31 October 2009

Since we didn't go to my colleague's wedding in Kuantan last week, we felt obliged to go to her wedding today in Bangi. I think we came a little bit early at 12:30 PM because most of my colleagues were not there yet.

And we waited over an hour to see the bride and groom but they were no where to be found. Perhaps they're preoccupied with other things. Still, it's their wedding and who am I to complain? Anyway, congratulations to you Niza.

30 October 2009

After picking up my wife from the Sungai Besi LRT station today, we decided to head straight to Tesco Extra in Cheras to do our monthly groceries shopping. We always go to Tesco because they offer the lowest price among all the hypermarkets in the country. I know, I've compared the prices between those stores.

But today I think even if they offer the lowest price anywhere in Malaysia, I don't feel I want to visit Tesco anymore after this. I brought my kid to relieve himself at the toilet there this evening and I found some of the toilets were blocked and feces were overflowing on the floor. Upstairs on the first floor wasn't any better, no water yet they didn't lock the toilets so you can imagine what you can find in there. This truly appaling and downright embarassing for a multinational company with stores all around the world. I'm sure there's one or two British manager up there in the management and yet they are doing nothing about this. Really disgusting.

If you're thinking of doing your shopping at this Tesco Extra hypermarket in Cheras, forget about it. Better go to Carrefour or even Giant. I'm sure at least the toilets there are in good working condition.

Alterchart e#13

01 Starstrukk - 3Oh!3 & Katy Perry

02 Wait for it (revolution) - One Buck Short

03 Lovegame - Lady Gaga

04 You belong with me - Taylor Swift

05 Hotel room service - Pitbull

06 Hatin' on the club - Rihanna

07 KL to Beirut - Dj Fuzz

08 Celebration - Madonna

09 21 guns - Green Day

10 Through my window - Bunkface

28 October 2009

I go about with my business as usual today. Send the kids to their nursery and give my wife a lift to the LRT station. By the time I left Sungai Besi it was still 7:30AM. I got like an hour and half to get to section 7 in Shah Alam for my final exam. On weekends or public holidays I shouldn't worry about getting there in time but on working days it's a cause for concern. Still after crawling for about an hour near HICOM, I managed to arrive at the exam hall 10 minutes before time.

I sat for my English paper today. The first part was easy since I only have to answer some subjective questions. For the second part, I had to write a short essay about 1Malaysia. Hah, I can't even stand to hear that word before and now I must write an essay promoting it? Are you serious?

Still, I'm not about to let my political differences interfere with my studies. So I cooked up some good words about the magical effect 1Malaysia has for Malaysians in about 300 words or so. I think my essay wouldn't be out of place if published in your local BN boot-licking paper today. 1 paper done, 3 more to go.

After exam I went home, clean the house, wash the dishes, do the laundry, feed and look after the kids and made my wife really happy when she came home later tonight.

27 October 2009

Today Adam came home with his School Report Card. We Linda promised him that if he gets number one in class, she will buy him one Sony PlayStation Portable game console for him. It's not that we don't have faith in him, it's just that we'd like to give him a big motivation to do well in his studies.

So the results is out and unfortunately Adam didn't get first place in class. But he did get number 3 which is an improvement from his last position which was number four (fuh!). Still looking at his Report Card, I must say I'm very proud of my son's achievement. Yeah he still has room for improvement in Creative (drawing & craft) but for other subject he's quite good actually.

And as a reward for your good result, your Mom will now buy you that special edition Barbie doll. Enjoy!

p.s: I took the liberty to add a little comment of my own.

24 October 2009

My wife had to work this weekend and she brought Adam along to work today. Mia meanwhile followed her grandma and me to a relative's house in Putrajaya.

Tok Bibik and her daughter is in town this week all the way from Penang. She is the younger sister of my late grandma on my Dad's side. Her youngest daughter, aunt Rohani is an accountant for the government. She's been in the service for like ages already and her grade must be at least 56. That explains why she get to live in this 2 and half storey semi-detached home in Precinct 8.

