A Wakanda Weekend

We got a bit of a windfall upon my sacrifice of Saturday mornings teaching the previous semester, so I decided we would take a break and head down to the mall in Alor Setar. For the first time since moving here we had food at the Chicken Rice Shop. I think the last time we had some were at Berjaya Times Square. We also caught our first movie of for the year, which is Black Panther. As with other Marvel Studios films, this one also eludes a particular genre being pinned on it. It was definitely more than just a superhero movie. The story is enjoyable. I wish there was a Wakanda sourcebook that features all the peoples and cultural elements they created for the fictional nation. Shuri and M’Baku were scene stealers and I was glad to learn that they would be back in Avengers: Infinity War later in […]

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Ifas at dusk

Sunset Dinner by the Sea

After I returned home from the academic workshop we decided to have dinner at the beach. So we took a trip west towards the sea. Before exiting the car, we had a video chat with Nia Nia on the phone. Then we enjoyed the sun which was dropping fast onto Langkawi Island, from our point of view. The last time I had some seafood here, by the way, I had a really bad gout attack. So, no seafood for me. So with seafood out of the way, I only had “food” to deal with. This one is quite… gravy-ish. The colours splashed onto the sky and sea this evening was unique, not like any sunset I have seen before. Click on the above pic to expand the photo of the non-binary sunset. Click on the pic above to expand the silhouette of Irfan in the fading light of dusk.

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Burger

Further Gastronomical Adventures with Atok and Opah

More photos from Irfan’s grandparents’ visit chronicled two further sojourn to sample food at eateries nearby. I should think it was a collective celebration not just of their anniversary but also of Sila’s birthday which as you know falls on the same day. Additionally, my birthday would raise its head several days later. First we would treat them. Then they treated us. Bottom line, though, I am still astounded that we are able to afford these types of food these days. Granted they are cheaper than similar food in Kuala Lumpur, but we would not be able to afford these prices back then neither. Enjoy the photos. First we went to Kangar for these dishes. Then we went to Arau for these ones. The next day, Atok and Opah headed back to the hometown.

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Cole slaw

Another January Weekend

Last weekend, we went for a drive. This weekend, it was time for the farmer’s market. There were a bunch of fresh produce Ain wanted to pick up at the market. She knew of cheaper locations to purchase some of the things here, but it has been a while since we visited this market. Lots of green grown were sold here that we could consume to keep our biological avatars running without any errors. Ain pokes a papaya. All this fish gives me an idea for an epic RPG campaign. (No it does not.) There were also flower growers selling their wares at the market. After acquiring the items that needed to be acquired, we headed home where Ain began to cast her sorcery in the kitchen. She used some sort of cosmic powered transmogrifying spell to turn some eggs, greens and mayonnaise into cole slaw. The cole slaw was […]

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Some 'Tronians

One January Weekend

We decided to take a drive on Sunday. Headed north, we then stopped at the restaurant overlooking the dam for lunch. But first, a photo to preserve the moment since we have no access to the quantum informational layer of the universe. It is weird that we need to absorb and grok the information using spectral patterns of a certain frequence of electromagnetic radiation reflected off the menu and into our occular organs before we could figure out what to order. Can you imagine the sheer amount of quantum information that was formed and being formed, while interacting with each other in this photograph? I wish I can see the Casimir effect occuring between Ain’s sagu madu and its bowl. A billion years ago a star exploded. Today the potassium and phosphorus ejected into space during that celestial event contained in the French fries would be eaten by Irfan. I […]

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Nia all visored up

A Quick Jump to Perda

Cik Su F spent an extra night with us. Then we headed south towards Perda to attend a wedding on Ayah Cik Farid’s side of the family. Atok and Opah remained home as they thought the trip might exhaust them. Ain drove with Cik Su sitting shotgun. Irfan and I goofed around in the back together. She drove all the way to the hotel in Perda where Nia and family spent the night… and the uncle in the red shirt in the photo above awaited. After Nia was all prepped to attend the wedding, Ayah Cik taught Nia about numbers using the hotel signage. Irfan took a photo of us at the hotel lobby. Soon Nia joined us at the lobby with her favourite hat. We drove to the hall and then got a group shot of the entire contingent. A difficult effort, because the sun glared down brightly, preventing […]

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Nia gets mauled

Nia Meets Atok and Opah Irfan

It was one of those occurrences where several plans overlap and Atok & Opah Irfan come to visit the same time Ayah Cik Farid, Cik Ma, Cik Su F and Nia Nia came to visit. Thus began several days of Nia entertaining Atok and Opah with her brand of activities, which included singing and dancing to the Baby Shark song, as well as asking them to draw for her in her book. Nia insisted she carried her own luggage. Soon, she was looking for Abang Irfan and tried to figure out what her cousin was doing. Also, she remembered playing badminton several months ago and thought she would hit airborn shuttlecocks some more. Obviously, she was forbidden to indoors. Atok and Opah helped to draw some of Nia’s favourite things in here book, namely “fish”, “flower” and “elephant”. I also drew a duck in it once. Our entire adventuring company […]

