Do I Need Oysters???

Okay ... this post is going to be about libido and what-not so for those of you who frown on such topics, kindly DO NOT read this. You have been cautioned!

So what the heck am I rambling about? L.I.B.I.D.O.

It seems like at the ripe old age of 41 I have been hit by a serious drop in sexual appetite. What am I moaning about? You see, I used to get "s"excited easily and whether I scored or not, a H-job (fast or slow) is a requirement a few times a week

Then suddenly it hit me that of late ... read that as past several months that I can remember ... most nights, even when my mind is thinking how about a little H-job ... I just turn over, grab a book, settled into bed and read. Yup, read!

Or worse yet, when I am with someone in bed, I don't even feel the need to want to do a little lovey-dovey, touchy-feely, kissy-kissy!

Worst yet, just a few months ago, I would be complaining if I am in the same city and my darling is not spending time with me but now? Now I actually tell not to bother even coming, to stay and rest because the truth is ... I am not bothered anymore!!!

ARGH!!!

Does it mean that I am becoming sexually uninterested? Libido issue? Or that my love for my other half is waning? Some serious food for thought here

Even last night, I was half in the mood but decided to "do it" and it took me several hours to build up to a decent "climax" after watching clips of "men in uniform getting it" and stills. Sigh!

So what do I do?

Oysters?

[O yes nothing of significance happened today except me going home from Damansara to the sticks]

Hottie alert!

Well the morning started off like normal ... feeling a bit down actually! Lately with my health the way it is, I am not sure how I can find the energy but I must ... so I guess I will start with eating enough and to heck with losing weight, eh? Hahahaha!

For those wondering, I am about 200 that's TWO FREAKING HUNDRED pounds!

I have never in my life imagined I would be this hulking fat man. And yet, there are those who said I am not that big for my height as it seemed that I am only a bit fat around the stomach and arse! Are they BLIND? I would say blind as a bat but hey bats have radar sensors and they can see the shape of my FAT FAT FAT FAT FAT

Anyway today's big topic is not about me being fat or even the title but rather the shocking TOSHIBA EHDD. I bought a new one less than 2 months ago. A few days ago, it started coughing up problems. When I tried to use the fix function on my laptop, it didn't work and always hang at 43%. Finally today I went to 2 different shops to check and to my utter horror they quoted me a min of RP750k or the price of a new EHDD to try and extract the data from my EHDD. ARGH! What I am annoyed is that it crashed so fast and now giving me a nightmare. I am going to see vendor next week with my warranty and ask them to extract for me and I want to be around when they do it because I have sensitive information inside. So fucking annoying!

Okay now we come to the cutie part. As you know, Indo is full of thin/ skinny/ slim dudes in uniforms (satpam). Well today's hottie isn't one of them. I was at the restaurant to review some work for a new client and then they ushered me downstairs saying that the vendor has arrived for the software demonstration. Now I am not expecting anything much because it is IT and like Finance, they tend to be geeks who are like me - FAT! Okay, I won't go there again but anyway here we have 2 young (at least they look young below 30) Chinese dudes who speak fluent Indo so I guess they must be local. One guy is doing the demo and the other guy doing the business end and I am guessing he is the boss. He is the one I was immediately WHAMMED with. Hehehe!

When I walked in, he was of average height, slightly wavy hair, nice features with hint of pimples when younger and a hot hot hot bod! He was slim with potential stomach bulge in future if not careful but now? Wow! And his butt in those brown pants?!?!?! Woof! He made brown pants look good. Hehehe! I kept on checking him out and his pronounciation? It sounded as if he was educated overseas for a long spell the way he rolled the words out. So sexy! What a turn on! Sigh! I managed to get his name card though but found nothing on the web. ARGH! Jap ... you are so cute for me!

Anyway, that's it for me tonight. Feeling so incredibly sleepy. I am really hoping this health problem gets resolved fast yeah?

Good night!

Flu ... again?

What is flu? At the ripe old age of 41, I must admit I always thought that flu came in a package of 4 illnesses ie sore throat, block nose, cough with phlegm and fever. And anyway, this is the normal cycle, right? Even if you detect it early and you go to physician, usually, for me anyway, what it does is merely delay the cycle and the fever will still come before it goes backwards of the cycle to get better. So perhaps it is better to wait for the fever to hit before going to a physician?

Anyway, I was on the mend after being down for the past like 10 days but thanks to this morning's early waking up (one round at 4:00am and finally around 6:30am), I felt my throat a wee bit raw and I have been hacking up phlegm. In addition, my head has a few sore points like insufficient sleep kind of issue ... sigh!

Sorry if you feel this particular blog entry is not revealing but hey this is my blog and I am keeping this like a diary filled with my ramblings, okay?

Other than this, I had a decent morning, actually?

I went for the ID meeting at Jl Gunawarman and met a potential new client. I managed to get them to go to lunch with me at Publico restaurant and used the opportunity to sell my services. They are interested and she asked for my contact details. She even hinted at fees and said she will discuss further with her husband and see if we can meet up to talk more later. So I am keeping fingers crossed here. Something positive albeit small opportunity is always good!

Next is that finally everyone I wrote to for the Johor project? Everyone replied in the positive. So I know it's a matter of negotiation now to get a good deal for my client. If I am lucky, we can close the deal fast probably by next month before Christmas. And if the client is happy, maybe will recruit me for the next stage of the project, eh? Hehehe! Again, keeping fingers crossed

The downer?

My new HDD that I have been using for only about a month actually crashed on me. I tried to use auto-repair but it got stuck at 43%. I managed to copy out the business folders before it totally died off more or less. I am hoping I can find someone who can fix it so I can retrieve the rest of my files. It's annoying because I am almost finished with my writing! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pixoto + 1

Today on Facebook I saw someone posted that they won this week's challenge on something called Pixoto ... so here I am clicking it and creating my own account and uploaded over the past 12 hours ... 4 photos ... damn ... what is it with me and this need to be recognized, eh? Hehehehehehehe!

Hope I at least get a decent rating and not just get kicked out within 12 hours ... my first 2 photos got "paused" as I lost so many "duels" with other photos ... I was shocked that my Dubai photo with the beautiful orange sands were not getting votes ... sigh!

I had a look at some of the photos and you can clearly see that while beautiful some of it is soooo doctored to the point it is not realistic. So why bother, right?

Okay.

The + 1 is because after FB linking, I decided to meet this chef as he was an old acquaintance of R-Pie ... Thai chef mate of mine ... and turns out he is quite a nice chap from Malaysia ... he is here for past 6 months working as a chef ... we went to Le Grandeur where he started ... and to my surprise the food is soooooooooooooo yummy ... we had the staple of siu mai, some green type with light sauce and Chinese pancake ... then he ordered the siew yoke and I had wan than mee ... all yummy! He also called over the restaurant manager, a Chinese Singaporean who has been in Jkt since the 90s and actually saw the riots!

Other than that, it's been a quiet day as far as business and work goes. I worked on my book and did some sketching. I am going to take it easy until end Dec and Jan onwards is where I start working on SOPs and what-not

Currently, what I have on outstanding?

1. Spa college

2. Lombok development

3. Retail group - new and I really hope can take off!

Okay - that's it for me for this day! Goodnight cyberfriends!

My Blog is Still Screwed

Argh this is driving me nuts! Two weeks already and I still cannot update my blog properly. For those of you who read this, you may be wondering what the F am I raving about, right? It's not this the blog proper but the side bars where I have comics and movies and novels. Last week, when I clicked on, all I got was a listing of "Edit and Delete" and nothing else. After several days, I sent a note to the administrator under feedback as apparently I cannot locate any other form of "help"

After that, when I clicked on Side Bar, it is still a long list of "Edit and Delete" but now at least I can see what I had typed. Unfortunately, the problem is still not resolved as it is a long list without wraparound. In addition, if I were to post a new entry it appears all over the place rather than as a new entry to my blog main page. So it's quite ANNOYING. So I have just zapped another note under Feedback and hope that things improve soon!

Oh please please please do!

We Bore Each Other

Today is supposed to be the day I spent taking my parents out since it is a Monday and my sis has to go back to office. However, by 9:00am, I was surprised that dad announced he is going to arrange for an earlier journey up to Genting with mom! I mean, I felt guilty almost as if he had managed to read my mind or something because there I was arranging breakfast with JLee that had become brunch and I was wondering how I tell my folks that I won't be eating with them but will drive them to the mall and what-not and BOOM this announcement!

Ah well ... I did drive them to 1 Utama and dropped them off ... least I could do, right?

As for the rest of today, I did have brunch with JLee at that Chinese eatery in Tropicana (Lower Ground) that sells all sorts of supposedly Penang food. It's been there for years and I never tried and now I know why. Taste is average but what really pains me is the $$$. RM21 for 2 cups of kopitiam coffee, 2 chee cheong fun and 1 plain nasi lemak street style. I mean, what the fuck, right? Bloody expensive! If the taste is good, it would have been fine but the taste was average especially the sweet chee cheong fun was missing the maroon sweet sauce

After that, at night, I went with my sis to Ikea. This is because of the card from the Gergaji family that I have yet to fully utilized. The magnetic strip had come off so I was worried because it was RM800 original value and I still had like RM650+. Thank goodness the serial number could work and guess what? It can be used in the food area too! So we had like free food. Hahaha!

Goodnight world!

Bule Bule ...

For those of you wondering what bule means, it is the Indonesian word/ slang for Caucasians. It is not derogatory or anything, just a word. My gripe for today is actually not just Indonesia but generally in Asia and the Middle East

I know from history we were largely colonized. However, didn't our forefathers strive so hard for independence?

Now that we have independence, why do we still every now and then you see this happening recruit a Caucasian over a country man simply because he is a Caucasian? I mean, seriously! If you hire someone because of his skill sets, I can understand. If you hire someone because you want to create an impression that your establishment has standards, even that I can understand as you are merely giving what the consumers want!

