Sometimes rummaging through your old stuff that you haven’t touched for years can surprise you in a good way. Yesterday, upon cleaning house I stumbled across three artwork of mine which I made back in 1993, several thousand years before my first foray into the digital medium. Click on the titles to view them in their entirety on deviantArt.
Continue readingMonthly Archives: October 2006
After That We Took Some Pictures
A belated Eid Mubarak from Ain’s kampung at Pondok Lubok Tapah, Pasir Mas. We spent a week here, and had plenty of good food to eat. The morning of Aidilfitri, Tok Ma made Nasi Dagang – Terengganu Style – but there are no pictures of that. The second day, Ain made Laksa Johor and there are no pictures of that either. For most of the rest of the week we didn’t travel out much because of the horrific traffic jams which were practically everywere. We didn’t even go to Kota Bharu, which didn’t mean we didn’t try. After the Aidilfitri prayers that morning we took some photos. Irfan put on his best action hero intense look. [[image:eid_pmas01.jpg:Intense Look of an Action Hero:center:0]] More family photos: [[image:eid_pmas02.jpg:Irfan with Tok Bah:center:0]] [[image:eid_pmas03.jpg:Family:center:0]] [[image:eid_pmas04.jpg:Irfan’s maternal family:center:0]] Later Irfan and I took a walk outside in the yard and the sun gave ample opportunity […]
Continue readingIn a galaxy far, far away… Eid Mubarak!
Eid Mubarak and Selamat Hari Raya to everyone! This year, for the first time, Mak and Abah came to spend raya with us, so we had a nice quiet celebration, just the 4 of us. We had the raya breakfast of pulut (glutinous rice), rendang ayam (chicken rendang) and sambal tumis daging (beef sambal) but took no pictures of the food as we were too busy chowing down the morning of the 1st of Shawwal. After the food, we then all got dressed in our Raya finery, took a bunch of pictures and then did the ritual salam-salam and asking of forgiveness of each other, as is tradition for a Malaysian Eid. Take a look of the pictures of Mak and Abah with us for the first time during Raya, and because it was quite cold outside and our Malaysian thin cotton materials, we only took pictures indoors. Mouse over […]
Continue readingAnd Now For A Word… Or Four
Today is the last day of Ramadhan and tomorrow is Aidilfilti. We’ve just had our last sahur for the year and now the sun is slowly rising in the cool morning air of Irfan’s Tok Bah’s house here in the outskirts of Pasir Mas. We arrived here at noon yesterday, commandeering Irfan’s Atok’s car which he left with us before flying off to Ohio earlier this week. As you can see they’re having lots of fun (and awesome food) in the previous post. We planned on beating the massive holiday traffic by leaving long before the terminator crosses our location, at 0300, or 0330 at the latest early Sunday morning. Unfortunately we woke up at after 0400 because of the amount of work done the previous day taxed us physically. (Damaged car tyre was switched with the spare and we assembled a new bookcase, which I hope will be left […]
Continue readingIn a galaxy far, far away… Part I
After Yope, Yong, Emma, Irfan, Wan Ngah and Aji sent Abah and Mak to KLIA, they embarked on a long, arduous journey where finally they landed in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport. Unfortunately, they arrived on a rainy night and due to traffic issues in the rain, Vin and I did not arrive at the airport right on time. Abah and Mak were waiting outside the terminal, and Abah was cold, so after a quick salam and kiss kiss, everyone piled into the car and we came home for dinner. [[image:us02.jpg:Mak is helping to stir the stir fried veggies:center:0]] [[image:us03.jpg:Hanging out in our kitchen – note the rosemary focaccia:center:0]] [[image:us01.jpg:Abah showing off his chicken, Mak has a piece of focaccia:center:0]] [[image:us04.jpg:First dinner at home with Abah and Mak:center:0]] Some pictures that were taken in our house: [[image:us05.jpg:Vin watering the plants in the library:center:0]] [[image:us06.jpg:Picture of the house taken from the street:center:0]] […]
Continue readingOn To The Far Side Of The Planet
Tok and Opah Irfan boarded the flight that would take them to Singapore, then hopskip to Tokyo, Chicago and finally Cincinnati where Ayah Cik and Cik Dik would be waiting to bring them to their house in Middletown, OH for a month at the United States. This would be their second time in the US. To prevent being late for the flight because of breaking of fast, we left after 6 PM from the Tenth Floor, headed for Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) which is strangely enough a million light years away from KL, but maybe that’s a subject for another entry. We broke sawm driving through Putrajaya and ate dinner after Mahgrib prayers at the Dengkil R&R on the PLUS Highway. And no, I didn’t need to pick my teeth en route. Anyway… pictures, as they say, are worth a thousand words: [[image:kliasendoff01.jpg:Irfan recharging for his high energy expenditure […]
Continue readingHair!
