Once upon a time, Irfan learned how to walk. It was an evening at the 10th floor many centuries ago. He had been trying to stand and walk, I guess, in the interim. Suddenly, he was able to ambulate in what later became his own room, on the brown parquet floor. Some minutes later, he was racing around the round dinner table in the dining area between the hall and the kitchen. Ain was cooking. I was also pacing Irfan though across the table from him. I then stopped at the kitchen threshold and said, “Hi, Ummi!” to Ain, then bolted to continue my orbit. Right on cue Irfan, who was barely able to speak then, also mimicked me. He halted at the kitchen threshold and also called, “Hi, Ummi”. Then we took turns circling the table and calling, “Hi Ummi” to Ain for some time, laughing and giggling. Here […]
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Also thanks to Cik Emma for the birthday cake
A list of blog posts where BIRTHDAYS were celebrated. Also, lots of food photos..
Two Decades of Irfan
It seems incredible. Our son is twenty years of age today. Where did the time go? Oh, I forgot. Time was sucked in and consumed by the singularity known as the Covid-19 quarantine, also known as the plague year. In any case, our mic testing, Vietnam roll making, galactic smuggler offspring has been alive in this space-time continuum for two whole decades. In any case, here are some photos of the celebrations tonight.
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A Translation Project on Pulau Pinang
And so it came to pass I was invited to participate in a project for a team of researchers at the university. My role there was to translate and edit the document they wrote from the research they made. Day One On the first day, we went off the PLUS Highway and took the old Federal road from Gurun all the way to Butterworth, then swung about to take the Penang bridge towards George Town. But before we went to the town, we had brunch at the nasi kandar cafe at USM. Ain thought that USM could be a great place for Irfan to further his studies. Later. Maybe. InshaaAllah. After some photos taken at the university, we headed downtown to Cititel Hotel where we checked in. Later that day I started my translation work with the research team. Day Two On the second day, we had quite a big […]
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Nineteen Years of Irfan
It’s that time of the year again! In the morning, Ain made telur bungkus for breakfast with French fries. Later that evening, we went to the cafe at a hotel in town for a birthday dinner. We ordered something nice. I liked the ice cream cheese cake that Ain got at a bakery earlier, plus I love peaches. The best part was that there were not many others with us. So our little celebration was undisturbed by Guavian Death Gang. Before we left we gifted half the cake to the staff of the hotel’s cafe. We think they stored it in the refrigerator and devoured it at the end of their shift. Because of the pandemic, Irfan still lives with us. I do not know how much longer we have together before we would be unable to celebrate like this in the future. In the meantime, I am grateful for […]
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Birthday Dinner Consolidated
In order to save some money, we consolidated the birthday celebrations of both Ain and I earlier this evening. Her birthday is today, but mine will be coming around in ten days or so. There is a steamboat restaurant between the town and our house which we have never visited six years we lived here. It was finally time to visit it; not to mention we could finally afford a visit. Again, I do not have much to write about concerning my slow but sure march towards being half a century old. Only that I am very grateful to still be here to be able to spend a birthday dinner with my loved ones. Here there be photos: Time flows onward and wends its way like a river, and I continue to eagerly see what comes next around the bend.
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18 Years of Irfan
I still remember the day of Irfan’s birth like it was yesterday. When we left for the hospital, when she was wheeled into the labour room, when I went to see his birth and when I recited the azan in his ear. I cannot believe it has been 18 years since the day. For his 18th birthday, we had dinner at a local restaurant called Watanabe. It was the site of the old Burger Republik. Throughout an odyssey that took us through 12 years in Kuala Lumpur and 6 years in Perlis, Irfan has done nothing but make us be proud of him. I say it every year, but he has come a long way, and I wish him a blessed future and the strength to undergo upcoming tribulations with goodness and dignity. We love you, son.
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Birthday Dinner in Pauh
I am now a couple of year short of 50 years old. We celebrated at a café that we have never stopped at before in the town of Pauh, between our home and my workplace. It seemed like a nice place to celebrate a birthday. Well, two birthdays, as Ain’s was 11 days before mine — although we had dinner by the sea then. This was more of a birthday bash as Irfan had ordered a birthday gift for me online. Click on the photos in the gallery below to view full images. Here’s to making it through it all one year at a time.
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Ain’s Birthday By The Sea
It was time for Ain’s birthday once more, and this time I suggested we go to Kuala Perlis after I got off work. It was nothing special as we had regular masakan panas for dinner, although Ain did get the epic ABC as seen below. Also below are photos of the occasion that night. It was small and low-key, but I enjoyed the company tonight. Happy birthday, my love.
