The ACS contingent takes one final group shot before leaving

Multi-Reunion at Mando Mayhem

Sometimes, being away from old friends can be an isolating feeling. Not this past weekend though. We travelled to PJ on Gray‘s invitation (with Imeel, another GM) to run Star Wars RPG sessions at the Star Wars Malaysia Fan Club‘s event entitled Mando Mayhem. I did not know what to expect as I have never gamemastered in public for visitors before. How fun would it be? Would I need to explain the rules too much that it detracts from playing? Would there be people who would not enjoy the sessions? The four sessions I GMed have been chronicled in another blog post. Day One at Jaya One Besides the new friends I made like Imeel, Hanna, James and Syed, a whole bunch of old friends also dropped by. For the first time, I had three different circle of friends showing up and interacting with each other. There was the old […]

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The table before the games begin

EOTE: The Mando Mayhem Sessions

Here are the actual play write-ups of the four sessions I ran at the KakiTabletop booth during the Mando Mayhem event organised by Star Wars Malaysia Fan Club. You can read about the reunion of friends during the two-day event in this blog post. Session 1: “UNION TROUBLES” (Saturday 2023-05-20; Rebellion Era.) DRAMATIS PERSONAE: 41-VEX, Droid Colonist (Hanna) Lowhhrick, Wookiee Hired Gun (Imeel) Dash Pash, Human Smuggler (Jason) Story resulting from Session 1: Upon landing in Mos Eisley, Tatooine, Dash Pash, Lowhhrick & 41-VEX are apprehended by Imperial sandtroopers. Apparently, three weeks earlier a YT-1300 freighter named Millennium Falcon launched from Mos Eisley and broke through a blockade. Dash Pash’s ship Cash is also a YT-1300 but painted with shades of pink. The Cash had landed safely in Landing Bay 41. Before they could object, the Imperials threw them all in a holding cell in a security office across the […]

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All in

First Visitors of 2023

Our first visitors for the year were Teik Sing, Michelle, Ashley, Emma and Ezra. Day One As mentioned before, Teik Sing and I have been best friends since we were 7 years old at ACS Sitiawan. Here we are decades later – with homes timezones apart – still being friends, talking about ideas and stories, old and new. I wish I had the resources to someday visit his home and talk shop there. Because Ain had to take care of her parents who had been visiting since last month, Irfan and I went to their hotel to greet them. Coincidentally we were using similar models of cars. First of all, we went to have some lok chin along the Kuala Perlis shoreline. We talked and the kids got to know each other some more. En route back to Kangar, we stopped at Kota Kayang Museum, but it was about to […]

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Purple voting finger

Purplish Finger

According to the online system, Irfan is registered to vote in Pandan Indah, Ain in Pasir Mas and I in Sitiawan. It appears they set our locations to default to the addresses on our identity cars. This is after I have changed my voting location to Perlis over the counter several years ago. In any case, we will need to change or addresses before the next General Elections. Later that day Ain and I caught up with our old friend Mei, who also returned to Sitiawan to vote. We saw Eva (and her little brother Connor) who last appeared in this blog when she was a little baby. At the time Eva had yet to develop locomotion. Then later that night we continued our gossiping at Chicketory. Why Chicketory? Because its name was Chicketory. We talked about the General Elections of Malaysia, old times, new times, a better Malaysia and […]

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See you guys next time

Old School Mates in Lumut

Not only is it Labour Day here in Malaysia, but it’s also Hari Raya Aidilfitri! It is very rare for our old school mates to meet up when we return home for the holidays. So it was a welcome pleasure to have met up with these dudes in Lumut. We talked about the future of the county, old times, lost friends and growing old. Never thought we would be talking about things like that.

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Two families

Dinner by the River

It was near lunch time when I received a message from my schoolmate Sam. He was in town on assignment and he brought his family with him. It had been a while since we saw each other, so we made dinner plans. Well, actually, he made dinner plans as I had been busy with work until about 6 p.m. A rendezvous was set at the Api-Api seafood restaurant by the river in Kuala Perlis. We talked of many things throughout dinner. We reminded our children that it had been 11 years since they last visited our house, a time Irfan could not at all recall. This restaurant was built at a mangrove swamp. It had been a while too since I smelled the smells of a swamp. My friends at school and I used to camp overnight in such a place. Thanks for coming, Sam. Hope you come for a […]

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Bye Is

An Old School Buddy Visits

Once upon a more innocent time I went to school, the result of which was I met many other school-age little humans many of which became my friend. I was 10 years old when I first met Iskandar. We were in the same class for a couple of years. But after school we rarely see one another until the Age of Digital Social Media. Recently, Iskandar and his family came to stay at our place for a weekend. Here are some of the photos of the visit. Last year we had an Aidilfitri pot luck at his folks’ house in Sitiawan. Come back soon, Is.

