Hair!

OK, so I didn’t actually go see the musical Hair while I was in New York City on Saturday, but here’s some news on hair: I cut mine!! Here’s a picture of me from this past May, where you can see how long my hair is. [[image:eur146.jpg:John and Jane Catchpole, and me and my hair:center:0]] In the past five months it has grown even more weed-like and out of control. So I took action (aiya, after all Raya is coming up and my parents will be here for Raya, must spruce myself up a bit, right?). Here’s how much I cut off (for scale I put a normal sized ballpoint pen next to the hair): [[image:hair1.jpg:Braid of the hair that was cut off:center:0]] And here’s the after picture: [[image:hair2.jpg:Sila minus the weed-like hair:center:0]] I really don’t care too much how long my hair is to be honest. I’ve tried every […]

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Irfan at Centrepoint

Centrepoint Bandar Utama, that is. While waiting for his mother to finish work, Irfan took the time doing his usual thing, running about amongst the greenery and going up and down the escalators. I thought I’d put the camera phone to good use. One thing I’ll say for Centrepoint’s garden is it’s really well kept. Shame about the crap people throw into the koi pond, though. [[image:cpoint01.jpg:Going down:center:0]] [[image:cpoint02.jpg:Coming up:center:0]] [[image:cpoint03.jpg:Running up the ramp from the basement car park:center:0]] [[image:cpoint04.jpg:Sitting still long enough for a camera shot:center:0]] [[image:cpoint05.jpg:Playing on the rocks in the garden:center:0]] [[image:cpoint06.jpg:Jumping rock to rock on the artificial waterway:center:0]]

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The Sixth Year

It’s been six years since Ain & I were married. More than 10 years since we first met. Overall it’s been a great six years. It wasn’t a perfect six years. It’s been one hell of a rollercoaster for this and that reasons. But I’m still in love with her as much as the days before we were married, and I feel some measure of pride over the life we’ve built. For that I am very grateful to the Almighty for His joys, including the one known as Irfan Shafiq. There is probably many more years of riding this rollercoaster, but I hope we’ve learnt much and matured enough to allow us to determine what’s important in life, endure the ride and make the right decisions. [[image:anniv2006.jpg:Happy Sixth Anniversary To Us:center:0]]

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Giant Purple Dinosaur? Not Really

In the Jann Tosh / Mon Julpa story arc of the Droids series the heroes encounter a 3-metre tall monster called a durkii in a dungeon pit, not surprising since the durkii was apparently a pet of the evil Tammuz-an vizier Zatec-Cha. It was large, purple and had an unpleasant demeanour, but had no stats. I hope this entry rectifies that oversight. At least in D6 terms. [[image:durkii01.jpg:Purple Dino?:right:0]] Durkii Type: Large bipedal predatorScale: CreatureDEX 2D Bite attack 2D+2 Tail swipe 5D+1PER 3D Search 4D+2STR 4D+2 Brawl 5D+1Special abilities:Bite: Damage STR+1DTail: Damage STR+1Talons: Damage STR+2 [[image:durkii03.jpg:Playing with Artoo:left:0]]Capsule: The durkii is a large purple-skinned creature that walks upright on two legs and has a tail that ends in a hard, flat surface, which it uses as a weapon against an enemy or a prey. It is known be a fearsome and ruthless predator. However, it is also believed that the […]

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Meanwhile on Taris…

[[image:zayne01.jpg:Zayne Carrick:left:0]]I’ve never played Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) computer game before, where I’ve read Taris was first featured. However, when I heard Dark Horse Comics would be producing the Knights of the Old Republic series on four-colour print, I was dubious. Reading through the first story arc of the series written by John Jackson Miller entitled “Commencement”, I discovered that in terms of numerous minute elements in the story, this series has the most Original Trilogy Star Wars flavour in comics. The story is simple, a young Padawan Zayne Carrick, part of the Jedi Academy on the city world Taris in the Outer Rim, isn’t the best of Padawans. In fact he’s been screwing up task after task on one assignment: to capture small time Snivvian black marketeer Marn Heirogryph, who believes Zayne has the ability to leave behind wreckage strewn after him. Unfortunately for Zayne and his […]

