Lobo's Lessons

Finally contractions started at 11pm yesterday. 12.45am this morning Dad drove me and Sal to the Hospital. 1.35am finish registration. Go up to the maternity wards and find wife fully engaged and prepped for Labour Room. She is in so much pain. I can only hug her and kiss her before they cart her off to the Labour Room. I wait. I try to rest. I try to sleep. My chest feels tight. I wait. Hours pass by, each minute seeming like an eternity, as countless worries creep into my mind. How is she doing? Are they in danger? Were there any complications? Will I see her again in the morning? These thoughts course through my veins like poison, filling my mind with worry and dread. I wait... Until finally, the nurse calls me to go through the doors. It is 3.45am. I get up. Each step feels surreal. Until I walk through the doors to the Labour Room. And see my wife... and my little boy. I embrace them, letting all the worries of the night evaporate into the cold,...

Although moving in with my parents takes more than a little adjustment, there is one thing that you can't beat here. It's the ability to take your work literally outdoors. Right now, it's 10.30am on a Monday morning. I've attended the monthly address by the UTM Vice-Chancellor, made a few important phone calls, and had breakfast. Only thing is I realise I made a boo-boo. The key to my room/office is attached to the keyring that holds my car-keys. My car-keys are used for my car. My car is being used by my wife. This would mean: 1.0 I have no keys to my office   1.1 I cannot enter my office   1.2 I cannot do the work that I have to do   1.3 Feeling sheepish, and a little annoyed. Perfect for a palm-to-forehead moment. 2.0 I am using my bike   2.1 I look frickin'cool wearing an all black suit, black half-cut gloves and a deep-red full-face racing helmet, racing along on what appears to be a superbike.   2.2 I do not f...

It's a big change having to adjust to living with my parents again. Basically having to uproot and move everything back to Skudai. Of course I'm no stranger to Skudai. I work here and go to my parents' house every other day after work before I left for home in Kulai. But living here and dropping in every other day are totally different things. I have still to adjust. Right now I have no fixed schedule. There is still a lot to unpack. I do not know when I get up and when and where I can go for my usual walks. There is still no rhythm, no routine. One of the things that I realise that I have taken for granted was that my old house was in gated and guarded, in a very nice neigbourhood. It used to be that I could do just about anything I wanted to at any time I wanted to, though that may not be a good thing to some people. What I mean is, let's say if I felt like I hadn't exercised in a particular week, and the feeling hit me at 12 midnight, all I had to do ...

My sister Sameerah and her husband Bruce have just welcomed their daughter, Nichola Jannah Wallace into the world, after a worrying day and a half where little Nichola had to be warded in the neo-natal intensive care unit. It just so happens that God allowed me the opportunity to be in KL for a conference at the right time, though there were some hurdles along the way that I had to face. First off, I had to walk for about 5km from KLCC to Prince Court Medical Centre, based on terrible directions from a information receptionist who so obviously never walks anywhere. When I asked her how long it would take me to go from KLCC to Prince Court, she looked a bit perplexed, and said “Mmmmm... think about... 10 minutes?” 10 minutes my A**... It took 45minutes. And 5km.. On foot... In the rain... Wearing work clothes... Sigh... But I finally got there... in the end. But it was worth it to get to see my sister and brother-in-law, and of course, little Nichola. Welcome to the world my...