Good Bye my little friend

H2 & I: At the airport, all excited, right before our big trip!

I'm not very good at good byes. Don't like it very much, in fact I hate it. And this year has been one of the toughest. This year I've had to deal with more good byes than any other. Click here, see I'm not kidding. I'm usually the one that leaves; i.e. when I left for the US to further my education and leaving F'ville upon graduation. I've never had to deal with people leaving me. Now the shoe's on the other foot and it sucks. I should be happy to know that my friends are moving away to bigger and better things but I'm selfish for wanting them all to myself.

H2 & I: Summer free concert on 9th St 2005 which we did again in 2006 :)

One of my best, best friends in Columbia is leaving today (Thursday 9/28). She is the first person I got to know when I moved to Columbia over four years ago and we instantly connected. After six months of knowing one another she moved in with me. We lived together for a year and eventually she moved out. Not long after that, I too moved out of our cute little apartment on Sears Ct and I bought my first property. We've been through thick and thin. She's the one that would accompany me on my weekend trips to KC or StL, we even made a trip back to Malaysia together. We would have little Malaysian cook outs, go to movies together, explored little restaurants, visited our regulars (china wok & house of CCB) and made impromptu visits to the mall (she was my shopping buddy!). We had very similar taste and would crack each other up for no reason. Approx. two months ago she moved back in with me again to avoid signing a lease and today she's packed up everything and we're saying our goodbyesWe have kept very little secrets from one another; she was a sister, a pal and a confidant. I will definitely miss my little friend.

H2 & I: Up above the beautiful Pinnacles. Those were the days...

Year of the Babies

Cute lil Baby KuanYen 1 day old

I guess this is indeed the year to have babies. I know so many people that have either given birth or are preggies right now! For me personally, I am blessed with two nephews in this red dog year of 2006. The first nephew this year is Tatsuya (my oldest brother's 2nd child) and the second is Kuan Yen (my 2nd brother's 1st child!). I would just like to congratulate my brothers for their amazing little ones. Kuan Yen came into this world on Sept 24, 2006 at 4:52pm weighing in at 2.48 kg or 5.47 lbs. Makes me feel like a cow since I weighed 8.5 lbs. I'm now an uncle three times over, scary! Here are some pictures of little baby Kuan Yen, enjoy...


So cute all dressed up & tiny baby w/ proud daddy

This is what Yahoo's astrology page says on the Dog year:

"...This kind of planetary environment is at first sight not so easy to live with. It is above all the one that provokes profound calls into question. It incites all natives of the sign to devote themselves to a very critical analysis, not only of themselves but also of their general situation and of their relationships with others. If you know how to profit well by such influxes, then you'll succeed in giving your existence a new and more exalting meaning. This will on the whole be a lucky year -- on condition that you do not undermine it with errors of judgment and vain gossip. You'll have plenty of good ideas and perfectly achievable original projects. Don't disclose your plans; remind yourself that 'the lion while hunting doesn't roar' (Nigritian proverb). Beware of the persons whom you might have let into your secrets, as some of them might profit by them at your expense and you become aware of this only too late..."

And not forgetting myself here is what it says about people from the year of the Snake

"...It would be a good time to recharge your batteries so as to recover your strength and energy. You might profit by a small financial success (aiyo only small?? why no big??); but if a too-enticing proposal (hmmm I wonder how enticing...) is made to you, gather all necessary documentation before giving your approval. In your life as a couple, (Couple?? yeah right!!) don't show too much independence and personal freedom. The moment will be favorable to highlighting your innovative ideas and to presenting your creative projects..." mmmmmk....

Goodbye my Honda

Well after being on the market for approx a month, my Honda (just like Lynda's) finally sold. Did not get my asking price of $6500 but I overpriced it anyway. I ended up getting $5500, WAY more than what dealersell your soulships were offering me on trade-ins. It was really sad to see my Honda no longer be in my possession, the car had it's little problems but overall it was a great car that required very little maintenance. I bought this car in Dallas (Toyota of Irving) at 85K miles, drove it up to Missouri and made so many trips on it such as to Dallas, Fayetteville, Minnesota (pics), KC, StL and many other cities in it ending up at 145K miles.


