Creeping feeling

 

You get an urge once in a while, that pang, that feeling that you just want to write something down, despite sharing so much of your life online already. But as they say about the typewriter, nothing like sitting down, putting your thoughts together to write a coherent piece to make your mark despite knowing that it will be washed out when the binary sheets goes to laundry.

It’s been a while since the last post and so much has changed then. The Kid doesn’t cry as much to sleep anymore (he still has a relatively strict schedule for a toddler), in love with everything Postman Pat and wants to climb everything in front of him. And I haven’t read 52 books for this year. It’s the time, the time and the idea of curling up to a good book these days just seems rather preposterous. It’s just excuses, but we make do.  I do enjoy re-reading books I read before, but never seem to finish them as I know what’s going to happen already.

We’re on long distance for the time being now so that the time we spend together as a family has to count more. While definitely not a desirable state to be in, the long distance has been rather kind to us in the sense it’s not that long between point A and point B and work now does allow for some flexibility to be weaved in between. And we make up for it over the weekends.

As talked about earlier today, we’re expecting (also expecting expecting, heh) a lot of change in these few months to come, so I think I’m gonna wanna make a note of it.  So, it’s a welcome back I guess.

52 Books – Book Two

2nd book

The No-Cry Sleep Solution:

 

OK, so this is a bit of a copout,but its still a book that I had to finish reading almost immediately as it reached highest priority on my reading list overnight.

Generally, Eijaz has so far been a real well mannered boy and does not fuss much on anything; doesn’t asked to be picked up much, eats almost everything (although he is allergic to cow milk protein and we suspect beef too, more on that in another post) and is very playful. But there’s one cardinal rule about him is DO NOT INTERRUPT his bedtime ritual unless you want to hear him cry his lungs out. For this, I give him the title of His Royal Sleepyhead.

His bedtime is generally from 8 pm to 6 am, give or take half an hour or so, and The Wife will be responsible for putting him to sleep (I have not the patience nor courage). It will be some feeding, some patting, some song singing and he’ll fall asleep within 20 mins or so depending on how tired he is on that day. However, he does wakes up for more feeding throughout the night and lately its happening at a higher frequency rate than normal i.e every hour or so. Probably cause he’s growing or wanting more comfort etc.

Theoratically, there’s two methods to go about this: letting him cry it out or tend to his whims. Seeing him cry his heart out is too much for both of us and we can’t be expected to be attending to him everytime he cries. So referring to Dr Google, this book came out as a suggestion and the rapid acquisition of the book may lead some of you to question how I got it so fast but thats not the topic discussed here today.

So the book is kinda of a middle ground, in saying that babies do not have to cry it out but still need attention but just attention that is managed and within our own terms. so we’re currently on a ten day program, give or take, few days of incorporating some good habits and leaving the bad ones, keeping logsheets and monitoring their progress. So far, alhamdullilah, its been working and he’s been sleeping at longer stretches on average.

I tend to babble too much, but in general, its a good book to read as it reinforces simple concepts that we already know but don’t practice. I dedicate this book to a good night sleep for all parents out there, where ever you may be.

52 Books in a Year – Book One

Decided to take up this challenge to read one book a week and write a short spiel on it after completion. Very ambitious but nailed down the first book this week.

Never Let Me Go – Kazuo Ishiguro

I always thought Japanese names writting in English adds a different, exotic dimension to it, i.e. different dominant cultures, not using primary language, what if the translator got it wrong. I read some Murakami but thats as far as it goes. I had no idea what this book was about but was attracted to the forlorness of the title, so decided to give it a try. Also, they were making a movie out of it with Keira Knightly and the thought of never letting her go, was inviting in itself.

I tend to like first person narration in books and I loved the fluidity, lightness and breezy nature of the narration. Reading it was really effortless and when the main plotlines came along, it was disguised well and not expected. When I first read few chapters, I thought this was gonna be a boarding school, coming of age book akin to The Virgin Suicides meets Mallory Towers (loved Enid Blyton!) kinda feel, but boy was I wrong. Not gonna give anything away but its dark. Never underestimate the will for man to continue living.

