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The Day The Tyre Died, Again

Thursday night we went to pick up F from MIAT. We arrived at 2200. But we left at almost midnight. What was I doing two hours in MIAT? Changing the tires of the car, that’s what. After everyone was secure aboard 10 minutes after our arrival (Irfan was fast asleep in the back seat, head on Emma’s lap and legs on F’s lap, or was it the other way around) I drove out of the college parking lot. After we went over the first speed bump, we heard a reciprocating clunking sound from the port aft quarter of the car. I stopped the car in front of the bus garage and discovered that not only the tire was flat, but it had came off the rim. Nothing to do but get the car ready for a tire change. There were problems. One, the nuts were shielded by a cover that […]

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Full Circle

Once upon a lifetime ago, I used to repair helicopters. The job wasn’t at all glamorous. All you had to do was to follow the manual, observe regulations and ensure the paperwork was correct. Everyday you had to perform scheduled maintenance. Then one day I quit and left it all. For five years, I worked in various other fields gathering knowledge other than helicopter maintenance. Because the aviation industry here was close-knitted, there was no way I would be returing to reparing airplanes… … or so I thought. Last two weeks have been weird and almost surreal. After a call from one of my former colleagues in the helicopter offshore company, I’ve since met the most number of former colleagues in the last 10 working days than I’ve ever met in the last five years. The short story is that a bunch of them has started a new company and […]

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Happy Birthday Ain

Happy birthday and many happy returns to my beautiful wife Nurul Ain. Some cards were sent. A blueberry cheese cake was eaten. Irfan sang the Happy Birthday song. Ain also made a pot of fried noodles. And because Kak Nor also had the same birthdate as Ain, both sisters celebrated here on our little round dinner table at our house. However, I forgot to charge the camera batteries. Tee hee. (blush)

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“I Didn’t Want To Make It Back Alive”

Spoiler Alert. This is an essay concerning the actions of Lee “Apollo” Adama of Battlestar Galactica in the episode Resurrection Ship, Part 2. If you’re adverse to spoilers it’s strongly suggested that you read no further. And if you’re local and want to catch it on TV, they’re starting to show the first season on 8TV at 10pm Sundays, the same time as Smallville on TV3. It’s been 7 hours since I saw the episode, and the decision of Apollo to resign himself to his fate has been playing again and again in my mind. It’s not something that I was expecting, like Adama’s and Cain’s respective orders to assassinate each other, or the fates of Helo and the Chief in the Pegasus’ brig, or even the outcome of Baltar’s interrogation of Pegasus’ resident Cylon prisoner Gina, who is a copy of Baltar’s yet unnamed vision, known to TV audiences […]

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Wild Gundark

The Crew of the Wild Gundark

Never let it be said I ran the Wild Gundark game without having at least one group illustration done for the team. Clockwise from top left, Groo McShae the Duros sensor tech, Similiv Zalimort the Kerestian first mate, Captain Nisa Dyaton the pilot, Aleic Karnsky the gunner, N4-M8 the mercenary and Wayang Kulit the Jawa droid tech specialist. Click below to view the image.

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Opah Irfan’s Wayward Purse

We only noticed it when Ain got off the car to buy some drinks in Kuala Kangsar. It was on Ain’s seat, hidden beneath her when she sat. It was a small coin purse labeled Adamas Goldsmith. Wondering when Ain bought the purse, I took it. Irfan saw it and said, “Opah punya.” And within it was Opah Irfan’s driver’s licence and identification card! We called Opah and told her we had her important documents and figured a return to Sitiawan would be in order. But Opah told us to keep going. If we were late, we’d be driving along the East-West highway after dark. We told Opah that we’d send the documents back to her by courier. But when we got to Pasir Mas it was almost 7pm. I didn’t kick in the afterburners because of the dodgy state of the car’s shock absorbers and the weight load of […]

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Death In The House

We arrived in Sitiawan two nights ago with Emma and F in tow. Today we head for Pasir Mas. However, upon arriving at Irfan’s Atok’s house we were told of two tragic deaths in the family. [[image:fishies.jpg:Ku Lat and Ku Su:center:0]]Apparently there was a pool maintenance error with Tok Irfan’s fish pond and these two fish suffocated due to lack of water and oxygen. Thankfully the rest of the gang are still alright. They’re all good fish, and friendly too. Tok Irfan laid them in the yard to prepare them for a burial. But before it could be done, a cat covertly crept up to their corpses to chew on them some time after the photo were taken. The obscenity! They will be missed.

