I know life isn’t as what you always want them to be. Stated in the Holy Quran that God won’t test with what He thinks you can’t bear. A month and fourteen days has gone by since his sudden departed and although life at home has shifted back to normal, I still sense my dad’s presence in the house. I think we all did. Like someone watching over our shoulders. Now it’s just the three of us.

Sure the first few days were so hard, so bad. I couldn’t sleep at night thinking of what could have happened to him that fateful Friday afternoon. I hope he didn’t experience lots of pain when he had the heart attack or when he fell.

The day we took the body home was heartbreaking for me. My two uncles and I went to identify the body while the rest waited outside the observation room. And I broke into tears just looking at him lying there in the next room through the mirror.
Mum’s wish to get the body home as soon as possible was deterred as dad’s body had to be detained for post mortem.

Slightly after 2pm, we were on our way home. There, friends and relative crowded to see dad for the last time. Mum said many more came earlier but had to leave for work.

We bathe him, those who wish, place pacai and then set off to Al-Istiqamah mosque to pray. The mosque at Serangoon North was where he was last seen alive during performing his Friday prayers. He managed to finish his responsibilities there as a official volunteer before setting off back to work which is a five minutes walk away. That was when tragic strike.

It touched my heart, how on a Saturday, people having religious classes and those in the mosque all who knew him came together to pray. I notice this one man who walk with a very distinctive limp on one leg rush forward to carry dad’s coffin to the center. I don’t even know that man. I’m certain at some point dad must had entered his life like he did to many other people.

Donations poured in from every corner and stranger. I couldn’t thank everyone enough for their donations and physical help. I felt a lump in my throat whole day and couldn’t shake it off.

Sitting in the van to Pusara Aman made me even more distraught. I recited Al-Fateha non stop and pray for God to pardon his wrong-doings and would place him in a good place.

And I feel bad and sometimes disturbed when I throw away his favourite items around the house. I had thrown away all the wedding souvenirs and invitations card which back dated as far as 1994. Those working watches are still in his drawer and sunglasses are in mine. We went through his letters looking for any outstanding bills or fee during his life. Alhamdulillah, there were none.

Dad’s shirts, two bags full, were given away to my uncle in Selangor. We all gathered at home yesterday for a forty-day tahlil. Mum even gave away dad’s fishing net which I did not see him use even once. Earlier, dad’s two keris were also given away.

At the same time I felt truly blessed that we still manage to spend this year Hari Raya as a family of four. I still manage to seek forgiveness in the morning for Eid Fitri and truly hope didn’t make him worry about me so much. A week before the incident, we manage to witness the wedding of my cousin.

It’s amazing how a major incident manage to budge all good emotions into one massive misery. But life needs to move on.

Oh’s or Honey Graham Oh’s is a cereal brand produced by the Quaker Oats Company. Introduced in the late 80s, Oh’s is by far the tastiest cereal.

The pieces are crunchy corn and oat rings, filled with graham cracker bits, crispy rice and honey in the middle.

Second on the fav list is Nestle’s Koko Krunch. Not the dual with white chocolate, just the plain chocolate one. And I have my cereal with strawberry milk.

I’ve been bringing a big bag everywhere I go. It’s convenient. I can carry my sweater, books, toiletries or whatever I need to bring around.
On top of that, I can put in groceries if I happen to do some small shopping. I’ve been doing this since two years back when topic about global warming started to arise and became a problem.
I’ve heard about patrons are charged an additional ten cents on every first Wednesday of each month, which also known as Bring Your Own Bag Day, if they request or need a plastic bag for their groceries.

It was just past midnight, on Monday morning, when I was at the NTUC Buangkok Central. I was charged $5.60 for my bread and milk and when I gave the cashier exact amount, he returned 10 cents. My first thought was maybe I mistook a twenty cents coin for a ten.
I grab my things, stuff them in my bag together with the receipt (I’m the kind of customer who takes his receipt if he’s given.) and went home.
It was then I noticed on the receipt that the cashier gave me a discount for bringing my own bag!

I don’t know how long this discount for bringing your own bag has been going on but this is my first encounter.
I’m Jakun

You have been warned! There might be a possibility of a Max Payne sequel.
From a third-person view shooter game adaptation, Max Payne is a slow pace movie. In Max Payne, released in 2001; and Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne, which was released two years after, Max always uses a 9mm pistol or better and on a chase. They are full of actions, surprises, dream sequences and flashback of the day Max returned home and found his wife and baby assassinated. I absolutely love the idea of a revengeful cop and the emo shit that came along with it.
I want to love the movie starring Mark Wahlberg as much as I adore the games but at the end of the 100 minutes show, I feel that the movie had a weak storyline and wanted more.
The scenes and the background music throughout the movie are on par with the game. Each scene is beautified with falling snow or rain. And always something is sounding at the background like conversations, television sounds and traffic. The lighting is comic-like and the show succeeded with those. I also welcome those mystical creatures to stimulate the mind.
I used plenty of bullet time to get myself out of hard situations but the movie has only once, or at most two bullet time sequences.
And no, Mark Walhberg doesn’t need to collect painkillers throughout the movie and I can’t wait Max Payne 3 hopefully next year.

Oh, wait, I’m not done! Today is my birthday! I got a slice of Coffee Beans and Tea Leaf cake from Nurdiyana and Emilda at work yesterday.
Today, I woke up early to catch Max Payne the movie. I have been waiting for it! Then Mak, Adek and I had dinner together at Arnold’s. When we got back, Ayah got a cake and we took pictures. That’s it! I’m done now.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri. Maaf zahir dan batin.

Professional ketupat weavers – Mum and Adek.