My ad in craiglist, also advertised on the Tribune

I sold it to this kid name Blaise (cute! but young) and his Mom, Dory. The Mom was the nicest, nicest lady with the cutest little dog that went wherever she would go. She drives a similar BMW as mine but a wagon type instead. Her son had apparently bought a Subaru WRX w/out their permission and so they made him return it losing $10K along the way. So as punishment he gets my Honda...wow...that makes me feel great! :) Ahhh, who cares, it's theirs now, they can do whatever they want with it. I delivered the car to her on Monday after my KC trip (they live in a cute little neighbourhood south of Stewart Rd) and that was the last time I saw my Accord :( I will miss this little car...

Kansas City Weekend

This past weekend has been both fun and hectic. Looks like everyone is trying to get their summer travels out of the way before the weather gets too cold. This weekend saw James visit Columbia, Justin to StL and me/H2 to KC. I got to spend some time with James on Friday night. We started at McNally's and worked our way to Heidelberg where we had such a blast. I got quite tipsy towards the end and just didn't hold much back. Our group got to be quite TVMA towards closing time. Thanks to Carrie for driving all of us drunkards home =)


Great time on the roof of the Heidelberg. You can see I'm getting progressively redder as I consume more alcohol.

The next day we drove to KC (first out of town trip in my beemer, ride was amazing!!) and had lunch at the very missed Lucky Wok. After that went back to Tze's for Terri's baby shower and birthday celebrations. It was good seeing familiar faces again. Seeing the kids run around (Andrew & Ian) reminded me of the times at home with family. I felt very grown up talking about life and career while the kids are running around with not one worry on their minds.


Now I'm really drunk (R) & Acting stupid w/ James and KK pouting bcoz he's hungry LOLz (L)

Sunday morning we drove up to the Plaza area and met up with Kenneth & Jeff for brunch. We got a tour of their cute, cute house and met their little dog, Jasper. KK later met up with us and we ate at Eggtc, a new restaurant, not too shabby. We then went to the basement of Hall's (G central) to do a little shopping. While there this hot, hot Ricky Martin look-a-like started staring at me. He was cute and totally ripped and was coming on to me BIG time but I failed to return the flirt and therefore did not end up with any number :(


Teaching godson necessary trade skills (L) & Adults conversing about life, career...i feel so grown up (R)

After that, we drove down to Tharu's bbq and met up with CP+Jim and Rachel+Egwin and a bunch of other people. Showed them my new ride and then drove back to Columbia. Received my first Blockbuster DVD (same concept as Netflix) and watched a few episodes of Nip/tuck season 1 and called it the night. The weekend absolutely flew by...unbelievable!


Off into the sunset w/ not a single worry

My new love affair

I did a little impulse shopping (not really here's proof) recently =D

Anyway as many of you already know, I recently purchased a new car (a 2003 Steel Gray w/ tan leather BMW 330XI) to replace my Accord. Nothing was wrong with the Honda, I was just getting tired and wanted a new toy. Oh geez, I sound like some 50 yo chikopek going through a mid-life crisis. Anyway I guess in a way, I am going through my own little mid-life crisis. In my world, once one goes over 30, they are considered ancient **eeeek** how scary is that as mine is approaching fast!


Just got done washing/polishing my new baby. About ready to pull it into the garage.

I've never owned a European car before and boy have I been missing out. The driving experience is definitely quite different. I have always driven and owned Japanese which aren't bad, they definitely have their strenths as well but the handling, performance and overall drive of this car definitely blew me out of the water. To top it all off, this car is also equipped with tons of extra packages (eg Cold weather & performance package) which includes such luxuries as heated seats, xenon head lights, harmon kardon sound system and tiptronic(sp?) gear shift. I bought this car from a private seller (John S) in Quincy, IL. He is the owner of Castle Mfg and definitely took good care of it. The outside and inside are in such mint condition that it looks practically brand new. So far (knock on wood) I have yet to find any major faults with this car.


Turtle polish definitely gives an amazing shine!

So I guess this is a good time for me to reminisce on the cars I've owned so far. Well my Mazda 323 (BCA 1600) back in Malaysia is technically not mine since my parents' owned it but I remembered how proud I was that it was one for me to call my own. It was an old but reliable car and with it's bright orange color, it was one car that made an immediate statement wherever we went. It was a perfect student car, small and nimble and got great gas mileage. After me, my parents eventually sold it to Paul and he in turn sold it to some stranger. Till this day, my brothers say they see it zipping around KL traffic.


