Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Today in Maisarah's nursery, the childrens performed a Dragon Dance in front of their parents to celebrate Chinese New Year. Throughout the week they learned how to say 'Kung Hei Fat Choy', eating using chopsticks, learning about 12 animals in Chinese calendar and of course, performing Dragon Dance. Even though none of them is Chinese, they are quite happy learning about foreign culture and I can honestly say that they are enjoying every moment of it.

Passing Car Driving Theory Test

Awa passed his car driving theory test today, scoring 49 out of 50 multiple choice questions. I expect by mid February there will be two British full driving license holders in this house. The only remaining thing to do now is to buy a car. Decision, decision.

Conquerclub New Maps

After few weeks playing with the same old maps, today I discovered that ConquerClub has produced five more new maps. Lovely.

5 Anggerik, Sekolah Kebangsaan Serdang, 1987

My old friend, Imran uploaded this photo in his Facebook recently. This photo was taken nearly 22 years ago when I was in Standard Five. I don't remember all their names now and at this moment I'm still in touch with only fews of them, 6 or maybe 7 people. Hopefully when I'm back in Malaysia we will have our own small reunion.

Buildings in Liverpool - Part 2

St Teresa Presbytery, a couple hundred metres from our house

Goodison Park - Home of Everton FC

The Connells - '74-'75

Trip to Cheshire Oak

Entering Kingsway Tunnel

Today we went to Cheshire Oak retail outlet. Whilst waiting for my wife to finish her shopping, Ilyas and Maisarah enjoyed themselves in a big playground. We had lunch and then it's time to go back home. 

Trip to Lancaster

Today we went to Lancaster to accept invitation from Steve Kong for his Chinese New Year open house. Along the way we dropped by Tun's house for a breakfast and also to buy a 20kg Basmati rice from him. Afterwards Ilyas and I went for the haircut as well. Awa went to play football with some other students and in the mean time we went to Preston to buy some meats and groceries. We also visited few other houses for a birthday party and a dinner. We arrived back in Liverpool near midnight. Everyone was exhausted but I can see that Ilyas and Maisarah were the ones that enjoyed most from the trip.

Buildings in Liverpool

Chicken Bazooka, a halal fried chicken restaurant, their chickens taste like KFC!

Roman Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, 

situated just across my office building

John Foster building, used to be a convent, 

currently occupied by the Faculty of Business and Law, 

Liverpool John Moores University

My Special K Diet

Today it has been two weeks since I started my Special K diet, which is basically eating the cereal every breakfasts and lunches and only well balanced meal during dinner time. In between I'm only allowed to eat cereal bars and fruits.

I'm happy to announce that two weeks ago my weight was 84kg and now its... err... 84kg. I guess it's kind of a good news itself because I'm not gaining any weight. So I'm going to give this diet a further two more weeks.

And furthermore, last week I registered with Liverpool's Challenge organised by NHS and today I received their package, complete with a pedometer! I'm putting it on now.

Passing my Practical Driving Test

Me and my instructor, Graham

Oh what a relief! I couldn't sleep the whole night thinking about the test this morning. And when it's finally over, all I could think of is to get a proper rest. But not before I call my parents asking them to send money to buy a car, for them of course.

As for the test itself, I'm a bit lucky the examiner didn't ask me to do side parking, which I think is the most difficult manoeuvre there is. However, he did ask me to stop by the road side more than a couple of times, to see my judgement before moving off and he did ask me to do an emergency stop. Overall, I did two minor mistakes, one of which getting into a reverse gear when I'm supposed to go forward. Luckily the car was in parking position so no major harm done. The other one is not anticipating well enough when the traffic light goes green.

My wife already rented a car few days ago (what a motivation!) so we are going to Lancaster this weekend to visit Steve Kong and his family. And also to bring Ilyas and Maisarah to Toys'r'Us. They have been looking forward to this visit for quite some time now.