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Iskandar, Gnana, Nazri and I

ACS Sitiawan Hari Raya Meet

Before heading home, word circulated of a pot luck Hari Raya dinner at Iskandar’s house on the first night of Aidilfitri. I had not seen Iskandar since I was in school, so it felt like a great time to meet up with the entire crew, some I’d lost contact with when I transferred away from school when I was 16. We brought the last of Ain’s nasi dagang. The nasi lemak (contributed by the house) was delicious. Irfan, as per his modus operandi, attacked the pizza. So we spent the night consuming organic matter and catching up while Irfan corralled and looked after the little children as he is wont to do. The next day, Gnana and his eldest son came to visit and then we all went to Nazri’s home where Iskandar had just arrived. Apart from having some Hari Raya spaghetti which Irfan loved a little too much […]

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Aeon meetup

Another New Year Reunion

This year we returned to Sitiawan for Chinese New Year because Teik Sing and family are back home from abroad! The last time we met was over two years ago when they visited us at the Tenth Floor, when Ezra was still a baby! We met at the biggest shopping mall in Sitiawan, which in itself still causes cognitive dissonance with me because Sitiawan had no malls when I lived here and we had to travel far and away for me to reach any mall. In any case, full complement of our families including Ivy met up in the afternoon. We occupied two tables at Secret Recipe to talk and stuff! Teik Sing and Michelle gave us a really well-sculpted NCC-1701-D USS Enterprise as a gift. I also received a drawing of BB-8 by Ashley, who is turning out to be an excellent artist! We gave Lat’s Kampung Boy and […]

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Chicken and stuff

Childhood Friends vs Chicken Wings

I called up Nazri to find out if he was in town for Eid and discovered that a bunch of folks from school were. There was a plan to meet up later that night at Aeon, at a chicken wing restaurant that I never went to before. Before long, Shahmar, Nazri, Sam and I had assembled there to talk of old times and new. Because the meet up went into extra time, the wives and children (including Ain and Irfan) went for a showing of Hotel Transylvania 2. We had to vacate the premises and relocate to the nasi kandar restaurant outside the mall to continue, where we were later joined by Din. All in all, it was an enjoyable time meeting childhood buddies.

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Not the DS9 Promenade

Salam Aidilfitri from Sitiawan Again

Semalat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri and Eid Mubarak from the ol’ hometown. From the our household, who are spending the Eid at Irfan’s Atok and Opah’s place. We drove home from KL at 2am. Everyone except Ayah Cik, Cik Dik, Yaya and Adik! Whom we all miss. Lumut promenade at the waterfront was all lit up and filled with merry makers and street vendors. Irfan met Qayyum and they talked about the Transformers. They also saw Transformers the Movie. The last day before we left, there was a gathering of old ACS schoolmates at Nazri’s house. I met old friends I’ve not seen in more than 25 years! We casted off early for our journey back toward KL at 3am.

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33 years of friendship

Dinner with Tsing and Michelle

Tsing, Michelle and their kids visited us for dinner last night. Having us as one of their regular stops during their vacation never fails to warm my heart. The last time they were back there were two children in two. This time there’s three! Unfortunately I did not take a photo of baby Ezra because he was busy playing the keyboard, then sleeping.

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Hishgraphics H

A Bunch of Boys Bled on Boulders By the Beach

by Khairul Hisham Note: This essay is slightly edited from a 1000 word assignment for Professional Writing 1: Core Competency submitted last Sunday June 30. The story is a composite of several experiences I had as a teenager. Not sure if the right people as mentioned were present for the bulk of this story. If you’re reading this and you were there but I didn’t mention you, let me know. Not you, Ming Fang. You pipe down. The cerulean sky had not the slightest taint of cloud above us as we dismounted our bicycles upon our arrival at Teluk Batik beach. I don’t recall whose idea it was but it was the consensus among the four of us that we would walk the trail over the hills to Teluk Rubiah beach and then headed back to Teluk Batik by way of the shore. Ming Fang adjusted his glasses and excitedly […]

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Year Minus one group

Schoolmates From A Thousand Generations Ago

Nowadays when I return to Sitiawan for Chinese New Year, I rarely get to meet old ACS classmates. It’s because either they’re away at the in-laws, or their family has moved elsewhere, or I don’t communicate to anyone my balik kampung. This year I had two meet ups! The first was with Teck Chee and Cheong Lee at the new mall, Aeon Sri Manjung. They were a year younger than me at school. We had a great time talking about old friends and where they are now. Later that night I met my former classmate Sathya. I met him right at this white wall where I had some sort of coffee and Star Wars talk ensued, as they are wont to be when Sathya is around. Gnana was also present but also via Sathya’s iPhone. And initial plans were made for a class reunion in the near future. Who wants […]

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Wotsit?

Wotsit?

Back in secondary school, for some reason that I can’t recall anymore we suddenly had this bat as our mascot so to speak. Its name, Wotsit the Confused Bat, also popped up unbidden. It was easy to doodle and we doodled it here and there and everywhere. There was an earlier design where the bat had no moth and bigger shoes, but we finally decided on this design, created by my best friend. Here it is once again, in  a digitally painted form, for old time’s sake.

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