One more month before Adik is 3! [[image:2014-adik35month-20.jpg:Happily eating Nutella:center:0]] 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 So let’s quickly do statuses. Reading: check. Boy is literate. Speech: good. Food: OK. He does gravitate towards toast when we are on the road but will eat all kinds of things at home. He will chow down on roti canai, mama’s “spiky” lunch noodles (“spiky” is how he says “spicy” and he hates non-spicy noodles but doesn’t like it to be too spicy either), Pringles, goldfish crackers, and is following […]
Continue readingMonthly Archives: November 2014
Final Entry from the Tenth Floor
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. The last two months has been a whirlwind 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 […]
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Star Wars Rebels Experience
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 saw the big helmet at the South Court all the way from the Centre Court. Irfan posed before it for posterity’s sake. The Five-Oh-First was on site to ensure no rebel agents disrupt the proceedings. The Pau’an Inquisitor was also around being all Lucius Malfoy-ish. He has quite a nice profile, but he’s no Inquisitor Tremayne. I hope Tremayne shows up in the series at some point and they both go out for coffee or something. Inquisitors first […]
Continue reading76 Months
76 months of Yaya! [[image:2014-yaya76month-01.jpg:Bloooooooooooood:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions OK since it is almost January as I sit to write this entry, I feel like I can barely remember what November was like. It was busy. We spent two weeks in Tampa, Florida (including another quick Clearwater Beach getaway), then it was Thanksgiving and we had a houseguest and went to Elkhart, Indiana. So it was a busy busy month. Reading status: no change. Still the same. We are still trying to gently encourage her. She does like it when we read to her. It will come together for her, inshallah. Food status: Yaya tried a few more things in November. This includes:* croissants (she’d tried this before but for breakfast at the Hilton Clearwater Beach, she ate them like crazy, dipped in butter)* fresh juiced orange juice (Becky has a juicer and Yaya helped prepare the […]
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Alterkine RPG Aliens
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 (and purchase the Alterkine: Player’s Handbook at DriveThruRPG here! ) Purchase the Alterkine: Player’s Handbook at DriveThruRPG here!
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Eclipse Phase: The Viking Funeral Undertaking
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: […]
Continue readingClearwater Beach – October 2014
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. [[image:2014_octclearwater_01.jpg:Me and the kids are watching pelicans divebomb for fish at sunset:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions This entry will mostly be beach photos with few remarks. I miss the warm and the sunshine as I’m sitting here writing this in Ohio (in December!). Ah well. We arrived on Friday evening and went straight to the beach to enjoy the water and the sunset. [[image:2014_octclearwater_02.jpg:Pelican on a pole:center:0]] [[image:2014_octclearwater_18.jpg:Look how clear the water is:center:0]] [[image:2014_octclearwater_19.jpg:Running and playing:center:0]] [[image:2014_octclearwater_20.jpg:Adik embraces the […]
Continue readingHalloween 2014 Spooktacular
So since dressing up in costumes is one of Yaya’s favorite things to do, Halloween is something she has been looking forward to for a while. Despite the non-candy-eating child that she is, she loves to go trick or treating and we often play “trick-or-treat” games at home. So here are our Halloween photos! [[image:2014_halloween_15.jpg:Jack-o-lantern says Boo!:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions This entry is organized into three sections: 1. Trying out costumes2. Let’s carve a pumpkin!3. Trick or treat! So we begin with trying out costumes. The plan was to have Adik wear Yaya’s old Tiny Pteranodon costume from 2011. Yaya wanted to be a witch. So we are trying the costumes: [[image:2014_halloween_01.jpg:Yaya Witch watches Adik Pteranodon flap his wings:center:0]] [[image:2014_halloween_17.jpg:Yaya Witch complete with broomstick, Adik Pteranodon’s head is starting to fall off:center:0]] [[image:2014_halloween_18.jpg:Happy Yaya while Adik fiddles with his costume:center:0]] So then Adik said enough and […]
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