1 Jan 2009

Adlina, 1 Jan 2004 @ Equatorial Hotel, Melaka

The coming of the new year is special to me not only because it is a new year but more so because 1 Jan is our wedding anniversary. 1 Jan 2009 marks the beginning of another year of extremely blissful partnership with Adillah, insyallah. 2008 had been a very challenging year for me and Danau. We would not have been where we are now without Adillah's help. Thank you darling. More of you will be needed in 2009!

On a completely different note, I strongly urge couples who are planning to get married to find a 'good' date to tie the knot. Of course the date of your wedding anniversary will always be special no matter what date it is. However, to have it on a public holiday makes it easier for you to celebrate because nobody else will be in your way. Preferably you wouldn't want to have your wedding anniversary fall on a Monday when you have to present weekly sales report, or on a day when you have to fight for a very nasty and messy case in the court of law.

When Adillah and I were considering wedding dates towards the end of 1993 we immediately saw the benefits of choosing 1 Jan 1994, which happened to be a Saturday. We are grateful to our parents that they agreed to our proposed date. What a difference it has made to us and the kids!

2007 New Year's dinner under the tree @ Danau Kaseh

The final two weeks of December has always been a very special time of the year for me and Adillah especially since our kids have become a bit more matured now. Work wise, the last few days leading to Christmas and the days between Christmas and the New Year have always been 'slow' days. Most people are on holidays and clients don't usually demand our attentions. That allows us (and the kids) to self reflect on things and events which have gone past us during the year, to take stock of what we have and have not achieved, and most importantly to set our targets for the following year. Usually, by our wedding anniversary day, 1 Jan, most things would have been planned and waiting to be executed.

Hakim and Adlina doing the easiest part of
Finding Nemo jigsaw puzzle, the borders, in 2003

Perhaps the only thing we have missed doing as part of our year end tradition since 2003 is a jigsaw puzzle. None of the jigsaw puzzles which we have framed has gone on the wall so I guess there is no harm taking a break from doing one this year!

Happy New Year to all and may Allah grant you peace and fine health in 2009 (1430H).

Happy Birthday to My Dearest Ila

Dearest Ila,

Wishing you a very happy happy birthday!

You have been the source of strength and inspiration to me,
to the kids and to a lot of other people.

We are truly blessed by your presence.

Zaharim

The agony of a daughter

Adillah and I have four kids. Adlina, 9, is our third child and the only girl in our family. Like her Mama she is a very competitive girl. Not to be outdone in cyberspace by her two elder brothers Adlina decided to create her own blog which she called HELLO KITTY AND STUFFZ. I’m proud to say that she did it mostly on her own with little help from her elder brothers. And she writes well too!

The subject of Adlina’s blog is cat, or anything about cats, which is her favourite animal. Adlina has been wanting to have cats at home but unfortunately we can’t have any because Mama is allergic to anything that is cat. It will be difficult and long to describe Adlina’s love for cats. But in one of her postings she has managed to articulate her passion for the animal and her agony of not being able to have one at home in a very special way so as not to upset Mama.

Adlina, to date, has managed to outdo her two elder brothers in the blogsphere. In fact, she has outdone all of us. The subject of her passion has brought many visitors from all over the world to her blog. She proudly showed us the statistics of her visitors this evening. So far none of us has been as successful as Adlina, not even her kiasu Mama!

Sorry Adlina we still can't have cats at home. Perhaps not even in your own house in the future because then Mama won’t be comfortable visiting you. But, being a good girl that you are, you have done well in keeping your cats only to the confines of your blog.

My dearest Adlina, let’s keep it that way for Mama’s sake!

Papa