My pal Shane, seen here as a COBRA Crimson Guard commander, has the best collection of G.I. Joes I’ve ever seen. Now it’s not just the quantity, but his Joe figures is used thoroughly in the photos Shane took and posted at his JoesDios page where he goes by the monicker, LordRaven. There are quite a number of excellently composed photos in his gallery. Check it out here. (Update: Dead link) The photos range from the dramatic, such as this one of pinned down Alley Vipers… … to the hilarious.
Continue readingTag Archives: Friends
Early Morning Raid at the PC Fair
Well, to be honest it wasn’t that early in the morning. It was about 10AM. And it wasn’t a raid as it was us moving slowly through the computer exhibition picking out stuff to buy after we, for the first time ever, have the budget to buy computer-related thingamajigs at one of these PC Fairs. There were no tablet PCs sold as far as I can see. Before the PC Fair opened we had a picnic at the KLCC park with the takeaway nasi lemak which we bought at the LRT Corner outdoors restaurant near the Tenth Floor Headquarters. Irfan had little to eat – just some curry puffys and teh ais. He didn’t seem to mind hunger when the super duper playground was within striking (and spitting) distance. And here’s Irfan’s favourite playground in the world, as well as a few other worlds. He calls slides the “Wheeee!” for […]
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First There Was Lunch, Then It Rained
Today, Teik Sing, Ahbau & I went out for lunch, just because. We had nasi lemak ayam madu and talked some. The restaurant is situated near the Glenmarie industrial park’s Petronas gas station. Across the street was the Federal Highway. On the other side of that was the Batu Tiga train station. I thought the nasi lemak was delicious. Then it rained.
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A Colonial Viper Pilot in d20
My friend Shane Welin is now in a d20 game with a difference. The rules might be powered by the run-of-the-mill d20 Modern / Future engine but I believe this is the first time I know of a campaign set in the world of Battlestar Galactica whose third season will be aired this next month. His player character stats is listed below, but I’ll see about getting stats for Colonial Vipers (Mark IIs and Mark VIIs), Raptors and Cylon Raiders up here as well. Anyway, here’s Shane’s Hal Rogero (still no callsign) in d20: Name: Hal Rogero Age: 18 Sex: Male Height: 5’10 Weight : 150 lbs Hair: Black Eyes: Brown Colony: Picon Classes: Smart/Fast/Viper Pilot Levels: 1/3/3 Str: 12 Dex: 16 Con: 14 Int: 16 Wis: 16 Cha: 10 HP: 51 Rep: +2 Wealth : +2 Defense 17 Fortitude Save:4 Reflex Save: 7 Willpower Save: 7 Initiative: 7 Base […]
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More Tales of Connectivity
I’ve been chatting online for more almost four years. I’ve chatted with acquaintances that have now become really good friends (although I’ve never met most any of them, and you know who you are, ya maggots), and I’m also in IM contact with some of my old schoolmates, but I have never had any real time internet contact with my old classmates from ACS, the SPM 1990 people, the guys who were my friends since primary and secondary school. All that changed today. I was online on Skype with Teik Sing, Woon Seong and Tern Lik today, and it wouldn’t be the last. I’ve already sent out a general call to the rest of the gang on our Yahoo Groups and Mei Lin’s already answered. We’ll have more joining us, I hope. We’ve been maintaining our network of friends after more than 20 years and now it looks like we’ll […]
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Great Expectations
I leant of a very heartwarming news yesterday when I was having lunch with Tern Lik (or Tem Lik as his business card erroneously states, heh). Irfan’s Uncle Teik Sing and Aunt Michelle are expecting a baby! Michelle’s been pregnant 8 weeks. I can’t believe Teik Sing and I played in school when we were seven and now our kids will have the opportunity to play with each other. Congratulations to Teik Sing and Michelle! It’s going to be one thrilling ride.
