The day after the bird park visit, there was another thing that Irfan wanted to do with his grandparents – which was to bowl. Actually the previous day we did attempt to travel to the bowling alley at Midvalley but the arcology was jam-packed with cars, so we instead went birdwatching. However, on this day we decided to see if the bowling alley at the mall known as the Mines Shopping Fair was good for a game. It was, so there we bowled. Only Irfan, Ain, Irfan’s Atok and I played, though Irfan’s Opah had a go during one of Ain’s round. One stand-out characteristic of the Mines Shopping Fair is the canal that runs through the mall itself. There are boats with which a visitor could be brought out to the lakes, either to the north or the south of the mall. Only Irfan and his granddad took a […]
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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.
Allie’s 23 Month Birthday
And Allie is now another month older. She was 23 months old last Tuesday, and now is not even a month away from her second birthday! How crazy is that? It feels just like yesterday when Allie was born and now, look at her: [[image:allie668a.jpg:Wearing her trademark barrette:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions It does seem like this year is flying by really quickly. Can you believe that we are almost done with June? Half the year is done already! Allie has been growing like a weed, and absorbing everything around her. In this past month, we had our usual trip to New Jersey for work, but we also got to meet up with Amy and Jef in Philly, and Allie had a lovely playdate with their son Reza. We also met up with Min and Aida, and Allie had a playdate, with Aida’s son Casey yesterday. It’s […]
Continue readingHappy Father’s Day! (Backdated)
This is a backdated entry in honor of Father’s Day. I managed to pick out some gifts for Vin (seen below) and Allie and Lily got together and sent Vin an e-card. In keeping with last year’s theme, Allie models Vin’s presents: [[image:allie638a.jpg:Take me out to the ballgame!:center:0]] Vin got to play in his Father’s Day baseball game, but Allie, Lily and I stayed home since Allie had slept in. Can you guess what Vin’s favorite baseball team is? [[image:allie633a.jpg:Toddler hat:center:0]] [[image:allie634a.jpg:Cubs dress:center:0]] [[image:allie635a.jpg:T-shirt with bear logo:center:0]] The bear logo is important as Allie loves all the shirts and hats that Vin and I have that have the actual cubs bear on it (and not just the “C”). She growls at it. So now she has some clothes that she can growl at when she goes to Vin’s games or goes to Chicago Cubs games with her Papa! And here […]
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An Exploration of the Aviary
Atok and Opah came a-visiting for the school holidays, and one of the places Irfan wanted to go with them was the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park. It was quite huge and housed many species of birds, most of which are free to fly about under the park’s netting enclosure. Sure, there were a number of cages which housed lots of the wilder birds, but the amount of birds walking, flying, perching and eating among the visitors were just astounding. Because it rained earlier in the morning, Irfan wore his Atok’s hat just in case it rained again. The hat stood by constantly in Atok’s car for emergency usage. Irfan later became a perch for a couple of colourful birds. He was happy the birds didn’t poop on him. Ain tried to fend off a bloodthirsty pack of crowned pigeons. Will the fence hold if the ostrich attacks? Irfan thought nervously. […]
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Subang Airport Pickup
After 10 days back in Pasir Mas, Irfan’s Cik Ma returned to KL by way of the old Subang Airport, which is now the new “Subang Skypark”. It seemed to have transformed from a musty warehouse airport into a 21st century shopping mall airport. Doors opened automatically for us and stuff! There were two banks in the building accessible from the inside! (Not that we had any cash in them.) One of those new-fangled Starbucks coffee shop too, which probably has coffee! Irfan posed before the Skypark’s big screen computer display of the inbound and outbound flights. His Cik Ma’s flight is on there, speeding closer to the airport. Also, someone has a new digital wristwatch. See? Wristwatch. Also, someone met his cousin Aiman who also came to the Skypark to see Cik Ma. Finally, the cousins rode on their Cik Ma’s trolley. Why? Because it’s cool, that’s why. I […]
Continue readingAllie’s 22 Month Birthday
So Allie turned 22 months old on the 22nd (yesterday)! Since it fell on a Saturday and I didn’t have to work, Vin and I had a fun day planned out for the girl. And I apologize way in advance for the sheer number of pictures in this entry. [[image:allie626a.jpg:Hey look, I’m in my entertainment center!:center:0]] (Allie wanted to try her old entertainment center again – she was much too tall for it but she had fun pretending to be half her age!) * Mouse over the pictures for captions So in the past month, Allie seems to have gone through a bit of a growth spurt. She’s outgrown her shoes and a bunch of her clothes so Vin and I have outfitted her for the summer with 24-month clothes. She definitely is very chatty and says a lot of things (none of them actual words), and her animal noise […]
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Five Years Already?
