And so, another month has passed by and the little guy is now 17 months old. He’ll be a year and a half soon! Wheeee! [[image:2013_0529_rafe15.jpg:Pleased as punch:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Adik can now pretty easily climb the sofa. He doesn’t need help or a boost, he can do it all by himself. He has trouble and needs help if he’s carrying something in his hands while he does the climbing but if he has his hands free, boom, he’s on the sofa before you know it! He enjoys sitting on the sofa, playing with his gadgets or reading a book. The bad thing is, he still doesn’t quite understand that jumping face-first off the sofa might not be the greatest idea. So we have sit with him and monitor him and make sure he doesn’t accidentally hurt himself. Adik is still quite obsessed with brushing […]
Continue readingMonthly Archives: May 2013
Bye Tim
Tim the Turtle had grown too big to reside in its tank. And there is no surplus space in the house for a bigger tank. Which meant it was time to say goodbye to Tim. Thankfully we had the foresight to scout for release locations in the city beforehand and had already decided on the lake at Ampang Hilir Park. The lake was large for a body of water mere kilometres away from the Kuala Lumpur City Centre. It shot to the top of the list of release locations because it was big and had a sizeable population of red-eared sliders (and assorted fish) within its waters. We also hoped Tim would find a girlfriend some day. Or a boyfriend. We never really determined if Tim was a male or a female. If Tim was female, its name would have been a contraction of “Timah”. When we opened up Tim’s […]
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Savage Worlds: Weekend Warriors Playtest
Jerry Blakemore came over to the house all the way from Texas to playtest 12 to Midnight‘s new Savage Worlds game Weekend Warriors! (Not really, he was on vacation, and I just happened to be in his path.) Although I’ve bought the Savage Worlds Explorer Edition from Amazon.com seven thousand years ago, I’ve never had the opportunity to run or play any games with it. So, this was my first time rolling dice for Savage Worlds. After picking Jerry up at his hotel, we then headed back to Pandan Indah to Irfan’s school extraction. Then, we had lunch at Galaxy Ampang where many different types of nasi goreng died for us. In the meantime, we regaled each other with a myriad of gaming war stories. And then it’s off to the dinner table at home for some gaming. The scenario is titled New Year’s Day. It’s close to midnight on […]
Continue reading58 Months
Two more months till the big birthday! And how much do you love backdated entries! Woohoo! [[image:2013-yaya58month-13.jpg:My beautiful baby:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Food status: No change. Nothing new passed through her lips this month. On the other hand, it is cheap to feed her and it is cheap not to have to get her any toys or games. I guess I’m a glass half full kind of person. 😉 We had some work travel at the end of the month, and fun travel to Chicago at the beginning of the month, and everyone did OK. We managed to do a big east coast tour during our work travels – saw the family in Maryland, friends in New Jersey and crammed a lot of socializing into a short thirteen days. Whew! Yaya really is a sweet child – I learnt that when we went to the Children’s […]
Continue readingChicago: The Children’s Museum
So on the second day in Chicago, it was freezing cold (high of 38 F / 4 C – in May!!!!) so we decided to do something indoors. We went to the Children’s Museum which conveniently, was a short (and cold and windy) walk away from the hotel. As it turned out, it was one of the best things ever! Yaya had a fabulous time and still talks about it. [[image:2013_may_chicago23.jpg:Hard-hat Yaya:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions At the museum, Vin and I pretty much had to separate. One of us stayed with Yaya and the other with Adik, and at some points we switched up. So there aren’t very many pictures of the kids together. However there are plenty of pictures: [[image:2013_may_chicago24.jpg:On a CTA Bus:center:0]] [[image:2013_may_chicago25.jpg:At a treehouse:center:0]] [[image:2013_may_chicago26.jpg:Fishing for toy fishies:center:0]] [[image:2013_may_chicago27.jpg:Adik and Vin at the cushioned baby play area:center:0]] [[image:2013_may_chicago28.jpg:Telescoping for Mama:center:0]] [[image:2013_may_chicago29.jpg:Look at all […]
Continue readingBeach Escapade: Part II
