Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Points to ponder...30-12-09

-The bubble in the property market in the US has burst and now the US economy is in 'depression'

-Same goes to Dubai where every 1 in 4 cheques are bounced. It seems every week, more and more expatriates decide to leave the place...Things are goin bad there it seems...

-So, what will happened to us? I have a great feeling which I hope I'm wrong, that the bubble will burst too. It seems, the trend now, is to buy and then quickly sell for a profit as soon as possible. It's called flipping. That's exactly what happened to the yanks. Well, obviously there's nothing wrong to get a quick profit from a real estate, but it is acknowledged as one of the reason the US economy is in a bad shape...Let's hope that it doesn't happen to us..

-what's in store for us in 2010? I'm not an economist, and hence, I wouldn't know. Saying the economy will be bad is wrong as I don't have the facts and figures to back up my arguments. Anyhoos, I hope it will be a good year for capital appreciation and opportunities. If i have an advice, it would be,to be patience and always on the look for opportunities. It might come in one form or another....

-what about inflation? (rising inflation will tend to cause asset prices to go up!!)..errr...I wouldn't know about inflation but let's hope that the inflation rate does not rise up to an unbelievable rates...what i do know is, the price of sugar (some other foods as well) has increased over the last couple of months. Hrmmm......

Monday, December 28, 2009

Tinkerman's Tale Part 2

Tomorrow, 29th December 2009, marks the 1st anniversary of this blog. Woohooo!!!. That's an achievement for me anyways. When I first started this blog, I hope to continue writing for as long as I could. Perhaps, I now have more confidence in myself to write and express myself better in my writings.

Maybe, for 2010, I would like to write about stuff that concerns me socially and politically. I trust, all of us mature according to our age and hence, I thought of touching on subjects that I've never intend to even think about previously. It's not that I would like to say who's right and who's wrong. But I do plan to write about what's happening around me personally that I could relate to the masses.

No....I'm not planning to be the next Raja Petra. I thought he sucks anyways. Having said that, I hope to write more general stuffs that I don't like or maybe that I like. I don't even know what I'm wrting about now. Hahahahaha

Btw, I read an interesting article about this RPGT lately. I'm sure, everyone knows about this. Anyhoos, I will write about this topic when I get a clear understanding what is RPGT and how it is being calculated.

Of late, I've not been able to write as much as I wanted to. Got some things that I need to sort before I step another gear for 2010. It's gonna be a big year again. My plan for 2010 has been written on a piece of junk paper and being tucked away in a secret place so that whenever I felt that I'm goin away from my path, I will have that plan to guide me where I'm going.

So, to everyone, Happy New Year. Hope that 2009 has brings us lots of success. Of course, we can always plan but doing it is always a different scenario. There will be some things that we never plan to do but we end up doing it. As a piece of advise to myself and to all my dear friends out there, 2010 is merely 3 days away. I believe tonight will be a good night to take a bit of time off from everything and start listing down what you wanna do with yourself in 2010. Make sure it's do-able yahaa....

C ya...........

Thursday, December 24, 2009

RPGT

What is RPGT actually? It seems that it is now the magic word among property investors nowadays. Irony isn't it?

It's the way of the world unfortunately. Perhaps, you'll make substantial gain (amen to that!!) on selling your properties and the government decides to take 5% of your gain. It's nice to be the government eh? My experience dealing with some government agencies was, I think they suck and like to act as if they are some kind of big shot or whatever. Anyhoos, I'm not gonna dwell into that. The fact that I've been able to invest a wee bit of my hard earned money in properties is good enough considering how volatile the world economy nowadays.

Well, back to the topic, RPGT. What is RPGT? It's a short form of Real Property Gains Tax. Why it existed in the first place? I guess, it was there to deter steep hikes in properties prices in the 1970s. It was stopped in 2001 and 2007 as the govt thought that it would be a good idea to forgo the RPGT to boost the local economy. That's my opinion anyway (psstt...I'm not a tax man so I just know the basics)

In any way, it's good to pay tax don't you think so? By paying tax it means that you have money and the goverment thinks that you must share you profits with them. Who knows, your tax money might be used to build better schools or roads or whatever. Let's just wish that it does not go into some idiot's pocket. Hahahaha....Btw, it's only 5% apa....The argument is, 5% is still money maaaaaaaaaaa............dennngg!!!

RPGT for me, might deter some property investors to think twice or maybe a couple of times to sell their properties. If they have plans to buy one or two properties with an idea of selling it as quickly as possible, these guys are gonna be hit hard by the RPGT. Hehehe. ( i think I'm one of them......dennggg!!!) Unfortunately, it may be a barrier for some to be in the property market as they have the tax to think about.

Let's take an example. I wanna sell my condo in Hartamas (wooootttt!!!). After all the process done,obviously I need to pay the RPGT. I have some forms to be filled, deadlines, calls to be made to the tax department, bla bla bla....I have to think about the disposal date lah, the disposable asset lah and who knows, my cashflow will be affected by these. Well done MR tax man!!! -psssttt....gomen tak duit ke?....hehehehe..A point to ponder, after a short search in the internet, Hong Kong and Singapura have no Capital Gains Tax (which is similar to RPGT)...Why we always wanna be different eh? Their property market is way stronger than us (of course as 'space' and 'land' will always be an issue)

It will alwaYS be difficult for the some of us to be in the property market. Prior to this, there are quite a number of local property investors. But after this introduction of RPGT, the numbers might drop. We can't even buy a decent property in our country!! Damn you!!!!

I guess, the property market is a cash-cow market. It creates loads of opportunites. It creates jobs, it gives chances to people to earn higher income and it creates lots of hope for people like me who dreams to build his/her wealth through properties. Will RPGT be a hindrance (not HINDRAF!!) to people who plans to buy more properties in the next couple of years? (I read somewhere that properties over 5 years old are not subject to RPGT? Need to find out more about it though.......)

We Malaysians are gonna be taxed from every angle. I'm telling ya. Obviously, the rich would not feel the pinch but the averagely average income earners are the ones gonna be hit really hard!!! For every RM1 you earned, I wouldn't know how much can you actually bring home after deducting all the taxes. Hahahaha. This is the reality boys and girls!!

The economy seems to be on the road to recovery and suddenly we are hit with the RPGT!!!

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Weekend Journal

Friday
I had an interesting day today. Later in the afternoon, I went to the airport to fetch my aunt and her family flying from the US to attend to my cousin's wedding. Waited for about an hour after their scheduled landing time before I get to see them through the KLIA glasses at the arrival hall. I even had a RM17.50 burger king meal overthere. Geeeezzzzz...mahal gila beb...Anyhoos, we made our way to TTDI hills but I had to drive really slow, I mean REALLY slow as the rain was pouring like there's no tomorrow. Yeah, we reached just in time for the akad nikah ceremony. I thought the ceremony was cool but aunty yah's house is way cooler. The weather wasn't being kind to us that day. A very wet day actually. Anyway, back to aunty yah's crib. It has lots of stairs and rooms. I actually can get lost inside the house. It's more or less like a maze. But it's not a maze. You get what i mean? Stayed there till about 11pm before I decided to go home...

Saturday
Spend the morning playing golf with my uncles at Seri Selangor. Lost my phone at the clubhouse actually. Fecckk!!! Mentally I was a bit pissed off so my game wasn't the best but I seemed to enjoy myself. Getting 90s is a norm for me in SS. Hahahaha....After the game, I had to make my way to KLCC together with wifey and kecik to Maxis center to get my new SIM card and a new phone. really menyusahkan betul. Later in the evening, went back to my aunt's place for the majlis bersanding. Again, it was a grand ceremony in my opinion. Didn't spend too much time outside the house, just lingering inside the basement and hang out with my cousins. Went back a wee bit late I think. Btw, I met my old college mate. She is actually the bigger sister of the guy who's marrying my cousin. Err....faham tak?...:p What a small world!!!

