Perth – Part 2

After a good night’s sleep, Vin and I were ready to tackle the first full day in Perth. While poor Mei and Colin had to go to work, EJ picked us up and took us to see the sights. [[image:oz05.jpg:EJ and his car:center:0]] *Note – please mouse over the pictures for captions. [[image:oz06.jpg:Perth across the Swan River:center:0]] [[image:oz07.jpg:Perth Skyline from the Swan Brewery:center:0]] [[image:oz08.jpg:Vin and EJ:center:0]] [[image:oz09.jpg:Pretty Tree:center:0]] After lunch at the Swan Brewery, we headed to Kings Park. We decided to feel the wind in our hair, drive with the top down! [[image:oz10.jpg:EJ driving:center:0]] [[image:oz11.jpg:Vin enjoying the sun:center:0]] Here we are in Kings Park. Look at the lovely trees: [[image:oz12.jpg:Tree-lined road:center:0]] EJ pointed out some interesting Australian flora: [[image:oz13.jpg:Kangaroo Paw:center:0]] [[image:oz14.jpg:Blooming plant – I forget the name:center:0]] [[image:oz15.jpg:Vin and EJ with Perth Skyline in the background:center:0]] [[image:oz16.jpg:Cenotaph – A War Memorial:center:0]] [[image:oz17.jpg:Vin and EJ by the Cenotaph:center:0]] [[image:oz18.jpg:Inside the […]

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Perth – Part 1

Just a short entry on our arrival in Australia. We arrived in the late afternoon in Perth, and my best friend Mei picked us up from the airport. We stuffed the luggage and ourselves into the mini (Note: Vin fits quite nicely into a mini cooper!) and headed to Mei and Colin’s place. We settled in, and then met up with Eu-Jene, Indra, Colin and some of Mei’s work friends for drinks and then dinner at EJ’s favorite restaurant: Uncle Billy’s. [[image:oz04.jpg:Vin, EJ and me:center:0]] [[image:oz01.jpg:Vin and Colin:center:0]] [[image:oz02.jpg:Mei and EJ:center:0]] [[image:oz03.jpg:EJ and his (then) future bride Indra:center:0]] As you can see, Vin and I are looking a little rough – we’d flown from the US to KL just a couple of days ago, then another 6 hours on the plane to Perth. Whew! We needed a nap after our dinner. Tune in later for more adventures in Perth!

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Malaysia Trip – Part I

I know I’ve been quiet. I don’t know why but somehow I sort of slipped into a bit of a hibernation period. I haven’t really done very much, haven’t swept the floors either (that’s next on the list). I really have to get started on sharing the pictures from our awesome 4-week trip (3 weeks in Malaysia, 1 week in Australia). So here it is, the beginning of the sequence. These are the pictures that I took the first few days we got home. I admit it – I was pretty exhausted and didn’t take as many pictures as perhaps I should have, plus then the camera battery conked out and all kinds of excuses. We were only in Malaysia for 2 and a half days before we had to set off for Perth. So we stayed on the 10th floor (enjoying the view) with Hisham and the rest of […]

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Starships of the Galaxy by Uncle Gary

Another one of Irfan’s Uncle Gary’s writing project has been officially been announced by Wizards of the Coast, which is Starships of the Galaxy for Star Wars Roleplaying Game – Saga Edition Core Rulebook the third edition of the d20 gaming rules. The book was a collaborative effort between Gary, Owen Stephens and Rodney Thompson. I’ve seen the Saga Edition Core Rulebook on display at Kinokuniya the other day, but I haven’t bought it yet. I’ve heard good reviews about it and maybe someday I’ll get a crew together to sit down and play it. Heck, I’ve only played the d20 revised core rule book version via a Play-By-E-Mail game that didn’t really finish. Maybe I’ll start a new crew beginning with this little guy beside me not really quietly playing with the N-1 fighter I got 8 years ago free with a Happy Meal. But the real question about […]

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Shane meets Tom Zarek

And On The 501st Post, Shane Meets Apollo

Yes, really. Awesome wikked. Take it away, Shane: Today was the Winnipeg Comic Con. Richard Hatch was the big reason I wanted to go. JUST to get a pic of him and I together and an autograph. I did that very early on in the day, think I was third in line. I knew later he had this acting/improv/rpg character creation session. I went, thinkin that there was gonna be a million people and I’d get stuck in the back and not even get to interact with him. The room turned out to be very small, and there were only about 50 people. Me, sitting up front. He starts asking why people are here. I raise my hand. Suddenly, I’m talking to Apollo. One on one….I’m mentioning about being a GM and wanting to crerate better stories. He then talks about how RPGing and being a GM is harder than […]

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Pacific Northwest: Part XI (Vancouver – Night)

