Birthday Lunch

From my MRSM days, I have a friend who was born on the same day as I am. Each year we wished each other Happy Birthday. A couple of years back, he was taken ill but has since been making good recovery. Since it was right after Raya and I was on a long break, I asked if we could out for lunch.

I also had a friend coming back for a short break from New York, and invited him to join with our parents. Unfortunately my "twin" couldn't make it, but we had a fabulous time with my other friend none the less.

The venue was one of our favourite joint, a Arab restaurant - Al-Halabi - at Pavilon. I thought I eat too much there and spent the afternoon sleeping .... Might as well as the EURO 2016 Final would be later on that night .....

Will be planning another lunch next year hopefully and this time I would make sure that he can join ....

Sleep Over

It was the weekend before Ramadhan, right in the middle of the school holiday period. Syahril's son was asked what he wanted to do that weekend. And the answer was to chill at our apartment. Great stuff.

Anita cooked her gorgeous soto ayam and we basically just relaxed and eat the whole day. We then ended the afternoon at the swimming pool.

Syahril did not stay overnight though, but that didn't mean that the night finished early. The boys were still running around the apartment at close to midnight.

Not content with that, by the time I left home at around 8 the next morning, everybody was already up, waiting for breakfast. They were still running around playing games and all by the time Syahril came to pick them up at around 4pm. The boys definitely enjoyed it ....

My Boron was Gone

I bought this Boron 200 back in 1992, when I was selected to play for the University. I needed a racquet with lighter tension but heavy on the head to generate more speed. And it had served me well. After a few years, I mainly played on the front court which required more placement rather than power. This racquet was perfect.

But, it has a limited use since it can't generate power for backcourt smashes. So, I tend to rotate between it and another Yonex, the Carbonex 21. That cracked a few years back.

The real McCoyThe crack was a subtle one but the symmetry and balance were all goneThe grip was real woodLast months, I decided to start playing badminton again with my schoolmates from MRSM. There was no excuse since the court was only about a 5 minutes drive from my apartment. And it was good fun actually. And for that, I needed to get my gears sorted out. I sent the couple of racquets that I had for restringing, but the Boron cracked under tension.

I don't think I would be able to get a replacement for the Boron since they had stopped making it a while back. And frankly, I don't even know which racquet was good anymore nowadays. Time to look around I think ...

That Padwan Cake

Mama Min had delivered again. We first found out about her almost 10 years ago while celebrating Idlan's first birthday. She prepared a barnyard cake through our party planner and since then she had been our go to person for birthday party.

Her creation had been constantly amazing, not just to look at. They tasted great too - it was Oreo chocolate this time. Over the years, we had a "Little Einstein Cake" for Irfan and "R2-D2" for Idlan.

This time around, Irfan wanted a Star Wars-themed event for his classmate party. And Mama Min came out with the best one yet. The cake was topped with Irfan in a Padwan suit, complete with his blue-framed glasses. And it looked so much like him!

Idlan had already been planning for his 12th birthday in May. It would be just before Ramadan, and best to start panning nning from now. It looked like Mama Kim's service might be called for again! Best to finalise the theme first.

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...