OK, so I didn’t actually go see the musical Hair while I was in New York City on Saturday, but here’s some news on hair: I cut mine!! Here’s a picture of me from this past May, where you can see how long my hair is. [[image:eur146.jpg:John and Jane Catchpole, and me and my hair:center:0]] In the past five months it has grown even more weed-like and out of control. So I took action (aiya, after all Raya is coming up and my parents will be here for Raya, must spruce myself up a bit, right?). Here’s how much I cut off (for scale I put a normal sized ballpoint pen next to the hair): [[image:hair1.jpg:Braid of the hair that was cut off:center:0]] And here’s the after picture: [[image:hair2.jpg:Sila minus the weed-like hair:center:0]] I really don’t care too much how long my hair is to be honest. I’ve tried every […]
Continue readingIrfan at Centrepoint
Centrepoint Bandar Utama, that is. While waiting for his mother to finish work, Irfan took the time doing his usual thing, running about amongst the greenery and going up and down the escalators. I thought I’d put the camera phone to good use. One thing I’ll say for Centrepoint’s garden is it’s really well kept. Shame about the crap people throw into the koi pond, though. [[image:cpoint01.jpg:Going down:center:0]] [[image:cpoint02.jpg:Coming up:center:0]] [[image:cpoint03.jpg:Running up the ramp from the basement car park:center:0]] [[image:cpoint04.jpg:Sitting still long enough for a camera shot:center:0]] [[image:cpoint05.jpg:Playing on the rocks in the garden:center:0]] [[image:cpoint06.jpg:Jumping rock to rock on the artificial waterway:center:0]]
Continue readingThe Sixth Year
It’s been six years since Ain & I were married. More than 10 years since we first met. Overall it’s been a great six years. It wasn’t a perfect six years. It’s been one hell of a rollercoaster for this and that reasons. But I’m still in love with her as much as the days before we were married, and I feel some measure of pride over the life we’ve built. For that I am very grateful to the Almighty for His joys, including the one known as Irfan Shafiq. There is probably many more years of riding this rollercoaster, but I hope we’ve learnt much and matured enough to allow us to determine what’s important in life, endure the ride and make the right decisions. [[image:anniv2006.jpg:Happy Sixth Anniversary To Us:center:0]]
Continue readingGiant Purple Dinosaur? Not Really
In the Jann Tosh / Mon Julpa story arc of the Droids series the heroes encounter a 3-metre tall monster called a durkii in a dungeon pit, not surprising since the durkii was apparently a pet of the evil Tammuz-an vizier Zatec-Cha. It was large, purple and had an unpleasant demeanour, but had no stats. I hope this entry rectifies that oversight. At least in D6 terms. [[image:durkii01.jpg:Purple Dino?:right:0]] Durkii Type: Large bipedal predatorScale: CreatureDEX 2D Bite attack 2D+2 Tail swipe 5D+1PER 3D Search 4D+2STR 4D+2 Brawl 5D+1Special abilities:Bite: Damage STR+1DTail: Damage STR+1Talons: Damage STR+2 [[image:durkii03.jpg:Playing with Artoo:left:0]]Capsule: The durkii is a large purple-skinned creature that walks upright on two legs and has a tail that ends in a hard, flat surface, which it uses as a weapon against an enemy or a prey. It is known be a fearsome and ruthless predator. However, it is also believed that the […]
Continue readingMeanwhile on Taris…
[[image:zayne01.jpg:Zayne Carrick:left:0]]I’ve never played Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) computer game before, where I’ve read Taris was first featured. However, when I heard Dark Horse Comics would be producing the Knights of the Old Republic series on four-colour print, I was dubious. Reading through the first story arc of the series written by John Jackson Miller entitled “Commencement”, I discovered that in terms of numerous minute elements in the story, this series has the most Original Trilogy Star Wars flavour in comics. The story is simple, a young Padawan Zayne Carrick, part of the Jedi Academy on the city world Taris in the Outer Rim, isn’t the best of Padawans. In fact he’s been screwing up task after task on one assignment: to capture small time Snivvian black marketeer Marn Heirogryph, who believes Zayne has the ability to leave behind wreckage strewn after him. Unfortunately for Zayne and his […]
