Scratch That Itch

Sik-Sik Sister-Brother

2010-11-22T16:05:00.001Z

Look at Amar, Sarah and their cousins playing Sik Sik. Good practice for Amar.

Our House 3

2010-11-21T16:45:00.001Z

A peek of what the row leading to our house looks like. Seems very neat and organised.

Our House 2

2010-11-21T16:44:00.001Z

I took this picture to remind ourselves what the finished house will look like, hopefully by next year.

Our House 1

2010-11-21T16:43:00.001Z

After several months, last week we went to see the construction progress of our new house. It was a Sunday, and so we were happy to see workers busy in the construction site. We were happy as well with the progress, and I think all of us just cannot wait to finally be able to move in.

Ole Ole Bali 2

2010-11-21T16:42:00.001Z

Sarah was delighted by the running water just by our table. Furthermore, fish were swimming in the stream. Some were luminescent with reflected light. Overall, it felt like we were in Bali if at least for a few hours.

Ole Ole Bali 1

2010-11-21T16:41:00.001Z

This picture was taken at Ole Ole Bali in Sunway Pyramid one fine evening when we decided to go there just for desserts and tea. I had the sumptuous Pisang Bakar with bitter coffee. We sat on the raised platform by the running water, much to Sarah's delight.

Sun set, Sri Permata Pool

2010-11-21T16:25:00.001Z

A HDR taken with the iPhone to show the beautiful skies over the pool.

The Sri Permata Pool

2010-11-21T16:24:00.001Z

Went swimming at the pool after months of not going. We used to go swimming very regularly, at least once a week. Nowadays I do locums almost every day so my timetable is much more hectic. Still, the pool looks beautiful after sunset!

Tip Toe

2010-11-21T16:16:00.001Z

This picture was taken, then instagrammed at the Sri Permata pool. It was twilight and we were still there, Amar was running towards Sarah. I panned while taking this picture and that's why Amar is the only object that appears relatively sharp in the picture. Taken with my iPhone 4.

Strawberries and cream

2010-11-21T16:14:00.001Z

We bought strawberries and cream while buying groceries, and as we reached home Sarah and I were whipping the cream together. Perhaps I whipped the cream for too long, as suddenly the cream curdled and turned to butter! Anyhow, the strawberries with sweetened butter tasted delicious.

Amar, Moustache 2

2010-11-21T10:02:00.011Z

This was taken while we were shopping at Giant. Sarah grabbed a Tricycle and rode with Amar around the store. Look at Amar!

Amar, Moustache 1

2010-11-21T10:02:00.007Z

Amar grabbed Sarah's hair and posed with a moustache. It's out of the ordinary for him to be so creative. What is not out of the ordinary though is he being so funny and cheeky.

Eid Adha 2

2010-11-21T10:02:00.001Z

A picture of the whole family taken at Auntie Noraluyah's house in Sunway. Ironically despite our SLRs, this is the only picture we have with all of us - using my iPhone!

Amar's Graduation Ceremony 2

2010-11-21T09:53:00.001Z

This was all of us at the end of the ceremony. Dyanna kindly came to help take our picture.

Amar's Graduation Ceremony 1

2010-11-21T09:52:00.001Z

This was Amar after the animal make up. He struggled while the make up was applied but tolerated till the end.

Eid Adha 1

2010-11-21T09:51:00.001Z

My parents organised an Eid dinner at their house in Puchong and invited most of the Sarawakian side of the family, the ones around in KL. It was great to see and get acquainted with everyone again. The last we'd seen each other was when my grandfather passed away in Sarawak.

Berjamaah with my family

2010-11-21T09:49:00.001Z

I haven't prayed together with my family for a long time, and recently during Eid Adha there was an opportunity to do so. It's been a while since we rarely gather up with my parents living so far away in Kuala Terengganu.

IOI Mall 1

2010-11-21T08:56:00.003Z

Having a late night green tea latte with my family and siblings. Collecting 12 stamps to get the 2011 Starbucks journal.