We continue our adventures in Orange Beach, AL with a beautiful sunny day! It more than made up for the rainy afternoon that we had: [[image:2013_april_orangebeach44.jpg:What a beautiful day:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions After a quick breakfast, we are on the beach! Vin makes his own sandcastle since Yaya insists on making sand-cement in her buckets and not being able to get the sand out. [[image:2013_april_orangebeach25.jpg:King of his castle:center:0]] [[image:2013_april_orangebeach26.jpg:Adik continues to geram the sand:center:0]] [[image:2013_april_orangebeach27.jpg:Striking down Mama’s castle:center:0]] [[image:2013_april_orangebeach28.jpg:Build me more castles to tear down, Mama!:center:0]] [[image:2013_april_orangebeach29.jpg:Happy boy loves the sand:center:0]] [[image:2013_april_orangebeach30.jpg:Yaya paddles while Papa takes a stroll:center:0]] [[image:2013_april_orangebeach31.jpg:Adik loves being buried:center:0]] [[image:2013_april_orangebeach32.jpg:Let’s throw sand!:center:0]] [[image:2013_april_orangebeach33.jpg:Papa ensures that Yaya isn’t pulled out to sea:center:0]] [[image:2013_april_orangebeach34.jpg:My family:center:0]] [[image:2013_april_orangebeach35.jpg:Adik wades in the surf:center:0]] Adik loved the sea – he kept running into the surf and giggling as the waves crashed around him. He stayed in until he started […]
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BareBones Covert Ops Map
Here’s a thumbnail of a map I drew for DwD Studios‘ BareBones Covert Ops RPG. Ultimately S.E.C.T.O.R. base locations will populate this chart. What is S.E.C.T.O.R., you ask? I have no idea yet. Look for the upcoming book which should be released later this year.
Continue readingFriends in the Windy City
In honor of Laura and Roberto’s visit to Chicago, we decided to spend the weekend there. Laura and I have been working together for a few years now, but we have never met in person since Laura lives in Argentina. We drove up and had dinner with Laura, Roberto, and the Chicago contingent of Jen, Mike and Scott: [[image:2013_may_chicago03.jpg:Laura, Mike, Scott, Jen and Yaya:center:0]] Despite being at the famed Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza place, neither child ate the cheesy goodness that night. * Mouse over the pictures for captions But Jen and Yaya renewed their friendship and sealed it with post-it flag manicures [[image:2013_may_chicago01.jpg:Lovely long post-it flag press on nails:center:0]] [[image:2013_may_chicago02.jpg:They really do look like nails!:center:0]] [[image:2013_may_chicago04.jpg:Adik happily draws and eats cheerios:center:0]] Yaya and Adik get their first train ride (of any sort). The El route that we took included being underground as well as elevated! Yay! [[image:2013_may_chicago05.jpg:On the […]
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Some Iron Man Three Viewing Report
The onslaught of summer movies is upon us. We’ve caught the first of them, Iron Man Three. Here’s Irfan with Benedict Cumberbatch behind him just before he watched the movie. Yes, yes, yes. We saw Iron Man and not Star Trek that evening. SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT I SAID SPOILERS!!! Iron Man Three The story takes into account Tony’s PTSD he suffered after fighting Loki and the Chitauri army in “The Battle of New York City” during The Avengers. I guess you would have panic attacks when you are suddenly aware of a multitude of unknown and powerful alien species in space (and other dimensions). We hope he doesn’t go into full catatonia when he learns of highly evolved space raccoons. Aldrich Killian, the founder of AIM has Chinese dragon tattoos? Breath attack? Wears underpants? That’s Earth-199999’s version of Fin Fang Foom. How did they write around the fact that the […]
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Balneum Blue: Gnatha Weapons
I drew some aquatic biotech ranged weapons for a project for Star Frontiersman magazine. These are biotech gear created by an alien species called the Gnatha. These are not merely tools, but they are living, breathing organisms! These creatures can swim on their own accord, while the Gnatha use them to throw deadly projectiles at enemies. Presumably the Gnatha created these living weapons by genetically altering and splicing together different species of octopus, jellyfish, molluscs and even corals.
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Irfan Meets a River
On the way back from Pasir Mas, Irfan met a river. It was raging force of nature filled with teh tarik after a sustained rainfall in the mountains. We just came from over the mountain. This is no pond and there’s no melody coming from it. Yay! Tiny maelstroms! I wonder if you walk down the stairway there’s a forcefield that protects you as you descend down into the depths towards the hidden fortress of the river folk. There might probably have been adventure on the other side of the swollen river. Soon after we resumed our journey home.
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Steve the Aboleth
This is Steve the Aboleth. That is all. He throws psychokinetic tantrums a lot
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