Continue readingEuropean Adventure IX: Bournemouth
This is the final part of our European Adventure. After saying goodbye to Joanne in Leeds, we drove back to London. It was Friday, May 26th, and we were to fly home on Sunday morning, the 28th. The drive back to London was smooth until we hit the M25 (the ring road around London). It was about 2:30 in the afternoon but Monday was a bank holiday, so we hit the rush hour. Everybody left early in order to start the long weekend. So it took us about 2 hours to get from getting on the M25 to Surrey, and I was cursing under my breath the entire time. Anyway, we made it back to Mei’s place, safe and sound, and we thankfully collapsed on their sofa. We relaxed and waited for Mei and Colin to come home from work. We were having dinner at their favorite Indian restaurant and […]
Continue readingEuropean Adventure VI: Hanging Out in Jaen
We spent a total of 5 days in Jaen, and the days and nights were filled with old friends (new friends for me!), food, and lots of conversations. I was very quickly introduced to doing everything on Spanish time, which is different from the schedule that I’m used to. For instance, when we checked into Hotel Infanta Cristina (Princess Christina) in Jaen, we were told that breakfast started at 8:00 AM and ended at 11:00 AM. I’m used to breakfast hours starting at 6:00 AM in the hotels that I stay at for work purposes in the U.S. Lunch doesn’t even start until 2:00 PM (between 2-4 in the afternoon), and dinner isn’t served until about 9:00 PM. The siesta hours are still observed in Jaen, and Vin and I found ourselves being just about the only people wandering around town during siesta. We did see a few tourists (yes, […]
Continue readingEuropean Adventure II: Stonehenge and Salisbury
To continue our European adventure, Mei took a day off work and we went gallivanting around England while poor Colin had to work. We went to Stonehenge and Salisbury. Stonehenge was about a 1.5-2 hour drive from Surrey, and due to being tired and our body clocks being screwed up, we didn’t leave until mid-morning. But it was worth it. [[image:eur18.jpg:Mythical Stonehenge:center:0]] Stonehenge did not disappoint. The stones were mysterious, beautiful and just unbelievable. I could barely take my eyes off them. In order to conserve this ancient site visitors can only walk around the perimeter. People used to be able to walk right up to the stones, but of course they had problems with graffiti and people chipping bits off the rocks to bring home as a souvenir. But what we enjoyed the most was the free audio tour that was not only informative but extremely interesting. Some things […]
Continue readingEuropean Adventure I: Surrey and London
Recently, Vin and I went on a 16-day vacation to Europe. We went to a few countries, visited with many friends and for the first time ever, I travelled around the European continent. Prior to this, I had only been in London for 2 weeks in the winter of 1997. We started our vacation by flying to Gatwick where we were picked up by Mei Chin (my bestestestestest friend in the whole wide world) and Colin. We were to spend the first part of our trip hanging out with Mei and Colin at their place in England. *grumble* this is the 2nd time I’m doing this entry. My stupid computer froze and IE died when I was completely done with this entry. All was lost. 🙁 Anyway, we arrived at Gatwick in the morning, and after we dropped our bags off at Mei and Colin’s place, we decided not to […]
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What I Miss Most About Sitiawan
What I miss most about Sitiawan can be summed up thusly: I miss watching movies (at the big screen and home theatre) and discussing them from a geek’s point of view. I miss cycling to Teluk Batik and walking back on foot because of a flat bicycle tyre. I miss going on adventures in and around the mangrove swamps of Kampung Acheh, looking at mudskippers and paddling rented canoes and avoiding water snakes. I miss camping out at the sandy beaches of Pangkor’s Coral Bay, taking the ferry to and from the island and lying on the sand at night to count shooting stars. I miss camping out behind the District Scout House at the mangrove swamps of Kampung Sitiawan, getting up early at dawn to cycle around Sitiawan before everyone wakes up and walking in the middle of the night to the nearby cafe to buy air sirap when […]
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Another of Irfan’s Uncles A-visiting
Tonight was the first time Irfan met his Uncle Kok Soon, my former schoolmate from way back when Knight Rider was on TV, and perhaps even before. Irfan immediately took a liking to him, trying to impress him with his dinosaur book, his toy cars and his familiarity to the lyrics of the Firefly theme. We had light meal at mamak shop before that, then headed back to our house for a chat. It was great having Kok Soon as a guest for the night, talking about trials and tribulation of life, perseverance, spirituality, xenomorph facehuggers and such. Before midnight, he had to go home back to Bukit Antarabangsa.
