the World as I see It

New blog!

2010-12-04T17:54:00.002+08:00

Yes! Blog's new home is at http://foongleongsoon.wordpress.com/!!

Bye 2013

2010-10-10T11:11:00.003+08:00

Thanks for everything. I'll miss you.

Lights on!!

2010-01-20T21:53:00.004+08:00

I finally got around to make the rear lamps work again this evening cause I wanted to go riding at night!

Then it rained :(

Haha, anyways, pics!!

This time, I've routed the wires nicely, no more loose ends!

Yes, bright enough to save me from riding straight into a pothole at night!

Still trying to find fuel tank emblems, I might have a set made for it if all else fails! Need to find someone with access to aluminum and a CNC machine now!

New dog in da house

2010-01-20T21:12:00.002+08:00

Not really in the house, haha, technically, he lives beside the house, near the store room :p This is our new pet dog, Pepsi. New when we first got him during the end of September last year, really, but I was too lazy and somewhat forgot to blog about this puppy!

Why Pepsi?

Good question. No, we didn't name him that. If we did, his name will be Poppy. As far as I remember, our first pet dog was Poppy. Our second pet dog's name was also Poppy. Our third pet dog's name was Paddy, because he was already called that when we got him. Now, why Pepsi? Kah Wai adopted this doggy from a vet's clinic when he was a wee pup. There were another 4 puppies with it at the workgrounds where Kah Wai kept them. Kah Hoe said they just named the pups with whatever came to mind then. Hence Pepsi.

Yea, the other 4 pups were named Cola, Sprite, and something else.

Erm, I'll leave it at here for now, just wanted to show Pepsi to you all reading this. I've too much to say about this dog; it's just full of mischief, gonna save those stories for later :)

Too much Tenchu...

2010-01-20T21:06:00.002+08:00

This was taken on 21st September 2009, after we painted the wall...

Spot the ninja ;)

Moving On

2010-01-04T13:15:00.002+08:00

Its very hard, but I've no other choice. Can't wait forever.

2010

2010-01-01T18:18:00.003+08:00

Happy New Year everybody.

2009 started very well for me, but unfortunately, too many unhappy incidents have happened in the past few months. I've had too many regrets in 2009, not attending my own graduation and having misunderstandings with Yen, so I'm determined to make 2010 rock.

For 2010, I wish to have a change of surroundings and see new things. I've been procrastinating for quite long, but I'm gonna finally make a move. I wish for nothing but good health and happiness for my family, they're all that matters to me along with Yen and my friends.

I'd wanted a fresh start, but unfortunately for Yen & me, we handled our relationship problems badly and even on New Year's Eve we're still not done on the matter. It has gone on too long and has occupied all my mental capacity for the past 3 months.

All that I hope for now is that Yen and I can finally settle our misunderstandings and start over.

Yen probably doesn't read this, but if you are, I'd said this and I'd say it again; I'll love you no matter what, let's forget what's unhappy and start over. Sorry.

Wheels

2009-12-02T11:28:00.003+08:00

New family hauler! Pretty awesome thing, had it since end of October! Bro got a new Saga too, which I promptly "broke-in" for him :D

Finally shot more pics of the V230, cause I never cared much for it in the first place, other than a very memorable trip to numerous spots in Thailand last year. It's been placed for sale, haha, well, I hope you go to a good owner, not that hard considering you're more than mint anyway, and thanks for being my spare car for quite a while but I doubt I'm gonna miss ya!

Over the past few months, the Xantia has had it's aircon fixed nicely, got a new cylinder head, new paint, seats refurbished, and even new mats!

I can't believe I've been driving my favourite car since 2004 and never had a proper pic taken with it! Here's one finally, sadly, also the last I guess. It's been a swell 5 years with my Xantia, it wasn't always a good run but the car has been with me through a lot. It definitely impressed a lot of people with its style, space, comfort and even shocked more with its cornering prowess. My friends are definitely gonna miss it too. I hope you get a caring new owner and can continue to smoke others on the road. Maybe we'll meet again someday. Maybe you're gonna smoke me, but I'm probably gonna smoke you. I'm gonna miss you, please don't wreck or burn yourself till then 2013. I'll always remember you fondly.

Chan Hung Lit

2009-11-25T22:07:00.002+08:00

I am probably one of his youngest and most unlikely fan. I adore and will miss his acting, especially in "Best Selling Secrets". He was a great actor, irreplaceable. If he ever came to Malaysia I'd probably join squealing fans to get his autograph. 陈鸿烈 you were awesome.

僕の彼女はサイボーグ

2009-11-22T20:37:00.005+08:00

I watched the trailer last year and really wanted to watch this movie, but for some reason or other it passed out of my mind entirely. Someway or other Bro got this on his laptop and we watched it this afternoon!

