Irfan' Classmate Party

Irfan turned 10 on the second day of Chinese New Year. And straight after the school break, both he and Idlan had school assessment. No real time to have a party. Irfan had been talking to his classmate about having a party just for them. We dithered but he persisted.

Finding the right time was quite tricky. Finally we settled for last weekend, almost a couple of weeks after the his actual birthday.

The games has startedIrfan staring at his cake ...Guns would have been a better choice ...Poor boy was lost ...A small party, just among classmate. No clowns or anything like that. Just then playing video games with food and cakes. It worked out fine, with some of his friends wanting to stay back after the party.

They played with their Playstations and Wii U, well through the afternoon. And of course binge watching YouTube on the TV.

PlottingBig breathSee how the Pro cut itThe main attraction was the cake however. Mama Min did it again. More on that on another entry. Irfan was especially happy and right excited well into Monday. And Idlan decided that he loved his room after all and since the party had been sleeping in his own room. Although I had to sleep with him there...

More Kenduri Photos

Anita had been very happy. Everything went according to plan and with the maids helping her out, she was able to take it easy in the evening after all was done.

In fact she was watching Cinderella on TV at the moment. Idlan on the other hand asked it I could take him to 7-Eleven as he ran out of junk food. He could do with some sugar rush after all the excitement of today.

As for the photos, it turned out that Idlan wanted me to be with him during the khatam ceremony as he was anxious with people around. He didn't like to be the centre of attention.

So, the number of photos were less than I expected but Anita wanted plenty of snaps. It was the first time we had any sort of event at the apartment.

Kenduri Done

Alhamdulillah. The event ran smoothly and Idlan did his reading, although he was anxious all through out the event. He was happy to get it over and done with.

He got bored during the Yaseen reading as his feet were aching and he asked to sit beside me. The ceremony was almost done by then. I ended up not being able to take much photos as Idlan asked me to stay near him during the event. He was really nervous.

We spent the rest on the afternoon eating after that and Syahril stayed until after his daughter taken a nap before going home.

All in all, everybody had fun. Idlan was relieved afterwards and asked me to take him to watch Star Wars. That would have to wait until tomorrow I was afraid. I wanted to spent the rest of the day at home with the guests.

Good thing that my Mum's maid would be staying overnight tonight as there were plenty of cleaning needed to be done. I had only about fourth hours sleep last night despite it being post-call and I think I might just doze off early soon.

All Set

Started the ward round really early this morning. It was going to be a big afternoon forward Idlan. We were having a ceremony to celebrate his completion of the Quran, his khatam.

He had been practicing all week and hopefully he wouldn't freak out at the event. Anita had been busy preparing and I did my part in making sure the ward were sorted out early on. Hopefully there wouldn't be many calls coming in.

Another role I would be taking would be being the photographer. So, all the tools were sorted and charged. X-T1 with the 10-24 zoom, X-Pro1 with the 35 f1.4 and the A7R mark II with the 90 macro attached.

Here we go!

Foodgasm Fest 2015

The weather proved to be both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, the rain washed away what was left of the haze which had been blighted us lately. The sun was shining and the sunblock were off the cupboard for the first time in weeks - not for me of course! It was a feel good weather. Even a small ray of sunshine could lift the mood, coupled with it the promise of garden party with food galore in the middle of town, it seemed perfect! It sounded so good that it seemed like the whole of KL congregated at Dataran Petaling Jaya, opposite AmCorp Mall last Sunday for Foodgasm Fest 2015.

And with that, came the traffic horror story of almost epic proportion. With the traffic warden turning up well past their due in time to issue summons. It was gridlocked, but more on that later.

The rain also proved to be the architect for trouble at this festival. The grass field was filled with mud and one couldn't avoid them since the queue was so long and the terraces of food stalls sat right in the middle of the quagmire! It was slowly turning into a mudfest.

Back to the traffic! We should have turned back the moment we saw the line of cars stretching a couple of kilometers along the Federal Highway leading into Jalan Timur. We persevered and was rewarded with a one hour crawl. And even then we didn't manage to get a parking spot. People were parking their cars at their fancy and before long the whole of Jalan Timur turned into one giant parking lot! And there were no traffic warden in sight.

Anita and I decided to escape via Jalan Gasing, back towards our apartment and took the LRT for a couple of stops landing right next to Dataran PJ.

Looking at the length of the queue, we decided to have a quick bite at the A&W restaurant nearby. No such joy. The queue there stretched right out of the joint. We soldiered on onto the field. The wait for each stall was at least 30 minutes and some of them had run out of items and having problem replenishing them as their supply car were caught in the jam!

We circled around and the only place without a queue were the vape tents. They were the craze at the moment! There were mud everywhere and Anita scrapped the idea of opening her picnic mat. Journey ended!

Back to the LRT station, onto the car and onwards to the nearest restaurant for lunch. It was past 2pm by then ....

So, it was a missed opportunity firstly from the traffic point of view, and secondly the state of the field.

There were plenty of area at the edge of the field which were covered, but you still have to get your feet dirty to get to the food stalls. And to add to that, there was no guarantee that you would get what you wanted due to sheer number of people turning up! It was a great idea but the organiser should have encouraged the punters to use the LRT and have the traffic wardens on hand to prevent congestion.

Hopefully no more muddy field in next year's chapter because I would definitely be coming again - on an LRT that time of course! And preferably early in the morning. Great idea, but suspect execution!