Bye bye 2010

To be honest, this year FLEW by so fast that I was lost in its wake. Its time again to review what I have managed to achieve from my wishlist.

Able to read chinese newspaper - Failed
Somehow i could't find time anymore after I found the site which should help me understand the Chinese words

Air-conditioning for the house - Failed
The money had to be used to pay my father's hospital fees so we will stick with fans for another year

Fix car's external problems - Failed
Somewhat similar to the above, was hoping that my bonus would enable me to finally fix the dents all over my car :(

Goodbye Tiger - Failed
Although there were several really good prospects BUT none were actually successful. Another not so happy year ...

Really say Goodbye? - Unsure
Again I don't know what to do, very confusing.

To weight <=75kg
I didn't even try to really attempt this. For health reasons, I should somehow get this achieved.

Use my passport again before it expires - Success! 17/9/2010 - 3/10/2010
Initially was quite disappointed that none of my friends would accompany me to go on a trip. Frustrated, I decided to travel alone and visit some friends overseas. Very enjoyable although it did set me back a cool 8-9k

Aotearoa - 16 days in 1 post

A picture collage summary of some of the places I went during my trip to New Zealand. I suppose this is better than reading a wall of text from my recollection.

Day 1, Auckland : Views from Teresa's place, Brunch @ Coffee Club

Day 2, Auckland : One Tree Hill Domain, Late brunch @ De Fontein, Mission Bay, other places in Auckland

Day 3, Christchurch : Views around Cathedral Square, Christchurch Gondola & Tram, Bridge of Remembrance, earthquake affected buildings, Hotel SO

Day 4, to Mt Cook : Pictures taken from bus en route to Mt Cook ie Canterbury Plain, Lake Tekapo & Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Pukaki, Mt Cook (Aoraki)

Day 5, Mid-Autumn festical @ Christchurch + Auckland : More views around town in Christchurch, International Antartic Centre + Hagglund ride, Mid-Autumn celebration with friends in Auckland

Day 6, Auckland : Sky Tower, views around Auckland city, Train ride to and fro Panmure, flew to Wellington and had dinner with Pauline

Day 7, Areas outside of Wellington : Cape Palliser, Ngawi, Pinnacles, Stonehenge Aotearoa

Day 8, Wellington : Wellington Botannical Gardens, Wellington Cable Car, Devil's Gate + Red Rocks, Oriental Parade, Weta Caves, Carluci Land

Day 9, Wellington : Around town taking pics of famous buildings, Old St Paul's Church, National Museum of Te Papa Tongarewa, deserts at Strawberry Fare

Day 10, Wellington to Taupo : Enjoyable whole day drive, Subway lunch, Turoa ski fields, Taupo

Day 11, Taupo to Rotorua : Huka Falls, Araratia Rapids, Te Puia, Mitai Maori Village' Show and Hangi

Day 12, Rotorua : Around Rotorua, Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland, Waimangu Volcanic Valley, Rotorua Skyline + Luge, Hell's Gate Mud Spa

Day 13 + 14, Rotorua to Auckland : Geyser view from my room, Rotorua Museum, Kuirau Park for free geothermal attraction stuff, Tirau's iconic i-Site buidling, view from Mt Wellington, around Auckland

Day 15 + 16, Auckland : Horse riding @ Muriwai Beach, Nando's lunch, Bethell's beach walk, views from Michael's home

What I liked :
- Very nice people during working hours
- Very informative signs everywhere
- People really do follow the speed limit
- Breathtaking sceneries and attractions
- Creative car plates
- Fantastic roads to drive on
- Big food portions
- Honest people
- A lot of creative designs of buildings, tickets, cars, etc
- Relatively cheap chocolates and amazing variety
- CLEAN and FREE toilets everywhere with toilet paper!

What i disliked :
- Unpredictable weather
- Places with super slow speed limits eg 30kmph zzz
- Our lousy currency rate
- Very cold outside, very hot inside ...
- Maoris reminds me of ... Malays :x
- Bone chilling winds and gales
- Similar attractions at the major cities

Others :
- Black swans are EVERYWHERE!

Another wishlist completed =D

I now have a pad

Lady luck have been kind to me this year as I have received a number of items from lucky draws but this has been the biggest by far! My number was picked during my company dinner. This year's lucky draw was very limited ie only 2 units of Ipads, I believe they were donated by our Senior Management team and brought in from Singapore.

