20/20 Vision...

As noted previously, the whole of 2019 has passed without me making any significant entry in this blog. Many things happened last year but somehow I could not push myself to put them down in writing. This disinterest in blogging has, of course, occurred before, so I shall refrain from making any excuses. Similarly, there is no promise that the new year 2020 would bring any improvement in the creative drive.

So we'll just get on with it. No need to express what my visions are for this year's blogging target.

Just to re-cap on two events of note that happened last year :

19 April 2019 (Friday) - My father, Hj Isma Yatim Bin Hj Ramli, passed away in early morning just before dawn. By the grace of the Almighty, the arrangement for burial went smoothly and the whole process was completed before mid-day. Innalillahi wainna ilaihi rojiun.

My mother, brothers and sister at my father's grave about a month after burial

2 November 2019 (Saturday) - Our second son, Harith Shahiran, tied the knot with a young lady from Kota Damansara in Selangor. The latest addition to our family is called Aisyah Bt Abdullah.

Harith & Aisyah

May good things happen this year that would be worth writing about...

Trivia : 20/20 Vision does not necessarily mean that you have perfect eyesight. It is a term used to express normal visual acuity (clarity and sharpness of vision) measured at a distance of 20 feet. If you have 20/20 vision, you can clearly see the eye chart placed 20 feet away from you, as what the average person would be able to see. If you have 20/30 vision, it means your eyesight is worse than average. At 20 feet away, you can only read letters that the average person can read at 30 feet distance.

Conversely, a person with 20/15 vision has sharper eyesight than most. At 20 feet, he is able to read a line on the eye chart the average person can see at 15 feet.

A quiet 2019...

Quiet... in terms of blog posting, that is.

I'm wondering myself, why the near total absence in writing. This is not good. Hopefully things will improve in 2020. 

Let's close this year with an update of my granddaughter. Maisarah was about a year old when this pic was taken. She's 15 months-old now and quite a handful.

Happy new year to all friends and readers. May the Almighty bless you with good health for all the 366 days of 2020. 

A new ride in the new year

In early December last year, my business partner decided that it was time to change the car that he had assigned to me. The Toyota Fortuner that I was using was more than 8 years old and was full paid-up. Actually, there wasn't much issue with the Fortuner. It had been regularly maintained, bodywork still in reasonable shape and drives well. Except that it had clocked a fairly huge mileage run and has a very thirsty engine.

The original idea was to trade it in for the latest Fortuner model but upon receiving feedback from friends who already own one, the new model petrol consumption figures aren't any much better. My business partner then asked me to suggest other alternative SUVs that are more suitable.

The first car that came to my mind was the Mitsubishi Outlander. It is not a very popular car... you hardly come across it as you drive along the highways. More likely for you to spot other mid-size SUVs like the Honda CRV or even the Mazda CX5.

I thought of the Outlander because of an advert I saw in a movie theatre. It showed an alien spaceship floating stationary over somewhere on Earth while facing a group of humans, presumably in telepathic negotiations. On being asked what the aliens wanted, a remote car key was lifted off the pocket of one of the humans by invisible forces. The man managed to grab the key before it floated out of reach. He then ran to his car and quickly drove it off. The said car was the Outlander.

Really good commercial. Talk about the influence of advertising. By the way, I tried searching for a video of that commercial but could not find it.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I went to a Mitsubishi dealer to check out the car and arrange for a test drive. Mitsubishi was offering an attractive rebate to the already competitive price. At the same time, I checked online for independent reviews from local motoring websites. Turns out that the Outlander was voted the best family SUV by the Cars of Malaysia for 2018.

I've been driving the car for a few weeks now and I truly like it. I hope it will continue to give me a good run.

A lovely start to the new year.