Typically during Ramadan, Mum would take some fruit cake orders. If you order early enough, she won’t turn you down. Each year she would take not more than ten to bake and this year she seems to finish all quite early. Three days left before Hari Raya and that’s ample time to make ketupat and clean up the house. Another typical thing in our household – we would clean up the house only after Mum finished all her baking and ketupat making.

Adek had idea from Mum’s fruit cake. She substituted the mix fruits with Hershey’s syrup and bakes her own Hershey’s Choco Cake. It was done just after buka and we all got a chance to taste it. I applause her for baking it from stretch although it was slightly weak on the taste bud. But hey, she did it from stretch!

Then it was my turn to spend some time in the kitchen to make some cupcakes. They smell and taste just ok but failed miserably for presentation.
I misread the quantity of eggs, milk and oil and my cupcakes rise while baking but flat out after cooling down.

The top one is blueberry cupcakes; bottom is nutella filled vanilla cupcakes; and on the left is nutella cupcake which suck the most.

Five pillars of Islam.
Belief & testimony in The One God (Shahaadah);
Prayer (Solat) – five times a day at its appointed times;
Fasting during the month of Ramadhan;
While voluntary fasting is recommended for Muslims, during Ramadhan fasting becomes obligatory.
Alms -giving (Zakat) annually; and
Pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca at least once in a lifetime.

I had an uneasy experience taxi ride yesterday. Don’t worry, I reached home in one piece but the conversation with the man behind the steering wheel was one that I wished I had avoided. I survived the ride from Bukit Gombak to Hougang, after dropping-off Firdaus home halfway at Woodlands. That cost me close to $30!
The conversation that got me think what made him so worked out at the first place. Afterall, we all have our own opinion and yours doesn’t mean right because you don’t want to know the reason why things are in the way they are and refuse to find out why; and of your age.
I try to distance myself or start into having a lengthy conversation with people whom I think has negative characteristics or give out dreadful aura. It makes me feel old and miserable inside.
So to erase the negativity, today I buka puasa with Häagen-Dazs ice cream. Not your typical flavour. A pint of green tea flavour and I’m back smiling to the world.

I’m not saying that because I am a fan.

I got myself a pair of the weekend pass to this year’s Singfest on Friday from eBay. My virgin purchase from the website.

I am kind of regretful for not spending any time at stage two which better known for the asian/local bands and DJs stage since the line up for the main stage was just unbelievable. I just want to see for myself these big names on one stage in Singapore.

And that once thing I think they should avoid at future Singfests is asian/local bands on one stage and experience internationals acts on another.

So, here goes my review. One of the earliest highlight would be that young New Found Glory fan whose hair covered half of his face came on stage and play the bass guitar and sing along with the band. Hardcore.

I am sure Mêlée scored some new fans after their performance. Their songs are melodious and Chris Cron can sing live and plays and piano brilliantly. Unfortunately I can’t identify songs from their debut album but some tunes from Devils and Angels that they played were Can’t Hold On, She’s Gonna Find Me Here, You Got and their heavily played song on radio, Built to Last.

The low point of the two day festival was when Lostprophets shouted vulgarity towards Rick Astley. I know they have a bad rocker image and Ian Watkins might just being silly at that time but they certainly upset Rick’s fans.
When Rick came on stage the next day, he still got the charm and bras and underwears were thrown on stage. He looked like he had fun singing for everyone there. I was a little bit sour when audience were still sitting when the 80’s superstar came on stage after the Levi’s fashion show. Nonetheless, Rick ended his show with a bang. Never Gonna Give You Up was that one song we all were waiting for.
I went with an open mind and listen to singers or band I hardly listen to and maybe leave with a slightly likeness towards them or their songs.

Simple Plan sampled Flo Rida’s Low. Wicked. The last time I watched them when they had their gig at Suntec Conventional Hall some two years back and I still like their stage presence and the silly conversations thay have on stage.

Fran Healy is a perfectionist. He can’t get the show to start if he thinks his guitar wasn’t properly tuned. I like that. Travis played for over one and a half hours. I love their older hits and they play every single one of them. Sing, Side, Why Does It Always Rain on Me and the current one Closer. By the way, they got a new album which will drop end September. Check it out!

It was all panic and tragedy and Panic at the Disco came on stage. The speakers died but the band kept on playing. I solute them for that. The show must go on! And I am sure they were relived when the sound return at the third song. Yeah, THIRD song!

OneRepublic’s super-famous break-up anthem, Apologize, was sing-along from start to end and the loudest after Jason Mraz’s I’m Yours.

Jason even sampled Oasis’ Wonderwall. Superwicked! He even belted out Geek in the Pink, Remedy and from We Sing, We Dance, We Steal Things - Butterfly, Make It Mine, The Dynamo of Volition, Live High and Only Human. Oh, Jason’s good buddy, Toca Rivera lend his voice while playing the djembe drums during I’m Yours and that was astounding!

Throughout the show, some sit, stand, shake their booty to the songs that being played on stage but when the Pussycat Dolls came up, they dance and we watched. I know it is not easy to dance and sing and at the same time wear high heel boots. They got tired singing from all the dancing but never got tired dancing from singing. I don’t have any pictures of them as I was pretty much occupied.

To closed and well received and outstanding Singfest, the kind people from Midas Promotions had call a superstar from across the universe to entertained us. Ms Alicia Keys performed her hits from As I Am and some from her older albums. Power, lah, the eleven times Grammy awards receiver really can sing and amazed us. I wanted to sing along with her songs. Her dominant vocals, backup singers and band are in a class of their own. A little setback was the little-little changes or extending of her songs wasn’t to my likings. I am sure I am alone on this cause the rest sure left Fort Canning wanting more from the Diva.

If Singfest could outdo itself next year, I would definitely be back at the park even if it is a three-day event. But please, go slow on the ticket price.