Fancy living here anyone? No gates or walls around the house so you can mix freely with your neighbours. Of course there's always the slight chance that some crooks will also have free access to your properties. But we all have faith in the Malaysian police force don't we? If you work hard or long enough you just might find yourself living here too in one of these government quarters. But if you are not patient, you can always buy one for say 600 to 700K?

23 October 2009

Here at Afif PLC HQ, we would like to give a warm welcome to our newest member of the family: the LG LH20 LCD TV. This TV is so awesome, it can do a lot of things for you. It can do your laundry, iron your clothes, cook dinner, mow your lawn, change the diaper, everything.

Finally my life is complete. I don't want to buy anything else after this (yeah right). Now I can finally invite all my friends here to my humble pondok and not feel ashamed of my old 14" but huge CRT TV. Yes everybody is welcomed. But don't forget to fill up from J, E2, JPJ-12 and make an appointment 4 weeks in advance first before you come here ya!

Actually Linda bought this TV from Jusco Equine about a month ago. Yeah since she makes more money than me, she can afford to buy these things. By installment of course. This 32" TV costs RM1399.00, offer price and after another 100 bucks discount for being a J-Card member. We ordered the TV a month ago but since there's no stock left here they had to order new stocks all the way from Korea. It took them 3 weeks to get the TV here and another week to deliver it to our place. Needless to say my wife is totally unsatisfied with their crappy service and delivery. She called them like 5 times to say exactly what she thinks of them.

Well, thanks darling. Now Adam can watch Astro Ceria in a bigger, better TV everyday!

22 October 2009

I don't know why but firecrackers, sparklers and fireworks in general seemed to be a must in all major celebrations here in Malaysia. Originally they only burn them like during Chinese New Year but now Hari Raya (Eid), Deepavali and even Christmas, people light up sparklers and all kinds of fireworks like they just don't care. And you can just imagine the noise they make.

I think this scenario is true everywhere in Malaysia whether in major towns or small villages. It's no different here in Seri Kembangan including this housing area where I live too. Although Deepavali had passed since like last week, my Indian neighbours apparently thought otherwise. You can still hear something exploding every 2 hours or so.

I know maybe they are not finished celebrating or something but seriously, a week already? That's probably which my Punjabi neighbours who lives with his family right across the street flipped and lost his temper tonight. You see he just had a small baby, a few months old at most. So when his neighbours just keep on playing all those noisy firecrackers every night, he just lost it. He came out at start screaming in English at those kids and teenagers (I think) whose been disturbing their family's peace. I totally feel you brother. Absolutely unreasonable, those punks. Thanks for doing all the dirty work for me. Too bad all Indians in my neighbourhood is going to hate you now.

Wait a minute. Isn't Punjabis like, Indians too?

21 October 2009

Last week an old friend from my bachelor days called. Said he wanted to meet up so that I can do some questionnaires for him. I was quite busy all last week so only today I had the chance to meet up with him. If he really wanted me to do the questionnaire, he can easily email me the questions. So I suspected that he had some ulterior motive.

True enough after answering some questions regarding my income and savings, he went into a lengthy detail about this insurance product. Ah, I thought so. But since he's an old friend and he didn't exactly persuade or force me to buy the product I just went along with the interview. Of course I didn't sign up for anything in the end. I think he just wasted lunch and an hour on me. Sorry man, I'm a little bit tight with my budget right now. But that Prudential health care that you explained did sound quite interesting. Who knows maybe in the future when I'm a little bit better off. If I ever want to buy insurance, your name will first come up in my mind for sure.

Still it's nice to catch up with an old friend and find out how the rest of them is doing right now.

18 October 2009

My grandma is in town this week. Yesterday she went along with my mom, uncle and brother Faiz to visit somebody's house in Sungkai, Perak. It was for a merisik ceremony. Yes my little brother has finally found the one. And after last year's disappointment, we hope this one would be a keeper. As usual, Faiz come to know the girl through his father who is also in the tabligh movement with him. My potential in law is a simple family who lives in a modest house somewhere deep in rural Perak. Faiz's prospective future wife is not the working type and she's only 17 this year. They plan to be engaged by the end of this year and hopefully, tie the knot sometime next year. Good luck to you bro.

