It's back!!

i want to know what it feels like

to have a life without troubles

to have a life without worries

 to have a life without insecurities

to have a life where people get what they deserve

and dont get what they dont deserve

to have a life without having to wonder about the "what ifs" and "if only"s

to have a life with somebody by their side

Haven't been emo in a while...

But... ta-daa~

I'm also sick now, which covers some of the emoness. I should "thank" whoever virus carrier that passed me their "blessings".

Road to recovery

After several days of intense internet surfing, I finally managed to find not just a door, but an entire donor car after my accident last week. Better still, the seller also lives in Subang so it was pretty easy to check out the car.

So me and my dad went to see the donor car last Monday. Exact same model, almost everything was in good condition except: 

The bonnet that was badly dented by a tree branch, the dashboard which has ruptured after too long under the sun, leaking brake pipe and worn out spark plug cables (read, exposure to high voltage!). And lots of rust. Okay, it sounds like a lot of faults, but for RM600 and the much needed door plus instant spare parts, I cant complain. 

So the deal was made there and then, and the seller offered to deliver the car to my dad's workshop.

Here it is, waiting for transplant.

 And here's the damage

So then my dad's workers started.... working on both cars, and as it should be, the donor door is a perfect fit!

 Well, it needs some strength to close it properly but I think that can be taken care of.

Post-surgery.

And so, hopefully by some time next week, the door should be repainted and this old Datsun is ready to roll once again (and keeps rolling for a long, long time)!

My first vlog

Shorts

Shorts.

The fundamental clothing item for men around the world, other than the shirt and undies. There's all kinds of shorts.

Plaid shorts

Floral shorts

Running shorts

Short shorts

Today, I went clothes shopping at Sunway Pyramid. *grrr* I bought shirts. Nice shirts. One from HEAD and another from Admiral. Big discounts too. I would've gone for Mizuno if the discounts were just as generous. But anyway, I couldnt find any nice shorts. Strange, the whole of Sunway Pyramid and not one pair of shorts? How could it be? What magical shorts is it that I seek but cannot be found?

 So I went on the internet....

and I've discovered something, lacking about myself. I seem to be lacking....  

a sense of fashion.

The thing is, I somehow do not have the liking for casual styles of shorts, such as this:

despite this being the kind of shorts most young guys (read: my age group) wear about, I find them... too flat, and plain. Even those with some design or pattern on them... dont appeal to me. I dont recall wearing such shorts but from the looks of the cutting I dont think I'd be comfortable in them. 

So what is it that I wear?

Behold......

Cargo shorts!!!! *horror screams*

The world of fashion seems to hate these, evil, diabolical, abominations of thread and fabric. 

Too baggy.

No shape.

External pockets.

Ruining the guy's body shape

Makes guys look short/stumpy dumpy humpty derpy

Just plain Ugly

 The hate doesnt seem to stop!

But for me:

Comfy. Okay, they are loose fitting but I just like the sense of space around my legs. I'm not asking to wear bells for shorts but, yeah.

I like the pockets.  I dont like dumping everything into one pocket like a blender container. I like my items separated.

No weird funky hip urbany designs and patterns. I just dont like those. The colours of cargo pants just seem to... be my liking. I cant find a word to describe it but thats how it is.

What is a young man to do, when the shorts he likes is hated/found distasteful by pretty much the world, and the shorts he doesnt like is what pretty much all the guys are wearing?

Obviously since we're on the context of shorts, long pants are irrelevant here. I mean yeah long pants is not a fashion problem but on most days, I'm lazy to dress up that nicely. Not to mention I already wear long pants to college 5 days a week.

Oh dad.....

Last Wednesday dad checked himself into hospital because we learnt that by doing so he will be able to have RM50,000 in medical costs covered by insurance per year. Great! Our worries will be over! So we thought.

After doing an MRI scan we found his spine to be pinching on his nerve which was the cause of all his pain. So then we moved on to doing the physiotherapy. After 2 sessions my dad gave up because his pain didnt improve and he was afraid of incurring too high a hospital bill.