Sunday....
Nothing much happened during the day. Went for a jamming session with some friends in the afternoon before I had to dress up to go to my cousin's wedding in Le Meridien. Have to be frank though, that was the first time that I ever been to that hotel. The fact that I often drive through KL sentral every day but hanging out in Le Meridien never crosses my mind. ANyhoos, like I said, the hotel is cool. The Nasi Lemak Malinja costs about RM35 in the hotel as compared to the original Nasi Lemak Malinja just a few clicks away that only costs you a measly sum of RM5. My mom decided to spend a night there and costs her about RM350. It's funny though, her house is only about what...10 minutes away...but she decides to sleep in the hotel. Hahahaha....Anyways, during the ceremony, saw all my cousins dressed in lounge suits. Man, have they all grown up. Me, I hate wearing suits. Plus, I'm seriously overweight and I don't look good anymore...Time to shred some fats!!!

Anyhoos, went home just after midnight and I thought to myself, that was some weekend...Looking forward for the week though. My distant uncle has invited me to play golf with him at KLGCC.....should i play or should i not....:p

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Mid December..............errrrkkkkkkkk

wow...it's almost a year since I first wrote my first ever posting in this blog. Believe it or not, it felt like yesterday. To a certain extent, I felt that, I somehow grew along with this blog.

I have to agree that I don't always write. Writing for me involves lots of emotions and sometimes ideas. Sometimes, I felt like sharing something, eventhough it's not important. And some other times, I felt that certain things should remain private. Hehehehe

I do hope that whoever reads this blog would've gain something out of it. Me myself, I learnt that by sharing things thru my writings, I felt a lot happier and satisfied.

Anyhoos, for the last couple of weeks, like I mentioned earlier, I am now a bit busy in preparing the company's accounts for the upcoming audit in Jan/Feb 10. It's gonna be hectic and gonna be stressful. I'm pretty sure of that.

Last weekend, my sister got engaged. I thought it was a wonderful and simple engagement ceremony. Nothing fancy and nothing extraordinary. Just nice and simple. Congratulations Kak Uda!!!

In terms of golfing, I miss playing it regularly. Now I can only play about once in 3 weeks. I don't know why maybe kurang kaki kot. Hahahahah.

Anyways, i've been saying this over and over again, but I don't care I'm gonna say it again. Next year will be another exiciting year for me and the family. Lots of things to achieve and to be done. Just like in Dale Carnegie's method : Get things DONE NOW!!!.....heheheheh

Btw, a point to ponder, sometimes, a friend might come out of the blue to you and say something that might interests you. It could be anything actually. You know what, that little spark might be the thing for you to do some research on. Like I said, it could be just about anything. If you think that 'spark' really turned you on like a kid that wants a candy so badly, follow your instinct and find out more about it. errrr....you get what i'm saying?....

Have a good week ahead...

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Kenduri Tunang/Kahwin

Persoalannya...kenapa & mengapa mak2 selalu stress bila anak2 nak kahwin...

Apakah faktor2 yg menyebabkan tekanan kepada para ibu-ibu serta bapa-bapa....?

Mari kita diskus dgn lebih mendalam subject yg sungguh subjective ini...

Adakah kerana pemilihan makanan yg hendak di sajikan kepada para tetamu?

Adakah kerana sukar untuk membuat pilihan dimana kenduri tersebut akan di jalankan?

Adakah kerana kesukaran untuk mendapatkan jumlah sebenar para tetamu yg akan hadir?

Adakah kerana melihat kenduri kahwin rakan2 mereka yang lebih indah serta grand?

Adakah kerana kesusahan untuk mendapat kerjasama dari pelbagai pihak?

Adakah kerana permintaan atau 'demand' yg tinggi dari pihak pengantin itu sendiri?

Adakah kerana 'theme colour' yg menjadi trend di masa kini?

erkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.................

Sunday, November 29, 2009

PLUS Highway...

Now tell me frankly, all of us use this highway at one point or another. RIght? Some use it during the weekends and for some, they use it daily. I for one, can be considered as a 'daily' user. For the last couple of months or maybe years, I noticed that the traffic has become steadily heavier on the highway. It get worse during the festive season (which is understandable)..

But what I don't understand is, the amount of money that we are paying to use the highways. Especially when it is heavily congested (for example, in weekday's mornings & evenings) and during holiday period. Some of us are paying about RM5 or RM10 one way to use the highway but we are stucked in the traffic madness for 85% of our road time especially when approaching the toll booths. What is the point of paying only to be stucked in traffic. In short, we are paying the money to help us to stay longer on the highways and perhaps spend more money on the R&R areas. A good example of a highway is the DUKE highway. I don't mind paying RM2 just to evade the traffic madness of MRR2 to go to Ulu Klang. I thought the traffic on the DUKE highway is smooth (however, i'm pretty sure that it will not be the case in a few year's time when the majority of people start realising that it is worth paying the toll rather than to go through the hassle of the infamous MRR2).

Highways are supposed to provide us with safer, comfortable and shorter driving period. But it is not the case anymore nowadays. With the errant attitude of KL drivers nowadays, queing up to the touch n go booth or the smart tag booths becomes a no holds barred contest of drivers trying to squeeze and outwit each other. There are no longer the sense of mutual respect between one another. In short, for some, when I'm on the road, it is all about ME, MYSELF and I.

On the other note, I noticed that we are losing our citizens on the road more then we can ever imagine. We see more death on the road more than we see our heroes die in the line of fire. Ignorant and lack of self respect perhaps the most apparent reason for it.

Anyway, back to my point about the PLUS highway. Something gotta be done to lessen the traffic flow. It's getting ridiculously ridiculous for some to drive on the PLUS highway. We are spending our hard earned money to pay for the usage of the highway for the safety and comfortness of driving. We are not paying them just to be frustrated or cursing other drivers. In short, we are not getting our money's worth for the usage of the highway.

I totally understand and wouldn't mind paying a wee bit more to travel with ease. But not in the current situation. It's a joke and somehow I felt being robbed in a very supple way. Might as well take out the booth and let us travel for free as we have to go through the traffic madness anyway. I'm all for profitability but not at the expense of robbing us the comfort of the highways....

Rant over again...

Monday, November 23, 2009

a conversation..........

Earlier today, a friend called me up asking me to join him to venture into a business of supplying snooker and pool tables.

To be frank, I'm not a fan of the sport and I'm not going to lie that I really suck at playing the game, be it snooker or pool. Anyway, below were his conversation with me...

Mr R: Yo bro...how's things?
Myself: I'm good bro, how are you....?..

Mr R: Oklay, cukup makan je bro...Anyway, I got something I wanna share with you..
Myself: Ni musti MLM laaa.....

Mr R: Nope. Something else. There's this golf club, the management are looking for someone to supply them with some snooker & pool tables.

Myself:...oo..ok..carry on...

Mr R: I was thinking....perhaps, we could get into somesort of an agreement with the club to lease the stuff from us. The club mentioned that they are willing to pay RM6,000 per month for the stuff.

Myself: huh....is that so?

Mr R: But...I'm looking for an investor who willingly invest about RM30,000 for this project. I would assume that we can re-coup our investment within 6 months.

Myself: Hrrrmmm....sounds good on paper bro. Tapi, is it true that the club is willing to lease from outsiders. I would assume, for a club of their stature, they wouldn't mind investing way below RM30,000 for the stuff to be used by their members. For a club to pay (even with an agreement) RM6,000 per month for some snooker and pool tables doesn't justify their business sense.

