Melancholic song - I'm Just a Girl, by Bachelor Girl

I might be a little, concerned with my hair
I might need comfort, more than my share
I might seem to follow fashion, but claim that I don't care
My heart is your best friend, when it rules my head

I might want to talk alot, but don't ask me why
And I'll get impatient, if you don't reply
I might always search for something wrong, I want you to deny
But if you love me just stay close, and hold me when i cry

Don't try to understand me, I'm just a girl
One of the greatest mysteries, you'll find in this world
I'm not hard to handle, I'm just a girl

I don't seek money, but I want your time
Cos I'd give my life for you, when you are mine
And it hurts me more than I can say when you pull away
But if you love me, you should tell me everyday

Don't try to understand me, I'm just a girl
One of the greatest mysteries, you'll find in this world
I'm not hard to handle, I'm just a girl

You might think I'm too demanding
But you're just not understanding, no

I might like to take advice, but go my own way
And it's when I hurt the most, I swear I'm okay
And it's always when you least expect, I say I want to stay
it might take just a single kiss to steal my heart away.

Don't try to understand me, I'm just a girl
One of the greatest mysteries, you'll find in this world
You think I'm an x file, I'm just a girl
I'm just a girl

Don't try to understand me, I'm just a girl
One of the greatest mysteries, you'll find in this world
I'm not hard to handle, I'm just a girl

I'm just a girl

Note : When I listened to this song, I was reminded of Ckn - I miss her; I guess there is truth in the saying that distance makes the heart grow fonder

Al Karaoke fi Khartoum

What have the Alleycats, Lionel Richie, Anuar Zain, and the incomparable Sudirman all have in common? They are all here in Khartoum!! Not physically, mind (that would be silly), but their songs are karaoke-d here.

Thanks to our friends who have a well equipped karaoke system in their appartment, we've been able to let some pressure off by singing. We'd always go just the two of us (and sometimes some of our friends tag along!), and our sessions will be on a Friday afternoon (single staff frequent the place at night). We have a whale of a time! But we really owe them as we are sort of intruding; but they insist on us crashing their place and even carry a tune or two themselves.

Ckn's permanent playlist includes : Amy Search's 'Tiada Lagi', the whole Alleycats catalogue, and some Rahim Maarof's 'Cinta Kristal'. Ezal's playlist covers : Zainal Abidin, Alleycats as well and Lionel Richie - no Elton John 'Sacrifice' here, unfortunately!. We're quite 'competitive' when it comes to hogging the mic but we recently discovered some nice duets that helps reduce the hogging!

Good to have a choice of activities here in Khartoum then eh?

Ezal striking a pose near the massage chair, while Ckn is picking her next song. Our host, Azizan is so impressed with my singing that he had to sit down...

Operation Ipod Battery

* updated : industrial design wiki

I have 2 iPods - the first, I bought back in 2004 (I think...dah tak ingat), and it was an end-of-line model; officially it's the 3rd Generation Ipod with a whopping 20gb capacity. At the time I didn't even look at the iPod due to the cost, but when I saw it at the computer fair in PWTC, I was tempted and so bought one. And I've never regretted it once!

I bought my 2nd iPod in 2006 - a 5th Generation iPod, with a 30gb capacity. I transferred all our songs (about 3,000 or so) into the new iPod, and it has since accompanied me everywhere I go (it's in my office bag)

The main reason I upgraded was that my second iPod can play videos and show pics; essential as I wanted to back up my pictures into a digital wallet. Further, my first iPod had a chronic battery problem - it would die after 20-30 minutes (which was expected, as a lot of the 3rd Generation iPod's complained of the same thing), but functionally it was still good. I had bought a Logitech mm50 micro speakers to house the iPods, and it was a great way for Ckn to use it at home as a cute music centre.

So to ensure that we can get the most out of our first iPod, I did a little project with Ckn - we changed it's batteries! It was no mean feat, and it involves ordering a new high capacity battery from Brando Hong Kong (my fave online shop!), 2 plastic flat-top screw thingys, a real _metal_ flat top screwdriver, fingernails and patience.

