Upin and Ipin Movie

Today I went to watch "Geng: Pengembaraan Bermula" for the second time. The first time was last week during its premier. I got to attend the event because my brother in law is the Animation/Creative Director (something like that) of the production. And today my wife's and I and her relatives went to watch the movie. We occupied two and half rows of the cinema.

Even though today was my second time watching the movie, I was surprisingly still entertained and had a good time. The movie was that good. Not just by Malaysian standard, but by any standards. If you are the average Malaysian who wants a good laugh and have a good time, you'll definitely enjoy the movie. Don't just take my word for it, go catch Geng at the cinemas while you still have the chance.

V Day 2009

As cheesy as it may sound, I did asked my wife to be my girlfriend on Valentine's Day three years ago. So this year as husband and wife, we got to celebrate it a little bit special than previously. I always wanted to cook for her on Valentine's Day. As we already have our own place, it was finally possible.

I am no chef. I wanted to cook a steak and only googled the recipe from the internet.

My wife decorated the apartment with candles. It was absolutely beautiful.


To my wife, Happy Valentine's Day. Next year I'll improve on the steak. =)

29

I turned 29 years old on last Saturday. For whatever the reasons, married, having my own place, piling financial responsibilities or whatever, this time I do feel that I am getting old.

I first celebrated my birthday with my wife, my mom and my sis. We went to this thai food place in Sg Buloh called De Chiang Mai for lunch. I've read about this place a couple of times from Joe's. And from his reviews, the food was supposed to be really good. Mama also had gone there before with her colleagues and she has been craving to go again since then. The place was nice. I'm sure it will be even nicer at night with the ambiance and all. We ordered mixed tom yam, chicken in pandan leaves, fried prawns, stir fried mushrooms and chicken and kerabu mangga. All of them tasted really really good, especially the tom yam. I really recommend the place if you are having a group because if you go alone or as a couple you won't be able to taste as much food, unless you have a really big appetite.

Later that night my wife treated me dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. It was my first time there. Because we were both still full from our lunch earlier we only ordered starter - a plate of chicken wings, potato skins, chicken fillet etc. The food was good too but HRC was a little bit expensive for me. If I wanted similar food I'd rather go to TGI or Chilli's. But if you wanna see the band, then I guess you wouldn't mind paying the extra. But we didn't stay for the band. Hehehe. I'd rather spend the remaining hours of my birthday at home with my wife. =)




The next day, my wife and I had dinner with my in laws at a place called Spices at a nearby Jusco. The place was only recently opened so they were having this three piece band playing for their customers. My father in law arranged for the band to play a happy birthday song to me. I was OK as long as I don't have to sit on a chair and do silly stuff. When the band were playing, I suddenly realised that the double bass guy looked really familiar. I had a hunch that the guy was part of the band that played for my wedding in May last year. And he was! What a small world. I guess there are not that many double bass players around so they make a career as a sessionist for different bands. The food there was not that great, just OK. Maybe they are trying do do everything from western to Asian food. And also the service was bad. My wife and I got our order when everyone else had already finished theirs. Apart from that I think everyone had a great time there.

Thanks to my wife and family for the food, presents and everything. And thanks to those who remembered and wished.

Next year : kepala 3 =)

Year in Review 2008

2008 is coming to and end in a few hours and another new year will greet us yet again. As in the previous years, this year I have managed to write fewer blog entries than the year before. Although there is still time for that to change, but I highly doubt myself to write six entries in one day.

Here are the highlights of my life for 2008:

1. The wedding.
Almost haft of the year was spent to organise the wedding. My wife and I went through a lot during the preparations. But it was worth it.

2. Married life.
Six months into my marriage, the journey so far has been great. It is all that I imagine it to be and more. I couldn't be happier. But there is still a lot for me to learn in trying to be a good husband. Thank you to my lovely wife for making things so much easier.

