Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Spend spend spend

Looks like I am going to spend a lot this year. There’s house renovation, getting new maid (agency fees really killing people not to mention the maid’s salary is increasing too), repair my Toyota (cost me RM5k! If I know it would have cost me so much I would have claim insurance instead) and there is my son’s school fees and then there is tax to pay (which I have no idea why am I paying for since my government kept on saying they can’t subsidies us anything anymore). There goes most of my saving for this year.


Have to cancel my family trip to overseas this year. Need to do some saving on whatever left.

I’m praying hard that my uncles keep their promises then my brother and I will have some extra pocket money. It does not matter how close you are to each other, when it comes to monies matter everyone lies. Oh well, not that I’m hoping anything but if they do not keep their promises then I know they are no longer a trustworthy person.

I’m also praying hard for my bosses to keep their promises. So far they do, so I think I should be doing find this year.

Since I’m going to spend so much, I have to control my other expenses like foods, DVDs and my gunplay collection. And it is only beginning of the year!

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

The miracle of having faith in the Good Lord

People always say “have faiths when praying and your prayer will be answered”. In the Bible, Matthew 17:20, Jesus Christ said “if your faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you”.


I am not a man with a very strong faith, although I want to believe I am. But when I do have faith, believe me when I say this, the Good Lord will answer my prayer! And He did many times.

Just last month my elder son fell ill because of some viruses passed from me to him and we already had plan to take a trip back to our hometown (which is about 4-5 hours drive) to see my parents-in-law in few more days to come. Normally when my sons fall ill they may take up to about a week to recover. So I pray with faith that he will be cured in a day. I have tried begging God or praying until I fell asleep that my sons will get well soon but nothing works. So this time I tell myself to have faith, you only need to pray once with faith and your prayer will be answered. And guess what? It works! It took me a week to recover but my son who is only 3 (well, few more weeks to 3, obviously his immune system is not fully mature) took only 2. Then it happen again, this time my younger son’s turn. And so I told myself, if God granted my prayer once and if I pray with faith again He will definitely grant it to me. And so my 1+ year old son cured within 2 days, which is a day before our trip!

Weeks ago, my elder son had a flu (my elder son’s immune system is not that strong or either that he had a sensitive nose, either way if we are not careful he will fall sick easily) which is quite bad and he suppose to attend his first day of pre-kindy on the following day. And he was all so excited about it. This time it makes my wife worried that he may miss his first of school. And so again, I did the same thing, prayed with faith. Think I do not need to say what happen the following day…

Some of you may think this is nonsense. Children get sick and heal just like that. Or it is just a coincidence. Well, I can tell you it is NOT, I know my sons condition better than anyone else and there is no such thing as “coincidence” in the dictionary of the Bible. Miracles happen to me day in day out…

And before I close this chapter, last night I prayed (with faith) that my elder son will enjoy his pre-kindy today (since he has been crying and begging not to go to school again since the first day at school). Guess what, he made a mask at school today and he is so proud of it. Another “coincidence”? if yes then my life is full of it…

Thursday, December 30, 2010

My accomplishment in 2010

Let’s see what I have accomplished in 2010.


1. Get closer to God

Well, I start to get closer to God and start telling the people I know that I have changed my belief. Still I know I’m still disappointing Him from time to time, but I have fate that he will forgive my sins. I need to start to take my family to church, arhhh kept on giving silly excuses not to go. But fist I need to be baptized!

2. Family trips

Ah yes, family holidays, the best time of the year. Only managed to do 2 holidays this year. First to Port Dickson (my in-laws joined us), staying in the Legend Water House with a private swimming pool and it cost less than RM500 per night and my children love it. Too bad my elder son was hit by a fever but thank God he is active enough to play. We even had the famous curry chicken with buns, don’t think you can get the same taste back in KL.

Second trip was to Hong Kong. Our first family holidays outside Malaysia. Again we had a wonderful experience, went to Ocean-park (which I feel it is better than Disney Land if you have kids below age of 3). We also visited the Big Buddha at the Lantau island, nothing much for the kids to do there other than enjoying the long cable-car ride.

3. Celebrate my younger son’s first birthday

Like my elder son, we celebrated my younger son’s first birthday in Penang. The kids love the place with very nice kid theme decoration. Every kids that attended my son’s birthday have a very sweet memory that night. My mother-in-law said some of the kids that do not speak much enjoyed themselves so much on that night that they do not want to go home. Imagine what the active kids do. They trash the place of course…ha ha…Now that is priceless!

4. Reactivate my blog

Well, not that anyone read on this blog..ha ha..but still think I’ll continue to keep this blog for my own reading pleasure when I’m old. I do read my old diary, those that I written 20 years ago, and I was like wish I had written more back then. So yup, think I’ll continue writing.