I mean, really? RM50,000 isnt enough? And, since when was physiotherapy so magical that after only 2 sessions your condition would already improve?

But knowing how stubborn my dad is, he wouldnt listen to me, my mum or his elder sister, and yesterday evening he checked himself out from hospital in exactly the same condition as when he came in. He also adds, "What to do, I'll just live with the pain".

Great.

Tough times ahead

Normally I'm not the type to tell out about family issues because, well, its family issues. But for once I need to get this off my chest.

My dad's workshop business hasnt been doing so well in recent months. As a result he hasnt gotten his salary for the past 2 months. Unsure when he will get his pay again, it was in his best interest he went to find another job to at least have SOME income. So he did. His main job is to handle servicing paperwork for the cars of a hotel. These cars are used to send and fetch guests to and from where ever, mainly KLIA. His pay here is about just over half of his workshop income.

He has the option to drive these guests and earn commission per drive. Thinking that the extra income will help every bit, he tries to do as much driving duties as he can.

Mind you, he's 61 years old.

Yesterday dad called and told me and my brother that he's been having terrible back pains since Thursday. He's already seen two doctors and an acupuncturist but nothing has worked. Most probably the next thing to do is get an X-ray. My brother told me that he most probably has a herniated spinal disc. Good news is that it isnt so serious. But treatment will take quite some time, and these medical costs coming and together with dad's reduced income, it will make things quite difficult. I'm already just getting by on a monthly allowance for bills, food and travel expenses.

Food has been one thing that has been bugging me for some time. Before college I ter-saw dad's planned monthly allowance for me, which was RM400. Ever since coming to KL I've (and still am) trying very hard to keep within budget because, well, that's just how much my dad can allocate.

So the one expense, apart from self-enjoyment activities, that I can control would be of course, food. So my diet has mainly been dictated by how much I have left for the month. As a result....

On the left was me in 2010, on the right was me in July this year. Quite obvious weight loss I think. I mean everyone who knew me two years ago have commented on how thin I've become.

One person who was worried about my transformation is my mum. As such she has been constantly pushing me to eat more. Which would mean spending more on food. Which would mean going over budget. And with the current financial situation my dad is going through, that's just not feasible. So what do I do? Keep within budget, or eat more? Haiz.

A part time job might be the answer.

Nokia C5-00 2-month user report

Here's what I have to say about it so far:

The battery can easily go for one week on very low usage.

My definition of low usage: Phone is turned off from 11pm to 9-10am the next day, with minimal calls, SMSes and web browsing.  

No problems with calls and messaging.

The GPS has proven itself when I went to the Bug-O-Rama last week, however it tends to lose signal when underneath an overhead highway or if the road is lined with trees. You can have it guide you based on the shortest route (aka default), the route with least traffic (data charges apply) or based on checkpoints/landmarks set by yourself. Voice guidance is clear, although I'll need a contraption to hold it to look at the screen while driving.

Browsing with Opera is good.

There was an interesting story with the video recording however. After my day at Sepang (Which happened to be soon after I got the C5), recorded videos were terribly choppy and took ages to save. A minute's worth of video took something like 10-20 seconds to save. I was about to take it to a Nokia Center, either in SS15 [not sure if it still exists] or Amcorp Mall near my college. But then one day I got a notification to update the phone software for "performance and usability". I thought, what the heck, go ahead lah.

Once the update was done I had no more issues with the video recording and saving videos is much much faster (less than 3 seconds to save a 1 minute video). I might put up a before/after comparison if the mood comes.

Legibility in bright sunlight is very good, only if the screen brightness is turned up to maximum. My regular screen brightness of about 40% makes it almost impossible to see the screen.

One, real (but minor) problem though...

The center navigation key is starting to flake off its paint. Quite a letdown I must say...

But overall, still a good performing phone.

Volkswagen Bug-O-Rama 2012

 

 The Bugs are back!!