I love this angle of this car, very aggresive looking

The first car I ever bought was here in the US while I was going to school at the Univ of Arkansas. I shelled out $2400 for an '86 Accord coupe that was very well taken care of. This little car was amazing as it took me all around the country. I drove it to Nashville, North Carolina, Texas and many other places. It never broke down on me once. After graduation, the car started to show signs of wear and tear. It was time to replace the timing belt, clutch, air conditioning and brakes I decided to upgrade to another Honda, this time a '98 Honda Accord EX sedan. Ironically, I bought my Honda from a Toyota of Irving dealership ;)


My new car with my house with new (due to hail storm damage) roof, sidings and garage doors.

So with that said, this beemer will be car number 3 excluding my Mazda since my parents owned it. I have yet to own a brand new car. All my cars have been used. It's just a much better deal, to let someone else take the fall for all the depreciation ;) But I will definitely own a brand new car eventually. Till then I'll be enjoying my German ride.

Pictures from Portland/Seattle

Welcome to downstown Portland.

I know...I know...you guys are probably saying it's about damn time I'm posting these pictures right? Anyway here they are, enjoy. So like I said in my previous post, we spent Saturday through Thursday at Portland, so majority of our vacation was spent here. It's a really pretty city with plenty of culture and character. The weather was amazing and they had the MAX that pretty much takes you everywhere. We did a really bad thing and never paid for our tickets the entire time we were there but no one ever checks so I guess it all worked out good.

Down by the waterfront.

Down by the Pearl District where all the really nice lofts are (L) In the Pioneer Square downtown with lots of alternative and homeless crowd (R)

So being in Portland for approx 6 days allowed us to really explore the entire downtown. Went to most of the shopping malls and different districts. We also went out to the clubs and bars just about every night. On Thursday morning, we picked up our rental car and headed to Seattle via the Oregon coastal roads stopping in Cannon Beach and a few other small tourist cities.

Love these very artistic pictures at Cannon Beach, thanks to Justin =)

Tower of Astoria (L) and Me, Dave and Justin at the famous Cannon Beach (R)

So we spent a couple of hours driving along the very beautiful coastal roads of Oregon. We finally arrived Seattle later that evening. Our hotel was quite ghetto as it was the cheapest one for the entire city. It was the "best value inn" so you can imagine how it was ;) We were also located at the SEATEC area which is really about 20 mins South of Seattle downtown. So we only had Thursday night, Friday and Saturday morning in Seattle. Not too much time to explore this wonderful city. I really have to make another trip up there. I managed to meet up with Bobby and Brandon while there. We all had dinner. The clubs in Seattle are definitely hoppin'!!

Facing the beautiful Pacific Ocean (L) Down by Pikes Place(birthplace of the world's 1st starbucks) with a view of downtown Seattle in background (R)

Chilling by the Capitol Hill area in Seattle right before we all went out to the clubs and bars. Love this City!!!

Summer's Ending :(

Summer's almost over and in a way, I guess I'm glad that the weather will be a little cooler for a few months at least until the most hated freezing months of Winter but that won't be until Jan and Feb. The one thing I will miss is the long days of Summer where it can be bright up until almost 9pm. The days are starting to get shorter which is still ok for now but it gets quite bad during Winter where it's still dark when I leave for work at around 7:45am and the sun would have set by the time I leave at around 5pm. I guess that's why suicidal rates go way up during the Winter months.

 

So switching to a separate subject, I've always wondered why when a Westerner works in Asia/Africa/Middle East, he/she is often referred to as an "expatriate" but when a non-Westerner works in a Western country, they are often viewed as legal or illegal migrants or worst still aliens! Just food for thought...

 

Anyway moving on, this last weekend was spent mainly on the road. I made a road trip up to Quincy, IL to look at a car I had found on Autotrader. The drive was uneventful but the city of Quincy (pop. 50,000) was a pretty little city with a cute downtown and Victorian style homes along Maine St. I met John, owner of Castle Stove, test drove the car for over an hour and decided to get it. I'm really excited. I'll be posting pictures once I get it. After Quincy I drove down to St Louis and spent the weekend with my friend Dwan. It was fun, we went to dinner at Little Saigon at CWE and later watched Kung Fu Hustle. The next day we went for some yummy Dim Sum. Unfortunately I missed Justin (8/17) and Chadd's (8/20) birthday celebrations.

 

 

Bruxism a.k.a. teeth grinding

So apart from getting a souvenir $350-summon from my vacation in the North West, I also discovered that I have a pretty severe case of Bruxism. I've always known about my teeth grinding problem but never thought much about it simply because the dentists (notice the plural) have all said that it wasn't a big deal and it wasn't wearing my teeth down too bad. But apparently the noise it makes is loud enough for Justin and Dave to tell me about it during our week of room/bed sharing. Dave was in a crabby mood one morning and decided to bitch, bitch, bitch. So I've decided to do something about it.