But if you were to hire simply in the naïve believe that they are generally still better than Asians, well, bullshit! I am sorry if this post is going to sound racist. If you think it does, please skip this, okay? What I am trying to get at is that due to cultural differences, Caucasians are generally more vocal. Asians tend to keep their opinions to themselves especially in front of elders and employers. Of course, they will grumble later at the pub! Hahaha! But that's the truth and we have to accept it.

I have seen, so often, we pay top dollar for Caucasians, young and old, who are simply unqualified for their job. Example: upon signing their contract, the employer has to do everything including helping them to settle into the country/ city/ company and everyone has to help him out. At work, all he does is call his managers to do their job while he does nothing. If they have difficulty, he is unable to guide or teach ... because ... he doesn't know. He got the job straight in at the top

Here is a real life example: I know someone who is a fresh graduate from university and came to Asia for a job as a management trainee of a small company for 6 months. After that, this person went to interview ... and got a job as a regional executive helping the company to establish new branches in different parts of the region. Now this company is not the same as the internship. So I asked you this: would someone with zero working experience and people management skills and cultural understanding be qualified? Seriously? Obviously this person fails spectacularly but because this person is Caucasian, this person is protected. Every three months, this person is sent to another locale and thus survives year after year! Lucky, isn't it? Sigh!

As to what happened today, nothing monumental. I just had a nice site meeting where the Caucasian never showed up and again said he needed another week to do his job. This has been ongoing since August. So naturally if and when he finishes like 2 months or 3 months late, all of us are going to have to scramble to finish and make up for time. For a project of 12 to 16 months, he has caused us 20% delay. And the best part is? He and his team has zero experience in the field and I am left stunned how the investors thought he is good! Seriously, never done the job, never even study. So all his opinion is ... guess work at how things work! I mean come on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Little Bit of this n that ...

I just checked and my last post is some time Sep ... wow ... I have been negligent ... should I do a back post? Hmmm maybe I should ... for completeness eh? Let's see how in the days ahead ...

I am still wondering for a blog ... since this is anonymous (unless you are a hacker and you tracked me down somehow ... and why would you do that when I am a nobody, right?) ... what type of blog should this be?

I still liked the idea of this being a real life diary with snippets of my life and all the bitchy nonsense that goes with it ... or should I do like some other blogs and used it to post deep philosophical yammerings or promote one's own projects or business only?

Hmmmm ...

Anyway I am typing this on a beautiful (cloudy) morning in Jakarta @ Ancol M ... I am staying at Level 28 ... and have an awesome view of the bay ... it's 10:45am Jaktime .. and in 45 mn I will head down to the lobby for my cab to my ... resto ... that's restaurant for short here in Jak ... for Jakarta!

Cheers all!

Old ties renewed

This evening, after a couple months of planning, I finally caught up with the Nazz, an old ex-colleague of mine from Langkawi days. Apparently after he left there, he went to Berjaya and subsequently came down to PD. I am surprised that he hasn't changed much still moving from place to place unable to make headway and making pittance. It's so good that they all survived yes? While my Cor just keeps on spending crazy amounts of money!

Anyway I drove him around the Bagan area, we had Ikan Bakar and to him and his mate the food was delicious even though to me it was just so-so?!?!?! Finally we walked through GEe Pee Tee and he loved it

So yes at least today we had some developments from this angle, right? Hehehe!

I also spoke to the Pee Woman on the phone and she is now in Malacca. So that's another corner heard from

Goodnight diary/ blog!

Painter's Block ...

When writers have a problem getting the words out, they called it writer's block. What about when painters cannot paint? I tried all evening and was struggling to get anything decent out. I even used the proper canvas (finally) and was doing such a bad job that I gave up

O yes and I learnt new things about watercolour that I didn't know before ... at least that was good!

After 4 hours, I went back to sketching and tried some different techniques to fool around and that's it.

Nothing else monumental happened today. I saw no one. I ate alone (ARGH!). I fought with Cory (as usual) on cars (as usual). About the only work I did is submit claims for Aug 2013 (one more to go) and wrote back to Shakur

Tomorrow I have to go KLIA to pick up my sis so goodnight diary-blog!

RM1 million ... really?

Here's a good one ... I am in discussion with a client ... potentially to work on their troubled projects. However, the more I discussed with them, the more it seems like they have things hidden away. Imagine saying you are land owner only then to disclose that you paid the deposit but never proceeded ... for years. But that the contract is still valid. Then next when pressed further, you said that the land owner has passed away and now it is in the estate but that you have to talk to the beneficiaries. I mean, what the fuck?!?!! Right?!!?!?!

Next, they wanted me to work on their project except that they are short somewhere in the region of RM2million to complete. My job? Operations i.e. pre-opening work for their nearly 300 room hotel. I am being nice by lowering my price to RM10k a month (freelance and not full time). So what do they do? Why in a meeting they asked if they can owe me because they do not have the cash?!?!?!?!

When I hesitantly said okay can be for a few months, guess what?

Now they want the contract to include clauses like I need to be responsible for finding the RM1million and they only the remainder. Well excuse me. Finding RM1m has a 5% fee or RM50k by itself and that has got nothing to do with a hotel operator's responsibilities. Really too much these people!

So naturally I am only pursuing sales of their properties and will be dropping everything else!

Aside from that nasty watsapp message and email, nothing else of note happened. It was generally a quiet day ... or do you want to hear about the massive argument in my non-existent love-life? Hahaha!

Imagine 2 birthdays in a row (one for each of us) and a trip to China and the amount of sex we had? None! The amount spent on shopping RM12k. The amount spent on fighting? Everyday! What kind of relationship eh? Time to end this if it continues - absolute bullshit here as well! O yeah today's topic is purchasing new car. It seems like he wants a new car every year or so! Madness!

My Average Day

Here is an example of what passes as a normal day for me now when I am not in Jakarta or in some sort of meeting or other:

I slept very late around 1:00am plus ... and naturally woke up early ... because these past days the weather has been cool ... I must have been up around 6:00am because the skies were still dark but you can hear sounds of people getting ready for school

At 7:45am, I went to Le Teng for breakfast with Case Man ... always nice to see geeky/ nerdy skinny man right? Especially when my other half is no longer interested with me ... ah if only Case Man is keen ... I wonder what I would have done ... Hmmm ...

Next I am home and spoke to my neighbour ... very rare we are both in on the same day ... it turns out she is on the way out to Malacca for work ... see what I mean?

After that, I did write up and emailed out on PBuwo project and followed up sale of Langkawi land to a few parties ... and then it was time for lunch ... and I decided to eat ...

When lunch was done, I came home and feeling out of sorts took 2 intermittent naps ... swept a bit of the house ... did a bit of cleaning up of old documents ... a bit of writing on the Time's End book .. and that's about it

Then did a bit of stretching exercise ... while watching GI Joe Retaliation ... and hey it's 8:30pm ... so it's Olio Resto for dinner!

See? That's my average day! Boring ... lonely ... alone ... ARGH!

Other than that, my so-called other half's friend finally contacted me to discuss potential business prospects in Lombok ... very early stages ... so see how lah!

A Little Bit of This and That

Well today is a good day for catching up with some people and I started the morning having breakfast with JLee ... we decided to give Ikea a try and to our surprise there were many people queueing up even before the shop opened ... so we hopped over to a mamak shop for coffee first and come back to Ikea later

Got to admit the food is reasonably priced ... decent portions ... not too tasty but tasty enough!

I had 2 rounds of black coffee, tasted the porridge that J bought and a plate of nasi lemak ... o yes and the spring rolls ...

It's so heavy that I skipped lunch and dinner was after I reached Pelek town ... hehehe!

Next up I did nothing much all day except surf internet and chatted with people on potential to sell the MSar team's various properties ... it's so hard to believe that they have had so many decent opportunities and they grabbed them all and yet failed to finish anything decently ... so this is a good opportunity for me if I can make it ... I am hoping to shift the land ... if I can then everything will fall into place ... as they say Insyallah or God Willing ... I do pray I be found worthy for completing this deal!

Other than that, I met up with realtors and gave them the leads so that I can have a team to work with me and finally I spoke to EOng as well ... so let's see what works, eh?

Fingers crossed and all that!

I Need to Crash ...

Wow let me share this with you ... our flight took off on time more or less around 11:30pm on Sunday ... onboard the flight ... I stuffed myself with 1 round of food and drink ... then tried to doze off but wasn't successful as the flight was simply too short!

We landed around 4:30am at LCCT ... cleared immigration, got our bags, said our goodbyes to the few people present there at the luggage area ... then it was off to get Core checked in for his connecting flight to Jkt ... one cutie at the airport but I could not take his photo because ... I do not have that old cool camera anymore ... sigh! Men in uniform ... my one huge weakness!

After that, I waltzed up and down until time for my cabbie and I went home ... to Pelek land ... it was like 7:15am ... I quickly did my laundry, unpacked ... and then drove all the way down to Damansara, sis place ... and you know what? There were instances where I felt so sleepy until I was like floating!

However, I tried to control myself and not to sleep even nap at her place ... I don't want to screw up my sleeping pattern anymore than is necessary as you know ... so I even forced myself to go watch a movie ... hoping it would be good but guess what? It was Riddick! And a major bore!

I had a nice hour or so discussion with Abs but WHOA is his company in a mess. Every single land or project has issues and dramas attached to them. Not even sure if I am up to fixing it all!

Finally I went to German Bierhaus @ Curve with Ange and sis ... for nice food ... sort of belated birthday celebration but ... it was kind of eh ... sausages and grilled pork belly were great ... schnitzel was overcook and so was Kessler ... and the salad was a rip off ... no cheese no black pepper and stale croutons! Sigh!

Still too much cholesterol in me already! And finally, now home at 10:30pm ... I really want to sleep! Hehehe!

