An Urge To Splurge

Another year dawns...
Saturday, December 31, 2005

Sigh...time really flies...im going into this all-too-familiar end of the year depression mode. Just pondering of how the year past, makes me think of the "what if 's". Well, on the bright side, its only 4 more days till jason and i depart for Kota Kinabalu. By God's grace, my leg is now nearly to its full potential and im beginning to run with ease. Also, this accident was somewhat a blessing in disguise as it helped me got through the MyKad process preety fast (as you all know the present rush is absurd, especially those ppl in penang). Yesterday, i had a prosperity burger in mcdonalds for lunch to ensure my financial status for next year remains positive. Also, i drawn up some new year resolutions for the coming year. Here's just a glance:
1) Study hard everyday
2) Be kind, humble and courteous
3)Show unconditional love to my family, friends and enemies

WAIT A DARN MINUTE!!! WHO AM I KIDDING!!!

So i started some "real" resolutions

1) Try to survive the "civil jungle"
2) Keep this blog going even if that means a C- for CIVIL 211 ( wait a minute, ill omit this one)
3) Hopefully to own a car
4) Learn how to read Bending Moment Diagrams with ease and accuracy
5) Pang sai every morning (mum says its healthy)
6) Increase body mass
7)Stop eating excessive tim tams
8)Leech as much as possible from catz for MM2
9)Imitate Zach's laugh to perfection
10) Lastly, to make more friends and hope thier as good as the current lot

Well...that's it, seems achievable except for the third one..Today, i went out with jason to stock up on our Kinablau trip, he bought a backpack and i was shopping for some clubbing gear for KK. I must say, im rather nervous bout the clubbing part, who knows what creatures lurks in the murky depths of sabah, one minute you might be dancing your ass off and suddenly beside you is a 6 feet orang utan bearing down on you.We also sign up for this LIFE SIZE monopoly challenge which we will play next monday. Hopefully we'll win the grand prize which is an AUDI 3000 i think...then my resolutions would be narrowed down to 9. Anyway, wish us luck and i promise at least one more post before i embark on more quest to Kina- Baloo. Gotta go for a new year eve party with my cousins...chiow!!

Alex
3:49 PM

Boxing day bonanza
Thursday, December 29, 2005

This day would mean loads of HUGE sales and discount in NZ so not to be outdone, my cousin and i decided to go to berjaya times square for fun. We reached times square at the stroke of noon and i was greeeted by this huge countless story building. This place was enourmous and EMPTY. Nevertheless, the i-max cinema was really something amazing with its 5 stories high screen. THats like the highest floor any shopping complex in NZ would reach. We watch a rather lame 3D movie entitled "T-REx :back to the cretasous". THe storyline was bad but the effects was preety cool. Imagine a huge t-rex screaming its lungs out right in front of your very bones.

After that, we went over the other side of the road to a humble place called lau yat plaza. This place was infested with cheap handphone accessories and computer pheripherals. I was astonished to see my Sony Ericsson Housing going for only RM30. Anyway, we left for dinner in this really, spooky place called Brickfields...

OUr quest was to find the best banana leaf rice in town and to achieve this we must break into the indian territory. I have to admit, this place really gave me the creeps because as soon as we parked, there was this motorcycle parked right in front of us waiting for someone. We waited in the car terrified that something was gonna happen to poor me. Not to long after, there was this car that came speeding thru and collect a small white packet from the motorcyclist. We suspected it was drugs but who knows, it might be baby powder for the guy's 3 year old son who is suffering from a rash.

So very carefully, we stepped out of the car minding our own business. Trip trap trip trap...we made our way to the curry house. The place smeltl like those white indian flowers. We were the only non-indian there. However, the people there were really friendly served with great courteousy. I ate so much that day that i felt so bloated like . Finally, my cousin's boyfriend called for the bill. I had a look at it and was puzzled as he charged us for a milo ais that we did not order. He later then clarified and found out that he was suppose to be a COKE and change the bill accordingly. He then proceeded and gave the bill to my cousin's BF. At the split second he took the bill, he burst out into laughter. He was absolutely laughing his heart out...Why, you ask....well...here's a picture of the bill i took.

Alex
8:47 PM

My trip to genting

Off to genting we went, me and my cousins family. The trip was really exiciting for me as this will be my first time to genting in about 3 years. In my absence there, a new hotel, numerous rides and a new indoor theme park has been built. It only took us about 3 hours to get there via the new highway.

