I am so soooo sorry

I cant forgive myself.  Today I made the cardinal sin of an irresponsible dad and be honest I wasnt really proud of it. I forgot to pick up my son alai syafiq after school! Today was his first day of real school after the 3 day orientation at the Maktab Sains. I am still trying to get used with the new routine of picking him up after school.  Before at his old school, it was my indon driver whom I relied on to send and pick up the kids from school with the exception of my 2 daughters who go to JIS.  So I was supposed to pick him at 5.30 pm after my badminton game but somehow my mind simply slipped.  I went back to my desk after the game as I had a few things to clear.  I am supposed to give a presentation this coming tuesday and I had to draft a few legal opinions which obviously I cant say much here as they are OSA.  so you can imagine that my mind was crisscrossing from one piece of work to another.  Little did I realise that the time flew as quickly as my feeble-mindedness  when my missus gave me a call if I had picked up my son. My heart pounded so fast because when my missus called I thought to myself  that I wouldnt be able to forgive myself if something bad happened to him as it was already almost 7 pm! When I arrived at the school, luckily there were two security guards who were waiting with my son. I was really so relieved that he was not alone. I was thanking the guards profusely and apologised to them for my lateness.  Obviously my son was very upset and I could see tears in his eyes. I told him how sorry I was and to make it up I bought him some cheese burgers at Jollibee just nearby.  I cant say how thankful I was to the security officers for allowing my son to use their handphone to call his mum.  This is one reason why I think students should be allowed to carry handphones for as long as they dont use them during lesson hours.  One possible option is for the class teacher to keep them in a safebox and return them to the students after school hours are over. I can understand that schools are reluctant to do this as this would add an extra  administrative burden to them and there is also the liability issue if the phones in their custody got stolen or damaged. I know there would be a lot more of other issues to resolve than the ones I mentioned. Another alternative is to provide a few public phones that the students can use to call important numbers like calling their forgetful dad!

Alai Syafiq's first day

The new year 2009 has somehow begun with nothing unusual.  My eldest son Alai Syafiq has begun his orientation week at his new school, Maktab Sains.  Missus and me attended his first day of school. Obviously he was very anxious.  As usual this is the time of the year that I will come up with my own list of new year resolutions. I actually had two wish-lists this year, my own personal one and one which I drew up for the office and published in our intranet. I won't publish the personal one here as it is personal but rest assured like any personal resolution it is a positive one.  I asked Kaka Amal, my eldest daughter to come up with hers which she posted in her blog poiseandlegs.blogspot.com.  Anyway, the dreaded traffic jams will hit the road as usual again as school days have begun after the long break..