As my lady wife was looking at baby stuff, I saw a little girl talking endlessly to her mother... We were at the baby & kid section of Jusco & high on spirit of shopping for most garments available there were on sale... The girl was around the age of six, I presumed, wearing long & sleeveless green shirt that covered most parts of her thigh while her mother wore tight hot pants and loose fitting t-shirt... 

The girl talked excitedly to her mother, trying to gain attention... But, the mother just ignored her & lazily went through some kids' clothes... Trying to win over her mother from the half priced, colorful kiddy t-shirts, the little girl grabbed the mother's left hand & swung it merrily front & forth... 

Almost effortlessly, the mother swung her other hand and PAP!! Her palm left a pink mark on the girl's left cheek... 

More slaps landed on the girl's hands, as the mother scolded her in Chinese... I didn't understand the words, but by the hard look of her face, I just knew she was scolding the child...

Like how any other six year old would react, the child cried... 

I was so shocked by the mother's sudden act & felt sorry for the child...

Later on, as wifey & I were on our way to purchase some cold beverages from Chatime, I saw them again... That time, the mother was pushing a shopping cart & the girl was sitting inside it, crying... Her eyes were reddish & her cheeks were wet from tears...

If I were her child, I would be unhappy too... I thought to myself...

Wifey & I were at Jusco without baby Ubaid because he was sleeping when we were about to go out from our house... We left him in the care of wifey's sister... As soon as I got home, I felt a strong urge to hug that little guy...

Looking at his plump face, all smiling & happy, I wondered, would I have the heart to hit this sweetheart? I knew the answer to that question immediately... No... No, I will never have the heart to hit him... I wanted to always make him smile, entertain him, make him feel safe...

Though I know, I might have to, someday... As a father, I must shape him to be good... 

I might have to... I hope I won't have to...

One thing is for sure, inflicting pain will be my last method of teaching my child (or children) to be good... In my opinion, the best way to teach a child good behavior is by being a good example... 

Kids tend to pick up on things... They learn by observing & then doing... 

If I want Ubaid to always clean up his room, I, myself must be working my bum out cleaning the whole house, raking dead leaves around the yard, mopping floors & vacuuming rugs... 

I heard on the radio once, a child psychologist said that I you want your boy to grow up to be a decent man who would treat all women right, you must treat your wife right... Be the gentleman that your son will look up to... 

And if you want your girl to choose the right man in the future, you have to show her how a proper man would treat her... Before she learns how to date guys, take her out for a date yourself... Get the door for her, give her flowers, show her the meaning of respect... It will set a bar for her on how a man should act in order to win her heart...

How I want to be the best father & husband... I always envision that once Ubaid is grown enough, I will take him & wifey bowling, to the zoo, to the beach & spend all my time with them... I want to buy him a football & we'll be in the yard practising kicks... I want to buy us a couple of NERF guns & just have a game of war... Watch all the cartoons in the cinemas... 

Haaah... The perks of having a boy... :-)

Parents would definitely know this feeling that I'm having... The feeling of wanting my kid to grow up fast but at the same time, wanting him to stay cute & little... 

Spotted at Baby Palace, The Mines...

This morning, my alarm clock failed to wake me up... Well, actually, my alarm clock is my handphone... Luckily, my dad woke me up for Subuh prayer... This got me thinking, is there any alarm clock out there that's truly effective in waking up people? 

Well, I Googled... 

Money Shredding Alarm Clock

If you don't wake up, it will shred your money... Only works if you're poor... 

Rocket Alarm Clock 

When it's time, the rocket will launch... In order for you to stop the alarm, you must find the rocket and place it back on the launch pad... Make sure you don't aim the rocket at yourself...

Rug Alarm Clock 

Place your feet to the rug to turn off alarm...

Hide and Seek Alarm Clock

It will run from you!

Grenade Alarm Clock

This is for you to wake up your kids / siblings / roommates... Pull the pin and throw it into their room and hear it explode! 

Danger Bomb Alarm Clock

You know the typical bomb disarming scenes in movie where the heroes must cut the right wire to prevent bomb from going kaboom? Yeah... This clock will give you clues on which wire to disconnect... 

Glo Pillow

Instead of emitting sound, it'll glow!

Vibrator Alarm Clock 

This is only for the ladies... Yes, vibrator... Yes, put it in your panties... Good moaning!

Shape Up Alarm Clock

Shaped like a dumbbell, do 30 reps to turn off the alarm...

Anti Sleep Alarm

Hook it on your ear, it will go off if your head tilts 30 degrees or more... Perfect for studying and driving...

Finger Dance Alarm Clock

Put those fingers to work! Dance Dance Dance! 

