Ilyas at his new school

Today I brought Ilyas to attend the orientation day for Form 1 students at his new school, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Jalan Reko. The briefing to parents took about 2 hours and after purchasing the necessary items as well as receiving the text books, we went back home.

I'm back!

After more than 4 years, I am going to start writing again, thanks to Jo. So many things have happened for the past four years. The family of Abe and Jo has expanded with two new members. Ishaq was born on the 9th of March 2012 and Muhammad was born on the 1st of November 2013. Ishaq was a fighter as he was born prematurely and weighed only 1.7kg. In the beginning his heart even has a hole but that closed up nicely when he grew bigger. Muhammad's birth was a smooth one but both were delivered via caesarian section. I resigned from UPM on 31st January 2013 and joined Putra Business School as their Director of Non Thesis Based Programs. Jo has resigned from Shell and become full time housewife to take care of the two boys. My brothers Lalan and Awa have married. Lalan even got a son named Aqil now. Tina has another child, Emil Hamza. Jo's sister Julie also got married and has a daughter named Sofea Jasmin. Firdaus also got married and has a daughter called Fatimah and about to get another one. So the family of Abdul Latiff and Mohamad Akhir have grew even bigger. Tok Ayah won Merdeka Awards recently and officially retired from UKM after 40 years. And what else is new? Jo is expecting again. :)

Preparing breakfast for the family

Maisarah was helping Jo preparing the breakfast by arranging the cutlery on the table. I could not help but smiling when I saw one of the food on offer was a pop candy!

Muzdalfa Fried Chicken, Seri Bangi

This restaurant is one of the latest addition of eating place in Bandar Baru Bangi and we simply had to give it a try. The concept is based on the Western style fast food franchise restaurant. What makes them different than the established ones are in term of the variety of foods on offer. The MFC is like a combination of KFC and Pizza Hut, plus a few meals of kebabs and rice. The fried chicken itself are quite small in proportion to KFC's. However, since the price is slightly cheaper than KFC you would expect this kind of discount on size.

LBJB 2011 League Match Nine: Eagles 2-0 Hawks

With Eagles leading only by one point, this last league match is the most important match of them all. Eagles must win to secure the championship because Harriers have no problem in beating Falcons for their last league match. Hawks also needed a win to ensure they do not finish bottom of the league. So when the match started, both teams were quite nervous but it did not take long for Eagles to take a lead. In the second quarter, Afiq finally managed to put his name on the score sheet through a precise shot to the top left of the goal. An own goal by one of the Hawks players provided a great relief to the Eagles. Hisham of Hawks nearly halved the advantage in the fourth quarter but his shot went wide. In the end, Eagles are crowned champions of the Junior Division of the LBJB with Harriers in the second place, Hawks in the third and Falcons at the bottom. As predicted, Harriers beaten Falcons by the same scoreline in following match after that.

Next weekend all teams will be participating in the One Day Tournament and it will really makes my day if Eagles can do the Doubles.

Friendly Match: LBJB Coaches & Parents 2-5 Bandar Seri Putra Veterans

This is the first time LBJB coaches and parents put together a football team to play in a friendly match with a veteran team from Bandar Seri Putra. The kids now have the opportunity to see their coaches to play football and to really find out if what they have learned so far are really practiced by their coaches. I play attacking role in the first half and we managed to get a lead through a goal by Emeel, a Major coach for Barracudas team. In the second half we changed nine of our players but we still maintained the lead although the score line is now 2-1. I got into the field again in the third half but most of us were running out of steam and we let in four successive goals without really putting up a fight. 

It was a good friendly match and I asked for this kind of match to be held more often. 

LBJB 2011 League Match Eight: Eagles 1-1 Harriers

Eagles lead has been cut down to one point and today they are facing their most toughest opponent, a second placed Harriers. Anything less than a draw will hand the title of league champions to Harriers and for the first time ever I had to change the team tactic. Eagles started the match with a very defensive mindset. We practically have three defenders sitting deep in our own half because we knew Harriers have two speedy attackers. However, in the third quarter something spectacular happened. From out of nothing Ilyas let loose a thunderous volley from his own half straight into the goal of Harriers. Firdaus managed to capture that moment in the video and Ilyas will definitely have something to watch over and over again for the next few years. Harriers responded by doubling their attack and Ilyas again did something that he never had done in the fourth quarter, which is letting in a goal. The match ended 1-1 and frankly I am quite happy with the result. In other match Hawks managed to beat Falcons 1-0.

New cat mansion in Tok Wan's house

Those four kittens inside this mansion must be the lucky ones

LBJB Invitational Tournament 2011

During the school holiday, for the first time ever, LBJB decided to hold a one day invitational tournament for all age categories, namely Under 8, Under 10 and Under 12. Six teams participating in each category; two LBJB teams, two Junior Soccer School teams from Petaling Jaya, one team from Taman Bangi and one team from Putrajaya. When all the matches have been played, LBJB won both Under 10 and Under 12 categories. Unfortunately both Under 8 LBJB teams did not qualify for the final match. Ilyas was in the LBJB 'B' and even though they managed to beat Junior Soccer School 'B' through a penalty goal by Hisham, they lost to Putrajaya by the same scoreline. So for the third and fourth placing match, LBJB 'B' came face to face with their 'A' team. Hadif of the 'B' team performed brilliantly to score a very nice goal and in the end ensured that 'B' team will be in the third place. Junior Soccer School 'A' won the Under 8 category with their main striker Haziq, Ilyas' schoolmate when he was in Liverpool Moorside School, became the top scorer with 5 goals. Haziq even scored a hattrick during the final.

Ilyas 8th Birthday Party

My friend, Emeel works in one of the restaurants in Bandar Baru Bangi. The name is Monrods and is quite unique because it has an open space area on the second floor complete with the karaoke set. Thus we decided to have Ilyas' birthday party there. And we discovered something that we have never known before: Ilyas loves to sing using a microphone. Together with his friends, they sung various songs by a number of artists like Lucky Laki and Justin Bieber. We held several games to keep the children entertained. Afterwards we went back home to watch Ilyas opening up his presents.

Preparing for the new LBJB season

The boys hard at training

Bangi Kopitiam, Bandar Baru Bangi

Rainbow(s)

Mon Rods Restaurant, Seksyen 7 Bandar Baru Bangi

Nice foods, reasonable price. That's it, really.

An Evening in Taman Tasik Cempaka, Bandar Baru Bangi