The new first world hotel looks horrendous outside with its dodgy multicolor layer building. However, the interior design was simply superb. I was amaze by all the decors and props used and how intelligently all the rides were integrated with the shopping mall. The first attraction that we visited is the snow house. Apparently, the temperature inside was -3 celcius, which i can still recall would be 270 Kelvin. Obviously, this took me by surprise as i was not attired properly to withstand this cold condition.

My fears were somewhat subdued when they told us that jackets,mittens and shoes will be provided. But to my horror, the freakin jacket smelt like its been worn by some homeless bugger living along k'road. Inside the "house", there was a snowman, an igloo, a children slide, a bar and a tobaggon slide. It wasnt really that big and we got bored soon. The only thing worth mentioning was the slide as it was quite fun sliding along and getting us ass wet.

Later, we had lunch in some bufffet restaurant. Then, we went straight to the indoor roller coaster (yes, we're crazy). The roller coaster ride was bloody useless and the only scary part was waiting in line while looking at them fixing the coaster as one of them was not functioning properly before we got in. They took ages to get a technician to fix the damn thing and i felt like saying to him what Rainer Saidel always says to us "For GOd SAke, JUst do IT!!!".

After that miserable ride, we went to the outdoor theme park in hope to find more exiciting adventures. That day wasnt the best day for theme park goers coz it was raining and the queues were soooo long. We only had to settle with 3 bloody ride!!!!!!...albeit one of them is the flying roller coaster and it was the first of its kind in South East Asia. We were suspended horizontally the whole ride hence giving the "flying" sensation. There we loads of dips,swerves,loops and steep falls. By the end of it all, i was left wanting MORE!!!....but unfortunately our pockets denied us. This is so much better than the pathetic roller coaster at rainbows end (Man, im proud to be a malaysian!).

Finally, off we went for dinner in some seafood place in the foot of the hill. We were tired and nauseous after a hard day's work. Hopefully, more of this to come in Sabah.

Alex
8:10 PM

Shopping Spree!!
Thursday, December 22, 2005

The Year End Sales comes along every year and with it comes great joys and discounts. So to keep up with the Jones, i went to mid valley, 1-utama and sg wang plaza and the local SS2 pasar malam three days consecutively. This is not an easy feat for any normal XY chromosome human like me. My expenses exceeded what i budgeted for my weekly spending and i am now desperately broke. Below is a summary of my personal experience in these 3 malls.
1utama: This crazy place recently extended and introduced a whole new wing. I somehow felt it was a little too big as i seem to have not covered the whole complex although staying there for almost 6 hours. A totally embarassing incident occured while i was doing my christmas shopping, While in Hush Puppies, i was scrumaging through the stack of clothes desperately trying to find a bargain. Then, i found this nice pair of long pants that was reasonaly priced. I then proceeded to try it out in the changing room. After trying a size L i was amaze that it would not fit and subseqently tried the XL, also with the XL, i felt somewhat "restrain" in the crotch region. I ask my cousin for her opinion and she muttered, "Yea, it looks allright, not too bad". So with her "constructive" comments, i decided to buy the pants and ask the sales assistant for a new pants. The sales assistant asked if i wanted it gift wrap and i said (in pure Russell peters slang) "NOoooOOoOO!....... this is for me". As soon as i muttered those forsaken words, her glance changed drastically, she looked at me in sheer astonishment. I knew instantly something was horribly wrong. I asked her whats wrong and she replied in these 3 words i'll love to forget "THis is Womans".
p/s: whats in this blog stays in the blog unless granted permission by author. Failure to do so would consequently mean breeching the Privacy Agreement Act and if found guitly, subjects might face up to 10 years of dressing as the opposite sex.
Sg Wang Plaza: Damn...this place is infested with the a whole lot of "la la" girls. Chicks that only people like jason would go after. Clad with their colorful, gypsy tops,numerous piercings and multi length hair, these would be the typical look. Products here are also a little dodgy and pricy. Needless to say, i didnt buy anything from here.
SS2 market: Laden with all the food money can buy,,,,i had a wonderful time sampling all the different varieties of cuisine. My personal favourite is the fried mushroom. DVD's and VCD's galore as well. People here are friendly and i also sharpen my bargaining skills saving me a total of almost $0.50 cent.
Mid Valley: In my opinion, the best place to shop for clothes and what not. Although 1-u would be the best to lepak. I bought some shoes and apparels here and had some tasty kenny rogers chicken. This was my second time here this trip and obviously this trip was more successful due to my ability to move.
All in all, Life is good here, i trust that you ppl in NZ would have utmost fun shopping in Botany and westfield....Merry christmas guys and a very very happy new year....