Mitsubishi Outlander 2.4L at Masjid Taman Impian Emas, Johor Bahru

My first grandfather-granddaughter moment

Two days ago, we went out for dinner to celebrate the birthday of this little lady's mother. I had finished my plate early so I took turn to care for her while the other family members enjoy their meal. I held her in my arms and we had a stroll outside the restaurant to savour the cool night air. At first, her eyes were wide open with awe, looking at the bright lights of passing cars. As I softly chatted with her in babyspeak, she comfortably drifted off to sleep. Indeed... I could've held her all night like this and not feel any hint of weariness.

My first grandfather - granddaughter moment. Looking forward to more moments like this...

Pergi menyambut panggilan ilahi...

Semalam 29 November 2018, seorang sahabat kembali ke tempat abadi...

Nor'azah Bt Othman, berasal dari Felda Ulu Tebrau, Johor.

Saya mula mengenali beliau pada tahun 1991 semasa saya berkhidmat dengan sebuah firma perunding kejuruteraan. Pada masa itu, beliau memegang jawatan setiausaha (secretary) kepada Pengurus Projek expat. Saya banyak membantunya dalam mengarang surat dalam Bahasa Inggeris dan beliau pula banyak memberi tunjuk ajar kepada saya cara-cara mengguna word processing software. Zaman itu belum ada Microsoft Word for Windows lagi. Guna DOS software yang bernama Wordstar.

Bila dia berkahwin, saya dapat tahu yang suaminya junior saya semasa di sekolah menengah. Small world.

Setelah berkhidmat di firma perunding, kami sama-sama menyertai syarikat baru yang memegang konsesi perkhidmatan rawatan air. Kira kami ni pioneer staff.

Setelah beberapa tahun di syarikat tersebut, saya berhijrah ke tempat lain sementara Azah kekal bertugas di situ. Agak lama juga saya tidak berhubung dengan beliau sehingga Allah swt mentakdirkan kami bertemu semula pada tahun 2012 di satu majlis jamuan hari raya Aidilfitri.

Pada awal bulan Oktober yang lepas, saya menerima khabar yang beliau berada di wad Hospital Sultanah Aminah kerana rawatan kanser. Saya meluangkan masa untuk ziarah beliau. Semasa saya mula sampai di wad, saya lihat beliau di kelilingi sanak saudara. Jadi saya berdiri dan melihat dari jauh. Setelah beberapa minit berdiri dengan senyap, Azah ternampak saya dan tersenyum. Beliau meminta saya rapat ke katil sambil memperkenalkan saya kepada sanak saudaranya. Ini boss lama saya, ujar beliau.

Aduh... di saat begini masih mengingati saya sebagai boss.

Sanak saudara beliau memberi ruang kepada saya untuk duduk rapat tepi katil. Saya dan Azah rancak bersembang kisah-kisah lama sewaktu kami bertugas di tempat yang sama. Kenangan pahit, manis dan tawar.... semuanya ada. Dapatlah dia senyum dan gelak kecil buat seketika.

Semasa saya ucapkan selamat tinggal padanya, memang berat di hati saya bahawa besar kemungkinan saya tidak akan dapat berjumpanya lagi.

Awal pagi semalam, suami beliau menyampaikan berita sedih yang Azah telah menghembus nafas akhir di waktu hampir subuh di rumahnya di Felda Ulu Tebrau. Jenazah telah selamat dikebumi sekitar jam 11 pagi.

Saya sampai di Ulu Tebrau lewat sedikit, iaitu setelah urusan pengkebumian selesai. Jadi dapatlah saya duduk bersama suaminya untuk berbual dan berkongsi cerita tentang seorang insan yang sangat baik hati.

Nor'azah telah bertarung dengan penyakit kanser selama tiga tahun. Serangan pertama ialah pada bahagian usus. Dapat dikawal dengan rawatan chemo dan stabil untuk beberapa bulan. Serangan seterusnya lebih mengganas... kanser telah merebak ke hati, rahim dan tulang.

Innalillahi wainna ilaihirojiun...

Gambar di bawah ketika saya berjumpa beliau pada tahun 2012. Azah di sebelah kanan dan sahabat lama kami, Hanim di sebelah kiri.