5. Collecting 2 Euro coins

So far I collected about 5 coins, think I’ll stop for now. Some of my coins got lost in transit, some sellers are nice enough to re-send it to me, and these are sure top EBay sellers, very nice and sincere sellers. May God bless their businesses.

6. Collecting and assembling Gunpla

Think this is the greatest thing ever happen to me this year. I just love my gunpla collection. Manage to assemble 7 this year (all will be posted on my WarZone blog). I did make some mistake at the beginning (I do not know when or how to apply normal stickers on my very first gunpla then I do not know how to apply dry stickers on my very first MG gunpla) but my skill improves as I assemble more.

7. Bought insurance for my kids

Some says if their parents bought them insurance when they were still kids, they do not have to pay for the insurance now as the cash invested should be enough to row until they are old. Well, since my generation complaint about no insurance from their parents it makes me think I can buy one for my kids

8. Selling unwanted staff on Lowyat.net

This forum is way much better than EBay. Yes sir, I manage to sell RM170 in a month! And the site is absolutely free! Will be looking for more junk to sell of this forum. The best deal was the baby stroller, manage to make RM25 profit from it.

9. Reactivate my Facebook

Ever since I started Facebook I don’t really enjoy it that much, recently I started to look into it again, not that I enjoy it very much, but I prefer to keep my Facebook active. The reason is because I want to keep my friends active. Managed to found some old friends and also kick those that I am not very familiar with. I don’t want to let every Tom, Dick and Harry knows what me and my family is doing.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Bad experience at Leo's cafe

I took my family to Leo’s cafĂ© yesterday to celebrate Mother’s day (09 May 2010). The food was quite ok and my family and I were quite happy to dine there. When we were about to finish our meals, my baby boy starting to be noisy due to lack of sleep. So we thought he was just in time as we were about to finish the foods and leave.

When I ask for my bill, I realized that a drink that I ordered for my maid did not arrive. So I requested for the drink to be cancelled from the bill. The waiter went to checked with the bar (obviously to inform them that my drink did not arrive) then to the supervisor and then to the waiter who took my order. Each time he passed by me, he will smile and politely requested me to wait. I thought he was just going around telling his colleague that no one brings me my drink.

He later came back to me and informed me that the drink cannot be cancelled. Immediately my temper when uphill, imagine my family and I had finished our meals and my baby boy was crying, and we are suppose to wait for the drink? Imagine if it was a food and not a drink! How long will I have to wait for it. I shouted at the waiter saying I want to see the boss, he then ran to his supervisor which I followed behind. I shouted at the supervisor and threaten to call the police if this cannot be settled. Only then they are willing to cancel the order from the bill.

It was indeed a very bad experience, a happy dinning out turned ugly just because of a poor, lazy supervisor who would rather makes more money for his boss than to cancel the order. Never again will I dine there!

Friday, April 30, 2010

My marriage life

Today I’m going to talk about my marriage life. What my wife and I do to make our marriage works. As mentioned in my previous blog Marriage Counselling before saying I do my wife and I have been married for more than 4 years now with 2 beautiful kids (can’t stop thanking God for his wonderful blessing).


Holidays
My wife and I planned that we should have an overseas holiday at least once a year. But due to my working schedule, many holidays plan have to be postponed or cancelled. But instead of having an argument over it, my wife came up with a good plan, just pack our bags on weekends and stay in a luxury hotel. Any hotel will do as long as it is 5 stars, even if the hotel is only ½ hour drive from our house. It is indeed a good relaxation, just my wife and I, even if it for a quick getaway. My point is, it is not the end of the world if things do not turn out the way you and your spouse wants it and there is always a solution if both parties willing to think of one.

Bills
We have discussed on the who-need-to-pay-what even before married and we are very committed to it but of course we are flexible on this, helping each other out when we are short of cash. I have seen a lot of couples fail on this, one party will neglect to commit after awhile.

Freedom
For those who want a 100% freedom after married, PLESE THINK TWICE before you says “I do”. You have to take away the “I” and replace with “WE” after married. However, my wife and I agreed to have a personal time off once a week. She will have her lady nights out and I’ll have my boy nights out.

Talks and discussion
Think this is the most important stuff do to. After awhile husband and wife do not talk to one another anymore, and when they do it will be an argument. My wife and I will talk on everything, our daily life, things happen in office, TV shows, things we read in newspaper/magazine and etc, etc. Of course we do argue sometime (don’t think there is one couple who do not argue), a talk can become a discussion and from discussion can become an argument. But after argument we will let the hatred cool down and we will either continue to talk and think of a solution if the talks are important or just forget about it if it is just a silly argument.

