This is Yousof and I love him for it - Happy Birthday

He wakes up every day at 6 am, brushes his teeth and makes wudhu'
He prays Subuh with me every morning
He takes a shower and puts on his uniform by himself
He takes a bowl, a spoon, a carton of milk and eats his morning cereal or oatmeal as I tend to his siblings,
He puts on his kopiah, glasses, socks and shoes and watches out for the school bus,
He salams my hand and I kiss him on the forehead and send him to the bus,
He comes home from school and immediately showers, packs a little snack for himself as we head back to my office in the afternoon,
He is tired from a long day at school so he falls asleep on the 10 minute trip to my office,
He quietly plays on the computer as I finish up my work and we go to pick up his siblings at Educare,
He reminds everybody to pray jama'ah and recite the Quran,
He helps me set the table for dinner,
He compliments my cooking regardless of whatever simple dish he is served and thanks me for making it,
He does his homework even though his younger siblings are running around and having fun,
He understands why I don't let them watch tv on a school night,
He helps me pack his books for school,
He brushes his teeth and gets ready for bed while I try to wrangle the other 2 to do the same,
He is so sleepy each night but he waits for me to salam and kiss him goodnight

He took sahur during Ramadhan with me and had iftar with me so that I was not alone,
He notices when I am tired or when I have not yet eaten,
He holds my hand when we walk together
He loves me unconditionally

For all these reasons and many more .. I love him

HAPPY BIRTHDAY YOUSOF AMEEN 

May Allah reward you for being such a good boy and may you grow up to be the best that you can be 

Bossypants by Tina Fey (Audiobook)

I haven't actually picked up a book in over 2 months. For me, that is a very long time. It has been really hectic lately, and trying to squeeze in some recreational reading has been impossible. After prompting from both a close friend and my boss, I decided that I would finally give in and try listening to an audiobook.

I'm not exactly sure what I have against audiobooks but I guess it's mostly because growing up, I had always thought audiobooks were for children, really old people, the blind or illiterate. I realize now that this was a misconception. Audiobooks were in fact invented for people like me, people who love to read but simply do not have the luxury of "switching off" the rest of the world and doing so.

Deciding what my first audiobook would be was fairly easy. My friend recommended Bossypants and I thought it would probably be as good a choice as any. First of all, there are a few things I have to state. I do not watch 30 Rock. I know it's a breakout comedy that has a truckload of Emmys, and I have seen a few episodes. I find the humour too coarse and myself unsuited to watch it. Secondly, although I know who Tina Fey is I have not seen the Sarah Palin SNL sketch or watched her movie with that guy from The Office. So although, I knew who the author was vaguely, there really was no reason for me to listen to this book other than there was no other book in particular that I wanted to listen to instead.

I listened to this book early in the morning during my quietest but busiest time (5 am- 6 am) while I hung the laundry out to dry, ironed clothes and folded laundry. After 6am my house becomes a chaotic tornado of trying to get three kids ready before school. 

The experience was quite enjoyable. It was multi-tasking without feeling like an octopus. It was also nice that my quiet time was less quiet. 

The book itself was good. It was a biography of an interesting woman who was also funny. Of course, I did not agree with many of her opinions or views but her comic way of telling her own story was very enjoyable. Perhaps her greatest asset was her ability to make fun of herself. 

In the end I am glad that I tried this out despite my reservations. The only probable downside is, now the tiny voice in my head sounds exactly like Tina Fey!

Rating: 4/5

Hutan Lipur Gunung Ledang- A gem in jeopardy

How did you spend your Malaysia Day weekend? We went on a semi-impromptu trip to Johor for one of Abah's ex-student's wedding. Since the wedding was on Monday, we went a day early just to relax. 

After safely reaching Segamat, trying to find a hotel that had a pool proved to be impossible. Why the pool? Well, when it comes to hotels, my kids don't care about the size of the room, the variety of the breakfast buffet or whether or not there is free wi-fi, all they look forward to is to splash around in a pool. So we headed off to Gunung Ledang Resort which was just 45 minutes away from Segamat.

We reached there around 4pm and there were so many people trudging up from the visitors car park up to the hiking and waterfall area. Entry was pretty cheap, just RM 2 per car, RM 1 per adult and RM 0.50 per child. No wonder people were flocking in. 

We managed to secure 2 standard chalets despite making no reservations on a long public holiday weekend, Alhamdulillah. By the time we had rested and settled in it was almost 5.30 pm so we decided to just let the kids enjoy the pool and visit the natural sights the next morning. The kids of course enjoyed themselves immensely.

The accommodations were decent, food was pretty good and basically it was a pleasant place to stay the night (around 3 start quality). 

The next morning after breakfast, we made our way up the trail to the waterfall. We didn't hike far because of the kids but just looked out for a spot that would be suitable to have a little fun in the water. The kids had a lot of fun wading in the cool, beautiful, pristine water. They loved the natural pool and the little fish swimming with them. They even pretended that all the small rapids were leaks and tried to plug them, not very successfully of course. It was truly a wonderful morning spent relaxing and enjoying nature.

I would love to say that the place was beautiful because it truly was but the biggest drawback was still the human factor. More precisely, littering. I shuddered to see how inconsiderate and irresponsible people can be. Mostly, they just left all their rubbish here and there despite the ample number of rubbish bins provided. I do not know how people can leave everything from polystyrene bowls, food wrappers, plastic bags to used diapers just lying around and some even make their way into the stream. Come on! With the heavy traffic of people visiting the place (there must have been thousands over the few hours we were there), imagine what will happen if everyone does this. I would not want any foreign tourist to visit because honestly, it was an embarrassment. 

I seriously think that people who litter there should be fined heavily. When are we going to learn to stop littering? Just because they paid a paltry entrance fee, they automatically think that it gives them the right to make a huge mess? 

I did not take any pictures of the heaps of rubbish because that is not how I want to remember our visit there but I sincerely hope that some action can be taken soon. If not, the beautiful waterfall, stream, and trails will just be another rubbish dump. It would be a real shame, because we really had a great time there except for those eyesores.