Check it out! Whooooosh! [[image:poolslider.jpg:Vin goes splash:center:0]] And please note that at the end of the day, there were reports that the slide was starting to fall apart. We (and I include me in this) did enjoy going down that slide! 🙂
Continue readingMonthly Archives: July 2007
Family Reunion in Belle River
July has been a pretty eventful month for Vin and me, I have all kinds of things to blog about. But it has also been a pretty busy work month, so it hasn’t been too conducive to blogging. But before we finish out the month of July, I wanted to reflect back on our trip up to Belle River, Ontario earlier in the month. A family reunion was held at Vin’s cousin Liz’s house. This is the maternal side of Vin’s family – Vin’s Auntie Vera settled in Canada and we were happy to be included in the gathering. This was my first time meeting everyone other than Joanne, so forgive me if I make any mistakes naming all the family members! On the day itself, luckily we had name tags. 🙂 [[image:bru01.jpg:Auntie Vera on the left, cousin Pam on the right:center:0]] We had a lovely time at Liz’s place […]
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Irfan’s First First Cousin
Today begins a new era in Irfan’s life. He is now officially a first cousin to another human, in this case the less-than-a-day-old, yet nameless newborn son of Kak Nor & Abg Kie. He’s a pretty handsome, but quiet and sleepy dude. Which is better than the poor girl in the cot beside him, who seemed to be having a nightmare. What nightmares can a 3-hour old baby have anyway? We’ll go and visit Irfan’s new cousin again tomorrow and see if we can get better photos. The nurse gave Cik Emma a hard time today for taking pictures in the ward. The sleepy one: The sleepy one turns the other way: Irfan decides to join his cousin in the dreamlands:
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Gary’s Book Nominated for 3 Ennies
Congratulations to Gary Astleford for getting the book he co-wrote for Black Industries, Children of the Horned Rat nominated for 3 Ennie awards. The nominations are for Best Interior Art, Best Writing and Product of the Year. Product of the Year is a hell of a big deal, of course, but I am very proud of him for the nomination for Best Writing. I seem to remember a conversation with Gary a long time ago. It was on how gaming products nowadays focus too much on rules, or intersperse rules with fluff on the campaign world… as opposed to try not breaking the fourth wall and write the book as if it was genuinely from that campaign universe. Then finally have all the custom rules for the book and such be an afterthought but easily accessible and indexed when required. Now, going by the subtext of the Best Writing award, […]
Continue readingNixon in China: Minimalist Rant on an Awful Opera
Last summer, Vin and I started going to the Cincinnati Opera where we enjoyed 3 wonderful operas last year. This summer, with great excitement, we subscribed to the entire season (Cincinnati Opera is a summer season, they produce 4 operas each summer). We enjoyed Faust in mid-June, then had to miss Cosi Fan Tutte due to an unexpected death in the family. We gave our tickets to our friends who said they very much enjoyed the performance. The third opera this year was Nixon in China. We went to see it on Saturday night. [[image:nixon_internal.jpg:This graphic pinjamed from the Cincinnati Opera site:center:0]] Now begins the rant. Better not continue reading if you object to profanities because I’m afraid I can’t contain myself on this one. This opera FUCKING SUCKED. IT SUCKED ASS. It was an opera in 3 acts, with intermissions between each act. We stayed for 2 acts and […]
Continue readingChocolate Lemon Bars
Thanks to the birthday presents from Lilian, I have had some more fun experiments in the kitchen. One of the recipe books contains the recipe for Lemon Bars, which is a sugar cookie-esque base topped with a tangy lemon custard. I decided to up the ante and top the custard with a layer of melted chocolate. Well. Who can blame me for wanting to add chocolate, right? 😉 First, make the bottom cookie layer. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and press the dough into a thin layer at the bottom of the pan. Bake until this layer is golden brown and let it cool. Make the lemon custard and then top the cookie like so: [[image:lb1.jpg:Topped with Lemon Custard:center:0]] There is no coloring in the custard – that lovely yellow is a combination of egg, lemon zest and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Melt a combination of bittersweet chocolate, […]
Continue readingFantastic Four: Meme Redux
Another meme arrives and since my fellow bloggenstein who happens to also be my sister has tagged me… Wait, are there any rules about tagging your fellow blogmate based in the same weblogsite? No matter. I shall give this meme a whatfor like it’s never been given a whatfor before. A blog whatfor! A blorgthwthfor! Four Jobs I’ve Had In My Life Piano Man – Quite a fun job. There was an old man sitting next to me making love to his tonic and gin, John at the bar, Paul the real estate novelist, Davy who’s still in the Navy, and not to mention the waitress and the businessman sharing a drink they call loneliness. The manager gives me a smile cause he knows they all come to see me to forget about life for a while. Starman – As A starman, what I did was I waited in the […]
Continue readingFantastic Four: A Meme
Since Selena (my preciousssssss pearl from PlanetKambing) tagged me for this, I figured I should get to it before I start procrasssstinating! Before any Silver Surfers start rising, here goes: Four Jobs I’ve Had in my life: 1. Student Tour Guide for the Information Center at my college 2. Circulations Assistant at the Gazette 3. Operations Analyst/Technical Writer 4. Consultant (a.k.a. enterprise modeler a.k.a. really, don’t ask me what i do because it’s a long explanation) Four (of the Five) Places I Have Lived: 1. Sitiawan, Malaysia (but of course!) 2. Seremban, Malaysia (boarding school, bah humbug) 3. Greater Boston Area, Massachusetts 4. Southern Ohio (Four points to whoever can name the missing fifth place that I lived in!) Four Places* I Have Been on Vacation: 1. Malaga & Jaen, Spain 2. England 3. Hawaii 4. Pulau Redang * For more vacation spots, just trawl this site. 😉 Four** of […]
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