Why so many tools? well, if you've seen an iPod then you'll know that it has a nice flush appearance; there's no visible screws holding everything in place and everything's hidden. Therefore, some prying was needed. Took us some effort too, as the instructions were not very clear, and the plastic tools were nearly useless! But with a little preserverence and the metal screwdriver (with a little TLC) plus Ckn's ideas, we finally managed to open up the iPod casing...

Here you can see the ipod's innards in all its glory. The blue rubber on the left is the shock absorber for the tiny hard drive. You can also see both the new and old batteries. Even naked like this, I'm just amazed at the wonders of industrial design! Following the instructions, I then proceeded to replace the battery and promptly closed the case and rebooted the iPod (and held my breath) - it worked! hooray!!

One slight hiccup though at this stage. Despite my careful planning, I had inadvertently re-inserted the old battery into the iPod; I guess excitement took over ...and I felt like a right idiot! oh well, had to call Ckn again (can't blame that she was annoyed!) and we repeated the process again, only now making doubly sure which battery to insert!! Hooray (genuine one this time!)

More than words can say...

To my dear sweetheart | may you continually be blessed with bountiful rezeki, love, and happiness, on this, your 30th birthday | may we always have each other and our loving family | from your partner, lover, and friend | truly, madly and deeply - yours I remain | Ezalman xox

Au Revoir dear Friends

We just came back from a lovely supper with our friends Razman and his wife Dila. So what's the occasion? Unfortunately our dear friends are going to leave Khartoum soon.

We first got to know them back when we first arrived on these shores. They were a lovely couple, and somehow we clicked. I guess we've had each of our families over for dinner/meals several times now, including a breakfast they invited me to when Ckn was in KL awaiting Erica's arrival.

We wish them all the best back in KL, and God willing, we'll meet up again for some 'teh kangkang' again! (OK the actual term should be 'teh cangkung' but my BM is BAD)

4Es Cup Cake Ventures (un)Ltd.

Cup cakes to die for!

There have been several things that I have aways longed to do with my life; for example, I wanted to go to outer space, but the Malaysian Astronaut program came 25 years too late... and I don't think Malaysians would have approved of an overweight, short sighted paper pusher representing them as the first Malaysian in space! So that dream of mine was confined to watching Star Wars and Battlefield : Earth (ask my brother - it's the worst movie we've seen!)

I also had dreams to become a cook - I don't know why, perhaps it was a cool way to be creative and it sounded more alluring then being an accountant! Well, I recently managed to realise that dream and another grown-up longing of becoming an entrepenuer! Don't get me wrong, I've been cooking for a long time now. I made a killer masak asam pedas when I was at Kent, and my tiramisu was legendary (i.e. its no longer being made, hence it becoming 'legend'). But I've never (knowingly) sold anything before!


The Tiny Cup Cakes being set by Ckn (not pictured - me working the hand mixer before!)

So the story goes; Last Thursday, I promised Ckn that I would help her bake some tiny cup cakes for iftar. We started with gusto after I got back from work at 4pm. Using a recipe our neighbour in Sg Buloh gave Ckn, we managed to produce a batch of the lil' scrumptious tidbits. It wasn't too difficult; but I was made to understand that cake making was not to be taken lightly, that it was a delicate process and that the wrong timing of ingredients going in or doing something too much will spoil the batter.


...now open wide for some uncooked batter!

We were fasting and someone had to be the batter tester! So Ehsan and Erica helped out; Ehsan with the cleaning (i.e. licking the mixer attachments clean! Hey that was supposed to be my job!) and Erica with the 'batter quality Assurance' test.

Erica's not into food yet, but she liked what we were putting in her mouth, I guess. She was squirming, asking for more, but we stopped at just giving her a taste as the batter had raw eggs in it. Don't want lil Erica to fall sick now do we!

We had our first taste at iftar...and we loved it! I just looked at Ckn and she did the same - we both had the same thought, that we had to share this with the world (you can say it was a Eureka! moment...)