Mr R: Maybe the management don't want any liability or maybe they have lots of money. Plus, they are willing to enter into a contract of 3+3. (which means 6 years at most)

Myself: Hrrmmmm............

Mr R: So what do you think? Perhaps, you may want some time to think it over the week. If you are interested, we can go and see the club...

Myself: Hrmmm....ok then...let me get some info with regards to this thing and let's see how it goes...



That's how the conversation ended. And then I took about 5 minutes to think over. I believe and insist that it is not economical for the club to lease the tables from someone else. It's like throwing away good money for something that is not their business focus in the first place. A golf club would focus on giving their members the utmost satisfaction which is to provide them with good golf course and good service.

That's my opinion anyways........what do you think?

a business plan...

Earlier, I had a discussion with some friends who apparently wants to open up a new business. So we had a chat about things and how to do it. Nothing fancy and nothing beyond the extraordinary as they say. However, sometimes, when people talk to you about something that they are passionate about, you can sense that their tone is different from any normal tone. It's passionate. As if, if possible, they wanna do it tomorrow. Hehehe.

So as we progressed chatting into the night, I thought it will be a very good idea to put the ideas in writing. Nothing formal, perhaps 1 page summary of what we want to achieve. The question of how and when depends on what we want in the first place. Is that right? So we thought, it'll be brilliant if we could come with a business plan.

Of course, a plan will remain as a plan if nobody does nothing at all. However, a plan does has its importance in ensuring that we or whoever, do not loose our focus on what we wanted to achieve in the first place.

Hence, I thought to myself, I'll write a dummy business plan myself. Let's see how it goes. Perhaps, if it's nice and cheesy, I will post it here later...

C ya....

Thursday, November 19, 2009

The end of the year...

December's coming up really soon. It's time for me especially to assess my successes and failures for 2009. the month might also give me the opportunity to look back at some 'plans' or 'things' that I've should've done for this year but for some strange reason....it wasn't done at all....Egggettt!!!


Anyhoos, I have a couple of things in my mind and this will be my wishlist for 2010.

1. To buy another 2 properties with a MV of RM250k each before Dec 2010
2. To make full use of my other company with a targeted RM100k turnover before 2010
3. To write more frequently that I might be able to write a book about myself...hahaha
4. To seek further alternatives in improving my assets
5. Targeted ASB balance as at 31 Dec 2010. RM100k
6. Go to Australia with the princess and my wife


That's all for now. There will be more I'm pretty sure of it. Hehehehe...

Have a good week ahead...

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

4001..


It's been so long since I last viewed my stat counter page. So I decided to look it earlier today. Wow!!.. to my surprise, my blog has been visited 4001 times. I do wonder actually, who actually read or view my blogs??.. Anyhoos, whoever you are, thnx for reading and I'm sure some of you have your own blogs to share. So keep 'em coming yeah!!!

A piece of mind on properties....

It seems that there's a trend of buying properties via auction nowadays. From my own point of view, I thought the trend has shot up tremendously and heard that some bidders now bid certain properties up till the market value prices perhaps even more. It shows that in general, some of us has lots of cash. I means LOADS of cash to spare. Hehehehe. That's good isn't it...

I for one, I would love to be involve in auction again but I have a srange feeling that I don't think it's the right time as yet (this sentence is a little bit vague..I know...) Like Azizi Ali said in one of his books, if you miss out on a property that you targeted earlier, there are a thousand more properties with your name written on it, provided you seek it properly.

Now, there's the catch. The word PROPERLY. It is always a catch 22 situation with this kind of thing. Building wealth through properties takes lots of patience and a strong will to succeed. For some it might be a walk in the park and for some, the road to success tend to be a little bit harder. What matters I guess, is to try few ways to achieve it.

I have a few targets in mind for next year's project which I hope can be materialise before June 2010. If and only if I can get/purchase another 2 properties with a market value of about RM250k each, I'll be a very happy man...hehehehe...However, we humans especially guys always do not think properly when they do wanna do certain things. I do accept the fact that sometimes when I walk past some developer's booth at some mall, I'm sort of keen to purchase but conscience told me not too.

Anyhoos...like I mentioned earlier, it's all gonna be next year and I do hope and pray that I can make it happen.

Have a good day

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

worrdddd..................

Have you come to a point in your life that you felt a bit low and you don't know what you want? I mean, seriously, when people ask you certain question like, where would you be in 10 years time, would you be able to answer that question confidently?

It sounds simple but it's a very difficult question to answer actually. Do whatever we can but we cannot and will not be able to predict what's gonna happen tomorrow.

Sometimes, we know what we want but we don't have a clear idea on how to get what we want. There will always be some things that deprive you from getting it. There will always be limitations in some form or another. These limitations can be damaging if you let it creep into your head.

I noticed that for me, I have to work within these limitations. In order to get something, I need to do it from scratch. I mean, really, REALLy from scratch. Sometimes, in the process of doing it, I felt a wee bit down but then I realised, nothing is ever easy in this world.

I also learn that you must make full use of what you have and maximise yourself to the limit. There are things that I wanna do but I noticed that sometimes I don't do things correctly. In other words, I don't do things seriously. That's one aspect of myself that I desperately wanna change. Sometimes, I would delay certain things that can be done easily within minutes and I might end up not doing it at all. Hehehehe..

Anyway, that's how I felt this morning. Perhaps, another kick in the arse would wake me up and smell the coffee....

Have a nice day....

Monday, November 9, 2009

RaNT again....

Bangsar, more specifically somewhere near to Dataran Maybank is notoriously known to have severly lack of parking spaces. Unfortunately, buildings has sprung up like mushrooms especially for the last couple of years. The traffic here used to be busy but not heavy. However, now is not the case here. With the LRT, newly built UOA building, traffic has become a madness. Plus, parking spaces has becoming severly limited. Only the chosen few would have the opportunity to park their car here in Jalan Bangsar Utama.

Which comes the point...I have an office here. We lease this place from a Tan Sri that owns lots and lots of properties in Malaysia. For an X amount, we rent the whole floor for ourselves but unfortunately, we only get one parking space (which is for my usage). To get to my car park, I had to make my way towards the other side of the building.

This is where it gets interesting, even though I have my own space, but to get into that space, sometimes can be very difficult as some people just couldn't afford to pay their monthly parking fees and so they ended parking their cars anywhere as long as there's a space. Sometimes, even blocking my path to get to my parking space.

What I really don't understand is, if you do not have a parking space, use the public transportation instead. For heaven's sake, don't be a nuisance to other road users. I'm getting fed up of seeing another car sometimes occupying my space without leaving their number. And this has been going on for quite awhile. I even spoke to the DBKL traffic officers but they say they can't do anything....So are they implying that I can park anywere I want here?...

I might be wrong in saying this, but I think some of us here in Malaysia, we just don't think about others but ourselves. That's not right at all. It is blatantly evident when you see people driving on the road nowadays. They just don't care about others. There are no courtesy or what so ever. I really hate when people 'jump-the-Q' especially at traffic lights and toll gates. I noticed taxi drives (some of them) are some of the apparent drives that have no regards to other road users.

Well, blame it all on the government or whoever, but like I always believe, we can change things provided we change ourself first....

Urghhhhhhhhhhh..........

Thursday, November 5, 2009

A dreamer....

When I was a little younger...I meant when I was 20 or 22 years old, I had a dream. My dream was to make my first million by the age of 30. At that time, I can remember that I felt proud that I can say that I want to make my first million before the age of 30. But I didn't realised that I was on only saying it for the sake of saying it. Yes, it was a dream but it never materialized.