There were about 800 people in the hall yesterday night and with only 2 lucky draw prizes, the odds are heavily stacked against you. But when the emcee announced the first 2 digit of the drawn number, it was down to a combination of 10 people. I could not believe it, seriously my range of number was picked out of the hundreds of others. I was quite excited and my colleagues on the same table were cheering for me too =D

The holders of the remaining 10 possible winners were forced to do some silly stunts in hoping that the people whose number were not picked would not feel too bad. Finally, time for the truth and the emcee announced that the final number was "James Bond's number", I quickly ran towards to stage while waving my hands in the air in sheer joy ^_^

When I got on to the stage, I flashed them my lucky draw card and the rest my friend is history! I was the envy of the crowd alongst with my colleagues and friends :p Sorry lar, my number was really picked mar =D I thanked the manager and the emcee and the photographers took pictures of me with a million dollar smile =D

On stage being presented with the Ipad ^o^

When I got back to my table, I just refuse to let go of my prized possession. My friends who were on another table scampered over and muttered that their birthday was around the corner and whatever that crossed their mind in hoping that I would give them my precious :p My reply was very sarcastic as I held my prize to my face to show that it was indeed my precious. I opened my package to check the content to give and estimation of the price.

No, its not a 4D number 1639, its a 16GB 3G Ipad

When the event ended, we all exit the hall to take more pictures with other colleagues. I was congratulated by others but there was a particular person whom I must mention because she caught me by surprise. Like many others before her, she congratulated me and with a swift motion she managed to grab my Ipad and tried to run away with it. Since I know her quite well so I was sure that it was just a joke and she could easily afford it if she really wanted to buy it.

When I got home, I took a real look at the whole package and found that the case was bought as an accessory, I would assume that it was bought because the person who brought the prizes back from Singapore is a thoughtful person.

Now my problem is, "What do I do with an Ipad?" I can use it as an Ipod since I have always wanted one :D It size really makes me want to carry it around for meetings :p One my colleague immediately suggested for me to jailbreak it.

The Ipad

The manuals and infamous Apple stickers

The cable and USB socket charger

The protective case priced at SGD58

Free faulty PS2

A few weeks back, my friend have given up on his PS2 and his brother have no interest to play games on it anymore and i jokingly asked if I could take off him. Surprisingly, he said yes but not so surprisingly seeing that he got it on the super cheap from his friend who sold it to him for an insanely low price of RM50!!!

Well the catch to take this machine off him was that I had to send it for repairs as something was wrong with it since it is able to play DVD movies but not PS2 games =_=" Oh well, a small price to pay for a limited edition white PS2 :)

So last Wednesday after an outing with my bunch of friends, he gave me his PS2 and his entire collection of over 100 games. I did not have time until yesterday to send it for repairs but I have however enquired from a shop about the cost to repair it. Initially, I was quite hesitant because the person told me that I had to change the lens and an IC but i emphasized that if it could play DVDs, there should not be anything wrong with the lens, logical right?

So I sent it for repairs yesterday and indeed the repairman just replaced the IC telling me that it was too old and its quite natural that it died. Time to play games which I have missed out for many many years :p In the end the cost of owning a PS2 for now is RM65 ie the cost to replace the IC.

The limited edition Gran Tourismo white console with its 2 white controllers

Up close on the white console

The bag of games :D

Ten Ten Ten ...

This weekend did not start on a good note, literally because while browsing my Facebook updates, a friend posted a series of sad Korean songs. One of the MV caught my attention and eventhough there was no English subtitles, i watched the 2 parts and amazingly i cried influenced by the rhythm and story in the MV.

Its about what you would do if you had the chance to turn back time or change the past. Im sure in some moments of our lives we would look back and regret some of the choices/actions that we have made/taken. Many of which we would like to go back and change. I do have many things which I would love to change BUT it is not possible to change what is past.

포지션 - 그대가 이세상에 있는것 만으로

한동안 그대가 내 곁을 떠나가 버렸다는 것을
믿을 수 없었지만 더 이상 난 부정할 수 없네
내 진실을 주고 해맑은 사랑을 느꼈는데
어느새 그대에 마음이 내게서 멀어져갔네

이제 사랑이 너무 두려워
이런 아픔을 견딜 수 없어
무너진 나의 가슴을 어디에서

위로 받을 수 있을까
아니야 나는 사랑한거야
영원히 변하지 않는 그런 사랑을
그래 나는 후회하지 않아
사랑이 떠나버려도 내겐 소중한 것을
가슴깊이 느끼네
그대가 이 세상에 있는것 만으로
내겐 기쁨을 주는데
내겐 기쁨을 주는데

위로 받을 수 있을까
아니야 나는 사랑한거야
영원히 변하지 않는 그런 사랑을
그래 나는 후회하지 않아
사랑이 떠나버려도 내겐 소중한 것을
가슴깊이 느끼네
그대가 이 세상에 있는것 만으로
내겐 기쁨을 주는데
내겐 기쁨을 주는데

Korean like Japanese are quite complicated to be translated. So some things may be lost in translation :(

Position - You, just being in this world

for a while I couldn’t believe that you’ve
Left my side but I can no longer deny it
I had felt a refreshing form of love and you’ve given me the truth
But at one point, your heart has been distancing yourself from me

Now I’m so afraid of that love
I can’t endure this kind of pain
Where am I supposed to find comfort
For my crushed heart?

