Now comes the tough part

For the past 3 days, P and I have been loading a never-ending stream of luggages, bags and packages into his trusty little car to be transported over to my new place. It's amazing that my current tiny rented room can contain so much!

The whole process has been rather exhilarating, but tiring. Minnie Mouse is ALMOST ready to move into her new place, though not looking forward to the unpacking that's to come!

So what are the new developments since the last update?

1) The new mattress is in, and I can't wait to jump into it!

2) The lights have been installed, which has made being in the house at night possible.

3) The hoarding and covering have been removed and the place professionally cleaned up.

4) The blinds for the windows are up!

There are still a few tasks outstanding, but they're nothing major and should hopefully be settled by this week. YAY!

My best friend's wedding

Some of my favourite shots of the day. The rest will be uploaded on FB soon :)

I give her props for the innovative use of the hoola hoop to showcase our sweetie-pie-act-cute outfit!

Emcees for the night deep in their last minute discussion.

CT takes all her tasks seriously...

Blushing bride anxiously awaiting the arrival of her hubby-to-be.

I love this photo but it turned out so blur :(

Most cutesy bridal car ever!

Our classic hand-on-the-hip pose.

Pretty bride.

Taking a breather from the chaos outside.

CC's adorable daughter.

The handsome but timid cat (meowwww).

Shopping for the house

Renovation's expected to be completed this week! Woohoo!

For the past week, I've been comparing between brands for electrical appliances, particularly washing machine, TV and fridge. It's amazing how many brands there are out there and being the tech dummy that I am, more brands meant greater confusion and a longer time to decide. I made trips to Harvey Norman, Best Denki, Audio House and Mega Discount Store to make comparisons and seek advices, and last Saturday, I made my final purchases at Mega Store. These are what I got.

Fisher & Paykel fridge
37' LG LCD TV
7kg EF washer

Seriously, I had no idea that the top 3 TV brands are Samsung, LG and Sharp. Thanks to Dad, I've always been under the impression that SONY is THE BEST.

3 other tasks that I accomplished over the weekend:

Blinds for the entire house - Wein and curtain man came to take measurements and as usual, the variety of types and colours left me bewildered and thank god P was there to give his final nod of approval. Though his taste is quite different from mine, it's nonetheless reassuring having him there to confirm my choices...Haha

Cushion for living room bay window - This has proven to be a tricky one, as I would have been happy to leave it to Wein except that the price he quoted was quite excessive, in my opinion. I found a shop at Anchorpoint specialising in soft furnishings and was happy to leave the matter to them based on the price quoted (though it's definitely not the lowest but I'm really too lazy to compare anymore). Best of all, the cushions will be ready by Christmas, so hooray!

Payment for mattress - Dropped by IMM on Sunday to make full payment for Serta mattress. Delivery on Saturday this week!

Things are more or less falling into place. Mental note to pay for sofa this week and get balcony furniture from Ikea next week before move-in.

Electricals done

The long weekend was a busy one for me. I went to my house for a spot-check and this was what greeted me when I entered:





Everything's boarded up like mummies whilst the renovation is ongoing. So far, the electrical works are completed, and from Wein's update today, the first coat of paint is up! Am mighty excited/apprehensive and will probably drop by tomorrow to check out the colours!

Sunday was a trip to Vlux at Geylang to purchase lights. I must admit that I was not well-prepared for this at all. Didn't help that Wein informed me on the spot that the master bedroom ceiling is not a false ceiling, hence the downlights I had in mind initially had to be replaced by a ceiling light. Total mind mayhem as I struggled to visualise how the shortlisted lights would look in each part of the house.

Part of me was pressured into buying for fear that this would become a "wasted" trip, plus Wein is getting busier by the day, and it may be difficult to date him to light browse/shop again. Yea, I'm anal when it comes to shopping for the house - I'm only confident after I've done sufficient research, read reviews and experiences shared by others on forums and compared between as many shops as I can! Anyway, I don't think I made BAD choices, just expensive ones. Yeah, the lights busted my budget big time. Ouch.

Now that the electrical matters are sorted out, albeit at a hefty price, the next exciting bit would be for the lights to be installed. Again, apprehension/excitement but I'll save my emotions for later!

House update

Renovation's starting tomorrow! Due to the slight delay, the house won't be ready till 2nd or 3rd week of December. There are still a few unresolved issues with the bay window cushion, wallpaper and blinds but otherwise, everything else is coming along fine!