Exactly five years ago Vin and Sila got married. Happy fifth anniversary, you guys! May you guys be blessed with another hundred thousand centuries of happiness, and then some.
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Irfan’s Player Character Saves The Day
Irfan played his first complete Star Wars Role-Playing Game adventure today, as everyone’s favourite intrepid astromech droid Artoo-Detoo. He was awesome at figuring out solutions to simple problems that were presented in the scenario that I cooked up. He even role-played Artoo well by having in-character conversations in regular robotic beeps. We played on the living room carpet and I used the gamemaster (GM) screen for the first time ever, with the D6 rules and stats inserts I made. My coterie of white D6 were arrayed on the floor, while the singe red D6 served as a Wild Die. The scenario was designed to be short and with minimal story twists. Shortly after the Battle of Hypori that, Artoo-Detoo, the lone player character (PC), was sent by Clone Commander Cody for a mission. Orbiting the planet, say for story’s sake, Eiattu 6, Artoo’s task was to be flown from the […]
Continue readingAllie’s 21 Month Birthday
Yet another month has passed. Allie turned 21 months old on Earth Day (April 22nd). She had an action-packed day, and we all enjoyed it. [[image:allie580a.jpg:Roarrrrrrr:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions The days just pass by so quickly, that for the most part, Vin and I can barely keep track of them. This month seems to have just flown by in a blurry of work-travel, playing with Allie, trying to keep the house clean in the wake of Tornado Allie, and keeping the girl from attacking Lily too much. It’s just unbelievable how much dirt and laundry such a little thing can produce! She keeps growing (and growing out of her clothes and shoes) and learning more and more. She’s making up her own signs for many different things (like sleep, yawn, dance, etc.) and she’s imitating a lot of the catch-phrases from TV (she gets the tone […]
Continue readingIrfan Takes To The Alleys
The bowling alley, to be precise. Thanks to Irfan’s Cik Emma, we all went for a round of bowling last Sunday. Irfan was at first hesitant to pick up a bowling ball, but soon found himself having fun throwing the ball at the pins. The pins, I hoped, had fun being knocked down by us. [[image:bowling-01-01.jpg:Irfan the bowler:center:0]] Because we were assigned the rightmost lane, there’s space for us to take photos by the side of the alley.[[image:bowling-01-02.jpg:The gang?:center:0]] Irfan again, the moment before he pulled back and swung forward. He managed to hit a majority of the pins in one of his tries.[[image:bowling-01-03.jpg:Attempt to knock down pins:center:0]] He began to enjoy the game more and more.[[image:bowling-01-04.jpg:Running in victory:center:0]] Irfan’s Ummi lets loose a bowling ball. Because we recently saw the movie, she chuckled when I told her we needed a Donny so we can tell him to shut up.[[image:bowling-01-05.jpg:Rolling […]
Continue readingAllie’s 20 Month Birthday
It happened! On March 22nd (last Monday) Allie became a 20-month-old! We have no idea where the time went and suddenly she’s such a lively and independent little thing! She had a terrific day, even though Mama had to work. Papa manned the camera and took a ton of pictures. Here she is, smiling with her mouth full of blueberry & oatmeal breakfast: [[image:allie543a.jpg:Good morning!:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Luckily March has been much tamer weather-wise. Allie has gotten to go outside and play more, and take walks. It’s really been fun. I know I promised you pictures of the crazy snow, and one day I’ll get around to it. Another month of awesome developments. Allie can go up and down the stage steps completely upright (she had been crawling up and down the steps prior to this), and she is climbing on furniture. The sofa and […]
Continue readingSatay Kajang with Jen and Mike
