27 December 2009

Today we left our kids at my Mom's place and went for a date at Alamanda Putrajaya.

This picture tells of a story about:

a. This guy is showing off his new hoodie
b. He would like to have an iPhone 3G very much but he can't afford it
c. This is just a random picture in a shopping mall
d. None of the above


There Linda met her old friend from school who is still single and currently works in Putrajaya. Linda also bought a Meg Cabot book to read (whoa!)

We spent 2 hours in a freezing cold cineplex watching a really mediocre movie.

Then we ate Ipoh chicken Hor Fun and springy noodle with chicken ham and egg at Oldtown White Coffee. The End.

26 December 2009

Today is my colleague Ashraf's wedding with his fiancee Aishah. I didn't go to their first wedding ceremony in iPoh last week so I felt obliged to go to this one in downtown KL.

We got there around 3:30PM where the bride and groom were about to leave the venue. Still I managed to congratulate him and snap some pictures before they left. They looked so handsome and dashing in their blue wedding dress. Although it looked a lot like my baju raya this year, Ashraf didn't borrow them from me - for the record.

My wife thought the food catered at this wedding was marvelous. I'm just so hungry today so I finished a full plate.

Just a tiny bit of complaint though. Whoever drew the map to the wedding location is FAIL big time. Although the venue is located right smack in the middle of KL, I managed to get lost for almost an hour. Yes I saw 2 schools in the map but which school? I also saw 2 commuter stations there but what's their name? Which Tesco Extra is that? Whoever knows where the heck Sungai Mas Plaza and Crystal Crown Hotel are?

That said, I would like to congratulate Ashraf and Aishah for their wedding. May you guys live happily ever after. Take it easy tonight ya.

25 December 2009

I'm going to kill Bujal. He signed me up with this P48 Executive Plan with Celcom with the promise to include me in the company CUG thing but that never happened and now I'm left paying a really expensive carrier plan which I clearly don't need! I mean I only spend an average of 25 ringgit per month on calls and SMS so 50 bucks is waaay beyond my budget. And I didn't even get a free phone. Bleh.

Anyway back to the topic. When I got my latest phone bill last week, I was shocked to find out that I had to pay RM81.70 for data usage charges. WTF? I only accidentally use data once or twice the whole month and they charge me 81.70? Then I realised, my iPhone must have been sneakily downloading something behind my back. Damn iPhone.

So a few days ago I put up my iPhone for sale on the Internet and today the phone got a new owner. As much as I love my iPhone and its features, the truth is I can't afford to use it. Yeah it costs me RM81.70 to realize that. Besides, we needed the money to pay off the insurance and legal fees for our future home. So long iPhone. I will miss you.

And to replace the iPhone, I bought this cheap Nokia 5030 ExpressRadio phone today. It doesn't have camera, 3G, Wi-Fi or large 3" multi-touch screen but it does have FM radio with built in antenna, LED flashlight and it only costs me RM170. Yeah I know it's pretty low-tech but for now, this will do.

24 December 2009

Music Of The Day

Couple - Lagu cinta untukmu

Inginku
Buat lagu cinta untukmu
Agar kau boleh cuba
Rasa perasaanku

Inginku
Tulis lirik cinta untukmu
Agar kau boleh cuba
Rasa perasaanku

Ta ra ra
Ta ra ra
Ta ra ra
Ta ra ra ra

mp3

23 December 2009

I won't work. Jus Mate 5, Herbalife, Appeton Weight Loss, Sendayu Tinggi, you name it. If you read the fine details or actually listen to what the sales person said, every one of the diet products require you to also take a balanced diet and exercise regularly. Just buying and consuming those products per se won't make you lose wight. It's no use drinking Herbalife in the afternoon when you eat breakfast, dinner and numerous snacks in between like you just don't care. It doesn't work that way.

I think I have covered it pretty thoroughly here how I did it. How I lose 21 kilos in one whole year. Yes I did it the hard way, without spending anything more than the price of my running shoes. There's no short cut to success.