The movie's english name is kinda weird, Cyborg She, but it's as funny as I'd thought it would be and then some, plus Haruka Ayase is so cute as the cyborg! Coincidently, the movie begins on 22nd November, the male lead's birthday, which is the date today too! I'm glad I finally got to watch this movie, so funny and touching at the same time T_T

Oh btw, here's a review that pretty much sums up what I think about the movie (all that I'd rant about how cute the two leads are, the continuity loopholes, how cute the cyborg girl is), but reads about a gillion times better than the crap I was gonna come up with!

Fenders back on!

2009-09-26T23:24:00.003+08:00

It's not perfect, far from it, but what the heck it looks good as long as you don't stick your nose near it :p

Yea, I should bend those handlebars more, but Dad has already bent them as much as possible, any more and they'll probably snap, so let's hope I can get a pair of decent original ones for a reasonable price off the net!

House got some new paint!

2009-09-26T23:13:00.001+08:00

We painted the side of the house a bit since last week! It's not done yet, and it should look better if we'd gone with a light brown instead of the buttery colour it is now, but the house looks more cheerful now, so it's ok I guess :)

Some stuff I got lately

2009-09-26T22:48:00.003+08:00

1/64 Daihatsu Midget from Ying!

I've always had a soft spot for this car, having fond memories of one or two running around my old home selling meat and stuff!

The small box is pretty awesome with the 60s movie poster on it!

Miniature Guinness bottle collection from Uncle Kim Kooi! Super nice with and must be a bit rare with it being one of 10000 sets!

Finally bought a new wallet today! It comes in a nice mooncake box! I think it probably cost a bit too much for so little leather, but I'm sold!

What sold me. Yea, doesn't take much :D

Wennice's Registration of Marriage 090909

2009-09-20T23:45:00.002+08:00

Wennice saw my blog and commented it's all words and no pics lately, so here's some :D

40+ couples! It's my first time seeing so many couples tying the knot together!

Wennice & Wai with their parents!

The couple! Congratulations again!

Wee! Another set of birthday pics, how nice~~! Ivan's bday!

2009-09-19T16:40:00.003+08:00

I'll start the post with a pic of me bullying Bou, he asked for it though :D

This is the birthday boy with his birthday cake! Darren paid like 106 for this, slurrrpp!

This is the birthday boy's sister cutting the cake, as usual :D

This is the birthday boy with his sister cum professional cake cutter!

This picture is an example of how serious you should be when sampling your Starbucks beverage, see, Theng is so serious! Must learn!

This is the contrast between large and small eyes.

This is.. the rest of the pics, too lazy to type :D

Ugly Monster eating Mamee Monster ^^v

Some pics from my birthday

2009-09-19T16:20:00.002+08:00

Just remembered that I haven't really updated my blog lately, so here's some overdue stuff :D Not everybody's in the pics because we're all busy playing round, super night though :)

Trisha's pups!

My fave pic of the night!

Friday BBQ

2009-09-18T23:15:00.007+08:00

Was a last minute thing, Mom & Dad couldn't buy enough food so they kept company little. Was pretty swell though, also had some fun taking pics for my cousin and bugging the kids at play :)
Not a bad way to spend a Friday night :)

090909

2009-09-10T00:46:00.003+08:00

Haha, it was fun!

I took a day off work today to witness Wennice's marriage registration with 40+ other couples at Chin Woo Hall, managed to con Bou and Jessie to go along! I'm kinda glad I conned them into coming because that meant I got a ride to the hall and need not hunt for parking! Met Wennice's boyfriend, Wai, husband as of now, for the first time after hearing of him for years, nice dude just as I'd always thought he is! The whole marriage event thingy was funny; I saw couples come in elaborate garbs, in normal wedding attire, some a bit more casual like they were dressed for dinner at a nice place, and the most normal looking couple in their everyday clothes, they could have just came from work after lunch for all I know! Pretty interesting, it's my first time attending such an event, but I managed to fall asleep twice while the couples were signing the papers nonetheless :D

After the ceremony ended at about 3pm, me, Yen, Ivan, & Bou returned to the office for the party, too bad Jessie didn't apply for leave and join us! Fanny's already arrived when Bou and me got back to the office after buying soft drinks, as well as lots of other people! The afternoon was super, so many friends and relatives gathered, good food, drinks, it's a happy afternoon!

Come evening, I rushed home with Sis to take a bath, sent her back to the office, and off I went to dinner with Ivan & Wennice's family at SLHF! Bou arrived with Yen and Jessie a bit later!