Today I brought my grandma to visit the new Tengku Mizan mosque in Putrajaya. Never heard of that? Me too! Apparently it just finished construction this month and it's not even officiated yet. Somehow my grandma got to know about the mosque from TV. And like many God-fearing and pious east coast folk, my grandma insists that we pay the mosque a visit.

Then we drop by Alamanda nearby to do a little shopping. That's where I met my little sister's boyfriend. He works at a mysterious construction firm in Balakong and they met while he was working at IKM in Pasir Mas. I don't have anything much to comment about Izzat there since I only just met him today. If my sister likes him and finds him great then it's good enough for me. He does looks like the friendly and easy going type although you'll never know if he suddenly turns out to be moody and temperamental like you know, my other brother in law. Only one thing though, you should fire your wardrobe manager. Jacket+shirt+sandal?* And I know you loves him very much sis but claiming you are married to Arbe Izzat there on Facebook is so not cool.

(Don't be mad at me ok, just my humble little opinion ;))

*Looks who's talking fashion here!

17 October 2009

Call me anti-social but I have this minor aversion to going to weddings and open houses and similar events. But then whenever friends or a relative invites me to their functions and ceremonies, chances are I won't let them down. Let's face it, going to social functions like this is part and parcel of living in a society. So unless I go and move into a cave in a jungle somewhere, I have to cope with such activities.

Besides one day when I myself organize such event, I will be hoping that people will come. And in order for that to happen, you'll need to do them a favour by attending their events in the first place. Which explains why I brought my family to 3 open house functions today.

First stop today was Linda's friend's place in Gombak. We left our home around 12:00 and after a few detours and a bad traffic jam later, we arrived at Suzen's place around 1:00 o'clock. Next we headed towards Subang to visit a relative's house. Actually they were planning to hold an open house event tomorrow but since I won't make it then, we decided to pay a visit today instead. Around 5:30 PM we finally made it to our mutual friend, Masitah's place in Kerinchi. Tired and full, we only returned home around 7:00 PM.

So that concludes our open house call for this year. Thank God the Raya month ends next week.

12 October 2009

All last weekend Adam have been studying with her Mom in preparation for his final exam today. This morning though Adam suddenly had a change of mind and decided to stay at home with his grandparent instead. So we literally had to drag him to the toilet to shower, carry him into the car we only his underwear on and promise him with all kind of treats and gift so that he will go to school. We managed to drag his butt to the class' door in the end although he was still crying, pleading to go home as we left.

Sometimes I just don't understand my 5 years old. He was okay with his studying and revision yesterday. Maybe he just had a nervous breakdown. But then again, all his classmates came to school without any problem today. It did crossed my mind just to leave him at home today but I choose not to be lenient with him today. He's going to start schooling soon and I worry that this trend will continue then also. Sigh.

11 October 2009

Today I went to my last class for this semester. How time flies. After this there will be no more classes to attend but we will be sitting for our final exam in a couple of weeks. The class started at 8:30AM as usual and it didn't end until around 6:00PM.

After class, I went straight to LCCT to pick up my parent in law who just got back from my sister in law's graduation in Sabah. Around 8:00 I went to a neighbour's open house just 2 doors away. I didn't get the chance to talk to him before so tonight was a good time to start. He lived with her wife and little daughter there and he worked in UPM university nearby. And he bought the house for just 130K although he must have spent at least another 10 grand for renovation.

Then we went to Nusaputra between Puchong and Cyberjaya to visit another friend's open house. Maybe because it's night time but I got lost somwhere near Selangor Science Park. Our host had to 'rescue' us from the pitch darkness.

Nora and her family lives in a gated and secured housing area called Nusaputra. We had to register our name at the guard's house before entering. Coming into Nora's house is like visiting an IKEA showroom. I mean they bought most of their furniture and home furnishing from there. And I thought I was a big fan! Nora is even better. She's like their number 1 most important customer now.