From the last update, I'd not gotten any new furniture except for the dining set. It has to be shipped in all the way from Finland/Sweden, so I'll be dining on the couch in front of the TV till the set arrives 14 weeks later! The sofa and mattress are awaiting delivery, so it's gonna be real exciting in the next 2-3 weeks to come!

Next week, I'll be shopping for lights with Wein, my ID. Very soon, I'll be able to pop by the house to check on the progress of the reno at night coz I'll have light! Woooooo....

Mental note to make a trip down to Audio House / Harvey Norman to get TV, fridge and washing machine within the next 2 weeks. Am in a quandary whether to get Samsung, Sony, Panasonic or Sharp TV. Any recommendations?

And to swing by Ikea to check if these retro-styled glasses are now available in Singapore!


And oh oh...I have not seen any suitable balcony furniture at all! *frets*

The Spa that was not well

I'm starting to come to terms with my recent financial loss. It all started with the sudden closure of Wellness Village (WV), the spa that I frequent for my facial and massage sessions. With no explanation and without any warning, they just went kapoot and fled with all of its members' hard-earned money. I signed a $1,500 package with them in 2008, and to date, I've only used about half of them, which means a realised financial loss of $750.

I was mad, furious yet I knew there was little I could do to get my money back. A Mr Fung, one of the victims of the WV saga, has stepped out to gather all affected to lodge a police report in the hope that more people would translate into a bigger voice and prompt action would follow. Mr Fung has also set up a WV victim page on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=335011150170 to provide updates and a forum for discussion. At the police station, I realised that there were people who were more badly hit than myself, including one who had signed up for a $3k package the weekend before WV's closure. I was glad that the last time the WV sales promoter tried to get me to sign up for a bigger package, I told her straight up that WV sucks and I can't wait to exhaust my existing package and join another spa. Funny that this is going to happen quicker than I expected.

I have even lodged a claim with the Small Claims Tribunal (SCT) so that in the event they manage to hunt down the owner of WV, Lia Meyrina, I have staked my claim on whatever assets there is left, which I suspect is none. The hearing is this coming Thursday, and while deep down inside I know I'm just wasting my time, I want to make sure that I've done whatever I can.

$750 could have bought me a nice Kate Spade bag? A short trip to Bangkok? Something nice for my new place? Bleh...it hurts to even think about it.

I hope they find the culprit and bring justice to us victims soon. Even if I don't get a single cent back, I need to know that once caught, Lia Meyrina will be held accountable for her irresponsible actions and will not get away scot free!

Cat city (meowwww)

We arrived in Kuching on Friday morning and were whisked to our hotel pronto by our driver, Brandon! We were to realise later that Brandon is part owner, driver, waiter and resident of the hotel. Our hotel, Basaga Residences, is a beautiful colonial style resort. The building was used as a boarding school previously, and before our thoughts could run wild, Brandon assured us that there's nothing spooky or "dirty" about this place!

Building facade

The lobby...love love love the black and white tiles!

The residential wing. Our room was on the 2nd floor overlooking the swimming pool.

Lovely verandah with day beds. This is a popular chill out place on weekend nights with the locals. We had quite a number of beers here ourselves! :)

Swimming pool with salt water. I wonder why they used salt water over normal chlorinated water...perhaps to replicate a beach resort effect?

We spent our first afternoon strolling along the picturesque waterfront.

Nice structure across the river but we really had no idea what this is.

One of the cat statues spotted within the city centre.

A temple at the end of Carpenter street. As the name suggests, there are many carpentry shops along this street!

Another cat statue, this one more majestic looking.


Day 2 rise and shine at a nearby coffee shop for breakfast. We had none other than the famous Sarawak laksa. It was very good, though not better than Penang laksa or the regular JB laksa that I'm more accustomed to.

My favourite drink in Sarawak is the 3-layered tea on the right. The local name for it - Teh C Special, consisting of gula melaka and wheatgrass, evaporated milk and full bodied tea.

Our plan today was to go trekking at Bako National Park, about an hour away from the city centre. When we got there, the sky had gotten very dark and it was raining cats and dogs.

When the rain ebbed (slightly), we hopped onto our sampan but it wasn't covered unlike other boats. Thank god for the RM8 poncho we purchased at the jetty! The boat ride turned out to be quite an adventure.

An incredible sight - the people looked like they were walking on water! Our boatman told us that they were actually walking on the beach collecting bamboo clams! Amazing!

S and Lei donned in their fashionable khaki green ponchos preparing to enter the jungle.

The trek took about an hour and led us into this clearing. It was a tough trek, for the grounds were uneven and slippery after the rain. It was definitely a good workout for me - my stiff leg muscles had a good stretch!

