One of the two omelettes

August Omelette

Not a lot of things to report, other than I made omelette. This is of course nothing compared to the hundreds (thousands?) of meals that Ain made over the decades. But I thought it has been a while since I made dinner. so here is what it looks like.

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Nasi goreng butter chicken

Emergency Deep Meeting

After a long time of playing Delta Green and Star Trek Adventures remotely with Dan while he was posted in Sudan, I finally had the pleasure of meeting him. An old friend of Ivan, we all planned a dinner meet. Dan picked me up at Aiman & Zara’s house where we would be spending the night, and rendezvoused with Ivan somewhere in the proximity of Kelana Jaya. We talked for some hours about RPGs, Star Trek (specifically “In the Pale Moonlight” and “Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges”) and other miscellanea while having dinner. The nasi goreng butter chicken was delicious, but there was so much of it I was unable to finish it. I would have met Dan earlier as he had planned on taking a vacation in Perlis some weeks ago. Sadly, it was the week I got COVID-19 for the second time.

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Irfan, Ain and my night on the town

Build-Up To Melaka Work Excursion

Before the Storm The last weekend we made an officially sanctioned work excursion to Melaka. Gray of KakiTabletop initiated a communication with Pay Fong Middle School in Melaka. From there the school sent me a formal invitation via the workplace. I had been invited to run some TTRPG sessions for the secondary school students for their English Language Week. And Saturday Morning, I was slated to give a talk about the benefits of TTRPGs in language education. Melaka is  even further south than Kuala Lumpur, which gave me pause. After a quick discussion with the home team, we figured that we could pull it off. Plus it would be a new experience for me. The last time I ran games for secondary school students was back in the 1990s. However, because of personal reasons Gray was not able to make it with me, so it would just be Irfan, Ain […]

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Hisham and Ain at Ana Burger

Year 22: An Anniversary

It has been twenty-two years since we got married. Nothing to report other than a family dinner. Earlier that morning we had breakfast at a new place that appeared from the abandoned site of an old. Located in front of a nearby orphanage, it has become our new go-to place for breakfast. Their nasi kerabu is delicious with a lot of very fresh chopped vegetables. That evening, we had dinner at Ana Burger. Here are the images of the event:

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The home team

Two Decades of Irfan

It seems incredible. Our son is twenty years of age today. Where did the time go? Oh, I forgot. Time was sucked in and consumed by the singularity known as the Covid-19 quarantine, also known as the plague year. In any case, our mic testing, Vietnam roll making, galactic smuggler offspring has been alive in this space-time continuum for two whole decades. In any case, here are some photos of the celebrations tonight.  

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The first night of Raya and we're having dinner at a food court

Aidiladha in Selangor

It was Hari Raya Aidiladha. We drove down south towards Salak Tinggi to Anya’s house even though they were spending their first few days in Kelantan. They would return home when we were still there. For the first few days, we were at their place with Cik Su F as company. On the third day of our visit, I went to call on Shide at his office/events space Area 27 Events and Co-working Space in Bandar Baru Seri Petaling . Then, then next day I met up with my former student Aidil to plan for the MAHSA University meeting. Here are the pictures of the first few days in Selangor. The next day, we visited MAHSA University.

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Home team at low camera angle

A Book Writing Project on Pulau Pinang

And so it came to pass that I was invited on another project. This time we were to write and edit an elementary-level English language school book for Perlis. The team consisted of workplace colleagues and a selection of Perlis’ primary school teachers. We had to produce both English and Bahasa Malaysia books, so we split into two groups. Like the previous month, we headed to Pulau Pinang to do our work. On the First and Second Day… I mostly worked, except for when we had to dine together as a team. We stayed at Copthorne Orchid Hotel, at Tanjung Bungah and the view from the hotel was gorgeous. Check out the photos below. Also, in the early evening after my work was done for the day, we went for a stroll at the beach. Previously we were unable to bring Irfan along as he was stuck in his polytechnic […]

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A birthday celebration for Ain

A Translation Project on Pulau Pinang

And so it came to pass I was invited to participate in a project for a team of researchers at the university. My role there was to translate and edit the document they wrote from the research they made. Day One On the first day, we went off the PLUS Highway and took the old Federal road from Gurun all the way to Butterworth, then swung about to take the Penang bridge towards George Town. But before we went to the town, we had brunch at the nasi kandar cafe at USM. Ain thought that USM could be a great place for Irfan to further his studies. Later. Maybe. InshaaAllah. After some photos taken at the university, we headed downtown to Cititel Hotel where we checked in. Later that day I started my translation work with the research team. Day Two On the second day, we had quite a big […]

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21st anniversary 01

Anniversary: Year 21

For the first time ever, we celebrated our anniversary tonight at a hotel. Five years ago or so, I would have never dared to dream we could do this. In any case, it was the best choice as there was not many other patrons in the hotel cafe. Nothing much to report for the evening, other than the food was nice, the ambience was enjoyable, and I am pretty certain we can use the sofa set in the lobby to play role-playing games.

