Midnight Rambling

Too little time and even less adventures have officially rendered this blog redundant. But since I can't sleep (I tried everything; washed my makeup brushes, read a book, social-networked to death) I thought, well, a post is in order so here I am!

So what's happened in the last month or so? Pictures might help, as usual.. :) This might get picture heavy. And pictures are not necessarily in chronological order. 

Hafidz took up golf. And by that I mean going to the driving range to practice his swing. He hasn't braved the golf course yet but I don't think it will be long until he does. Here's Hakeem imitating his dad. He's in the monkey see, monkey do phase - but only with his dad. I try to get him to say sorry, whatever the reward, he will not follow. Sigh.

Remember this? Brought me back to simpler times..

 We go to Toys R Us a lot (aka "woyshop") for recreation. It's the only place that makes Hakeem go "yay!" just by the mention of its name. We tend to walk out empty handed though. Well, sometimes.

Hakeem and Kaka Aisya. Still very hyper and very very loud the two of them together!

We also welcomed another Cali baby into the world. Hi baby Zayan Ali! This is Mumtathil and Fizah's baby (cough and picture is taken off Mumtathil's Facebook without permission cough). But congratulations Mumtathil and Fizah on the gorgeous beauty!

 Oooh and of course we welcomed the Adli's back! We're quite excited about this, but I'm going to try to keep my cool about it because it was ALL we could talk about a few days before their arrival! Heehee.

Oh. And oh my god. The other day we decided to go to Portview Waterfront in Bandar for dinner. During dinner we were talking about how our blog's come to a standstill because we never ever have any content to blog about anymore. And then when we walked out we saw these boats pictured above and Hafidz thought we should give it a ride. I would've had a separate post for this if I had more pictures, but Hafidz told me to put away my phone after taking this picture above so, yea, no post.

Anyways, it was the scariest 15 minutes of my life! Let's forget for a moment that it was night time and that we were completely dependent on the boat driver's tiny torch light to see anything at all. As soon as he "drove off", I clutched on to the seat for dear life and remained that way throughout. The ride was shaky and really fast, and he was giving a commentary on his beloved Kampong Ayer (he was a tenant there) as he drove off into the wide expanse of water. 

Before long, I recognised where we were going - to that area between the Attorney General's Chamber and the Bomba place in Bandar? Yea, where it is strongly rumored to be filled with crocodiles thank you very much! Needless to say, I told him ever so politely to turn back. (Politely because I don't want to piss off the only guy who can bring me back to the safety of flat solid ground!) He did turn back, but not before pointing out to a vacant house and showing us the "biawak", oh about six of them, just lounging on the stairs and whatnot. They were huge okay! I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about them now..

And then he started bringing us around to nowhere! We were supposed to be sightseeing, but there was nothing to see but water which obviously freaked me out because if the boat driver was to rob us, or kill us, we wouldn't have anywhere to go. As I furiously searched for an escape plan which horribly failed, I panicked and asked him to turn around again. I think he rolled his eyes at me. I know I must've looked (and sounded) like worried cow but hey, rob me on flat solid ground and I could at least have a fighting chance innit!

And then he brought us around to the Pintu Malim area which is surrounded with cemeteries and stronger rumors of it being haunted - I was done. I asked him to bring us back to the Waterfront because I must've been pale by then. He was still chatting away about how the Government is building two storey houses in Kampong Ayer now, completely oblivious to my fears! He did eventually bring us back. For transporting us safely back on land, we gave him an extra $5 - not that that's the price of our lives of course.

But yea, that was somewhat an adventure especially for me who was shaking in my flip flops the whole time! Gosh. I had fun though and was exuberant as soon as we reached safely in our car (probably because I was so grateful we're still in one piece), but heck I will not be doing that again any time soon!

Anyway, so that's that.

 We also joined the Royal Brunei Recreation Club (from here forth be known as RBRC) upon Adam's recommendation. So far we've only gone once and we weren't disappointed (save for that sourly grumpy man in the Poolside Restaurant waiting on tables - someone give him a pay rise or the sack please!).

 We also attended a friend's wedding just yesterday. I think she's the last girl in our group of friends from high school to get married. Everyone's all married now. I feel significantly much older now. From left to right: Azim, me, Amel, Faisal, Noi, Alai, Mizah, baby Humayra and Lyn.

On the way to the wedding

Also yesterday, we had a Cali barbecue at Muara beach! Muara beach's parking is such a pain, but the place is soo nice and windy!

 Izni manning the BBQ and Niza helping out

 Lyn and chubby cheeks Humayra

 Hafidz enjoying his lamb chops, or as he calls it "slabs of meat". We were in charge of bringing the meat, and we both had different ideas of how we wanted the meat to taste like. In the end we reached a compromise where I get half of the meat and marinate it the way I like, and he gets the other half for his recipe. In the end I liked his better (and so did he, of course) because his was much more tender than mine. I think it was the 7up he added in his marinade! Heehee well done hun!

 Safiyya just chillaxing..

 The boys playing frisbee (after talking heatedly about work - on a holiday!)

 Our spot under the tree :)

A nice picture of the girls (plus Shauqi, Humayra's holder) looking at the camera. Heehee lateng!

Anyways, the weekend came and went too quickly. I'm so sad I have to work tomorrow! But never mind, only two days and then I'm off until the new year! :) 2011 has been good to us, alhamdulillah. Here's hoping for a more meaningful 2012; one full of iman, rezeki, patience and good health. Amin!

I'm not sure how feasible it is to sustain this blog especially at the rate of updates right now. I reckon it would be more feasible to do more micro-blogging rather than having to sit down and compose a lengthy post. You know, I was on my iPhone this evening when I realised I am now actively contributing to four, yes four, social networks. I'm on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and more recently Path! (I think the word for this is overkill).

Anyways, as I navigated my way through the four social networks (in an attempt to fall asleep), I thought how crazy is it that I'm updating FOUR social networks and I have no time to blog? So yea, I think the game plan next year would be to micro-blog (the same way I update the four networks) on here so that I can actually have the pictures saved onto this blog. I think the blog is a more sustainable platform for all my journalling as opposed to having them on Path.

I'm going to call this post midnight rambling because it is literally midnight and I am rambling. Before ending all this rambling, I just want to say that Hakeem's doing great. He's enjoying school a lot now and asks for school when he's not there. They're currently having school holidays so he hasn't been going and I think he misses it. He's so much more talkative now since he joined. And he's so much more cheeky these days but I think that comes with age!

Here he is cheekily escaping nap time. He's saying "Hachem sleep pink bed. No mummy, saja pink bed." It was my parents' bed. Sigh.

Anyways, just in case I don't get the chance to, I want to wish all readers (yea, the few of you who made it through all that rambling and severe lack of updates!) a happy new year! :D May all your dreams come true, amin! :)