.: I am Irfan :.

Day 2

The torturous flight the day before was fresh in our minds when we woke up in Milton Plaza Hotel at 4 a.m NY time.

It was to be another 4 hours before we could catch the first bus to Woodbury Premium Outlets, where some serious catharsis was waiting to be exercised.
Nothing cures jet lag better than some hardcore shopping.

True to form, we took the first bus to Woodbury armed with an empty suitcase, which was bursting at the seams by the time we took the last bus back to Port Authority Terminal.
Apparently, the suitcase served more than its purpose, because sometime in the afternoon (which was my regular nap time), Mama said I actually fell asleep while sitting on it.















It was about an hour ride to Woodbury. More than enough time to get cheeky with the ladies. Here's a picture of me trying to impress two of them with the number of teeth I have. Count 'em ladies ... all SIX of 'em ..


















This was my ride at Woodbury's ... for about an hour or so in total. I still prefer Mama and Ayah, and sometimes, the white suitcase you see in the background.



Day 3

The marathon shopping on Day 2 took its toll on all of us and we were dead beat on Day 3.
We didn't do much that day.
We did a spot of shopping at Century 21 in the morning (yes, more shopping :)) ...

surveyed the surrounding areas ...















frolicked in the hotel "pool" ...






















posed for some pseudo Calvin Klein ads ...





















and pretty much slept the rest of the day away.















This is the stuff holidays are made of ... sweeeeeet ....

After weeks of deliberating and despite advice from well-meaning folks ("he'll be crying throughout the flight", "he'll find it hard to adjust to the time difference" and "why waste money. he won't remember anyway!"), Mama and Ayah decided to bring me along for a holiday to New York and Tokyo after all.

Anyway, just to set the record straight ...

(1) "he'll be crying throughout the flight"

Not true. You can ask Mama and Ayah. The flight, or at least, the first 15 hours or so of it, was actually quite bearable. It was only during the last few hours before we reached Detroit that I felt enough was enough (... and made sure the entire section of the plane was aware of it too. hehe)

(2) "he'll find it hard to adjust to the time difference"

Not true either. Easy-peasy lemon-squeezy.

(3) "why waste money. he won't remember anyway!"

Huh? What holiday? hehe.
But seriously, there's no denying this one.
In fact I have a sneaky feeling that it is for this very reason that Ayah is making me blog about the trip.
I can picture it already ...
... 12 years down ...
... all my other classmates are packing off their bags to Sydney, Florida, Tokyo etc as incentive for having done well in their PSLE ...
... and I'm stuck here in my room in Singapore because it's pouring outside, moaning, "How come I don't get to go anywhere?!! I did well for my PSLE too!" ...
... and Ayah will go, "Boy, believe it or not, you have probably travelled further than any of your classmates! Don't believe me? Let me show you ..."

Day 1






















We had a 6.00 a.m. flight to catch. Unfortunately, Ayah didn't manage to secure us a bulkhead seat online, which meant we had to be at the airport by 3.00 a.m. to be the lovely people at NWA to give us the seats.
Despite the ungodly hours, Ah Ma and Ah Gu came along to see us off!
I love you Ah Ma! (you too, Ah Gu :) )
We did get the seats by the way, thanks to a lovely auntie from NWA. :)

















It was 20 odd hours to get to New York. Might as well use the time to get an education, said Ayah.















"Awww ... what a sweet little boy" you might say.
Well, let's just say that it got *alittle* uglier after this. heh.
















After ... 7 hrs to Narita, 12 hrs to Detroit, 3 hrs in Detroit and another 2 hrs to Newark ... finally, New York, New York!!
This one is a alittle something to all those who did not believe I could make it ... bllllpppppphhtt!!!
Nah, I'm kidding.
Time to rest before we get down to some serious VACATIONING!! Woohoo!!

I was supposed to see Shahid at Nenek's house today.
But poor Shahid came down with an infection and has been in the ICU for the past few days.

Be strong, Shahid, and get well quick.
Abang Irfan wants to play with you ...

17 May 2008

We woke up early today to visit someone whom I had heard alot about and feel a great affinity with, despite the fact that I have never met him and never will.