After walking around Vancouver, we were pretty tired, so we met up with Lilian for a spot of dinner. Come see what we had! [[image:pacnw149.jpg:Olive Tapenade appetizer:center:0]] [[image:pacnw150.jpg:Scallops appetizer:center:0]] [[image:pacnw151.jpg:Baby Octopus and Asparagus appetizer:center:0]] [[image:pacnw152.jpg:Seafood Risotto:center:0]] [[image:pacnw153.jpg:Lamb chops:center:0]] [[image:pacnw154.jpg:Fish (I forgot what kind now):center:0]] [[image:pacnw155.jpg:Chocolate cake and bread pudding in the background:center:0]] We had us a veritable feast! Yummy! I was so involved with the food that I didn’t even take any pictures of people. Seriously. *ishhhh* So we said our goodbyes to Lilian, as we were heading back to Seattle and home to Ohio the next day. It was a really fun trip, and I’m looking forward to getting together with Vincent and Lilian again next year! (Or whenever the next get together might be). Here are some pictures of the view from our room at night – a bit blurry. Sorry, my hand is not as steady as […]

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Which Transformer Are You?

It’s Athena’s fault. Suddenly I’m 84% Optimus Prime! Optimus Prime Optimus Prime is the heroic leader of the Autobots. He is the personification of courage, strength, and integrity. His personal motto is that “Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.” Like Optimus Prime, you are good by nature. But beware because mischievous thoughts sometimes tempt you. You are inspiring, confident, and a natural leader. The Autobots have chosen well. In addition, you enjoy being one step ahead of your friends as far as trends and technology. I AM 84% OPTIMUS PRIME Take the Transformers Quiz

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Pacific Northwest: Part IX (Journey to Vancouver)

I know, it’s been a long time and I haven’t finished posting our Pacific Northwest story. Here’s the next installation. Just a quick recap to remind everyone where we were: we had said goodbye to Vincent and been handed off to Lilian, who we would drive back up to Vancouver. Here’s Lil, as we drive by Boeing on our way north: [[image:pacnw115.jpg:Bye bye Boeing:center:0]] The day was still gloomy though: [[image:pacnw116.jpg:Cloudy skies:center:0]] Here we are at the border. The Peace Arch park: [[image:pacnw117.jpg:Peace Arch Park:center:0]] [[image:pacnw118.jpg:Bye bye USA:center:0]] [[image:pacnw119.jpg:Big tree by the border:center:0]] Our first glimpse of Vancouver: [[image:pacnw120.jpg:Vancouver!:center:0]] We ate lunch with Lil, but then it started to rain. We dropped her off at her place and met David and Miriam. [[image:pacnw122.jpg:Bye bye Lil:center:0]] [[image:pacnw121.jpg:Looking upwards:center:0]] Then we headed to our hotel. No point going sightseeing when it’s so foggy and rainy and ugh. Some pictures at the hotel […]

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Pacific Northwest: Part VIII (Addendum: Artsy Seattle)

Now that my little spate of patriotism is over, and it’s September (Happy Labor Day Weekend everyone! And YAAAAY to Monday being a holiday!), a little addendum to day we spent walking around Seattle. Aside from the cleanliness, as has been remarked upon by several people, there was a lot of artwork displayed in and around the city. They’ve also architected the city to be sort of artsy and functional at the same time. I took a bunch of random snapshots and decided to group them together in this entry. Just look at this cool fountain: [[image:pacnw85.jpg:Fountain where we had lunch:center:0]] Please hover over the images for the captions. [[image:pacnw84.jpg:More Lavender:center:0]] [[image:pacnw83.jpg:The Pacific Science Center:center:0]] [[image:pacnw88.jpg:Monorail coming into the station:center:0]] [[image:pacnw90.jpg:Sculpture and building:center:0]] [[image:pacnw91.jpg:Water sculpture – there’s a walkway through the waterfall, so cool:center:0]] [[image:pacnw97.jpg:Taking pictures of pig sculptures:center:0]] [[image:pacnw98.jpg:Arrr Matey – Vin and Vincent and the Pirate Pig:center:0]] [[image:pacnw101.jpg:Reminds […]

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Pacific Northwest: Part VII (Walking Around Seattle)

After the Space Needle, the first thing we did was get ourselves an early lunch at the Bite of Seattle. It’s a big food fair where tons of local restaurants manned little booths and we got to taste a bunch of different foods pretty cheaply. It was a smorgasbord of delights. I ended up eating fresh shrimp rolls, pad thai, and a bunch of other little snacks. However, it turns out, I was so busy looking through all the booths and foods that I didn’t actually take that many pictures! None of the stalls! Just this one of Vincent and Lil while Lil ate her lunch: [[image:pacnw86.jpg:Vincent and Lil by a funky fountain:center:0]] It took a while for us to decide what we wanted, but since it wasn’t even noon yet, it wasn’t too crowded so we didn’t have to queue up for too long to purchase our food. We […]

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Pacific Northwest: Part VI (Seattle and the Space Needle)