Almost teared up at the end. Despite what your managers told you, leadership books just don’t do that to you. Is this how you do book reviews? I’m so out of my depth.

Rating: 4.5/5

On Cable TV and Connections

In this current age, it is interesting to see how the function of TV is rapidly evolving and how, we, the consumers are gaining control of what, why, when and how we watch what we watch. And thats why we don’t have Astro at my home. You could get Astro, even though its a long drawn out monopoly on cable TV that may look enticing at first until you’re on the couch, channel surfing and realise this is the 10th time you seen My Best Friend’s Wedding (although I know a few people who wouldn’t mind it, ehehe).

Or you could just source all your entertainment from The Internet and have several well connected (lol!) friends with similar interest. C’mon guys, I don’t want to come back from work and have the 2008 season of The Bachelor: London Calling shoved down my throat. (this happened last week, I don’t want to talk about it).

So my suggestion is to cut your Astro subscription and get a HD media player that reads off your hard drive (WDTV is a good one) and you’re all set to take control of what you watch. But this doesn’t work if you’re a football fan, have kids addicted to cartoons or have elders addicted to Ria. It works great otherwise.

 

Then again, because you have a full drive of movies doesn’t mean you will watch them. I have been meaning to watch Aronofsky’s The Fountain since 2004 but never gotten around to it. And its still in my hard drive even though the original one that it was transferred to has crashed! Maybe I’ll just skip it and go to Black Swan straight. But really though, has it come to a point where it is a chore to actually dedicate time to sit down and watch a movie?

I blame The Internet for my short attention span and the never-ending thirst to be virtually satiated by bits of information, teasingly handed out by the refresh button. Every time we publish something on the Web, all we do is put ourselves there wholeheartedly and hope that someone comes by for a taste of validation.  So its always refresh, refresh, refresh. We have 20+ tabs open for a topic but barely understand it after reading so much on it. I have to start reading story books. It brings you places but at least its a controlled environment.

Back to movies, being able to obtain movies just from you home brings on a new full blown addiction, the need to keep that churning that bandwidth, making it work to keep that hard drive filling up continuously. When it hits the sweet spot, i.e your maximum bandwidth limit, you feel affirmed, self assured that you, my friend, are  the lanes of a developed civilization, in where you form a pseudo bond (think Van der Waals) with your peers whom you’re exchanging bits and bytes with. You will never meet them but you’re so happy that they’re there.

And when that 1080p movie or whole series season, is beautifully assembled in its complete, full form, sitting in your folder, the feeling of elation, and to some sad extent, accomplishment, fills that void in your heart. Just for a little while though, before you scrounge and rummage for more. Its never enough. Try describing this feeling to someone in their 50s and they will not get it. This is our story. Not theirs.

It’s Been Two Years

Back in college, we have our song that doesn’t really get played very often. Well, actually I decided what “our song” would be. I had a monopoly on it. You see, I was a music elitist that couldn’t play music and compensated for this lack of talent by going out of my way to ensure that the music I listen to was far away from the Top40 charts (still do actually, current state of music now is really sad, btw).

So anyway, the song is Untitled by Pearl Jam as heard on the Live on Two Legs album. I was just getting into how good the band was through college network mp3s and Pearl Jam was a hard rockin band. But they write even better, meaningful ballads.

Untitled is just a short, two minute acoustic ditty that Eddie Vedder mumbles the lyrics to. But the melody and words  really comes out as a yearning to be with someone, how you feel complete when that person is around and that you feel like you can take on the world. More importantly, she makes you feel like everything is alright.

And the wonderful thing about this song is that it is made constantly alive and fluid, the lyrics keep changing at every live show and I was really stoked to find this version online (have a listen to the first line) for this year:

Its our 2nd year of marriage together. And alhamdullilah, it has been a joyful 2 years so far with a kid in tow and many new experiences to learn from to be a better person.

