Khahil and Elaine got married this afternoon - 22 November 2008 - at the National Mosque, Kuala Lumpur. Khahil agreed to take Elaine as his wife in accordance with the relevant Sharia requirements in a simple, yet bright and cheerful, Muslim nikah ceremony.

The nikah (An-Nikah) is a solemnisation of the marriage contract. In Minhaj Al-Muslim, Volume 2 (page 324), by Abu Bakr Jabir Al-Jaza’iry (Lecturer in the Noble Prophetic Mosque in Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah), the wording of the marriage contract was explained as follows:

It is a saying of the husband-to-be or his representative at the time (of the formation) of the contract, “Marry me to your daughter or so-and-so girl that you have been left in charge of.” So that the guardian will respond to him saying, “Indeed I have given you my daughter (or so-and-so girl) in marriage.” Thereupon the groom says, “I have accepted her marriage to me.”

So that’s basically what happened at the nikah ceremony today. The precise words exchanged between the wali and groom I can’t describe because I was taking pictures. Maybe Slamberjo - Elaine’s brother-in-law - can help me out on this since he was one of the two required legal witnesses. Being a good witness to a nikah that he should, Slamberjo leaned forward to listen; so he should catch all the words that were exchanged. The other witness was Elaine’s cousin, Ezmeer.

Enough said. Here are some of the pictures of the nikah ceremony:

Khahil posing happily while waiting for the jurunikah, Ustaz Abdullah Hashim, to commence proceedings.

Ustaz Abdullah briefing Khahil on what's gonna happen, I guess.

Here we go. The jurunikah/wali, Ustaz Abdullah Hashim, commences the nikah proceedings.

And Khahil is pronouncing the words of acceptance of the marriage.

Ooops ... a little mistake in the words of acceptance?!

No problem. Perfect acceptance on second attempt.

The ta'liq is read aloud by Khahil for all to hear. Especially for Elaine, who is concentrating fully.

Signing on the dotted line of the marriage contract.

Elaine's turn to sign the marriage contract.

A marriage gift - some flower made of ringgit notes, I think.

And here's the wedding ring, Elaine.

The newly-weds with guests at the after nikah makan-makan.

Congratulations, Khahil and Elaine. Looking forward to the big makan-makan in April

And my Onitsuka Tiger Taichi sneakers in black and yellow have arrived. Mr. UPS man delivered them at around 4.15pm on 23 October 2008.

I was overwhelmed with a couple of things since then; so, other than a single post on football, I was either too tired or lazy to write about anything else. More lazy than tired, I guess. But today, the desire to write about my new sneakers is stronger. So here’s my piece.

Well, what appealed to me most about this Onitsuka Tiger Taichi is the way the yellow stripes seem to want to leap off the black uppers, jump at me and scream, “wear the damn sneakers, and wear them all the time, you fool.”

But of course, there’s absolutely no need for such encouragement, or any form of threat, to make my feet slide into the sneakers. So, need to get some groceries? No problem; I’ll wear my Onitsuka Tiger Taichi to the Giant hypermarket. How about some teh tarik? Fabulous idea, bro; I’ll wear my Onitsuka Tiger Taichi to the mamak shop.

Regretfully, though, I can’t wear them to work. Company dress code is to blame for that. What a shame; because they’re so good lookin’, super light, sublimely comfortable, and whatever, and whatever, etc. But don’t take my word without a truck full of sea salt (wtf are you talking about?!) because I’ve only recently discovered shoes. Used to go around barefooted.

And, NO. You absolutely cannot have whatever it is that I’m smoking right now.

OMG. The lazy bug is intensifying its attack against me. Time to paste some pictures of my Onitsuka Tiger Taichi - black/yellow - before I succumb to the lazy bug’s ultra ferocious assault.

Enjoy:

The outsole.

Tiger, tiger staring back at you.

The insole.

Onitsuka Tiger describes its Taichi.

Label on the box.

P.S: Nobody paid me anything to write this. Asics included. In fact, I paid lotsa money for the sneakers and shipping; UPS from California to Kuala Lumpur is not cheap, bro. Damn.

Not contented with watching English Premier League (EPL) football on TV, I’d browse the football section of UK online newspapers and other football sites for more news.

