Going to Mid-Valley

So, I rushed back after the accident and not wanting to spoil the mood for everyone, I kept the news from my Wife until after the shopping trip. We needed to go to Mid-Valley because there were some last minute shopping to do for the girl's up coming School Concert.

Because Deepavali was around the corner, the
beautiful Kolams were everywhere.

Like ants to sugar, so were clumsy fools to Kolams

One of the nice things was that we had dinner
at Pizza Hut and well, I am starting to like the
spaghetti...

Later, my Wife lamented that things like this always happens when she calls me to go home as soon as possible. The problem came the next day: Because my Bengmobile is about to celebrate its 14th Birthday, the Insurance Agent advised me to just take the money from the Chinese and repair it myself instead of lodging the Police report. This was because I had a very nice NCB and also, if I did claim it, I would still get the money but I would be 'blacklisted' by a lot of Insurance companies. This would mean a very difficult situation when i want to renew the car's insurance in the coming year.

Sigh. With my current financial situation, this is going to be very difficult and we still need about a year more to clear some things.

Being sodomised

Maybe I should have titled: Accidentally sodomised. Or maybe, The Rear Fender Bender. Anything goes but it still does not change the fact that I was hit from behind.

And I really hate things like this.

It all happened on my way home. Where everyone was stuck in the jam on Jalan Desa towards Mid-Valley/Federal Highway. So, it was just a bumper to bumper crawl where, nothing exciting will ever happen. But no, in my case, regardless of any situation, things will happen.

So, there I was, moving and stopping until for some unknown reason, I looked something made me look up into my rear view mirror. what I saw was a silver car, coming towards me at a very fast speed. from experience, I know what will happen so, I quickly shift to first gear but by reflex, I engaged the handbrake and stomped on the brakes very hard. And braced for impact. Why did I do that? I do not know either. But later on, I realised that if I actually did that, I would not have enough time and that car would still hit me, which in return, I would hit the car in the front. More than that, I could have caused another accident IF some stupid driver happen to be using the emergency lane as well.

Bang.

And that was it.

Out came some two young chaps to see what happened leaving the two young girls to stay in the car. First bad news was that he is Chinese, as in "Made in China" Chinese which complicate things more. Luckily, he can speak a bit of English. And the second bad news was, this was not his car. Coming from China, I know that this he is not familiar with the cars here and I guessed that he stepped on the accelerator instead of the brakes.

So, I just told him to make a Police Report after we exchanged info. And that's it. I was not prepared to deal with it and talk things out because there was other urgent matters to take care of.

And so, my Bengmobile was sodomised. Not much
damage except that I would need to replace the rear
bumper and also repair the dents.

The Chinese guy's car was not so lucky. The damage was
quite severe eventhough this photo showed otherwise. If
I took it from another angle, you would have seen that the
whole front had actually caved in. This was caused by the
strong metal square beam at the rear of my Bengmobile.

Getting rusty

Damn!

I am getting rusty. Just less than 10 months out, I am starting to forget basic programs. Here, I am asking why an extension that was allowed to call Mobile Phones was actually barred. And I was stumped for half an hour until I realised that the codes I was following in the customer's notes was wrong. In fact, Class 1 was actually supposed to begin with code 103 and not 101.

This is one of the problems when you deal with your former customers with your new job. I just happened to be there when I was discussing about their diaries. And I am not supposed to be doing phones.

Sorry for the tech-speak. I just needed that. I think I still miss this job. Sigh.

Trip to Mid-Valley 24102010

This is a last minute trip to Mid-Valley because the girls need their makeup stuff for the concert tomorrow. And I hate last minute stuff. But it can't be helped. Both of use were so busy that neither of us noticed we were too busy to notice we were actually very busy.

Since it was almost nearing to seven,
I parked at The Gardens which had
more parking spaces at that time as
the Mid-Valley ones are usually
occupied by office workers at this time.

And so, we passed by the Fountains
which always captured our attention

Since it is near to Deepavali, the place
is decorated with a lot of nice Kolams.
Unfortunately, some of them were
marred by some over enthusiastic kids.
I would say kids because the marks made
are very small.

So, first thing first, which is for Mommy to
get all the make-up stuff. And after that,
because they were hungry, we gave them
ice-cream. This gave Mommy some time
for her to get other stuff for the family.

After that, it was time for a real dinner. And
so, the girls were treated to some noodles in
an edible bowl. As usual, they fought but not
so much that the bowl was still intact.

Only when Kaelynn's Pizza came, did the girls
quickly learn about sharing and yes, friendship.
I wonder why...