IOI Mall 2

2010-11-21T08:55:00.003Z

All of us. I was trying to let Amar try my Green Tea Latte.

IOI Mall 3

2010-11-21T08:54:00.003Z

Nurul and Nisa sneaking up on Amar on the way home.

Amar's Evaluation 3

2010-11-21T08:53:00.007Z

Waiting for our turn to meet teacher Charisma

Amar's Evaluation.

2010-11-21T08:53:00.003Z

Talking with teacher Charisma about Amar's progress at School. She said Amar is progressing well.

Amar and Charisma

2010-11-21T08:52:00.003Z

Taken at Amar's School. We were glad to see how happy Amar seemed at school with teacher Charisma et al.

Christmas at Sunway Pyramid 8

2010-11-21T08:06:00.009Z

The snow globe themed decoration.

Christmas at Sunway Pyramid 7

2010-11-21T08:06:00.007Z

Amar purchasing cookies at Famous Amos.

Christmas at Sunway Pyramid 6

2010-11-21T08:06:00.005Z

Sarah and Amar bought cookies at Famous Amos, beautifully decorated for Christmas.

Christmas at Sunway Pyramid 4

2010-11-21T08:06:00.003Z

An Instagram of the birds nest.

Christmas at Sunway Pyramid 3

2010-11-21T08:06:00.001Z

Sarah playing with the "snow", while a group was performing Christmas songs on stage.

Christmas at Sunway Pyramid 2

2010-11-21T08:05:00.001Z

Sarah was surprised when "snow" dropped from the ceiling.

Christmas at Sunway Pyramid 1

2010-11-21T08:03:00.001Z

A hanging birds' nest at Sunway Pyramid

Amar laughing

2010-11-21T08:02:00.002Z

This was Amar playing with Sarah and he laughed rolling when Sarah made cats ears

Lunch with Amar

2010-11-21T07:10:00.001Z

Bonding with Amar while having lunch at McDonalds. Nisa was with Sarah at the cinema

Sarah's 7th Birthday

2010-10-09T06:49:00.002+01:00

Today we are all busy preparing to celebrate Sarah's birthday. The actual date was last week but this is the first weekend when everyone is available.

The birthday is planned as a desert or Arabic theme and the photos are just ones taken with my iPhone, hopefully proper photos taken with my DSLR will follow.

The Kiddies Table, with all the chocolates and sweets

The balloons and curtains

Most importantly, the palace shaped birthday cake

The party is not on yet till 3pm, and I'll post more photos later

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Amar's craftwork

2010-10-08T10:42:00.001+01:00

Today in the car while buying lunch at McDonalds' DriveThru, Amar tugged at my elbow to show me his handiwork:

And here it is closer:

I was shocked looking at his creation and immediately took the photos. Amar has autism and according to his paediatrician, has limited imaginary play. Amar rarely draws anything meaningful and so you could imagine my shock seeing him making this "person" from his sweets. Amazing! It's a historical day for us.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

With my orthopaedic team

2010-10-01T05:09:00.001+01:00

Having a tea break in between orthopaedic operations.

LED Maglite 2AA

2010-09-16T19:57:00.001+01:00

A well constructed torch light with an LED bulb producing bright, white light and more energy efficient than traditional bulbs. Apart from wanting to use it in dark situations, I initially wanted to use the Maglite for pupils examination. In the end however, I found the light to be to bright and irritant to the eye for practical use. It has 4 modes: 100% brightness, 25% brightness, SOS and strobe. Overall, an excellent torch light for adventures in the dark!

Brunton My-Ti Titanium spork

2010-09-16T12:00:00.001+01:00

A lightweight, well sculptured spork made out of titanium for my travels and adventures. It also has a carabiner which doubles as a bottle opener. Unfortunately I found that sporks are not as good with noodles or pasta as proper forks, and does not hold as much liquid as a proper spoon would. Still, I'm extremely happy with having this supposedly tough spoon and fork utility to carry around while travelling.

