Yesterday, Allie was one week old. We had a short excursion for her (and my) one-week follow up visit at the hospital. And to commemorate her 1-week birthday, I picked out some pictures that were taken by Allie’s Atok. [[image:allie10a.jpg:One week ago I was born:center:0]] For those of you who would rather not be inundated with baby pictures, you may stop here. All others, yup, you asked for it, and here they are! More pictures!! Of Allie on her 1-week birthday. * Mouse over the pictures for captions [[image:allie14a.jpg:Dressed to go to the hospital:center:0]] [[image:allie15a.jpg:Hey, couldn’t my Mak have tied the ribbon on my hat?:center:0]] [[image:allie16a.jpg:What trouble can I get into today?:center:0]] [[image:allie18a.jpg:Hey, I can hold my head up, I can get in trouble!:center:0]] [[image:allie21a.jpg:Are you questioning me?:center:0]] [[image:allie22a.jpg:I’ll show you!:center:0]] [[image:allie17a.jpg:Thpttt!! Gotcha!:center:0]] [[image:allie19a.jpg:I told you I could get you:center:0]] [[image:allie20a.jpg:But really, I am angelic:center:0]] I couldn’t help it guys. […]
Continue readingMonthly Archives: July 2008
The End of Aiman’s First Year
Irfan’s cousin Aiman’s celebrated his first birthday last Sunday. So they gladly played together after the birthday meal. Here’s Irfan allowing Aiman to maul him on the floor.
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The Arrival of Allie: A Photojournal
We finally received some photos of the first hour of Alya Jean Renstrom, emailed by Allie’s dad, and here they are for your viewing pleasure. The first thing Ain and I said at the same time was that she looks a lot like Irfan when he was born.
Continue readingThe Clown Prince of Chaos – The Dark Knight Review
[[image:darkknight01.jpg:Dunno why’s called the Batpod, but it’s hella cool:left:0]]No. The Joker is not the Clown Prince of Crime in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, the sequel to his 2005 movie Batman Begins. Crime is just a tool and a means to an end. And that end is a total breakdown in the order of Gotham City. Not just anarchy, but absolute chaos. Heath Ledger is for me now the best Joker actor around (or not any more, as the case may be), edging out Mark Hamill’s performance who was previously in my top spot. He is a frightening character, not because he’s creepy or insane, but he seems to be the one most in control of everything, did the best planning, execute his plans, keeping everyone on their toes by constantly hitting them with his machinations left and right at the same time Even if he aims to create chaos, […]
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Welcome Alya Jean Renstrom
Last night Vin called to tell us that Sila has given birth to a beautiful baby daughter named Alya Jean Renstrom weighing 8.9 lbs at 10.39am Eastern Standard Time at the Atrium Medical Center in Middletown, Ohio. Truckloads of congratulations to Vin and Sila. Sila is fine and I talked to her as well over the phone last night, but she’s still in the hospital and Opah Alya’s her company for the night until Vin and Atok Alya return the next morning. I’d like to have waited for photos to announce the birth, but I’m late announcing it as it is. Again, congratulations!
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Communications As If It’s Science Fiction
Earlier today (well, about 5 minutes ago) Hisham, Ain and Irfan talked with Sila, Vin, Atok Irfan and Opah Irfan for almost an hour with one of those new-fangled tee vee phones. (Well, we used Skype.) We could hear them perfectly but not vise versa… no idea why. Irfan showed off his drawing skills live to the other side of the planet. Atok Irfan is contemplating installing a webcam on his machine at home. Here’s a screencap of what transpired.
