Rafe's 35 Month Birthday

30 November 2014 | sila | | Family Pics
 

One more month before Adik is 3!

Happily eating Nutella

That photo was not taken on Adik's 35-month birthday but it was so cute I had to include it. The makers of Nutella can feel free to contact us if they want to use that photo. Not! Also, if asked, I will categorically deny that I am writing this entry on the first day of 2015. I deny it, I do! ;-)

* Mouse over the pictures for captions

 

Final Entry from the Tenth Floor

28 November 2014 | Hisham | | Recent News
 

The blog is not headed anywhere. But the subtitle "View from the Tenth Floor" will be changed starting today as we will no longer be living on the tenth floor.

Nasi arab in front of Sekolah Derma

A breakfast in Kangar in October.

The last two months has been a whirwind of activity.

I have accepted a job offer in Kangar and we'll be moving there - five hundred klicks away - shortly.

This has been a blessing, as we have been wanting to leave Kuala Lumpur for many, many years but there was nowhere to go, not without a job there to ground us and provide us security there. Now there is an opportunity for us to leave the city. A new job beckoned us.

The visit to the Cave of Dramatic Lighting was the only hint of the upcoming change, during our prospecting trip to visit the new employer and workplace.

We will be leaving behind the Tenth Floor with a lot of memories, the only home Irfan ever knew... until now.

 

Star Wars Rebels Experience

24 November 2014 | Hisham | | Family Pics, Star Wars, TV
 

Mid Valley Megamall held a Star Wars Rebels Experience exhibition last Sunday, commemorating the debut of the series on local TV.

I didn't think I was going to make the exhibition because college assignments had to be submitted by midnight. I had one more to complete and submit. But when it was announced that the deadline was pushed back 2 days, we headed for Mid Valley at Point Five beyond lightspeed.

I wonder if the MFTAS is to scale as well.

I saw the big helmet at the South Court all the way from the Centre Court. Irfan poses before it for posterity's sake.

Stormtrooper on the prowl

The Five-Oh-First was on site to ensure no rebel agents disrupt the proceedings.

The Inquisitorious also do mall appearances

The Pau'an Inquisitor was also around being all Lucius Malfoy-ish.

 

Alterkine RPG Aliens

23 November 2014 | Hisham | | Artwork, Role Playing Games
 

I was commissioned by HermaDolph to illustrate ten alien species artwork for the Alterkine role playing game.

Behind the scenes story: I completed one piece of this series before the 8-year-old Linux laptop I've been using for work finally died. Details will be told in a future entry. I completed the rest with a underpowered netbook which took longer than it usually did.

In any case, here they are in alphabetical order:

Candebreth

Edekin

Grandrite

Kaubeth

Keliswen

Medurr

Neryak

Perakor

Saremwen

Watchi

Check out the Alterkine: Player's Handbook at DriveThruRPG here!

 

76 Months

22 November 2014 | sila | | Family Pics
 

76 months of Yaya!

Bloooooooooooood
 

* Mouse over the pictures for captions

 

Eclipse Phase: The Viking Funeral Undertaking

09 November 2014 | Hisham | | Eclipse Phase, GOKL Actual Play, RPG Actual Play, Role Playing Games
 

Static. A disjoint in time, and perhaps space. Venus is a thread in another wisp of memory.

I see red and grey skies over the maglev as it speeds toward the city of Ashoka through the dry, rocky Martian desert. I used to be Hokusai the neo-octopus artist, on the run from Nine Lives the soul stealing crime cartel. Now I walk on two legs in a ghost morph, in a physical body optimised for stealth operations. With me is the female async Quill, her telepathic mind percolating with a thousand paper cranes.

Back in Valles-New Shanghai, we are the only two members of Fastball Express hypercorp who answer the VR call from one Mr. Miyazaki. He gives us the time and invitation for an upcoming Zanzibar marketplace that would occur in 30 hours in Ashoka. There a neo-gorilla named Winston will be attempting to sell something valuable and rare: a handheld controller for a Pandora Gate.

My cover is Shankar, a game hunter. Quill is Devi. As soon as we disembark, Shankar and Devi blend into the Ashoka afternoon crowd.

A Martian city
 

Clearwater Beach - October 2014

01 November 2014 | sila | | Family Pics
 

We spent a short weekend at Clearwater Beach in mid-October. It was quiet, relaxing and warm. Just the perfect beach vacation. We were here in March for almost a week but I totally did not have time to blog about it. We had lots of fun then though. It is fortunate that my current project is in Tampa so it was only an hour's drive to Clearwater Beach.

Me and the kids are watching pelicans divebomb for fish at sunset

* Mouse over the pictures for captions