Another tip I can give you is like this. Buy one set of meal for dinner and let your ravished kids have them. Then you go home and eat instant noodles or pasta or plain old bread. It'll save you money and you'll lose weight as well at the same time.

22 December 2009

Music Of The Day

Rasopariso - XPDC



Rambut samalah hitam
Bila dipandang
Hati belumlah tentu
Sama warnanya
Di dalam tiada gambaran
Di dalam penuh dugaan

Walau apa telahan
Ada batasnya
Biarlah berpada
Kita amalkan
Hati perlulah dijaga
Rukunnya sepanjang masa

Perlulah bergandingan
Sepanjang zaman
Apa yang akan datang
Tetap bertahan
Biarpun susah bertamu
Akulah rakan taulanmu

Tak perlu mendabik
Dadamu yang sempit
Tunduk bak padi
Semakin berisi
Merendah tiada rugi
Dunia pun senang hati

Larilah ke depan
Mengejar impian
Hitam yang semalam
Jadikan sempadan
Kitakan orang harapan
Tak lekang hulurkan salam

Rasopariso dalam hati
Rasopariso tiada henti

mp3

21 December 2009

I spent the last 4 days of the week at client company a little bit further up north. I think we were too good that by the 3rd day I didn't have any computers or problems left to fix. Instead I began bugging the staff there now and then, asking if they have anything to fix.

When I got there, I got the shock news that their HR staff resigned with 24 hours notice. I say good riddance and about time too! What took them this long? He's lazy, incompetence and lately he's been too preoccupied with his part time business too concentrate with work. He'd been the bottleneck, the bureaucracy that slowed down all our transaction, business dealings and almost every stage of decision making we had with his company. Trust me, I bet a lot of people would be really glad now that he's left.

That said, I wish him the best in his business venture and everything that he does in life.

Alterchart m#16

01 Rasapariso - XPDC mp3

02 Hancur - Sam mp3

03 Cun saja - Sleeq

04 Syukur - Altimet mp3

05 Ketika cinta bertasbih - Melly Goeslow feat Amee

06 Khayal - Malique & DJ Fuzz mp3

07 Cinta ini - Siti Nurhaliza

08 Yang terbaik - Marsha

09 Kau aku - Aizat

10 Ku percaya ada cinta - Siti Nurhaliza

18 December 2009

今日のアダムの5歳の誕生日です。数日前、彼は幼稚園でここに来る彼の誕生日を祝うためにいくつかの彼の友達と語った。それらはもちろんないのを知っていたアダムの生命又は実際には彼の親の誕生日パーティーを計画していなかった。ない、彼の親に望んでいない、それだけでは、手段やそれをする時間がないのだ。

ですから、アダム最終的に誰も来ていたが出て、彼は少し悲しくなりました。彼はいかなる高価なプレゼントをしたり、新しいおもちゃを取得していない気にしませんでした、彼はここにいる彼の友達と考えている。私たちはそうして申し訳ありませんアダム。我々は適切に来年のお誕生日を祝うために最善の努力をします。アーメン。

15 December 2009

Rizal Ismail @ Bujal @ Bubu @ Bobot is not exactly Brad Pitt handsome or built. People have been calling him all sorts of name, some are not actually very nice but Bujal didn't take that to heart because he knows who he is and what those people said was not really far from the truth.

But that was then. Now Bujal has changed or at least trying to take steps to change himself. Rumours has it that he has been exercising quietly every other morning. Apart from that he had been skipping breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and supper as well. I wonder if he ever eats at all. And if that's not enough, he's also been wearing this black sweater every day of the week without taking them off even once. My sources said, he got that advice from the Dalai Lama. The wise man said "wear thick and dark clothes and you will shed weight like the wind". I think the Dalai Lama should get out of the mountain more often.

While we are very tempted to make fun of Bujal's efforts, as friends we must not do that and instead support and encourage him all the way. We must not tease him if he looked slightly thinner this week and we musn't mock him if he skips lunch or eats very little. Bujal may not look much different than he is yesterday but who knows with an strong determination and support from his friends and Rahman loved ones, don't be surprised if someday he'll looked something like me! You go girl!