Note to self: Never let the girls eat first anymore
since they would be 'too free' while we are eating.

Before we go home, I did a quick detour to Art Friend
to look for a round globe but it was out of stock. Then,
as I was about to leave, I saw some diorama kits which
lets you make some very nice diorama for your models.

For an average of RM75.00, this is
a great kit. However, because I was
not interested, it became 'just a kit'.

The also have some trees in a few
choice scale too.

So, they got what they came here for and boy, tomorrow is going to be a long day.

The bulge under the eye

[11.10.2010 2132]

I am not sure how she got this big bulge under her eye. When she was small baby, we noticed that there is a vein running under there. But for today's story, this is not about the vein.

Rather, I suspect, she fell and hit a chair.

Grandpa: Does it hurt?
Kristine: Only when I look at a bright light.
Grandpa: .....

You might not see it so clearly in this photo but take
my word for it that the bulge is worrying.

What is she doing?

[07.10.2010 1957]

Do you know what is Kristine doing?
Yes, she is playing with my Nokia 5800

Again.

Erika got Married

[10.10.2010 1530]

Although I knew her, I could not say I knew her as well. 10.10.10 was a nice date for everyone. So nice, they decided to tie the knot together. And there I was, laughing at my colleague who will be a Thean Hou Temple for that very reason. I was not laughing later when I found out that Erika was doing the same thing. The only salvation was that it would not be at Thean Hou, among those sticky and sweating 300 pairs of couples. And I am not going anywhere that day because in the Birthday Lunch of the Four Sisters, people without boobies are not allowed to join.

Once again, let me tell you this. I hate crowds, and it does not matter if I am in an environment where everyone sweats or in an air-conditioned place. I just hate crowds. All those jostling, perfumes and deodorants mixed with sweat or week old unbathed bodies, and hair smelling of Brylcreem, coconut oil, etc. You get the picture. And so, if you happen to be there, do not expect just 300 couples. Because each half of the couple would have their own parents and siblings. And then very good friends by their sides. And also friends who take photos and carry flowers, drinks and well, just standing there for moral support. And not only that, you have reporters, media people, etc all with their own crews. And so, the 300 will quickly multiply to 600, then to 1800, then to 3600 and so on. The only happy soul would be the one collecting parking fees.

As for Erika's, its somewhere more remote, or someplace unexpected if you agree with me. I mean, I have passed by this place before many times and I did not realise it. Anyway, everyone was anxious to be there well before the appointed time of 1530. By 1450, we were there. In fact, everyone was there. We were so there, that we were practically living there. So there.

And so, we waited.

Yes, we waited.

We waited because someone was late.....

All the while, some of us were outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of them. And some were not happy because their mobile phones were 'off'. In a hurry to drive everyone there, i forgot my Mobile and we also reallsed Dad's credit had run out. And so, we waited.

And waited.

And waited..... And all the while, I was wondering, it they were caught in a jam, or have lost their way, or even eloped to Timbuktoo at the last minute.

And so, we waited...

By the time they showed up, everyone was already
melting in under the hot Sun. Nevermind if the fan
was set to 'fool'. But when they showed up, all the
hundreds of thousands of miliseconds of waiting
were forgiven. What a beautiful couple!

"No, no. Please accept the flowers again as token of
my Love to you forever."
"Sure or not? Already wilting la..."

"OK. Last chance. Listen carefully to me, you want
to get Married or not? There is still time for you
to run out of the door while I distract my family."

For the whole day, this place was very very busy and
its more like a factory to me. Families come in, they
do their part, sign, kissy-kissy, take pictures and then
go away to make space for other couples waiting in
line. Here, spot the odd photographer out.

And now, for the moment everyone has been
waiting/expecting for. It took years of planning,
alignment of the stars, planets, dust bunnies
and even other unexplainable things to get
everyone here together. Well, most of
everyone that I could think of....

You can see that the Groom is still undecided because
they're checking the fine print for any loopholes while
the bride is kicking his leg under the table......

Everyone sighed with relief when the Groom signed
the papers using the pen filled with non-fading ink

OK, she has double-checked to make sure he did
sign properly and not drawing doodles.

And now, it is Erika's turn which she did it flawlessly
on her slave ownership fo...er, Certificate.

And now the witness's turn. There is a reason for
this because if anything happens, the form is also
an automatic entry for Witness Protection Program.

This form is very important because not only
does it shows support for either parties but
also trust, family and sincerity. However, I do
believe someone is being paid to sign.
(And I shall have a percentage of this soon....)