After much soul searching (30mins or less only!) we both decided to go into business to 'bring the goods to the market'. The timing couldn't have been better as there was a Petronita ramadan bazaar the next day, on Friday. We agreed that the costs of producing a batch of 16 packs was minimal (each pack had 5 cup cakes), while the proceeds from the endeavour would be substantial! Ckn would be in charge of the coupon selling for the whole bazaar, so the cup cake marketing would be my responsibilities! yipee... Finally, an opportunity to become a businessman presents itself!


My 'muka welfare marketing gimmick' and I at the bazaar ramadan

As this was as much a business as it was a learning experience, I told Ckn that we should have a little fun; so I decided to take pictures of all the people who bought our cup cakes. I got some odd looks from the others selling their wares at the bazaar, but I was on a roll (of course I wouldn't have considered this if I had a few hundred customers la).


The lucky few who went to bed satisfied (hmmm!)

The bazaar started at 4.30pm and I had my tupperware opened and ready by 4.40pm. Nobody gave the goods a second look for the first few minutes (maybe because we didn't put signages..DUH!) so I resorted to telling (nay, shouting to!) the patrons about the cup cakes and how scrumptious and cheap they were. Once the crowd rushed in at 5.00pm, my cup cakes literally became... hot cakes!

Throughout the event, Ehsan was not really himself; we thought he would have fun running around making friends - but it was a hot evening, and he managed to have missed his afternoon nap earlier, so fatigue and grogginess was sinking in. He spent most of the time sitting beside me. Ckn bought some lin chee kang to cool him down, and when I left the bazaar later, he cried himself to sleep in the car! Such was his tiredness that he slept soundly till the morning (so it was a restful night for Ckn!). However, he did take a liking to one of the patron's cutey daughter; and Ehsan took a picture of her himself :


Cute little Nur Ain, thru the eyes of Ehsan

All in all, we made a profit of SDG 13 or about RM22; not bad huh? The only problem was that we spent more than SDG 70 (RM120) to buy food for ourselves...! (well it was for 2 days - and _it is_ Sudan!) I now know the feeling of making ones own money and can appreciate how tough it is for people to have to do this on a daily basis. We're still deciding whether we will continue selling the cakes at this week's bazaar... but I'd like to quote Mr Gooding Jr from Jerry Mcguire '...Show me the moneeey!'

Celebrating 4 Memorable Years...

The Power of Speaking...when you're 2

My troubleshooters! Taken at the Hilton Hotel, Port Sudan, 2006

I was having a bad day a few days ago - somehow I got myself a personal swimming pool. But before you say "how lucky you are, Ezal!", let me explain what the difference is with my 'pool':

1. It's in the office
2. The pool is installed on my desk
3. ...all my work, books and files are floating in said pool

Yes, the roof was leaking, and somehow this year (it only rains about 5 days in a year in Khartoum) the roof decided it was best to piss over my parade! Relating madly to Ckn from a makeshift office, she said I should call home and speak to Ehsan; she was convinced that my 2 year old son can help cheer me up... I did just that and called them.

So, Ehsan picked up the phone ... and said 'Hieee... Baba?' I was gobsmacked, my mouth wide open. I could hear Ckn in the background saying 'Apa nama adik?', and Ehsan replies 'Erica'. The night before Ehsan hurt his foot, so Ckn asked him what he did when his foot hurt - and Ehsan made a crying/hurting sound - he even managed a 'snore' when asked about sleeping...

Well, after a few precious minutes hearing Ehsan 'speaking', I just kept laughing (Ehsan joined in too, mind) with tears in my eyes (hey c'mon I'm a father, but the tears never left my eyes. Promise). But Ckn was right; my condition was fixed and I forgot about my bad day!

The Most Sweetest Thing

I think I'll try and make Ckn blush today - it's her birthday today! well, technically that was 29 hrs ago (Malaysian time)...hey isn't that ironic? coz it's been 29 hrs since she turned 29 years old!! haha jangan marah sayang!

There was another irony, too. Since I couldn't be there to celebrate, I got my brother Fyan to help me arrange for a flower bouquet (sic i think) to be sent on the morning of Ckn's birthday. I thought it would be a pleasant surprise ! (part of the act was for me to _totally_ forget mentioning about wishing her a happy besday)

Well, she got the flowers - but I also got something! I received today a card that Ckn sent out over a month ago! a Valentine's card. So, the Surpriser became the Surprisee too! Auwww...