Continue readingSoups
I don’t know what it is about Ramadan, but fasting makes me think about food. My last entry was about bread. What goes well with bread? Soups, of course! Toast up a little bread and dip it in hot soup, like little croutons. Mm mmm. Some soups even begin with stale leftover bread. Like this Gazpacho Andaluz. [[image:soup10.jpg:Gazpacho Andaluz:center:0]] I’ve had Gazpacho before, but usually it’s chopped tomatoes and other veggies in it (sort of like a mediterranean bubur ca ca without the bubur). But when we were in Jaen, at Alfonso’s El Bar Dalas, I had my first taste of the Andalucian Gazpacho. It’s a smoothly pureed raw vegetable soup, and if served as a tapa, it was served in a chilled wineglass. It was smooth going down and even though I hate tomatoes, I loved this gazpacho. I wasted no time in finding a recipe for it when […]
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Blue Harvest
I’m a bit late for last month’s SWAG Theme Art Contest, entitled “Blue Harvest”. The subject matter alludes to the working title for the movie Return of the Jedi during its filming, to throw rabid Star Wars fans off its trail. It’s also the name of a fanzine in the early 90s, which I contributed some art and writing to. So what’s blue and likely to be harvested in the Star Wars universe? To view a bigger image, check out its entry at deviantArt.
Continue readingFrack! Is Today Friday?
Cause if it is, it’s time to get back home to the starboard landing bay. It’s time to find out what happens to people left with the rag tag fugitive fleet and on the Cylon-occupied New Caprica. The last ten minutes of the previous season’s finale was quality mindfrack. Because of the total tangency to the status quo last episode, I can see this being the best season premiere or the worst season premiere ever. [[image:bsg_bay01.jpg:LSO better be doin’ his job:center:0]] The odds are certainly against it sucking. So say we all. Update Oct 09 2006: Occupation and Precipice – A Non-Spoilerific Review Those were the two most intense episodes side by side ever. Characters: One of the best ensemble cast ever, where everyone (even minor characters like Jammer and Duck) has something to do that adds dramatic tension to the storyline. There must be almost two dozen regular and […]
Continue readingMore Fodder For My Viewing List
When I have time to spare, I don’t really sit down and watch TV like I used to in days of old. So I haven’t seen every new series that’s come out on TV this season, but two’s caught my eye so far: Heroes and Dexter. Rising Stars on TV? [[image:heroes01.jpg:I believe I can fl- … be a smudge in the alley:left:0]]”Rising Star” refers to the comic series written by J. Michael Straczynski. A number of people in the world, mostly unrelated to each other seem to be developing different superhuman abilities, such as flight, accelerated healing, precognition, telepathy and teleportation. And there seem to be a conspiracy behind the entire affair which has yet to be revealed. Each has his or her own story – a small part of a puzzle – which is slowly coming together with one another, forming a grand storyline which might or might not […]
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Into the Second Week of Ramadhan
It’s now the second week of Ramadhan. If anyone asks (and you’d know the answer to this if you’ve asked me) it’s been more tiring than it’s been hungry. The myth that you’re wiped out and floored by the hunger was totally dispelled when I was fourteen and playing hockey in the mornings during fasting month. And again, when I was seventeen and whacking tennis balls against the wall after school at 3 PM in the hot sun – though I was wiped out after that. However, this year I find out I can barely stay awake after 10 PM. I wonder if it’s because of the job I’m working now. I’ve already missed 2 nights of Tarawih & Witir prayers. I remember less than 10 years ago completing a full month of them at the mosque, even. And this year, for Aidilfitri, Tok & Opah Irfan will be in […]
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