Let us pray and make doa that we will be better people when celebrating this occasion again next year, insyaAllah.

Establishing a Ritual Trip

My family lives in KL. Most of our friends are in KL. There’s more things to do in KL. So, every other week or so, the whole family (just 3 of us + 1) make the trip up to KL. It’s a leisurely 1.5 hours drive but with Eijaz around, it has turned into a ritual of sorts, complete with rules to follow for a stressless journey:

1. We prefer to travel when he is asleep. So, usually we get on the road at night during his bedtime. This is important as he has a short attention span of maybe 45 mins max before he starts squirming around and crying his lungs out. Older ppl will tell you to leave him in his seat to train, but older ppl have worse hearing usually. If not at night, then his naptime during day. The longer we maximize his sleeping time in the car, the better.

2. All bags must be packed and in the car before he falls asleep, else it will take out from sleeping time in the car. Selected toys, milk and books are to be ready by the side of his car seat in case he wakes up.

3. Once all is packed, the car is started up and aircond left running for a few minutes to cool down car. His favourite Rockabye Baby lullabies (Beach Boys, Led Zepp & The Cure) are on cue to play. Only then is His Royal Sleepyhead is brought out of the house and into the car seat.

3. The transferring process to the car seat is something The Wife is particularly good at. Usually goes without incident. Once he’s all buckled up, we’re off. But it is vital to maintain relative silence in the car, with only the lullabies playing. Which means no talking. Which means this booming, powerful, commanding voice is reduced to a mere whisper. A shame.

4. If all goes well, he’ll sleep all the way. However, should there be refueling stops or toilet breaks, chances are he will wake up. So avoid that.

5. Its the boredom that gets to him more than the seat. If you take him out its alright. But that’s a risk you don’t want to take on a highway. You can control your car but you can’t do anything about the cars around you. So, baby in baby seat whenever car is moving!

That’s the ritual we go through, I know we should expose him to getting used to sleep with noise (life is not a library I would say) but everytime I suggest this, it gets shot down unless I’m the one who puts him to sleep after.  Anyway, there’s plenty of noise to get used to after. Enjoy the quiet now, son.

Updated on a mobile. Phew!

A Parting Love Letter

Dear Brooks Adrenaline GTS 8,

If you are reading this, you will know, deep in your sole, that we have parted ways.

I still remember the day I bought you. You were the replacement to my Asics GT-2140, using my discount coupon from the Genting Trailblazer 08. What caught my eye about you is your yellow, white and grey persona that is striking but also maintains a  degree of seriousness, a shoe that requires a level of commitment and passion.

Being a support shoe that you are to support overpronators and low arch feet like mine, I could feel your patented Duomax cushioning when I first broke you in. Oh, did you remember that time, Brooks?? It was a foggy Sunday morning at Lake Gardens, I was uncertain on your ability after having 3 wonderful years with Asics. But I gave you a chance, I slipped you on, wrapped your laces around tight and off we went. We never looked back from that, did we?

I continued my training with you and you would greet me with welcoming, wanting eyes when I got back from work, for me to put you on so we could pound the gravel, hard and fast. You never let the force bouncing back from the asphalt hit my feet and hurt me, your cushioning absorbed it, lovingly some might say, proving  that you do care for me. For days when I was too tired or lazy, you gave me wicked glances from under the shoe rack, mocking me, calling me the f-word. I was hurt sometimes, but now I know, like a grumpy parent, that you only wanted the best for me.

How could I ever forget you? You were there with me when I ran my first half marathon at Std Chartered KL 2009, 21 km seemed impossible to me at one point. but when I remember I had you, I felt warm, secure and deep down inside, I knew we were going to cross that line together. We went on and finished 2 more half marathons together. Don’t you ever forget that.

You are not just a shoe, no. When I slip you on, you stop being a high-tech cohesion of rubber, fabric and ropes.  You become a part of me, my own flesh and blood. We talk to each other, understand one another. When I slip you on, it is as if neurons have sprouted from your inner sole to my feet, sending signals to my brain; C’mon, Be Faster. Stronger. Better. And as a part of me, we together clocked a total distance of 565 km…..TOGETHER!

