will i am's delayed diary

The endemic phase was upon us, so it was time to renew our passports. In an attempt to make passport renewals easier, the immigration department launched an online passport renewal service. But in our heart of hearts, we know that it would only work in a perfect world. Let me recount how horrid my experience was. The first step was the passport photo. I got mine done at photo studio in my neighbourhood, while KH insisted to use his smartphone. The photo guidelines in the website were actually quite pointless because the online cropping tool would settle everything. Had to do it a few times because the interface wasn't intuitive, but I finally go it settled. And this arrived in my inbox:  Untuk makluman, permohonan pasport melalui myONLINE PASPORT di aplikasi web dengan no borang ENXXXXXXX telah TANGGUH/SIASATAN kerana CAP JARI TIDAK SAH.. Whopeee! Here's the chronology of events at Pejabat Imigresen Kuala Lumpur, near Publika: 0720 - RELA allowed vehicles into the compound. Ho...

The morning started off really wet. But the rain didn't deter mum and I from going for our morning walk at Taman Saujana Hijau. Nothing a hoodie or an umbrella couldn't solve. Also we were dead set to pick up some pine needles to complete the mini manger in our nativity scene! Haha. Breakfast was a piping hot bowl of fishball noodles at Restoran Jin Man in Equine Park. Then I had to make a trip to Pos Laju Balakong which was 16 kilometers away to collect my parcel. This day and age, they still suck at delivery. They will never call, and just leave you a "failed delivery" notice. Come on, no courier does that anymore. Comes as no surprise that they are in the red by more than 100 million. Luckily I did not run into the flash floods that was reported in Balakong. In the evening, it was time to visit Pavilion Bukit Jalil ( PBJ - like peanut butter and jelly hor? ), the latest mall in my neighbourhood. KH and I kept putting off the visit because we heard that it was less...

Some time back, KH bought me a brand new OnePlus 7T Pro from an online merchant. I didn't immediately use it because migrating a smartphone is always a daunting task. When I finally switched over, I started having regrets. Here are my top grouses: Encountered two incidents of disappearing photos from my gallery. The first time it happened, I noticed that a series of food photos I took were missing. A few days later, they reappeared. During the second incident, the photos were lost forever.  Missed call notifications do not appear correctly. A disaster because my phone is often on vibrate only mode. The workaround was to use Google Dialer. The screen is always too dark because the auto-brightness sensor is out of whack. Overzealous notifications. If I try to send a video on What's App, the phone will vibrate each second for the duration of the upload.  Less than impressive battery life.  Although it wasn't a bed of roses, there are some good things about it: A 100% display...

On Saturday night, a dinner party was held at MaisonSK 2.0. I arrived at her condo at 7:00 PM, with a line of cars already forming at the visitor's entrance. When it was my turn, I was turned away with the reason that they had run out of visitor parking bays! Goodness! There were still many cars behind me, and there was no parking outside. It was chaotic because residents were being blocked from going in, and visitors were making three point turns in front of the entrance to get of the gridlock! In the end, Drew came down with SK's parking card and I parked at her spare parking spot.  KH and Ivan were the last to arrive. Luckily they managed to get a parking spot outside. For dinner, mum made red wine chicken, KH packed fish head curry, and SK boiled soup. Drew had some vegetarian dishes. After dinner, Ivan brought out a bottle of Koshi-No Shinobu Blended Whisky, and SK showed off her stash of beer snacks from Don Donki ( she actually spent MYR1000 there! ). From SK's place...

What to do on the first day of 2021? Go eat dim sum of course! Nearly half of the people of Kuala Lumpur had the same brilliant thought. Mum and I arrived at Oriental Treasure , The Sphere at a little before noon. The situation was out of the ordinary because there was a long queue at the door. Opps. Many had made called earlier and were checking their reservations. Although mum and I were walk-ins, it was easy for us to secure a table because we were only two. From our table we could see more and more people arriving by the minute. By noon, we put in our order. Our appetizer of wasabi jellyfish came pretty quickly. The wu kok took much longer than expected. The staff were running up and down. They were obviously understaffed. Then we saw a very peculiar scene. One of the large tables close to us had asked for the bill. There was only tea on the table. At about a quarter before one, the staff started turning people away at the door: "We have run out of dim sum!" Oh! I never...

