Fair balance? Maybe...

Woke up this morning and with a dreary sigh, went down to see a problem which occurred to Aoi-chan last night in broad daylight. No no no, she didn't get into trouble or anything. There was a treacherous rainfall yesterday on my way back from Mid Valley. Had to detour to UM first to drop off a mate. Strangely enough, like IIUM, UM also have some 'low spots' which creates either big puddles or becomes a new stream in which the rain water flows into the drainange system, or the big lake whenever a heavy downpour occurs.

Not knowing the depth of one of these spots, i had a brave go at one. Aoi-chan somehow became a boat for an instant, withe the front floating as soon as she wade through, then followed by the rear end. i admit, i kind of freaked out at that instant. She started to moving sideways, following the flow. But thank God, she suddenly submerged into the stream and control was regained. i quickly took the opportunity to ease her out of the condition and came out at last. All this happened in about 30 seconds... and boy was everything in slow motion. By the way, to show you how bad the puddle actually was, the whole tyre was submerged when we had regained control.

Well, it wasn't the end just yet. After that, i quickly headed home (if being stuck in a traffic jam is fast), hoping that she wouldn't stall. But, to add insult to injury, the event had taken it's toll on Aoi-chan. She had lost her front lip spoiler. Rats. If you read the previous post, she just had a quick checkup yesterday. Now she needs a plastic surgery.

Ok, so what has this got to do with balance then? Well... just before leaving Mid Valley, i popped into the xl-shop. You know, for old times' sake? But, to my surprise, i found the Kaiyodo Rei figure. On their website, it was stated as sold out. Shocked, i did what most of us would do: Buy it quickly without remorse. And the rest... was history.

Strange... in one of the last post, i thought i had waved goodbye to Rei's figure. Now i'm waving goodbye to Aoi-chan's front spoiler....
(T _ T)~**** Sayonara~~~ sob, sob, sob

p/s: pics will be uploaded soon. Watch for it

Aoi-chan goes to a 'clinic', while i try to finish a task...

Well... it's not a task anyway. Just something of a hobby really. The above artwork is just one of the artworks i'm doing in practicing my inking. It turned out quite nicely, so i thought of trying a hand it colouring it, by Photoshop of course. If it were to be hand painted... by God, it would turn out sour.

Oh yeah, just had a quick run to Aoi-chan's regular clinic. Apparently, the squeaking noise coming from the rear brakes wasn't because the shoe-liners (she has drums for the rear) were worn. It was just a matter of the dust from the liners itself rubbing against some components. Phew.... but, the 'nurses' quickly found a nail in one of the tyres and had it patched up. Good as new then... but not quite. The 'doctor' hinted that Aoi-chan's tyres need to be replaced soon, at a cost of RM180 a tyre. Next month's appointment then 'doctor'-san.

Cars... if it weren't for Aoi-chan, i just couldn't see what life is about. (- _ -)'

Aoi-chan waits patiently for her turn to meet the 'doctor'

Die dust, die!!! Wahahaha~ *'Nurse'*

Patience for now...

The beautiful figure of Rei Ayanami by Kaiyodo. Image courtesy of XL-xhop

I was informed by a good friend of mine that a figure i was looking forward to have reached the shop which i regularly buy from (see XL-shop). The figure in question was the Kaiyodo Fraulen Revoltech, series No.1: Rei Ayanami. FYI, i am a very big fan of Rei. i fell in love with her from my early days in knowing the anime. She'll always be my no.1 favourite female character.

But alas... since i'm currently unemployed (a job's on the way) for now, i've no means financially to buy the figure. My current monthly allowance (this will stop once i get my first paycheck) only allows me to have some fun, fill Aoi-chan with fuel, pay my phone bill and buy necessary items ONLY. My savings are currently used to cover my rent. The last figure which i bought was the lovely Kureha from the Shining Tears X Wind anime, by Good Smile Company. That was ages ago.

So until i get that first paycheck, settle some debts (not much) & get my life on track, it seems my collection of collectibles will remain static for a while. Luckily i've some static car models (the Tamiya 1:24 scale series) which isn't completed yet. At least that ought to kill my craving for the figures for a while. Huhuhu....

Sayonara Rei-chan~~~ (T _ T)~#

What a glare!

Cool blue look? Not cool at all...

I was on my way back from my apartment in Puchong to my parent's house in KL a few nights ago, and had this stupid car behind me. What i mean stupid here is not because i hate the car (it was a Myvi by the way, which i don't like that much), no. It was because the owner had changed the bulbs of the front headlamps with the 'HID' type, the ones that has that cool blue look.

I'm sorry, but it just doesn't work. Although it does look cool to have blue lights, for heaven's sake, don't go around following other people's bumper to make them blind. The problem with these sort of bulb change/modification is that your headlamp cluster isn't designed to reflect the lights properly to the desired spot (aka THE ROAD). What's more, the blokes who changed it for you or you DIY-ing it won't bother to re-align the headlamps after the change.

So to my utter disgrace, that car had it's light changed (bad), not recalibrated/realigned (bad) and i have a terrible problem with glare (seriously bad). Mind you, i was screaming inside every time one of this 'cooled' headlamp modified car follows my back, worst still coming from the front. To you guys out there, here's a tip or two:

1. Align the headlamps after the change.
2. Better still, buy the complete HID kit. The ones which require you to change your whole headlamp. It's available for most mass market models.
3. Best, save your damn money and get a car that comes with it. It will be a tried and tested version and won't kill anyone (like me).