No Snooze Alarm Clock

This is the cruelest... No snooze button, you must lift a strap, twist it for 90 seconds... Twist it too slow, you have to start again... Stop midway, start again... The batteries are built-in, so you can't pull them out...

Water Spray Alarm Clock

Prepare a towel...

Blender Alarm Clock

VRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

Sonic Boom with Super Shaker

This alarm is so loud, it will also wake your neighbors... 

When I was studying at UiTM Lendu, I had a roommate once who left his alarm clock locked up in his closet while he went home to Johor... Yes Ridhwan, it's you... The alarm went off and I couldn't kill it because the closet was locked... It rang for hours until the batteries died... Luckily the sound was muffled by the wooden closet... 

Ridhwan was pretty immune to his own alarm clock... We slept in different rooms after we moved in to a rental house while studying at UiTM Kampus Bandaraya Melaka... His alarm clock was often heard by me and other housemates from his room... The alarm didn't wake him though, us knocking on his door did... 

Maybe Ridhwan needs one of those above :-P

Shingeki no Kyojin or Attack on Titan is a manga that I found very interesting to read... Currently, it is still ongoing and has been adapted into an anime series... 

This manga is written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama where it is about how humans were surviving extinction in their clash with a mysterious gigantic race they named Titans... In order to protect themselves, humans built great walls and formed an army specialized in Titan killing... 

For me, Shingeki no Kyojin is very intriguing because of the mysteries of Titans' existence... It was unknown where they came from and what were their main motives of attacking humans...

Click on the image for better view

Titans existed in humanoid forms, though lacking reproduction organs... The humans classified them into a few categories...

"Normal" titans were mostly 3 to 7 meters tall... Though superior in terms of size and physical power when compared to humans, normal titans were strangely light and lacking in intelligence... They usually possessed deformities such as skinny limbs and oversized heads... These titans' main objective was to devour humans...

There were a few odd titans that were observed to have intelligence and far superior in strength compared to normal ones... Humans referred them as "deviant" titans... 

The biggest known titan was the Colossal Titan... 70 meters in height, great in brute power but quite slow in attack speed... It has the ability to create a wall of hot steam to protect itself from being attacked... 

Armored Titan had strong impenetrable skin that act as its armor - hence the name... It possessed fighting skills...

A female looking deviant titan appeared during an expedition in the manga and managed to kill so many human soldiers... It was referred to as Female Titan and had impressive intelligence and fighting skills... It could hardened some parts of its skin to protect itself and attack enemies...

The most mysterious Titan of all was the Ape Titan... So far, in the manga, it's the only one known to have fur and ape shaped body instead of being humanoid... It had intelligence and the ability to communicate using human language... 

All Titans could regenerate damaged organs, making them extremely hard to kill... The only way of killing them was to severely injure the back of their necks...

As mentioned, I found this manga very interesting because of the mysteries behind the existence of Titans... Hajime Isayama is very good in making the story suspenseful... When he answered one question, he brought out a few more to keep me hooked... 

Besides Titans, the human characters are also cool and lovable... The main characters are Eren Jaeger, Mikasa Ackerman, and Armin Arlert...

Eren Jaeger, the protagonist, was impulsive, strong and cunning... He could turn into a 15 meter Titan... 

Mikasa was Eren's protective best friend... She's very skillful in Titan killing...

Armin was also Eren's best friend... Though lacking in physical strength, Armin was very smart and came up with smart battle plans...

Other characters were also memorable as Hajime Isayama often takes some time to introduce their background and show off their strong points... Each character has his/her own distinctive personality and unique skills that really contribute to the story...

Bare in mind that this manga's time setting is set in medieval times and therefore, the weapons are pretty complicated in a simplistic kind of way...

In order to match Titans' great height and reach and attack their weak point which is the back of their necks, humans invented the 3D maneuver gear... This gear shoots hooked cables and reels the cables back in... It's the same like how Spiderman travels from one building to another using his web strings... 

The trigger to shoot and reel in the cables is at the heels of the sword that comes together with the gear... The blade of the sword is replaceable and each soldier carries 12 spare blades... 

Obviously, Hajime Isayama put a lot of effort in figuring out the main components of this manga in order to make it good to read... One thing for me to complain is that the drawings are too rough... However, the intriguing story manages to cover that one small issue... 

Shingeki no Kyojin has been receiving a lot of praises from professional reviewers... Some refer it as a very good intelligent terror manga as it might make you cringe for its excessive horrifying images but at the same time intrigue you to read more with its clever story line and plot...

Following the anime series' debut, all the first 10 volumes of Shingeki no Kyojin ranked among the 30 best selling manga for several weeks, rising the total copies sold to more than 1 million per volume... An anime movie is also on the way!