Alex
2:15 AM

Cumbersome Process
Wednesday, December 21, 2005

The time came when i was in need of changing my ic to the new MyKad. So today, my cousins and i went decided to make a trip to PJ to change our cards. Early in the morning, we set out for our quest, bringing along my trusty cruthes in case the going gets tough. Upon reaching the government state building in PJ, we were welcome by a young malay chap. To our dismay, he told us that the building was close and gave us a letter with all the other alternative places on it. The options were shah alam, putrajaya and some random place in kuala selangor..so by using the sophisticated, highly intellectual method of reverse pshychology, we went to putrajaya reasoning that people would go to shah alam because it was closer leaving putrajaya a vacant destination. Somehow, the ppl in msia have already mastered this critical thinking skill and we were welcomed by the sight of a jam packed putrajaya office. To add insult to injury, there was this huge flight of stairs that i have to climb...to a orang cacat like me, it seems like the freakin batu caves, so slowy i huff and puff and brought myself up.
Reaching the "summit", we went into the lift, another malay guy with some name tag on was holding the lift for me. As we stepped out of the lift, the malay dude notice my disability to walk coherently. Thankfully, by God's grace, he was one of the supervisor there and ask the worker to take a "special" number for me. So as soon as i got the number, it was my turn. Off i went, bypassing about 30 ppl in the line and getting my ic done along with my 2 other cousins...Morale of the story: Go play basketball and try that never-been-seen before, lebron james, 720 degree spin flip sommersault move and who cares if your legs give way as things will fall into place somehow.

Alex
2:14 AM

Finally...
Friday, December 16, 2005

Lately, it has been incresingly difficult (for me at least) to find a trusty dvd seller. Maybe ive been looking at the wrong places or maybe coz im just staying home and not even searching (i suspect its the latter). However, today the search is over....it all happen this morning...i woke up early and decided to follow my granpa to the market. As i was merely strolling along the streets, i found what i was looking for all this while...A DVD peddlar!!!...oh!!...bless his soul...needless to say i was overjoyed and bought some DVD's.
Consumption for breakfast have been steadily incresing these past few days, usually in NZ i will have my cereals and milk then when i reach here i had roti canai and teh tarik. Today, i had a fish head bee hoon and milo peng..wooHoo...back to the old days i guess.
Anyway, today was preety uneventful and im getting increasingly bored nowadays thanks to some people who came to kl and dont bother meetin up ...sigh.....oh well, just coz ur state has a world number one squash player doesnt mean you can be arrogant to all of us in kl..
Thankfully, jason is in kl and was willing to bring me out. So off we went for pool at night. As we approach the pool centre, a certain void was clearly missing in this trip, no more kai ann to make fun off, no more xin yi to laugh at our jokes and no more zach to laugh at...we certainly miss the old days. Thinkin about the past, i lost concentration and lost the match. After that, we had a sumptous supper in a nearby mamak stall while watching womens wrestling on big screen...on second thoughts, who cares bout the past, this is much better...lol