I Am Number 4 ... well 4 and 1 = 41 not 5 hahaha! Day 5 China

Today's my birthday and I am so glad that though it was unplanned, I am glad I am spending it in China with strangers rather than at home alone like last year. Yup my 40th was a horrible birthday. So I am happy to be spending it with strangers. Let me explain it to you

We were in Hai Ning city and had finished shopping. It was late when we reached the room of our hotel. Although the room was nice and large, we had this horrendous train rumbling through. Then at midnight, to my surprise, Cory came out of the toilet with the cake he bought from a cake shop across the road and lit up with candle. He wished me happy birthday, we blew out the candle and he fed me the cake. We had a quick cuddle before starting to pack our bags as tomorrow we will be leaving China for home

For a present, he got me a batik shirt. The only downside is he said he went with Andz (ugh!)

The day started well in the restaurant as it was a huge spread for breakfast and we were not in a rush. Then at point of check out, I told them not to give people rooms facing the railway and all they did was asked if we would like to complain. There was one hiccup though. When we were about to board the bus, they said an adaptor was missing from my room. I asked if they wished to search my bag and they said no but I had to go explain myself! What bullshit that they didn't check the room properly because it was where it was in the socket above the writing table. None of us moved it!

Then as we boarded the bus, the supervisor came onboard to apologize!

After that, as the bus got on the way, our tour guide said he got a present for those of us celebrating birthdays because to our surprise, out of 22 pax, there were 3 people with the same birth dates! Me (naturally), this old lady (who is travelling with her husband) and a Malay man (who is travelling with his wife). Wow! That was unexpected! So good wishes and singing abound

Today was certainly a packed day as we made our way to the West Lake. It was beautiful but too bad there were foggy/ misty all morning. We had a private boat cruise which was nice. The lake was jam packed with tourists. After the cruise, we went to the city for a wonderful buffet lunch that even comes with Haagen Daaz ice cream. It was again a private luncheon for us at the top floor of the hotel.

With that comes a looooooooooooooong walk to the cable car station. Not sure what the attraction here is except the cable car station. The attendants are funny. They made it like its something super modern and dangerous and try to literally manhandle people into each vehicle making the journey worse! However, sad to say, for those of us who have been before, it was just an ordinary journey. Even the view was average. At the top, was a temple and not even a large or unique temple. Just a small temple that was very oddly constructed around a broadcasting antennae. This you have to see to believe it. Why o why can they not separate it?

After this, the final highlight and what a highlight it was is a show. We were wondering if it is yet another show and the venue was kinda dodgy ... but once inside it was WOW! It beats the first show and it beats Genting anytime - acrobatics, digital/ laser/ 3D/ 4D - dancing etc and even the ending with 4 motorcyclists in a metal sphere! All aces! Everyone enjoyed it tremendously!

O yes did I forget to mention that they stuffed more food into us in the form of dinner? We had one before the show even though everyone was full and it was in a very odd place. Somewhere old and rundown but the food was yummy especially the stewed pork belly!

Anyway after the show, it was bye bye to the airport. No dramas here. We queued, we checked in and we walked inside the airport. Surprisingly large, modern and quite deserted. Nearly everything inside is ridiculously priced. I did buy a silk boxer here since I didn't buy anything for myself the entire trip

Ah well ... all in this is one great vacation trip! Especially for the price of RM399!

O yeah I am 41!!!

No laptops ...

For one of the very few times, I am typing this entry "live" and not like typing and changing the dates for publishing. Hehehe! Basically in another 2 hours, I will shower, pack and go to Tune Hotel LCCT

Then I am meeting (hopefully) some ex-acquaintances from Medan as they transit KL from Korea and later on is Cory

So why no laptops?

Because tomorrow Cory and I are headed to China for a holiday - 5 days in all and will reach Malaysia next Monday ... wooo-hooo!

Take care all out there in cyberworld!

A Quiet Day ...

... is always welcome. So what's a quiet day like for me?

Breakfast - with J. We had dim sum at Uptown, chatted about the nastiness of the Malaysian Income Tax system. I am of course annoyed that they owed me more than RM10k. I kid you not. On appeal but no reply! Called but said nothing on file! I so need to go Penang to meet them!

Then it's a slow moment as I played online games before rushing for my drive back to Pe-Lek land ... hahaha! I am happy that I managed to skip lunch!

I spent it doing projections for the spa school @ Bali ... really hoping that it turns out well ... so if JH doesn't want to pay me or whatever, it's fine ... I can talk to Penny to get a deal going ... hey! They should all realize I need to be paid especially the amount of time I spent doing this projection!

Dinner - I met up with S (FOM) and as it was late around 8:00pm we went to KFC for the new Percik Meal. Not bad especially at that price but the really good thing? I managed to give up 1/4 of the skin. Hahaha! I know I should totally not eat it but hey, a little is a start, right?

Artwork - the only other thing I managed to do is finished a sketch of which I am actually happy about. It's one of my "gay urge" sketch. Basically guy in uniform. Ah well ... I need to get it out of my system and in view of that, basically, I only went to bed like 2:00am or so? Sigh!

So that's my Monday ... oh and as a reward for all that, my right butt cheek hurts so much! Maybe sitting down too long!

Travelogue Day 4 ... Bye Bye Johor

What a rip off! Did you know that the bloody metered taxi in Johor has a surcharge of RM2 for booking and if you say airport another surcharge of RM12? So in the end, we actually paid more for a normal cab to airport than when we took the airport cab when we touched down! This is just bloody ridiculous for a surcharge of 1/3 or 30% more or less of the metered value!

Other than that, nothing else happened. We flew back to KL, I drove R to 1 U for him to get his ticket then kept him company until he departed. After that, I went to my sis place to chill out, watched a movie before I drove home ... and naturally because of all that, I actually reached home much later than even R who took a bus to Penang. Hahaha!

I do feel ill tonight like a flu is oncoming ... know what I mean?

Travelogue Day 3 ... Universal Studios Singapore ... Yahooooo!

Finally after sooooo many years, I am here! Okay. Here's the quick rundown of events. We decided upon waking up to give the damn F-ing bus driver of Sunday a chance. We went to the queue and coincidentally - same bus number, same driver! This time, we got off the bus at the Singapore interchange, ran for it and came through definitely within 15 minutes and to our shock and horror, the few that were ahead of us were also left behind! You FUCKING PC99K bus!

Anyway, we went to 950 and waited and guess what? 6 170 buses came with no 950 until our entire line is almost empty i.e. everyone changed lines. Just as we are about to do so ... we saw coming our way the next Resorts World bus - a double decker ... and we made a dash for it and tried with our tickets and WOW they actually accepted. So it's onwards to Sentosa!

So glad we came to Universal! First bit of good news. Using Citibank credit card gets you a whopping discount for entrance and any mastercard is another discount for shopping within the Park! Yes yes yes!

It's so much better than anything in Malaysia. I kid you not. I am so glad we came here. First up was the shops and we had a good time browsing but decided not to buy as there would be tons of shopping to go and we were right. Then came the main road of old USA with dancers and songs. Real theme areas? We had Madagascar with a ride more for kids than adults

After that it was Shrek and it was again more for kids than adults although the 4D had a great spider sequence that caught most everyone off-guard!

Egypt zone is basically from the Mummy and we saw an actor who actually looks like Brendan Fraser posing for photos with people. He made some remarks as he walked around but some Indian guests looked lost like he was insulting them or something! The ride was a long queue of nearly an hour but it was quite thrilling especially since most are in darkness with flames bursting here and there

Jurassic Park ride? I got majorly drenched when the tub crashed down on my end of the boat

Finally we hit Transformers and WOW the 4D car ride is simply amazing as you cannot tell where our vehicle actually went thanks to the wonderful 3D screen ... note the car is moving through the zone and not just fixed like in a chair! The giant roller coaster is out of service though

The surprise of the day? Even the Sesame Street ride was awesome with its effects that make you feel like you are bobbing in space!

All in all, a wonderful day capped with friendly service from all the people working there made this a wonderful experience. Thanks Universal for a great day!

Travelogue Day 2 ... o Legoland JB ... you burnt me ...

Another morning ... another rainy day morning ...

We went out of our rooms only to be greeted by the most amazing housekeeping system ... there are trolleys permanently stationed outside our room doors but none at the pantry ... I have no idea why ... in addition, mountain of laundry are seen next to the lift with one staff sorting out on the floor while 2 staff are seated on the sofa chatting away! Awesome!

Next, you have to go get voucher every single morning from reception ... then walk up the steps for your meagre breakfast and I meant meagre ... 1 cereal, 1 milk, 1 cordial ... 1 plain congee with some pickles, 1 plain bread with butter n jam ... coffee or tea ... 4 hot dishes ... of which 1 is a fried rice and 1 fried koayteow ... 1 cheap sausage and 1 fried floury stuff! Ugh! And this is supposedly valued at a retail price of RM18?!?!??! Really?!?!?!?!

After that, from our experience yesterday, we decided not to trust the hotel and make our way to LEGOLAND via cab ... honestly the first impression was not too bad as there is some sort of mall at the entrance and you don't really see LEGOLAND ... weird I know ... and the oddest part is many shops are like not properly opened ... even though this attraction has been opened for months ... to top it off at a whopping RM140 per pax ... the shops here are of the lower end kind ... sigh!

LEGOLAND itself? Well, it's worth a visit to shoot photos of how they built Lego structures but that's it. Hey you know how in malls in the olden days there would be free exhibits? Well this feels like that except you pay, you walk under blistering heat and if you want the more "adult" rides of which there are less than a handful, you queue in long lines sweating away because they couldn't be bothered to think about guests comfort ... the only relief you get is whenever you go into one of their many shops! Sigh!

After that (we finished within 2 hours), we decided to hail a cab to Premium Mall and this reminded us of the wonderful cabbies outside KLCC - a bunch of Indians behaving like mafia charging you as they pleased without giving you the choice to choose normal or executive class cabs! Sigh!!!

The Premium Mall is pretty decent but again, hot! They couldn't be bothered to have loads of fans on the walkway between one shop to the other? Seriously? However, we learnt our lesson (Starbucks ran out of the foamy cream?!?!?!??!) and took a bus to the Immigration before going back to our hotel ... cheaper this manner

To end this night, we walked through the pasar malam behind our hotel to KSL mall ... not bad and had an awesome RM12.50 dinner at One Asia restaurant ... decent portions ... tasty and super friendly and efficient staff! What more could one ask for, eh?