We ate and hang around for about an hour before making our way. Nora must be really tired attending guests from afternoon till late in the evening. Before leaving she told us the great news about her upcoming baby. Congrats! Looks like I can stop bugging you about Nana's little brother/sister now eh? ;)

After leaving her place, my wife went into one of her house-buying frenzy mode again. She nagged me to buy just about every single house ads she saw. Yes darling, I can buy you a 400K house also. I"ll drop by Courts Mammoth tomorrow to buy one.


From my iPhone

10 October 2009

Music Of The Day

You belong with me - Taylor Swift



You're on the phone with your girlfriend, she's upset
She's going off about something that you said
She doesnt get your humour like I do

I'm in the room, its a typical Tuesday night
I'm listening to the kind of music she doesnt like
And she'll never know your story like I do

But she wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts
She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers
Dreaming bout the day when you'll wake up and find
That what you're lookin for has been here the whole time

If you could see that I'm the one who understands you
Been here all along so why can't you see?
You belong with me
You belong with me

Walking the streets with you in your worn out jeans
I cant help thinking this is how it ought to be
Laughing on the park bench thinking to myself
Hey isnt this easy?

And you've got a smile that could light up this whole town
I havent seen it in a while, since she brought you down
You say you find I know you better than that
Hey, Whatcha doing with a girl like that?

She wears high heels, I wear sneakers
She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers
Dreaming bout the day when you'll wake up and find
That what you're looking for has been here the whole time

If you could see that I'm the one who understands you
Been here all along so why can't you see?
You belong with me

Standin by, waiting at your back door
All this time how could you not know that?
You belong with me
You belong with me

Oh I remember you driving to my house in the middle of the night
I'm the one who makes you laugh when you know you're about to cry
I know your favorite songs and you tell me about your dreams
I think I know where you belong. I think I know it's with me.

Can't you see that I'm the one who understand you?
Been here all along so why can't you see?
You belong with me

Standing by or waiting at your back door
All this time how could you not know that
You belong with me
You belong with me

Have you ever thought just maybe
You belong with me
You belong with me


Alterchart e#12

01 Under a tree - Law

02 You belong with me - Taylor Swift

03 Lovegame - Lady Gaga

04 Prom Queen - Bunkface

05 I got a feeling - Black Eyed Peas

06 The show - Lenka

07 I know you want me - Pitbull

08 Hatin' on the club - Rihanna

09 Assalamualaikum - Malique/DJ Fuzz/Aqil/MC Moe

10 Take your time - South Jordan

Sorry I can't post mp3 links anymore lest 'big brother' Blogger will delete this post again.

You can always google for these songs though, they're just a click away on Mediafire or 4shared ;)

6 October 2009

A few weeks ago my boss bought a dozen eMacs from a supplier who bought them by a container load from Australia. The eMac (short for education Mac) is a desktop computer made by Apple way back in 2002 and was discontinued in 2006 for newer models. The eMac (all white in colour) was originally sold exclusively to educational institutions only so they are priced slightly cheaper than the iMac which available for the mass market.

The one that we got here sports a 1.25GHz Power PC G4 processor, 256MB of RAM and 80GB of hard drive. The O.S installed is the old Mac OS 10.3.9 (Panther) but you can upgrade it up to 10.5 (Leopard) once you add more RAMs (up to 1GB).

This eMac is hard to come by in the market nowadays and it's even rarer to find in Malaysia. You can find 2-3 units only of the eMac on Lelong and they can still fetch RM800 per unit. My boss got them for only RM200 each (USD58.81) hence why everybody at the office is jumping to buy one. Well not everybody, but many people did. RM200 is like already super cheap but guess what? I still cannot afford it, at the moment at least. Hu hu!

Anybody care to lend me 200?

4 October 2009

Today is one of those days when I'm in no mood to do anything. Many times you do things in life out of necessity, other times because you had the motivation. Today I have none of the above. My car is filthy from the last Raya return trip and I should be really cleaning them but no, I just sleep all day and woke up to play some computer game. Sigh.