14 December 2009

Just the thing I needed to cheer up my rainy and gloomy days. Today I received this new free Nokia 2730 Classic phone after I signed up for Celcom's executive plan with my company a few weeks ago. 3G, mp3 playback, SD card, FM stereo all for free! The market price for this baby is around RM340 each.

While most of my colleagues got that ugly free Motorola phone, I got this classic from Nokia. Yup life is unfair ha ha. Thanks Nadia?

And for the record, you don't need to charge new phones with lithium-ion batteries for 8 to 24 hours. For really ancient model with ni-cd battery yeah but newer batteries will simply stop charging when they're full.

13 December 2009

We didn't go to Safuan's house this morning because we had to take Adam to the clinic to get his asthma checked out. We didn't get to visit or swim in the beach, we didn't visit any of the tourist attractions, we didn't get to do anything much while we were in Kuala Terengganu. Well, we didn't go there for a vacation in the first place.

On the way back, we took the Terengganu-Pahang route which is much shorter than taking the usual Gua Musang road. Bla bla bla bla.

12 December 2009

To be honest, I almost changed my mind a few times before finally deciding to go ahead with this trip. Kuala Terengganu is not exactly near and the travel cost would be prohibitively expensive for my liking. Then again, it's not everyday that my good friend get married so in the end we decided to go anyway.

I drove no less than 700 kilometers today. First all the way to Tanah Merah for a brief stop at my family's place before heading south again to Kuala Terengganu. We didn't arrive at the Solehah guest house which belongs to Safuan's family until nearly midnight.

Early the next morning we left Kuala Terengganu and drove another 100 miles north to Besut where Hajar lives. The akad nikah ceremony was to be held at a mosque in the district. We did wait for a while before the bride arrive. Maybe she'd like to look her really best today hence the delay.

Since we didn't get the chance to have any breakfast and my kids were screaming for food already, we went to an eatery nearby to have a late breakfast. Little that we know the eatery serves expired cakes, ant infested paus and other rotten food at their place. Yuks.

But today is not about us. It's Safuan's big day so empty stomachs and prolonged waiting time are really no big of a deal for us. The important thing is Safuan's wedding goes smoothly as planned.

We didn't get to eat a proper meal until after 2:00 in the afternoon so understandably all of us we definitely ravished by then.

After the ceremony we returned back to the guest house and rest for a while before going out again, sight-seeing in Kuala Terengganu. Believe it or not but the last time I stepped my foot in Kuala Terengganu was at least 20 years ago when I was just a little kid. Actually we wanted to find a clinic because Adam is coughing really bad today but unfortunately since Saturday here in the east coast is like Sunday from where I cane from, all the clinics is closed for the day.

So in the end we just bought some cough syrup from a pharmacy and hope for the best. For dinner we stopped by a restaurant facing the Teluk Ketapang beach. Not only we had to wait for ages for our food to arrive, we also had to pay a cutthroat price for the average-tasting food. Moral of the story is: if you eat anywhere near a beach, be prepared to pay for the "sea breeze tax".

I do hope Adam feels better tomorrow. Poor guy threw up half a dozen times already this evening.

11 December 2009

Tomorrow is our good friend, Manesa's wedding but we wouldn't make it because we will be going back home to Tanah Merah around the same time tomorrow. So we've decided to drop by her house today instead to visit.

We've known Manesa for almost a decade now, way back since our McDonald's crew days in the year 2000. She has been a really good friend, kind, funny and really easy-going.

We're so sorry we couldn't make it to your wedding tomorrow Adik. We can only wish and hope that you'll have a lovely wedding and live happily ever after with the lucky guy, Muhammad Zaidi. Congrats babe!

9 December 2009

Tucked in a remote corner of my office, intertwined amidst cables and electrons sit a humble little plant in it's plain-looking but still beautiful little white pot. Already, I'm feeling a breeze of fresh air bellowing from the side of my table. An odd yet welcomed edition to my office stationary. Hello there little plant, let's be friends shall we?

