in this country.
waiting for the cova to be ready, heard from lan the man that it'll only be end april - i just wonder whether it is worth it or not...always got doubt at the back of my mind, but insya'allah it will be ok. at least lan is there to be my eyes and ears, unless he of course moves out of kl..then it will be tricky!
looking forward to wearing less layers now...my bicycle might actually get to finally come home after hibernating in the office the whole winter!

torino

Eezie cafe
the olympics may lead this city to have a 'new' name...its original name actually...funny how you forget to ask the locals themselves what their own city is called....it puts into light whose perspective you are enforcing. just like the katuns...the reactions are cartoonic in nature too...had a good khutbah today talking about rights, freedom which must be protected but not abused. how it highlights the weakened state the muslims are in at the moment..
just me ranting coz the idea tank is running dry this month...dont know what to write about...too many things happening that i am not sure what to put in. theres the winter olympics with its myriad and twists of outcomes, the rugby 6 nations, FA cups, its a bit of a sporting heaven...an old colleague is dropping by, nice to catch up with him and of course reminisce. nanti lah next time, will have the ideas tap opening again.