Why? What happened? I was asked by some friends.

Well, what happened was, instead of making a million, I ended having lots of 'liabilities'. Especially credit cards, and of course personal loan. I spent quite a sum of my salary on my car (rims, tyres, in-car entertainment). I even ended buying a big bike (something that I felt partially regret). Well, as they say, 1 thing led to another. I got married, but even during that period, I wasn't doing anything to make my first million. You see, I don't mind admitting, during those period, having 4 credit cards and happily swiping the cards made me felt big. But I didn't know that everytime I used those cards, I am getting closer to have bigger debts.

One fine day in November XX, I had a brief chat with a friend over a cup of teh tarik somewhere in Sungai Buloh. We spoke about our life in general and what we have achieved. Then it struck me that....geee...I nearly forget about my dream. Unfortunately, I was already in my 30s that year and still have not achieve. Even getting half a million was like too far away.

I went back home...I really gave myself a good thought about things. I mean everything. I needed some answers and needed some actions to be done as soon as possible. Hence, I have a new dream. A new aim. I might not be able to achieve my old dream before the age of 30 but I am dead focus in achieving it before 35.

I believe I can as at the time of writing this blog, I'm already more then half-way there (in terms of my assets). If I can achieve it next year, I would be super-duper happy.

As of now, I guess, I can say that I need to further strengthened my financial position. Hopefully healthier. I still need to learn more in searching for my ultimate dream which is to play golf everyday and money gets lodged in my bank account even when I'm sleeping. Hehehehe....

Oh btw,....I noticed that currently, prices of landed property in Klang Valley have increased to unbelievable prices. It's madness. That is one thing that I'm a wee bit worried about. As of now, I have yet having the urge of buying a landed property but who knows. Life's full of unexpected turns and twists....

For now, it's about playing the waiting game (which can be a little bit annoying)and choose the right one for myself. I've got lots of offers but I need to have a little patience.

Have a good week ahead...

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

why?

We've been targeting this company for all this while. Perhaps, we've been doing business with them prior to 2007 (if i'm not mistaken). When suddenly the shit hits the fan and they decided that they don't want us to be in their panel any longer.

We've been scratching our heads to find reasons why they did not renew the panelship? What makes it worse is that, they chose other companies to replace us. Fine by us by we would like to the reasons as to why we've been kicked out?

Was it because of we are not capable enough?
Was it because of we are not complying with their request?
Was there any standards at all in the first place?
We've always heard that a BUMI company should help another BUMI company, but it is not the case here. Here it is more...let the BUMI company have a slow and painful death and fall into oblivion..
We've heard the comment that we're not good enough. Well, tell me, how good is good enough?
Was it because of we are not paying your monthly car installments
Or was it, we didn't give you any ang-pow for hari raya?

Is it all about money nowadays?

Has everyone here has lost their dignity?

In another matter, why is it, a fellow malay, with a wee bit of a managerial status, always acts as if he or she owns the fecking company? It's strange when she smiled at someone else and when we met her, her face frown like an old pitbull. Maybe we should brought along a brown paper envelop and who knows, she might smile a bit.

Rant over.........

Sunday, November 1, 2009

things aren't so smooth after all....

Sometimes, we can have all the magnificent plans to make things happen but when it matters most, things can get pretty nasty. It sucks though...but what we must do is to never loose the focus and try different things to make it happen. Maybe it won't happen as much as we expected it. Perhaps, it'll take a wee bit longer for it to materialise. Hence, I learnt that if things doesn't go your way, take a step back, think and then act.

Have a good week ahead..

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

more.....

Yeah....In a couple of weeks time, I'll be moving to MY own place!! Yey!! I'm super excited and can't actually wait for the time to move in. Buy new things and so forth. In saying that, I've also searched around for kecik's nursery. I've decided to send her to a place new my mom's which is in Damansara due to its environment and the exposure that Kecik will experience. I'm sure she will enjoy it!!

Having said that, I just got back from another diving trip to Tioman (well, Tioman actually). I went for an LOB trip with my instructor, Ravi and met new friends along the way. I went for the Advance Open Water course and I thought that I did pretty well. I did about 7 dives for that 2 days trip and believe me I was exhausted when I got home on Sunday night.

By the way, I 'hop' into a friend's car. And this guy, he is from the UK and he drives like a drunk englishman. At times, I really felt that some car or lorry gonna hit us as he was driving really, REALLY mad. I swear to myself that if ever go to another trip with these guys again, I'll make sure that I won't sit in his car/jeep!!

Apart from the roller coaster and dicing with death ride in the car, I enjoyed myself throughout the trip. This was the first time I ever join an LOB trip. Sleeping in the bunker bed was not what I had in mind but during the trip, I thought it was ok. I was roomed with 6 other divers and they all snore the shit out of me. hahaha...It was like a symphony in that 'room'...Well, after doing 5 dives in a day, I'm pretty sure everyone's tired ehh...

All in all we did 7 dives and I'm glad that i took the advance course. At least from now on, I'll be a little bit more confident underwater and can have more fun. Heheheh..

On the other hand, we'll be reaching the year end soon and I guess, I'll be a bit busier due to the closing of accounts. Lots of outstanding matters to do. hehehe...I guess, I have been saying so many time in this blog but I still believe that I still have a long way to go before I can achieve what I want. I'm happy for the things that I have accomplished this year and I want more..

A quick conversation with a friend a few nights ago, he suggested me to buy a condo in Kota Damansara. I am contemplating to buy one actually. However, since I'm moving out, I'm pretty sure I need to use some cash to buy some stuff. Ehh. After all, there are thousands and thousands of condos/houses are for sale at any one time, so for the next one, I'm gonna carefully select which one I can purchase....

Oohhh...btw, during my way back from Tg Gemok the other day, I passed by Ikram and I can see that Unipark Condo's Block A has been completed. Maybe, I would expect them to call me to collect the keys one of these days. That will incur cost as well. huhuhu.......

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

New place.....

Well...for the last couple of years has been hectic for me and wifey with our day jobs and stuff. And of course, when our day in the office ended, we wanna go back to our nice little crib and have a peace of mind and spent some quality time with kecik. Hopefully, in a week's time, we are gonna get our new place sorted out and have our very own private place. Hehehehehe.............

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

itchy hands...


It's been aeons since I last played golf. For the last 2 months or so, a lot of un-wanted things happened. Some were so depressing. Let's take a look...Starting off from July. Ok, in July, my grandma passed away. Prior to that, we were at the hospital almost every day for 2 weeks. Then in August, Alya was admitted to the hospital due to asthma attack. I went for a scuba trip in August as well so that's 1 weekend gone. September was a puasa month. So my golfing activities also have to puasa. Hhehehe. However, managed to play a round of golf at awana on of those weekend during Ramadan.

Gee...that's was the last time I played. Anyhoos, I got infected with an acute conjunctivities few days before Raya and recovered about 2 weeks back. Then, alya was back in the hospital, again because of asthma. Huh...

This saturday is definitely a no-no as wifey's sister is getting engaged. Perhaps next week I can start playing regularly again. I actually begin to wonder when can I play again... My hands are so itchy nowadays...hehehe

Sunday, October 11, 2009

I've (think) been bitten.....

Last night, after a few months, I test-rode my friend's new bike. After testing it, I felt a little strange. I think I might have been bitter by the riding bug again.....grrrrrr.............sabar ya!!!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

phewwww..at last....

Since a few days before Hari Raya, I was well due to the fact that I had a very serious eye infection. It was so bad that I was 'confined' at home for about 2 weeks plus. Only this week that I managed to claw my way back to the office and hence, normal activities shall resumed later in the week.