Continue readingSome Assembly Required – Part 1
First thing we assembled for the baby is the changing table (one of the lovely gifts received). Lily, of course, has been very curious about all the goings-on with regard to new boxes and newly assembled stuff. * Mouse over for captions [[image:lstuff02.jpg:Lily claiming the box:center:0]] [[image:lstuff01.jpg:Roly-poly on the box:center:0]] After reading the manual, Vin and I put together the changing table (sorry no “in progress” pictures since we were just trying to accomplish the task). [[image:lstuff03.jpg:Completed!:center:0]] [[image:lstuff04.jpg:Wait! What’s this new thing?:center:0]] [[image:lstuff05.jpg:Well, it’s pretty comfortable:center:0]] [[image:lstuff06.jpg:Testing for sturdiness:center:0]] [[image:lstuff07.jpg:Naptime:center:0]]
Continue readingForty Weeks…
…and baby still hasn’t arrived yet. Mak and Abah have been here over a week (11 days already!). We’re all in a holding pattern, waiting for the arrival of this stubborn little one. 🙂 Pictures then: [[image:40week2.jpg:Belly still growing!:center:0]] [[image:40week1.jpg:Another angle for the belly:center:0]] Sorry, I was kind of sleepy when the pictures were taken. Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. Happy Caturday!! 🙂
Continue readingTwo Mediums: A Visual Comparison
Last year I wrote about the upcoming Watchmen movie to be directed by Zack Snyder. Today, I finally saw a trailer. I’ve been had by trailers before, so there’s still a chance that the actual movie might still suck. But still I’m an optimist. When I first saw the trailer in High-definition Quicktime, I knew I had to make a comparison of the shots in the trailer and panels in the actual Watchmen comics. Then I thought, why not do it here in this weblog. Enough gab. Enjoy the images, starting with Mister Blake here: [[image:watchmen_comp01a.jpg:The Comedian’s last laugh:center:0]] [[image:watchmen_comp01b.jpg:John Winchester himself:center:0]] Here’s the Comedian during the Vietnam War. [[image:watchmen_comp02a.jpg:Superheroes in a war:center:0]] [[image:watchmen_comp02b1.jpg:Burning the Viet Cong:center:0]] [[image:watchmen_comp02b2.jpg:Sam and Dean says, ‘Dad?’:center:0]] Jon returns, after a fashion: [[image:watchmen_comp03a.jpg:Yes. It’s a blue peener. What of it?:center:0]] [[image:watchmen_comp03b.jpg:No blue peener here, though:center:0]] Doctor Manhattan takes Vietnam: [[image:watchmen_comp04a.jpg:I still remember this powerful image […]
Continue readingJust Two Short Movie Reviews
Hooray for Cheap Ass Wednesday. Because of Cheap Ass Wednesday, it’s cheaper for Irfan, Ain & me to catch a movie than it is for me to buy one novel to read. That stinks to high heaven but it’s a rant for another day if I’m bothered to do it. Ain didn’t feel well enough to get to work that morning. So I picked up Irfan after classes (so he skipped daycare) we went to Cathay Cineleisure where a lot of movies await us. Some really good ones are out cause we’re smack dab in the middle of the summer movie season. I chose two movies for us to enjoy. No spoilers ahead! A Non-comic Book Comic Book Movie: A Hancock Review [[image:movie_hancock01.jpg:Aw hell naw:left:0]]Hancock is a study of the Superman-type superhero template, with a twist. John Hancock is the only super-powered human around. He has the power of flight, […]
Continue readingNursery – Part 1
So to while away the time until the baby arrives, how about a look at the nursery? It’s almost finished – but here’s a view of it from the beginning until what it looks like right now. * Mouse over the pictures for captions First, the original paintjob: [[image:nursery01.jpg:Purple!!!:center:0]] [[image:nursery02.jpg:Twin bunk beds:center:0]] [[image:nursery03.jpg:Seriously purple walls:center:0]] Seriously, the picture doesn’t show how dark that purple actually was. There were two colors, dark dark purple, and lavender, and both are more suitable for teenaged girls (that’s who last occupied this room). For a baby, I wanted brighter and happier colors. So Vin started work (since the doctor nixed the idea of me on a ladder, Vin did most of the hard work). I did help though – couldn’t keep out of it. 🙂 [[image:nursery04.jpg:Taking fixtures off the wall:center:0]] [[image:nursery06.jpg:Replacing purple with “Macadamia”:center:0]] [[image:nursery07.jpg:Macadamia-colored walls:center:0]] [[image:nursery05.jpg:Halfway done:center:0]] [[image:nursery08.jpg:Here’s where we stopped:center:0]] Then Mak […]
Continue readingPajeri Nenas!