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Soups

I don’t know what it is about Ramadan, but fasting makes me think about food. My last entry was about bread. What goes well with bread? Soups, of course! Toast up a little bread and dip it in hot soup, like little croutons. Mm mmm. Some soups even begin with stale leftover bread. Like this Gazpacho Andaluz. [[image:soup10.jpg:Gazpacho Andaluz:center:0]] I’ve had Gazpacho before, but usually it’s chopped tomatoes and other veggies in it (sort of like a mediterranean bubur ca ca without the bubur). But when we were in Jaen, at Alfonso’s El Bar Dalas, I had my first taste of the Andalucian Gazpacho. It’s a smoothly pureed raw vegetable soup, and if served as a tapa, it was served in a chilled wineglass. It was smooth going down and even though I hate tomatoes, I loved this gazpacho. I wasted no time in finding a recipe for it when […]

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Blue Harvest

Blue Harvest

I’m a bit late for last month’s SWAG Theme Art Contest, entitled “Blue Harvest”. The subject matter alludes to the working title for the movie Return of the Jedi during its filming, to throw rabid Star Wars fans off its trail. It’s also the name of a fanzine in the early 90s, which I contributed some art and writing to. So what’s blue and likely to be harvested in the Star Wars universe? To view a bigger image, check out its entry at deviantArt.

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Frack! Is Today Friday?

Cause if it is, it’s time to get back home to the starboard landing bay. It’s time to find out what happens to people left with the rag tag fugitive fleet and on the Cylon-occupied New Caprica. The last ten minutes of the previous season’s finale was quality mindfrack. Because of the total tangency to the status quo last episode, I can see this being the best season premiere or the worst season premiere ever. [[image:bsg_bay01.jpg:LSO better be doin’ his job:center:0]] The odds are certainly against it sucking. So say we all. Update Oct 09 2006: Occupation and Precipice – A Non-Spoilerific Review Those were the two most intense episodes side by side ever. Characters: One of the best ensemble cast ever, where everyone (even minor characters like Jammer and Duck) has something to do that adds dramatic tension to the storyline. There must be almost two dozen regular and […]

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More Fodder For My Viewing List

When I have time to spare, I don’t really sit down and watch TV like I used to in days of old. So I haven’t seen every new series that’s come out on TV this season, but two’s caught my eye so far: Heroes and Dexter. Rising Stars on TV? [[image:heroes01.jpg:I believe I can fl- … be a smudge in the alley:left:0]]”Rising Star” refers to the comic series written by J. Michael Straczynski. A number of people in the world, mostly unrelated to each other seem to be developing different superhuman abilities, such as flight, accelerated healing, precognition, telepathy and teleportation. And there seem to be a conspiracy behind the entire affair which has yet to be revealed. Each has his or her own story – a small part of a puzzle – which is slowly coming together with one another, forming a grand storyline which might or might not […]

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Into the Second Week of Ramadhan

It’s now the second week of Ramadhan. If anyone asks (and you’d know the answer to this if you’ve asked me) it’s been more tiring than it’s been hungry. The myth that you’re wiped out and floored by the hunger was totally dispelled when I was fourteen and playing hockey in the mornings during fasting month. And again, when I was seventeen and whacking tennis balls against the wall after school at 3 PM in the hot sun – though I was wiped out after that. However, this year I find out I can barely stay awake after 10 PM. I wonder if it’s because of the job I’m working now. I’ve already missed 2 nights of Tarawih & Witir prayers. I remember less than 10 years ago completing a full month of them at the mosque, even. And this year, for Aidilfitri, Tok & Opah Irfan will be in […]

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A Trekkie I Was Til A Threshold I Crossed