I didn't celebrate this year's raya as my right eye was so red and itchy plus a wee bit of pain. Most of all, it was so uncomfortable. I can't read, i can't watch tv and and during the past 2 weeks, I can't even see clearly with my right eye.

Anyway, that is all over now and I'm so looking forward for the next couple of months. It's gonna be hectic as I got a few of accounts to finish off and lots of other things to do...




ANyway, have a nice day...

Monday, September 14, 2009

Wake me up when September ends...

In a few days time, some of us will be celebrating Hari Raya. It's the day that some of us has been waiting for after fasting for about a month. For me though, I feel blessed that some of the things that I have plan earlier in the year, I have managed to achieved. Of course, there are some things that I haven't achieve as yet.

Since we are in September, we are actually approaching the last quater of 2009. So I believed that we should look back at our earlier plans and really ask ourselves the right questions, what have we accomplish so far? I took a great look at myself and what I've done for the last 8 months and of course, there are some things that I'm happy and there were certain things that I wished I could have done differently.

Sometimes, we need to make mistakes in order for us to move forward. Mistakes are seen as negativity but it sucks big time when it happen. Believe me, I've made a few and it bothers me every time I think of it. On the other side of the coin, mistakes can be the source of inspiration to some as we learn a lot from making mistakes. For example, about two or three years ago, I open up a company after what I believed was to be a wonderful business opportunity. It has something to do with selling coating materials. Believed me, I was blinded but the so-called opportunity that I straight away open up a company. However, with the lack of proper knowledge, the lack of networks, the lack of support and so forth, the company was headed to fail right from the start. Furthermore, the guy who introduced us the business, he wants to have an active participation in the shareholding of the company. I was a bit shocked cause he has a company of his own that 'imports' the material from the States. What he wants us to have some other company that can do the sales and marketing job for him and he does not gives us the sole rights to sell the materials (which makes things a wee bit difficult)

After a few meetings, I decided that things were not working out for all the parties and it is best left that we should go our separate ways. Now the company that was set up purposely to market and sell coating materials, is being being used by me to do a wee bit of trading. The other night after a short conversation with my little cousin, I think, if we were to give this company a real thought with clear vision and plan, things could be different. I don't know, but this is what I plan for 2010.

Anyhoos, just an update about my little girl, kecik now has an acute conjunctivities. Kesian kan? At first, my wife was having the same problem and was given medical leave of about 2 weeks. Last Tuesday I brought her to the eye clinic and a week later, I don't see much improvement of her eye's condition. And now apparently, I'm about to get it as well. Well, if I get caught with the infection, this year's raya will be a lot different. Hehehehe..



Have a good week ahead everyone.

To all, Selamat Hari Raya. Maaf Zahir & Batin

Friday, September 11, 2009

Al-fatiha....

My dearest auntie whom all of us called Aunty Nik passed at away at around 4pm yesterday at her home. She was 52. This news came as a shock to a majority of us as aunty nik was always known to us as a bubbly and cheerful person. For me personally, she was a very soft-spoken and friendly person. This was evident during her solat jenazah at Bukit Jelutong's mosque earlier today when a lot of people came over to the mosque to pay their last respect to her..

To uncle din, jojo, yen, nadzmi and cik mina, I'm sorry for your loss. It must be very hard on all of you but please know that all of us will be there for you when you need us...

Al-Fatiha...

Thursday, September 3, 2009

The obvious..............

It is disheartening when you talk to someone, but you know that someone is not listening. Even so, when that someone ask you some questions, your mind turns blank and you can only afford to smile and say "sorry...I don't know"..

Deep inside, you felt sick with your own self!! That sucks but all is not lost. All it means that you'll just have to work a wee bit harder and smarter, gain more knowledge by reading and looking at the right things and be more positive. Chill out bro!!!

Know what you want and whatever happens, make bloody sure you get what you want.

Devise a plan and stick with it. Write it on a piece of paper and stick that paper in your room if you have to!!

Update your plan once in a while to see how you fare and change it to suit your needs

Don't dwell on your mistakes but learn from it. Make it your strength the next time you're in a similar situation...

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Valuable lessons learnt today...

Today has been a rather strange day for me. It was the first time that I did something without ever thinking hard of doing it. There was no effort from my part although I should have known that I need to do it for the last 2 or 3 weeks ago...

What happened was, I was asked a couple of questions which I assumed I could answer but when the time comes, I froze and went total black-out!! Some of the questions were rather straight-forward but I still stutter and couldn't answer it properly. I was nervous as hell and I wasn't able to think rather straight...

Perhaps, the next time (if there is a next time) whenever I need to do something, I will try to find out every single thing connected to it. It doesn't matter if you think that it'll be a waste of time but who knows you might need it when the time comes. I need to open my ears wider nowadays and read more newspapers in keeping up with the news. I realized that I've been pretty 'laid-back' for the last couple of weeks and today served as a wonderful lesson and I got kick pretty hard on my ego!!

So from today, I will try to read more quality readings (plus golf magazines..hehehe). It's for the better...I believe it is....

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Ramadan...Puasa.....tak dapat gaji.........

Today marks the 6th day of Ramadan. It's also the sixth day of puasa. I like ramadan month for some reason. It's a month where you can leave the office at 430pm and sometimes before goin home I'll make a stop at the bazaar ramadan to buy some foods. The ones that are close to me are at Bangsar and Taman Tun. I heard that the bazaar in Shah Alam is better. Hope to go there during the weekend. When I was a little younger, I used to like Air Tebu a lot, but now, I prefer Air Soya (especially Jenny ong's)

You know, one of ramadan's magic is that during fasting, I don't feel like smoking at all. But once I started eating, I will crave for it...Urrrggghhh....Maybe we should take this chance to quit smoking once and for all...

Btw, last night, I had the opportunity to buka puasa with some friends at Madam Kwan's @ PAvilion (only my 3rd visit to Pavilion). I am surprised with the amount of people that I see in Pavilion as well as eating out. The foodcourt was full to the brim. I think most restaurants there were full. It got me thinking, some of us Malaysians complain that the economy is bad, but last night's scene does not potray the grouses...heheheh. Some of us seems to have the money to eat out in some fancy restaurants...

Coming back to Madam Kwan's. I think the food wasn't THAT great. It was ok. A little bit pricey though but it's ok coz a friend of ours have the habit of paying the bills whenever we meet. Heheheh. Thnx mirul...

On another issue, wifey has not got her pay for the past 2 months, I think. Imagine, a dedicated government servant did not get her pay. What irks me most is, she won't get her pay till October. Talking about Rakyat Didahulukan, Pencapaian DIutamakan. My foot lahhh....Why is so difficult to pay one's salary? If she's working in a private hospital, perhaps we could consider the reasons, but this is the government weiii....We have loans and bills to pay...Maybe we should write to the papers and see what they will say...hehehehe....I think, all this rebranding of 1Malaysia is merely a concept nothing else.....I guess, kalau kita kerja tak ikhlas jadi macam ni lah. To process a salary takes 3-4 months?...Kata efficient sangat...hehehe...

Huhu....puas dapat mengeluarkan segala ketidak-puasan hati pasal kes tak dapat gaji nih....

Monday, August 24, 2009

Dive Trip-Pulau Aur (15-18 Aug 09)



Date: 15th-18th August 2009
Total Divers: About 30++
Total Dives: Supposedly to be 13 but managed to do only 9

Some facts about the trip:

1) Pulau Aur is situated about 65km from Mersing


2) The boat ride took us about 4 and half hours from mersing to Aur



3) The journey to Aur from Mersing started at half past one in the morning and arrived in Aur slightly after 6am

4) Stayed at Atlantis Bay for 3 nights (Dormitory-8 to a room with a dysfunctional toilet!!)