Just a quick note to say, yay-yay Mak and Abah are here! Annnnnnd, Mak made her world famous pajeri nenas. Here we are enjoying our dinner: [[image:pajeri3.jpg:Vin, Mak & Abah:center:0]] Abah shows off the lovely pajeri nenas and the baked chicken: [[image:pajeri4.jpg:Showing off the food:center:0]] [[image:pajeri5.jpg:My plate in the foreground, Abah’s in the background:center:0]] And this post is to make Hisham salivate as pajeri nenas is one of his favorite dishes. 🙂 p.s. – still no baby yet… *sigh*
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Illustration Friday: Foggy
Finally an Illustration Friday artwork that’s actually published on a Friday! This week’s topic is apparently “foggy”. It’s nothing special. Just a simple, literal interpretation of the topic.
Continue readingOut On The Frontier… With Giant Robots
[[image:macross_frontier02.jpg:VF-25 Valkyrie:center:0]]I wrote earlier about the continuation of the Robotech saga with the Shadow Chronicles. Robotech is actually three different anime series juryrigged and tweaked so they become a (more or less) coherent whole to be syndicated on the American market. However, the first of the three, The Super Dimension Fortress Macross is a saga still being told in its native Japanese, disregarding the entire Robotech thing. [[image:macross_frontier01.jpg:VF-25 Battroid:center:0]]Throughout the years, there’s been among others Macross Plus, Macross 7, Macross Zero… and now the latest series to continue saga of the original Macross is Macross Frontier. [[image:macross_frontier03.jpg:VF-25 Gerwalk:center:0]] As with the first Macross, the story’s teenaged central characters are positioned in a love triangle. Saotome Alto is a male student pilot and former kabuki actor who has long and pretty hair and nicknamed hime (princess) by his schoolmates. Ranka Lee is a female aspiring singer who works in a Chinese […]
Continue readingOn To The Far Side Of The Planet, Redux
Irfan’s grandparents left Malaysia at 2245 local time for Singapore, which is their first leg on the trip to Middletown to visit Sila. An attempt to catch the ERL from Bandar Tasik Selatan to the KLIA was scrubbed because of the Monday back-from-work rush hour. So we jumped directly to the district of Sepang where many a visible flying machines dotted the sky on their way to and from the airport. There was a minor hitch with one of the luggage, which required a new baby padlock. But thereafter, everything went smoothly. [[image:klia_july2008_00.jpg:Checking in at the counter:center:0]] [[image:klia_july2008_01.jpg:New padlock being tested by Atok:center:0]]We went to the surau for Maghrib and then to the Food Garden (a food court, not a real garden… maybe someday, but not today) for a bit of dinner. Also, Irfan’s Opah Ngah and a friend joined us for a while. [[image:klia_july2008_02.jpg:Irfan playing with the trolley:center:0]] [[image:klia_july2008_03.jpg:Irfan […]
Continue readingDinner With Irfan’s Tok and Opah Unggai
Irfan’s grandparents are here from Sitiawan and have been spending several days with us. Tonight they will be heading for Middletown where they will spend the next two months with Vin, Sila and their upcoming child. On Saturday, Irfan’s great-uncle and great-aunt, designated Tok Unggai and Opah Unggai arrived all the way from Taiping to spend the night at the Tenth Floor. We were soon joined by their daughter and son-in-law, designated Cik Da and Pak Long Fadzil. Opah Unggai recently had a promotion and had decided to treat us for dinner. Ain and I thought the Thai restaurant in the Pandan Indah sprawl close by would be great for the dinner. Night fell and we headed for the restaurant where we had sweet and sour siakap, steamed siakap, kailan ikan masin, kerabu mangga, tom yam campur and telur bungkus. [[image:opah_unggai_belanja01.jpg:The ones belanja-ing in the foreground:center:0]] [[image:opah_unggai_belanja02.jpg:Ain uses a holographic […]
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