I’m really, really tired. My arms feel so heavy. The past two days, we had been painting and just painting… I think I’ve inhaled so much of the paint smell (the primer is not water-based) that at times, I really felt like throwing up.

Mrs Tai was much ’stronger’ in this sense. So she covered the small areas like the corners and edges while I did the big areas (so I can quickly get out of the rooms, etc). I’m glad to say that we’re almost done with the primer/ base coat.

Solid surface or kitchen top will be installed on Friday. We plan to finish painting the key walls on Saturday so that the lights can be installed on Sunday. After that, we can slowly move out stuffs in… Setia Alam… Here we come!!!

Oh ya… The way things are looking, its very likely that the ‘house warming’ party will only be in January… Probably the same time we do a Chinese New Year party!

As usual, we packed up and left Setia Alam before it got dark. We had to leave because we have not installed any lights yet and I think we should not rush into getting an emergency light. Need to still shop around for a good one. Anyway, Mrs Tai wanted to go to Popular Book Store at The Curve to collect some books. So off we went…

We arrived at Popular Book Store just to find out that Mrs Tai could not buy the books today. She’s using coupons to buy the books and it seems the coupons can’t be used during promotion period (it’s promotion period at Popular Books Store till mid December). We asked if we can pay the normal price instead but was told their system does not allow it — Yes, their system does not allow you to pay more!

We decided to walk around a bit and check out the Christmas decorations. I kinda like what was being done at The Curve — White Christmas. White trees… Snow… Blue lights.

Then we saw a section selling toys and there were some capsule toy stations there. I checked out the capsule toys and saw a few nice ones… Including this:

Yes, green-haired girl caught my attention

I asked Mrs Tai if she wanted to some cute toys… Heh heh… This way, I can’t be accused of ‘burning away’ money… I told her there were a few nice ones… There was one with stamp pad and some small cute rubber stamps. She could use them in her work place. She looked around and decided she wanted the girls (pictured above) instead and gave me that look. She knows…

Then she teased me… Mrs Tai asked what would happen if I got the girl that is fully clothed (with the full-armour!!!) but I just answered that I can be that suay (bad luck), right…?? So off we went to exchange the tokens (rm12 for each capsule… Real blood suckers)… Mrs Tai inserted the first token (each token is rm4), I inserted the second one and then Mrs Tai inserted the third one. I then insisted Mrs Tai turn the lever… And plop… The capsule dropped out… I quickly took it out and took a look…

Wah… I don’t believe this… I see armour plates… I don’t believe really that suay… %@#&!

I went to the counter and got another 3 tokens… This time, I told Mrs Tai I’m turning the lever instead… Plop! Out came the second capsule and…

Hmmm… Green hair! Yes, I got it!!!

I guess I could say we got what we ‘asked for’… Mrs Tai gets to keep that fully clothed one and I get to keep the sexy figurine. First thing I got home was to undress open the capsule… MY capsule. I have no interest in the other one… Heh heh…

Hmmm… I’ll assemble this one when I move to Setia Alam

Both of us were quite happy that evening… We felt the rm24 was worth every ringgit. It’s been a while since we bought something on impulse. Most of the time, we would just think twice and thrice and then just think our way out of buying something… But today, we just decided to let go a bit…

Besides that, we also got this…

Dunno why… But I just fell in love with this cute baby bunny when we saw it… I told Mrs Tai it’s Christmas…

I came into the office this morning and as usual, I… Turned on my computer… Then I started to check my emails… What?! My company has just issued a travel ban to India! Why!? And like every morning, I decided to quickly check out Google news…

What? Terrorist attack in Mumbai, India? More than 80 had died in the attack… I’m terribly saddened by the news. How can anyone actually harbour so much of HATE to they point they are willing to kill another fellow human being? I read about how the attackers started to ‘hunt’ for people with American and British passports…

I think back of the times when my teachers used to teach us values such as understanding, forgiving, etc… How many of us actually still practice these values? I don’t think any religion teaches us to hate those who do not believe in the same religion. And I just don’t understand why we have become so narrow-minded to the point that we cannot accept other people’s views, opinion and beliefs… Can’t we just agree to disagree and leave it as it is? I guess not. I guess many prefer to follow the mis-guided idea that “You’re either with us, or against us“. And I thought we lived in a world that’s not just black-or-white…

I guess in the end, it’s not the environment who kills us… We are the ones who will be killing ourselves…

We went to UM Medical Centre (or PPUM) this evening to visit Shin Yee’s father.

On the way there, Mrs Tai mentioned that the trip reminded her of our visits to UMMC when she was pregnant with Seraphine. Before she had said it, I had felt the same way… We still miss her very much…

The guys from Rowenta came to install the kitchen cabinets today. I have to say that I’m really impressed by their professionalism. Every time they assemble the modular cabinets, they would measure to make sure the cabinets are aligned properly, etc… H3ck, I don’t think I have seen that with my other contractor as well as even the developer’s contractor.