5) THe food was reasonable and edible. A can coke costs RM2.50 and a packet of Marlboro costs you RM12 at the island.

6) No TV at the resort.

7) As mentioned, I did 9 dives altogether. Some was fun and some was not that fun


8) Had trouble sleeping due to the snoring 'ochestra' created by my dorm mates



9) During the dive number 8, I was having a bad headache. So I decided to abort the next dive.

10) Gained valuable diving lesson from some friends

11) Glad that I take up PADI Open Water certification

12) Glad that nothing or no bad incident occur during the trip.

13) Heard that in the 1980s, there were about 1000 locals residing at the island but now only left with about 100 of them. (didn't get the opportunity to visit the island's main village though)



In summary, it was a great trip and took the opportunity of having a nice little break before puasa. Heard that some of them had already plan another trip after Eid, but for me though, I just feel glad that I finally be able to join them for a REALLY fun outing.

I do have some plans in continuing my diving adventure by taking up an advanced open water course. However, that will have to wait until the time is right...

Sunday, August 23, 2009

I'm back........

Yuhuuu...after almost two weeks of silence, I'm back!! So what's new ladies and gentlemen, tukang sapu and tukang simen?...haha

Well...I was very busy last week. I went for a dive trip to Pulau Aur with some magnificent people ever. I'll do a write up on this trip later...All in all, it was an excellent trip and will remember it for the rest of my life..

Last Saturday, marked the first day of ramadan.Ain't we just glad that we have the ability to fast peacefully as compared to some of our brothers and sisters in Africa or in the less fortunate situation than us?..

Ramadan signals the trend of buying bucket of foods in the bazaar ramadan and the foods ends up in the refrigerator 3 days later. Hahahah...

ANyhoos...will continue writing later as of now, need to pick up the missus as she has some sort of virus infection in her eyes.....

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Insurance....Do we actually need it?

When my little girl was born about two and half years ago, I took the initiative to make some calls to some friends who are in the agency business. I spoke to them and told them that I'm looking for a product/investment/insurance/education plan for my little girl. What I initially wanted was to have some sort of 'cushion' or a back-up plan when she reaches 18 years old. I wanted to have a 'safe' amount for her 3rd level education.

I must confess that I value education very highly and it is the most important thing that I can give her besides my love. Hehehe. In addition, education costs seems to be on the rise every year and I predict that I will need a figure of about RM200k-RM400k for her 3rd level education purposes in about 16 years time. Hence, I decided to opt for education + insurance plan provided by Prudential (which for me, provides what i wanted all this while). So the agent and I devised a plan as to how much she will be getting when she turns 18 and what will be the procedures in the event of a claim..

So far, for the last 2 years or so, I've been constantly paying (topping up) her insurance via direct debit every month. Well, I didn't bother to check the amount the she has in her education plan as at today. I wonder why...hehehe

Anyways, when she was admitted to the hospital a week ago, I hurriedly call my agent and I'm so relieved that all her medication and room charged are paid for by Prudential. I wonder what if I didn't had any plans for her in the first place. For that 4 days treatment, her total bill comes up to about RM3k. That's a lot of money we are talking about.

During her discharge, as I was signing some documents, I managed to glanced through some guy's admission papers. I can see that he has deposited RM5k for his treatment at the hospital. Phewww. And then it struck me....apart from education, personal health is another important thing to take into consideration...Those days, I dreaded when an insurance agent called for a meet up. Sometimes I see no point of having an insurance...However, after experiencing kecik's problems, I'm glad that I took the initiative to have an insurance plan for her in the first place....

I would certainly agree if all of us could have our own insurance plan. No matter how small we have to pay monthly but it will certainly help in lessening our financial burden when the time comes....

At the same time, the experience also taught me a good lesson in handling my money better. In the event of an emergency, like it or not, you must have a good and solid financial standing. Cause if you don't it will cost you in the most unexpected ways that you can ever imagine. Unfortunately, prices of everything goes up and up and up all the time. So it is really up to us to decide in keeping abreast with challenging world of today and tomorrow...

It comes back to the question of how much saving do we need to make every month? RM500? RM1000? RM2500? I don't know to be honest. It all depends on ourselves. Our lifestyle. Our habits. Our nature. Etc..etc...All i do know is, I will keep a portion of whatever I earn in my ASB as well as my insurance accounts...

Have a good week ahead...

Monday, August 10, 2009

Syair Nasep Melayu

I came across this rather 'touching' poem from a from a blog about Natuna Island. The words used in the poem are simple yet straight to the point. I would put this poem as the same level as the poem by Tun Mahathir 'Perjuangan yang belum selesai'. This poem touched me deeply I have to confessed.


Di bumi melayu ramai pendatang
Berebut rezeji berganti peluang
Karena melayu ilmunga kurang
Di rumah sendiri hidup mengerang

Setip hari pendatang bertambah
Penuh halaman sesak lah rumah
Hutan di tebang berukar dirambah
Melayu tersingkir kehilangan tanah

Karena pendatang akalnya panjang
Hutan belukar dijadikan ladang
Melayu bedal fana memandang
Hata menyusut kekayan hilang

Walau melayu bertanah luas
Tetapi terlantar karena malas
Dimanpaat kan orang awakpun cemas
Lambat laun semuanya lepas

Melayu berpangkat lain lakunya
Berebut peluang untuk saudaranya
Bodoh dan bebal tiada di kiranya
Sehinga yang lain jadi terniaya

Sebagian melayu sudah berpangkat
Kampung halaman ia tak ingat
Hidup memencil menjauhi umat
Takut berbagi harta yang dapat

Karena banyak orang pendatang
Budaya melayu bertambah goyang
Ditindih oleh budaya orang
Masuk merayap sampai ke tulang

Sejak dahulu melayu terbuka
Pendatang disambut bemanis muka
Tanah di ambil dibiarkan saja
Akhirnya hidup maskin dan papa

Orang melayu malu bertengkar
Tak mau pula bertindak kasar
Harta di ambil selalu di biar
Akhirnya hidup menangung lapar


Kepada pendatang kita inginkan
Mencari napkah jangan menghabiskan
Pikirkan nasip penduduk tempatan
Supaya hidup tak bermusuhan

Para pendatang hendaklah ingat
Orang Melayu menjunjung adapt
Jangan diajar dengki maksiat
Supaya semua hidup selamat

Para pendatang hendaklah sadar
Bahwa melayu pantang di jabar
Jauh kan sipat aniaya dan maker
Supaya melayu tak hilang sadar

Para pendatang hendaklah paham
Bahwa melayu kebanyakan islam
Jangn di buat perangai haram
Supaya melayu tidak mendendam

Para pendatang jangan lah melagak
Mennunjukan kuasa dan harta banyak
Pantang melayu kepala di injak
Rekali melawan bangk yang rusak

Pepatah melayu sudah mengingatkan
Pantangn ikan ia keringkan
Pantangan manusia iadipermalukan
Pantangan melayu ia di hiankan

Walaupun melayu suka beralah
Lebih kurang sedikit tidakmasalah
Tetapi kepalanya jangn di lapah
Amuknya bangkit berkuh darah

Walau melayu hatinya lembut
Terhadap pendatang bermanis mulut
Tetapi jangan haknya di rebut
Melayupun sanggup menghadapi maut

Walaupun melayu berdada lapang
Kedada orang suka menegang
Tetapi jangn hidupnya di kekang
Di situlah kesadaran mereka akan hilang

Walaupun melayu suka berdamai
Hidup rukun damai ramai
Tetapi jangan ia di gulai
Membunuh orangpun melayu pandai

Walaupun melayu pantang medurharka
Kepada pemimpin taat serta
Tetepi jangn mereka di aniaya
Melayu pun berani menyumbung nyawa

Walau pun melayu hidup sederhana
Memandakan rezeki apa adanya
Tetapi jangan mereka di hina
Melayu pun tahu menjagakan marwahnya

Walau pun melayu kebanyakn melarat
Hidup miskin makan bersukat
Tetapi jangan mereka di jerat
Melayu pun berani membela martaba

UPdate on the little princess

Alhamdulillah, Alya was finally discharged on Saturday afternoon after 4 days of treatment in Pantai Hospital. On Friday, upon the doctor's advised, she was tested for the H1N1 virus and the test revealed a negative result. I was a little bit worried that she might have the disease and fortunately it wasn't. Basically, alya now has asthma and the doctor has given her some medication that she gotta take for the next few days. So no more cold drinks and ice for her for the time being. Heheheheh. Previously, she doesn't like to take her medicine whenever she fell sick but now, after much persuasion from the nurses at the hospital, feeding her is pretty much easier.