Travelogue Day 1 ... Fly to Johor Bahru ...

The first challenge or rather new experience is to drive myself to LCCT and finding a parking there hoping that there is a spot as otherwise I will be in trouble. Hehehe! I have not done overnight parking. So first parking entrance? Full. Second entrance? Staff parking. Third entrance? Finally! We had a nice long walk ... more than 1 km? Maybe

As it is a domestic flight, it was a quick check in with none of the nightmare queue and we are flying! It was the first time for R so I got him a window seat. I also learnt from this trip that he frequently updates his FB

As we touched down JB, the airport hasn't changed a bit. It may label itself as international but it is still empty. We went to the airport car rental area and guess what? All counters are closed regardless of company. We called the numbers and they either do not wish to pick up or picked up and said cars not available

As it was drizzling, we decided to grab a cab to our hotel and checked in. It was a fairly long ride maybe 30 min. Once there, as expected, the rooms are not ready. We had a choice of doing LEGOLAND, Batam or going to Singapore. R opted for option 3 and we are set!

So many decisions at each stage but WTH we decided to be adventurous and thanks to some bad advise from the hotel, we crossed the road, grabbed a cab to the immigration and found out that the cab had to U-turn to our side of the street to get to immigration! Hah! Next the crossing of JB immigration. This was smooth. Then we came down and looked for transport to Singapore. Seeing a Resorts World area, we decided WHY NOT?!?!?!

WARNING: the bus drivers and attendants here are so RUDE. Cold, impersonal and unfriendly. You approached them even when there are no buses and no one even looked at you and tell you or give you proper directions but merely waved you away in a general direction. 3 old men did this?!?!?! So we have no way of knowing if we are in the right place or not. Finally we got on the bus and the conductor/ driver was the same

On Singapore side, the queue was not long and we were done fairly quick. Then came another nightmare. We rushed down and waited for our bus ... and waited ... and waited ... and others from our bus were there ... but after nearly 45 mins we all realized our  fucking bus had left! Without almost all of us!

In the end, we queued up for 950 (hotel's advice) ... and guess what? 950 to Woodlands had the least buses in the queue. So we jumped queue to 170 to Kranji and got there within 10 mins ...

Did we go Sentosa? Nah! After 44 mins on the train, we hopped out to Marina and it was dead brilliant. It was a beautiful day to waltz through the malls, have a great Brazilian BBQ and walked all through the square seeing all the different things. It was indeed lovely. We walked from MBS within to without passed the tall buildings across to the show auditoriums and the Eye before winding back to the museum and MBS.

We did a quick walk through the casino and it was lovely until Genting as there is hardly any fumes smell!

We met up with Linda who is coincidentally there for a showing of Phantom. And we ended the day by going up to see the sunset!

Before hoofing it back to our hotel for a late dinner and a well-deserved rest. So all in all? A good real first day for travel: not only did I join someone I hardly know but I did things I have not done and seen new thins!

Goodnight world!

AND NOW FOR THE SPECIALS ... the nightmare of a hotel ... imagine I booked first night direct with the hotel ... second and third nights with Agoda ... they had the cheek to call me and said I haven't paid when I sent everything to show them ... so when I got back, I showed them one more time the payment going through for first night ... they said I have to pay again and they will refund later if they received ... I said to show me proof it didn't go through ... reception said cannot and can only show me a handwritten scribbled note for me to pay ... after that, I found out they had locked me out of my room! What the FUCK?!?!?! Hallmark Regency Hotel ... remember this ... avoid them ...

Then someone called me when I went to my room ... I said that at least they know next 2 nights is fully paid ... so why not wait for tomorrow and if still not go through, I will pay them ... but they insisted I paid otherwise they are going to lock me out again!?!?!?! So I had no choice but to go down and pay them ... this is like bloody mafia attitude!!!!

Travelogue Day 0 ... Meeting Up

What's a Day 0 you may ask? It's the day before the official start of a trip and for me, day 0 is when I got my whole house cleaned up, tried to clean my car (unsuccessfully) and drove from beautiful Pelek land down to 1 Utama ... to wait for my new "buddy" who is coming down from Penang ... to join me for a quick, last minute journey to Johor, Singapore and depending on how exciting things are ... Batam!

While waiting for R, I managed to catch up with an old high school mate named ... WSM! Truth be told, this guy is someone I had a small, tiny, attraction/ crush to. Hey! High school had some major cuties like BW, WPK, okay?!?!?! Anyway, I know we never spoke or at the most acknowledged but one thing I learnt as I grew older, it seemed like I remembered more from school days than my mates. And he is one of them who at first didn't remember me (via FB) ... but subsequently through a few messages "remembered". Hehehe!

Anyway good to see that he is doing well and happily settled down with wife and child! Ah ... how I longed for a child of my own, eh?

As for the rest of day 0, it went generally well. First thing I learnt is that young people will be young people and at 22, I am like 18 years older than him! Hah! Imagine if I had sex when I was in Form 5, he could be my son!?!?!?!

Anyway, all he was keen is his obsessions with online gaming (motor racing) ... and Tamiya-ing! Well, so I learnt something new, eh?

He spent so much money and nearly 2 hours gaming away after movie and late lunch. By the time we drove back here, it was around 7:00pm or later. Good thing he didn't freak out about my house and I did drive him around a bit to see the neighbourhood even though it was dark

We finally went to bed around midnight or so ... and he promptly went snoring away ... hehehe!

Goodnight diary! Goodnight R!

Pre-opening done ... finally ...

Yes, people, I decided to finally sit down and just get this over and done with. This refers to the pre-opening program for my own hotel management company. I am using Paku as a template and in future, every time I have a new client, I just use this

Now that it is cleared, I feel so much more relaxed. Next up is a few contracts to have in place and summarize the budget. After that, chasing the slowpoke/ procrastinator for the business plan. I kept on chasing him and he kept on promising but not delivering. Ugh!

I am going to have to write to someone as back up I think. I don't want to over-rely on him

Other than the above, nothing else happened today. All I did was? Clean house. Swept and mopped

So I am not going to waste any more cyberspace here and take up your time if you are reading this, eh?

O yes, tonight is the eve of HARI RAYA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My House @ BL ... and a blow up with ... you-know-who

Let's start with the nicer news, shall we?

Nope BL does not mean Bacon n Lettuce ... it's the name of the local village where I am now residing. Anyway, first up was my parents and sister (naturally) and finally after many changes in schedules, I hosted JL who was my first superior in KL when I worked here in 1994. Yup that's like 2 decades ago. Isn't it nice to still be friends after all this time? Even though we probably find each other annoying some of the times? Hehehe! Truthfully, he was probably one of the nicest, most helpful man I have ever met in my entire working career if not entire life up to now. How many people would offer help and guidance to complete strangers who just became younger colleagues knowing full well that these colleagues will surpass him in a few years time?!?!! Very few, this I tell you, especially in our part of society these days where everyone thinks about their own skins first!

Anyway, that's the highlight from life in the sticks for yesterday! Hah! We met in Sg Pelek, drove to where I am staying to show him the bungalows and semi-d. Then we went further to Seri Bayu where the terrace or linked houses are that he is looking for. After that, it was a beach front drive to where all the ikan bakar shops were before finally heading up to Tg Sepat

Lunch was @ Lovers' Bridge restaurant where I initially had with Eye Sac and Case Man and again the food was not that great. And again I have to wonder why KL people pour into this place on weekends just to get a sample of the food

Then to my surprise at the small souvenir shop, he bought a bag of snacks! This is just the like ladies (expats) I brought over several months ago. Seems like people just have to buy so that location is perfect, eh?

After that, we drove around town showing him the seafood bah kut teh ... before we finally ended up at the pow and hainanese kopi area which again to my surprise he bought! He bought pow, kopi n even fruit juice! Hah!

Now to the annoying part ... I literally shouted into the phone ... I checked on my bank account and as usual found the money gone taken by Core. I messaged him asking why and instead of replying properly merely said that as I have more and not yet bankrupt (what the fuck!), he decided to take more. Also if I don't like, we cancel our China trip. Again he is threatening me, again he is spending without control, again he will ask for more regardless of my current situation and then like the fucker he is, he will then say to buy house or car or whatever. How does that work?!?!?!

Imagine if no inflation, based on what I have, I can live comfortably as a single person without ever working for next 20 years but with him, it's like 5 max?!?!?! And considering the fact that he will ever truly care for me, now you know why weeks ago, I made up my mind this is a relationship going to end. It's a matter of time only. I have given up hope on him. ARGH!

Naturally late at night, he texted he is sorry via BBM and Watsapp ... for once learning to ask for forgiveness ... instead of blaming me!

Lazy Sunday ... or a Time to take Stock

Today is a quiet day as my sis has some foreigner visitors from work and she left in the morning. I didn't see her until the evening. That gave me the day to myself which was just fine. I toddled around the house not doing much of anything wasting time. Hahaha! This break actually (not really a break) from Indonesia is what I need. In fact, next few days I want to get everything done and cleared out of the way so I can have at least 1 FULL WEEK off

Okay. What else?

Well I always loved lists and that hasn't change. So at this point in a month, I will officially touch 41 and before I do that, let's list out the major milestones to-date, eh? Sort of a take a stock look at what has been done and what is next

1972 - I was born
1977 - I entered kindergarten (Peng Wah)
1979 - I started primary school (St Xavier's Pulau Tikus)
1984 - bye bye primary school
1985 - I started secondary school (St Xavier's Institution @ Georgetown)
1987 - I sat for the form 3 exams
1989 - I sat for the form 5 exams and also bye bye primary school
1990 - I joined Disted's South Australian Matriculation program
1991 - I joined Disted Deakin's Bachelor degree program
1993 - final year, I went to Australia and hello Warrnambool; I backpacked Australia Eastern Corridor
1994 - I started work in Arthur Andersen Penang Tax  Div and seconded to KL
1995 - I was seconded to Alor Setar then switched to Audit Div
1996 - I was seconded to Singapore office and met Wee Wee; I resigned after I returned; I joined SSB
1999 - I joined Dell for all of less than half a year and saw cutie Pat F again from high school!
2000 - I joined Superstar Leo and was stalled at sea due to engine issues, then transferred to Taurus and saw typhoons several stories high
2001 - I was transferred to Virgo; I backpacked Vietnam; I resigned and joined PPIKL
2003 - I was asked to leave PPIKL; I joined R Maldives under HPL Group
2004 - I assisted C Maldives; tsunami
2005 - I went to Raffles Phnom Penh; I resigned and joined FS Maldives under HPL Group

To be continued ...

