Hi there.
Alot has happened since I have updated my blog.
I am now married, have 2 lovely kids and have moved on to another country.

Strange but nothing really much has changed.
I am still liking my own stuffs, despite the constant nagging from the missus. (Yes, that girl I dated is now my wife).

I am still gathering my thoughts, so I will update some time later.

Cheers all the same.

Regards
RuffledSubnstratum

Viva Valentine

Valentine's Day was celebrated well yesterday. The highlight was the dinner we had in 68 Brasil, a Brazillian fusion restaurant located in Pulau Tikus. How do I even begin? Let' s see..

Starts with a bouquet of flower.........(delivered to her office of course)

Went to the restaurant.....(awesome deco, by the way)

Stared at each other......

After the appetizers and wine, we started to have the main course (total of 10 free flowing meat dishes...the honey chicken and fish was fantastic..), flip the card to "Si, por favour" for refills and "Nao, Obrigado" for no more refills. We eat...

And Eat......(repeat 3 times)

Took pictures of the chefs serving us...(this is one friendly guy)

We sampled weird concoctions like, chicken's heart...literally..

Roasted pineapple with cinnamon powder...(deliciously yummily crunchy)

Afer all that food, the face of a satisfied urbanite...

Waited around for a lucky draw (a bottle of Chardonnay was at stake but we didn't win, the boss was a very friendly person, bless his soul.)

All in all, my girlfriend and I had a very good time and the experience with Brazillian cuisine was great.

Most of all, let this be the greatest and many more cherish moments I will spend with her. Happy Valentine's Day, dear.

"Love is something thou have giventh to me, and I, will eternally love thee."

Pictures are copyright of ruffledsubstratum.blogspot.com

Kek Lok Sii Excursion

After 2 attempts trying to get a glimpse of the light show at Kek Lok Sii temple, I decided to be abit 'kiasu' and went to the temple early. The temple light display started only at 8pm and my girlfriend and I were there at...6pm. There previous 2 trips there were not so successful due to the massive visitations from locals and out of towners. The first trip there was a harrowing experience for me as I succumbed into panic frenzy when my father's old car experienced slip disc in the brakes and clutch. We managed to park the car at the steepest part of the hill (en route to the Kwan Yin statue) and what happend for the next 1 hour bordered between anxiety and hilarity. We saw many cars going up in smoke and the stench of burned / exhausted tyres plifered the whole area. (Oh yeah, the rain did not help) It took me quite an effort to wrestled up the nerve to drive the car again (of course with the fear of the slip clutch lingering in my head). I was lucky as the congestion at the slope where we stopped our car eased and that made it possible for me to drive the car all the way up again.

We did not continue with the journey as fearing another steep slope awaited us. We went home, edging slowly down the Kek Lok Sii hill and once we touched the foot hill, we...laughed. Hard.

The whole episode saw me trembling as I lost control of the car and let it slipped down a good 3 feet, nearly ramming the car behind me, my father who was initially man enough to take over, actually froze and his head went into a complete blank, my mother who she screamed, moaned, groaned during the whole time and of course, my girlfriend who tried to control her cool but panicked eventually after seeing the car slipping down at the said steep slope.

The second day was a no-go too. Avoiding the same fiasco from happening, we parked at the bottom of the hill and walked to the temple. As luck would have it, the pathway leading to the temple was pitch-black and we turned away fearing that we might be mugged later.

Today, my girlfriend and I finally got there (minus my parents as my mom had to work). Drove to the mid point and took a cable car to the peak of the temple. The weather was perfect, cool and soothing. And let me say, it was worth it. The place and scenery is beautiful. The colourful buildings erected around the temple and all its extensions were a sight to behold.

But the most magnificent sight was the statue of Kwan Yin, the Goddess of Mercy. The statue towers above the landscape overlooking the whole Penang Island.

I even managed to get a pic of myself with my zodiac sign, see the similarity?

The day scene was great, but the night light show was simply dazzling.

This excursion had made me felt at the top of the world.

Pictures are copyright of ruffledsubstratum.blogspot.com

Long Live Backyard Mechanics

Most of the time cheap bastards like me could not afford a vehicle service in places like Proton, who charge obscene amount of RM$$$ on menial services. It is just too bad becasue I find the level of mechanic competency of the latest batch of mechanics very ept and knowledgable in troubleshooting certain mechanical and chassis problems. (The mechanics in Juru Autocity gets my vote). However since my car is *ahem* , more than 10 years old, I have been going to my trusted BackYard MechanicTM AH CHOY for as long as I can remember. Most importantly, he charges real cheap. (Behind Esso station opposite E&O Hotel). His workshop is tattered with old mechanical relics (refer to pics below) and visiting him is like traveling back to time where being a mechanic is one of the most revered professions. I still remembered when I bought my first car, a 1969 Mazda 626 from my aunt way back in 1996. That piece of contraption gets itself stalled in every conceivable road situations, ranging from distributor failure to massive oil seal leaks. I finally got rid of that sorry excuse for a car in 1999 and got myself a second hand Nissan Sunny 130Y. Not a very shabby car but there are of course glaring defects from imminent gearbox failure to faulty wirings. I sold off the car to a lawyer in Kulim and received a healthy bounty in 2001. Within months, I've again opted for a SECOND-HAND vehicle..(Don't I ever learn??), that is my current mode of transportation, the 1995 Proton Satria 1.3. Let's just say I was a fool to believe that I could be amongst the elite car modding community (another politically correct sentence for "Ah Beng-fying") by buying a Satria and start modding it just like those cars I saw in the "Kereta" magazines.

Boy, I was wrong.

Not only I was shunned by the so-called elite car modders crowd, I ended up as a bar-room joke for those pricks. Granted, modding a car takes alot of time and money but it is not all about looking cool but also the need for powerful engines as a bragging rights. I gave up and restored by car into its original state (READ: Taking off the accessories and tuning parts) but given the fact that I have already bolted the bodykits on the car, I've decided to stick with it. For one full year, I shunned my trusty mechanic, Ah Choy who laboriously serviced my car, from the ill-fated Mazda to the current Satria. I was tempted by the car modding community to go to places like "Maxpower", "Jimmy Razo" and among others and all I can say is a 1.3 will always be a 1.3 no matter how you tune it. (With the exception that you decide to go for a 'brain' implant' on the car by installing either a 4G93T or VR4 engines.) On top of that the tuning and tweaking of my car seemed to generate adverse effects on the car and causing more nuisance than satisfaction. One moment I could have shock absorber failure due to the lowering of the springs, air intake inconsistency, and many more nonsense you can stuff into a Chow Sing Chi movie. Therefore, I marched embarrassingly backed to Ah Choy for his usual service and car support ritual.

Since then my car performed as per manufacturer requirement for 4 years now and although there are few niggering issues, I have no complaints. He is indeed from the old-school of mechanics but at least I can sleep well knowing that my car is in good hands. But I need to remember that Ah Choy is very old, in his 60s. He might not be there for my car one day. Therefore, with this, take good care of yourself and most importantly I salute you for the care you have given to my car.

May you live a longer life as many cars needs you.

Pictures copyright of ruffledsubstratum.blogspot.com