Later this afternoon I went to a relative's house in Kampung Abu Bakar Baginda near Bangi to pick up Linda's mom. She's in town to attend a friend's wedding. They came by a trainload, seriously - all 22 of them for this wedding procession. The relative, which is Linda's cousin (I think) is the kind of guy who likes to be his own boss. He runs all sort of business and trade with his wife to earn a living, rear catfish, rent a few cars, go for all sort of little tenders, you name it, they've done it. I must commend their independence and business savvy mindsets. I must admit I don't have the guts to venture into such businesses. Hats off to you my man.

This evening also I found out my only known grandfather (my Mom's father) had passed away last night in his hometown in Kedah. I hardly knew him and I only met him like 7-8 times my entire life so somehow I don't feel affected much by his demise. Is it my fault that I hardly know my own grandfather? He left my grandma since my Mom and her siblings were still small and he lived with his other family most of his life so you can tell we're not that close-knitted like a real family. My Mom and his younger brother (my uncle Din) did return to Kedah for his burial ceremony. I can only present him with Al-Fatihah.

If you suddenly find your Blogger's post editing page is acting all weird it is because Blogger had automatically changed the default Blogger post editor to the new updated editor which totally messed up my post editing experience. Fortunately you can easily fix that by going to Settings in any of your blogs, scroll down to Global Settings and tick Old editor.

3 October 2009

A month back, my faculty told us of a plan to organize a 'Pengukuhan Ukhuwah' (strengthening of the bond) program for students of the faculty at the Puncak Perdana UiTM campus. The program is scheduled for today and attendance is supposed to be compulsory hence why I attended it.

Check out my new post-chicken pox look. I arrived 20 minutes early at Puncak Perdana. Only a handful of other people were there first including the organizer lecturer and a some committee members. We had breakfast (provided for) first while waiting for the others to arrive. In the end, only 4 people from my class (of 20) showed up for the event. Overall I estimated about 25 people came today.

For coming and registering for the event, we were given a pencil, ball pen, a little notepad and an umbrella for our troubles. We listened to some speech and a few lectures from several (successful) alumni of the faculty which were meant to motivate us which they did, at least for me. The talks and seminar dragged on until lunch which were also provided for free by the organizer. The hujan panas rice (coloured rice) with mutton curry and spicy chicken were delicious and I casually left the event shortly after.

From Puncak Perdana I rushed home, shower and change and brought my family to my boss' Raya open house in Sungai Merab, Bangi. We got there around 3:00 PM, just in time. Surprisingly most of my colleagues were there although I heard rumours earlier that many of them won't make it to the occasion. We ate a little, took some pictures and left for our next open house at Desa Saujana nearby.

Maybe it's just not our luck but we simply couldn't find Desa Saujana anywhere today. We tried half a dozen roads, and explored a dozen more junctions but Desa Saujana was nowhere to be found. In the end I just gave up and head home. That's when Adam threw a tantrum and demanded that we go to Puan Hajar's house. He cried for hours today and only stopped when we promised to go visit the Alamanda shopping mall in Putrajaya tonight. Honestly, I would have let that spoilt brat cry his lungs out for all I care but since his mother bugged me to appease him I had to do something.

At Alamanda I suddenly had the urge to have a noodle soup, any kind but preferably laksa sarawak, javan or curry. Of all the eateries and restaurant in Alamanda today, none served the ones that I'd like to eat. All of them is either sold out or out unavailable. In the end I had to settle for a Hong Kong beef noodle at The Chicken Rice shop which was despite it's glamorous name is quite plain and tasteless. Regular yellow noodle and some beef and vegetables, that's all.

It's been a long day but I stayed up late nevertheless tonight to watch the Man U - Sunderland game. Damn, they almost beat United only to be saved by an unfortunate last minute own goal. Guess we'll have to beat them ourselves.


1 October 2009

After an extended Hari Raya break, I started working again yesterday. My chicken pox is almost gone save for a few spots here and there. They are still contagious so I avoid contact with people whenever possible.

Our much awaited bonus money is finally in on Wednesday. I already spent over half of them paying debts and my overdue bills. The only thing I bought for myself is a 6 feet second hand study table for me to study :) How I wish they are more to spend. Still, many thanks for my company for the bonus.

From my iPhone