My Sis 42nd ... and serious HOTTIE @ KLCC

This morning, it was a surprisingly good drive down to Damansara even though I left around 8:00am (after) and reached in about an hour by obeying speed limit. Hah! I guess whoever is rushing for the weekend to go shopping or home for the holidays have either left the night before or haven't properly woken up for the day's activities yet ... which spelt good for us

The same thing happened when we were going to KL. My sis and I decided to go there for the awesome MALAYSIA SALE. And this year is awesome! Instead of the usual 10% or if you buy more than so-and-so amount, you get how much discount, this year most of the shops have huge areas for 50% and 60%. I kid you not. We spent from like 11:00am to 4:00pm with only 1 short break for lunch at Chilli's and that's it. Good window shopping for me

Many things I would so love to buy but you know me, when it comes time to buy for myself, I always felt guilty if I over-indulge in luxury items. I ended up getting some books and a pair of Fred Perry shoes and that's it

Still it was lovely and I managed to waltz around checking out the cute security guards but ... get ready for this ... today we have someone even hotter ... someone close to a 10! I was walking around when this chap dressed in black was carrying a takeaway packet and busy on the phone. So I literally slowed down to check my phone and then ended up behind him. I kept following him and stopping when he did and ... found out he worked at Giorgio Armani! DAMN! Too expensive for me to casually go in and pretend to buy something especially when I am so dressed down!

ARGH!

Okay. His looks? Tall/ average height and slim. Nice hair (coloured I think as it was black/ light) and sharp features. Cannot tell if Chinese or Malay or mix. And he looked so hot in the clothes. The waist, the butt ... hahahahaha! I shall not elaborate!

O ya so we celebrated my sister's birthday 3 times ... first was lunch at Chilli's but she didn't want me to tell them so there was no singing and free brownies .... then dinner was at Sushi Tei and still she didn't want me to tell them ... finally I was at Adz for Starbucks and I bought 2 slices of cake home for us to share ... and she ate them! Hehehe!

My Health: Road to Recovery

I was so nervous, scared and tensed or whatever in whichever order and this is because inspite of my ongoing off-and-on diet and medication, both uric acid and cholesterol has been tremendously high - almost like one time in Southern Steel Berhad or that time in Meritus Langkawi ... and after Apr and Jun tests that failed to come down ... well you can imagine, right?

So to my utter delight, my cholesterol dropped by nearly 30% versus last month to scraping the high end of the margin. And my uric acid? Dropped by nearly 15% to very near the high end margin!

I am so psyched that I am actually coming home and typing this now!!!

I am going to keep up with the diet, exercise and medication until all are well below the maximum limit ... but hey now there IS HOPE!!!

Right now it is 3:59pm and I am so happy that I am not going to type other minor things that happened today

My Dream Man versus Fucking Traffic Summons

Let's get the annoyance out of the way first, shall we? First up, I decided to actually go ahead and do my blood test and as expected, the entire Uptown D was full to the max. So I parked at the multi-storey car park. The procedure was fast and with nothing else confirmed, I headed to KLCC via the train thinking to save the hassle of driving into the city

When I came back in the afternoon, guess what? I found a summons. How the fuck is that even possible when I was parked in a residential neighbourhood where there are no designated parking lots, no yellow lines, not near a hydrant or junction???

I went to FB and just emailed the govt ... see what the fuck they have to say!

Next ... I was in KLCC doing my rounds of trying to find comics to buy ... and later meeting Carm and hubby for a spot of lunch at Chinoz ... and here are the cuties!

Kino - Chinese bloke is still working there ... the one who is fair, black hair, wearing glasses, tall, thin and his trousers simply too large for him until hanging so loose ... anyway, he was on the comic aisles and seated ... o how I longed to talk to him ... maybe next time I will pluck up enough courage to ask ... yes I can start by asking him about books ... stupid stupid stupid ... but he is still not my dream man, oh no no no!

Next ... as you know I love me my man in uniform and finally amongst all the cutie securities at KLCC? Well this is one of the handsomest, sweetest fellow I have ever seen! Ever! To me, that is! There is one young Malay chap ... Firdauz or Firdaus ... young, tanned, slim but fit the uniform so well that I just want to put my arms around him ... he has a simple, tender face with eyes that appeared to be chilling out ... sigh! I tried to FB search him to no avail! What I really liked? Everything. From his face, to his physique to the way he wore his uniform and walk ... he didn't have that sort of too proud or weird behaviour about him at all! SIGH!

The Wonderful Drama of Living in the Middle of Nowhere

Today was meant to be a wonderful day but thanks to my continuing battles with insomnia, I finally fell asleep after 3:00am and woke up around 7:00am. You know what that means, right? A day of yawning ... but that was not the worst of it all ... oh no!

After a fruitful start to the day, wherein I actually got around to submitting my March 2013 claims and finished the concept for my client in Jimbaran ... I decided to go and grab a bite and lo and behold! Tragedy struck. I clicked on the remote but my car door didn't lit up. Several more clicks and a change in remote later I decided to look carefully at the remote and saw that it lit up. So ... could it be that the battery has died?

I so wanted to put the key and manually open yet there is the phobia that the alarm would go off ... finally with no other options remaining, I did so and thank goodness it didn't but that's not the worst of it ... the worst is what do I do now? Whom do I call? If you think the so-called friends from Gee Pee Tee, well you can forget about them. The Sneeze and the Ash Men? Both have not replied my sms or watsapp or even pick up my phone calls in ages like more than a month ... of boycotting me ... good to know where I stand with them, eh? It's a case of them using me and discarding me ... such is life but better learning then than now!

Anyway thank goodness for my neighbour who had the number of a local mechanic ... so there I was waiting for them to come and fighting off bouts of dozing!

Worst of all ... Sill called me from Indonesia ... the M apparently wants to talk to me about both the Kem Hotel ... where he said he will meet and break the ASS BEE EYE contract and he said he doesn't understand why I offered to try and get the money back ... I said it is the client's desire and I didn't promise they will get back something but merely trying ...

And then he went on to the Jay Project ... and explained about his having power! ARGH! I explained that I was told to prepare in writing so I did and that's all ... in addition it is from last week's meeting ... where architect's work was incomplete and with this, we can fill up the spaces ... I don't understand his getting uptight ... he is the client ... we are all consultants ... he should let us all do the work and it will make his life easier ... isn't that the case?

AAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! I need more diverse clients!

Fuck the Cabby!

There are some days that for one reason or another just went wrong, wrong, wrong! Today is one of those days. I mean, look at it this way. I cut down my coffee to just before lunch. After lunch is weak ass nescafe ice from dispenser machines. So you know how weak it was. I thought by midnight I was yawning but to my utter horror, I couldn't sleep until well past 3:00am

Next thing I know it was around 6:00am so it was still fine. I pottered around the house, moved my car into the garage and got ready for the trip to the airport. He didn't show up. I sms him and no reply. I called and called and called and for 20 minutes nothing!

So I started to panic as by then I have about 2 hours before flight. I called my neighbour, Ms H and no answer. I called Eye/ Case/ Azzz/ Sneeeze - all no answer and no help until finally in sheer desperation, I called the Stuck-Out-Tongue and the Bird Girl. Thank goodness both of them are okay to help

By the time Bird came to my place I was down to like 1hr 20 min left

By the time we reached the airport? I had like 40 min left. As my luggage exceeded the 7kg limit, I waited in queue and asked the airport counter to assist. They radioed the luggage people and it was closed. So they nicely went with people to security and explained the case and they let me pass

After that, it was immigration and customs and the queue is so bitching! You know how some people are. They could have started sorting themselves out but nooooooooooooo they wait until they are in front of the queue before removing their wallets, watches n belts and what-not! Get with the program people!

Finally, finally I had a nice brisk walk through the gates onto the plane sweating profusely and thinking that I was the last person! Thinking because a short while later a few other people took their sweet time to come onboard! ARGH!

So much drama today. This is not all (although there is a cutie onboard from the ground crew sigh!)

When we reached Jakarta, plane was 20 min late and I didn't spot anyone I know. Called and texted and finally got a reply - driver is at airport. But wait for it! For some weird reason, my international phone could not roam and pick up a signal. I had to restart several times while my Indonesian sim card is out of credit! ARGH ARGH ARGH!!!

Finally I got in the car but the driver has no idea where I am supposed to go. So we waited while I texted and ... we were off! Phew! What a day, eh? Lucky thing the rest of the day was pretty nice. I went to a place called "Kembar" and had a nice local lunch with the staff. Turns out that the owners are staying there temporarily as their house is being fixed because of roof leaking

Then we had a nice bitching session that went on and on and on moaning about how they were potentially being screwed! Surprise surprise! Young people below 30 with limited experience can moan like the best of the old ladies squad! Anyway, another young chap was telling how well they were doing and what-not and I noticed as he explained, he didn't cover a lot of things ... especially how he paid a lump sum for the name, and assembled his own team to run ... so the same as having a management company, dude!

Finally, to my utter surprise, after that session at SH, we said bye-bye and that's it. I left not knowing what's next like do I have a job, what's our arrangement between us, etc?

So right now, as I am typing this, I am in the dark! This on top of the nonsense in Damansara = ARGH!

Control ... Patience ... Yan ...

