After talking about it for so long, finally I’ve decided to drive over to Desaru – to be exact, Bayu Balau Beach Resort for a day’s stay. It’s about 50 minutes from home.
Hard to believe, the last time I visit this part of Johor was more than 15 years ago!
While I was in town and in short notice, I joined Zoeii the Wiibbit and her family at TQG’s newest branch opened in Kota Damansara. They hosted an activity night (loosely based on the Cashflow 101 game) and a seminar presentation by a certain Dr Ignatius Augustine (who’s been using a bunch of the same slides since 2002!)
Finally! This was something mom and I wanted to do since late last year: have the tiles outside the house repaired, and a long overdue paintjob inside.
Despite living in Johor for 2 decades, my mother doesn’t know a lot of people here. Even for me, after having moved here permanently a year and a half ago.
My mother had a go-to guy for this kind of handiwork, but he didn’t seem to be that reliable in recent years. So I secured a contact from an Agency friend, who happens to be a “turnkey” contractor. Work started after Chinese New Year.
The workers started from outside, first removing the old and broken tiles and then installing the new ones we bought from Jubin nearby. This job took two weeks to complete.
The next one and a half weeks was spent on wall painting inside the house. I think this is the first time we’ve given the interior a new paintjob since we moved here in 2009!
While we were at it, we also had the new ceiling fans installed in all the rooms, and new switches and lights in some of them.
My own room is given a facelift: I bought a new sofa bed and some new drawers to complete the home office setting.
Oh, and I bought a new PC Rig a month ago! The last time I bought a custom PC was in 2016.
I’m glad I’ve finally gotten this over with, and have the rest of 2024 to look forward to.
It’s been nearly half a year since I went up to Klang Valley.
Now that I’ve gotten a relatively new car, I drove up to PJ and stayed here for 4 days 3 nights to catch up with a bunch of people.
I’m pleased to choose Greystone Centrestage PJ Hotel as my stay this round. It’s quite convenient, situated just 5 minutes walk from Jaya 33.
And at a nightly rate of RM110-ish, the room quality is quite decent as can be seen in the photos! Usually, that kind of hotel rate lands one in a rinky-dink room like Sun Inns and OYO. When I come to PJ next time, I’ll most likely choose this hotel again.
I did most of my meetings at 1 Utama, that I last visited at the tail end of 2020 (if I’m not mistaken). Compared to the somber mood back then due to the fake pandemic lockdown, I’m happy to see the mall teeming with life once again – also in conjunction with the upcoming Chinese New Year festive.
I thought of checking out the newly opened TRX Mall but I’ve been talked out of it – apparently, it’s difficult to find parking, the shops are “too high end” (not that I wanted to shop for anything) and expect it to be very packed over the weekend.
To round this trip, I took my Yemeni guest to a game of pew pew.
It was a fun and fulfilling weekend to kick start the year!
After 14 years of driving the old Toyota Vios and finally bid goodbye not long ago, today I just bought my mother her latest set of wheels: the 2020 Proton X70 premium spec!
This was also something my mother and I have been talking about for months, from the time I let go my other ride, the “Brown Cow” BMW F10 5 Series early this year.
Deciding on the X70 was a logical choice from the beginning. I had the benefit of test driving this car when I borrowed two of my friend’s car a couple years back. That was when I knew this will be the next car I’ll get. And here we are.
Never mind the Proton branding; this C-Segment SUV is a rebadge of the Geely Boyue from China. And even with the “China” label, this car proved to be able to deliver: packed with modern day car features, brown Nappa leather seats and relatively luxurious cabin, and a decent 1.8L turbocharged engine.
Good for daily driver. Good for going off roads if and when I need to. While mainly for my mother’s use, I will have my fair share behind the wheel every now and then. 🙂
And if I play my cards right, I can get my sister a new car next year too. Perodua Ativa, maybe?
For now, we both need to get used to driving this… beast around. This is my first time owning an SUV, and feature-wise, it’s got more packed in compared to my previous BMW. It will take a while to learn them and get used to.