So this year we decided to participate in the Christmas tradition. Yaya is old enough now to enjoy it and in fact, she asked for it. So here we go! Our first family Christmas. Also, since we have had a lot of work travels in recent months, we decided to forgo our usual end of year trip (someplace warm, usually) and stayed home instead. So bring it on! We start with the obligatory photo with Santa: [[image:2013_christmas31.jpg:Yaya was happy but luckily Adik did not cry (he thinks Santa is an evil overlord):center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions We begin with a build up to the big day. Progression of the Christmas tree (artificial as Yaya was sad that if we had a real tree, it would die), decorations, and presents under the tree in the week leading up to Christmas. We pretty much wrapped a few presents every […]
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Driving a Juggernaut
Kuat Drive Yards HAV/w A6 Juggernaut drivers seem to have an enjoyable and rewarding job. Post script: Well, yes, obviously I’d been visiting some Toys R Us somewhere in the city.
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Happenings at the Beginnings of the Year of the Snake
Meanwhile, the three-night balik kampung back to Sitiawan for Chinese New Year was somewhat enjoyable. The traffic was not too bad, and no one lost their sanity. We left the city early, during the time where no one is sure they’re awake or they’re dreaming, and often, you’d wish for the other. Fortunately there was no sign of Mi-Go shadowing us from above. Nor of any Shantak. Also, I prepared awesome tunes for the return trip. Well, awesome to me, that is. On the first night we ate out with Atok and Opah. We tried out a new restaurant which had some tasty Thai food. It was not made of Thai people. On Sunday morning, the Sitiawan contingent, made up of Atok, Opah, Ain, Irfan and I had a Skype chat with the Ohio contingent which consisted of Ayah Cik, Cik Dik, Yaya and Little Adik Rafe. Rafe, now foot […]
Continue readingThe one with the be-earlied pre-Ramadhan party
So since July 22nd fell on the 3rd day of Ramadan, we decided to move up her party to the week before, on Sunday July 15th. We invited our friends and neighbors to what has become our annual cookout / birthday party. We did not have any overnight guests this year as Mandy was busy studying for the Bar exams (go Mandy!). We decided to keep everything indoors, other than Vin grilling burgers and hot dogs outside. Also, this is the first year that Vin did not have baseball in the morning – it’s a little hard to play baseball with two kids right now! 🙂 And so, the party was on! Happy birthday, Yaya! [[image:2012-yaya4thparty-03.jpg:Graeter’s Ice Cream Cake:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions We cleaned the house and I made the pasta salads the day before leaving only minimal cooking to be done on my part that […]
Continue readingWhile Becky was here…
As you know, Vin’s cousin Becky and her family were here for Rafe’s birth. Everyone arrived the day before Rafe was born, and everyone except Becky and Aunt Mary (Becky’s 98-year-old grandmother) left the day after he was born. Becky (and Aunt Mary) stayed to help us out for the next few days. Here they are with their beautiful smiles: [[image:2011_becky_10.jpg:Becky and Aunt Mary:center:0]] Note: Mouse over the pictures for captions Yaya had tons of fun with her cousins! When Gabby and Grace arrived, Yaya immediately roped them into playing with her. She even allowed them to do her hair (she hates when we try to do her hair): [[image:2011_becky_01.jpg:Grace, Gabby and Yaya:center:0]] [[image:2011_becky_02.jpg:Back view of Yaya’s hair:center:0]] I think they managed to use every single hair thing that we had available in the girl’s hair :-). While we cooked dinner, the girls made cookies together: [[image:2011_becky_03.jpg:Choosing cookie cutters:center:0]] [[image:2011_becky_05.jpg:Gabby […]
Continue readingHall of Justice Diorama at Earth 638
During the Comics Are Cool event as reported in the previous entry, I noticed that there was an epic assembly of heroes in a Hall of Justice diorama, consisting of characters from the DC Animated Universe, and mostly from Justice League Unlimited. It was locate on a shelf high up on the wall, so I had to shoot with the camera phone held high. Here are three photos that makes the grade, more or less. Enjoy the photos: [[image:earth638-jli-dio-01.jpg:Green Lantern Corps include Arkkis Chummuck, John, Kilowog, Kyle and Tomar-Re :center:0]] [[image:earth638-jli-dio-02.jpg:Not Superman’s day today:center:0]] [[image:earth638-jli-dio-03.jpg:Notable figures include the Justice Lords’ Superman, Martian Manhunter and John Stewart:center:0]]
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Birthday Cake Transforms Into…
Well, the birthday cake was transformed into digested matter submerged in digestive fluids in our stomachs. However, the box with which the cake was transported was transformed into… …Captain America’s shield, after an unscheduled crafting session. The Nerf gun was the one he bought from Richard Chua’s booth during the Kids’ Fair exhibition earlier this year. I did not take a lot of photos myself, and was unable to transfer files that Atok Irfan had in his camera because of a malfunctioning card reader. The above is one of the few photos I took of Irfan posing as his grandfather takes his photo. Click here to see Irfan playing with the birthday present his grandparents gave him.
