Retrospect 2011: Unresolved Resolutions

Before I go on about what I'm going to do differently next year, I thought it wold be worth reflecting at 2011's New Year Resolutions.

Resolution number one was to read more fashion magazines. Success. I bought many items which were not tank tops and second hand shorts. 

Resolution number two was to travel more. I obviously felt rich when I wrote this. I only made it to the UK, but was there for a good month. After that I could only travel to bars, and also had to save for my migration to the peninsula. Back and forthed three times since September. 10 check ins at the airport definitely counts as travelling more. Umm... Success!

Mandarin classes, shiatsu and beauty salons was number three. Pedicured three times then bought my own pedicure set because my pedicurists were too amazed at the state of my feet. Decided to "half-pedicure" my own feet before going to the salon so that the tsking would stop. It worked. No shiatsus nor Mandarin classes. One out of three. 

As I read the In Summary paragraphs, I ask myself why I thought I needed to smack talk. How embarrassing. Whatever did I mean by kicking ass? 2011 was a good year, but I can't wait to give it a proper send-off and be best friends with 2012. 

Chinese only

So, I've found a beautiful spacious room in an okay house in a great lowrise condo in the Damansara area. Although it wasn't that hard (I only looked at 2 other places before finding this one), it still felt like a long process because I had to look through tonnes of ads online.

I looked at least 50-60 advertisements on various sites, trying to find a room that was in a nice house, in a nice area. My list was narrowed down to about 7 or 8, and after successfully finding a place, I called the rest to let them know, and wished them luck in finding a new housemate.

Filtering through those ads was not easy and was mostly frustrating.

One reason was the words "Chinese only".

Almost all ads specified that I should be of the Chinese descent. At first, this didn't bother me. After about 30 ads, I began to hate the words "Chinese Female only". I called a couple of people who actually said "No" when I said I wasn't Chinese.

I eat pork. I do whatever else a Chinese person does. AND I smell good. Why can't I rent a room with you???

I got really frustrated and wanted to call each of the owners to give them a piece of my mind. Not that I would want to stay with them anymore, anyway.

But then, I managed to get a viewing at a Chinese only house by remembering that my mum is Chinese. Being half Chinese helped.

After visiting a house that advertised with the words "Chinese only", I realised that "Chinese only" was a warning. They would not be able to understand my crazy phone calls/conversations because they spoke Chinese only. I speak no Chinese. They spoke little English. I would have to explain all my jokes.

Awkward!

Photo randoms

Hello all, I was looking through my phone camera and thought a few of them deserve a space in the cyber world. 

Not owning a car in KL has its advantages. Things don't whiz past me. I get to take pictures. My mind has time to wander. 

Here are some pictures taken on my trips to everywhere. And the nonsensical thoughts that ensue.

This abandoned, broken bike has been here months, definitely for a while before I started walking this route. Too battered to have been stolen. I think an accident happened. The rider killed.

It says in smaller print: UNAUTHORISED PARKING WILL BE TOLL AWAY. Mind your Engrish. 

Did she get fed up of her heels getting planted in the ground and just kick them off? Or was there a struggle before she got pulled into the kidnapper's van?

Two days later and I'm still thinking about these red shoes. Were they my size? And if they were, would I wear them or would I be too creeped out about the kidnapped girl? 

How... hypocritical... 

In the parking lot. My guess is that the owner didn't think that that snapping sound was this coming off his car. 

Our public transport is filthy. This is one of the cleaner buses by RapidKL. Metrobuses are covered in 10 years' worth of grime and disease and people's boogers. 

This is on the way to viewing a condo at Metropolitan Square. I could tell I was going to be disappointed with what I would be seeing from the curtains on the windows along the way. The 'curtains' were made out of random pieces of cloth, newspapers, posters... And the unit I'd visited had dead baby cockroaches on the floor. 

On the pedestrian bridge I cross twice a day - once on the way to work and once on the way back - there is a skinny mother with a child that is always sleeping in her lap. They weren't there when I saw this, but I thought this might be his. Or it might've been anyone else's. Should I have picked it up to give it to them when I saw them again? I left it there in case someone came back to look for it. 

The man next to me - a foreign national, with a bleeding thumb. I thought about giving him the plaster in my handbag, but didn't think it would be of much use - his thumb bled too quickly. He got off at KLCC. 

This is the pedestrian bridge with the abandoned plastic doll, on a different day. In its place was a one-legged man, with his prosthetic propped up next to his head. When he awakes, he will sit right in the middle of the middle of the path, like a toll collector. But people will ignore him as they brush past him anyway. 

Apartment hunting in KL

To be precise, master bedroom hunting in PJ, Selangor. So the blog title is a bit of a misnomer, but I figured it rolls off the tongue a little easier.

Due to recent developments, I'll have to move to a different town within the next two weeks.

So I've been apartment hunting. Or master bedroom hunting.

I found my current place while I was still in the comfort of my desk at Fieldbase in KK. I found it online at ibilik.com and it was one of two rooms I'd considered. The other room was being rented out by an Iranian. My criteria was only that it be walking distance to work.

Carol, a friend of mine who lives in KL, was my proxy for the viewing. The Iranian went to Genting on the day the room was meant to be viewed and that annoyed both Carol and myself and earned an instant strikeout.

Luckily, room 2 was more than satisfactory. It's a tiny house with three rooms, and I have a room with that fits only a single bed and a wardrobe and a study table. The master bedroom  is occupied by the landlady and the other room by a girl and her brother.

At first, at 8ft x 10 ft, RM800 seemed expensive. But that was the price around the area, and mine included all the utilities, including internet and satellite t.v.

On my relocation now, I thought it would be just as easy. People who rent out places would definitely spruce things up to make it attractive to the tenant, right? So wrong.

In my head, I thought I'd be looking at places like these:

Somewhere in Colorado, US

Mentari Condo, Cheras

Vista Damai Condo, near KLCC

It didn't help that most ads for places to rent do NOT have photos to show what the product is. They'll have lots of photos of the building: the north side, what it looks like from this side of the road, then the other side of the road, about five feet away from where you were standing before, etc. Everything but the unit itself or the room for rent. Mega annoying.

As you see, I don't have high expectations, just realistic ones. I wasn't expecting a room that looked like Nate Berkus  just swished his magic wand in it. I did think it but after looking online at ads that did have pictures, I knew I wasn't going to get a room like any of these:

I went to two viewings last Sunday and was hopeful that either one would be IT and would be stress free as per usual. Unfortunately, despite the price and the descriptions that matched my "fully furnished master bedroom in a well maintained condominium" criteria, the first place I viewed looked more like

add lots of dead baby cockroaches on the floor. 

The second room was a bit more put together because there was already someone staying in the room, but the kitchen was practically like this: 

Very disappointing and disheartening but tonight I view two more rooms. They somehow sound a little more promising, but who knows! Wish me luck!