You know me by now ... on the day of any event, I am up early and today was no difference even though it felt like one of those days ... because you know it's a 50/50 ... the favourable part is that this is the last day I have to deal with unethical people ... and the unfavourable part? It is that I have to sit in as part of their team

And that's what I did

But you know what? At least, I got a cab with minimal effort and the traffic was brilliant. So I arrived about 40 min earlier and chose to try a new café, Chilla Cup. It was a good choice too. I loved the coffee although the pretzels had a wee bit too much cheese powder

After that, I ran into Mr W (seasons) and we had a quick few minutes before we went to the room ... as usual, my so-called partners started meandering here and there and Mr W had to take charge and went through point by point with tem ... so he ended up taking the lead ... T came by then

And what's the priority of my so-called partners? Why, none other than their own businesses and how they can make more money for themselves/ family/ friends with the G talking about branding (imagine nothing to show for it after 30 days except softcopy graphics) and as for ML (Bali) ... outsourcing FFE function ... oh please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I left them as they were going to lunch ... and zipped over to PD with Adz ad the Mrs ... only to find out Sam ignored our phone calls and SMS ... he said he fell asleep! Yeah, right! Set your alarm bro!
After all that, we zipped back to Palace as Adz had an issue to attend, then we went to Mid V for a nice dinner (Jap) before I went and buy a Tod's ... not for me obviously but for my so-called other half hoping to surprise him!

By the time I reached home in Sepang? Almost midnight! Sigh! Still have packing and printing of stuff to do!

Alone or Lonely ...

I enjoy my privacy but of late, I find myself wondering what is the better alternative? Living with someone (spouse or life partner or whatever you call it) ... or enjoying one's own company?

I like my space, no doubt about it. I enjoy reading comics, listening to music, eating and snacking and dressing down. With no one around, no one will demand anything from you and so you can do whatever you want whenever you want. But is that right? I know it's my life ... but I do wonder if I am right to sometimes want to shut myself away from everyone ... so I try to make an effort to connect with people ... unfortunately more often than not, it's frustrating with people sometimes cancelling without prior warning once an appointment is firm up. Right? I am sure those of you who read this will understand especially if you lived in an Asian city

There is a saying in Singapore when I used to live there that for your Friday nights, if you are single and not super popular but popular enough to please make at least 3 appointments with different groups of people who do not know each other. Space them apart anything from 30 minutes to an hour within the same vicinity (like different malls in Orchard Road). This is in case someone cancels at the last moment, you have a decent 15 minute walk to the next appointment

For those wondering what happens if the first appointment shows up ... well, then you merely cancel the next two appointments. Yup, it happened to me a few times when I was there and I have to admit there is good logic in it

In Malaysia, sometimes they tell you let's try to meet at a certain day and best part, they don't even call you and said later on that it is not firm up, it's a suggestion. Well! When you make a suggestion and the other party agrees, do you not, at least try to keep that appointment? Geez!

So we are back to the question: alone or lonely?

Yes there are times when I do feel lonely but then again, there are times when I am alone but not lonely even if it is at night. So should I start committing myself to another adult?

Hmmm ... I would like to have kids some day ... to adopt actually ... but not sure if I qualify as I am still single ...

Awesome supposedly Korean restaurant

Well, I was 50/50 today in the sense that half of me is happy to move on and half is still kinda pissed off at my so-called friends and business partners. That's life, right?

So I decided to go do some shopping and finally bought myself a watch from Massimo (RM699) and a shirt from British India (RM399). Shopping therapy. Hahaha!

After that, it was just hanging around until I found the time to go Publika. I decided to go early and went to one of those Juice Bars for a drink while doing some emails and was surprised at the amount of emails received! It was good. Subsequently, I finally went to Social to meet Ange. I was looking for a lady and totally missed her when a couple walked past me as it was one tanned Chinese lady and one Indian man until he came and asked if I am waiting for her

First, I must admit we had a beautiful 2 hours of just chatting and laughing. It was good. At first, she asked what services I offered and I said nothing in particular as I have grown and moved on to things that interests me. She kept on saying that everything is already done up neat and nice. They have some management company even. So I said it's fine. Friendship first. I explained that I spent years abroad and now that I am back, always looking for more friends and what-not. So she was delighted. Then her other half showed me his product about some sorta healthy version of sugar. Good thing S is looking for new products so I gave him S number and promised to make the intros for them to meet and talk

After that, we had some finger foods and I rolled out my laptop and powerpoint. As I went through, we found out we had many friends in common and I sort of rundown what I did. She was surprised and said she thought I was some sort of auditor for hotels but now she said she could see it is difficult for me to describe what I do for people!

At the end of it all, she said if I can send the file to her by Saturday latest, she wants to have it ready as she wants to show it to her MD/ CEO. She even asked about possibility of cancelling management contract! So I know something is up. She said she is not promising anything but maybe, who knows, there may be something!

Well, fingers crossed. Wouldn't it be brilliant if I can work with them to set up a management company to launch this on CNY same as my Kemayoran project? Imagine if both launched successfully! And both are small and in good neighbourhoods. I can just visually sync-ing PR and telling one that we are having second launch within days or for the second one that we just launched a few days ago our first property in another country!

That would be stellar! I am sooooooooooooo keeping fingers crossed and toes crossed. Oh Lord if this is meant to be and if You know that I can do it, then ... Insyallah! God Wills! I don't want to take on if I cannot handle it though. If they say they have the team onboard and the works are done, it may be easier to go through the process with the team and get admin right. Then it's a matter of reviewing each DH and GM work and ensure we launch well!

Let's see, right?

O yes after that I went to Namoo ... wanted something different with sis ... and almost walked past cos it says Korean dessert ... all I can say is GIVE IT A GO! It's not Korean desserts. The food we ordered is amazing from the rice to fish n chips. The carrot cake with ice cream is yummy and our herbal iced drinks are just sooooooooooooooooooo good! This is on my must return list!

Doors Opening ... and Closing ...

That saying about when one door closes and another opens? The one that relates to opportunities in life? Well, thank the Good Lord because that is just what happened. After my last angry post, after thinking things through, I decided to go all the way with my business endeavours in Indonesia instead of sitting on the fence of so many project. So this is what I did:

1. Forget about all the restaurant business possibilities
2. Forget about working with CI and his weird ways
3. Forget about the damn Damansara people and their unethical ways

And for the moment, I am not going to do my art and writing seriously as well and take the whole plunge in Indonesia. So I emailed, sms and bbm all the contacts that I was in touch with and actually followed up and guess what? They replied! YES!

I got the Jkt #2 deal on and am going over next week to finalize
I got the Bali team coming to Malaysia to meet me and wanting me to join in for the next consultant meeting and so on

So it's on and I am sooooooooooooooo thankful

Then ... thinking further, I decided to give V's contact a call - the person that 3 above is hoping to connect with once their "profiles" are established. And they agreed to meet me on the basis of watsapp and that I am a mate of V's! YES!

Thank you, God!

What kind of a man are you?

As those of you who read this blog regularly knows, I recently decided to venture out on my own and try my luck running my own show in South East Asian markets. I thought I would be open to all my various business partners and unfortunately, my one and only Malaysian commitment turns out to be ... for want of a better word ... scum scum scum!

He is someone I knew since 2005 for a few months and I resigned not because of him but because of the general environment of the place although now that I think back, it is due to him since he is the head and he stayed there for years. Must have been running with both eyes closed on all the monkey business that is going on there!

Anyway, we touched base end of last year as I have fond memories of hanging out with his wife and kids ... and he said he had been offered a property to manage and invited me to join in. I said fine. In the first meeting, in Coffee Bean in Uptown, he even asked what are my expectations in terms of shares and offered me like 20% if enough. I said sure

By end Feb and early Mar, we started work in earnest and guess what? The 20% has dropped to 10%. I was surprised but acted like it was what we agreed. I should have woken up to the fact that something is wrong but hey, I am starting out

He proposed that there be director fees as we 3 are directors. I have to wonder how they plan to work. You see, the company is incorporated in Singapore with first client in Malaysia. I asked why Singapore and he said to make it look more prestigious and I have to wonder WTF is he going on about. Then finally he explained it's also for personal reasons as he wants his daughters to get free education or something like that in Singapore. At this point, tiny alarm bells rang!

The other director is an expat living in Bali and plans to live in Bali! Again, tiny alarm bells rang!

So the fees are 6k, 5k and 4k depending on commitment. I was on 4k for Mar as I was still employed at another company and finishing my notice period. I did all he asked off and took leave for meetings. I was then to move onto 6k in Apr

Come April, after my resignation is through, I did tell him I am committed to be an advisor for a project in Jakarta. I told him all these much earlier and guess what he did now that I have resigned and started full time? He told me I need to be 100% committed to them or I won't get the fees even. I asked that both of them have their own businesses. Their answers are that they will pass to their missus. Yeah, right! I tested the Bali chap and knows he is running it behind the scenes. I mean, what he does in Bali every day when he is not here in Malaysia?!!?!?! In Malaysia, only 4 days. He cannot be everyday doing planning or looking for clients. His claims do not show any such travelling

So I had to resign as EDirector ... and then to my shock the fees didn't go from 6k to 4k ... he said it is 1.5k and didn't I get the revised proposal? I mean, again, what the F3* is this?!?!?! By now, I was annoyed. I said this is just too low for the time required of me. Hello! This is the price of an assistant or junior accountant. Give me a fucking break! So he agreed to raise it to 2.5k

And guess what? It has retro effect to Mar - so we are still not paid - but he said he is offering me the shares still as he values my contribution

So within the same month until May, while I more than did my share of the duties expected of me and they were like slow and not coming back on critical matters requiring their attention ... guess what? He asked me back for the shares and said they wanted to work with me as a consultant only

Wow! Like I am going to do this. Hey! Excuse me Mr Caucasian. Do not try to pass yourself off as a good and sincere businessman. You are not. You are the lowest of the low. I have heard of people like you but never met before until now. You only think of yourself. Just because you set up a company with you as majority shareholder, you are not God. Yes you can do with the company as you please but contracts should still be respected and acted accordingly, not run the way you do and making retroactive decisions! It just doesn't work that way!