When dinner was done it's off to yumcha at Old Town in Gunung Rapat, did some sightseeing around the neighbourhood too before that because Ivan and I couldn't agree on the location of Ye Huai's home; in the end it turned out I was right!!

This afternoon, I was a bit worried about breaking out two friend's little secret. I mean, he's always been frank with me, but it totally caught me off guard when he lied twice to me, it just sort of occurred to me that it's really not typical of him to be this way at all. The other one is just always bashful but unsuspectingly truthful to me. I felt a bit bad exposing and making fun of them the whole day (ok la, for the most part I was enjoying it, he's had it coming a long time k). Tonight though, they are so much more themselves again after the secret's out, probably immune already after being made the butt of jokes for the whole day. Secret's out, ain't no need to hide anymore right? I'm sorry I'm kepoh, but don't your hearts feel lighter with nothing to hide? I'm happy for them, let's see how this goes :D

Haha yea, sooo, this supposedly hollowly meaningful date has been a memorable one for me, good times!

Z50M's new seat!

2009-09-05T22:39:00.002+08:00

It's done! I wish it could look lower, but this is as low as I can get it to be using the original seat hinges! I'm still contemplating whether I should make shorter hinges, because, as nice as they'll look, I can only make it lower by slightly more than an inch before the seat pan hits the hinge lock, and at that height, the seat practically doesn't fold down much anymore, maybe less than an inch, so it's gonna beat the purpose of the hinge in the first place :P

The seat cover material I just chose from one of the many generic types at the upholstery shop, had the GSX 110's seat wrapped in the same stuff. I'd wanted it to have a tartan pattern on top like the original seat, but the material is so hard to find, checkers, stripes, maybe yea, but tartan or plaid, nope no luck, so I'll just settle with this for now. I like the texture of this material, but tartan just shouts bonus style points! I don't care, I'm still keeping an eye out for the tartan material, and when I do find it, I'm probably gonna make another seat, maybe do away with collapsible seat hinges and have it fixed dead and low, should be nice :) Now, maybe I start messing with the handlebars? ^^

Thank you

2009-09-05T22:17:00.000+08:00

.. to the girl at the clothing store who remembered me and let me change the unsuitable pair of jeans I'd bought on a whim with a nicer pair, even when I couldn't produce the receipt!

.. to my family and everybody in the past 2 weeks for everything related to my birthday!

.. to Trish my sis, my birthday is wayyyyy over, you really need not get me another cake, so thanks again!

.. to Mr Jasz for treating me to lunch. Fark la next time tell me if you're full and don't feel like eating, I wasn't hungry either, why both want to purposely go out to stuff ourselves silly and suffer?! Next time give ang pau can ady, no need lunch :D

.. to all my close friends for celebrating with me too, seriously, I enjoyed the company, and the fact that there isn't another cake for me to stuff down that day! Someday I will not get negative points anymore when playing snooker! I will not let Bou pocket all the balls anymore!

.. to Uncle Mun who made a new seat pan for me after finding out the first one is unsuitable, all because I messed up with the measurements and was vague about how I'd wanted it to be, and refusing to take extra pay, as usual.

.. to Uncle Wai who made me a new seat bracket promptly (not exactly easy work), reinforcing the seat pan, lending me his tools and workspace, all for almost nothing.

.. to boss for the cake (surprised the hell out of me) and the raise (another week, another surprise)! On the other hand, I feel really bad for slacking off at work, I really do, I'll slack off less from now on and make myself a little bit more worth the pay!

.. to Yen and everybody who has been putting off with my temper and randomness lately. I know I'm being weird, I wish I weren't so but as luck would have it my self control muscles are way fatigued lately.

.. to whoever's reading this! You're really patient hor? All this same random stuff and same-looking pics of the same bike from the same angle every week and you're still here :D

Thank you everybody, at times, you all make me wonder what I'd done to deserve all this kindness. I will keep my temper and tongue in check, I will be nice. You all remind me of this everyday.

Rempit wannabes...

2009-09-05T20:58:00.004+08:00

They know how to pop wheelies and think they're invincible. As if almost running into a car because he was too busy showing me up popping a wheelie, kid thinks it's a good idea to come back at me from the opposite and go into my lane, he probably did not think for one second I'd actually try to run him in though. Hope he pissed his pants a bit. If he thinks that just because I spent lotsa effort on the Z50M and wouldn't risk damaging it, think again. He doesn't know me.

Spit at me, one more time. I don't care if you're the same age as my sister. I don't care if you and I live in the same neighbourhood. I will mess you up so so very bad your parents wouldn't recognize you anymore when I drag your skinny ass home. You, that fat ass friend of yours and the rest of the bunch of barbarians on bikes. It's hard keeping my temper down once it is up, do not tempt me. You don't know me. I don't even know myself anymore when I'm angry.

