Northern California: Part I

For Christmas, Vin and I went roving again…this year we flew to San Francisco, and stayed in Northern California for 8 days. Part I will cover the first few days we were there – these are the days we spent in San Francisco proper (we arrived in San Fran Tuesday morning December 20th, and stayed until Thursday December 22nd early […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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Raya Sitiawan 05

Eid Mubarak from Sitiawan

Eid Mubarak, and Selamat Hari Raya from Irfan Shafiq, Khairul Hisham and Nurul Ain. Here are some family photos from the morning of the first day of Aidilfitri. Present are Irfan’s grandparents and the family of his Opah Ngah. Unfortunately, Tok Irfan wasn’t feeling to good earlier in the morning. He went for a check up at the clinic and […]

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Maryland – Part II

As promised, here’s Part II of our trip to Maryland. Aside from fishing, during the day and a half we spent there, we ate our fill in Maryland’s pride and joy, the Maryland Blue Crab. Dean and Dolores who live in Crisfield, MD, live in a house where the back yard opens out into canals which lead to the Chesapeake […]

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Posing for the photo

Pre-Aidilfitri at Pasir Mas

As was blogged earlier, three days before Deepavali were spent at Lubuk Tapah, Pasir Mas. Not only were there the pre-Aidilitri preparations going on, but they were also getting ready for the wedding of Ain’s cousin some time after the festivities, which Ain & I will have to miss. What is there to report at Tok Bah and Tok Ma’s […]

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Maryland – Part I

Hisham’s reminiscing has prompted me to finally take action – all this summer I have been procrastinating making some family related entries. Vin’s family had several family-related occasions and I have been meaning to blog them. Rather than doing them in chronological order, I am going to organize it a little differently. In early August, Vin and I traveled to […]

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Irfan Goes To Opah Cu’s House

Earlier this year, when we were in Sitiawan we went Irfan’s Opah Cu’s house in Ipoh, the capital of Perak. As usual, upon arriving at a brand new location for him, Irfan took a dump in his diapers. (That never fails, by the way.) Besides that, he had a lot of fun with his great aunt, his aunt and two […]

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5 years ago

5 Years Ago…

… Ain & I got married. Last night, after Irfan slept early and we left him in the care of his Cik Emma, Ain & I went to see Mr. & Mrs. Smith at GCS Midvalley (where they’re replaying the summer blockbusters for half price), got something to eat in a doggie bag, went home to eat it, and then […]

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Irfan, his dad and mom

Irfan Cuts His Cake and Eats It Too

“I want to eat the Happy Birthday Cake!” Irfan begged for hours after seeing the number three-shaped vanilla cake with the Tigger-esque toon on it. He wasn’t getting it until everyone arrived of course. There were, yet to arrive, his Mak Long and Ayah Long, and his Cik Eda and her roommates. So all day long, he staked out the […]

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Irfan with two new grandmothers

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY IRFAN!

The two new grandmothers, September 2002. Three years ago, Irfan Shafiq was born at Kuala Lumpur General Hospital. Within that three years, he’s given not just his mother and I a lot of joy, but a lot of other people in our extended family as well. We’ll be cutting cake in the next few hours, so we’ll have pictures of […]

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Irfan Goes To The Zoo

Last Sunday, Irfan (along with a bunch of family members) went to the zoo! Here’s a series of photos that came out of our little zoo trip. [[image:zoo01.jpg:Immediately after insertion into zoo:center:0]]The crew lead by Irfan walks by the elephant paddock, away from it because he was spooked by the big pachyderms. [[image:zoo02.jpg:Stork lake:center:0]]Irfan and his Aunt Emma with some […]

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Mak & Abah at Dungun, Terengganu

Here we are over 100 posts in this blog and not once did even say that I worked for seven years at the East Coast of the Peninsular Malaysia. I hate talking about the place. No, I don’t mean Terengganu is an awful place. Far from it. It has some of the most beautiful beaches in the country. The people […]

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More playing

What Happened on Independence Day 2005?

What happened was that a bunch of my old classmates and I (with some of our family) met at 1 Utama mall in Bandar Utama. We then proceeded to the open air Rainforest location of the new wing of 1 Utama, cobbled together 4 of the little round tables (and 1 square table) Burger King had scattered in their area […]

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Henna

Malay weddings aren’t complete without henna. Malay culture isn’t the only one to include henna in its rites and rituals. Henna is an ancient tradition practised by many ancient cultures, and is an integral part of weddings and childbirth for Hindu as well as Muslim cultures. I had hoped that one of the benefits of marrying out of my own […]

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