Just after Eid prayers

2010-09-16T03:25:00.001+01:00

Wore a purple Baju Melayu for this year's Eid

My new Contigo mug

2010-09-16T03:24:00.001+01:00

My new spill proof, thermal mug from Contigo arrived today. So far extremely happy with the build quality, and it works marvellously! I can now carry hot water in my backpack without fear of it spilling. The size is larger than I had expected, being a 16oz mug, but very sleekly design. Overall, happy with my new purchase!

On photography

2010-09-15T18:37:00.002+01:00

It was on the 8th of July 2010 when I bought my second DSLR camera, a Canon 550D. I was on a manic shopping spree in KLCC and on the same day I had debatably irrationally bought 2 Crumpler bags (more on them in a future post), an Adidas aqua sports shoes for swimming activities - and to square everything up, the RM4000 Canon 550D.

Don't get me wrong, it's a huge purchase that financially burnt a gaping hole through my credit card pocket and at the time, the purchase made little sense.

I say the purchase made little sense since my hobby in photography has been on a three year low. My interest in photography has been dwindling since coming back from the UK.

Partly to blame for the lack of interest are my failing equipments; the 580EX Speedlite produces flash infrequently, missing many key occasions and my Canon 400D SLR shows up "error 99" more often than not. My premium 24-105mm F4L lens - which costs a small fortune, was also showing "mount error"s.

I was deeply disappointed at my broken equipments, which I remember reared its ugly head for the first time at an important occasion: my brother Ramadhan's wedding. It was since then that I rarely used my 400D which was before that like a best friend.

The journey back to Malaysia unfortunately broke many things precious to me.

The occasion that partially rekindled my interest was Sarah's recent keenness in seeing photos of her toddler years, while we were all in Wales and Coventry. Seeing how Sarah's eyes lit up looking at her younger self rejuvenated my desire to record our adventures in the form of photos.

Now, my interest in photography is like a roaring fire feeding on dry logs thanks to my recent trip to Kuala Terengganu for Aidil Fitri. While capturing photos for the festival, I was reminded of the exhilaration of trying to successfully capture the colours, the moments, the activities and the emotions using just a camera. More profoundly, I rediscovered the thrill of trying to capture the beauty of nature in a single photograph. It's akin to attempting to bottle lightning.

Kemasik beach was the place that made me thankful I had bought the Canon 550D. Combined with the wide angle 10-22 Canon EFS lens, and my now fixed 580EX flash I was happy with the sharpness of the images, the wideness of the vistas covered and the richness of the colours produced.

I now hope to travel to many other such places for more photographic adventures. I now have a long list of photography equipments I would like to buy;

A Canon Speedlite Wireless Remote Transmitter ST-E2
A second Speedlite, perhaps the Canon 480EX II
A circular polariser

... the lists goes on and on in my mind, but those three are top priority.

God knows how expensive photography can be as a hobby though, sigh. However, if the results are good then in may be worth it in the end.

I imagine myself in the future, looking back at the photographs I had taken as a youth and reminiscing on how life has changed: much like how Sarah reminisces on photos of her youth.

The spider that crawled from our toilet bowl

2010-06-15T04:48:00.001+01:00

Sunrise from our chalet

2010-06-15T04:46:00.001+01:00

Nearing Redang jetty

2010-06-15T04:44:00.001+01:00

Enjoying coconut drinks

2010-06-15T04:38:00.003+01:00

The Crystal Mosque on water

2010-06-15T04:37:00.001+01:00

The Crystal Mosque

2010-06-15T04:34:00.001+01:00

Anticipating the next wave

2010-06-15T04:15:00.001+01:00

Sea kelp

2010-06-15T04:14:00.001+01:00

Swimming fully clothed

2010-06-15T04:10:00.001+01:00

Basking in the sun

2010-06-15T04:02:00.001+01:00

Wiped out!