Alex
2:14 AM

Down Memory Lane
Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Im writing this whlist stuck in my grandpa's house unable to manoeveur due to my fractured leg...Well, it all happen last thursday on a fine sunny afternoon. I was going to visit my uncle's house and have dinner. It was a lovely afternoon and we decided to play basketball in a nearby park. This proved to be catastrophic as i sprained my while attempting the 360 degrees spin, under the leg, around the waist, finger roll lay up. I landed awkwardlly and my ankle gave way. I had to endure a brief period of pure torture. However, the dinner after that was great, i had my favourite la-la and curry crab...somehow the pain took second place in my mind. Next day, i had to walk with cructhes. Confined in the house, i had no choice but to indulge in life's greatest gift...sleeping...Thankfully, the next day held greater promise, my cousins decided to go to mid-valley and agreed to bring me along. Upon reaching our destination, i had to struggle to transport myself to the ground floor shopping mall, seeing my helpless state, my cousins decided to get a wheel chair for me..so there i was roaming around malaysia's largest shopping mall on a wheelchair, whats more is my inability to operate the wheelchair efficiently made me into a liability. Furhtermore, all my cousins were female and i had to browse through countless female apparel and shoes shops.Needless to say, i had a good lesson on the fashion of the opposite sex. Later, we had sushi king for lunch and i had to be push by one of the staff to the rotating table. Food was awesome but what was about to come was disasterous. After lunch, a slight rumble, around 0.32 on the ritcher scale, started manifesting itself in my tummy. Subseqyently, i had to go to the toilet and to my dismay, the freakin mid valley toilet does not have a disabled toilet. Thankfully, my cousins suggested trying the toilets in jusco and by God's grace the toilets there catered for the physically challenge. After a wholehearted dump, i had new vigour and determination. We continue shopping for eyerings, corset, make up and high heels. What fun!!...
THe day ended with a loud BURP as we went to the local bak kut teh stall for dinner. A friendly peddler paid us a visit while we were feasting and attempted to sell us durians...this was my first experience withnessing a peddler selling durian using this guerilla tactic...he must be desperate for a quick buck. Anyway, after a whole day's rest on saturday, i went to watch narnia on sunday in sunway pyramid. That place is a nightmare as we took about 30 minutes just to find a car park. Apparently they we building a new wing which they creatively name "sunway pyramid 2". The movie was not too bad, really good computer generated creatures and i was proud to be able to point at the magnificent scenaries and tell my friends that there is where i live (although it is completely and utter bollocks as we all know auckland not much different than the hustle and bustle of kl). A question however lingers in my mind, is the lion the professor coz it certainly seems like it when the lion goes on a "vacation" and so on?...if so, why does he change into a lion and not a human like the other kids. Can somebody that read the book care to explain.
I rapidly recovering now and hoping that i will regain full fitness before the expedition that would take place on 4th of january. Yes, jason and i have booked a flight to Kota kinabalu and if sean plays his cards right, we might just be able to climb the treacherous Kota Kinabalu, this is no mean feat as this mountain has taken the lives of many humans. Its infamous "boon's peak" has ended the lives of many aspiring trekkers. However, in sean we trust and hopefully he (and the guide) would lead us to the summit of this mountain...i'll keep you informed...bye for now

Alex
2:12 AM

Home sweet home
Sunday, December 04, 2005

Yea...theres nothing like it..there fresh scent of roti canai, throngs of people crowding the cinemas, tolls galore, well..theres no place like home. Admist the heat and choas, i will truly savour every moment im here...Fristly, the flight was as smooth as an airport landing strip, no glicthes, and service was very good. Arrived in msia about 8pm due to my brief stop in the imigration office...they stop me coz they were curious about the bottles of wine i was carrying. They asked me to open my bag to check and to my horror, one bottle was broken, seeing the mess, the officer did not even bother checking it and allowed me true..So with my hands dreched in wine, i proceed to meet my uncles and cousin, man...the humidity suddenly kicked in when i reached the car park area..it was like a rush you get when smoking cannabis...anyway, we then went to eat my first supper for about 2 years..it was at this local mamak store..i ordered mee goreng but couldnt help and notice the roti tisu ordered by another patron. It was like a cone-shaped object approximately 3 foot tall. After some hugging from relatives, i went into hibernation mode.Next day, met up with jason and mellissa for lunch. We went to 1-utama..this massive new wing was the new feature to this shopping centre and now its boasts 2 cinemas, a pool place, millions of retails outlet and some a black santa claus mumbling giving some pressies to the kiddies. We ate at this place called "keluang station". We had nasi lemak and it tasted divine..later, we went to jason's famous tau foo fa shop. Not bad but a little too sweet i reckon. Upon finishing our feed, we left for mellissa house to get some planning done. (so sean if ure reading this, respond promptly) We checked out some air fares, maps and brochures about mt kinabalu..oh yea...and i just remembered..its xin yi and kai ann bday today, or 2morrow or sometime in the near future..so happy bday, u little devils....anyway, back to the story...That night, jason and i left for badminton at this court in taman mayang. Its a massive ass badminton court( everything seems to give huge here ay) and was really hot inside. We played for like an hour and got tired like a er....cant seem to find a similie for that one...we then went to the food court and ate ho chien and laksa..later i went with my cousins to watch this movie called "zathura" in 1-utama. Movie was ok but i was trying to stay awake due to my high fatigue levels. Left for home and entered slumber mode.This morning had siew yuk and nasi lemak for branch....i miss my family already...cant hold this emotion for too long...must be strong.......

Alex
2:11 AM