All of us were supposed to go back to Muar last Saturday for my late grandma's tahlil but since alya wasn't well, we stayed back. Anwyays, I'm so happy and relieved that she is now back to her usual self. Seeing her having difficulty in breathing is not something I wanna see again in the future....







Friday, August 7, 2009

Princess Alya

My sweet little princess, Alya has been admitted to Pantai Hospital on Wednesday evening due to asthma. Please pray for a speedy recovery

Monday, August 3, 2009

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

OD updates

Remember my posting sometime in May about me applying for an additional OD. Well, yesterday I had to make a quick visit to Maybank and have to re-signed a new letter offer because of some mistakes from the bank's part. What an absolute joke!! If I can remember correctly, the previous letter offer was dated on the 12th of May so since the last few weeks or so I've been calling the bank and ask them why wasn't my OD being disbursed.

The answer given was the original offer letter contained a few 'minor' mistakes. The bank apparently didn't noticed that I have an OD account with them so when I applied a new OD application, they thought I was asking for new account (instead of adding the new OD application with the current OD amount that I have). The bank also said that in June, PNB decide to stop any OD application that was pledged via the ASB certificate...

Anyhoos, hopefully, now that everything is settled, they bank can release my money so that I can be orang kaya. Hahahahahahaha. No lah, it's important for me and everyone else to have an alternative back-up cash in hand. It's not that I wanna use it but who knows I might need it to buy my next property or maybe (just maybe) my new bike...heheheheheh


Have a good week ahead...

SNP Signed!!!

After waiting for quite awhile, I finally signed the SNP agreement for my 3rd property yesterday at a lawyer's office in Damansara Intan!!

Wooohooo....enough of buying properties for this year (I think). I am now planning for my next purchase(s)for next year. Hope to get one or two more properties that ranges from RM150k-RM250k. As of now, I've identified few good places and hope all is well when I decide to buy the next time around...





Monday, July 27, 2009

Ex-Malaysians?

The Star newspaper reported about 100 used to be Malaysians staged a peace march to lobby for British Citizenship...

You can view it here

Well I would like say to them, why would they wanna be british after being born here? Anyhoos, too bad they are stateless, and I hope they remain stateless forever!!!

Friday, July 24, 2009

al-rawsha.....



A couple of weeks ago, during one of my daily visit to Gleneagles Hospital, myself and some family members went to this rather cool arabian restaurant somewhere near Kelab Aman. It's a little bit pricey but the food was fabulous!!

THe next time I'm going to this place, I'll make sure that I go there with a seriously empty stomach!!!








Monday, July 20, 2009

Manyousss


Last Saturday, courtesy of my cousin, I received 2 tickets to watch the super-stars of Manyouss playing against the supposedly under-23 National team. Being a Liverpool fan, I'm not going to spend RM98 of my hard earned money to watch them play. As mentioned above, thnx to my cuz, jo for the free tickets. Hehehe

So, I went to the mega stadium at bukit jalil with my sister, together with my little cuz, nazmi (who happens to be jo's brother). Met jo at the Red Gate to send nazmi as they have the RM308 seats. Wow!!



The stadia was full at about fifteen minutes past five in the evening. I then wondered, would it be nice if the stadium is always full whenever the national team plays. Anyway, since it's been awhile that I last saw the national team play, I decided to get myself a nice Malaysian scarf!! It seems odd to see that there were so many Malaysians wearing the Man Utd jerseys/caps/scarf/etc but you can actually count the ones that actually wears the national colours. Talking about worshiping the west eh?



Well, being the current world club champion does have it's advantage eh? Even when the players went out for the warming up session, the fans were screaming as if they've seen God or something. Hahahahaha..

For me though, it was an opportunity to see the players that I've always seen on TV. The last time they were here was back in early 2000 if I'm not mistaken. That time, the national team was hit badly with 6 goals to nothing. Kasihan dehhh...This time, I didn't know what to expect but as the match goes on, I'm kinda impressed with the national players. At least, during the match they play with confidence. Quite different from the style of play that the national team used to adopt in the past. Even though they lost, the team played well in my opinion.

Maybe, this team should face more competitive match like this for them to grow and improve. We've been the laughing stock for so many years and it's about time someone do something about it. (Even our PM were expecting that we were to lose by bigger margin!-come on Dato' Seri, have faith in your own people will ya!!)



I'm not an expert but I do like to see our country do really well in football. Perhaps, FAM must have realistic aims for the national team to achieve. We don't have to qualify for the world cup as yet but qualifying for the ASIA cup is much important. Having said that, we should aim to be the champions of South East Asia and take it from there. The organizing structure must be solid as well as the competition committee must be firm and authoritative.

Have a nice day...

Thursday, July 16, 2009

The passing of a great lady


My dearest grandma whom I called atok wok passed away peacefully in her sleep at 6.20am 14th July 2009, Gleneagles Intan Medical Centre. She was 79 years old. Her daughters, Aunty Nah and Aunty Nor were beside her during that time.

She was brought back to Muar at 0900am and being the first grandchildren, I accompanied her throughout the journey in the van jenazah together with my little cousin from ampang, MAT. Reached Muar at about half past 11.

All of her 11 children were there in Muar. Almost all of her grandchildren were there as well (about 36 of us). Her 2 great-grandchildren were there too.

She was buried in Tanah Perkuburan Bakri shortly after zohor and alhamdulillah, everything was very smooth.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all the wishes and condolences.

Al-Fatihah & Moga Rohnya di tempatkan di kalangan orang-orang yang beriman...

Monday, July 6, 2009

Tok Wok...



Today will mark the 1st week that atok has been warded to Gleneagles hospital in Ampang. Last week on Tuesday, she was admitted to the HDU (High Dependency Unit) and was discharged only on thursday to the normal ward. So for the last few days, myself and the rest of our big family has been going back and forth to the hospital to visit her and spend some time with her.

Atok no longer have the strength to walk or even stand nowadays. If I can remember correctly, atok's health has been severely deteriorating since kecik's cukur jambul in 2007. Then, towards the middle of 2007, the doctor said her kidney is failing and she will have to undergo CAPD (Continous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis) . This CAPD thingy needed to be done every night. Obviously she was quite upset but it needed to be done.

Various discussion among family members were done on where to place her for her nightly treatment. It was agreed that she would spend a few months at my aunt's house in Ampang and a few months in my mom's place in D'sara. It was also agreed that she can go back to her home in Muar for a couple of weeks. During her stay in mom's place, I can see that Ibu was always trying her level best to comfort her. Sometimes, I can see the tiredness from my mom in taking care of atok. During those times, we tried to get ourselves a maid, but unfortunately, the maids buat perangai. One after another.