2010-06-15T03:53:00.001+01:00

Born to surf!

2010-06-15T03:52:00.001+01:00

Riding the wave

2010-06-15T03:50:00.001+01:00

Running away!

2010-06-15T03:48:00.001+01:00

Waiting for the next wave

2010-06-15T03:47:00.001+01:00

Splash!

2010-06-15T03:44:00.001+01:00

Sunset at Chendering Beach

2010-06-15T03:40:00.001+01:00

Sarah soaked!

2010-06-15T03:30:00.001+01:00

Beautiful Amar posture

2010-05-05T18:11:00.001+01:00

Peace!

Arghhh!!!!

2010-05-05T18:06:00.005+01:00

Peace!

2010-05-05T18:06:00.003+01:00

Late Sri Paandi Dinner

2010-04-02T17:14:00.003+01:00

Late dinner at Sri Paandi with A&E friends

2010-04-02T17:14:00.001+01:00

Sri Paandi

A&E friends

2010-04-02T17:13:00.001+01:00

Sri Paandi

2010-04-02T17:11:00.001+01:00

Glare

2010-03-19T18:36:00.001Z

Eyes looking at the beetle

2010-03-19T18:35:00.001Z

Master of the place

2010-03-19T18:31:00.003Z

Stopping for a drink after the long hill climb

2010-03-19T18:31:00.001Z

The Japanese Village

The Mule Cart

Sarah and Amar against the Mule Cart

Calling the swans

Amar tempting the swan

Master of the place

Amar tempting the swan

2010-03-19T18:30:00.001Z

Calling the swans

2010-03-19T18:29:00.001Z

Sarah and Amar against the Mule Cart

2010-03-19T18:28:00.001Z

The Mule Cart

2010-03-19T18:27:00.003Z

The Japanese Village

2010-03-19T18:27:00.001Z

Walking down the path

2010-03-19T18:22:00.001Z

Pointing towards the hut

Nisak and Sarah

Coke and 100 plus

2010-03-19T18:21:00.001Z

Nisak and Sarah

2010-03-19T18:19:00.001Z

Pointing towards the hut

2010-03-19T18:18:00.001Z

Walking down the path

2010-03-19T18:17:00.001Z

Pointing

2010-03-19T18:16:00.005Z

Bowing

Sashes

Calligraphy

By the window

Japanese hut

Koi

2010-03-19T18:16:00.003Z

Japanese hut

2010-03-19T18:16:00.001Z

By the window

2010-03-19T18:15:00.001Z

Calligraphy

2010-03-19T18:14:00.001Z

Sashes

2010-03-19T18:13:00.001Z

Bowing

2010-03-19T18:12:00.003Z

Pointing

2010-03-19T18:12:00.001Z

Symmetrical dance

2010-03-19T18:11:00.003Z

Walking down the Zen garden

Tongues out

Japanese hut

2010-03-19T18:11:00.001Z

Tongues out

2010-03-19T18:10:00.001Z

Walking down the Zen garden

2010-03-19T18:09:00.001Z

Symmetrical dance

2010-03-19T18:06:00.005Z

Pizza and chickenwings

2010-03-19T18:06:00.003Z

Yummy stringy cheese

Amar in front of the Japanese Tea House

Amar comfortable despite his yukata

Walking along the garden in kimonos

2010-03-19T18:06:00.001Z

Amar comfortable despite his yukata

2010-03-19T18:05:00.001Z

Amar in front of the Japanese Tea House

2010-03-19T18:04:00.001Z

Yummy stringy cheese

2010-03-19T18:03:00.001Z

Pizza and chickenwings

2010-03-19T18:01:00.001Z

Colmar Tropicale

2010-03-19T14:40:00.001Z

Colmar Tropicale, Berjaya Hills

2010-03-19T14:36:00.001Z