Well at first in his office, I agreed to return the shares. No point fighting it. Then I came home and decided not to waste my time anymore. This is probably his way of getting rid of me anyway. Either that or he really thinks I am a fool. So I wrote and said I resigned. Go fuck yourself!

Water Water

Today's challenge is buying drinking water. Yes, it sounds like such a simple thing, right? In the olden days (whoooo makes me sound old now), we used to get water from the tap, boil and drink. Now? We are told the pipes are dirty and the processing is not clean etc etc etc. So you need to buy one of those filters that starts from a few hundred upwards to near RM2k

Well, I was debating myself on this because indeed when you switched on the tap, after not using for a few weeks, initial rush for the first few seconds is brownish! So, even filter? I rather not

And then after seeing the equipment for many years, I found out from my sis that she too buys water from those machines in residential area and so begins my journey

I took my empty 5 liter bottle and went to the Indian shop outside my neighbourhood where I saw people buying. I went early and to my surprise, the machine is gone!!!

Next I drove to Pelek town ... and slowed down to a crawl and sighted one machine outside the local supermart! Jubilant, I parked and went there with a handful of coins. Checking the 2 slots, I found that one is for 10 cents and the other 20 cents. Great! I plonked down 10 cents ... and nothing happened. I saw my 10 cents stuck somewhere on the way down. So I used another coin and pushed the first in ... and nothing happened!

Then I tried 20 cents ... and out came water ... and stopped! For 40 to 60 cents worth I got maybe 1 liter?!?!?!?!

I give up ... I went back to my car ... and then horrors drove past KFC and saw one more machine ... with its shining surface there! ARGH!

Other than that, it was a thankfully quiet day in general! I miss unker Case

First full day of recovery

Well, more or less, my leg is recovered after being struck by a nasty round of gout about a week or so ago. It's not 100% and that's got me really worried as every little twinge or red mark has me paranoid. But first, I am going to make a vow that from today onwards, I will stick to a healthier diet of less sugary drinks, less carbs, smaller meals, no alcohol, no tomato, no shellfish (blue moon), no beans and less black tea!

Long list, I know, paranoid list, I know too!

Okay

So this morning I left home at 6:30am for airport and it was so clear, the traffic we were there before 7:00am. Nothing special happened except that it is nice to see Penang airport finally having more and more facilities ... after like 3 to 4 years of so-called renovation (or longer?). I remember only from my dayz in Medan and that was a full 3 years ago!

I bought a book from Mitch Albom at the WHSmith inside (yes, a bookshop!) and a drink. The major cuties for today is Azreen, airport police. He was on duty and still looked so hot. He was at the international gate, looking slim and youthful as I walked past. He went to the McD counter and came out with a coffee. So I slowed my pace to watch him. Sigh! And noticed on his sleeve he has 2 stripes. A minute ... I use search engine to find out what is 2 stripes ... corporal ... corporal Azreen ... who cannot be found on FB. ARGH! I searched mind you. Sigh!

Anyway, the plane was surprisingly on time and reached Subang early by a full 15 minutes.

A really funny incident happened in the fireflyz flight. I booked my usual seat right at the first row simply for the extra legroom and normally it is quite deserted but this time, 4 Caucasians were there! 3 in a group and 1 was solo. The trio had one guy who kept talking nonstop throughout the flight even though he was 2 rows behind! And he kept on and on about the food here and doesn't understand why Asians can eat heavy for lunch whereas for him, all he needed was a sandwich! And here he is working in Asia earning money so he can criticize us. It wasn't the only thing he was moaning about though. He also talked about the expectations that in Asia meetings can stretch all day and expected to entertain in the evenings and sometimes weekends. Well, if his bosses hear that, it's sayonara, dude!

But then the next incident is between Mr. Solo and the air stewardess. At first, I didn't pay any attention. It sounded something like AC cold and he offered his hand. But I am not sure. Then towards the landing time, he handed her a business card. Well, the plane had landed by then and I could hear more clearly as she asked him what the card is for! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! He told her that it is from his company as he had just joined and perhaps they can get together for a meal or something. Dude! You are so brusque! Is that how you pick up people? He is grossly overweight, hairy and looked about 40 to 50 while she is definitely below 30 and in good shape! Looks like she was merely being polite to a passenger only!

I went to this new place in Uptown with sis for breakfast. While the place looked trendy, the service was so-so and the food was greasy! Not worth a second trip especially with its double-kopitiam prices

In the afternoon, we went to the mall of 1 U and there I had my filled of cuci mata. Hehehe! First up, Madam Kwan's. 2 guys in white long sleeved shirt look the same (brothers?). I don't know but they are not good looking okay? Potential is there but waaaaaaaaaaaay too skeletal even for me especially as you can see the pants being held up by belts and nothing in the way of a shapely bottom and the face? Skin has large pimply acne marks. The real hottie is the brown coloured hair guy behind the counter - nice face, great hair, nice upper torso (counter hiding the rest of him)

Then as I walked down, I passed by the usual Maxis counter and the cutie was there. Average height, young, perfect body, geeky face and nice hair. This one is huggable!

Dinner was a takeaway from Kenny Rogers. So all in, there goes my diet! I am going to fix it for tomorrow!

Penang Day 7 - WOW!

Can you believe it? This is my seventh, count them all, seventh full day in Penang. When was the last time I spent seven whole days in Penang? Honestly, I cannot remember because I know in the past years since joining Star Cruises in 2000, my home days are a few days here and a few days there

So this is like the longest in a loooooooooooooooooooooooooong time. My parents are happy except ... well, my dad! He is not unhappy, don't get me wrong here but today, in the afternoon, he said why I don't just move back since I am not employed fully anymore and use Penang as a base? Yeah, right! He even asked me to sell this house in Sepang. Hello!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I told him it's my life and I need some space and that this house is for investment as well as staying. If I had wanted to move to Penang, I would have cleaned up the apartment and fixed the apartment like including a fridge, new TV and Astro

Ah well ... nothing else monumental happened today ... except I bought my firefly ticket and getting ready to go back to KL tomorrow

Oh yes on the biz front, I texted Pak A and he replied that he is in Singapore but he confirmed yes, we will be working together. So YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

No Fucking Way!!!

You would not believe the shit I had to encounter today just to get transportation to Penang!

As you are aware, last night, I went to 1 U with my sis inspite of a gout attack. By the time I limped there, the counter selling tickets was closed. The guard on duty said it closes by 6:00pm. So thinking I will do it today, I gave it no never mind

This morning, I limped to Tropicana because they have an express bus service as well that would go to Penang's Sg Nibong but guess what?!?!?! When I limped there, the counter is all shut before noon. So I asked the concierge and he said that they no longer have the bus service at Tropicana

Now in pain, I had no choice but to go out to 1 U and get my RM50 ticket

If you think that's it, wait for it ... as soon as I got home, client SMS me that if can, to meet Sat morning. I replied that my bus is bla bla bla and I thought we agreed to meet Sunday night or Saturday night because morning's are no good for the client ... to which the client replied that the medical is done and it's life as usual so they are free

Sooooooo I went online and tried to buy Air Asia or Fire flyz but as Air Asia was so expensive, I went for Fireflyz. Thinking that as it was yet to be 5:00pm, why not get flights for that night? And guess what? You cannot buy online if 3 hours before flight time even if domestic. Okay. So what's next? I called the number and this person tells me I also cannot buy from phone or book. I got annoyed. I said that if I had to go to airport and the tickets are sold out, how?????? Only then did she agree to check and let me know that for the flight of my choice there is like over 30 seats left

Now wait for it ... you would think with so many seats the rate would be reasonable, right? Nope all in RM400 or slightly less!!!

In the end, I bought online for tomorrow morning second flight at less than RM200

So ... now you know why I am sooooooooooooo annoyed today! Sickness is not enough, have to contend with this as well!

Psyched!

Did I get that right? Anyway today is flight day and what a day! I was supposed to go with Cory but not feeling really good about what went on with the M man and the Medan investors, I decided to SMS the son (Hend) and see if he is able to meet ... last night ... and he agreed to even come and pick me up from the "hotel" to the airport

And he was on time!

Good thing Cory's house was just behind the hotel so I went out and met him and he picked me up. For once, he did the Medan thing. No flashy car just the usual Jap car. We went to the airport, talked loads and then up to Starbucks and talked some more. He could consume 1 cake and 2 drinks from Star!!! Good on him. The good fortune of being young with high metabolic rate, eh?

Well, the good thing is that he told me even they were super-concerned about M's behaviour as he invited them to meet me and then after that he told them not to listen to everything I had to say. Ah well ... but now it seemed like good chance for us to work together ... I tried to be fair and all and said I will send him a list of issues to review ... it seems like they are not big planners but do-ers!

Nothing else to report on flight ... I got home ... decided not to stay in Sepang and drooooooove down to KL ... witnessed a horrific accident just before the Damansara toll but surprisingly no jam! A few cars were smashed into each other with one toppled over onto the grassy area on the left side of the road like terbalik, dude!

I loved it when the client tells you that we start the day later because we do not have a driver free earlier to pick you up! Isn't that brilliant? Didn't they think about cabs? Hahaha!

Anyway that's what this morning is all about. So I headed out around 10:00am. We had a nice quiet time with V and E going through drawings and challenges. And then for a late lunch, we went to a pseudo western shop for a meal and it cost me about RM100 for 3 pax. Wee ex as far as I am concerned!

But it is good because I got to learn a bit more about E and V. V is new to the working world and potentially come from a better family than E and is still having good vibes about the world. E is more world weary and doesn't like what he sees so much and actually says that the investors are very tightfisted. Actually I too am concerned that if they squeeze too much, we may end up with something less than ideal!

The son, G came in the afternoon and boy is he putting on the pounds. Give him a year and he will probably pack in 2 or 3 kg? I guess this comes of eating so much and late and exercising very little. It's good when your daddy is filthy rich and you don't have a budget, I guess. I wonder how his dad "pays" him. Hahaha!
So I am a bit off him because he is getting fat. How shallow, right?

