CNY 2012

GONG XI GONG XI! GONG HEI FATT CHOY PEOPLE!!

Another lunar year passed by, and another lunar year came in. Its that time of the year again; say hello to the year of the water dragon! Talking about dragons, I was supposed to be a dragon baby, but I was born just before the Chinese New Year in 1988, thus I'm a fire rabbit! :)

CNY this year was pretty much quiet, thanks to my lil' brother who had just underwent a minor surgery at IJN last week, and due to go for a major surgery in this coming weeks. I expected this new year to be a little sober, but my mum was a good host and everything went well as usual. I am so proud of my mum. Despite all the stress, pain and worries, she still gave it a good show.

Family gatherings are always about reuniting, having fun and eating up a storm!
Also playing Monopoly cards. :D

We celebrated this year a little earlier than usual, where my relatives from Singapore came down 2 days prior to the new year. They went back on the first day of new year itself, in order to beat the causeway jam!

We had our big reunion lunch at Pearl Oriental, Bukit Kiara Equestrian Park. We had a reunion dinner there a couple of years before, and also my cousin's wedding there, so its a familiar place for us. Its one of the few places which serves good Chinese food and can accommodate big families during festive seasons, and of course its halal!

 Tossing yee sang wishing for a prosperous year ahead! :D

Meet the Tee family: Aris and Chin Jin

 Chin Jin and his girlfriend

Christine, Benjamin and Carolyn

Carolyn and Auntie Swee Bee

Uncle CH and Adnan

My mum with grandma

Uncle YO and Auntie Serene

And lastly, Chin Leong

Our small family potrait. :)

I'll be going down to Ipoh on Wednesday with my lil' brother for a checkup on his health condition, which co-insides with my birthday! I took 3 days leave from work this week, partly because I refuse to work on my birthday (haha!) as plan to just be lazy for the week. On Wednesday morning I'll be going down my my lil' brother and I guess its a little sacrifice for him. He is due to undergo a major surgery involving his hip joints, and he currently needs crutches to walk. Kesian sangat. There's a long story to that. We just hope and pray that everything will go well for him, InsyaAllah.

Dear January;

January has always been my favourite month of the year. Why? I actually don't know why. But one thing for sure its because its my birthday month! :)

But this January started on a bad note for me. Everything wasn't right, and i had all the possible bad luck. I had several bad weeks at work, and also after work. Bosses mengamuk occasionally and my car broke down. While driving our family's spare car, it broke down as well in the same week. 4 hours wasted just like that waiting for the tow truck to come and I was really tired that day as it happened after work. Ape la ni... :(

Family van got towed after 4 hours of waiting...

Not only that, Puspakom also tore down my car tint when it was sent for inspection. The inspection is needed in order for ownership transfers and so on. Now my car's exposed to the bare heat and elements. Cool World said that their tints are JPJ and Puspakom compliant, so will definitely get back to their management and make noise. I'll get the tint re-done once the number is transferred to my brother's car, but its taking soo long. He is in the process of getting his new Fiesta and the procedure involved is soo melecehkan!!!

My tint-less car. Poor red berry..

But there's always a cure for everything, right? The PERFECT CURE to bad days at work:

 

 Rockzone babeh!

Also got their official t-shirt merchandise! Expensive but worth the price tag!

Its been awhile since last I pampered myself, so it was totally worth it. Since the concert, I have been on Simple Plan songs for the past couple of weeks. Currently my favourite is Astronaut. :)

Also not to forget that Chinese New Year is coming soon and I'm soo looking forward to it. Another reason why January is my favourite month. :D

CNY mood is definitely in the air!

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

Sometimes the most fun we can have is when things are unplanned and they fall right into place. It was the trip I had with my besties up to Bukit Tinggi. It was short, spontaneous and a well deserved escapade from the working world!

Our little group, consisting of Pei Ling, Julian, Amar and Aznah were supposed to plan and have a bachelor night for Amar since he's going to tie the knot with his fiance, Aznah this coming February 1st. But then Aznah wanted to come along, so it wasn't that of a bachelor night outing, but more of a little escape. We went up to Bukit Tinggi and spent the night there gossiping, playing monopoly cards, cracking jokes and roaming aimlessly around.

It was my first time being at a new year countdown celebration, so it was something new and rather interesting to me. So jakun me. We went to Colmar Tropicale for the countdown, and man, there were thousands of people there that night. As the clock strike 12, fireworks showered the sky for minutes, then people began to dance around to noisy beats and all we did was just stood there and watched them. We were lame.. hahaha!

It was my chance to test my new camera too. :)

 Before the countdown.

 Let the fireworks begin!

The night view of Colmar is breathtaking!