I did some research and decided to purchase a product by Splintek which is based out of Kansas City. I've owned a guard before and the darn thing was big and bulky and would never stay in my mouth (that's the first time something big would not stay in my mouth, I promise;). I'd wake up the next morning only to find myself going on a "treasure hunt" to locate the damn thing. I've read some pretty good reviews and since this is quite small and low profile, I'm hoping it'll work. My other alternative would be to have a dentist mold a custom fitted one for my mouth but that would cost me hundreds of dollars. So I'm hoping this will work. I just did a quick search on Yahoo and went directly to the website and was about to order one for $78 including S&H when I noticed other results popping up for the same product but through 3rd party vendors. I finally settled on purchasing it from drugstore.com and it ended up costing me $39 with no tax and free S&H. It's weird how there is such a huge difference in price between the original manufacturer and a 3rd party vendor. Something must not be right somewhere.

Anyway I'll keep my fingers crossed and hopefully I didn't get scammed by drugstore.com or Splintek for either not sending me the product or receiving something that doesn't work. I certainly hope this will stop the noise, but then again there really isn't anyone to tell me if I'm still making the noise!

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Small Talk : Today is Mom's birthday. She would have been 60 years young (as she'd put it) if she had not passed away back in 2001 from Chronic Myleoid Leukemia. I miss her greatly, still! I woke up this morning and said a little prayer for her. I still find myself talking to her occasionally. I wish she was around to see how well she's raised her children and to see her grandchildren but I'm sure she's looking over my shoulder making sure I'm alright. I hope she's proud of what I've decided to do with my life choices. Happy Birhtday, Mummy!! I love you...

Portland/Seattle

The trip is over and waking up for work this morning was a bitch!

Other than that, my trip went well. Flew in to Portland (PDX) from Kansas City (7/29) and then flew from Seattle back to St Louis (8/5). It's a weird route but that was the cheapest. We drove to Seattle on Thursday and on the way made stops at Canon Beach and Astoria.

Met Justin's friends John, Bryan and Kevin while in Portland and in Seattle met up with John E and UA's alums Bobby, his bf Sam and Brandon.

Here're the chonological list of dramatic events ;)
- Tiff with a roomate (pretrip)
- Almost missed KC-Portland flight
- Left Dave's cell and dinner in car
- Received info about uninvited guest in my house (i'll have an article about living w/ other ppl)
- Got a speeding ticket in Oregon (f#$%ing $350!!!!!)
- Huge fight with Dave
- Huge talk the next morning ;)
- Dave's car got towed

I think that's about it. Both Oregon and Seattle are such beautiful cities. Weather was amazing as it was in the 70s in the day and 60s at night. A light jacket during the day and windows open and cuddle under a blanket at night. It was just perfect. We went out to the clubs just about every night, that was interesting. I bought my first pair of Diesel jeans and visited my first West Elm store. Noticed a lot of crazies/homeless in Portland. We also ate at the New Seasons market just about every morning before our daily adventures. New Seasons is a really cool all natural/organic store that reminded me alot of James and Alex. On the way to Seattle, we visited Canon Beach along the coastline of Oregon. It was so pretty out there. We just strolled along the beach and took in the beautiful scenery. We didn't do much in Seattle as we only had two days there. Visited Pike's place, saw the space needle from afar and visited the first Starbucks. We also hung around Capitol Hill quite a bit. It is amazing how open and liberal these two cities are. It made me happy =)

Pictures will be coming...

Another one goes to St Louis

Well this past weekend I helped another one of my friend, James, move to St Louis. I'm starting to get really sick of losing all my friends. I also found out that Joe will be leaving CoMO for good this coming Friday :( I am not happy.

I will post the pictures of the move. It was hot as hell, as this week pretty much the state of Missouri is under a heat wave warning and to top it off, he was moving into the 13th floor. But he didn't have much so the whole thing went by quickly.

The traitors friends who have left so far:

1. Dave (StL)
2. Dr Matt (StL)
3. Emily (Seattle)
4. Joe (Michigan)
5. Airforce John (Seattle)
6. James (StL)
7. Rocky (Dallas)
8. Zack (StL)
9. Danny (StL)
10. Moreno (SF)

And the list goes on and on and on...