Did I said I wanna blog more? It's a bit difficult when your life is dull as dishwasher.

8 December 2009

And the results are out... Not bad considering we have class once a month and I pretty much crammed my studying the last 48 hours before exam while babysitting the kids.

Of course it could be better. Must try harder next sem.

4 December 2009

Check out my new pants. You'd probably never heard of the brand Navy-Navy but I got it for only 39 ringgit from a F.O.S shop at The Mines shopping mall. Today, for me, brand name is totally not important. I have absolutely no problem buying any brand of anything as long as they're the cheapest of the lot. Brand names don't mean much to me. The thing about losing 26 kilos is all my old clothes doesn't fit anymore. My pants is all baggy and loose and all my shirts looked oversized. Do I regret losing all those kilos? Absolutely not! And don't ask me how I did it. I've told everyone like a million times already but half of them thinks I'm kidding and not being serious which really annoys the hell out of me. You wanna lose weight? Don't eat. End of story.

Maybe it's the school holiday but it seems like everybody I know is getting married this month. This month alone, I got like half a dozen wedding invitations. Some are just nearby, a few are so far away. Some gave or sent me a nice little wedding card, a few finds it cheap just to send an invitation email to their wedding. They probably can save a few ringgits at most but to me it totally lacks class. Anyway, I probably won't make it to half of the weddings that I got invited to. No budget to be honest.

I wanna blog more. That's my new, new year resolution for next year.

Alterchart e#14

01 21st century breakdown - Green Day

02 Starstrukk - 3Oh!3 & Katy Perry

03 You belong with me - Taylor Swift

04 Can transform ya - Lil Wayne feat Chris Brown

05 Let it all hang out - Weezer

06 Haven't met you - Michael Buble

07 Wait for it (revolution) - One Buck Short

08 Uprising - Muse

09 One time - Justin Bieber

10 Party in the USA - Miley Cyrus

1 December 2009

Last night we called Adam back home in Tanah Merah. We called just to say hi and find out how's he's doing. Suddenly Adam started to miss his parent and little sister very-very much and threw a huge tantrum, wanting to go back here. No amount of persuading and appeasing could change his mind about staying for another 4 days as planned.

Luckily for him, one of the neighbours were planning to return back to KL last evening and gave him and his grandma a lift here.

The good news is, Adam is back here safely in our arms. The not so good news is, they had start fighting again, Mia and his brother and the house is a total mess.

30 November 2009

Say hello to the latest addition to my family. The new 1.25GHz PowerPC eMac computer. My geeky life is complete.

I am now triple-booting with Windows, Linux and Mac at home. Still can't believe the eMac is just 200 bucks!

24 November 2009

29 years ago in a little house on top of a hill, overlooking a palm oil estate somewhere in Sepang, my Mom started to have labour pains around 1 or 2 o' clock in the morning. Since there were no highway whatsoever back then in 1980, my Mom had to go through quite a bumpy ride as my Dad drove along the trunk road from Sepang to Kuala Lumpur. A few hours later, 4.59 AM to be exact, a healthy, bouncy baby boy was born at the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital. The baby's name was Mohd Afif. The rest, as they say is history of course.
My wife wished me happy birthday very early in the morning today. She also bought my favourite blueberry cheese cake from Secret Recipe. Thanks darling. I got tons of wishes at Facebook but hardly anybody noticed it's my birthday today at the office. Not that it matters or is surprising to me really since I'm nobody important. Apart from that nothing else interesting happened today. November 24, 2009 is just another ordinary working day of the year.

Again, thank you everyone for the wishes and prayers. I really appreciate it.

If Adam was here, he'd probably made me a card or something. Hmm.

22 November 2009

After Adam is done with his little concert and performance, now is the time to send him back home to Kelantan to the loving arms of his grandparent. We think it’s about time that Adam spend some time with his grandparent, uncles and aunts. And there couldn’t be a better time than this school holiday season.

Actually we wanted to buy him a train ticket but they were all sold out in like in an hour when they went up for sale last week. So we bought him a bus ticket instead and asked his uncle Pak Tam to accompany him for the trip.