To make my life easier, and hopefully yours too, the links collection below serves as a launch-pad to:

• League Table - shows the clubs’ position in the EPL table.
• Injury table - Premiership clubs’ injury table.
• The Sun - Latest scores, videos, and news from the Sun tabloid.
• Daily Telegraph - Get all the latest Premier League football news, comments, results, statistics, and multimedia from the current season, including the latest player and team news.
• The Guardian - Latest match reports and news from the Guardian newspaper.
• The Times - Latest match reports, comment and opinion from the UK’s top football writers.
• BBC - BBC Sport covers the major events and all the professional football clubs in the UK.
• Daily Mirror - Footie section of Britain’s brightest tabloid newspaper.
• Daily Mail - Latest news and results, video and pictures from the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.
• The Independent - Get latest Premier League news and results with in-depth coverage of the English premiership.
• Daily Express - Football gossip, transfer news, live scores, results and league tables from the Daily Express.
• Liverpool Echo - Liverpool FC latest news. Keep up to date with LFC on the brand new Liverpool Echo site.
• Liverpool Daily Post - Liverpool FC latest news, Liverpool FC opinion, Liverpool FC match reports - all here from the Liverpool Daily Post. The essential site for Liverpool FC fans.
• Manchester Evening News - Football news from a Manchester based newspaper.
• Daily Star - Latest news, sport and showbiz from Britain’s most successful newspaper - updated 24/7!
• Setanta Sports - Barclays Premier League latest from Setanta Sports.
• Reuters - In-depth coverage of the Premiership, and video blogs, from Reuters.

Will add more when I find new ones.

A third son was happily produced by my brother and sis-in-law. The baby boy was born on 22 October 2008 at the Prince Court Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur. And my new nephew smells good, as a baby should.

Rumour has it that he’ll be named Arshad. When I suggested Fernando, the baby’s eldest brother - 8-year-old Armand - responded “Like Fernando Alonso?”. But of course I meant, “Like Fernando Torres.” I guess Armand is more into Formula One than Premiership football.

Arsh - the 6-year-old brother - is now no longer the baby of the family. But it matters not to him, judging from the twinkles in his eyes when near his shiny new baby brother.

Well, boys … now that there are 3 of you, how about upgrading from PS2 to PS3?

The big brothers:

Armand - the mischievous lookin' eldest brother

Arsh - the sweet, twinkly second brother

The letter is a must read, dudes. Here it is, reproduced verbatim from the Financial Times:

October 17, 2008

Today I write not to gloat. Given the pain that nearly everyone is experiencing, that would be entirely inappropriate. Nor am I writing to make further predictions, as most of my forecasts in previous letters have unfolded or are in the process of unfolding. Instead, I am writing to say goodbye.

Recently, on the front page of Section C of the Wall Street Journal, a hedge fund manager who was also closing up shop (a $300 million fund), was quoted as saying, “What I have learned about the hedge fund business is that I hate it.” I could not agree more with that statement. I was in this game for the money. The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.

There are far too many people for me to sincerely thank for my success. However, I do not want to sound like a Hollywood actor accepting an award. The money was reward enough. Furthermore, the endless list of those deserving thanks know who they are.

I will no longer manage money for other people or institutions. I have enough of my own wealth to manage. Some people, who think they have arrived at a reasonable estimate of my net worth, might be surprised that I would call it quits with such a small war chest. That is fine; I am content with my rewards. Moreover, I will let others try to amass nine, ten or eleven figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives suck. Appointments back to back, booked solid for the next three months, they look forward to their two week vacation in January during which they will likely be glued to their Blackberries or other such devices. What is the point? They will all be forgotten in fifty years anyway. Steve Balmer, Steven Cohen, and Larry Ellison will all be forgotten. I do not understand the legacy thing. Nearly everyone will be forgotten. Give up on leaving your mark. Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life.

So this is it. With all due respect, I am dropping out. Please do not expect any type of reply to emails or voicemails within normal time frames or at all. Andy Springer and his company will be handling the dissolution of the fund. And don’t worry about my employees, they were always employed by Mr. Springer’s company and only one (who has been well-rewarded) will lose his job.

