Transitory States
Edward:
David S Leyman:
Hisham:
Luke:
James Kight:
king:
Hisham and Sila has been writing stuff down on this weblog since 2005. Sometimes they post photos of family, sometimes they talk about film, books and music, sometimes there is artwork and stuff about tabletop gaming.
We actually didn't get to walk around Hilo too much, because neither Vin nor I was in the mood for a walk in the rain. It rained the morning we left Hilo:
So we hit the road, to the other side of the island where the mountains block the rain.
Precipitation did give us a break this morning. The sun shone brightly. Since we're not too far from the equator relatively, a shining sun means sweltering and scorching heat. Tear glands were overtaxed in their efforts to cool off meatbag human bodies. However, Irfan's school sports day did not yield to the heat.
Participating with Irfan's school is its sister school, where the kids wear violet-and-yellow as opposed to Irfan's blue-and-yellow uniforms. There no real competition, just the kids all having fun doing the stuff they're doing in the following photos.
In other news, Irfan seemed to be under constant attack by a smaller kid who likes to push him around. From my observation Irfan just avoid the blows until he gets hit then he pushes the kid hard, which dissuades from further attacks for the time being. If this keeps up, I'll have to write an entire entry around this sociopathic character including pictures (which I already have on file).
Yeah, I'm mean enough to do that to him if he keeps up pushing Irfan around.
It was supposed to be sports day today at the kindergarten. Unfortunately the heavy rain had other ideas, so instead the school proceeded with the birthday party of a boy, whose mother I discovered was my classmate in Perlis. Small world.
The principle postponed sports day for tomorrow. Hopefully precipitation gives us a break. I'll take more photos tomorrow. It'd be interesting seeing a bunch of hyperactive 5- and 6-year-olds running around competing for something.
In the late morning of Day 5. we drove to Kilauea, which is an active volcano on the big island. Kilauea has been continuously erupting for some 24 years! Pretty amazing stuff, and we had decided to do the Crater Rim drive and drive around Kilauea Caldera.
So after 3 nights in Honolulu, it's time to go. We ate our last fabulous Hilton Hawaiian Village buffet breakfast (free continental buffet, $5 to upgrade to the entire buffet thanks to the Hilton Honors membership, and well worth the money). We relaxed on the beach, took a last dip in the waters of Waikiki beach, and went around the hotel taking last minute pictures. We also said our goodbyes to the beach and the sun for a few days, for we are off to Hilo (the rainy side of the Big Island of Hawaii).
It's May 1st. Some might say it's Labor Dabor Day. Others would say it's the first day of the general release of Spider-Man 3, beginning 2007's run of monumental summer movies which will eventually bring us At Worlds End, Shrek the Third, Order of the Phoenix, Rise of the Silver Surfer and Transformers.
We just got back from Sitiawan after spending 3 days with Irfan's grandparents there (and having the sotong celup tepung as well). Irfan made a new friend in the form of Opah Irfan's friend's grandson - one Amir from Melaka who was also on vacation in Sitiawan.
Today, we got home, grabbed Ain's two aunts and headed right for Berjaya TImes Square where we would be watching the IMAX presentation of Spider-Man 3.
The morning of our third day in Hawaii was bright and sunny. We enjoyed yet another marvelous buffet breakfast at the Rainbow Lanai, then we packed our stuff and headed out. We wanted to make sure that we would be able to park the car and spend some time snorkeling and swimming at Hanauma Bay! We got there around 9 AM, and this was what was waiting for us:
... is not really known from this photo of him, because we really have no idea which party Nathan Petrelli belongs to. But hey if you want a good quality in a congressman, why not settle one with the ability of flight, no?
Not to mention a brother who can absorb and retain powers of other supers.
After a refreshing night's sleep, we both woke up early local time (around 12:00 noon Eastern time) and went to have a big buffet breakfast (we LOVE the buffet at the Hilton Hawaiian Village!). It was nice and relaxing, sitting at the Rainbow Lanai. The day promised to be beautiful and sunny.
Already, we were feeling holiday-ey and summery, and laaaazy! Check out this hibiscus (bunga raya), the state flower of Hawaii (of course, the hibiscus is also the Malaysian National flower!)
So, on April 12th, we said good bye to Lily (who was staying home with daily visits from Carey, the pet-sitter - more on this at a later post), packed our bags, and lit out from one of the worst March/April I've ever experienced in this country to head to warmer climes: Hawaii!
It had been raining and at times flurrying (that's snow!) for days prior to our departure, not to mention temperatures were below zero (in April in Southern Ohio!!!), so we were glad we'd scheduled this trip to Hawaii when we did. However it did take a long time to get there.
We flew out of Dayton, first to Atlanta (2-hour flight) and then from Atlanta to Honolulu (10-hour flight). Not as long as the flight home to Malaysia, but still, a very long way away. Plus the fact that we first flew east to Atlanta increased our flight time! Even worse, as soon as I got on the Atlanta-Honolulu flight, my nose started running and I was sneezing and blowing my nose for the ENTIRE 10 hours!! Something on that flight did not agree with me, and it was freezing cold! My nose cleared up almost immediately as soon as we landed in Honolulu and I got off the plane. Sheeeesh...
