After the MAHSA visit, it was time to take it easy. The penultimate day of our visit we scouted Kuala Lumpur, checking out Pandan Indah though there were no photos taken there. We did have lunch at Burger King at the Petronas near Lotus Ampang (formerly Tesco). We also checked out the new (relatively new for us) KL East Mall where Irfan bought shoes and got some books. One of them was a gift for Anya. Then we visited cousin Razlyn’s house. We had not seen her for years. We expressed our condolences for the passing of her father and my uncle, whom we called Anjang. When I travelled to KL after SPM for various interviews and such, I stayed a lot with them. Anjang was nothing but kind to me. At home, I gave the book to Anya and that night we had a family dinner out in Nilai. […]
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On top of spaghetti all covered with cheese
A list of our family’s adventures through this simulated universe. Strangely, this is represented by several methods. Firstly, my thoughts in words and then a host of two-dimensional images configured for the human visible spectrum. Finally the blog itself as a medium of information. Also, sometimes there is cake.
Aidiladha in Selangor
It was Hari Raya Aidiladha. We drove down south towards Salak Tinggi to Anya’s house even though they were spending their first few days in Kelantan. They would return home when we were still there. For the first few days, we were at their place with Cik Su F as company. On the third day of our visit, I went to call on Shide at his office/events space Area 27 Events and Co-working Space in Bandar Baru Seri Petaling . Then, then next day I met up with my former student Aidil to plan for the MAHSA University meeting. Here are the pictures of the first few days in Selangor. The next day, we visited MAHSA University.
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Nipah Klasik
We discovered this really neat restaurant recently. The eatery is nestled among a thick grove of nipah plants growing out of a swamp slightly south of Simpang Empat. Besides having food that we found delicious, the actual restaurant was built on stilts over the swamp. Visitors can sit at tables over the water. The water beneath is clean and clear. No bugs bothered us. Though there were some spider webs that Irfan kept his eye on as we had lunch there. Check out the video below for a walk-through of the restaurant over the swamp.
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An Aidilfitri in Sitiawan
Hari Raya Aidilfitri was a couple of days ago as we rolled into the month of Shawwal in the year 1443. We were in Sitiawan for the holidays and here are some pics from our time there! Selamat Hari Raya Maaf Zahir & Batin, everyone.
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Two Lines
It has been almost two years since the pandemic officially kicked off in the country. After many mutations, the former denizens of the Tenth Floor (now in Transitory State) are now infected by the virus. At time of writing, there has been 440 million infections and 6 million deaths worldwide, while in Malaysia there has been 3.5 million recorded infections and 33 thousand has died because of it. Now we are part of the statistics. We are thankful to have been triple vaccinated, so the symptoms have not been as severe as they could be. For me I have been experiencing fever and sore throat, especially at nights. As such we are all now in a 7-day home quarantine since our first day of infection, while monitoring our vital stats to be submitted to MySejahtera twice daily. Here’s hoping for the best.
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A Book Writing Project on Pulau Pinang
And so it came to pass that I was invited on another project. This time we were to write and edit an elementary-level English language school book for Perlis. The team consisted of workplace colleagues and a selection of Perlis’ primary school teachers. We had to produce both English and Bahasa Malaysia books, so we split into two groups. Like the previous month, we headed to Pulau Pinang to do our work. On the First and Second Day… I mostly worked, except for when we had to dine together as a team. We stayed at Copthorne Orchid Hotel, at Tanjung Bungah and the view from the hotel was gorgeous. Check out the photos below. Also, in the early evening after my work was done for the day, we went for a stroll at the beach. Previously we were unable to bring Irfan along as he was stuck in his polytechnic […]
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A Translation Project on Pulau Pinang
And so it came to pass I was invited to participate in a project for a team of researchers at the university. My role there was to translate and edit the document they wrote from the research they made. Day One On the first day, we went off the PLUS Highway and took the old Federal road from Gurun all the way to Butterworth, then swung about to take the Penang bridge towards George Town. But before we went to the town, we had brunch at the nasi kandar cafe at USM. Ain thought that USM could be a great place for Irfan to further his studies. Later. Maybe. InshaaAllah. After some photos taken at the university, we headed downtown to Cititel Hotel where we checked in. Later that day I started my translation work with the research team. Day Two On the second day, we had quite a big […]
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Anya Surprises Irfan
Irfan was feeling pretty exhausted physically and emotionally having to study at his college. Well, everyone feels that these days especially because of the COVID-19 pandemic that has petered out this last few months. So, we thought we’d give Irfan a happy surprise by NOT letting him know that his cousin Anya was coming to visit. Here is the moment, as he was walking to where we usually waited with the car, he realised that we had extra visitors with us: After the meeting everyone went to have dinner at Irfan’s school cafe. Three Days Later… That was three days ago. Earlier today, Irfan and Anya had even more fun at the college car park with a catapult. It shot a plastic rotor toy with blinking lights into the air and, well here’s the video: It was one of the best moments for Irfan living at the school, he told […]
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Anniversary: Year 21
For the first time ever, we celebrated our anniversary tonight at a hotel. Five years ago or so, I would have never dared to dream we could do this. In any case, it was the best choice as there was not many other patrons in the hotel cafe. Nothing much to report for the evening, other than the food was nice, the ambience was enjoyable, and I am pretty certain we can use the sofa set in the lobby to play role-playing games.