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Midnight Jaunt to Lumut
At midnight we went for drinks at the Lumut Waterfront cafe, on the newly reclaimed land on Dindings River opposite of Kampung Acheh. At nearly midnight the well-lit playground of the place was filled with kids and even babies in prams (pushed by parents, and not moving on their own accord, duh). Irfan was of course fast asleep with his grandparents. After drinks and telling of old campfire tales, we all went round the place, scoping it out. With the blatant “under the sea” motif and theme running on all the structures of the place, I’ve now come to rename it Bikini Bottom. Here are some photos from the night. Edit: Woon Seong’s Photos Added (Feb 2 2006)
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CNY at Teik Sing’s House
This afternoon, Ain, Irfan and I went to Teik Sing’s house to celebrate New Year. The last time the former ACS students of SPM 1990 gathered together was during Independence Day 2005 in 1 Utama. I almost missed the gate into Teik Sing’s house, which Warren and I remembered to be bigger. 15 years of memory can play tricks on a person. Later tonight, after Teik Sing and Michelle are finished with Fearless with Jet Li at Arasu theatre, we might meet up for a drink at the Lumut seafront stalls. Irfan is asleep, so he’ll be staying home. More pictures then. Here are the photos from today’s gathering: And Mrs. Ting and Ivy broke out the old Masters of the Universe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys for Irfan. Shortly before leaving, as usual, Irfan dumped his load and stunk up the entire neighbourhood as he usually does when […]
Continue readingNorthern California: Part III
I do feel a little guilty for piling on the pictures but we really did have a good time in northern california. Part I should be subtitled “Rainy San Fran”, Part II is “Eureka! Redwoods!”, and this Part III is really “Avenue of the Giants, a.k.a. You thought the other redwoods were big? Get a load of this!” In our journey so far, we have covered the first three days of our trip. It’s now Christmas Eve and we hang out with Jeff and his family that morning before we take off southwards. Here’s Sarah Kate and Sam, Jeff and Tammy’s children: [[image:cal36.jpg:cute kids!:center:0]] [[image:cal37.jpg:Sam, napping in his car seat:center:0]] [[image:cal38.jpg:Jeff and Sarah Kate:center:0]] [[image:cal39.jpg:Showing off dirty hands from playing horseshoes:center:0]] [[image:cal40.jpg:Sam woke up and needed a cuddle:center:0]] [[image:cal41.jpg:Big smile from Sarah!:center:0]] After our farewells, we head back south down the 101. Unbelievably, the weather held and we had our […]
Continue readingNorthern California: Part II
Eureka!! We finally arrived there!! To Eureka, California that is. We drove the 5-6 hours north on highway 101 until we reached Eureka, and we checked into our hotel with great relief. It was pitch dark, we were tired and hungry, and it had rained the entire drive. The next morning, we woke up to sunny skies and beautiful weather. So we got together with Jeff (Vin’s buddy from La Porte High School, IN) who lives in Eureka, and he took us to see the sights. It was such a beautiful day, we decided to go to Trinidad Head to see if we could spot any seals. Sadly, no seals were to be found but look at the gorgeous view! [[image:cal12.jpg:Vin and Jeff looking out to sea:center:0]] [[image:cal13.jpg:Trinidad Head from the cliffs:center:0]] [[image:cal14.jpg:More Trinidad Head:center:0]] We climbed down a long and rickety stairway to get down to the beach. [[image:cal15.jpg:View […]
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