Speaking of the developer’s contractor… I can only say that I’ve really given up on them. So much for being the number 1 developer for the past few years — yes, we’re talking about SP Setia. They can actually mess up on small little things that I just don’t know if I should laugh or cry.

For example… When they handed the keys to us, they provided us with stack of documentations — floor plans, piping plans, electrical plans, tile codes and even paint codes and brand. So, you’d think that if they have the paint codes, they can’t really mess up, right? Wrong…

There are actually two tones when it is supposed to be just ONE colour

Neighbour’s wall also has got two tones

High contrast photo just to highlight the two obvious tones

If you think that’s bas enough… Take a look at what they had done with one of my complaints… Presenting… The number one developer who can’t even paint properly!

They use a different paint and they don’t scrape away the chipped paint!

I had lodged a complaint to SP Setia a few weeks back about the paint on my gate — they were peeling off… And how do they rectify it? They just paint over the cracked area… With a different colour!

Want to see another ’scary’ work by the developer?

I’m really speechless when the Rowenta guys asked me to take a look at my kitchen ceiling. They assured me (and yes, I’m convinced by them) that their cabinet is not the culprit. Still, the Rowenta guys took the effort to try and cover the defect as nicely as they could… They could have just left big gaping holes and seal it up with silicone. But they didn’t. Instead, they actually cut out the wood according to my ceiling contour!

OK, OK… Enough rambling. I think many residents have also given up on them… I’ve heard many complaints in the residents’ forum.

Back to the professionals from Rowenta. Once again, I have to say again that I’m very impressed by their work. And its not only me. Even Mrs Tai was also very impressed. She also agreed with me that between the three contractors we have to do our house, Rowenta is definitely a class on its own.

If you’re curious as to how our kitchen cabinets look like…

It is really a joy to see the kitchen slowly forming… Unfortunately, there’s a Part 2. The solid surface is only coming in about 2 weeks time…

On medical leave today… I guess the weekend just wasn’t good enough.

Ya, didn’t manage to do any work on the house over last weekend. *sigh*

Not good enough that I’m having acid reflux… Now I’m having sore throat and flu-like symptoms… *sigh*

A few months back, Kim Chuan was telling me about this vegetarian shop in Old Klang Road that was selling meals for only rm2. We were supposed to meet up one of these days so he could bring me to this restaurant.

Then a few weeks ago, my aunt told me there’s a shop nearby that is also selling vegetarian food for rm2. A branch? If so, then there’s no need for me to travel all the way to Old Klang Road… So last last night, Mrs Tai and I finally found the time to drive to Taman Mayang (near Long Fong steamboat) to try out this restaurant.

Wow… It’s true… RM2 gets you rice and 3 vege dishes

Besides economy rice, they also serve noodles and other type of rice dishes such as nasi lemak (well, I’m quite sure I saw a picture of what looks like nasi lemak), etc…

Curry noodles, ‘chicken’ rice, curry chee cheong fun and many more

The shop is located here:

I have been told that it is actually managed by a Buddhist society. I think it is a noble idea. You help people by providing value-for-money food. I think everyone’s looking for such meals at times like these (with the economic downturn and uncertainties). I won’t say it’s super tasty but it’s not bad either. I guess you can say that if you want something decent to fill your stomach, at this restaurant, you need only rm2.

Mrs Tai and I spent rm6 last night for 2 packets of rice and 1 packet of curry noodles.

I realised that I don’t really have that many ‘visitors’ to my site. But the few you who regularly visit my site really touched my heart because you guys and girls actually take the time to drop by and read whatever nonsense I put here…

Thank you very much for dropping by and leaving your comments.

I’m definitely behind my own schedule. I was actually planning to complete painting the ‘major’ walls this week but somehow, we got side-tracked. We were kinda annoyed with what the contractor had done with the gap between the grilles and the wall. We had asked him to use silicone sealant to fill up the gap but he said he’ll be using white-cement which he said was better. Well, the white cement have started to crack and in some areas, they’ve actually fallen off. So Mrs Tai and I decided to hack them away. We ran out of time so we’ll probably fill it with silicone next week.

Next week, there’s gonna be a lot to do as well. Alarm, water filter, water heater, etc…

Then there’s also more painting. We decided that we’re gonna paint ALL the internal walls. Hmmm… Did I mention that already in my earlier post?

Oh ya, we got ourselves a ladder. We needed it as the wall is quite high and we couldn’t reach the top part with a chair (ya, both of us are kinda short).

Anyway, for my caring family and friends… Because you have been faithfully dropping by my website, here’s a sneak preview… Ya, I originally wanted to keep this a surprise, but I thought this is one nice way to ‘reward’ you all… OK, don’t faint when you see it…
(more…)

RPK is free! The Shah Alam High Court has found his arrest under ISA to be unlawful.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. I guess this is Malaysia’s first step towards a more more transparent and equal Malaysia…