3. Apartment.
Just moved in a few weeks back. Although we are still waiting for our dinner table and TV cabinet, my wife and I already having a really good time at our new home. We love it there. All the decisions to renovate and furnish the apartment was made by both of us. We really had a tiring time looking around for furniture and not to mention the hard work we did painting the apartment ourselves. That's why we feel that it is truly our home.

So that's all there is to review for my 2008. It has been a good and eventful year for me.

May 2009 be better! Happy New Year everyone.

Mari Mengecat

One of the first few things that my wife and I wanted to do to our apartment is to repaint the interior… ourselves.

Paint jobs are expensive. From our survey, for an average sized apartment, the labour cost can go up to RM1,000. We think we can save on the labour cost by doing it ourselves. Further, other people won’t be as careful as us with our new apartment…. We don’t want the apartment to get all dirty. Even though both of us never had any painting experience before, we were confident that it shouldn’t be too difficult. Painting: dip roller/brush in paint, and apply it to the wall in an up-down motion until every area of the wall is covered. How hard can it be?

Take it from us: Very hard.

We took more than 20 hours to paint the living, dining, master bedroom and kitchen. And this was over two days. It was damn tiring. In fact, it was one of the most tiring experiences of my life! We were also very dirty, sweaty and smelly! Our bodies ached all over.

At one point, we thought that we’ve made a huge mistake in trying to paint the apartment ourselves. It looked terrible.

(At this point we were cursing Deko Bersama Eric and Casa Impian shows for making paint job look easy)

But thank God the end product was OK. It is something that we can be proud of.

(Tadaaa!)

Even though it was time well spent with my wife, because of the tiredness, pain and all that, I’ll gladly pay a proper painter to do the remaining part of the apartment.

Or maybe I won’t. I think I actually like to paint now. Hehehe.

The Apartment - Almost done

Dining and living room

Our small kitchen

Next weekend, we can start the DIY painting. 

The best car in the world

On 24 September 2008, my Satria Neo finally turned one year old! Over the course of that one year period, and almost 25,000km, the Satria had faithfully carried out its duties. It had never once broke down or had any of those nitty gritty faults that are accustomed to Proton models. I'm indeed a very proud owner of the car. For its first anniversary and as a token of appreciation of the service that it had given me, I treated the car with a RM300++ car detailing treatment. May you continue to prosper and serve faithfully for the years to come. Happy birthday my Satria Neo. 

Aidilfitri 2008

This year's Raya was a new experience for me and my wife. For the first time we celebrated the day as a married couple. Since my father passed away, my family's Raya were mostly going to the cemetary, Raya prayers and going to the movies or shopping complexes later in the afternoon. No beraya to houses as most of my relatives are in Taiping. I didn't even bother to take any extra leave from the office. 

This year was different. The morning of Raya was at my mum's place. No big deal because my in-laws' place is only 20 minutes away. My wife agreed to this mainly because there were already more people at my in-laws', and she would be busier at her place as she would have to do all the housework (being the only daughter in the family). At my mum's place she finally got to enjoy the relaxing Raya morning that she longed for years.

We went to four houses, relatives of my wife. We were only back at home around 7.00 pm. The next day we helped with my in-laws' open house. "Helped" is an understatement. As the open house was on the second day of Raya, most catering only provide the food. My wife and I did the rest of the work ourselves, arranging the furniture, pick up the food, arranging the food, cleaning up before, cleaning up after.. everything else lah. In the past, my wife did it all by herself. Now I understood why she always complaining when it comes to her family's open house. It was so tiring. We were half dead at the end of the day.

Even so, I think this year's Raya was a better one compared to the previous ones. Not the least because there's finally someone to iron my baju melayu and match my sampin Hehe. And also not because that my wife and I didn't have to argue on where to balik kampung like other couples. Hari Raya is more meaningful if it is celebrated with your loved ones. For me, the number of loved ones had increased with my lovely wife and her family.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all.