Back in Kuantan, mum bought a second-hand white Iswara Aeroback. From Kuantan, the car was transferred to Kuala Lumpur where we used it for years. Although not the easiest car to drive with its manual transmission, and lack of power steering, that car was my baptism of fire in the Klang Valley's more challenging traffic. That car served us well for many years. An ex-colleague of mine even gave it a nickname-- Iswara Skyline. However, due to old age ( the make is 1996 ), the car got harder and harder to maintain. Until one point, the car could no longer withstand the city's traffic jams without overheating. And the car's rubber seals had all dried up causing it to turn into a swimming pool every time it rained! The pandemic caused the car to fall into disuse because I had stopped driving it to get to the LRT station. In a few short months, the battery died. Since the situation wasn't going to improve anytime soon, I decided not to change the battery. A few months later, ...

One of the reasons why I shouldn't top. Zzz. 

There's a Tealive  located in the Petronas station in my neighbourhood. Because it's just a stone's throw from the school entrance makes it an extremely strategic location. Secondary school students swarm the place after the last bell. While waiting for their school bus or their parents to pick them up, they get a cup of bubble tea. Very different when compared with my past. Never would have spent MYR6.90 ( assuming the cheapest option ) on a drink! Didn't have that spending power. And of course back then, there wasn't such a thing as bubble tea. Wouldn't even contemplate going to the mamak for a drink. By default, it was the school canteen. Back then, splurging was getting keropok lekor AND ais krim ikat . LOL.  Bubble tea will be what Little Monster and Big Monster will reminisce about in the future. 

Ever since the start of the pandemic, I had stopped taking the LRT and MRT to work because Prasarana did not do any crowd control. Basically, once you're in the train, you are at risk of being crowded in. If you follow @askrapidkl on Twitter, you can see passengers Tweeting about "no social distancing?", and the official answer would be "we are running at full capacity, and it is the responsibility of the passenger to maintain social distance". I know the reality is that those inside won't get out because the train is too packed. And those outside will still board if the train is already like a can of sardines. So, it's basically ride at your own risk. Since I have the option of driving, I started doing that. And the good thing is, I could share the parking because I have a colleague who stays nearby, and we are actually on alternating teams. At the end of every week, we would pass each other the parking disc. But driving definitely comes its own set of ...

When it comes to shopping with mum, Suria KLCC is usually at the bottom of the list. But when one is looking for a fresh experience, it's a good place to revisit. Good thing that Suria KLCC has Isetan, Isetan Food Market, and Zara, places that mum can shop at. Our lunch was at La Cucur . Shared a packet of nasi dagang Terengganu and their heavenly hot teh tarik . We dunked a giant palmier from Marks and Spencer in the tea. Chatted up and old Malay couple who sat beside us. Told us about their grandchildren. One is into e-Sports and the other in e-Commerce. How times have changed. Robinsons was next on my list. Like their sister store in Singapore, the stuff there is too expensive. Could only see rich Indonesian Chinese spending their money there. When it was tea time, we headed to Malaysia Boleh! for kopi . I spied a group of people having curry noddles. Couldn't resist, and ordered myself a bowl! The kopi we dunked with a giant white chocolate cookie from Marks and Sp...

My mood was kind of off on Saturday due to AirBnB woes. Customer service is definitely no fun especially when it's related to home maintenance problems at midnight. The problem was discovered one booking ago when I did a quick spot check, but I had no time to fix the problem. At that time, I was already pissed off with the cleaner for not notifying us that the wash basin stopped was stuck! And the problem continued to the next booking. Once again, the cleaner was silent. I have no idea how she does the cleaning and not complain about it. And with 4 people on the job, we can still fail to get these important things sorted out. To placate the guest, I promised her that I would try to solve the problem the next day. Found a DIY solution on YouTube that involves using a suction cup to raise the stopper. Looks simple enough. Turned my morning market trip into a treasure hunt for a suitable suction cup. Went from stall to stall and couldn't find it. Adhesives are more popular no...