You know sometimes Adam can be so naughty that I wished he could disappear from my life for a day. But now that he’d left, I felt the total opposite instead. Although he’s been gone for only 12 hours we missed him so terribly already. Her Mom actually cried last night when we got home. Well I didn’t cry (yet).

You know what they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder. We won't be seeing him for at least a week. At least we know that he has arrived safe and sound in Tanah Merah today. You behave yourself now son.

21 November 2009

To think that we almost skipped this event and send Adam packing with his Grandma back home to Pasir Mas. It would have been the miss of the century. First of all Adam's mates will be one member short, he'll miss all the glamor and prizes awarded to him and most of all, he won't get to have a really good time with his friends and teachers.

I'm so glad that we actually go there in the end. Cyberjaya Lake Community Club is quite a beautiful place. Located next to the Multimedia University, it's got a lake and a park, a driving range, a go-kart track and of course the main club house itself. Cyberjaya the town on the other hand is really a shame.

Although situated just next door to Putrajaya, the place is not as beautiful or shiny as it's famous neighbour. Somehow it lacks the charm and organization of Putrajaya. The signboards and sidewalk is dilapidated and lacks some TLC and even the lamp posts are quite ugly ordinary. In a nutshell, Cyberjaya the centre for Multimedia Super Corridor is like the ugly step sister of Putrajaya, the administrative capital of the country.

Maybe it's because they're under different owners and administration. If that's so then Cyberview Sdn Bhd really sucks and don't know how to manage a town.

20 November 2009

Although Chinese New Years is still a million years away, McDonald's popular Prosperity Burger meal has already made an appearance at an outlet near you this week. My wife for example is a big fan of this Prosperity Burger so she insisted that we eat this burger like right away.

Well I love this burger too. They're made from a processed beef patty dipped with a special Campbell black paper sauce and served with some onions. That's it. You can probably find the beef patties and the onion at the store but the special Campbell black pepper sauce is not available for sale anywhere. I know, I've looked for them at all hypermarkets I've been to. I remember I used to eat this burger a lot when I was working at that McDonald's restaurant in KL and even used the special sauce as a dipping. Simply yummy.

Now a Prosperity burger meal wouldn't be complete without this limited time only curly fries made from a specially seasoned and battered fries.

On route to McDonald's, Mia have been complaining of a little tummy ache. She felt better while we were eating but towards the end, I smelled something spectacular in the air (and it's not love). True enough, I found out Mia had pooped on my lap. Well If you already had a child of your own you'd probably know by now that shit like this do happen (pun intended). It's quite normal. There's nothing to be ashamed of.

If you're visiting this McDonald's restaurant in Equine Park, stay clear of the second table from the play area. And also look out for the special Big Mac sauce on the floor ;)

17 November 2009

My faithful 2 years old jogging shoes has spoken, literally. He now has mouth. I guess I have abused them so much they started speaking out to me ha ha!

Guess I need to get a new pair of sports shoe now. The problem is I cannot afford to buy anything let alone a new shoes at the moment. I wish somebody from Adidas or Nike would want to sponsor me or something. Then again I'm no Kenny Sia where companies literally scramble to get him to endorse their products. What's so special with that nerdy fat blogger anyway? He's ugly, has no real girlfriend and yet people compete to be the first to comment on his every new blog post? Life is unfair.

16 November 2009

Another month passes us by and another colleague quit and found a new job. I wanted to be happy for him but then I wouldn't be honest with myself. Tell me one reason why I should be? He found and new job with probably a better pay while I'm stuck with my current pay which is becoming increasingly sparse every month. We had so many staff that quit every month I find it's amazing that we still have any people left in the company at the moment.

The truth is, everytime somebody quit no matter how long or short he or she been here at the company we get somewhat demoralized and demotivated for a while at least. So while we do get free breakfast once but the fact remains, they've left for a better patch. There's hardly any reason to celebrate. People come and go. So what? Life must go on. Adieu.

