Little Sleepyhead

Ameer Ihsan catching a nap... :)

Love Can Last The Test Of Fate And Time.. Or Can It?

I read the following piece of news from Yahoo today. I just find it simply amazing how a couple could be separated for such a long time, and still enough love for each other after all those years to be together again. I mean, 16 years is not a short space of time. Imagine how many people you could have met in that time, and the number of times you could have fallen in and out of love.

Having said that, perhaps this is a testament of true love, or is it? The cynical in me suspects it is probably a case of both persons not having much to choose from (or themselves not much for other people to choose), and it's simply a case of settling on the basis of a love letter lost for 16 years.

The following news was taken from the following site: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090720/wl_uk_afp/britainspainloveoffbeat_20090720093400

Lost Love Letter Reunites Couple After 16 Years

LONDON (AFP) – A British man and his Spanish former sweetheart have finally married 16 years after they drifted apart, reunited by a love letter lost behind a fireplace for over a decade, reports said Monday.

Steve Smith and Carmen Ruiz-Perez, both now 42, fell in love 17 years ago when she was a foreign exchange student in Brixham, and got engaged after only a year together.

But their relationship ended after she moved France to run a shop in Paris.

A few years later, in a bid to rekindle their love, Smith sent a letter to her mother's home in Spain. It was placed on the mantelpiece, but slipped down behind the fireplace and was lost for over a decade.

The missing missive was only found when builders removed the fireplace during renovation work.

"When I got the letter I didn't phone Steve right away because I was so nervous," Ruiz-Perez told the Herald Express local newspaper.

"I nearly didn't phone him at all. I kept picking up the phone then putting it down again.

"But I knew I had to make the call."

When they were reunited, it was as if time had stood still, said Smith, a factory supervisor.

"When we met again it was like a film. We ran across the airport into each other's arms. We met up and fell in love all over again. Within 30 seconds of setting eyes on each other we were kissing.

"I'm just glad the letter did eventually end up where it was supposed to be," he said, after the couple married last Friday.

101 uses for a woman - Times Online

I read this article on the online version of the UK newspaper, The Times. The list of things that women do that actually end up to really good use... ;-)

101 uses for a woman - Times Online

Shared via AddThis

A Parent's Most Cherished Moment

At 12.37pm today, my wife safely delivered a healthy, most adorable baby boy to our roost. I will now have a friend to watch football with.. :)

Welcome to our family, Ameer Ihsan... We love you so dearly.

Alhamdulillah...

The Marathon Man

I've recently registered myself for the KL Marathon which will be taking place on the 28 June. Before you gasp and start wondering whether i will ever be able to undertake such a gargantuan challenge, let me clarify further that the category i'll be running under is the 10 km run, and not exactly the full marathon, which would have required me to run a distance of over 40 km.

In fact, this won't be the first time that i'll be participating in a marathon. Back in 1999, i ran the half marathon at the now defunct Terengganu Bridge Run and ran the distance of 21 km. And mind you, i didnt't just finish the race back then. I finished it within the specified qualifying time for that distance of 2 hours and 30 minutes, although i did that by just over a minute before the qualifying time ended. Still, it was quite an achievement for me given that no one gave me a ghost of a chance to even finish the race. I managed to impress a number of people at the time, most notably my dad who had been heavily sceptical about my participation, and my mum who must have spent most of her time during the race waiting for me at the first aid area, where ambulances would be bringing the casualties of the race. Up to this day, that moment when i crossed the finishing line of that half marathon still ranks as one of the most memorable and fondest one of my life.

At a glance, the 10km that i'll be running this time might appear as a lighter challenge: the distance is only half of what i've already experienced. However, 10 years since those glorious days is a very long time and many other variables have changed since then: my weight have since ballooned by 10kg, my body fat has probably quadrupled and my fitness level is a fragment of what it used to be. Hence, judging by these rate of growths, it would probably take more than halving the distance of the race to make it at par as the marathon i ran 10 years ago.

I registered myself for the run because i felt i needed some motivation to drive myself to be fit. My fitness and body weight has gone to alarming levels of late that it has somehow affected my well-being. Those who've read my blog entry in April titled It Was The Worst Of Times... can probably have an idea how bad things had been. The saying that a healthy body breeds a healthy mind could not have been more true when i found myself at times struggling for a peace of mind and sanity due to the combined effects of overworking and lack of exercise. Ever since those dark moments, i have been finding the time to do reasonable amount of physical exercise to ensure i keep both my body and mind fit. This marathon gives me just the edge to push the envelope further, giving a greater sense of purpose for all these physical activities i've been picking up again.

My exercise routine has mostly involved cycling on my exercise bicycle, and weekly swimming. I only started my running exercise in earnest yesterday, running a distance of 5km. It took great effort and mental strength to do it however and it felt like i was doing 10 times the distance. It would take a lot of work in the next 2 weeks if i am ever going to make this 28th June as memorable as that fine morning in Kuala Terengganu 10 years ago.