The morning market was abuzz with bakzhangs. The number of bakzhang stalls seems to have sky-rocketed this year. All sorts were on sale~ the usual Hokkien variety, the albino Cantonese variety, the pillow type, and the crystal-like kee zhang . Marketing aside, I also had some chores to run for the Airbnb. An idiot guest had broken the key for the front door, and it's now stuck in the lock. Talked to the St. Guchi customer support representative on FB Messenger, and they advised me on how to fix it. Initially I thought that I had to replace the whole lock set, but I was relieved when I found out that I only needed to replace one of the three components. I gave KH the specifications for the thumbturn and key cylinder profile, and he bought it from the hardware shop that St. Guchi suggested. Things didn't go smoothly. The replacement part actually didn't fit. The 60 mm was too short! I did some comparison and found that it was suited for the room doors, not the ...

The trending ramen shop in the Klang Valley at that time was Menya Shi-Shi Do at Jaya One. From obscurity, they burst into the mainstream food scene. After work, KH and I made a trip there only to find that it was not open for business. At the front was a sign : DEAR ALL CUSTOMERS OUR SOUP WAS SOLD OUT YESTERDAY. TODAY CLOSE FOR FOOD PREPARATION! RESUME BUSINESS TOMORROW TUESDAY SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENT!!! Sounded like an April's Fool joke ( it was April's Fool ). I hope their business will continuously improve until operating every other day is the norm. Was to lazy to think of alternatives, so we just ate at the shop next door-- Village Pot . The dry lou shu fun is my recommendation. The dish comes with some pretty delicious sides, namely fried fishcake, and deep-fried mini dumpling that's really crispy. Also topped with minced pork, sliced black fungus, and fried anchovies. Don't bother with the loh handmade noodles although its supposedly one of t...

In the following weeks after the town hall, I had been working overtime with my team. Even after getting home, I'd be coding till midnight. Much brain juice was expended. Thankfully, I had a chance to unwind with mum's upcoming trip to Bangkok with my sister. They left on for the airport on Sunday afternoon, and by evening, KH was at my doorstep with an overnight bag. Hehe. But before bed sport, we went to dinner with SK at Restoran MSL , a popular restaurant from Ipoh that had recently expanded to KL. We drove out to The Earth, Bukit Jalil to give their crab glass noodles, cheese crab, and QQ fishballs a try. Before coming, we had done some research. Fearing a problem securing a table, we arrived a quarter past six in the evening. Upon arrival, a family was rushing out the front door, and I thought to myself, "Wow, aren't they EARLY.". What happened next was even more out of the ordinary. A member of the staff rushed out after them, shouting expletives, wit...

Air travel is a complex system dependent on many complex things that go wrong. People, schedules, planes, and weather, just to name a few. Technical problems are the scariest of all. When your car breaks down, you just stop it by the side of the road. When your breaks down, you might have 38,000 feet before you hit the ground or sea! Not very good chances at all. Thankfully, my flight back to KL from Bandar Seri Begawan ( MH731 ) encountered technical problems before the flight. It arrived on time, but they announced a delay for our boarding. After one hour had passed, the delay turned into an outright cancellation. Wah, never encountered that before! The ground staff announced that we would be sent to a hotel and provided with meals. As if on cue, a senior flight attendant pushed a cart of in-flight meals to the gate. One guy with a constipated face ( Mr. Sembelit ) immediately rushed to the counter and protested. "I don't want your hotel and I don't want your food....

Traffic warden duty at church is really no walk in the park. Parishioners are all angelic when they enter the church, but when they get behind the wheel, whatever "faith, hope, and charity" is thrown into the river at the back of the church. The church management does its best to arrange for smooth traffic flow and maximizing of parking space ( no choice but to allow double parking and tandem parking ). Not an easy feat when you have two big masses on Sunday mornings, with parents hanging around due to Sunday school and other activities. Everyone wants to have things their way, and to their convenience. Everyone else is a stumbling block and an idiot there to thwart their plans. The traffic wardens just work according to the plan and try to ease things so that traffic goes smoothly. But every week, there would bound to be someone whose car is blocked or do not want to follow instructions, and would start throwing tantrums. In addition to putting up announcements in the chur...