I just don't want to disappoint anybody with my temper anymore, that's all.

Priciest doorstop I ever bought

2009-08-31T00:41:00.002+08:00

Actually, it's the only doorstop I'd ever bought. Super cute though, so who cares? :D I wish they had more in stock!

Diorama!

2009-08-31T00:25:00.002+08:00

Yen made me this for my birthday!

Because I love rabbits!

Yep, the colourful carpet Yen knitted with her hands!

Crazy huh? All those details like the flowers, hand mirror and comb!

Probably my favourite part of the whole room heheh! My finger's in there for size comparison

:D

Haha, I think it's kinda crazy how she could make these things so small; the amount of detail in the diorama boggles my mind a bit even though I'm used to small scale modelling. Thanks a lot dear, I'll treasure it!

My birthday!

2009-08-28T02:14:00.003+08:00

Sooooooooooooooooooooo, I'm officially 23 now. Eugh, why do I feel so sad acknowledging this fact?

Haha, anyway, thank you everybody for the wishes through phone calls, MSN, Facebook, Friendster, SMS, for wishing me HBD 5 times a day, or all of the above (hahaha, you crazy fellas). Thank you for the cakes, the songs, the gifts, for coming out, for coming straight away after a long journey back to town. I think I've had my fair share of birthday cakes for now haha, thanks everybody, you all made my birthday awesome! Leong Soon bows and says thank you once again!

New seat pan!

2009-08-24T21:21:00.005+08:00

First one's clumsy, this is the second one Uncle Mun made for me. Looks nice huh? I like the rake and shape a lot! Unfortunately, he made the front end narrower as I requested, too narrow for the top front seat brackets to fit in, totally my bad. I'm kinda torn about the seat height, but it's a conscious decision to keep the seats foldable. I can make it fixed dead at a lower height, put more cushion, have it look nicer and be more comfortable at the same time, no problem, but that's missing the point, the foldable seat is unique so it stays.

Anyway, I rode the bike with only a piece of rag between my butt and the frame. So painful, so not funny. Sis had a go too and her heels were almost right below her butt, yikes!

I dig the shape of this seat pan a lot though; blends pretty nicely with the fuel tank, so it's a keeper. I'm gonna get a narrower front bracket made tomorrow, fix the seat first, might make shorter stays for the seat so it can be lower and still foldable.

The bike looks kinda good without the fenders, no? The look is starting to grow on me, and at this rate, I might never finish the fenders up :D

Farkstrated

2009-08-21T00:19:00.004+08:00

Having a hundred thoughts in my mind all day long every day is no fun. I can feel my brains heating up constantly these days. Not enough RAM in my head for so many processes. So many questions, so little answers. So many paths, so little directions. "When in doubt, take the next small step". Pok kai, really so easy ah?!

This week I came into contact with a really old and dear friend through Photobucket, not Facebook or Friendster hah! 9 years of course doesn't break the record that is standing at 11 with my primary schoolmates, but hey, isn't this just great? The internet and cameras are just facking awesome, imagine life without it; I can't :D

Oh yeah, I've decided to get rid of the Z50M's current seat. It'll probably look nice with super-low handlebars and seat huh? Indecisiveness sucks, asking for everything is fun though. I should sooo go to sleep and dream already.

A random observation..

2009-08-18T10:21:00.002+08:00

..but doesn't Dell sound a lot like the mandarin equivalent of the profane cantonese expression "diu"? And, after you buy their stuff, they'll request that you take their customer satisfaction survey, conducted by a firm called TNS, which is very short form for tiuniasing if you ask me :D

Don't get me wrong though, I've had nothing but positive experiences with the brand all these years. And speaking of diu, that reminds me of an uncle I saw at PC Fair on Sunday, he was wearing a cap; possibly made in China or made to look like it, khaki coloured and has, in red embroidery the chinese characters "diu na (star symbol)". Nice cap, I have a feeling Duncan would like one very much :)

Riding in the rain

2009-08-15T18:59:00.003+08:00

I was already wet after keeping everything back in the store. Rain + minibike + still no fenders = lotsa fun and pain! Sometime while I was enjoying splitting puddles and getting myself drenched, the headlamp decided to go off, but if you see clearly I just cincai-ly rigged the wires up a few evenings earlier, so I'll sort the lamp out when I rearrange the wires.

And, speaking of lamps, notice that the Z50M now has two Pokeball lookalike thingies behind there? Yep, new tail lights! I made em last week from these MZ RX125 Moskito front signal lamps and some random pieces of aluminium:

More progress later!

