To my English-ed readers, sorry but I’ve decided to write this Chinese New Year post in Chinese language

呵呵，这可是我第一篇以中文表达的部落文章哦！今年的新春虽然没比往年来得热闹（说真的，还真没什么feel），但有个现象还挺特别的。正逢经济萧条，by right大家应该大喊“财源广进”才对啊。。

但是呢，碍于裁员风吹得盛，网络上也陆续地流传了一系列的牛年禁语 - 裁员滚滚财源滚滚，招裁禁饱招财进宝，裁员广尽财源广进，薪降四成心想事成。就连仙草密饮料也遭殃，被译为先炒me！

也许，是时候back to basic了吧。传统却不缺实际的“新年快乐”也OK嘛。再不然，来句“身体健康”也很好啊。有着健康的身体，才可以在工作岗位上全力以赴，更加专注地完成任务。付出多点，自然也能减低被裁的可能性，间接着生职加薪。

还记得五年前，新年贺语SMS全都在午夜12时涌进手机。同样的，大家都赶着在午夜时分炮轰式的发送贺语SMS，造成网络诸塞，有些朋友还complain收不到贺语，纷纷“靠北”(kao peh)通讯服务商。想当年，我也是其中一位等到半夜12时才ham pa lang一次过发送佳节SMS的 :p

近年来呢，大家也比较没那么在意SMS贺语是否于正日发送，有到好过没到嘛。所以呢，与其和通讯商过意不去，多数人也开始提早发送佳节贺语了。数一数，虽然还没进入正月初一，但现在我已收了22封新春SMS及MMS。

也许是因为好听吧，不管什么年，生肖大哥都被冠个“金”号 - 金牛，金猪，金龙，金鸡。。。（自己填吧），全都不缺个“金”字招牌。但实际上呢，不是每一年都是金年的。就好像这新年 - 己丑，“己”在五行学里，其实是土。所以勒。。这位新上任的牛大哥其实是属土的。难怪有时生肖大哥会不爽啦，连名都被叫错 :p

哪，跟你讲，明年才是如假包换的金虎（庚寅）年啦。

OK，写够了，我的中文也是有限公司的，不能现丑（一点点就好啦，哈哈哈）。在此祝贺大家：新年快乐，心想事成！

I’m now a millionaire, for the second time, in Indonesian Rupiah :p

I’m flying to Jakarta on tomorrow for work. Will be back on Thursday evening. My millionaire status will not last long, most probably will be invalidated by tomorrow’s evening hahaha.

After a few weekends of choosing the tiles, doors and some other necessities, I have finally got the first quotation for my house renovation.

Wah lao eh… RM87,555!! So much cash needed, totally out of our budget. aaahi~~

FYI, this is the draft of floor plan of my house. Quite shiok to have 3265.98 square feet, but, at the same time proportionally adding as much pain as well for renovation.

Had this conversation with the contractor, Pang.

Pang: wah.. the tiles you have chosen, not cheap ha. It’s more expensive that laminated flooring.
Me: ha? is it a… then the one I chosen, above normal price a?
Pang: there’s nothing called normal price la.. but yours is more expensive than average tiles, more expensive than laminated flooring if calculated by square feet.
Me:

This is what Hokkien people say “eating rice but don’t know the price of rice” (吃米不知米賈).

This quote, even though already over-budget, but still lacking of about 10% of my initial requirements. Money not enough a~~

Actually, since this is a second-hand house, the efforts to remove existing components, such as all the tiles (before installing new tiles), is already costing quite a bit of manpower charge. From the quotation, obviously the extension of wet kitchen is costing the biggest sum. So, told the contractor to revise quote on that portion, with a much simpler wet kitchen

Money money money, I need more cash in fact.

Wohoho…. finally, my gf has received the house keys on Friday, not directly from the landlord or agent, but our legal matters stackholder - Yap Koon Roy & Associates.

These keys are different, as they cost us a lot hahaha. However, 6 months down the road, I’m sure this set of keys will be totally replaced when renovation work is completed :p

So, what’s the first thing to be done le??

• draft the renovation work? wrong
• re-activate the water and power utility account? wrong
• take a picture of the house before renovation? still wrong

aiyo… of course try to open to house with these keys la hahaha :p

I need to get someone to cut the grass. Then, measure the whole house and digitize the floor plan with Microsoft Visio (or any other better and yet not complicated tool?)