I often complain about Pos Laju, but this is the first time I am ranting about Pos Ekspres. Pos Malaysia's lack of respect for its SLA is really quite mind-numbing. From a maximum of three days, I only received my the item six days later! Really wonder why I paid MYR3.70. Look at the chronology of events below from Pos Malaysia's Track and Trace v2 ( Track and Trace v1 has been down for donkey years and e-Commerce sites are still referring to that ): Took five days for them to get the item from Butterworth to Seri Kembangan. I think they were aging the item. OK. I'll start ignoring it right away. Saw so many complaints on the Pos Malaysia Berhad Facebook page. The administrators kept advising the customers to file an online complaint. Repeating it over and over again. Hi semua sila ajukan maklumbalas anda dengan mengisi http://bit.ly/eFeedbackForm agar kami boleh membantu anda dengan lebih lanjut. Kami mohon maaf diatas kesulitan yang telah anda hadapi. Terima kasih. ...

Poslaju never fails to disappoint: 15 Sep 2016 08:20:53 AM Item out for delivery. 15 Sep 2016 05:29:49 PM Unsuccessful delivery. Please contact 1 300 300 300. 16 Sep 2016 Malaysia Day. 17 Sep 2016 Cuti Gantian (Ganti apa tak tahu). 19 Sep 2016 07:42:41 AM Arrive at delivery facility at Poslaju Brickfields. 19 Sep 2016 09:30:00 AM (Tried calling 1 300 300 300 but couldn't connect. Looked up AskPos on FB and found that their hotline has been unavailable since early September. Syabas. So many livid customers there, especially those involved with e-Commerce.) After numerous attempts, I managed to get through to Poslaju Brickfields. I gave the parcel reference number to the nice lady on the line and she helped me to check the delivery status. Based on the sequence of events on the Poslaju Tracking website, I thought that they failed to deliver on the 15th. When I wanted to arrange for a second delivery, I was told that it wasn't necessary. According to the lady, there wa...

It was a usual church Sunday that was followed by an excursion to Empire Shopping Gallery. Felt like having Japanese that day, so went to Rakuzen . For some reason, could never get a table there, always ended up at the counter. I had an interesting ordering experience with a twinky waiter, Sean: Moi: The Rokkaku bento please. Sean: The bento has a choice of unagi, saba or salmon. Moi: Saba please. Sean: Teriyaki or Shioyaki? Moi: Shio. Sean: Very good. (1 minute later) Sean: Sorry sir, I made a mistake. The bento comes with Gindara. Shio? Moi: Yes. (1 minute later) Sean: Sorry sir, I made a mistake again. It's actually Salmon. Moi: OK. But make it teriyaki. In normal circumstances, I would have slapped him, but he was so adorable that I just smiled. Made a visit to Taman Bukit Jalil with the kids in the evening. So cute to see Little Monster run. His face was so flushed. When he got tired, he ran in a zig-zag fashion, like a drunken fly....

Second Saturday in a row that I did not go to the morning market. This time it was because mum had a function that was related to the Hungry Ghost Festival. Many religious and business associations give out donations to charities during this period, in cash and in kind. So I sent her out to Kuchai Lama in the morning then stopped over to KH's place. I had a conference to attend on Monday that required a lounge suit, so I borrowed his. Hate to admit his coat fit although I'm more svelte than him. :P. We then had breakfast at Restoran Yoong Seng and proceeded back to my place for a more 'detailed fitting' of the coat. By the end of that session, it was confirmed that I fit him like a glove. Lol. After some resting and snuggling, we went out to Poslaju to collect my Citibank credit cards ( follow up story to come ). Made a wasted trip to Serdang because there are two Jalan Perusahaan 3 at the 43300 Seri Kembangan postcode. Annoying. The place I needed to be was at ...