A few old friends, mainly from my primary (SRK Kelana Jaya) and secondary school (SMK Seaport aka Sri Permata), got together earlier this evening.

Some were people I’ve not met in a long, long time. It was great to see them again after so many years. I’m glad to report that everyone has not changed at all. They still look like school kids.

The place was relatively quiet and ideal for small gathering like the one we just had. Food was good (I asked around since I was the organiser this time around and wanted to make sure the food served is good). Host and owner, Elwin, was around and very helpful. The place is actually called Secrets of Louisiana but I prefer to just call it Louisiana.

We actually try to meet up at least once every 3-6 months. I think it is to meet up every now and then as we have all known each other since those crucial and formative years… These are the people who have formed part of our early lives! In a way, its a travel back in time! We do hope to see even more new faces the next time we have one!

In the meantime, take a look at the photos taken with my camera phone (not a good one).

Those present this evening were:
Josephine Yong and hubby Chia; Sharon Wong, hubby Jimmy and daughter Haley (the left before we started taking photos); Teik Joon and wife Lilian; Kim Chuan; Sherman; Eu Jin; Jude and Dean.

Common courtesy seems to be uncommon these days.

A year ago, I had a lady visitor from Australia. She remarked how Malaysian guys do not behave very gentlemen-like. They don’t hold the doors for the ladies, they shove and push around, they don’t say ‘excuse me’ when they accidentally knock you, etc (some also applies to Malaysian women as well).

I started to be more aware and would always observe how Malaysians behave. What my lady visitor had remarked was quite true.

In my office block, we sometimes use the staircase (and as you know, the doors to the stairs are usually fire-rated doors and can be quite heavy). I have seen guys who walk in front letting the door close even though they know there are ladies behind them. The doors would start to close and it would actually require more effort from the ladies behind to keep the door open (since the door is closing towards them).

On the other hand, I have seen Mat Salleh (local term for white person) actually holding the door open for the ladies (and even guys). It doesn’t matter that the ladies are still quite far back. They can just hold and wait. All these at the same office block where you see Malaysian guys slamming the door on ladies’ faces.

Another example would be invitations. I have to say that it is not easy organising a gathering or even a wedding dinner. You can send out invitations asking for a reply or RSVP, but there will be those who just could not be bothered to reply. You end up having to call them and ask if they can make it. One should be happy and grateful that your friends have not forgotten you and is actually inviting you to their event. So why behave is such stuck-up manner?

Worse are the ones whom you call and they then reply saying “I’m not sure of my plans yet”. These are the people whom I seriously wonder — do they make their plans or their plans make them? If you’re in control of your life, you should be able to plan out your activities (barring any emergencies, of course).

A few weeks back, I sent out a text message to more than 50 friends. The text message read “Gathering time! 30th April (Thu). Next day is a holiday. Tentative plan is to 2meet fr 7pm onwards @ Louisiana, Kelana Jaya. Plse confirm (reply cost <10sen). TQ.”

I only got like 22 replies. That’s less than 50%.

I particularly liked how this friend of mine replied after I sent another two text message reminders to him. His reply was “Ok..since u spend 30 cents dy.. Ok la.. I’m coming.”

Who needs enemies when you have great friends like this?? But well, I have known this guy since primary school — It’s only him to be like that.

Anyway, see you guys tonight.

Just got the preview tickets to the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Yea! I’m going to be the first few to watch it before the official release in Malaysia on the 29th April 2009 (tomorrow). OK, first few if you don’t count those who downloaded it from the internet.

28th April 2009 @ 2030hrs

Too bad Mrs Tai can’t join me for the preview.

Mrs Tai is still in the hospital but she should be discharged tomorrow. ‘Should’ because that is what the doctors have said earlier but subject to Mrs Tai passing the doctor’s check tomorrow.

She’ll be on 2 weeks MC. Doctors have ordered that she get bed rest and minimise movements of any kind.

About a week ago, I wrote about my experience at Tesco Setia Alam. I submitted a feedback/ complaint form at the branch and also through the feedback form on their website.

Early this week, I got an email as well as a call from their Customer Service Department. They apologised and informed me that the Setia Alam Tesco Manager will call me later today…

And today, I got a call from their manager. We spoke for a short while and he apologised for the mistake and would like to honour the what was on the promotion ‘poster’. I took the opportunity to share some other feedback I got from SARA forum with him.

