Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Sydney Harbour Bridge.


Because I could not think of anything else to blog about at the moment, I shall leave you with a photo of the Sydney Harbour Bridge taken during the ferry ride from Parramatta to Circular Quay. Come to think of it, this was the one and only time that I traveled via ferry although the wharf is located a minute away from where I was staying.

Because unlike the train (which BTW takes just about 20 minutes less than the ferry to reach town), only one ferry departs from the wharf on an hourly basis and if you miss the scheduled one (or you couldn't get onboard), all the best as you will have to wait for the next one. Much more to talk about the train services but that's a story for another day.

And cabs are out of the question, too bloody expensive. A trip to town would probably cost you an arm and a leg, perhaps even your liver.

Monday, July 05, 2010

Sunday, July 04, 2010

Little by Little.

Standing in the middle of somewhere that is currently nowhere

Headed over to the site once again to have a look at the latest progress of our future home, unlike her, I wasn't really expecting much difference actually after the many rounds of false hopes that were given to us. And true enough, not much had been done since the our last visit. Same old, same old.

Well, on the bright side, at least we have more time to grow our renovation and furniture funds wherever possible which is not happening right now. And on the not so bright side, the excitement of moving out and moving in is dying out faster than a speeding bullet train.

Buyers of the first few rows were in a much better situation, looks ready to be handed over anytime soon, lucky them. Everything looks so pretty on the outside. Attempt to sneak in and have a look at the finished units failed miserably, need to further hone my ninja skills *fades into background*

Our initial plan to move in before Christmas seems pretty distant now even if we receive the keys next month (which is unlikely) since we need to slot in an additional two months, at least, for the renovations to be completed.

If the delay goes on, I think we might just sell it off and hunt for another house to move into. Desa ParkCity is very much to my liking but its way beyond my reach unless I somewhere and somehow strike a pot of gold... *starts digging*

Friday, July 02, 2010

Money In, Money Out.

How to save money like that! Every single month end without fail, its the same old routine of salary debited into account and then salary credited out of account. For as long as I can remember, the figures of my account balance has remained stagnant, such a depressing sight.

I don't even bother keeping track of my transactions anymore (use to do it diligently, with all the excel sheets and stuff), most of it goes to loan repayments and settling the outstanding amounts raked by credit cards, truly the mother of all evils. Due to its convenience, most of the time, I don't even realize how much debt I've accumulated until when the bill arrives.

Studying of the statements is usually accompanied by an expression of disbelief followed by a mild heart attack and usually ends with a combination of high level swears and deadly curses.

Ironically, my Final Year Project in university was a financial planning tool to assist users to better manage their wealth, equipped with loan calculators, savings management tools, investment projection and all those fancy stuff. Now, take a look at situation I am in now, such irony, sigh...

Well, I am truly looking forward to the day when I shall become debt free once again, perhaps when I'm 137 years old, if I am able to live that long.

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2010.

It is that time of the month again. First of all, here's to hoping I did not send the wrong message across. Just that its the start of a brand new month, another fresh beginning and this attempt to revive this little blog of mine is special too, its mid of 2010! But then again, looking at the past records, I dare not put much hope on this round either.

So, last Sunday, I went for the Standard Chartered KL Marathon which I missed last year due to late registration so this year, die-die also must run. Was almost late for the flag off as well, couldn't find any parking (unaware that DayaBumi wasn't accessible), bad omen. Actually, it was an unwise decision to run considering I just returned from a 4 days 3 nights 'walk-ation' in Siem Reap, Cambodia the day before. But I somehow managed to convince myself into thinking that everything will turn out just fine. Hypnosis?


Go! Go! Go! The number of participants were so overwhelming that it took me around 8 minutes to cross the starting line from flag off, can you believe that!

Turning into KL Sentral

In front of Kuen Cheng Secondary School I think (Jalan Syed Putra)


And soon enough, I realized that it was indeed a really bad decision to run because way before reaching the first water station, I was already walking due to fatigue. To make matters worst, I didn't notice any markers indicating the distance remaining along the way, so, I boosted at all the wrong locations. And in the end, I did not even finish within the qualifying time, which was the ultimate blow of disappointment *SAD*

The weather was good though, the soft, cool breeze that blew occasionally really kept me going. And along the way, I think I stunned some cheerleaders by expressing my gratitude a little too loudly unknowingly (due to my play list) or perhaps it was something else, hhmmm... Well, at least I managed to finish (just wanted to console myself, let me be), hope that I will have a better run (and timing) for the upcoming Siemens and Men's Health Night Run, both this month *Makes War Cry*


At the finish line :)

Finisher's Medal, category is stated at the back of the medal