But with everything, this too, shall pass. I know you will understand when I’m saying to a new pair of New Balance 1224. While your heart may burn when all you see see is her supple, soft cushioning, her shiny acrylic design motifs, please remember that you will always hold this place in my heart and I will still continue to use you as gym shoes. A new journey, for us, together again.

 

 

Love,

A Runner

Charity Run at Standard Chartered KL Marathon

Dear family and friends,

I will be running my 3rd half marathon (21 km) tomorrow (27 June 2010, 0615) at the Std Chartered Marathon in KL.

This year I plan to make it more meaningful by making it a charity run for a cause. I am collecting pledges from all of you (i.e RM/km) in which the proceeds will go to a local orphanage in Melaka.

Pledges start from RM 1/km and I will be pledging RM 5/km for myself.

As a pledger, the benefits that you will get are real time updates during race day tmrw via the web (http://twitter.com/LqznArff) as well a comprehensive post race report with colourful pictures, graphs and statistics.

If you do decide to pledge, just reply back through comment below/text/Facebook/Twitter with your desired pledge amount.

I look forward to your pledges & support. Thank you.

Back on the bandwagon

Are blogs even relevant now? With so much new tools around, I feel like I’m updating the world enough with what I do.

But narcissism knows no boundaries. And since I got this wordpress app for Android, I thought its time to blog again.

Since the last post, a lot has transpired but not much has happened. The Baby is now at a bouncy 5 months and he’s really getting bigger by the minute. If I don’t see him for a day, I will always be fascinated at his rate of growth. Alhamdullilah.

Got another half marathon to run this weekend, my third one actually but I’m feeling a sense of dread as I haven’t been training for it and lousy training makes for very sore legs on race day. Planning to do a km-by-km update on twitter (i love my phone) so watch out for it.

Oh the game is starting….have a sinking feeling brasil and portugal gonna draw.its always like this for highly rated matches.

Toodles!!

FTAAA KL City Day Run 2010 – And I Ran, So Far Away

21st Feb 2010 update

I drove 130 km in 1 hr 30 mins to run 7 km in 44:34. More on this soon……..

25 April 2010

Sorry it wasn’t soon enough, but blogging was on the backburner for a while as we had quite a lot on our plate with work, family and also non-internet related social activities.

Anyway, I still can remember the FTAAA KL City Day Run like it was yesterday. It was in mid-Feb and The Baby was less than a month old so I had to make a daytrip out of it. Woke up early in the morning around 0500, had a cup of coffee and drove off to KL from Melaka. I got there around 0700, registered and did a bit of a warmup before guntime at 0730.

FTAAA races are the no-frills version race with no race vest, no goodies bags and limited medals given out. That what makes it so coveted to actually get a FTAAA race medal, you have to work for it. Turns out luck was on my side that morning as there were only 400+ runners in Cat A and medals were given out to the first 300. I set myself with steely determination to capture my first FTAAA race medal.

As its a no frills race, the route is usually the same, from Dataran Merdeka through to Bank Negara then Bukit Tunku, cut by Mahameru then back on Jalan Parlimen. I must have ran this route at least 6 times but it doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. KL is beautiful early in the morning, the brisk breeze blowing through the Bukit Tunku trees, the sun peeking out from  its rise and your finish line looming closer. They did cut the distance to 7 km in which I gave my all at the last bit.

At the last stretch from Jalan Parlimen, with Gimme Shelter blasting, I sped to the finishing line and clocked a 44 min for the run, positioned at 265 and finally gotten my FTAAA medal that has hitherto eluded me. The euphoric feeling made the drive from Melaka all worth it.

After that, I did the Energizer Night Race for a less convincing  half marathon filled with cramps and pain due to the lack of training beforehand. Nevertheless, I do plan to make up for it with the Pacesetters 15k and Std Chart Marathon coming up next.

Oh, and The Baby celebrates his 3 months with us today.