February 28, 2013.
A day out with Elle 🙂
It’s nearly a month since I moved in! Ah, the trouble I went through…
Turned out that the paperwork and legalities were the least of my problems. Even after the loan was approved after a painstakingly long wait, the contractors I hired were behind schedule in spite of the basic renovation works.
Originally I was to move out of the Puncak Damansara apartment on the 8th of January but I had to postpone it by another two more days, seeing that the contractors were slow.
When I moved out of Puncak Damansara, the apartment was undergoing renovations and new painting works. A small shame actually, since the place looked mediocre throughout the entire time I stayed there.
Even so, I didn’t miss the place; the monthly rent was affordable for a convenient place in PJ but I would later find out that the surrounding area is riddled with domestic fights, family quarrels, and suspicious activities by Pakistani and Nigerian foreigners that would warrant a visit from the police from time to time.
So on the 10th I moved into my new place at Cascadia; it was a rush and I spent the first night with my mother in a half-functional house. Not every room had lights on, and the master toilet had no water and water heater.
Rushing my contractor to complete his works was a frustrating and upsetting ordeal – eventually I fired him and his guys just several days ago and since last week, I’ve been sorting out other options to get other things done in the house.
As mentioned earlier, going through the pains for the new house was like going through the pains I went through 10 years ago – only in reverse.
The house is nearly complete now; one of my uncles and his contacts will be helping with the remainder of the renovation after the Chinese New Year festival.
Here are some photos on my new crib – more to be added later on. 🙂 While this is my second house, I consider it a milestone achievement.
Now that all these are done and dusted with, what’s next? Time to catch up on what I’ve been stalling for the longest time: finding a good, lovely wife. 🙂
Btw Property #3 onwards is going to be strictly for investment!
I was in Uptown to run a quick errand when a fair-skinned lady donned in hijab approached me, asking if I were the guy who stayed at a corner house around here before. I cannot remember her name but I recognized her quickly…
In late 2007 when I was about to leave the rented room for another location, this lady from the opposite room greeted me. I have not met the other room tenants until now. She asked if she could use the powerpoint in my room to boil water for her baby boy. I said no problem but I was actually moving out already. That was when she told me her story.
She married a Morrocan man and after the child was conceived, he duped her into renting that room – claiming to be a temporary place before they can all move to Morocco – only to disappear for several months without reach.
She was out of money, and the condition of the house was deplorable. The fact that the landlady is a crazed woman didn’t help matters either. The now single mother had nowhere to go.
I encouraged her to take the first few steps: move to a better room elsewhere and get a job. It was a scary prospect for her (and I know it very well) so I gave my phone number and after I left, for the next couple of weeks we exchanged SMSes on guiding her out of that dreaded house + accept that her husband has left and her child. At this point, I offered minor financial assistance so she could buy food for her several months old baby and get a job after moving to a new room.
We stopped contacting after she successfully moved out of that dreaded house (she also got her deposit back from the crazed landlady!) and then got a job.
That was nearly 6 years ago.
Today she’s working an office job for a company, her boy is in good condition and is schooling now. While it may not seem much by the standards of other people, but it makes me happy to see a single parent pull it through in spite of the seemingly impossible odds and not being at the mercy of an undependable husband, and just as happy that I got to play even a small part in it.
Finally… I’ve got Internet connection at my new home office!
For the past several weeks, I have been busy with the new house renovation and shifting details. The dust is not quite settled even now, but it was a disaster when I moved in on the 10th.
Originally I planned to move in on the 8th of the month but I had to push it back by two more days because the essential renovations were falling behind schedule.
On the day we moved in, everything was a mess.
Half of the house wasn’t operational just yet – there was no water going to some of the areas in the house, and only some parts of the house had working lights – in spite of giving the contractors ample time to do the essential renovations. I hated to do this, but finally I had to yell at them to work faster.
There was a problem setting up the kitchen cabinets so that set me back by another week and a half. I couldn’t use my Master Bedroom Toilet just yet.
Worse, I found out my area is out of coverage thus UNIFI would not extend their Internet and phone service here until there’s at least 60% demand in the neighborhood. I was so desperate for Internet connection that I talked to nearly every neighbor I saw in my area on my morning or evening walks, to get them to pressure for Internet access in the area. That was when I learned some of my neighbors had been here for the last 5 to 7 months before I moved in and they had been without Internet and phone access. 🙁
But hey… just when I thought all hope is lost, my sister Ashley suggested I give P1 Max a try. I kept my fingers crossed and ordered for a modem right away; it arrived the next day and voila… it worked! That’s why I am able to blog here now 🙂 The monthly cost isn’t cheap when compared to UNIFI but this will have to do for the time being.
Fortunately I thought ahead earlier and prepared a contingency plan to automate my online business’ mailing schedule for most of the month in case of the unexpected such as this!
As I am writing this, problems are getting solved around the house day by day that it is almost done. I feel more relieved today than I was just a few days ago… when absolutely nothing was working out my way. But I can’t relax now – there is still some more work to be done.
TO BE CONTINUED…
6th October 2012. It was a short notice but I was invited by Sherleen Yen and her boyfriend, Sam Pedro C, to the Miss JCI Ambassador Semi-Finals at Pearl Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. Didn’t want to go alone so I called Jia Yee out as well 🙂
We thought we were late but when we arrive, the exciting parts of the pageant were just beginning. The show started with the contestants in a group dance.
Sherleen won first place for the semi-finals in KL! (She would later go on to win Miss JCI Ambassador 2012/2013 in entire Malaysia two weeks later) Haha a star is born 🙂 Well done!