Almost exactly a year ago today, while I was still safely cocooned in Mama's tummy, I could faintly hear Ayah as he choked back on his tears while he recounted what a wonderfully generous man this person was; how he always had everyone's welfare (before his) in mind, how he had a wonderfully wicked sense of humour, and how I would have absolutely adored him if I was around.

And sometimes, I can see in Ah Ma's eyes as she plays with me, how she misses him.
And how she wished for him to be here, with her, playing with me, making me laugh, showing me the world through his eyes.

We drove up to Mandai today to visit Ah Kong.

Ah Ma bought him kopi and some cakes, which we laid out on the floor.
And we (Ah Ma, Mama, Ayah, Ah Gu & Ah Gim) all sat there as a family as I showed Ah Gong my new toy car.

Hello Ah Kong, I am Irfan.
We all miss you.

If you don't know my Ayah, you wouldn't know that he's nuts about music.
He is especially nuts about Radiohead and his favourite Radiohead song is called Weird Fishes. (Yes, I think it's a pretty bizarre song title too. You're not alone. :))

Coincidentally, I was on Youtube recently and came across this video:



And that gave me an idea.
Maybe I'll surprise Ayah by singing him his favourite Radiohead song on his birthday!

*clears throat* You have to excuse me now ... I have a song to memorise...

p/s: The actual song can be heard here:



p/p/s: After seeing the videos, I finally know why Ayah sometimes shakes his head from side to side when listening to music. He's doing a Thom Yorke!!

For Mama's first Momma's Day, I wanted to do something really special for her.
The only problem is I can't walk, have barely mastered getting my thumb and index finger to meet and have the language mastery equivalent of the Teletubbies.

Thank god for Ayah and the power of subliminal messages, though.

Ayah once told me that Mama and him used to give each other hand-made cards.
"What a cool idea!" I thought.
I decided I'll do the same for Momma's Day.

So, a few nights ago while Ayah was blissfully snoring away, I sidled up beside him and whispered into his ears, telling him specifically to get a card (preferably with cats in it because Mama loooooooooves cats) and some fancy paper to decorate the inside.

Eventually, Ayah found himself at Borders, bought a card with a really cute cat on its cover and decorated the inside with an equally cute picture of me.
Nice! Well done, Ayah!

(cover) ...............................................(inside)





















Mama's face totally beamed when I gave her the card on Sunday morning!
I'm so happy that my card made Mama happy.

Mama, when I grow up, I promise I'll make more cards and gifts for you, ok?

But before that happens, Ayah, I guess I'll still need you to back me up a few times more! hehe
Thank you, Ayah! ;)

wow!!!
what a day today has been!!
I can't wait to let everyone know how we celebrated Mama's first Mother's Day (p/s: i love you, Mama!! :) :) :) ), but it's late and I'm tired from being out all day.
I'll keep it short for now but I promise I'll write more another time.

Here's a teaser of what we did today:
+ surprised Mama with a handmade card
( picture to be uploaded soon)

+ had Momma's Day lunch with Nenek, Pak Long & Family, and Pak Ngah & Family. I had a great time discussing the finer points of pushing a toy car with Abang Shahrin. He's got mad skills!! (Ed's note: For the benefit of the uninitiated, mad skills/z means "To be able to do/perform amazing/unexpected things". For e.g. "I gots me mad skillz, yo". To be said after performing an extraordinary feat. Courtesy of Urban Dictionary.)
















+ saw baby Shahid for the first time!! Hello, Shahid!!! Abang Irfan can't wait to play with you!!
















+ had Momma's Day dinner with Ah Ma, Ah Gu and Ah Gim. Ayah got himself a complimentary dessert because his fish was bad. Hooray for Ayah!! (no hooray for the bad fish, but double hooray for the delicious fudge!!)

















+ help Ah Ma choose the birthday gift that she's going to give me!! :) :) :)
No. The slide is not the gift. The tricycle is. But I love it all the same because it's from Ah Ma!! thank you, Ah Ma!! (Note: I haven't actually received the gift yet, considering my birthday's not until 3 weeks later. But you can't really blame the soon-to-be-year-old for getting excited, can you?)






















sigh ... I wish the day would never end ...

once again ...
IRFAN LOVES YOU, MAMA!!! *cheeky smile* (note to Mama: you know which smile I'm talking about, don't you? *cheeky smile*)
sweet dreams ...