Awa taking his first driving lessons

Subculture - Fun Friends

I first heard this song back in 1994 when I was about to do my A-Level in Cambridge. My friend, Izham gave me a cassette tape album of Subculture, some says one of the pioneers of punk rock scene in Malaysia. Most of their songs were sung in broken English but it cannot masked the melody and energy that they brought and that have caught the imagination of us as well, the teenagers of 1990's. I lost the tape now but some of their songs can still be heard over the internet if you search for them hard enough.

Playing Yu-Gi-Oh! GX with Ilyas

It's Snowing in Liverpool!

I'm trying to eat the falling snows but to no avail...

Maisarah is smiling at Awa for braving the cold

2009 Calendar

Today a parcel arrived and I was quite surprised to see its contents, a couple of self portrait Ilyas & Maisarah 2009 calendars. Apparently, my wife had ordered it online and basically you can upload any picture for each month and even edit the information on the calendar dates itself.

Yovie & Nuno - Menjaga Hati

Three Coloured Bins

In our house here in Liverpool, there are three types of rubbish bins. The green one is for garden waste and fortunately during winter there are not many dry leaves to clear away. The blue one is for recyclable materials such as egg cartons, newspapers, glass, milk bottles and tin can. You don't have to put them in a plastic bag, just chuck them into the bin. Lastly, the purple one is for general rubbish and must be kept in a black plastic bag. 

The purple bin will be collected every Wednesday and the other two for every alternate Fridays. During major holidays, the city council pasted notices on these bins to inform the new collection arrangements. I find this rather neat.

Our Christmas Tree

Today Ilyas and Maisarah are planting a 'Christmas' tree in our back garden. This tree was given to Maisarah by Santa Claus in Delamere Forest last month.

Malaysian Film Festival

Today we received a package sent from Malaysia by Julie, my wife's sister. Amongst some other stuff are 8 DVD's of Malay and Indonesian films. Here I list the titles and the casts:

1) Cuci - Awie, Afdlin Shauki, Hans Isaac, AC Mizal, Erra Fazira, Umie Aida

2) Sepi - Afdlin Shauki, Tony Eusoff, Vanida Imran, Nasha Aziz, Pierre Andre

3) Congkak - Nanu Baharuddin, Erynne Erunna, Riezman Khuzaimi, M. Rajoli

4) Bujang Senang - Saiful Apek, Fasha Sandha, Yassin Yahya

5) Love - Acha Septriasa, Fauzi Baadilla, Luna Maya, Irwansyah

6) Sumpah Pocong - Marcel Darwin, Fandy Christian, Hardi Fadhillah

7) Kala Malam Bulan Mengambang - Rosyam Nor, Umie Aida, Farid Kamil

8) Cinta U-Turn - Awie, Fasha Sandha, Mazlan Pet-Pet, Azlee Senario

I know exactly which movie I'm going to watch first and which one I'd rather avoid but I don't think my taste is exactly the same as my wife. I'm also wondering what Ilyas and Maisarah will make out of these movies :) but definitely no 'Sumpah Pocong' for them!

Star of the Week

Today Maisarah is happy because she is selected as Star of the Week by the nursery. According to the newsletter, she is the star because she is always kind and helpful and is a good tidier up. She receives a star badge and sweets from her teacher. 

1430 Resolution

Today I weighed myself and am not surprised when the reading shows 84kg. In 2007 I tried dieting for four months and have only managed to reduce about 3 kilos (from 81.4kg to 78.1kg). Since then I never bothered to watch my eating habits and it shows. Some of my pants are getting hard to get into and I'm struggling with my 34 inch jeans. 

Therefore, this year I'm going to start a new diet regime. I'm going to eat only Kelloggs Special K cornflakes for breakfast and lunch. So the whole balanced meal will only be eaten during dinner time. I will also replace my usual snacks of chocolates and chips with fruits and Kelloggs snack bars. 

Will report my weight progress in two weeks time.

Elf Disco Dance from us in Liverpool

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