15 November 2009

I woke up around 5:00 AM today meaning to do some last minute revision which I did. The thing is I kept glancing at the clock to see how much time I have left which instead created a sense of urgency and panic of some sort. Unlike some of the other papers that I sit for this semester, we didn't get any spot questions or real hints from our lecturer on this one. So basically we had to study and remember everything in the text book for the 3 hours paper.

Although I arrived an hour early for the exam, I can only continue reading for the first 30 minutes or so because I get rather distracted by the noise and the crowd building up around the hall. Most of my classmates were there, some opted to take their exams at UiTM branches elsewhere and one or two didn't show up again after the first class.

3 hours paper but most of us were finished before the 2 hours mark. I think only about 2 people stayed the duration of the 3 hours. If they didn't get full bloody marks then I don't know what the heck are they doing in there for the full 3 hours.

Now today is finally the end of the semester. When we first met, we were complete strangers but today a couple of months later it's like we've known each other for years, all thanks to Facebook. Some people call it the Jewish proxy for world domination or the easy way for Big Brother to watch on you but we can all agree on one thing, it did what it meant to do really well, connect people, family and friends. And surely that can't be a bad thing right?

So one semester down and only 7 more to go. See you guys all next year okay?

14 November 2009

The last time I went out on a date with my wife was some time in July last year at Aeon Cheras Selatan. We went to eat at Old Town White Coffee and watched a lousy movie title 'Get Smart' starring Anne Hathaway and some guy. A few days after that our house got broken into and most of my valuable possession were gone. After that we didn't get to go out together, just the two of us anywhere again. Time and budget constrains were the main culprit plus we didn't have any place to leave our kids for the whole day.

So when Exabytes offered 2 free movie tickets to watch 2012 at GSC One Utama and my Mom sportingly agreed to look after the kids, we jumped at the opportunity. We went window shopping around the mall first and then grab something to eat, curiously also at Old Town White Coffee (I pray that our house is not broken into again tomorrow). It was great to be able to go out together again, just the two of us.

One Utama does change a bit since the last time we went there like 3 years ago when we were still living in Kota Damansara. There sure is a lot of people there on weekends. The same reason I hate going to Mid Valley, parking space is almost non-existent here at One Utama. And since they don't have a parking light guiding system like Sunway Pyramid or The Mines, we had to circle for ages to find a vacant parking spot. The only consolation is, we had no problem finding our car again because the parking lot numbers is truly well-designed.

Too bad I had to tell something untrue to Adam before we get to go out sans him and Mia. What choice do we have? He'll absolutely would want to tag along had we told him where we're going. Sorry buddy but Papa and Mama had to work err extra hours today ;)

13 November 2009

Blogs vs Facebook vs Twitter

I have both Facebook and Twitter accounts as well as my 2 primary blogs. I use them all to communicate with my friends and strangers, express my feelings and opinions and note down important and historical events in my life.

Afif PLC is the place where I post general news, public events, opinions, reviews and pretty much everything under the sun. Afif Chronicles on the other hand is my personal private space where I post a more intimate details of my life, daily routines, important and noteworthy events, stuff at work and also family matters.

Afif PLC is a public domain where I did make some effort to market it to world. After every update I will publish them to blog aggregators such as Petaling Street and SARA or even link them to my Facebook page. If I want to refer anybody to my blog, I will tell them to go to Afif PLC. I get an average of 200 hits per day for that blog and I put up several ads on the site.

Afif Chronicles is the total opposite of Afif PLC. It is my personal domain. I didn't do any marketing at all for this blog and the only way for people to find it is to click on my Blogger profile or find out about it from my friends. Compared to PLC, I only get around 20 hits per day for this blog and I guess most of them are my faithful followers. The page is plain and simple and clean from ads, suitable with it's tag as "The World's Best Kept Secret Blog". I feel more at ease and unpretentious blogging on Chronicles because there I don't have anybody to please or any expectation or standard to meet.