I meant to blog more over the weekend but I got distracted with other stuff (don’t even ask me what because I can’t seem to account for too much of the time, except I did watch 2 movies at home on Saturday night). But excuses aside, here’s the next part about our travels in the Pacific Northwest. We picked Lil up at the train station, and then turned in for the night. The next morning, we had breakfast and went off to see Seattle! But on the way there, we saw a semi truck that was on fire (did Starscream manage to score a direct hit on Optimus Prime?). The EMTs were there and firemen were putting out the fire. I whipped out my handy dandy camera and got a quick shot of it but after the last of the flames were put out: [[image:pacnw74.jpg:Fire’s out:center:0]] Then, our first glimpse […]

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Pacific Northwest: Part V (Lavender Farm and Back to Seattle)

So many things to blog about, so little time to actually do it! Picking up the travel from the Dungeness Spit, we drove east to Kingston to catch the ferry back to Seattle. On the way there though, we kept seeing signs for lavender farms so we took a quick detour: [[image:pacnw61.jpg:Lavender Farm:center:0]] So we stopped for some pictures: [[image:pacnw64.jpg:Vincent photographing the lavender:center:0]] [[image:pacnw62.jpg:Fragrant and pretty:center:0]] [[image:pacnw63.jpg:Lavender!:center:0]] [[image:pacnw65.jpg:Vin in a field of lavender:center:0]] There was a little gazebo in the middle of the field, with lavender lemonade. Except the lavender lemonade didn’t really taste like lavender, just like lemonade… But nice and cool to quench our thirst. Plus it was free, so who’s complaining, right? [[image:pacnw67.jpg:Vincent in the gazebo:center:0]] [[image:pacnw66.jpg:Lavender Kings:center:0]] After we bought some lavender products (lavender caramels which again, did not taste like lavender, lavender sachets, etc.), off we went to the ferry terminal. Unlike our trip to […]

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Pacific Northwest: Part IV (Dungeness Spit)

After our disappointing Hurricane Ridge outing, we had to recover so we opted for an early lunch. We were planning to have a big sushi-buffet feast for dinner, so if I recall correctly, my lunch consisted of clam chowder, a few of Vin’s fries, and a slice of chocolate cake. A highly nutritional meal, no? 😉 But, lo and behold, after lunch, as we drove onwards, the sun came back out. We decided to risk stopping at Dungeness Spit. [[image:pacnw51.jpg:Dungeness Signboard:center:0]] Before you ask what this is, and if we expected expectorating when we were there, it’s basically a long, narrow strip of land that sticks out the coastline in the shape of somebody hocking a loogie. It was pretty foggy though. Pretty much the best picture I could get of the Spit is this one, taken from the overlook by the parking lot. [[image:pacnw52.jpg:Dungeness Spit:center:0]] [[image:pacnw50.jpg:Vin and Vincent at […]

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Pacific Northwest: Part I (Hoh Rainforest)

Last month, we packed our bags and took a flight to Seattle, WA for an almost week-long Pacific Northwest extravaganza. We met up with our friend Vincent (a citizen of Gloomville), who went to good old ACS way back when, and who is an Admin at the Unofficial ACS Alumni Forum, and he had thoughtfully planned an itinerary for us. We arrived in the evening and Vincent took us out to a lovely dinner (but we didn’t take any pictures because we were so out of it from the flight that I forgot to take pictures). We checked in to our hotel and Vincent said goodbye, but he would be back early the next morning for the first thing on our Pacific Northwest itinerary was to go to the Olympic Peninsula for a couple of days. This means an early morning ferry ride on a weekday (to escape the huge […]

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Who, Me?

Well! It’s been a while, and I apologize for being so slow about it, but it’s been a busy July (see? now August oredi..). Since Hijack Queen tagged me, could it be true? Am I? Really? Little ol’ me? Well, shucks! Thanks 🙂 [[image:rockingirl.jpg:I Rock?:center:0]] Thanks, Queen! Let’s party like it’s 1999! So let’s pass it on. I tag you, Rockin’ Girls: 1. LiLiaN who, is rockin’ towards her PhD 2. Athena who is in a rockin’ new grove 3. PreciousKambing on rockin’ Planet Kambing Rock on, girls!! (Sila gives the “rockin’” hand sign and sticks her tongue out a la Gene Simmons, and rocks on to the sunset to the soundtrack from This is Spinal Tap)

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Children of the Horned Rat

Gary’s Book Nominated for 3 Ennies

Congratulations to Gary Astleford for getting the book he co-wrote for Black Industries, Children of the Horned Rat nominated for 3 Ennie awards. The nominations are for Best Interior Art, Best Writing and Product of the Year. Product of the Year is a hell of a big deal, of course, but I am very proud of him for the nomination for Best Writing. I seem to remember a conversation with Gary a long time ago. It was on how gaming products nowadays focus too much on rules, or intersperse rules with fluff on the campaign world… as opposed to try not breaking the fourth wall and write the book as if it was genuinely from that campaign universe. Then finally have all the custom rules for the book and such be an afterthought but easily accessible and indexed when required. Now, going by the subtext of the Best Writing award, […]

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