Can't wait to be back home with them both - Baba'll see you soon enough!

Arab-a-day
Bahazer - just joking

Going Home

It's 4 months to the day that we all upped and left Sudan, that we have the opportunity to go home. The whole troop is going with me - ckn and the little tyke too! It's Summer in Sudan and I think the break from the heat is very welcome indeed.

We booked a flight out on 17th May - and true to form, the notorious Sudanese 'Habub' reared its ugly face - we were stranded for a few minutes on the tarmac due to strong winds, dust storm and a little rain! but thank God all went well and before long we were on our way.

The flight was great and Ehsan was on his best behaviour (I think!) - however we had an 8 hr transit wait in Dubai. Not that we can enjoy it too much - we arrived in the dead of night and had to leave at 7 the next morning...

We met a few colleagues and their families en route to KL - Zabuddin and his family on the Dubai-KL flight and Rosliza and her 6 kids (!) in the Khartoum-Dubai flight. It was also the first time that were able to video tape our experience on the plane - as soon as we left Dubai, out came the Sony - capturing our experience in the air. Even had a little prosumer commentary to boot!

Ehsan was of course enjoying every minute of it! Being cuddled and praised by the female flight attendants helped too, I guess. He was unashamedly being flirtatious with them in return! I wonder where he got that little trait...

Ckn and Ehsan will be staying in Malaysia for the better part of June - then I'm going to bring them back in July - with a short stopover in Dubai. I think this will allow us all to 'recharge' whatever Sudan and our experiences in the past 4 months have taken from us (except Ehsan, who's like a moving /talking sponge, absorbing everything - god, he's been walking for the past month and a half anyway!)

I'm a little worried the Mrs would have a tough time without her partner around. Sure, she's better prepared this time ( compared to the period after giving birth to Ehsan), and although she won't believe me, I do feel the loneliness and pain of being away from family just like she does (I'm currently in hr 5 of a 10 hr transit in Dubai, without access to the Business lounge...oh, the hurt!...on my ass!)

Nevertheless, I think we enjoyed the past 10 days together. I just fell in love with shopping (again)! The freedom, the choice and the sales were just overwhelming. Don't remember how many 'KLCC-One Utama-Low Yatt' pilgrimages I performed, but I risked blowing all my overseas allowance on every little new thing that I fancied and was not able to procure in Sudan...haha - thank God for responsible spouses eh?

...I miss giving Ehsan a bath, and I miss Ckn's over-protectiveness...

March 12, 2006 : Accidents do happen

Oh dear, oh dear - we've met our first true test of being expats here in Sudan - last wednesday, Ckn and Ehsan were caught up in a road accident. Ckn decided to come to the office to check her email after office hours. The driver misjudged the speed of an oncoming car, which according to Ckn was driving very fast. Turning into the office too slowly forced the oncoming car to slam into the van.

Ckn was holding onto Ehsan for dear life! she got knocked out of the seat, hitting her head on the side door (the one you see here) and scraping her kneecap on the floor. By the time I arrived on the scene - about 1 minute later - Ali had Ehsan, and Ckn was standing close to the van; my staff and colleagues were trying to help. I gave Ehsan a once over and he looked fine. Ckn wasn't so lucky; she had a nasty bump on the right side of her head and she looked faint. Getting them both into another office car, we sped off to Al-Faisal Hospital for checks...

Luckily the x-ray turned out ok, and Ehsan was happily drinking from his 'lunch' at the hospital. The swelling reduced overnight and we managed to go to a Sudanese wedding later on Thursday evening. Phew - it was a close one!

We partly blamed Ali on this one, and it's forced us to keep Ali at a distance for the time being. but he's been very concerned for both of them, I just dont know how well we can trust him again and when! The people here live by 'God's will' - I believe in that too, but as humans we do have a duty to do the best or make sure that we're responsible; after we've done all that , only then can we surrender our fate to God.

Oh dear, oh dear...