Patient
I guess this is the key to every successful marriage. We just have to be patient with each other, listen to each other needs. We may not always give want our spouse want but at least being patient with them will definitely make a huge different. For example, I like things to be neat and tidy but wife on the other hand will place stuff all over the place. I once scolded my wife for being such a messy person but then again this is how she is the very 1st time we met. So instead of scolding her after awhile, I’ll just let the mess at it is until when everyone go to bed I’ll do the clean up (I’m not the person who can sleep knowing the mess is all over the place and wait for my maid to clean up the next morning). She’s happy, I’m happy and we all can have a good night sleep.

Like I said before, head for marriage counsel before marry, then you will understand what you spouse want in marriage life, continue if you sincerely think you can handle your spouse needs, stop if you are not ready. Remember, there is no in-between. From there it is up to you and your spouse how to make the marriage a successful one.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Metro Center - SOHO unit

Invested in one of the SOHO unit in Metro Center at Old Klang Road (OKR) today. It will be my 1st property investment. My wife and I feel it’s a good investment as we believe the place will be an upcoming area. Look around OKR and its surrounding area and you will notice new condos are coming up, some high-end (one at Taman Desa and the other at Kuchai Lama) and some medium-end. The way I see it, soon the whole OKR will transform to new town and the old building will give way to the new ones. More new shops and new condos will be built say 10 years down the road (it’s just my feel).


The unit design is quite modern. 775 sq. ft. separated into 2 floors. 1st floor come with toilet and kitchen about 555 sq. ft. while the upper floor is a one bedroom size of 200 sq. ft. The design can either be a studio apartment or an office unit. It has the facilities of a service apartment, i.e. swimming pool, bbq area and etc.

Some interesting facts:

Discount: 8%
Downpayment: 2%
Free gift: 2 aircons, kitchen cabinets and 1 car park
Land type: Commercial and Freehold
Title: Strata title
Maintenance fee: Range from RM0.20 to RM0.25 per sq. ft. (yet to confirm)
Long-term tenant: Tesco (signed 30 years of tenant agreement)
Total car park: 3,000 lots
Total SOHO unit: 1,080 units with 3 blocks (currently launch 1st block to test the market I presume)

I’m going to turn my unit into office unit, heard can rent at RM2.5 per sq. ft. Not bad if it is true, about 7.3% returns before maintenance fees.

The only issue is it has 1,080 units with only 3,000 lots of car park. It’s going to be pack and tough competition between owners to rent out their unit. But don’t think all will turn to office unit, like I mentioned it can also be a studio apartment. Anyhow, at least I got the 1st block which normally the cheapest.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Marriage Counselling before saying I do

Few days ago, a closed friend of mine split out all his marital problems to me and said he is now temporary staying in a hotel. I was surprise indeed. Never will I have thought this will happen to him. He seems to be a happy man all the times, even though I know he and his wife had different needs in marriage but not until need times to cool off things.


Anyway, I’m not going to talk about my friend’s marriage issues here instead I’m going to talk about my marriage experience.

My wife and I (married for more than 4 years now with 2 lovely kids) attended a marriage counsel before getting married (it is more like a class). Well, it was organized by her Church and since she wanted to marry in a Church, it was a requirement to attend. I must admit how I feel uncomfortable at 1st but at the end how relief I was that we have gone through it.

The marriage counsel was conducted by 2 old married couple. There were more than 6 couples (including my wife and I) in the class. Each section (can’t remember how many sections in all but think it took about a month to complete, one section per week), they will read out their experience to us and from there they will ask our opinion. Then they will hand out a booklet and ask us to answer it from the bottom of our heart. The questions were range from things the couples like and dislike about each other, do you think your partner is pretty to what they aspect in marriage life, like having babies, how much freedom you need and etc.

Then we were asked to exchange our booklet, let our partner to take few minutes to read and discuss about it. I remember there were one section that it ended up with quarrel among the couples (yes, including my wife and I) ha ha ha. At the end of each section, the counselors will explain the purpose of today subject and they will explain what we need to do to overcome our differences.

The whole process makes us aware that small little stuff that we take it for granted may cause a big argument later in the marriage years and it prepared us for what we will be facing. It also tells what kind of character your partner is and what is she/he expecting in the marriage life.

The whole purpose of the marriage counsel is to make sure you are ready to say “I do” and not simply rush into it just because you love your partner. At the end of the counseling, I heard some postpone their marriage plan, some just call it off but for most, like my wife and I, proceed with planned. I must admit there are a few who devoice even after attended the class. But nevertheless, I always encourage couples to go through it before their big day. I believe if the couples would have answered the questions truly from their heart instead of pleasing their partner and come out with solutions to pave any differences there and there, they might have smoother marriage years ahead.

Next I’ll talk about my marriage life and what my wife and I did to stay happy.