In Wonderland

As planned, we drove out of the house just before 11 and reached Pavilion and settled in within half an hour. ‘Alice in Wonderland’ was the boys first ever movie experience at the cinema and we were not sure how they would react. We were well prepared in our sweaters and socks as we imagined the will be freezing and we were not wrong. Luckily there were blankets.

Ordering drinks

As customary, we bought our drinks and popcorns. The boys wanted some nuggets as well. We quickly settled into our seats and tucked them in. They were surprised initially at how loud the sound system was but soon their apprehension turned to delight. Munching away on their food, they were totally immersed into the movie. In fact, they recognised the characters from reading the storybook. They clapped when Mad Hatter was introduced and booed when the Red Queen strolled in. They were making noise. Luckily it was in Golden Class and there were hardly any other punters. An hour in, the both of them were already out of their seats and chatting to each other, jumping around. It was havoc. If this were to happen in a packed cinema, I was sure we would have been led out by security. The two hours passed by so quickly and they were already planning to watch Shrek in the future.

All tucked inYes! We survived it!The movie itself was surprisingly very enjoyable. I initially was not very keen since I have been disappointed big time with Tim Burton’s fares in the past. One good thing about the movie was it never ever tried to give any back stories to the imaginary characters in Wonderland. It assumed that we knew the characters or at least knew enough as not to be asking too much about where they were from. Johnny Depp was spot on as the Hatter, so was Helena Bonham Carter. The CGI complemented the scenes very well although occasionally Burton’s choice of eclectic colours did come to the fore. The boys loved the fat twin and the invisible cat. Irfan left the theatre in the end trying to dance like the Hatter doing his closing number.

Irfan tucking into his sausages
Cookies for dessert In it goesThat's how the cookie crumblesAs we watched the first screening of the day, we were starving for lunch when the movie finished. We caught a bite at Dome before going home. Puan Anita and the boys were fast asleep half way back home. So much for excitement. I was looking forward to watch the badminton, Formula 1 and football later today.

Sports Day

Everybody woke up before six this morning to get ready for the Sports Day. Irfan was most excited. After all this will be hist first. Idlan woke me up to make sure we will be at the school by 7.30 am. Surely we left the house just after 7, right after they have had their breakfast. By the time we reached school, the crowd was already gathering. I must say that the teachers were just as excited as the pupils.

The main fieldKeeping the scoreApparently, the main track and field events were held earlier in the week. Today, there were mainly telematch, marches, parades and awards ceremony being held. The kindy pupils participated in the marching at the very beginning, followed by a dance routine that Idlan was involved in. There were also shows by the individual sport houses, tent decoration competition, tug-of-war, and fun event for parents. The shows were actually quite fun.

Idlan getting preparedSo was IrfanThe medals on offerIrfan’s telematch was fishing. Basically, he used a magnetic rod picking up some toy fish. There were only six pupils in his class, so it was all done within a few minutes. The same can’t be said about Idlan. He had 2 games. The first was rolling tennis ball around triangle markers using badminton racket a la hockey. I must say Idlan was the slowest. He tried to make sure he did not hit on anything, going gingerly across the bend and all. I was yelling at the top of my lung getting him to go quicker. Typical parents I thought. The second event was rolling a ball between classmate legs. He was getting tired by then with the hot sun and spent more time scratching his head than concentrating on the game.

Waiting for his turnIdlan after his dance routineIdlan during telematchIrfan getting his medalNext stop, the parents game. The task was for a partner to feed the spouse watermelon. Puan Anita in her heels ran across to feed me I thought all together half a melon. Bearing in mind I did not have much for breakfast. I nearly throw up! Suffice to say we did not win. Then came the award ceremony. Everybody got a medal, and Irfan was very excited with his. We were done by 10.30 and headed for brunch. We got home in the end just after 1 pm and had a long afternoon nap. Irfan only woke up at 6 pm. He was not asleep yet by the time I wrote this. Plan for tomorrow? I have already bought tickets for ‘Alice in Wonderland’ for tomorrow midday show. That should be fun!

Slow connection

The Internet connection at the house has been suspect in the last week. According to P1, they were upgrading the services around Gombak and during this period, they will be outages. It was no fun when the connections were down. I guess they do most of the upgrading work outside office hours so not to interrupt their corporate clients. In the meantime, Dad was settling at home nicely. I took some blood off him this morning for tests and the levels looked OK. He got his energy and appetite back. He insisted on staying downstairs - our house’s entrance was on the top floor - and climb up the stairs for meals and TV. He seemed OK and maybe during the weekend, I may take him out for a drive. My Mum-in-law was planning to travel to Kelantan on SUnday to attend a wedding. Dad will be staying at home with us and the boys.

Earlier tonight, I was at the KL Hilton for an academic meeting. It was a small group affair, an Advisory Group kind of thing, discussing about a new treatment being made available for a blood condition called Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP for short). This was when your body mount up an immune reaction, an antibody against your own platelets, ending up with bleeding tendency. We have some standard treatment for it but it was never ideal. This new drug were being made available and the main hurdle was it cost a bomb and patient will likely need them long-term. Justifying the cost was really a challenge.

Following the discussion, we had a nice sit down dinner. The desert were superb and I only arrived home at 11pm. Irfan was already asleep by then. They had to sleep early as tomorrow will be their Sports Day.

Discharge!

My Dad had his CT scan earlier today and now he was allowed discharged. I was rather tied up with the ward duty and was only able to sort out the bills and stuff right at the end. He was really bored by now and he was really glad that he can go home. Back to his usual magazines and TV. On my end, I was giventhe duty of checking his blood until his Warfarin dosing stabilise.

Irfan and Idlan were in good spirit at home. There will be a small matter of Sports Day coming up this Saturday. He did not tell me which event he will be participating. Managed to free my Saturday morning to be present.

Smart Tag!

It was one of those days that did not start off well. On the way to work, while queuing on the Smart Tag lane, a Proton cut off in front of me. I don't mind that. The problem was, it then had issues with the toll plank. It came up with a notice 'Hubungi Plaza' and we ended up in a long queue. I felt like smashing the windows in. The car behind me was really giving him grief. It took about 30 seconds for the attended to come across and another 30 to get him going. The honk was funny!

Ward round and visit by a trial sponsor ensued, followed by tutorials, lunch and a clinical sessions with the MMed candidates. The session went well although we can tell that the candidates was not well prepared. After all, the exam was so that the theory will be conducted first in around 4 weeks followed by a month gap for which those that passed the written will attend the clinical exams. The clinicals will be conducted in UM. That was enough to send shivers down their spine as traditionally, it was harder to pass in UM. That was just rumours though. Ne'er clinically proven!

We also had some bad news today in which the husband of the chief clerk at the Medical Department passed away today. Apparently it was not expected even though he had heart troubles and was on dialysis, he was pretty OK. Didn't really know what happened. Will catch up on the gossips tomorrow I am sure. In the meantime, the Revision Course was really kicking. The sessions so far have been going OK. The shame was I can't organise a mock exam for this lot since they were far to many of them. It was just impossible. If I were to go ahead, I'd probably only finished by 9 pm. And we don't want that!