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Sunset During Pandemic
These days, after the car occupancy restrictions was lifted, we travel the state a bit for a change of scenery. This is not a big state so there are not many places to visit, but those we could does not disappoint us with the quality of their beauty. One such place is the the golden hour on the shore facing Langkawi Island. Also, we still wear masks as I do not believe in risking our health with the COVID-19 pandemic still hovering over us ominously. Click on the photos for bigger images.
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Nineteen Years of Irfan
It’s that time of the year again! In the morning, Ain made telur bungkus for breakfast with French fries. Later that evening, we went to the cafe at a hotel in town for a birthday dinner. We ordered something nice. I liked the ice cream cheese cake that Ain got at a bakery earlier, plus I love peaches. The best part was that there were not many others with us. So our little celebration was undisturbed by Guavian Death Gang. Before we left we gifted half the cake to the staff of the hotel’s cafe. We think they stored it in the refrigerator and devoured it at the end of their shift. Because of the pandemic, Irfan still lives with us. I do not know how much longer we have together before we would be unable to celebrate like this in the future. In the meantime, I am grateful for […]
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Cousins Play Remotely
I wish that when I was growing up I could play like this with other kids. Irfan has been creating, crafting and exploring in Minecraft with his cousins. Which cousins? All of them. The latest to join is Rania. With Irfan, she has crafted an entire homestead in their server. Because she’s still 6 years old, her playtime is limited, but they do get into a lot of adventures online. Rania’s even played with Rafiq all the way on the other side of the planet! Besides Minecraft, Irfan and Rania also explore Roblox environments. Wonderful how technology allows us to play games together even thousands of kilometres apart.
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Second Pandemic Eid of 2021
Sure, we had Aidilfitri a couple of months ago. Before long Aidiladha was before us. As usual we stayed at home. I imamed the Aidiladha prayers for Ain & Irfan. Ain made laksa johor with the help of my colleague Azreen’s pre-packaged spice. Ultimately we stayed at home and watched TV. (I put on The Empire Strikes Back for the most part.) And that was how we spent our second Aidiladha during the pandemic.
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25-Year Blind Date Still Going Strong
The year was 1996 Exactly 25 years ago today I went on a blind date with this woman in the photo. There was no cameras at the time. We spent time at an A&W’s, then took a walk at the beach accompanied by our mutual friends. We got wed 4 years later and I believe that very first date that began in 1996 has not yet ended even today. (The photo is from several months later in 1996 where we visited Hutan Lipur Sekayu with Atok and Opah who came to visit and have yet to become an Atok and an Opah.)
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The Outbreak Aidilfitri II
Previously, on “The Outbreak Aidilfitri”… It has been 12 lunar months since the last Hari Raya and now Eid has returned, just in time for another nationwide lockdown. So that means we are unable to balik kampung again during the festive season. We had actually planned to spend Eid at a hotel but I decided against it for safety’s sake. For both days of Eid, we went for drives all around the state, staying away from crowds and other humans in generals. Day One On the First Day of Hari Raya, we went to nearby locations taking family photos. We stopped near Irfan’s history teacher’s house because of the greening bendang padi there. The riceplants were starting to sprout at their tapak semaian turning their nursery plots green after a month or so of being mud brown. We also went to the Grape Farm at Sungai Batu Pahat. But we […]
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A Woodball Weekend
And so it came to pass that my former student Aidil invited Ain and I to play woodball at the university’s woodball field. With Irfan away at college, we thought it would be a great way to pass the time and learn new things. Apparently woodball is big at the university. The game feels like a mixture of golf and croquet. The video will tell the story better than words would. So, here is the video. Thanks to Aidil and the Woodball Club for the invitation.
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