Happy Birthday Izzuddin

Today is my youngest son's birthday. He is now 18. He has gone through a lot in his life, now taking his SPM in these strange times. I guess, like everybody else, he is anxious to get his SPM over with. He has a long way to go since he only took his first paper yesterday. He had to miss the BM and English papers due to him being quarantined. That will also mean he will finish his SPM later then most of the other candidates. I hope the replacements will not be scheduled too long after. He is also our only child that took SPM not in pure sciences. Here is him with his gadget during lunch after our Friday prayers.

He had quite some painful experiences. While he was a baby, he had tonsillitis and was hospitalised. I made the mistake of attending a faculty event while he was hospitalised with my other better half tending him. Never made the same mistake (but almost did - see below). He had broken his arm once and his leg twice. One of them is probably his fault, walking along a slope and fell. Despite this, he walked all the way home (the school is nearby the house) being helped by his friends. I was at the institute, scheduled to chair a meeting in the afternoon. I had to start the meeting first and briefed members on some facts, before leaving (that was almost my second mistake). The other two accidents are caused by others and could have been avoided. The broken arm is due to being pushed by a friend, if I remember it correctly. The other one was due to a ping pong table fell on his leg and this I hold the school responsible for not monitoring carefully - he was assisting the school, carrying the table along with his friends before the mishap happened. We tried to make the school feel responsible by claiming for insurance to pay partially for the treatment costs. But in the end, we did not get any form of compensation. Must say I was sore with the whole event but let bygones be bygones.

So tonight we decided to go out for dinner and try out the new eatery Me'nate near Centrio Square. 

I wasn't fancying of eating too much but just wanted to find out what's with all the rave. My other half was hoping to try out Wagyu but it was expensive and so settled for a premium steak instead. The birthday boy himself just preferred a chicken sandwich (like he always does). Myself just ordered pasta with smoky beef. Here are some pics - the place is a bit crowded but SOPs are observed letting in a specified number people in. We had to wait a bit before getting in. 

Back at home, we had the birthday cake that we bought earlier.

Missing from all this is my eldest, who is working in Shah Alam. Perhaps when interstate travel is allowed and he comes back, we will try to do this again.