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Dramatis Personae

The First UUM Incursion

Last month, all of the sudden, I was tasked with writing a script for a short play for an English Language Carnival to be held at UUM. Not just that, but I had to coach the actors, who were all students of our business school. The theme was “peace”. So I wrote a script with 10 speaking roles (2 narrators included) entitled Requiem to War. However the event was postponed on account of royal demise. Then we got word that a new date had been set. All the actors got back into gear. I attended their final rehearsal. I only handled the acting and staging part of the rehearsal. My colleague Yuzy did most of the heavy lifting with regards to costume, props and logistics for the troupe. Friday evening, Irfan, Ain and I drove to UUM to check out the site of the event. We had dinner at the […]

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Water's behind us

A Sojourn To Jerteh

And so it came to pass that Irfan, Ain and I took a vacation back to Pasir Mas, Kelantan. And during our vacation in Pasir Mas we took a sub-vacation south to Terengganu. Our primary objective was Kuala Besut, Jerteh. Kuala Besut was famous for its keropok lekor and other such seafood. For some reason, traffic was heavy. We randomly took roads that eventually led us to this keropok restaurant. Ain and I miss eating the Terengganu keropok lekor, which we once had quite frequently as I once worked in Terengganu. As we ate keropok and satar at the restaurant, the proprietors there were also processing raw keropok right there behind the sales counter. The raw keropok was then deep fried before being sold. For some reason, I did not get a photo of the satar, which I thought was more delicious than the keropok. Five metres down the road […]

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This is mighty big tasty

17th Anniversary Dinner

It is now our seventeenth year together, Ain and I. So many hardships along the way and against hostile odds here we are still together, still in love; and with Irfan still in tow although he is not as little as he used to be. We thought we would try out the BIG Tas’TEA restaurant by the roadside at Arau. We have always wanted to stop by, but we had to have extra change in our pockets before we could splurge on the more expensive Western food and smoothies and such. We made sure in advance that we had the cash to visit BIG tas’TEA on our anniversary. Sure the cholesterol level might be through the roof, but the chicken in this meal tasted fantastic. We ordered Pepperoni Chicken and the Ultimate Cheese pizzas! I thought we should quickly get a photo of us together before my ailing, physically broken […]

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So happy I got booped!

Nia and the Beach Cats

We went for an early dinner at Kuala Perlis with Ayah Cik, Cik Ma, Cik Su and young Nia Nia. The restaurant was by the promenade, right by the sea. Irfan knew exactly what would float Nia’s boat: Cats. So he introduced her to a stray cat by the beach. At first Nia more fascinated by the giant stone balls scattered all over the promenade. Then it struck her: Perhaps this can will not merely be a bystander or a passer-by. Perhaps she could make friends with this cat. She became even more excited when the number of cats who showed up increased to more than one. This cat knows where it’s at. The cat decided to move, turn and booped Nia on the nose with a fuzzy tail. Needless to say, Nia was beside herself with joy at being booped on the nose by a fuzzy tail. After dinner, […]

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Irfan and the rollerbot

Irfan’s Jaunt into Robotics

Some time last month I received an email notification of an Introduction to micro:bit Workshop for schoolchildren to be held at the Mechatronic school at the university, and so we enrolled Irfan. It was a full day’s programme. Ain and I decided to save our transport fuel by hanging around at the expansive computer lab. Because of that I got to play around with micro:bit as well. To my surprise all the desktop computers in the lab were installed with Linux Mint. The micro:bit is a small but multi-functional system with a processor, sensors, output jacks, LEDs and USB port. It can be used in conjunction with other hardware to create amazing tools. It can be programmed using a Javascript Blocks Editor online. The online editor has a handy virtual micro:bit for you to test out your program live. You can experiment with the micro:bit code yourself here. And then […]

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Nia in Jitra

Nia Nia’s Hari Raya in Kedah

En route back to Perlis, we stopped in Kedah where Nia Nia and family were celebrating Aidilfitri this year. Also present were Nia’s cousins Nawal and Adenin. Nia of course was a busy little girl with a lot of self-appointed assignments and jobs to complete. (Usually with toys.)

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Cousins together again

Driving Towards Kelantan

Two days before Eid, we drove to Pasir Mas. We had planned on departing at 2 a.m. but we all overslept. So, we left and headed east after Subuh prayers. A notable feature of this journey is that Ain drove for more than 80% of the way. She took the wheel from Changlun. She drove from Changlun along the North-South Expressway, got out at the Gurun exit, drove past Jeniang, Kuala Ketil, Baling, Gerik and went up the East-West Highway over the mountains. She became sleepy near the Titiwangsa rest stop, so we parked the car for a while. Irfan massaged his mother’s back, which was knotted up no doubt caused by the extra long driving. Then I took the wheel while Ain slept in the back. The only place where a traffic jam occurred was near Bukit Bunga in Jeli, caused by Friday prayers traffic. I drove on towards […]

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Peering at the TV

Final Iftar Outdoors

Ramadhan will end in a couple of days and soon we will head to Pasir Mas for Aidilfitri.  A new outdoor eatery popped up nearby, across the main road from our residential area. Nothing extraordinary to report except that this would be our last breaking of fast before Eid. Also, some great lighting in the photos below.

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