The next morning, we went further up to Bentong in hope to find the hot spring that place is famous for. After a rather long drive, we found it but it was closed for maintenance, they say la. But the place looks more like abandoned to us. Then on our way back, by co-incident we found a durian orchard and was given a tour around the farm. The tauke was talkative and friendly, where he gave us some sample of his tasty durians before we head towards the small town for lunch. We stopped by and had the Bentong's famous durian ice cream cendol. Man, it was simply delicious!

The durian orchard and the talkative uncle.

It was a short trip and we surely had fun. Hoping and definitely looking forward to this kind of trips in the near future. Sometimes, we don't need to plan things to make it fun. All we need is just to do things spontaneously and life is best enjoyed that way..

Lastly, cheers to the couple that's gonna tie the knot this Feb! :)

 

Semoga sampai ke anak cucu ye.. :D

Chambering

 Meet En. Rizal :)

After almost half a year of break, I thought I needed to do something good instead of being a log at home. I applied for several chambering positions and was called for an interview. So the interview was scary and I seriously thought I screwed up. Surprisingly the next day, I received a call from one of the partners, which eventually became my master, asking when I would like to start. :)

The view from the 22nd floor

So chambering began soon after that. Now, a month plus into it and its no way near fun. It seems that never-ending workload and stress is the norm of the 'legal' line. Of course there's the good and bad about having a office in the middle of busy KL. The good part: its easy to meet clients, to go to the court, and I have a nice view out of the office (minus the traffic), but the bad part: parking charges are exorbitant, heavy after work traffic and the distance of my office from home. I have to travel around more than 80km a day to and back from work, unless on days which I take the LRT, which still need a 25km drive to Bukit Jalil. Besides that, my alarm clock rings at 5.30 every morning and only be back at home around 9pm (if there's no last minute work, that is).

My 'temporary workplace' for about a month

We had a Christmas and farewell lunch for Peter, who had just left 2 weeks ago (and I got his room! :D)

But the positive thing about this place is: the staff and other chambies are nice and we get along very quick and well. The LA may have been torturing me non-stop, but hey, its still a learning process for me, albeit quite a steep one. Most of my friends are finishing their pupilage soon, and I still have many many months to go.. :(

Craft Crews Detailers' Studio review

I bought my first Groupon coupon a couple of months back, and finally got to redeem it last week. It was a promotion for a full car detailing package at Craft Crews Detailers' Studio Puchong inclusive of claying, tar removal, polishing, 2-layer waxing, window cleaning, dashboard treatment, engine bay detailing and quick detailer worth RM575 (ya ke?) for RM98. I thought it was a steal and decided to give it a try.

I added 2 other treatment: a 4-door handle coating (RM25) and interior sterilising and deodorising treatment (RM25). The interior sterilising is a nice addition, as it eliminates nasty smell and germs.

My appointment was at 9am and i arrived there just before they opened for business. Lucky me, i was the first they attended to and the whole process took 2 hours, but the keys were returned in slightly over an hour and half. Quite quick i must say! There were several workers on duty, and the boss in charge was a friendly chap, making the visit a pleasant one.

The result:

When my car's clean, I'm happy! :D

I love how water beads after waxing.

Location: Bandar Puteri Puchong.
Address: No.10-G, Jalan Puteri 2/6, Bandar Puteri, 47100 Puchong, Malaysia.
Operating hours: 9.00am to 8.00pm.

Verdict: Satisfied customer, I am. Definitely going to return as a full paying customer and give my ride a full wax treatment soon, when my next pay goes in.. :D

Proton Saga FLX SE first impression

I was with my brother around Puchong Jaya the other day and we passed by a Proton showroom where this shining red Saga FLX SE caught our attention. So we decided to drop by and check it out.

 

 

 The 'fire red' FLX SE test drive unit

The red on the new FLX SE is brighter and of a redder tone compared to the pre-FL SE's brilliant red which looks more like maroon. The red car in brochures looks awful, but in real life, it looks pretty good (maybe because the test drive unit comes with those stripes?). There was another unit in solid white in the showroom. Touched here and there, noticed that the build quality and fittings feel notably a little better compared to my car. The main differences of the FLX SE compared to the standard FLX is the 1.6 IAFM engine mated to a CVT transmission, two-toned bodykit, and leather seats.

I own a pre-FL Saga SE and i could spot several differences between the new and my old SE. The new one has a darker interior tone (tempest grey) which gives the interior a more classy feeling, darker coloured aircond vents, leather wrapped handbrake lever (pre-FL SE doesn't have this), and two features i would love to have on my car: radio unit with USB and steering radio controls and rear powered windows. On the outside, side mirrors now comes with turn indicators, 15-inch rims (nice!) with 195/50 Continental rubbers and smoked rear LED combi lights which complement the looks. The two-toned bodykit is more like a love-or-hate thingy, but it seriously didn't look that bad in flesh. Quality of the leather hide feels of a higher grade too, compared to the old SE.