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Birthday cake

Nineteen Years of Irfan

It’s that time of the year again! In the morning, Ain made telur bungkus for breakfast with French fries. Later that evening, we went to the cafe at a hotel in town for a birthday dinner. We ordered something nice. I liked the ice cream cheese cake that Ain got at a bakery earlier, plus I love peaches. The best part was that there were not many others with us. So our little celebration was undisturbed by Guavian Death Gang. Before we left we gifted half the cake to the staff of the hotel’s cafe. We think they stored it in the refrigerator and devoured it at the end of their shift. Because of the pandemic, Irfan still lives with us. I do not know how much longer we have together before we would be unable to celebrate like this in the future. In the meantime, I am grateful for […]

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We wonder when the pandemic will end

Second Pandemic Eid of 2021

Sure, we had Aidilfitri a couple of months ago. Before long Aidiladha was before us. As usual we stayed at home. I imamed the Aidiladha prayers for Ain & Irfan. Ain made laksa johor with the help of my colleague Azreen’s pre-packaged spice. Ultimately we stayed at home and watched TV. (I put on The Empire Strikes Back for the most part.) And that was how we spent our second Aidiladha during the pandemic.

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Pizza One

Today There Is Pizza

…for lunch. Ain baked a pair of pizza today which are fusions of Eastern and Western ingredients. Of course, there is the normal sauce, sliced sausages, onions, capsicum and cheese laid out on the crust. However these were a bit different than regular pizzas because it had chilli flakes, small bits of cabai burung and some sweet & sour sauce. Additionally, there were grape tomatoes and Brazilian spinach, some baked into the pizza, some added on raw as ulam. This might not be a big deal for a lot of people, but this is a treasure for us.

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Happy birthday to Ain and I

Birthday Dinner Consolidated

In order to save some money, we consolidated the birthday celebrations of both Ain and I earlier this evening. Her birthday is today, but mine will be coming around in ten days or so. There is a steamboat restaurant between the town and our house which we have never visited six years we lived here. It was finally time to visit it; not to  mention we could finally afford a visit. Again, I do not have much to write about concerning my slow but sure march towards being half a century old. Only that I am very grateful to still be here to be able to spend a birthday dinner with my loved ones. Here there be photos: Time flows onward and wends its way like a river, and I continue to eagerly see what comes next around the bend.

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Irfan buys peas

Floating Market in Town

Earlier today, we visited the Floating Market in Kangar, which was located close to the Denai Larian in town. Denai Larian is what we called the River Esplanade in a blog post just after we moved to Perlis. Only once did we visited a honest-to-goodness actual floating market and it was when we chaperoned students to Songkhla How does this floating market rate? It was a pleasant place to visit. There are boat rides and food stalls; even picnic spots. At far end of the lake is a fishing pond.  Check out the video and photos below. Next time we visit we will rent one of the paddle boats!

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At the surau

20th Wedding Anniversary

The story so far… 20 years ago, Ain and I took each other as husband and wife on a sunny afternoon in Pasir Mas. As it was a chaotic day, I had to spend a lot of energy to ignore what things might go wrong, what might come tomorrow and other conjectures. Instead I focused on the moment. One thing at a time, I traversed the day. 20 years later, Ain is a warrior at my side, the same as I try to be one by hers. As I approach middle age and gain a modicum of hindsight, it becomes clear that I would not have any other person by my side, undergoing all the trials and tribulations that were thrown our way a we made our way along two decades. Much more than just a partner… Much of the tribulations have not been recorded on this weblog, but I […]

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Happy birthday, Irfan

18 Years of Irfan

I still remember the day of Irfan’s birth like it was yesterday. When we left for the hospital, when she was wheeled into the labour room, when I went to see his birth and when I recited the azan in his ear. I cannot believe it has been 18 years since the day. For his 18th birthday, we had dinner at a local restaurant called Watanabe. It was the site of the old Burger Republik. Throughout an odyssey that took us through 12 years in Kuala Lumpur and 6 years in Perlis, Irfan has done nothing but make us be proud of him. I say it every year, but he has come a long way, and I wish him a blessed future and the strength to undergo upcoming tribulations with goodness and dignity. We love you, son.

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