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Irfan Takes A Train To The Mall
One activity Irfan and I did this school holiday was to take the Light Rail Transit (LRT), the city-wide train network. He rarely gets to ride on it, since we drive everywhere which is sometimes cheaper depending on the situation. So we thought we’d go to the Mall. We set forth to the station after lunch and soon train came along. The Mall is a mall that is named “The Mall”. It’s like a boy who’s named “The Boy”, or a building that’s named “The Building”. The Parkson department store used to have a good bookstore up at the second floor. I used to browse there while waiting for the intercity bus. (The Putra Bus Station is just across the street.) We went to pick up some art supplies at the Big Bookstore, where Irfan bought this book: Later, we went to the Parkson’s toy section to check out the […]
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Artoo-Detoo: Generations
The little Artoo is Irfan’s which was purchased from Amcorp Mall last year. The big Artoo was bought for me by my grandfather 30 years ago or thereabouts. How time flies.
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Star Wars Crossover
There’s a breach in the space-time continuum and strange, giant robotic entities fly through and bring their own war into the Galactic Republic! However, the creatures look somewhat familiar… eerily familiar. One faction allies itself with the Republic while another with the Separatists. With the sudden inclusion of powerful sapient giant transforming mechanical life-forms, the Clone Wars is taken to the next level!
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Gamera Moves Into Town!
And there goes the neighbourhood in Pandan Indah. Well, not really. Recently, I had Irfan’s Gamera toy with me in the car, so wherever I drive and I find a photo opportunity, I’d take an impromptu photo of the toy in forced perspective with the surrounding buildings in view. So, here’s what I’ve managed to come up with so far. The image captions are text from the original tweets when I posted them live.
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The Savage Battle at ToysRUs
Today, we took a trip to Empire Shopping Gallery at Subang Jaya – a mall we’ve not visited before. Somewhere near the top floor of the mall was a Toys’R’Us outlet. Toys’R’Us as many of us are aware of sells toys. There are many sections in the store which I usually browse (but don’t normally buy at the moment). One such section is the Star Wars aisle. There was something I discovered here that caught my eye. A fantastic Star Wars: The Clone Wars diorama using dozens of action figures, some vehicles and a fantastic environment. It was a battle scene, with the Grand Army of the Republic laying siege to a Separatist stronghold. And the Republic’s heavy hitter was the Kuat Drive Yards A6 Juggernaut toy vehicle. Modified to have physical damages and custom-painted with carbon scoring, the Juggernaut (also known as the “Clone Turbo Tank”) made a spectacular […]
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Some Flea Market Scores
Here are some recent purchases from the Amcorp Mall weekend flea market. Sure some of the accessories are missing, but together they all cost less than one brand new figure. Yay! Cheap-ass weekends! Here they are chronologically: Seen in the Dark Lords of the Sith comic series, this leader of the Mandalorians from 4,000 years ago fell into a jungle and was eaten by a bear. Seen in the episode “Trespass” Clone Captain CC-7567 brandishes his twin DC-17 blasters. So far he hasn’t been eaten by a bear. Bane Malar! Never seen anywhere before except in behind-the-scenes photos in Return of the Jedi. He was the inspiration for “Jax”, the SWAG request I did earlier this year. I wonder if he was ultimately eaten by a bear.
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Gamera Tears Up The Living Room
… or at the very least, it wishes it could. As previously mentioned Irfan seems to have taken a shine to Gamera, the giant monster turtle with awesome powers! I was looking at papercraft material online when I came across a Gamera papercraft, which was only a two-page downloadable pdf. Irfan and I spent the part of the afternoon cutting, folding and gluing the pieces together. Finally this was what we ended up with:
Continue readingAllie’s 24 Month (aka Second) Birthday
It happened! Allie’s big day arrived – she turned 2 (years!!) on July 22nd! We were home from Maryland by then. Here she is, the birthday girl! [[image:allie690a.jpg:Hello! It’s my birthday today!:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Another month and more developments! She now has eleven teeth (about as many teeth as a one year old!) but this is apparently normal for kids in Vin’s family (slow to teeth). Cousin Max (from the Maryland party) is 13 months old and does not have any teeth yet. Everyone’s been saying that she looks tall for her age but since we haven’t yet had her 24-month appointment, we don’t know yet. She went around saying “Hi Baby” for a while but has recently stopped saying that. She is definitely telling us long and convoluted stories (not using any words) and mostly getting her message across. She understands fairly complex sentences […]
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Latest Movie With Totoro Reviewed – Toy Story 3
One might be tempted to review Toy Story 3 as such: “The toys from Andy’s room return in the third installment of Toy Story for another wondrous adventure for the children, reuniting the voice talents of Tom Hanks as Sheriff Woody, Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear, Don Rickles as Mr. Potato Head, the Grand Nagus Vizzini as Rex the Tyrannosaur, Major Derlin as Hamm and the ghost of Jim Varney as Slinky Dog”. But movie is far more than that. It’s a perfect bookend for the trilogy, dramatically and visually. It’s been 10 years since the first movie and Andy’s all grown up and is ready to move out to college. All his belongings are going to be either stored in the attic or thrown away. Andy has decided to store his remaining toys in the attic, much to everyone’s relief. It wouldn’t be the great and fun life they […]
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