In my aunt's place in Ampang, which atok preferred to stay for some reason, she was very well taken care off. We would sometimes go and visit her and talk to her but sometimes she gets so moody for no apparent reason. Of course, when you are sick, you're bound to be moody so that what happened to atok I think.

Things took a severe turn for the last month or so. DUring my mom's surprise party, atok decided to tag along and during the 'party', she looked very pale and tired. Then, my sister and my aunt came back from the US for their summer holidays. That was the last time I saw atok walking about. 2 weeks ago she was admitted because she said she can't breathe. She was then discharge the next day as the doctor said she was ok to go home. Just a week after that, this time she was admitted to HDU unit as her blood pressure was very low.

I only got to know the seriousness of her illness recently. I was told that her heart is now 20% functioning. Basically, it's failing. Previously, her kidneys had failed and now her heart. Wifey said, that's one of the reason that she loses weight drastically. IF i'm not mistaken, she only weighs around 29-30kg as yet yesterday.

Last night, was the night when her doctor call for a family meeting. When I was told about it earlier, I felt strange. The doctor finally said that, in terms of medical care, they have done all they can. THere is nothing more that they can do. Atok is now on 10 day anti-biotic medication (due to some fungus infection near her stomach) and once she completes her 10 day anti-biotic medicine, she can go home.

Obviously, I'm sad over it. Like I mentioned, i've be goin to the hospital since day one she was admitted and will continue doing so if time permits. Later on this evening, I'm gonna bring kecik to visit her. Kecik pun asyik tanya 'nenek' mana..

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Period Ended 30th June 2009


So, what have we done with our lives for the past 6 months?

Any improvements made?

Mistakes made along the way?

Any regrets on the decisions that you've made?

Did you make any new friends? Or any enemies made?

How often do you update your facebook/twitter account?

Any profits/loss made on your investments?



For me though, I have to admit I've made a few mistakes and fortunately everything went well towards then end. I've also made some tremendous improvements in some aspect of my life and I still hope that it will keep on improving. I can sense that the momentum is there so what I need to do is just to keep my chin up and go with the flow...

Since we are going into the 2nd half of the year 2009, i think it is time to 'boost' up any plans that you might have. For example, for the last couple of months you have saved RM500, so let's try save RM750 per month. AN extra of RM250 of saving per month. (RM1500 for the next 6 months). Possible kan?

I had a small discussion with the wife on our plans for the next 6 months and we have decided that we should save as much as possible to prepare ourselves for our target for next financial year. I am contemplating of tanam cili at the back of my house. Not for business though, but for fun. WHo knows what will happen kan? Let's see how it goes for the next couple of weeks....

Sometimes, it is always good that you take a step back in order for you to move forward. Take out a piece of paper and write down what you have done for the last few months and see for yourself the results. THe best thing is that, you might not be happy with the results but you can always change the plan to suit your needs. First and the most important point is, you just have to decide what you want at the end of the day...

Have a nice day

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Maid a.k.a Pembantu Rumah

For the last couple of days, if I'm not mistaken, I heard the news that the indonesian government decided to suspend their citizens as maids from working here in Malaysia due to some accidents that had occured to them. (allegedly being harshly treated by sick malaysian employers. Well they can shout for all I care!! From my own personal experience, I think these maids (although not all) are liars. Why? Here's what happened...

From 2006 till 2008, I had about 4-5 different maids. Total spent almost RM20,000. SO what happened? 2 (Seri and Hilda) of them ran away after working with us for just 6 months. The agents kept quiet only. Bila call tak angkat. I think the agent pun ada main peranan jugak ni. Free money kan? Hilda even stole my Tag watch. Bloody idiot!! Both of these maids, left a stupid note saying that they are sorry to leave, bla bla bla....well..up yours and hope both you will lead an uneventful life....hehehehe

Another maid was a recommendation from a friend. This girl was barely 17 but pemalas yang amat sangat. We decided to send her back to her family of illegals somewhere in Gombak.

Tina, she was the best among them. However, just like everything else, every good thing will come to an end, she decided not to come back. All phone calls and sms were not returned. Feck!!!

Anyways, those were my experience dealing with the maids from Indonesia. Yup, i certainly lost a lot of money, but most importantly, I lost my trust in some of them especially the agents.

So if the Indonesian govt wants to stop supplying their workers to work here. I would welcome that and at least there will be more jobs for our people...

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Langkawi Trip June 09

Just got back from my langkawi trip with the family together with my sisters. We had the time of our lives and enjoyed it so much. The food was nice. The hotel was nice. Below are the summaries of our trip....

1. Stayed in Langkasuka Resort Hotel, which is about 5 minutes drive from the hotel. Very nice hotel, nice room. We got ourselves two gigantic rooms with our own individual balconies. Nice swimming pool with water fall. Not bad for RM110 per night for a supposedly 4* hotel

2. Last visited Langkawi in Aug 1996 (that was like 13 years ago)

3. Aquabeat (more or less like Sunway Lagoon) has closed down.

4. The flight to and fro langkawi was very smooth

5. Kecik loves flying but hates sitting in the boat and in the cable car

6. beras terbakar has changed a lot since i last went there in the late 80's

7. Makam Mahsuri now is like a cultural center

8. Underwater world is interesting and annoying at the same time. It seems we have a world-class facilities with 3rd class service and maintenance. I guess, I don't mind paying to enter the place, but I believe it's not worth the money that I'm paying for. The staff are not friendly, in fact, I didn't see any when I was there.

9. Crocodile farm. Just like the underwater world, the crocodile farm is depressing. I might be wrong in comparing the crocodile farm with the sea world in san diego, but at least, there should be some farm personnel hanging out at the exhibits and ready to provide some form of information to the visitors. Service teruk sekali lah. Basically takde org jaga...

10. If you ever go there, go to these restaurants for nice and reasonably priced food..
a) restoran jom pi ikan bakaq (near beras terbakar)-beware..byk nyamuk!!
b) sajian aki (the road heading to pantai cenang)
c) Hj Ramlee (pantai cenang)-MUST GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

11) Rented a Nissan Sentra for about RM250 from Wed till Saturday. Surprisingly a good family car. THe air-cond could be better...

12. Went island hopping/ witness eagle feeding/ swam at tasik dayang bunting/ chill at pulau beras basah

13. Cable car at gunung mat chincang. Had to wait for about an hour before we could get into the cable car coz there were so many tourist. Kecik buat perangai!! Anyhoos, the view from up there was magnificent. HOw could someone came up with the idea of putting up a cable car over there. Respect to whoever he or she is.. The ride is scary at times!! The suspension bridge was cool as well...

14. Had a good time feeding the deers and rabbits as well as the fishes nearby the cable car entrance..

15. Stopped by at Jln Teluk Yu (by the seaside) on our way to Pantai Pasir Hitam to eat original Laksa Kedah and the wonderful sea breeze. The air jagung pun best jugak...

16. Almost every shop that are located at tourist sites sell more or less the same thing. (eg same t-shirt/shorts/etc)

17. Ate the best goreng pisang ever nearby the crocodile farm

18. Kecik ate 3 ice creams before dinner at haji ramlee's restaurant..

19. Hj Jelani's seafood restaurant sucks big time..slow service with couldn't care less attitude..

20. The eagle statue at Dataran Lang is freaking huge. That was the first time I went there..

21. Chocolate shopping at Kuah town...

22. Everyone was on bad-mood mode on Friday night cause we had to go back to KL the next day....huhuhuhu


All in all, I had a great time with the family in Langkawi. Will definitely go there again. So my dear wife, where are we going this december? hehehe