The passing of a friend...

2009-08-15T18:16:00.002+08:00

August 14th 2009 morning. I wish you weren't so foolish. I wish you weren't so silly hiding your condition. I wish you'd sought treatment before it was way too goddamn farking late. I wish we'd all seen you more time before you left. I am sad you had to go like this. I am sorry you had to leave so soon. We'll be missing you Uncle Wong. I know I will.

Tronoh Motocross Competition

2009-08-01T23:48:00.004+08:00

Resprayed the Z50M's fuel tank again this morning, should be the last time I need to do it, then went out for lunch with Yen, right after finishing the noodles Mom & Dad got me for breakfast, met TK and S at McDonald's during lunch with Yen too! After the meal, Yen wanted to buy apple pies for herself and Liz, but there was a sizable line at the counters, so we took her car and went around the Drive-Thru instead; annnnd, we got our orders after than the customers lining up inside :D :D

Dropped Yen off, then rushed back home as the others were waiting for me, also made it home in record time, for daytime :D Busy playing Crazy Planets on Facebook, lazy to type, so photos deluge it is!

Kai Ye on his new KLX250. I think it was barely 6 weeks ago when he got this bike new and let me test ride it, yep, still minty fresh!

There was a pretty nice turnout!

Dad is amused that these machines from his time are still jumping around, yay for Japanese build reliability!

What does it say on the pants?

Not the best, but probably my favourite pic of the day.

I was just done snapping some pics when I looked opposite me and saw this:

LOL! Kai Ye barely made it for 2 laps before he slid off the side of the second hump, so much for minty fresh, and I guess I gotta readjust the steering for him again come Monday! Haha, it's ok though, he hasn't rode in ages, and had just a few laps of practice the previous week, so this wasn't totally unexpected. I gotta say I respect him though; for not really having rode seriously in his youth, and at the age of 61, this isn't exactly the easiest motorsport one can get into, street and track racing maybe yes, but jumping around on a dirt track not so much, and the next oldest competitor is only 38 haha! I also like how he was just toying with the thought of dirt biking, succumbed to temptation and bought a bike only 3 days later, and brought his new bike to trash around less than a month later, this man is serious :)

Kai Ye rode his bike over, while his subordinate drove Kai Ma over in the Jeep!

I heard a very familiar engine note and turned around to see this Honda Cub, modified for the dirt! Nice, it's using the same 90cc engine in our Z50M! There was another similar one a few feet off too!

As the main events got on, the jumps just got higher and higher!

And higher!

And higher! Weeeeeeeeeeee! The number 117 and 98 bikes were pretty fast on this hump, making one huge leap whilst the others continued to make two small jumps. Sure looks fun!

Back at the Jeep, Uncle Kim Kooi is busy copying the video of Kai Ye's slide down the slope via Bluetooth!

Yep, they could still go higher!!!

I wonder if the riders themselves go "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!" whenever they catch big air? I think I would :)

It was a fun afternoon! We went home at about 4pm as Dad and Uncle Kim Kooi had a dinner to attend. It rained a bit during the last race so I threw my muddy sandals into a plastic bag and got into the car, with mud still sticking to my arms, gotta get all that dirt off my camera too! Too tired, I slept through the whole journey home :D

Couldn't resist!

2009-08-01T00:33:00.003+08:00

I could stare at it all night now, weeee!!!! Also killed my camera batteries by going batshit crazy with long exposures :p

Dad told Sis to gimme a glass of water and some Panadol, said I'm sick.

I think so too...

..but I don't wanna recover muahahahahahahahhahahahahahaha!

Wennice's birthday!

2009-07-28T11:21:00.002+08:00

Haha last one for today, I just have to put everything in my blog before I forget, this was on the 24th, at Delight, Greentown :p

Can't get more candid than this :D

Bingo! Yippee!!

Yen's birthday!

2009-07-28T11:01:00.005+08:00

Another overdue post, this one from 7th July!

Eyes small, cannot see in the picture, so I had to pry em open :(

Ice Mountain came too :p

Birthday girl!

Neko holding the Catbus doll!

Karaoke is fun, nothing is better than torturing friends with horrendous singing :D

Poh, Darren & Theng's birthday!

2009-07-28T10:49:00.002+08:00

Haha so this is a super long overdue post I couldn't even remember exactly when it was, probably 2nd July :D We had dinner at 2+1, and when everyone have filled their stomachs up enough, we went back to Shen and Ring's place for cakes, drinks and games!

Theng had a movie to catch, so she missed out on this part!

Ring, Shen & Angel made the wall drawings, with poster colour , very nice, and easily removable should the landlord object to it :D

Couldn't play till late that night as everybody had to work on Friday, so we only hung around till 1am+, good times though!