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A Seventeen-Year-Old Irfan
Many years have passed since we were blessed with Irfan. He came into our lives and made it much better than it could have been. He still gifts us with this. Today, this young man turned 17. Although we had an earlier birthday celebration with his grandparents the previous week, we had our own little commemoration at a restaurant nearby. Here are some photos from the evening. Happy birthday, Irfan. We love you very much and we will continue to be proud of you.
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Chicken Stalking During Lunch
Upon our arrival in the Klang Valley for vacation, we headed for Nia’s house. We thought we would spend the night there as my work appointment in KL would not be until Monday. The night we arrived, a belated birthday party was held for the three sisters whose birthdays were close to each other’s. Meanwhile, the cousins quickly started playing together again. The next day, we went exploring at the nearby new mall that was opened a couple of weeks earlier. The Chinese New Year music were piped and decorations had been raised. I was sad that there were no good bookstores there. For some reason, my lower back also began to hurt. It was moderately painful when I shifted balance from one foot to the other. After the mall-walking, we went to the café along the country road towards Nia’s house, which had excellent nasi ayam. “Nasi ayam kukus […]
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Ain’s Birthday Nasi Lemak
Earlier in the day, I had an idea and exclaimed, “Tonight, let’s celebrate your birthday somewhere amazing!” She asked, “Where?” I said with pleasure and pride, “The same place we had dinner yesterday!” So this year we celebrated Ain’s birthday at a nasi lemak stall in Kangar. We had dinner here yesterday. Ain had a nasi lemak paru but Irfan and I had roti telur. The sambal that came with the nasi lemak was excellent. Perhaps, it was too much on the sweet side. The moment went up to the stall to order a long line of patrons formed behind us. I was thankful we got there early. Soon it was over, because it was just a simple nasi lemak vendor which cost us RM13 including drinks. We will return to have more food there. Maybe tomorrow night. Maybe not. Happy birthday, my wife. You will always be nothing less […]
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Irfan is Sixteen
Once again, the arbitrary day based on an arbitrary timing system returns after a long cycle known as a year. Because we appear to honour the system, it was time just like last year to celebrate Irfan’s birthday. He turned 16 today. Atok and Opah visited from Perak to celebrate their grandson’s birthday with him. Irfan’s birthday cake was an ice cream cake with lychees, peaches and cherries on top. The thing about the cake during his birthday was that Irfan also shared it with other patrons of our eatery. He would have shared it with the local cat if cats ate cake. We went to a restaurant whose name could be translated as “The Cafe Beside Our House”. This was our second time at this restaurant. Earlier, we tried going to the pizza parlour that we celebrated Irfan’s 14th birthday at, but it appeared to be closed or undergoing […]
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45 and Counting
I am now 45 years old. For the first time ever my family threw me a small birthday celebration. It began with Yaya and Adik’s family calling from the other side of the planet. We had a good talk. Yaya and Adik had plenty to tell us after they sang me the birthday song. When I got home from work Ain and Irfan sprung me with an unexpected birthday present. Besides the present Ain had also been working hard to make the above when I was at work! This nasi rempah with the spiced chicken lauk was delicious. To cap it all off, they even got me a birthday cake. The present Irfan got for me was a Gundam Super Deformed Sinanju which I thought I would assemble when I have the time and place it on my office table. We have never really celebrated my birthday before because it […]
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Happy Birthday Ain
Because the extra teaching work I took last semester earned me some extra Republic credits, I was – for the first time in our lives together as husband and wife – able to buy Ain a real birthday present! I ordered it online and it arrived much earlier than it had announced it would. Happy birthday, my darling wife. I love you very much.
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15th Birthday Plus One Nia
In a blink of an eye, Irfan is now 15 years of age. He is more or less an adult, as I myself do not remember 15 being any different than 25 besides more experience by dint of being the latter. Even when he was much younger, I tried listening and talking to him as though he was an older teen. These days we are able to converse with each other in a multitude of subjects maturely – even if Irfan, Ain and I are prone to sudden infantile jokes and giggling like babies. It so happened that on the day of Irfan’s birthday, Nia, Cikma and Ayah Cik Farid came a-visiting and it was a far better day with their presence. Nia even wore a cap! The last time Nia was here she saw a cat. She awaited for the appearance of Abang the Cat from next door at […]
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And Then It Was His 14th Birthday
Irfan’s fourteenth birthday came and went. So did Irfan’s grandparents from Perak. It would be easy to say “I can’t believe how tall and how far he’d come” but the truth is that I am not surprised. With the opportunities and facilities available to him here – as opposed to the Klang Valley where he would have to fight with the sheer number of students in school for available teaching and learning resources – Irfan is surely and gradually turning into a young man with the powers and abilities of a teenager. What would be best for us to celebrate a fourteenth birthday? I have no idea, so we decided on going our for pizza! When the pizza arrived it looked appealing and it was quite delicious. My personal criteria for “delicious” was fulfilled thanks to onions. We took a group photo with our prey, before we finished it off […]
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