The annual Bug-O-Rama organised by the Volkswagen Beetle Owners Club Malaysia was held for the first time at The Mine's, specifically the Malaysia International Exhibition and Convention Center (MIECC) on 16th September. If I'm not mistaken this is the largest event so far with well over 100 classic VW vehicles taking part

This year, I had the opportunity to be a judge along with my dad after one of the regular judges wasnt able to come.

MostSupahAwesomeWeekend Part 3

Sunday Sunday Sunday!

The owner of the two machines you see above was very sporting/awesome to have arranged a photoshooting session with Naza Italia specially for my group of supercar hunters. About 40 of us came for the session and since a lot of us have never met before (we're a Facebook group) it was a great chance to put the faces to the Facebook names.

I had reached Naza at 11.20 but to my surprise I wasnt allowed inside because of an open house at the adjacent Naza World showroom. I had to then drive waaaay down the road and park at the designated Amway parking area. Luckily shuttle service was provided.

Once arriving I wasted no time getting to the photos. I managed to sit in the Gallardo's passenger seat but thats about it because everyone had queued up for the driver's seat and the Ferrari. 

After we were done outside, we went inside where the owner had helped to give us access to the Enzo, 430 Scuderia 16M and the 599 60F1 (which I wasnt really interested in). When I said access, I meant being able to open the doors and engine bays and taking close ups of the cars; something not possible to do on any other day.

Definitely, the star of the show was the Enzo with its majestic doors and beautiful V12 engine. It was the first time any of us went "WUAAAAAHHHH" when the doors and engine bay opened up. 

Our photoshoot session wasnt able to be too long because Naza Italia had an event for their customers at 2.30pm and we had to wrap up by 1.30. But still, chances like this dont come too often although the owner is looking forward to having more photo sessions in the future.

Something I will always be looking forward to.

 

Want photos?

 

MostAwesomestWeekendEver Part 2

With not a single prancing horse in sight, I set about.... waiting. Coincidentally I met several supercar hunters who also decided to forgo half a morning's worth of sleep for this convoy.

We sat around, chit chatting for about 10 minutes, and then......

 One Ferrari after another started roaring, thundering, and rumbling in to Jalan Bukit Bintang for about 20 minutes, eventually filling up half the road.

Me and my hunter friends let loose all over the place, taking in the sights sounds and smells. Yes, a line of hot Ferraris do emit a unique sort of scent you wouldnt find if they were all normal cars. At about 8.30, the convoy started their journey. Jalan Bukit Bintang came alive as a total of 70 Ferraris from Malaysia and Singapore combined to turn every head along the walkways. 

and to close of Part 2.....

Third and final segment coming soon. :)

MostAwesomestWeekendEver Part 1

It all started on Friday night, I received news of an abnormal number of Ferraris around KL city. An hour or so later, a tip off that its a convoy that would be leaving from the Westin Hotel at 7.30am the next morning.

Initially I wasnt so sure about going given the time, the distance, the thoughts of venturing into the city... alone. In the morning darkness. Cripes. But anyway I set my alarm for 5.45am (because the first bus leaves at 6) just in case I decided to go, and at someminutes-past 12 I went to bed. 6 hours later I got up, strangely with my phone wedged underneath me when I had left it on the table. I'm already 15 minutes past my set time, so a quick wash up, half-job with the clothes and hair I went off to the bus stand. 10 minutes felt like an hour standing there. Luckily others were waiting too, so some sense of safety restored there.

Along the route, every stop the bus made made me twitch and internally shouting at the driver to give no f***s about the others and just go straight to KL Sentral. Stopping to pick up one old lady. Stopping to let down one uncle. Stopping to let down one aunty and her son. GARRRRRRRHHHHHH DONT STOP!!!! I kept looking at my watch... 6.30.... 6.40... 6.50.... 6.55am I reached KL Sentral. If it were daytime with more passengers boarding and alighting and the traffic I'd probably have missed the convoy already.