Nearly there!

2009-07-27T00:03:00.002+08:00

Yep, weather was pretty pleasant early this morning!

Not long before completion! Dad bailed me outta lotsa trouble by helping with the bodywork; he prepped the fuel tank for me after I had to sand and fill the damn thing up for the umpthteen time :p

This weekend, I...

2009-07-26T23:21:00.003+08:00

1. Celebrated Wennice's birthday. We had a blast playing with the Bingo set Eric got her.

2. Lost 2 bucks playing Bingo. Won 7 :)

3. Finally had a good night's sleep, especially when I was already pretty zonked out during the party.

4. Helped Yen fix some stupidly mounted lamps at her workplace.

5. Managed heaps of progress with the Z50M.

6. Attended neighbour's birthday. Celebrated mom, son, and 2 daughter's birthday all at once. All in July :)

7. Found out that they have an interesting culture of feeding each other cakes. With 4 birthday boys / girls + a few more relatives. Yep, there's a loooot of cake feeding. I'm not sure if all Indians do that though. Also found out that they are all very good dancers!

8. Made quite a few new friends. Though I'm lousy at remembering names :p

9. Went from guest to host when Dad invited our neighbours to the "clubhouse".

10. Taught kids how to play pool and darts.

11. Learnt how to do Bollywood dance. Just a bit :p

12. Drank little, but felt so drunk and happy like I haven't had in quite some time. Darn beer, especially warm ones, they make me feel queasy. Uncles kinda scared after I kept pounding them with glass after glass on the rocks. I just like the flavour as is, undiluted.

13. In a stupor, placed the keys into the same pocket with my E900. Put on a lot more scratches than I've had in all the nearly 3 years I've had it.

14. Slept like dead again.

15. Woke up a bit groggy. Freshened up and put the bike back together.

16. Went to Lost World with Yen and my family. Played for more than 2 hours, was pretty fun, and the scorching weather only made dipping in the pools so much more fun. Had a second lunch at the restaurant outside. Food is so so now but the breeze is good!

17. Played snooker.

18. Played darts.

19. Played ping pong with neighbours.

20. Rode the scooter.

21. Rode Bro's bicycle. Dad fixed up 2 I think. My bicycle's on next week's to-do list.

The past few days have been very tiring, but I feel so much more alive than I've had in quite some time, keep it coming!!

Coming back together nicely

2009-07-26T10:32:00.002+08:00

Once upon a time, actually about 6 years back, I thought the engine looked crappy so I spray painted it. Did a lot of masking and sprayed it nicely, was pretty proud of it. Then the carburetor started leaking and the petrol made run marks on the engine. This time round, I've stripped the engine of all paint, gonna polish it. But... IF I knew back then that working with paint stripper will be such a bitch, I would have never started painting it, gyahhh, so painful and itchy!!!!!!!! Live and learn :D

Accidentally scraped the left front fork, gotta do some repainting, luckily the layer of gold is still intact!

Wanted to do more, but I had a party to attend at 2000 and it was already 1945, had to run!

Cupboard cleaning!

2009-07-20T00:20:00.002+08:00

Had to make space for some clothes, so I cleared a compartment in my cupboard. Found lots of old stuff inside; college assignments, old uniforms, belts, and among them, these boxes:

Haha so these are the boxes for my handphones, camera, watch, and diecast cars. Coincidentally, all the electronic devices that came with these boxes are all still around and they all work! The blue plushy is a 2007 birthday gift from MC, Sauw Leng & Wan Jun, and it's sitting on that cute puppy pudding container that can double as a coin bank! Also in there is my personal snooker cue, not that I have much use for it since I suck at the game anyway. Kai Ye gave it to me years ago, might be some nice brand, might not be, donno, don care, not a fan of pool. The cue is pretty straight, I'll give it that, and it made poking my sister's rib from afar all that much easier. The axe, I've forgotten how long I've had it, very well made and it drips quality even if the handle is awkward, my uncle did a very good job crafting it!

Oooh, and, again, while cleaning up another cupboard, what can I find, but another pile of unopened ang paos? Weeeeeee, I think I'm gonna clean up my stuff more in the future!

Ang pao opening session!!!!

Mr Blue Plushy will be keeping guard :D

Today...

2009-07-19T23:45:00.002+08:00

...I killed my mouse. Again. It was coming on and off while I was working on something, so up the ceiling, against the wall and on the floor it went with one swipe of my arm. R.I.P. my el cheapo RM12 mouse. You won't need to suffer whenever I dig my nose while using the laptop anymore...