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A Skull Island Travelogue – A Kong Review

[[image:kong.jpg:Kong is King:center:0]]Last night we finally saw Peter Jackson’s version of King Kong. Upon reading initial articles that said that the movie was too long and were boring during the beginning and had pointless scenes aboard the Venture part of the movie, I thought “I’ll take whatever you dish out.” I would enjoy what I could and get it over with. To my surprise, the movie did not bore me to tears at all. Sure there were the trademark lingering close up shots of actors’ (and one giant CG alpha male silverback’s) faces that inundated Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I did not think there were any pointless and unengaging scenes in the movies. Everything added to the storyline, and the overall atmosphere of the movie. To me everything worked. Of course to a SF and fantasy fan like myself the high point of the movie was without […]

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Chronicles of the Wild Gundark

Chronicles of the Wild Gundark Part III

Concluding the saga of the Wild Gundark crew: Quickly, the person on the other side of the comm told Nisa to meet them in Landing Bay 239 back at Medeus. “We’ll be waiting there at noon local time tomorrow.” Then the Fifth House woman cut off the transmission abruptly. The confused N4 remarked, “Could someone please explain the situation to me? Who is this ‘Duke’ and who was that organic who ceased functioning outside the ship just now?” Ignoring the newcomer droid, the worried Groo asked, “You think that communiqué was really bad for our health?” A grinning Similiv replied, “Probably, Greenskin… but we wouldn’t want our lives to be boring now would we?” Finally after much contemplation, Nisa grimly said, “OK! We have a meet, but get ready for anything this time. We have about 12 hours till the meet, and I want to be alive for it.” And […]

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Irfan Goes To MIAT

Today Irfan’s youngest aunt, his Cik Su F, enrolled in MIAT. In three and a half years, she will be graduating with a Diploma in Aviation Maintenance Technology (Avionics), with a bunch of skillset that should be more marketable in the aviation industry than my old Licenced Aircraft Maintenace Engineer (Yeah it’s LAME, I know) with Rotorcraft Airframe and Engine specialisation. Irfan was there. Some pictures were taken. Here they are. [[popup:miat01.jpg:(thumbnail):Ain & Irfan:center:0]]The main hangar of MIAT, with Ain trying to carry a heavy Irfan. Safety first… Albino gorillas second? Charmed quarks second? Click on the thumbnail above to view larger image. [[image:miat02.jpg::center:0]]As Cik Su F was undergoing the registration process, Ain takes a break from sitting within the Multi Purpose Hall and Irfan takes a break from running around and sweating a lot to take a picture. [[image:miat03.jpg::center:0]]Ain and Irfan sip ice tea from the MIAT cafeteria right […]

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Second Hishgraphics Book In The Works

[[image:hishbanner.gif:My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult – After The Flesh:center:0]]Many moons after the release of The Secret Library, I’ve now finished writing a 12 page children’s book, a much simpler one this time. It’s about a child that imagines camping out on his or her bed with a blanket. There will be rhyming. There will be animals. And the best part is the idea hit me after playing make-believe campout on the bed with a blanket. Still have to revise the text and proofread before I start illustrating and laying out the book. So…. anyone knows what rhymes with “sasquatch”?

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Mini Reviews: Pulp, Supers and Lemurs

So the other day I borrowed some DVDs from [[popup:saberfight.jpg:Awie:Makashi? I think not.:inline:1]]. Why didn’t I buy them? Cause I’m a cheapskate. Here are three movies I saw over the last couple of days and some of my thoughts on it. I saw the first movie in the cinema… twice. I missed the second and the third. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Many elements from ’30s and ’40s pulp serials can be found here, and are a joy to watch. How can you not love blatant references from machinations of a villian straight off Max Fleischer’s Superman cartoons, to 1933’s King Kong, with the wreck of the Venture with Kong’s cage very visible. Even Totenkopf’s hideaway is a Skull Island of sorts. Dex’s ray gun. The robot designs. The mobile airstrip (like classic SHIELD Helicarriers). The giant rocketship. Sky Captain’s Flying Legion is a homage to the Blackhawks […]

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Heaven and Earth cover

A Writing Gig?

I wouldn’t have thought it possible a year ago. Heck, I would have scoffed at the idea 3 months ago, but upon browsing the RPG.Net Freelancing Forum recently, I decided to answer a call for freelance writers, instead of illustrators. I submitted the text for the Net.Guide to Spleens to the person in charge and hoped for the best. After a flurry of e-mails, I was tasked to write 2 articles for a book which will be released next spring. The tone of the short write-ups would be akin to that of the Twilight Zone or Twin Peaks, or like Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles (A great comic. Go out and read it if you haven’t.) The job isn’t a earth-shattering one, nor does it pay much but it would be my first professional writing gig, and as they say my foot at the door. The company I’m writing for is […]

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Into the Wardrobe: A Narnia Review

So I saw The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe last Friday, right after Friday prayers at GSC 1 Utama. I wasn’t disappointed. It was exactly as I expected it. I expected the story to be somewhat thin because the book is in fact thin compared to the other fantasy series written by author C.S. Lewis’s contemporary and peer (J. R. R. Tolkien if you don’t know). Narnia in the entire first book wasn’t quite fleshed out as Middle Earth was in the first 2 chapters of Fellowship of the Ring. I was concerned that people who aren’t familiar with Narnia would think that the ending is a copout. And judging from the reaction of a lot of people sitting around me a couple of days ago, they thought it was a copout. I prefer Voyage of the Dawn Treader, anyways. Seafaring adventures r0xx0rs, yo. 😉 […]

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South Park Portrait

Brem posted an entry which reminded me of something I posted in the ACS Sitiawan Forums last March. A Flash South Park portrait generator! Appears to be Version 2.0 now. You can access the page from Brem’s link as the link in the ACS Forums now also points to the new location. Check out more pictures at Brem’s page and in the ACS thread. Here’s me in March: [[image:sphisham.gif:I broke the dam.:center:0]]

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