No I l had loved
A kind of love that would never change
Yes, I have no regrets
Even if that love leaves, it’s precious to me
I can feel it deep inside my heart
You, just being in this world
Gives me happiness
Gives me happiness

No I l had loved
A kind of love that would never change
Yes, I have no regrets
Even if that love leaves, it’s precious to me
I can feel it deep inside my heart
You, just being in this world
Gives me happiness
Gives me happiness

Should I thank my friend for introducing such a beautiful and meaningful song or should i be angry for making me down for the weekend?

Food Adventure @ Cristang

Ever since we got our yearly big payout aka bonus, my colleagues and i have been more willing to spend a little bit more for lunch. On the same week we got the payment, we went to a restaurant which normally we would only go on paydays. The following day we went to Kin Kin Curry Pan Mee at Medan Tuanku. Today we went to an interesting place called Cristang at 8 Avenue, near PJ Hilton. Their speciality, pork burgers!

Cristang signage - "Pork in all its glory"

As i was in a meeting when they made reservations and ordered food via phone call to the place, i was told that we will be tasting 5 types of pork burgers. From other blogs, the burgers looked big and there were only 3 guys, 2 of whom have bigger stomach so i was sweating already before we left office. As many people are still away on extended holiday for Hari Raya, Federal Highway was quite clear and we reached the place in less than 20 minutes. Since we made reservations and have ordered in advance, we just had to order our drinks before our burgers were served in around 10-15 minutes after we were seated.

The menu for selection of Pork Burgers, i suppose P denotes pork :p
Premium BavariCUM?
Nice ambiance
P2 Burger - Pork patty (P1) with bacon
P3 = P2 + Chili Con Carne (something like yuk sui with chili)
P4 = P3 + petai, busuknyer
P9 = P1 + Kimchi + Vegetable side dish
P10 Mk 2 = P3 + jalapeno ie more spicy
Dessert = Fried butter cake with icecream
After the 5 shared burgers, we snapped up this dessert in about 2 minutes according to timestamp XD
Tapau for another colleague who always have noon meeting, P3

Since this was quite an adhoc lunch outside, nobody brought a camera and my phone camera was said to be the best so i was tasked to take the pictures. However we were all quite hungry and so nobody remembered to take pictures hence the more than half eaten burgers before picture was taken scenario above :p

As you can see from the timestamps, we were like beasts and managed to gobble down the 5 burgers in around the same time that it took for us to get to the place. I would recommend the burgers with at least the Chili Corn Carne level. I don't like petai so i quickly washed P4 down with my drink.

Although everyone got a little slow when the last piece of the shared burgers were lapped up, we did agree to a dessert which was highly recommended by my colleague who suggested the place. I am also not a big fan of butter flavoured foods but i had no problem finishing this dessert well within 2 minutes. Almost like sekejap ada, sekejap tarak.

In summary, YUMMY!!! Porku burger hontonyi oushi, sugoi, besto. The damage for each person inclusive of drinks was RM39. IMHO it was worth the price, porkstifaction =D~~

The damage even before i board the plane

After a very long absence from vacations, i finally managed to grow enough balls to want to go on a vacation which does jive with my new year resolution to want to use my passport at least 1 more time before it expires next year. As with most vacations, there will be costs involved for the travel. Being a calculative person, i do keep track of my expenditure from time to time especially when im on a tight budget.

Now let's take a look at the damage before i even board the plane to my destination :

MAS return tickets to New Zealand : RM2880 + 9% interest for 12 month installments ~ RM261.6 per month
JetStar return tickets to Christchurch : NZD132 ~ Rm303.6
Air NZ Auckland to Wellington : NZD60 ~ RM138
Car rental from Wellington to Auckland : NZD152.75 ~ RM351.33
Accomodation at Rotorua for 2 nights : RM400

Misc preparations :

International Driving License : RM150
Sunscreen : RM25
Shoes : RM100
Waterproof camera bag : RM100
Socks : RM75

So in total that's already more than 4.5k before i even leave the country ...

Im planning to bring NZD2k so that's another 4.6k, 10k for a trip because i don't have a travel partner who wants to go to nearer destinations like HK, Taiwan etc :( What to do, everyone have gone to those destinations before or have made other reservations later this year.

Some randomness to end my post :)

The stuff which are going to be in my backpack, maybe not the waterproof camera bag :p

Some test pics which i took with my camera inside the waterproof camera case :

Perhaps it works better underwater?