...and today afternoon is a pretty dulan afternoon, stupid fuel tank kept giving me problems. Must be about the 6-7th time I'm applying putty and paint now. Dulan is an understatement actually, but I always have things my way. I want the fuel tank to be all nice and almost perfect, and I'll make it that way, so I'm gonna effin sand the whole fucker down, lard it with shitloads of putty and sand all the skin off my hand away with it if it's what it takes. Gahhhhhhhhh!!

I also put the seat brackets to the machine brush, then sanded on em with all my channeled anger, with rough grit sandpaper. Uncovered lotsa bare metal that last saw sunlight in Japan, circa 1967. I was gonna skimp on the brackets, but somehow the fuel tank made me more determined to make things good, so yippey yay yay to nicer seat brackets now! Oooh, so the surviving original red paint on the bike under all those newer paintjobs is actually very similar to Vermillion, might even be Vermillion, very nice, but my new colour scheme is gonna be better!!!

Stopped early today cuz I'm zonked out, just laid on the floor and stared at the effin clouds that were happy to block sunlight and throw some mini drizzles on me today:

Then I got a boh liao idea:

For this stupid idea, I nicked the freshly painted frame!!! Gyahhhh!!

...I have lots more work ahead to get the bike together, gotta stay patient and not rush things out.

Memories!

2009-07-18T21:28:00.003+08:00

Speaking bout lawns in the last post, I just remembered I have some old pics of the Z50M!

I was about 6 or 7 then..

...yep, the lawn at our old home is kinda huge. There's an approximately 10x15ft swimming pool filled up and hidden behind the jalopy, Dad borrowed a tractor and dug it out himself about the time I was born, and after many years of seldom use, it was filled up to make it safer for us and our pets. Pets, those are some of the many rabbits and bunnies we had in front of the stone bench. I loved them all dearly, but after one too many of em got preyed upon by the goddamn cats, we had to give em all away, sadly, hoping they'll be safe.

Yep, Bro's riding pillion. He's only 5 then? Not too long passed from then before he started riding too! Oh wait, so the swimming pool hasn't been filled up yet when this pic was taken. See the blurry white patch at the top left corner? That's the pool's edge, I'd just realised it could still be seen in the above pic too :p

More awesome than the old home's lawn is the huuuuuge field opposite! Access from our door front is by means of a narrow plank mounted over the 2ft+ gutter, with an elevation of 1ft+. I think I never fell before la, so I could ride the bike over that plank again and again without batting an eyelid. Die la now, prod me with a bbq stick also I don't think I can make it anymore!

This is 1/3 of the field in the pic I suppose, and Kok Wai is behind me. The bike had a Suzuki TS100 rear fender Dad modified to fit then. Tailight is the enduro one still used on the bike until now! I love this style in the pic, but Dad mentioned that as the TS100 fender has a huge radius, it really is kinda unsightly near the chainguard and engine. 19-inch wheel fender on 10-inch wheel, haha, I guess it's true.

Last pic I have! Miss those helmets, mine's White, Bro's Navy, both styled kinda like the one Tsujimoto Natsumi wears while riding the Motocompo, I wonder if I can still get those!

Saturday

2009-07-18T21:09:00.002+08:00

Ah, why can't we have a pool at home anymore? I miss the pool at our old home, having nearly 2000 square feet of lawn was awesome.

The trees, they grow up so fast.

Buffer! Just because not all coconuts can survive a 20ft fall :D The ones that did not make it let out a burst of coconut juice upon contact with ground, very dramatic :)

I played bowling with the old ones!

Then we climbed another tree to get these.

Yep, Saturdays are awesome!

Aerosol is fun!

2009-07-18T21:02:00.002+08:00

Maziora!!!!!!!!

Just jesting, here is the frame smothered in some Black, filler, Grey, filler, White, Gold, and Candy Red! Too time consuming, I think I'll just keep these wacky colour combinations for scale model cars next time :p Pics don't do the colour any friggin justice at all; the Gold shimmering beneath the Candy Red when under the hot sun is just too awesome and yummy!

Lazy mock-up. It's an ambulance!! LOL

Stay Gold

2009-07-15T10:31:00.003+08:00

...for another few more days. It's the ugliest shade of gold I've used, evar, muahahaha, but the scariest part of the paintjob is probably over now, no rejection and gold came out with a lot less patches than I'd expected, let's just hope the white gassed off enough already and won't crack the other layers open. Spray, let dry, gas off, repeat!

My nephew

2009-07-13T10:28:00.003+08:00

My cousins and relatives came to visit last night!

Destructive, isn't he? He doesn't really like building, very interested in knocking em down though!

Dad with the giraffe he built. The head reminds me of The Prince from Katamari Damacy :D

Sis with her cat, minus the tail, it crumbled down soon after!

