Christmas Day at The Pavillion

So, for Christmas, since we do not partake in any of the celebrations, we decided to head down to The Pavillion. On the way, the Federal Highway was jammed as everyone was tying their best to get into Mid-Valley. By the time we reached the area, it was already starting to fill up with cars and people. Luckily, we managed to get a parking spot in Low Yatt in under 10 minutes as we spotted a group about to leave after buying a lot of computer equipment.

The reason we're going there is because we needed to finish the Parkson cash vouchers before the year is over. And this time, its going to be used to replace my wallet and belt which both have seen better days. So, after our lunch at the packed Food Republic, we started to look for a proper wallet. I was teanmpted with the Camel wallets but once convinced the bored salesboy to place it in my grubby hands, the wallet felt disappointingly useless. Right now, we all know that apart from Clowns, Kristine is afraid of Santa Clause too.

Seating at the Food Republic was very crowded. It
did not help with a single person "chope-ing" whole
sets of tables and chairs. So, Kristine had to sit on
my lap as the idea of stacking chairs at this time is
a bit selfish.

"Daddy, I only want this much of chicken"
And so, I had to cut tiny chunks of breaded
chicken for her.

After the meals, Momy got them some blackcurrent drinks

Kristine posing for the camera

And again, at the Parkson entrance

And lastly, at the Pavillion Entrance
We just do not know how she get the
ideas for these poses. Maybe its in
the genes.

Yep, by this time, about six in the evening, traffic was
gridlocked. And more people entering the Pavillion

Took a shot at this guy because of the designs on his shirt
which looked like tiny blood streaks all over.

And so, to complete the day's journey, we had dinner at the
Esquire Kitchen where the food tasted worse than the one
in Old Klang Road. And the waitresses were not that "chou
lou" anymore. Haih. This is bad for business. Ha ha ha ha!

And what a surprise! Krsitine gets to meet another of her cousin,
Brandon from Ipoh, who is just a few months older than Kaelynn.
And so, we got them to shake hands

Which Kristine regretted afterwards; shaking hands with a boy

What's wrong with Pakatan Rakyat?

March 8 was the defining moment and the writing on the wall for Barisan Nasional. Pakatan Rakyat rode on the Political Tsunami and wiped out a lot of people.

Now, more than eight months later, I am starting to have second thoughts about them. In fact, I am starting to doubt them. Thoughts such as in the next coming elections, should we re-elect Barisan Nasional? They might be all the bad things everyone says but at least, there are results.

But what result have PKR brought?

1) Shouting matches, being thrown out and acting like civilised clowns at the Speaking Dewan

2) Anwar's no-show dates of becoming PM. In fact, anything he says or wants to do, never materialised and so, he always gets the sifat (Backside, as in Sodomy)

3) Multi-language roadsigns without Indian language (so far)

4) Insufficient funding

5) Choosing Camry's over Perdana V6

Yeah, the last one really makes me notice. I have no love for the Perdana V6 anyway, ever since years ago, in A Waja Performance Club treasure hunt activity, an aging Perdana had to lead the flag-off, owned by a V-Sixers President. And then, there was a case where a Toyota (or sometihing) with V-Sixer sticker cut us off when my Wife was pregnant. So, I have no feelings for this car. But the way PKR goes about it, was really irritating. They had to tell everyone that Proton would not maitain these cars of theirs because of the debts and citing expensive maintenance cost. Then there is the report that a Perdana's bonnet flipped up and hit the windscreen. The last stinker came when Lim Guan Eng said they will not use local production cars anymore and also mentioned the cost of a 2.4 Toyota Camry was RM167,000 because the Federal Government refused to exempt them from the RM70,000 tax. And they hope the same tax, paid by the State, would be chanelled back to the Rakyat.

Wow. I mean, who is going to believe this shit about the tax?

First of all, why Camry in the first place? (OK, so maybe the Terengganu got to Mercedes first). Have you evaluated other brands like Audi, Chevrolet, Lexus (or maybe you can't afford this) and so on?

And why the heck did you buy the car and then bitch about its pricing? When I buy a car, I would ask for discounts and also trade-ins (Don't tell me you believe that the trade-in cost for a Perdana is RM5,000 too?). (And who is the Salesman who will get this dea? Ha ha ha ha)

And why 2.4 and not 2.0? OK, so the difference is RM7,000 but Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham's statement, "The 2.0 model is said to be underpowered. In our line of duty, we need to rush and travel around extensively" sounded like as if they are looking forward to speeding about in the top-of the range Camry.

Really, la this is too much. If you wanted to show/hookwink the Rakyat for the Camry, you should have done better and a much more convincing act. You don't bitch about it because since you're new here, your words do not carry much weight yet. Here are some good way to let the result speak for themselves:

Have and independent body/person (or a panel of judges compricing of Paul Tan, Karamjit Singh, YS Khong, Chips Yap) to perform and evaluate each car. You can then use the Internet to full effect because you can publish the videos of each car doing the following, or even, sell the rights for a 15-episode reality show (and use the money for other projects la)

1) Dyno tests
2) Handling, cornering, acceleration, etc. (but no crash-tests la)
3) Fuel consumption for city and highway (say 40 Litres of petrol, etc.)
4) Interior/passenger review, extras (such as GPS, Internet, etc), creature comforts, etc.
5) How the car performs in cases of emergency and so on.

Now, isn't that better than what you're doing now? Look at it this way, 15-weekly episodes would lasts you, what, almost three months of publicity and "awareness".

But then, if you real wish is to "go back" on your words of frugality and just want that Camry, just say so la.

Oh, and one more thing, please la, stop talking crap about not enough funding or why "they" are not giving it to you. You have enough to buy Camrys and I am sure, you have the ideas to get funding from somewhere else. People elected you because they think you can pull rabbits out of hats. Don't treat this as just as a Magic Show to fool people. This is your one and only chance to get things right because in four years time, if you lose, it would probably take decades to get people to trust you ever again. Because right now, you're all talk and no concrete action.