Up onto the monorail, and 7.10 I'm down at Times Square. It's a bit of a walk to Westin Hotel, but with 10 minutes to spare, I made it! And.......

Nothing. What kind of Ferrari convoy is this supposed to be?



*To be continued*

Dropped a brush down the toilet

Yep. Just as the title says.

So I wash washing clothes and using this brush the size of my hand for scrubbing. When I was done I put the brush beside me. Then, in a magical Mr Bean moment I knocked the brush behind, only for it to tumble down the golf hole for solid, liquid and in-between excrement materials.

Luckily, the previous tenants left behind a makeshift hook with a bent fork handle tied to a metal broomstick. As I tried digging the brush back up I felt that the bristles side was facing up, meaning I couldnt hook the brush. To make matters worse the brush was stuck.

So then I used a broken golf club I found thrown out a few months ago to try and dislodge the brush. I succeeded, but also succeeded in shoving it further down the piping, now only left at the mercy of flowing sewage water and waste materials e.g shit and piss, more pipes, and perhaps the Indah Water truck. So if you work at Indah Water in the Subang USJ area and you find a blue, rectangular plastic brush with hard bristles....

you can keep it.

Dyeing with Dylon

Waasssaaaaaaaa----

----aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa----

-----aaaaaaaaaaaa-------

-------aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa------

----aaaaaaaaaaaaaappppp.

So, my college pants right, they've become terribly faded after only a year. At RM75 for a new one, I'd rather find an alternative to overcome the problem. In fact there's only one alternative: Dyeing.

So I came across this fabric dye from Dylon:

 small isnt it?


and decided to give it a try. The result........

Not bad eh? If you can see the difference. Trust me its there but maybe the camera doesnt really pick it up that clearly.



So, how do we go about dyeing?

These instructions only apply to Dylon Multi Purpose Dye, as what I have used and as shown above. Dylon has other types of dyes and have different methods which you can find at http://www.dylon.co.uk/products.php.

1. Wash clothing item thoroughly and leave it damp.

2. Get a rust-proof, metal container and fill with enough water to cover your item. Make sure its big enough for easy movement, like say, stirring. Large items like my pants required a seriously huge pot.

3. For each tin of dye, boil 500ml of water and add the dye. Stir well. ATTENTION: Pour the powder VERY SLOWLY. Pouring it too fast will cause the water to suddenly and intensely bubble up. In fact pouring it slowly will still cause some reaction. It's best your pot be larger to prevent the water from spilling over as it bubbles.

4. Now heat up your first container of water. Add 30g of salt for each tin you use. Then add your dye mixture which you boiled earlier. For my pants, I used 1.5 tins of dye and 50g of salt. Keep an eye on your container while you're heating it up. I left it on max flame for a while and suddenly the whole pot bubbled and spilled over.

FYI: The salt lets your item absorb the dye better

5. Now comes the hard part. Let your container of dye reach simmering (aka just below boiling) point and put in your item. Stir it, toss it,  for 20 minutes. Seeing how big my pants and pot were, it was really hot and difficult.

6. Rinse your item until the water is clear. Admittedly, I didnt rinse it THAT thoroughly.  Dry item away from direct heat and sunlight.


Now, some important things to take note of:

The dye will not work on synthetic materials except nylon.

The dye will come off in the wash so be sure to wash dyed clothes separately and turned inside out.

Wear gloves. Dye will stay permanently on skin if not washed off immediately.

It's advised to wear older clothes or clothes with the same colour as the dye just incase it splashes onto you.

Patterns will not be entirely covered, but the colour may change.

Colour mixing rules apply, e.g blue dye + red shirt = purple result

One little tin of this dye is good for 250g of clothing. A shirt perhaps.

Clothes with special finishes e.g 'dry clean only' will not be dyed.



Special Instructions for Wool and silk:

Follow steps for 1 to 4 above.