Lei cleverly pointed out that the marbled sand colour looked deliciously like chocolate swirl ice-cream!


Day 3 visit to Satok market on a Sunday morning. The market is worth a visit, where vegetables, poultry, cooked food, flowers and even pets were put up for sale!

Love how the vegs are so neatly displayed. So much effort!

Old fashioned biscuits that S and Lei bought. I prefer modern day biscuits :)

Cute thirsty hamster!

Lovely orchids


As we (or maybe it was just me) were too tired out from the previous day's trekking, we decided to take it easy after our early morning foray at Satok market and caught The Inglorious Basterds at Spring shopping centre, touted as the biggest shopping centre in Kuching!

Our trip in Kuching ended with a big bang at Topspot seafood centre! The place feels like Newton hawker centre. You get accosted by eager stall holders pressuring you to order from them the moment you set foot into the food centre. It was a good thing Brandon had recommended Ling Loong No. 6 to us, otherwise the commotion would have been quite bewildering!

Curry bamboo clams - the very same bamboo clams being picked up at the beach in Bako.

Black pepper crab

Sambal sting ray

And a lot of other food! Total damage? RM 82 for 3 pax. Excellent food at incredibly cheap prices!


PS: Though not mentioned, we actually had our dinner twice at Ling Loong. The first time cost us only RM 77, and we had butter crab and grilled tiger prawns!

Write-offs

I wrote off a friend today. This is the 2nd one in 2009. How did I do it? By passing an accounting entry:

Debit Write off as friend
Credit Friend - XX

I wonder if growing old has anything to do with me being more and more particular about intimating a person as my friend. Perhaps I am getting jaded and expect more from my friends. Perhaps I don't need so many of them as I grow older and become more discerning in my choice. Some might wonder if there's a need to draw the line? Afterall, the more the merrier, no? Perhaps I am just a stickler for being specific. And I believe that an acquaintance doesn't deserve to be accorded the same treatment as a friend, hence the importance of distinguishing between the two.

The first so-called "friend" of mine was mean, petty and verbally abusive. I tried very hard to disregard his/her bad qualities and focus on the good ones. But he/she was mean one time too many and the niceties I showered on him/her was simply not reciprocated. At one point, nobody wanted anything to do with this person but I was still defending him/her. He/she continued to abuse me sporadically, until I woke up to a bright and sunny day and decided that enough was enough. I deleted him/her from Facebook and MSN, and that's it. Bye bye, please don't contact me again and I won't too.

The second, well let's say he/she is a fair-weather friend who talks to you only when he/she needs help or wants certain information you are privy to.

Oh but hang on, is a fair-weather friend a friend? What is the definition of "friend" anyway? With such curious thoughts circling in my head, I turned to the merriam-webster online dictionary, which defines a friend as

a : one attached to another by affection or esteem
b : an acquaintance

I never knew that friend meant acquaintance! To me, a friend and an acquaintance are two very distinct individuals, one for which I feel affection for, and the other I probably couldn't care less.

If I see these people on the street or at the mall, would I avert my eyes? I don't know, really. I was at Taka over the weekend and saw 3 familiar faces. For all 3, I chose to walk away without saying hi. P was shocked at my behaviour as I'm more often than not over-friendly than unfriendly. But I confessed that I felt tired and didn't feel like engaging in small talk.

Maybe it's the onslaught of age afterall...

Food that rocked my weekend

It's 11.23 pm and as I recap my weekend, I'm also wondering how I'll ever manage to lose any weight at all with the countless food indulgences I've been "rewarding" myself with these days.

It poured on Friday night. As the weather was chilly and I was starving while waiting for P at home, I suggested having some Korean food at this restaurant that a client had taken me to once. I was ecstatic when he (reluctantly, possibly) agreed. So we headed to Hyang-to-gol Korean Restaurant at Amara hotel and ordered BBQ beef, pork, soup and rice. For starters, we were served a variety of appetisers to whet our appetite and clean the palate, including two variations of kimchi (sweet and sour), cold soup, salad, fried anchovies, etc. Not before long, the waitress appeared with the raw pork and beef cubes, and barbequed them right before our very eyes. Seriously, the beef was to-die-for. It was so soft and tender and having been marinated in soya sauce gave it a nice aromatic flavour. Needless to say, this was the highlight of our meal but I'd give the soup two thumbs up as well. We concluded our meal with fruits and sweet ginger soup. There are no extra charges for the appetisers and desserts, but the food here is pricey so I guess all the extra costs have already been worked in. With this delicious meal (my mouth's watering now...), I hope I've converted P into a Korean food lover!