In the evening, we went to meet the F&B people and they were a right, fine bunch of folks. So it was good. We had a great chat, discuss all sorts of things and even tried some alcohol. They seemed like a better bunch to work with. Money conscious but knows when to spend

ARGH! I need that!

It Never Rain but It Pours? Yup!

That's what today is like. No better a phrase to describe my day

So I went to bed like around midnight and couldn't really sleep well because I kept on expecting Cory to come. He changed his mind about showing up and saying he is going to bed and that was like 1 to 2:00am! I thought case closed. Later on maybe 4 or 5:00am, he said he came but I didn't answer!!! Dude!!! Give me a break. Apparently he went home to take a nap and then came out again!

So anyway after that I asked him to come and he said he is there but I wasn't opening the door. I waited outside the door only to find out that though the car dropped me at tower 1 entrance I was actually staying in tower 2. How the heck did that happen when there is only 1 lift? I don't know

Okay. So as if all that wasn't a bad enough start to the day, I got to the office early like 10 minutes before 9:30am and to my utter surprise, both M and R were not in yet! Wow! And then the reception is busy as they are planning a bank signing ceremony. On top of that, the secretary didn't even bother to come out and receive me and merely told the receptionist that I should wait at the entrance! Love these people!

Anyway, R came to work with the young, handsome cutie who supposedly graduated from Germany! Hehehehe! I am not kidding you. He is so hot! Fair skin, great hair, great slim bod! Yummy!

There were more surprises in store during this entire day:

1. Two chaps came from their partner's company in Bali to "chat" with me. I found out after that the partner wanted to evaluate if they have recruited someone qualified to be the advisor. Excuse me! I have met your so-called local consultants with overseas experience and they are quite ... average ... is the best word I can think of for them

2. In the afternoon, I was introduced to A and his 2 boys (young and goodlooking again!). And they immediately slipped into Chinese but I tried to say no as M is around and M said it's fine. A appeared to be those practical businessman. He apparently bought an office tower and a hotel from M's company and is now concerned about my buddies in AssBeeEye. No surprises there but M was very odd. He is supposedly the COO of the company. Yet he seems to be good at promoting himself and getting more for himself using the company's resources. Example: he is telling people about bringing in coffee and being distributors; he is thinking of self-managing the property through a subsidiary; he is thinking of co-running a restaurant; etc; etc; etc. And at this stage, I have to wonder what is really going on here and if anyone is checking up on him. Is the success of the company due to him or merely a case of right place, right time?

Ah well ... when all is said and done, I finally left to go and meet Cory again for massage and dinner and to my utter disgust, he asked me to go to the Mall but he came 2 hours later! Why? Because he has made appointment to meet someone. Well at least he could have told me the truth right? Instead of letting me wander around like an idiot! And then he is amazed that I am annoyed

Labour Day ... but not in Jakarta???

Well today is a public holiday in Malaysia and a few other countries in the world. I was on the way to Jakarta for meeting tomorrow when I started getting cautionary sms from mates in Indonesia to be careful of potential demonstration in downtown Jakarta. To my surprise, they do not celebrate workers day or labour day ... well!

However, what was nice at the airport (near deserted at LCCT and I meant that everywhere the queue is less than 10 minutes!) was a nice feeling

Unfortunately this disappeared when I arrived in Jakarta. The driver I had from the office is a stubborn man - a typical male specimen who refuses to call for instructions. Imagine I told him where I am headed (Batavia Apartments) and he said office told him a hotel. I asked if they booked for me and he called to confirm. They said I booked myself. So there!

As we drove, he couldn't find the place. The demonstrators were on the way home causing massive traffic congestion. To make matters worse, it started pouring. And he called friends in the office and outside but refused to call the hotel. I just could not believe it! I gave him the form with phone numbers but he refused until we went round several times for nearly an hour ......

By the time we reached, it was nearly 3 hours from landing time! Can you believe this shit? Longer than my flight time

Now to make matters worse, the hotel doesn't have wifi and Cory who is supposed to join me kept on postponing from meals to coming late ... and he didn't even show up until 11:00pm saying he is waiting to be paid! Hmmm ... well I am going to bed!

GE 13 ... PoliTICKS

Okay ... for once, I am not going to write about what the heck happened in my life ... but will post something serious like some other people's blogs ... where they crap to all about some serious issue!

Hah!

But first, you need to know that at the ripe old age of 40, I am NOT a registered voter ... for 2 reasons. One: both opposition and federal government are generally uninspiring ... and I would not know who to vote for ... Second: I was away for 12 years abroad so voting was not that big a thing when I was abroad making my measly savings

Okay?

Now, this round of elections. The people in-charge are BN and the opposition, PR. I noticed, thanks to FB, that a number of my mates are supporting the opposition. No surprises as they are more "Chinese" and from "Penang" or "Selangor". See? It's all about race politics

The really sad thing is that this time around, supporters of political parties are behaving like bullies and religious fanatics whereby they trash you and call you out loud if you are not supporting them. If you support BN, you must be hoodwinked or still conned. How can they honestly believe that an entire political party that consists of humans as well can be "saintly"? Please give me a break. It's politics. Grow up!

Next is internet. Do people realize that just because you can now put things in writing and forward to all and sundry, the internet is not the same as sitting in coffeeshop and airing your opinions? You are putting things in WRITING. And a lot of the shit that they are forwarding are unsubstantiated trashing of BN. I mean, if you read them, you will laugh. Basically, in their minds, everything BN does is wrong and if BN doesn't do it, then they fail to do it ... a case of damn if you do and damn if you don't!

And this is from some of the generally more rational people I know!

I am honestly shocked at what is going on. Here are a few examples:

1. Opposition is putting out posters to demand lower fuel (we are already subsidized and they should go Singapore or Indonesia to see!) and lower car prices. Well, if you want government to subsidize and yet you demand either lower taxes or abolish tolls and what-not, then where is the revenue going to come from???

2. There is a picture of Indian men in blue T-shirts and the hate posters go from saying they are foreigners being given citizenship to racist rant against  foreign workers. Firstly, they are Indian looking men. How do you know they are NOT Malaysians? Next, even if they are foreigners, how do you know they are illegal? Third, if they are legal, maybe they are not given citizenships but paid to put up the flags and what-not. What's wrong with hiring labour to do such work?

And to all the haters of foreign workers, do you want to build the roads, clean the rooms, clean the gutters etc? Because, hey, Malaysia DOES NOT have enough workers like it or not

3. Lots of advice given to people that you will find your name missing from electoral rolls and what-not and that if this happens, it must be BN and you should go to DAP to help you re-register. How do they assume that it must be BN? This is merely wild speculation with no grounded proof

And these are the nicer bits. If you troll the internet, you will find it gets just plain nasty

Why do we NOT debate on more facts? Figures and numbers do not mean it is right. We all know. Why is the opposition not focusing on what they have done in the years they were in power and what they would like to offer if they are given the chance? What are your plans?

And does anyone still believe that if Anwar loses, he will step down and be a lecturer? Remember the last election even after losing, he keep on saying he has another deadline where people are going to jump party to join him so he can take Putrajaya? And when each deadline goes by, he says something or other?

Come on, people, are your memories that short?

And as for the opposition being united? What unity? PAS is going on its version of Islamic agenda, DAP is doing its old job of being opposition by merely objecting to everything the government says and Anwar's Keadilan was set up to free him from prison and now that he is free, their only thing is to get him to be PM. So each has a different viewpoint and that's why wherever they campaign they have FOUR types of flags on display! Not the PR but FOUR - joke I tell you!

Day 3 ... Phuket Dayz ...

I finally found the time to wake up (another good 6 hours or so of sleep), come down, eat healthy, had a quick swim and what not and actually typed away at my blog doing movie reviews and some comic reviews. Are they nuggets of literary genius? Fuck, no! But they are a good process to get my mental gears well and truly greased so that when the time comes to do some serious writing, I am going to be ready and ready is what I want to be

Now, aside from all that boring humdrum, what else is there to share with you?

We went to old Phuket town once more for lunch and this time, it was up a hill. It was amazing! We had such a beautiful view of the entire township right out to the waters. Then to top it off, we had this superthick coconut cream prawn curry with vermicelli to dip in, a plate of crispy fried leaves and an out of this world coffee shake. It drizzled and we all fled inside but hey, it was so good that the coconut cream made me feel bloated! Hahaha!

We saw some Russian groups eating their mini buffet near the parking lot and out of curiosity, we walked over to check it out but frozen veg defrosted with mayo? UGH! This is the land of fresh herbs, people! Somewhat cute tour guide though

Next we head down to the streets and went to this artist gallery. It was awesome. The artist is young man about 20s and o-so-cute! I kid you not! Hah! He has a different technique and technically? He is quite complete. He uses markers on canvas and creates beautiful designs interspersed with shadow creatures. He also has 2 cartoon characters that sifts through every creation ... like his signature. Guy himself is so cute that I so wanna ask him out hahahahaha!

After that, we went to this small roadside kind of shop for a 1-hour massage. The ladies are pretty good. O heck, they were excellent. We booked the same stuff but they started the same and progressively changed as they read our bodies. Mirk got more focus on his lower back and legs with her even climbing on him while mine was more shoulder and back and twisting and turning. It was more than an hour nearly 2 hours. I was surprised and they charged us? Only an hour. Naturally I gave 25% tip

As for dinner, we went to a place called Farang. Great choice! It's quaintly designed and disjointed and you can see there are Thais and foreigners. The fare is a mix. I had the rum n raisin ice cream as a starter (I know, I know, that is so me!). Then we shared a hot plate squid and tomato pesto salad with garlic bread. All are super yummy. And for my main course, it was a pork steak. Perfectly tender with no bits sticking to my teeth. What more could you ask for?

My mates ordered all the 3 desserts but not for me. Apple pie (average), Cheese cake (so-so) and the brownie (not too bad). All in - perfect ending to a perfect day!