  
 

 

Another white unit in the showroom. Looks clean.

The SA at the Puchong branch was friendly, and gave a short test drive to see how the 1.6 CVT delivers. I've never driven a car with a CVT before, so the drive was interesting to me. At low RPM range, the transmission feels a little jerky, but once pushed along a straight empty road, it accelerates effortlessly. But honestly it didn't have much of a punch, I would have expected the 1.6 would feel more powerful compared to my 1.3 Saga with a slushbox. Perhaps the test drive unit's engine and transmission is still tight until a couple of regular service intervals. The SAT feature is interesting too (at least to me), as it mimics a conventional auto gear changes but it still feels smoother compared to a torque-converter autobox.

The 15-inchers with lower profile tyres didn't feel any rougher compared to the standard Saga's 14-inchers. I went through several small potholes and humps along the brief drive and it feels as comfortable compared to my pre-FL SE. I heard that the suspension system had been revised to match the new shoes (not too sure about that), so expect a more enjoyable uphill run up to Genting mated with its new 1.6 engine and CVT. :)

My bro gave it a thumbs up! haha

My verdict: 7.5/10 stars. It is so far the best Proton Saga you can buy today but i would love it to have more power. It comes only with CVT (there's no manual FLX SE) and retails OTR for RM49,499 (white) and RM49,849 (fire red). Waiting list is expected to be around 1 month, but knowing SAs, they will promise a short delivery time to lure customers and you will have to wait for ages until it actually arrives.

What are we to be?

Its almost 5 months since I stepped out of campus life. Nothing really interesting happened after that and life's been pretty dull ever since. Oh, I signed up for a gym membership, with hopes to be fitter in say.... 6 months? Or is it too ambitious? Time will tell..

Early this month we had our graduation ceremony, and it was nice to see familiar faces again. So there we were at Dewan MAS, everyone in their blue robes looking their best and ready to collect our scrolls from the Sultan. Instead of sitting down politely in front of the VIPs, we cracked jokes non-stop with the guys around us. We were definitely noisy, happy and excited. The ceremony was indeed a big milestone for all of us. To me, the most touching moment was when we had to sing 'Biru Warna' for the final time. I seriously felt like crying, I felt really sad. Everybody sang their hearts out and obviously, we sounded damn good! The song marks the end of our journey as students, and we are now adults entering working life. 

Its also sad because that would be the last time I would step into UUM. I'll miss that place. But my mum said its not the place that I'll actually miss, its the people you met and spend time with there. True enough. My course mates, my seniors, my juniors, that person who made me feel important, people who still owe me money, and those people who hated me for God knows what reason. I'll definitely miss them all. And I'm glad I spent an extra day to spend time with the guys before we parted our ways. It made me happy because I have awesome friends! :)

It was pretty tiring trip as I drove back and forth twice in 2 weeks thanks the the cumbersome process of the collection of the convocation robe. As I reached home, I was down with flu and sore throat. Soon enough I had the whole package, coughing, headache, fever and so on.. I was sick for at least 10 days. :(

Most of my friends are already working by now, and I'm still happily slacking at home. It kinda sucks when your parents have that certain expectation for you to do certain things, and I think its my duty as a son to keep them happy. Well, the A-G Chambers doesnt seem to be responding my application anytime soon, so I'll have to look for a firm to chamber then. What other choices do I have? Its sad being a law graduate, really.

Initially, studying law wasn't really my cup of tea and now I'm starting to think what other career I could look forward to if I had taken another course instead. Before I entered KDU College in early 2006, my aim was to do business, or even engineering, but somehow I went for law instead. Parents expectations, again? *sigh*.. That doesnt matter now as I am a law graduate, with a law degree and I am proud of my accomplishment after 4 years of torture up there in the north. But I dont feel excited at all about working life. Again, what other options do I have? There's only three I can think of. Firstly, to join the AGC. I applied, but they don't seem to want me, yet. Second, to do chambering. Well, am looking for firms now. But the problem is, those good firms are all in KL, but i don't want to that travel far. Listening to my mum and bro's complaints being stuck in traffic jams for hours everyday made me think twice. Third, to continue with masters, which is already too late as the intake was held last month. The idea of furthering my studies seems insteresting to me, too.

Its time to hunt for a firm then. But I feel sooooo lazy to hunt around.. hahaha!

Feeling heaven

Menu for tonight:

Kurma, nasi putih, telur masak buah ayam bulat, salmon teriyaki, kangkung belacan, udang goreng tempura, ulam, mango konyaku jelly & air kosong dgn lemon. Lepas tu kurma lagi.

And there's still free bubur lambuk in the fridge..

Aahh.. kenyang giler.. :D