5. Put in clean, damp, unfolded article. Bring slowly to a simmer and reduce heat at once. Stir gently for 10 minutes.

6. Remove article from dye and allow to cool before rinsing in lukewarm water, until water runs clear.


Happy dyeing~ :)

Vision. Purpose. Blue.

YOSH!

I'm now on day 3 of my 2 week college break, at home, chomping on a watermelon slice. Today I shall present to you a short story of what happened last Thursday.

******

You most probably have never heard of the Blue Jackets; Malaysia's (I should say) premier supercar club where owners of any high performance ride for long drives, gatherings, events and such. In recent months they've been making a name for themselves by organising charity events, particularly for children. And as time passes, their membership (or as they call it brotherhood) is only growing bigger and bigger, and so is the support for them.

This year, my brother and I have followed them on a few of their activities such as:

Their drive to Phuket, Thailand (well not all the way to Thailand, just their starting point at Solaris Dutamas in Mont Kiara)

Their drag race event at Sepang

Project Mata Hati for blind children at Setapak

So then, last Thursday. They organised a charity buka puasa dinner for about... lol I-dont-know-how-many children at I-City Shah Alam. I wasnt able to join them there so the next best thing would be to go to their starting place at 10 Boulevard in Damansara. Now, I havent ventured to many parts of KL on my own yet so this being  a first, I was apprehensive. You know, one-wrong-turn-and-you're-so-screwed. So I studied Google Maps like it was an exam subject (speaking of which...) but luckily it was very straightforward from college.

So, after my first exam I stayed back for a while, had lunch, derped around a little and then made my way to 10-B'vard. About halfway there I saw the big, dark, scary clouds rolling in and I thought to myself,

"Vhat are you doing??????? You have another exam tomorrow and you're going somewhere you've never been before, alone, and with a storm coming!! You krazy!!@!!"

Once there I just lingered around as one by one Ferraris Lambos and Porsches started rolling in (together with the rain). While they waited some guys from Motorsports Playground (they do customawesome paint and wraps for cars) started plastering these on the cars:

Your guess is as good as mine that the Blue Jackets are really putting their charity works into high gear.


 Eventually I had to leave earlier before them (I intended to follow behind them, although an old Datsun probably wont keep up with them anyway) because it was nearing peak-hour traffic time and it was raining so I didnt want to get caught in a 2-hour crawl or anything like that.

That's when I thought would be the perfect time to try out Nokia Maps navigation system. Glad I am to report it worked perfectly AND, it's also free!* With newfound confidence in self-travelling thanks to Nokia Maps, that's one less deterrent to joining any Blue Jackets events in the future. To find out more and keep track of their activities, follow the Blue Jackets at https://www.facebook.com/bluejacketssociety. And now I leave you with this simple fan 'art' created by yours truly~

*To make sure your Nokia Maps navigation doesnt cost you anything you first have to set the program into Offline mode which prevents any large amounts of data being transferred. You wont get the full functionality of Nokia Maps in offline mode but just to get you from point A to point B, it works.

Time To Attack!, the photos

 As promised~

 The driver was awesome enough to open up his car to let me take pictures. :D

Pushing your car to its limits does have its price to pay. This broken driveshaft is an example.

 Drifter girl Leona Chin's BMW! Too shy to say hi to her though. ><

Blueberry, lime, or tomato?

The pink kinda suits the car for some reason

 Only at Time To Attack are you given access to the VIP viewing area

People crowding around after this Porsche 911 GT2 lost control and hit the barrier on its rear left corner as it was entering the main straight.

 Tengku Djan's drift demo in the brand new Toyota 86

 And this is the damage

 Time to cool down after a hard day of racing

What's this mystery car?

 The center of attention: A McLaren MP4-12C from Singapore

 A 1000bhp twin turbo Gallardo, also from Singapore. Unfortunately it had transmission problems so it was stuck inside the whole day. I wonder how did it get here in the first place.

 Malaysia's first chrome-wrapped car; an Audi R8 courtesy of Motorsports Playground

 Malaysia's first Ferrari 458 Italia Spider