And a final check to make sure everything is in order.
I would not be surprised if he suddenly asks if they
want to buy Insurance or not.....

And now, the final part where rings are exchanged.
His gift to her is of pure gold and precious stones.

While hers to him is a secret GPS locator device with
500KM radius and a built-in a 360 hours solid-state
voice recording downloadable via Class 'n' Wifi. Due
to time constraint, optional leng-lui alert and lie
detector was not installed.

Finally, in an attempt to please his new mistress,
the flowers are once again presented.

Finally a group photo which the man wanted for his
own records. In reality, it is a mug shot in case one
of them runs away or did not pay the money for the
whole ceremony.

After paying the money, we have the money shot

Guess who negotiated for a discount and won?

This is a Group Shot. This is not an Iron Man
family but its just that there were no more
extra Witness Forms....

Queues are already forming to take photos with the
new couple. Bear in mind, this is happy-hour where
you only have to pay RM 0.05 to get in.

Ah, what a moment. Erika and her
new slav...er, husband.

All the time, the groom put on a brave face
throughout the whole ordeal.

Then suddenly, his sanity returned
and he realised what he has done....

The massager

[23.10.2010 1807]

Don't know where Wife got this one but its a massager. You just put in three AAA battery and it will massage where ever you want it to massage. But this is Wife's way of 'escaping' her massage duties. Honestly, it feels great but it feels greater when she uses it on me.

All you need to do is to press the top which
then touches the metal contact inside and
the motor will then start running.

Unfortunately, after a few days, it stopped
working because the vibrations caused one
of the wires to come loose. Yep, a very
loose solder joint.

Dropping in at ICW

[23.10.2010 1519]

I did not have the time to go to Pasar today since I had a more pressing thing to do, which is to make sure some of my office work is done. This means I had to go to the other Department to get them to do the stuff that I needed. Doing it on Monday would be hectic for everyone and not only that, my Senior would be on my back for this kind of wasting time 'crap'. And after lunch, everything was completed, more or less. But by then, it was too late to go to Pasar road since the Sun was already making the whole place unbearable.

By this time, I had a choice, which is to either visit ICW or just go home. I do not want to go to KL since the road would be full of traffic jam everywhere. And neither did I want to go to ICW since I know its jammed too.

So, I chose ICW since I had not been there for ages. Besides, I want to know how accurate the Nokia GPS is when going through the short-cuts to ICW from Taman Mayang instead of from the Bandar Utama way.

While I was there, Ray and other members were already in the middle of a diorama project where their deadline is November 24th next month. And they have figured out some LED wiring using those big 6 volt batteries since their effort would be displayed for a week. But I am not going to show you what they're working on as its a secret. So, I will show you something else instead:

This is a very nice Gundam model. Its
backpack caught my attention because
its not a normal Gundam backpack or
booster. I think its part of a Gundam leg.

And also, some very nice work from a Core Fighter
Group build where each member did their very own
version (interpretation) of Gundam Core Fighters. I
am starting to like these fighters because after seeing
so many Gundams, it gets kind of boring. Even those
ver. Ka versions gets tired very fast. To me, its just a
nice excuse for better model re-issue. Oh, this version
is very nice, its as if the Fighter got banged up in an
asteroid field.

This is Becky's Core Fighter.

Inspired by Zoids

Very realistic/military version

Very 80's

I am not sure about this but painting it this colour is
just a bit weird. The original white theme is already
very nice. Then again, this is not my model so it is
not nice to say anything further.

And abandoned Core Fighter. This is what happens
when you do not plan your maintenance budget.

This is a very nice version. And without the wings,
it already tells you that this is only suitable for
the Spaceflight missions

This is a very big Core fighter from Joeker.

And it looks very functional. Apart from the yellow
vertical slat in the intakes, it is perfect.

The model can stand on its own and well, its just
so beautiful to look at.

Yes, I know that this is not an actual Gundam model
but a kit-bashed one which uses a Macross cockpit

And other parts which I am not familiar with.

But the real reason I was there is to look for some
add-on parts which I needed if I am to proceed
with my secret project. So, I bought some very
nice rectangular nozzles and a pair of aluminium
thrusters.

A close up look at the nozzles. Its about 2.5mm x 8mm.
Originally, I wanted round ones but either they do not
have it or, it does not exist. But kudos for Kotobukiya
for filling this third party market segment.

And these thrusters are made from aluminium (I think)
where it is turned on a lathe and not casted. When I
have more cash, I will need more of them.