Anyway, we arrived in Honolulu at 8:40 PM local time (2:40 AM Eastern Time, 2:40 PM Malaysian Time). By the time we got our luggage and picked up our rental car, it was close to 10 PM local time. So we drove straight to the hotel.
Spring is springing!!
Even though it's a high of 40F (5C) today, and there looks to be little granules of snow falling from the sky (no accumulation so far tonight) and the low tonight will be well below freezing, it's Spring!
Witness the crocuses:
For the first time in a long time, all four of Irfan's grandparents were at the same place and time. All the way from Sitiawan, Atok & Opah Irfan travelled to Pasir Mas to spend a couple of days there at Tok Bah & Tok Ma's house at Lubok Tapah. They came to attend Ain's cousin's wedding in Kota Bharu. Which turned out to be great vacation in the end.
Soon after their arrival, we went to the wedding kenduri where photos were taken and food was consumed. After the function, we left Tok Bah & Tok Ma to help with the cleanup as we out-of-town tourists went a-visiting beaches like Pantai Seri Tujuh, and Pantai Cahaya Bulan the next day where Irfan played with a kite.
There is no picture of the kite being played, but we do have these photos instead:
The Eye on Malaysia is its name and we went for a trip to Taman Tasik Titiwangsa for a look and for a ride. Well, Everyone else took the ride. Ain & I did not because Irfan didn't want to take a ride on it. We thought we might go later and at night to see the city skyline after dark, which might be beautiful.
Unless there's a citywide blackout.
In which case, the lack of a pretty landscape might be the least of our problems.
Since the arrival of Tiger Lily Belle (Lily, to those closest to her), Vin and I have hardly been able to take our eyes off of this little cutie. She sleeps on the bed with us sometimes, but normally on Vin's side. We play with her and pet her, and enjoy her loving company.
She's an amazing little creature! She rarely meows, unless she wants something. So she's not a chatty katty (which makes doing conference calls from home really easy). She's really careful with her claws and hasn't so far preyed on the furniture (knock wood), she likes to come and curl up with us, she sleeps with such abandon that she can comfortably lie in the weirdest positions as long as parts of her are on one of us.
Vin and I are both crazy about her!
Plus she is a sucker for the bunny on the string. Check out her acrobatics here:
If Schrödinger's cat meowed in a totally opposite way once upon a time, Irfan would have had totally different school friends from the ones he has now. So, I've tried taking photos by tripping the light fantastic (after a fashion) and using quantum visual camera with the Heisenberg compensators at level two. What I got was a series of photos of Irfan playing at friends' house as if I'd never choose to leave my old job and move to Kuala Lumpur.
Very interesting.
For the Thaipusam / Federal Territory Day holidays, we went for a free night's stay (plus one extra night of paid stay) at a resort at Cherating in Pahang. It was not realy in Cherating, but further up north towards Chukai, in the seaside hamlet of Chendor. (Don't ask about all the 'Ch' names at the towns there, I don't get it either.)
It was a resort by the sea, pretty clean, homey and had a relaxing atmosphere. I'm gonna let the pictures tell the stories and I'll be over there listening to MP3s if anyone needs me.
By the way, the free night stay was an belated anniversary and birthday present to us from Cik Emma. Many thanks to her for booting us out of the house so we can enjoy some fresh air outside the city.
As Hisham so kindly posted, my birthday was just last Monday, January 29th. It was a really good day, not to mention I began celebrating on Saturday with a small dinner party with friends.
I just wanted to do a quick recap, because as part of the birthday fun, something happened which will change Vin's and my life!
Last Saturday, my parents (also known as Irfan's Grandparents) came to spend several days with us. It was the first time, they saw Irfan all dressed up ready to go to school with his memory bag prepared for battle. It was also fun for them to be seeing Irfan spelling out words, writing the alphabet and reciting bedtime and mealtime doas. His claim that W was an inverted M is quite amusing.
A little bit of retrospective blogging: back to Mak and Abah's visit here. Even though it was early November, we had a nice warm-ish day, so we decided to head out to Miami University Middletown (MUM) tennis courts for a little exercise. Abah, of course, has been playing tennis (and playing it well) for 40 years. Hisham and I both learned to play when we were little, and I know I was never very good at it.
But I do love going outside, going to the courts, and getting some exercise (trying to beat Vin which I have never done yet - give me time!). So the four of us packed into the car, and took the short drive to MUM. We couldn't drive right up to the tennis courts (they closed the gate to the access road) so we parked the car in the car park a short walk away and walked on to the courts.
Yesterday was Ain's birthday. I thought I could have the money to buy a present for Ain this year. But we spent way over our regular budget this month getting Irfan prepared for kindergarten. So, maybe next year.
Anyway, there was cake as can be seen in the photograph below.
And apparently Irfan ain't partial to yoghurt cheese cakes.
Which is good news, cause there's more for me! 