Facebook to me is much like Afif PLC where it's a public place. I have hundreds of friends there from work, school and all over the place. Most of them know me from certain time and phase in my life and anything I put up on there will be available for all the world to know. Nothing is private on Facebook. That is why I post my more intimate and private thoughts on my Twitter page. Although I have like 50 followers, most of them were complete strangers to me and I have never met any of them in real life. Only a handful of them knew or have met me personally.

And now you know about my blogs, Facebook and Twitter world.

12 November 2009

Mia Ariana, cute, sweet and totally adorable. However she has this bad habit where she likes to suck her two middle fingers all the time. We tried to stop her from doing that but she just kept sucking her fingers once we looked away.

Today one of her nails totally fell off exposing the skin underneath it. Needless to say she finds it really painful because she will cry whenever she absent-mindedly sucked on her fingers again. We had to wrap her finger in a bandage and put on band aids during the day from now on. How do you stop your little ones from sucking their fingers?

11 January 2009

Exam day again today. 3 hours paper but most of my friends and I were finished with our answers just within 2 hours. Our progress with the house purchase has been slow but steady. We've already got in touch with a few banks regarding the housing loan but we're still waiting for the S&P document from the owner. We have passed the point of no return now. Going to do whatever it takes to get the our dream home.

9 November 2009

Thanks to my Dad, we can finally pay the 2.75% booking money for Casa Riana apartment. I was worried that we might not get that 115K price. The last agent I called said the apartment is now for sale from 120K onwards. Somehow my agent managed to convince the owner to sell it to us with the old price. Now we only have to apply for a housing loan and maybe take out a personal loan as well to pay for the legal fees. We never knew owning a house would cost so much money.

Last week I found a little rat in our kitchen. I managed to trap it in the toilet and smack it to death with a broom. Two days later I saw another rat hiding under the kitchen cabinet. I gave it a chase with my trusty broom but to my astonishment it ran and slip right under the kitchen door and straight into the backyard. I know that it's small but the way it slid under the door, it's like the thing has no bones at all! I had to nail a piece of stick below the door to stop the rat from coming in the future.

Yesterday while I was about to park my car, I saw a big ugly dog about to poop in front of my gate. I quickly blared my horn like crazy but the dog just kept on going with his business. It's only when I was about to run the dog down with my tires did it ran away an poop at the vacant house next door instead.

If those are not enough reasons why we should move away from this place then I don't know what are. I can tell you a dozen more reasons why I hate this place but I'll save them for another day. I know I probably had to take another part time job to afford the apartment but right now, anyplace is better then this.

5 November 2009

Oh Casa Riana, how i long for thee. Our plans to own a house has hit a backstage because of a financial setback. Initially we wanted to take out a personal loan to pay for the 5% deposit but after thinking hard about it, we would be paying both for the personal loan and housing loan later on which could be a real burden for us. Besides, there's a gazillion other things we need to pay such as the lawyer's fees, S&P and so much more that sometimes we wondered if we can afford to do this.

It pains my heart to drive past the apartment almost every day of the week and see all the tenants moving in and the price of the place steadily climb due to high demand. Before, we can buy the place for as low as 110K but today we'd be lucky if the price doesn't soar well above 120K. Time is definitely of the essence and right now they are not on our side.

We did found an angel financial that could help us with our dream but up until now we're still waiting for his final word. We were hoping instead of borrowing from the bank, why not borrow from him instead and avoid all those expensive interests.

If we failed to get his financial backing, I think we'd probably say goodbye to our dream home.

3 November 2009

Unlike last time, I am quite prepared with my second paper (travel-wise that is). We left the house a lot earlier and I took the long road with the least traffic and got there in section 7 45 minutes before time. Even had time to make some last time revision by reading the flash notes on my iPhone® .

This time I didn't leave the exam hall early though. You don't expect me to master every subject I take this semester do you? Yes maybe English is my forte but for the rest, I'm just as good as the next guy. For this Principals of Islam paper, I answered everything in part A and most of the questions in the difficult Part B. Since our 'very caring' lecturer didn't give us any hints or spot questions there's nothing much we can do except read on everything and hope for the best.

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.