On Saturday, it was dinner with the family at our favourite Japanese restaurant in JB. We've been frequenting this restaurant for many, many years now, and the food never disappoints! Which explains why we keep going back. We ordered our standard fare - potato croquettes (fried to perfection), gyoza (delicious with some vinegar and chilli oil), shoyu ramen, volcano maki (love the melted cheese on top) and some new interesting dishes. I was certainly bursting at the seams by the end of dinner!

Sunday and the Vongs and us were hungry after an afternoon of furniture browsing at Sungei Kadut. Actually, I think P and I were hungrier than the other 2!! So we drove and drove and ended up at the Thomson area. I remember someone telling me that the bak chor mee (minced meat noodle) along the row of shophouses near the Prata shop rocks so we decided to give it a try. And I must say I loveee it! $3 gets you a bowl of noodles with dumpling, "abalone", sliced pork, liver and a generous sprinkling of minced meat and mushrooms. It was very, very satisfying and this would be another option for lunch after our tennis games in future!

Yum yum! I hope thinking about food won't make me fat!!

Spotting the imperfections

I had an appointment with the developer and building management today. Purpose was to go through the list of defects which I'd submitted to them last week. This is a procedure that all home owners have to undertake when they collect their keys - in my case, I was given 7 days to spot and note down any defects. The developers have promised, as far as possible, to make good the defects identified.

My initial response was, "How could a brand new place be defective, in any way?" Well, that idealistic view of mine instantly vanished when I had all the "imperfections" pointed out to me by my ID, parents and friends. Some of these included:

1. Faulty switch
2. Scratches on window pane
3. Poor paint job
etc etc

There were 20 items in my defects list and I expressed my surprise at such a large number. However, according to Wein (my ID), the defects are quite minor compared to what he has seen before. In fact, he uncovered 47 defects for a client once, and they were pretty serious ones! I nearly dropped my jaw in shock! Haha

To my relief, Wein kindly obliged and joined me in the inspection. Seriously, I'm so clueless I probably spotted like 3 defects in total? I even had difficulty describing those tiny faults! How was I supposed to engage in a meaningful conversation with the developer's rep? It was certainly a relief to leave such tasks to the right people.

Anyway, the rectification work will take 14 days, which means that Wein can't start renovating until then. Bummer! Meanwhile, I should continue hunting for furniture but I really don't know where else to look. These are what I haven't found:

- Dining table and chairs
- Small dresser
- Balcony furniture
- Bed for common room
- Various lighting
- Electrical appliances, e.g. fridge, TV, washing machine

At the moment, it looks like I can't move in by 30 Nov. Perhaps 15 Dec? I'm keeping my fingers crossed I'll be in my new home before Christmas!

And yes...it will be exciting next week when I can finally get to see the 3D mock-ups!

The Mickey Mouse home

It's been a week since I'd gotten the keys to my new place. The past week has been a really busy one for me, from getting the house administrative hassles settled to the frequent meet-ups with my appointed ID to sourcing for teeny-weeny furniture pieces for my Mickey mouse unit.

The first time I stepped in, I was dismayed that it was so tiny! Frankly, the things people say that you choose not to believe always turn out to be true. I was told that you would always imagine your unit larger than it actually is. I don't know if the size misunderstanding arose from a misleading floor plan or perhaps I just wanted to believe otherwise!

On subsequent visits, I became more accustomed to my miniature pad and excited at the prospect of living here. Though small, the place would make a cosy little nest for 1 or 2, with enough space for entertaining a small bunch of friends occasionally! And on the bright side, cleaning will be so much more manageable! The flip side is that sourcing for furniture is now such a pain - anything nice I managed to find before would look humongous in the apartment! And having sufficient storage for my barang-barang is going to be a huge challenge.

Master bedroom. Frankly, there's only space for a queen bed and nothing more.

My cute little bunny that's been such a dear! As you know, I don't cope well under stress/duress, etc so thank you for being so supportive and tolerant of my 101 nonsensical nonsense!

View from the bedrooms and living area.

Toilet with rain shower.

K & Y chilling out at the bay window in the living room.

The too-big balcony - perfect for that alfresco breakfast on weekends.

Modern kitchen with high-tech appliances.

My first few guests posing at the private lift lobby.

Dad, Mom and VL also popped over on Saturday to lend their eyes to spot defects. They seem as excited as I am! :)

Let's hope things get going soon so that I can move in by my targeted date of 30 November 2009!