Perth - Part 1

05 January 2008 | sila | | ACS Memories, Family Pics, Friends
 

Just a short entry on our arrival in Australia. We arrived in the late afternoon in Perth, and my best friend Mei picked us up from the airport. We stuffed the luggage and ourselves into the mini (Note: Vin fits quite nicely into a mini cooper!) and headed to Mei and Colin's place. We settled in, and then met up with Eu-Jene, Indra, Colin and some of Mei's work friends for drinks and then dinner at EJ's favorite restaurant: Uncle Billy's.

Vin, EJ and me
 

ACS Kids at Aidilfitri

16 October 2007 | Hisham | | ACS Memories, Family Pics
 

At Aidilfitri Irfan met and played with a whole bunch of kids of his generation whose parent(s) were former students of ACS Sitiawan. Here are some pics of Irfan and friends. Too bad we didn't get photos of children of Lan, Dila and Gnana.

Here's Chris C's (the other Chris C) daughter Aleyxia whom Irfan invited to play with the hamsters brought back from Kuala Lumpur by Irfan's Opah Ngah. The small dark on is called Ciki and the big orange one is called Oren. Irfan loved to go upstairs and feed the little guys seeds and carrots, loudly and spiritedly commently on everything they do.

Irfan and Aleyxia
 

A Time of Reunion

19 May 2007 | Hisham | | ACS Memories
 

We don't get together that much these days, but when we do the survivors of the ACS Sitiawan, SPM 1990 batch, create one hell of a ruckus when we sit around the table talking about... well, anything that comes to mind. Earlier tonight, a bunch of them fell upon the Tenth Floor for a gathering and of course, to eat. There was also talk about peeing or hocking a loogie onto passers-by or the swimming pool below from the window and/or balcony.

However, some sort of decorum was maintained since there were kids in the room.

Apart from our household, the roll call included: Teik Sing (with Michelle and Baby Ashley-Joan), Shahar, Tern Lik, Nguk Lui, Alvin and family, Hudson and Kok Soon.

Ain cooked two variations of bihun goreng, both of which were tasty. Teik Sing bought appetizers and desert, Shahar bought some kuih, Hudson brought chips and Kok Soon, who arrived last, brought a barrel of KFC.

 

Best Text Message I Got Today

26 February 2007 | Hisham | | ACS Memories, Recent News
 

Not 2 minutes ago I received the best text message today. Heck, it even might be the best text message for the last couple of weeks. It conveyed a sense of joy. I can't stop smiling now.

The message was from Teik Sing and it read:

Baby Ashley-Joan was born @ 3.54am, 2.89kg, 49cm.

Congrats to Teik Sing and Michelle. Now the fun (as well as the barf and poo cleanup) begins. We're both almost at a full circle, man.

 

Lunch With Nanda

18 January 2007 | Hisham | | ACS Memories
 

Nandakumar has been a good friend of mine since I was 14. Form 2 was when this newcomer to Sitiawan traipsed into our classroom and sat close to me along with the usual suspects, Teik Sing, Khoots, Warren, et. at. Despite being good friends, we rarely see each other these days. Life positioned us where it was difficult to meet, and inundated us with many other issues to deal with that meeting Nanda wasn't the foremost on my mind. The last time we met was during Laskmanan's wedding before Irfan was born.

Until today. Ain and I met up with him at SS20's roadside restaurant. (It was my idea to eat there, I hoped he liked the food.)

He has to get back to work on shift at the oil rig next week. There were plenty to talk about and not enough time to talk about everything. We talked about how much fun it was to grow up in Sitiawan, old friends, playing Karateka at my home computer, tuition (and hijinks en route on bicycles), his first day at ACS Sitiawan and a whole bunch of other crap.

He reads this website once in a while so Heya Nanda! <waves>

One of these days, I think we have got to get the old gang back together for lunch / dinner / whatever. I suspect there'll be a whole lot of laughs and great stories to tell.