I have no interest in any deals in which anyone would like me to participate. I truly do not have a strong opinion about any market right now, other than to say that things will continue to get worse for some time, probably years. I am content sitting on the sidelines and waiting. After all, sitting and waiting is how we made money from the subprime debacle. I now have time to repair my health, which was destroyed by the stress I layered onto myself over the past two years, as well as my entire life - where I had to compete for spaces in universities and graduate schools, jobs and assets under management - with those who had all the advantages (rich parents) that I did not. May meritocracy be part of a new form of government, which needs to be established.

On the issue of the U.S. Government, I would like to make a modest proposal. First, I point out the obvious flaws, whereby legislation was repeatedly brought forth to Congress over the past eight years, which would have reigned in the predatory lending practices of now mostly defunct institutions. These institutions regularly filled the coffers of both parties in return for voting down all of this legislation designed to protect the common citizen. This is an outrage, yet no one seems to know or care about it. Since Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith passed, I would argue that there has been a dearth of worthy philosophers in this country, at least ones focused on improving government. Capitalism worked for two hundred years, but times change, and systems become corrupt. George Soros, a man of staggering wealth, has stated that he would like to be remembered as a philosopher. My suggestion is that this great man start and sponsor a forum for great minds to come together to create a new system of government that truly represents the common man’s interest, while at the same time creating rewards great enough to attract the best and brightest minds to serve in government roles without having to rely on corruption to further their interests or lifestyles. This forum could be similar to the one used to create the operating system, Linux, which competes with Microsoft’s near monopoly. I believe there is an answer, but for now the system is clearly broken.

Lastly, while I still have an audience, I would like to bring attention to an alternative food and energy source. You won’t see it included in BP’s, “Feel good. We are working on sustainable solutions,” television commercials, nor is it mentioned in ADM’s similar commercials. But hemp has been used for at least 5,000 years for cloth and food, as well as just about everything that is produced from petroleum products. Hemp is not marijuana and vice versa. Hemp is the male plant and it grows like a weed, hence the slang term. The original American flag was made of hemp fiber and our Constitution was printed on paper made of hemp. It was used as recently as World War II by the U.S. Government, and then promptly made illegal after the war was won. At a time when rhetoric is flying about becoming more self-sufficient in terms of energy, why is it illegal to grow this plant in this country? Ah, the female. The evil female plant - marijuana. It gets you high, it makes you laugh, it does not produce a hangover. Unlike alcohol, it does not result in bar fights or wife beating. So, why is this innocuous plant illegal? Is it a gateway drug? No, that would be alcohol, which is so heavily advertised in this country. My only conclusion as to why it is illegal, is that Corporate America, which owns Congress, would rather sell you Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax and other addictive drugs, than allow you to grow a plant in your home without some of the profits going into their coffers. This policy is ludicrous. It has surely contributed to our dependency on foreign energy sources. Our policies have other countries literally laughing at our stupidity, most notably Canada, as well as several European nations (both Eastern and Western). You would not know this by paying attention to U.S. media sources though, as they tend not to elaborate on who is laughing at the United States this week. Please people, let’s stop the rhetoric and start thinking about how we can truly become self-sufficient.

With that I say goodbye and good luck.

All the best,

Andrew Lahde

Superb, isn’t it?!!!

(source: FT)

]]> http://famousduck.com/finance/andrew-lahdes-excellent-goodbye-letter/feed/ http://famousduck.com/photography/a-buddy-of-mine/ http://famousduck.com/photography/a-buddy-of-mine/#comments Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:11:18 +0000 FamousDuck http://famousduck.com/?p=73 Answers.com states that a buddy is a good friend; a comrade.

So, there are friends; and there are buddies.

One of my buddies is Syahran; pictured here in Baju Melayu and a funky songkok at our office’s Hari Raya makan-makan last week:

(Woits, Syah Aran ... serious moonlight la expression kau ni, beb! Hahaha)

Apart from friends and buddies, there’re also “blood brothers” (please don’t attempt to elaborate on this here, Reza). Full stop

Wonderful piece of news in an otherwise not so wonderful couple of weeks.

Anyway, a quick check just now at the UPS tracking website showed that the package is in transit within the UPS network; and is now departing Anchorage, Alaska.

Hope I won’t get taxed …