I used to religiously catch every episode of Star Trek whenever it was on the air to watch episodes a couple of times. The Original Series. The Next Generation. Deep Space Nine. They were all my regular TV consumption. Even when I was working in the East Coast and out of the station’s broadcast area, Atok Irfan – long before he was designated Atok Irfan – taped the shows for me for my viewing when I was on my 5 days off period from work. It was during the middle of the second season of Star Trek: Voyager that I finally realised something. There were some good stories, but I discovered that I could live without watching any of the episodes. The writing on Star Trek seemed to be becoming bland, repetitive and uninsipired. Once the science fiction concepts were concise and served the stories well however hokey it might […]

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Bread 2006 (January through April)

It’s time for more bread! Continuing the adventures of bread that began with my birthday present from last year, and the breads of the second half of last year, here’s some more roti roti roti. [[image:bread63.jpg:Pain Ordinaire Careme:center:0]] The above was Pain Ordinaire Careme – my 2nd attempt at it. My first attempt it did not come out as well as I would have liked it, dry and not as plump and pretty. It’s one of the final pictures in the previous bread entry – but here it is again so you can compare the two attempts: [[image:bread59.jpg:Pain Ordinaire Careme – 1st attempt:center:0]] Below is a Scandinavian whole wheat bread called Volkornbrot – it was dense and heavy, very wheaty, as described in the book. To be honest, I didn’t really like it. [[image:bread107.jpg:Volkornbrot:center:0]] I got another craving for pau, so I made it again with the same “spanakopita” filling […]

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Really All It’s Quacked Up To Be

So what’s one animal you can think of that’s not a maneater, can’t overrun the entire world and physically incapable of killing humans on this planet? I’m thinking… ducks. So it came to pass I started thinking of a silly RPG sourcebook which will be available for free download named The Apocalyptic Invasion of Flesh-eating Mutant Ducks RPG, which will employ West End Games‘ D6 game engine which was used for its old Star Wars RPG system. Here’s an excerpt of what I have so far: Everything happened in less than one day. One minute everything was normal. Suddenly, in a veritable orgy of down and blood, a billion ducks turned on and attacked everything alive within their sights. It was an inconceivable massacre. Within 6 hours half of Earth’s population were overrun by quacking and pecking waterfowl and died horribly. At least a billion of these were devoured to […]

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Satellite Photos of the Tenth Floor

Once upon a time I checked what the Google Maps‘ satellite photos had of Kuala Lumpur. They weren’t pretty impressive at low resolution. Today I checked them again and I found that this is no longer the case. It’s possible to even see individual cars on the highway. Click on the thumbnail below for a picture of our apartment building and its surrounding environment. [[popup:satmap01.jpg:(thumbnail):Pandan Indah and such:center:1]] Take a look below for a close up of our building, which is the one on the left. You can even make out the swimming pool on the left side of the building. [[image:satmap02.jpg:I’m mooning the satellite, can you tell?:center:0]]

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Gimme cake I said

Exactly Four Years Ago Today…

… Irfan Shafiq was born just before 5 p.m. in the maternity ward at Kuala Lumpur Hospital. He caused his mother to be stuck at the hospital for almost 12 hours before finally decided it was time to pop out. I was right there with Ain when he popped out. When the nurse handed him to me he gave me his best “Hey… can you tell me what the heck’s going on around here” look. Atok and Opah arrived from Sitiawan today to celebrate the occasion with Irfan, after which Opah made nasi ayam for dinner. There was cake with candles (a hit with Irfan for some reason) and the photos were taken by Atok. We had dinner when Mak Long and Ayah Long came a-calling. I noticed that Irfan was sleepy by 8pm but he fought his drooping eyes until it was after 11pm, because of the occasion. I […]

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Damage Report

As much as I’m extremely happy there’s roof over our heads (and ten floors plus change beneath us), I am very much zonked out by the accumulating damages in our house for the sole reason that the building was 10 years old when we moved in. It’s a great place to be, but we need to move out of here so we don’t spend a bomb monthly on fuel costs and waste hours every day travelling to work, which is right across the city. But before we can move out, we’ll have to sell the place cause we can’t really spend on rent on our income. (Not to mention transporting our stuff would also cost us some money.) And before we can sell the place there are a few things on the wishlist that need to be addressed. Firstly, the building needs to be more presentable. That’s currently being fullfilled […]

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