My question is: Do you have to?

Arrgh (# _ #)@@@

Comment - 01

I've just browsed through today's Star newspaper and found an interesting article in the lifestyle section entitled "Service matters" by Olivia Lee.

In brief, the article was on the customer service levels of the shopping mall in KL. Although she didn't state where, i guess that for her first and second attempt, it must be in Suria KLCC. In her 3rd attempt, she must've went to the recently opened Pavillion as this was stated. Anyhow, based on the article, i could sum up that the customer service levels of the shops she visited isn't up to the standard we all hoped.

This is the strange thing. As far as i'm concerned, little things go a long, long way. What is wrong with giving good, if not outstanding customer service? It doesn't matter whether you're working in a pasar malam (night market, very2 popular in Malaysia) or a Volvo dealership. I know that the article was focused on the shopping malls, the fact is that outstanding customer service should exist where the interaction between a seller and a customer exist. An outstanding customer service will create two important thing; customer satisfaction and increase in both sales and image, the latter being the result of the former.

Having spend some time as a seller (part-time job whilst waiting for my SPM results to come out) and a customer (we do this everyday, right?), i'm confident to say that:
1. Go for outstanding customer service, if not settle for good. Don't use your paycheck as a measure of the service level you should provide.
2. Customers are customers. Though they might not be right all of the time, they still have the right to be served properly.

All in all, customer service is a matter of courtesy, not force.

(^ o ^)| In support of outstanding customer service. Yeah!

Proton's new car: The all new Saga (codename BLM)

Proton's all new Saga teaser pic, courtesy of Paultan.org

Just got the news today about Proton's soon to be launched car, the all new Saga with the codename BLM. The car is a small 5 door family sedan, based on Aoi-chan (the Proton Savvy). It's powered by a new type 1.3l CAMPRo engine, with 7 diff colours offered and 2 trim/equipment level.

All i can say is that Proton builds fun to drive economy cars, so i bet that this will be okay as well. More info at Paultan's website.

Go go Proton!!! (^ 0 ^)/*****

A new blog, a new year, and possibly some new parts...

Hi3~ and a very warm welcome to all~~~~

First and foremost, thanks for visiting my blog. i've been blogging for a while somewhere else, but it seems to me that after seeking info from others, this could be one of the best place to do some real blog (not that my previous blog place was bad or anything...).

Ok, a lil' intro to myself, you can know me as bvc100. i'm 23, male and living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. i'll be blogging about anything i feel like blogging about, be it life, leisure, current issues or just some good ol' comments and suggestions.

So, let's kick start this blog....

Oh yeah, Happy New Year to everyone~ and a Happy Maal Hijrah to my fellow Muslims out there. Hope that the new year will give blessings to everyone in the world. Amiin~

So, like others, last night we had our own plan on ushering the new year. But unlike most people, we went on a fishing trip... sort of. We went to the area near the port at Klang, only to find out that the 'regular' spot my friend was raving about to be closed about 2 years ago (in which he admitted he last came to that place about 4 years ago in the end). To avoid further complications, we then tried to find other spots (or jetty, whatever it was referred as) only to find the other spot full. When we do get one, it was at a badly made place (think of pre-historic makeshift buildings or construction).

For your info, i'm not into fishing and never been on a fishing trip before. Thus, to make this trip 'memorable', i decided to have a go at casting the line. Just one attempt was made, which ended up on my mate's head. Good thing that the thing didn't hurt him; if not, this blog will have to be changed... But it was far from over. After deciding not to cast again, i relaxed for a while. But being myself, i got bored and started wandering about in the place. i walked straight to another mate who was waiting the the rods and asked him on the jetty construction, pointing out that there were some hazardous openings. Directly after the question... the platform under us gave way and by stroke of fate, only one side fell whilst the other side was still intact... just.

After sensing the danger and possible boredom from waiting, i decided to call it a night and make way to where i want to go... the Genting Highlands. We initially thought of going on a road trip there, but voted for the fishing trip instead (i voted for Genting of course). A quick stop and fill-up at Shah Alam, and we were on our way... into another catastrophe.

Ok2... i know it was a dumb idea to even go there last night, but the image of us (me and the mates in my car) having a nice small 'picnic' on Genting Highlands surrounded by cool air and fog was... enticing. i just could not believe it. we took 4 hours to get to the top;we had to stop 3 times in our ascent due to the traffic jam (yes, traffic jam on a steep incline), an almost overheated clutch and brakes, and boredom. Sheeessshhh...... i just hope that the clutch did wore itself out. The tendency of your clutch getting toasted while in that sort of traffic is quite high. But it does seem that i've to replace the brake pads... fast.

Ack... the blog's too long now. Guess i'll make do with this as a start. By the way, here's a link to my previous blogs: http://bvc100.blogs.friendster.com/bvc100_elife/

Feel free to give your comments on anything.

Bye2 ( > . < )

At our third stop, where Aoi's clutch almost overheated, less than 2km from peak. 45min wait, 2 buns and a can of drink before we set off again...

Fog awaits us at the top. It's dawn already, compared to total darkness of the night in the above pic. This pic was taken 10mins after we hit the peak

One of my favourite place at Genting, the spot in front of the lobby of their First World hotel