After 10 years of being friends with Sila – and working with her even now – Jen Laaback visits Malaysia for the first time after vacationing for almost two weeks on a boat up in Thailand. Upon arriving at Kuala Lumpur, Jen, Mike and the rest of the company were accosted by Hisham and family who shanghaied them into having dinner at Samuri’s Satay Kajang which was located in Kajang, away from the throngs of other vacationeers and tourists, foreign and domestic. [[image:satay-with-jen-mike01.jpg:The gang at Samuri’s satay place:center:0]] Three points: They loved the load of tripe that was served, so more tripeloads next time; Irfan was shy and spoke little though he played with his Ultraman and dragon toy with the gang; and Jen figured out the old family joke with the signposts that begin with “Sila”, like “Sila beratur!” and “Sila diam!” [[image:satay-with-jen-mike02.jpg:Mike took this picture:center:0]] We hope you […]
Continue readingIrfan Meets a Cat
It’s not a stray because it seems to be well-fed, not unkempt and has a collar. It’s prowling the corridors outside the tenth floor. Naturally, Irfan tries his best to have fun with it, throwing ball and running around the corridors. It sometimes succeeds in bypassing the blockade and zips into the house, causing Irfan to gleefully try to corner it and chase it outside. [[image:cat-2010-mar-01.jpg:It’s a lion! Get in the car!!:center:0]] At the end of the day, Ain lets Irfan feed it some milk which it lapped up quickly. [[image:cat-2010-mar-02.jpg:Starring Sean Penn:center:0]] If no one claims it, i.e., it doesn’t belong to anyone on the tenth floor, then I should stick a notice downstairs. [[image:cat-2010-mar-03.jpg:oh hai wats goin on in dis post? kthxbai:center:0]]
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Wrath Of Diabolical Water Elementals!
While picking up Irfan from school in the very late afternoon, we were hit by a great, big thunderstorm the size of a big thunderstorm. There was a point where there was no delay between lightning and thunder. Driving to school, the windshield, which thankfully did its job keeping the wind out failed to ensure the rain slid off fast enough so we can see through it. Even the wipers were useless. On the way back, we had to cross Pandan Indah central to get from the school on the south side to our house on the north side. We discovered that we couldn’t because of flash floods. All the primary, secondary and the secret routes had a foot or so of water.So, we drove went to a mamak restaurant for some roti canai and warm drinks. Below, we can see some water on this side of the main road […]
Continue readingAllie’s 19 Month Birthday
Yet another month has gone by! Allie was 19 months old last Monday, February 22nd. It’s quite amazing how quickly time flies! [[image:allie529a.jpg:Yaya and Mama:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for added captions This has been quite the exciting month! For one thing, we have had a lot of snow, both here at home and on our road trips to New Jersey. It’s craziness! (Stay tuned for some snow pictures). And on top of that, Allie just keeps growing and developing. She is eating a lot of table foods and uses the food I make for her more like a base. It’s supplemented with all kinds of different things that Vin and I are eating. Plus she’s drinking a ton of whole milk out of her sippy cup. Linguistically, she may be on the verge of saying “Mama” (fingers crossed). She seems to be experimenting more now and possibly hopefully […]
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Irfan Goes To Space
Here we have Irfan sleeping soundly in zero-gee aboard the International Space Station’s bunk at Low Earth Orbit after a day’s work of repairing the Hubble Space Telescope. Not really. He did, however, have a fun time at the Planetarium, where there was a presentation at the theatre entitled Passport of the Universe. It was narrated by Colin Hanks’ dad. We lay back in the chairs to experience the hemispherical screen projection of the night sky that took us through interplanetary space past Mars, Jupiter and right under the rings of Saturn. Then the virtual camera went into interstellar drive where we finally saw stars began to move accordingly in the third dimension. We also went really fast as we went just short of a hundred parsecs a second to zoom past the stars of the Orion constellation and zip right into M42’s gaseous mass where we saw lots of […]
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