Honestly, I’m very impressed with the professionalism shown by the people at Tesco. I regularly go to the three BIG hypermarts, Carrefour, Giant and Tesco, and have had similar experience in all three places. I don’t expect them to be 100% perfect and I know sometimes people do make mistakes.

Personally, I think the worse experience would be Carrefour. Almost every visit, I have an issue with them. It’s either wrongly labelled items or price difference. A very big difference between Carrefour and Tesco is that Carrefour is very stingy with apology. And Carrefour makes you go through a lot of trouble and waiting time just to get back your refund!

Giant falls somewhere between. They are quite easy to deal with but they don’t stand out like Tesco.

I think employees in the GLC and goverment sectors should learn from Tesco!

Mrs Tai was admitted into the hospital early this morning… We rushed her to UMMC after she started having some complications. We arrived at the emergency centre at about 2130hrs and only managed to see a doctor at 0030hrs (3 hours wait!). We were told Mrs Tai’s case was not considered a real ‘emergency’.

It was almost another 3 hours before she finally got wheeled to the ward (UMMC said bed was ready but they don’t have any attendant to wheel her there — it’s the hospital policy that patients must be wheeled by the attendant even though I offered to wheel her there myself).

Lesson learnt: Next time, go to a private hospital first and get a doctor to examine you. After that, request to transfer hospital. Saves from having to wait for 5+ hours! So much for those ER scenes.

Both Mrs Tai and the fetus are fine *phew* and doctors are keeping her in the hospital for observation.

Yes, Mrs Tai 11 weeks pregnant.

I just hope the remaining 28+ weeks will not be this ‘eventful’… It’s really stressful.

Were you on Twitter before Oprah? Find out here: http://www.herebeforeoprah.com/

@adriantai was here before @oprah http://herebeforeoprah.com #herebeforeoprah

Many of our friends have been wondering if we had left them out of our house warming party. After all, we had told many that we’re planning to hold a house warming party in Setia Alam sometime in March or April 2009.

We have decided to postpone our house warming party. We realise the house is not really ready and to have so many friends over at one time might be a disaster. Also, with the economy uncertainty, we thought it wise to postpone our house warming party to sometime end of this year — I’m looking at sometime in Decmber 2009.

But this does not mean we’re not accepting visitors. We have received visits from friends as well as relatives. If you still like to drop by and take a look at Setia Alam, we are more than happy to show you around the place — our house included!

Updated 2009-07-13: Added a wikimapia map at the bottom…

Sometimes when I organise gatherings, I like to have it at Louisiana. The food is good, the location is nice (facing the lake — very romantic) and it’s not noisy (so you can actually hear what your friends are saying).

But I get asked very often… Where’s Louisiana? Got map? So, here it is… The map to Louisiana.

Louisiana is located at the shops next to the lake. Those who know Kelana Jaya area will immediately realise Kelana Seafood Restaurant used to be located at that area. You can’t see it from the LDP (facing the lake, remember?). If you’re coming from NKVE highway, right after the MAS building, turn left. You should be able to turn right and go into Plaza Kelana Jaya where Louisiana is located.

This is how it looks at night…

Quiet and romantic, right?

* map & photo taken from Louisiana website

Updated on 2009-07-13:

I was at Tesco Setia Alam earlier today to do some shopping (duh!). Saw this and immediately grabbed 2 cartons of Anglia Shandy…

Before going to the check-out counter, I had asked another lady working at the alcohol section to help me confirm the price. She scanned the carton and told me that it’s rm40+. She told me that instead of buying the whole carton, I can request to break it and buy 4 units of 6-packs — The 6-packs are selling at rm8.88 (so 4 units will be rm35.52). I asked about the rm25.88 and she was not too sure and told me to ‘dispute’ with the cashier later.

Queued up and finally came my turn. It turned out to be rm40+. I asked for explanation and even showed the photo to the cashier. She was shocked and asked where I took the photo — I told her “Inside Tesco la, where else?”. Supervisor came by and then explained that rm25.88 is actually meant for Tesco shandy. I then asked the supervisor where is the Tesco shandy placed at that area because I was very sure that there are NO Tesco shandy around that area. She could not answer me and walked away…

I think Tesco is being very naughty here… Did they purposely not put the name of the product on the rm25.88 price tag (so they can claim its something else)? But at the promotion area, there were NO Tesco shandy — only Anglia Shandy and Carlsberg.

I went to customer service and asked for the form to lodge a complaint. I’m waiting for a reply.