Yesterday, a group of colleagues organised a trip away from the bustling metropolis known as Kangar (mm-hmm) to nearby Pokok Sena for a picnic in the sticks. By sticks, I mean the beautiful, recently-launched Loqsakri Agro Farm. First we rendezvoused near Arau along the road to Jitra. Then we formed a convoy towards Jitra, then Alor Setar for brunch at […]
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Ham Slacker Remembered
I have been running Star Wars The Role Playing Game published by West End Games since 1989, two years after its debut on the market. I wish I had saved a lot of the game materials I wrote and the character sheets the players had. I actually began filing my gaming documents beginning from 1991. Not a lot of scraps […]
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Beacon in the Dark
I received a package this morning. Chris, an old friend from Sitiawan who now resides in Belfast, sent it. It was a Moleskine notebook for Irfan, which looked great. Furthermore, it was a limited edition Gundam cover Moleskine! I am grateful for the gift. So is Irfan, needless to say. But what is more dear to my heart are the […]
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Lorn Song of the Bachelor
My friend Zedeck sent me his latest tome. It was a tabletop role-playing adventure inspired by the Bujang Senang myth of the last century from Sarawak. The book is digest-sized but its 48 pages are packed with a plethora of descriptions, creatures, maps and illustrations (wonderfully produced by Nadhir Nor). The prose provides the gamemaster the information needed to referee […]
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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 […]
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A Friday Lunch With Friends
My colleagues have been expressing a long time desire to sample Ain’s bihun goreng tom yam. They loved it when we offered packets of the food to be sold at my workplace. It has been a couple of years since stopped doing so. Recently, Ain invited the ones who has been asking her about her bihun goreng tom yam the […]
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Book: Creatures of Near Kingdoms
Wait for the arrival of an envelope. Steal a peek or two a day at your mail slot at work. You will wait a longer than usually needed. When it arrives you are surprised, as if it knows when to spring its existence upon you. It is tightly wrapped in clear plastic. It heaves a sigh of relief as you […]
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A Bookstore Then The Next Day Home
Later that night… The night before we had to return home, Cik Su took us to the new BookXcess book store nearby, at a mall which looked pretty impressive but appear to be incomplete. The only other outlet we visited before was at Amcorp Mall. The books there were cheaper than standard retail value because these were old stock copies […]
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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 […]
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A Vacation of Some Sort
And So It Begins The vacation began when Ivan came a-visiting from Petaling Jaya via the ERL. I picked him up at the Arau station and he gave me an early birthday present: the Rogue One Ultimate Visual Guide, which will eventually be its own blog post. Because of work, I had to spend the first day of vacation grading […]
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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. […]
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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 […]
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Brief Lives
When Irfan signed up for school here in a new state, I had no idea how he would adapt. Would there be older, wiser example students there? Will there be anyone in school that would inspire him? Back in Pandan Indah, the answer would be a solid no. Less than a week into the school year, Irfan had already found […]
Continue readingThe one with the no-Graeter’s Ice Cream Cake party
Thirteen days after Adik’s third birthday, we had a small party for friends and neighbors. [[image:2015_adik3rdbday02.jpg:Excited about the party!:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions In the morning, we take a short break during the frenzied preparation for the party. I had just returned from my first solo trip away from Vin and the kids that Friday night and […]
Continue reading73 Months
73 months old now! Please don’t mind the belatedness (and backdated-ness) of the entry. [[image:2014-yaya73month-04.jpg:Happy Yaya!:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions August was a quiet month again – I worked from home the entire time and there was very little drama, etc. We did have Yaya’s birthday party (10 August) so that was definitely fun. A small affair […]
Continue readingRafe’s 31 Month Birthday
And the boy is 31 months old! [[image:2014-adik31month-11.jpg:Happy boy:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Like Yaya’s 6th birthday, we were in Minneapolis for Adik’s 31-month birthday. It has definitely been a busy and social month, despite it being Ramadan and me being in between projects (or unemployed) for almost 3 weeks. Adik is happily reading away, and his […]
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