 

Early Morning Raid at the PC Fair

02 December 2006 | Hisham | | ACS Memories, Family Pics
 

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-retaled thingamajigs at one of these PC Fairs.

There were no tablet PCs sold as far as I can see.

Back at the playground again
 

First There Was Lunch, Then It Rained

15 November 2006 | Hisham | | ACS Memories
 

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.

 

More Tales of Connectivity

28 July 2006 | Hisham | | ACS Memories
 

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 be moving into the realm of real time internet media.

I have nothing more to say about this. Except maybe laugh evilly.

 

Great Expectations

25 July 2006 | Hisham | | ACS Memories
 

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.

 

What I Miss Most About Sitiawan

05 June 2006 | Hisham | | ACS Memories
 
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 thirsty.

I miss a really good friend with whom I shared all these experiences, the only person who never left Sitiawan since school.

Rest In Peace, Ming Fang ol' buddy. Hope to see you in another lifetime.

 

Another of Irfan's Uncles A-visiting

02 March 2006 | Hisham | | ACS Memories, Recent News
 

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, perseverence, spirituality, xenomorph facehuggers and such. Before midnight, he had to go home back to Bukit Antarabangsa.

Click on the thumbnail to view a larger image.

Dinosaur Book Readers
 

Midnight Jaunt to Lumut

01 February 2006 | Hisham | | ACS Memories
 

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.

 

CNY at Teik Sing's House

31 January 2006 | Hisham | | ACS Memories
 

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:

 

Comrade Is Not Fallen: An Update

13 January 2006 | Hisham | | ACS Memories
 

A former school classmate Sockalingam, upon reading my past entry on Vernon Netto, did some investigation on his own and returned with some good news. In an email dated January 11, he wrote:

After reading Hisham's mail below, I contacted Vernon's family back in Sitiawan and he is fine and they passed him my contact number. He called me yesterday and when I told him bout the link he was very surprised. He was working in Acheh running his medical clinic and two days before the Tsunami he was called to Medan for work and when he got back everything was washed out. Lucky for him his wife was ok and he is now back in KL.

It appears that what we've hope for, that the CNN web page I linked earlier was either untrue or badly in need of updating. Fantastic news. Thanks, Socka.

 

Another Fallen Comrade?

27 December 2005 | Hisham | | ACS Memories
 
January 13 Update: A follow up to the contents of this entry can be found here.

I checked this blog's statistics this morning. Hits from search engines are always fun, because you'd never know what random composition of words that make up the searchstring on a search engine can lead someone to an entry on this blog.

 

Passing On A Meme (or Yikes! I've Been Tagged!!)

03 October 2005 | Hisham | | ACS Memories, Friends
 

Thanks to Lilian over at iFantabulous, I've been tagged. So here's I am letting the meme pass through me, allowing the idea to propagate and converting it into the text on this page that you're reading. So here goes:

 

Almost Aidilfitri?

06 September 2005 | Hisham | | ACS Memories
 

Well not exactly. Another two months. So, for no reason in particular, here's another pic of old ACS Sitiawan buddies; this time gathering at my house for Aidilfitri, and to eat the food as well. We'll be in Sitiawan this year instead of Pasir Mas, so you all are invited for makan-makan at Taman Pegawai.

 

What Happened on Independence Day 2005?

31 August 2005 | Hisham | | ACS Memories, Family Pics, Friends
 
What happened was that a bunch of my old classmates and I (with some of our family) met at 1 Utama mall in Bandar Utama. We then proceeded to the open air Rainforest location of the new wing of 1 Utama, cobbled together 4 of the little round tables (and 1 square table) Burger King had scattered in their area and ordered some Burger King value meals for lunch, except for Teik Sing who had a heavy brunch, yo.

Here follows a photographic account of the events that transpired today. I should have taken more pictures, but I was chasing Irfan all over the play area and out of the drizzle.