Removed curtains! Room feels airier and more spacious now!

I screwed up...

2009-07-12T22:59:00.004+08:00

Reminds me of the recoloured issue of G2 Transformers Dreadwing and Smokescreen.

What I want vs what I got. The burgundy-ish tone on the right is too dark for what I had in mind, so it's back to bare metal for the frame, almost anyway...

...and to this. I'm gonna start over with a white base to get the colour I want.

Fuel tank is coming along quite nicely.

So tired. Any more sanding and I'll have no fingerprints soon.

Progress on a rainy Saturday

2009-07-11T21:32:00.002+08:00

Not much. Weather not cooperating with me today!

Uncle Cheong's Birthday

2009-07-10T23:49:00.002+08:00

Yesterday, 9th July was Uncle Cheong's birthday, so we had dinner at 3328 in the Menglembu area after work. It was super cold yesterday evening, heavy rain!

Food is good! They made 4 dishes with one big fish, that and all the other dishes I have nothing to nitpick about! Price is reasonable too! I'd be going back a lot more often if it isn't that out of my way home after work.

The twins are hyperactive as usual :D

Monkey Toolbox!

2009-07-10T23:14:00.004+08:00

Right if you look here, it is clearly seen that the Z50M has a toolbox attached at the end of the bike frame, just above the rear fender.

Dad said the toolbox on our bike isn't there when he bought it, but I wanted one anyway. Trying my luck online, it's possible to get one for about RM160 not inclusive of postage. Wow. I'm just gonna stick that toolbox there, doubt I'll ever put as much as a spanner in there haha, so, no thank you.

I thought of getting one custom-made, so I went to Yuen 哥's place yesterday morning. He had pipes in the right diameter, but the walls are, like, 6mm thick on each side O.O"

I don't need a cannon la, so I dropped by Uncle Cheong's place and ransacked his place :p

Saw an absorber. Took it to Indian uncle opposite. Uncle sawed it off for me.

Uncle Kim Kooi was suggesting PVC caps, then I noticed some old oil filters on a barrel behind him.

Me: "Can ah?" *points excitedly at used oil filters"
Uncle Cheong: "Sell also 30sen each only ma, take la"

So I took, went opposite, and borrowed the circular saw machine again.

Walked out front and had Uncle Mun weld me a bracket.

All in all about 20 minutes later I have this:
The yellow body part is from the car absorber shell. Caps are sawed-off Kancil oil filters. Haha, nice eh? I just need to finish it off a bit, get some seals for the caps and I have myself a proper toolbox.

The cost? RM3, Uncle Mun's pay for welding the bracket! It's pretty darn cool knowing everybody in the workshop grounds hehe :D :D

Got me wondering...

2009-07-10T14:17:00.000+08:00

...just how much is a life's worth?

Transformers

2009-07-08T01:40:00.003+08:00

Went to watch it at Jusco just now. TK, din bring me go shopping! Poh and Ye Huai arrived less than 10 minutes before showing time, but went on into the arcade for a few games :p The air table hockey thingy was fun, I was lugging a handbag and Catbus doll while playing. Watching Jessie and Yen compete was like watching a table-wiping competition, Poh and Hansen on the hand were trying to grind the table surface off ^^

Maybe it's because I went it with very low expectations, or maybe Michael Bay really is awesome, but the movie was sorta, well, awesome :D I think it's more the former and a bit of the latter la :p Eh GPY I don't get what you say about Isabela Lucas lar, hot? Hey eyes, geng? Yer, I cannot stand looking at her la. Thank goodness for loads upon loads of Megan Fox scenes! The Autobots and Decepticons were pretty cool, but of all the cheesy dialogue and sometimes scringe-inducing scenes, the Constructicons' wrecking balls o' steel really got me thinking. Really? A huge menacing android needs to have balls? And just dangling there? Really?

Haha, enough ranting :p

Oh, btw, Yen wanted doughnuts but they were sold out tonite, so she drew me this later:

Next time dear, next time :)

Rain

2009-07-08T01:14:00.003+08:00

Got home early from work today, and nobody else is at home. I love rain. I sat out there, ass on the GT750 and feet on the scooter, munching on a tasty curry puff, taking in my surroundings. Everything looks better in the rain; my car with it's faded paint looked shinier, plants looked fresher and greener, even the streets looked cleaner, and the overcast skies, mysterious. It's so serene, only the dripping sound of rain drops and nothing else. Nobody on the streets. It's like I have the whole neighbourhood to myself.

It was a splendid moment. I couldn't ask for more.

Oh wait, I can, I wish there were more curry puffs just now!

Throat sore again

2009-07-07T02:01:00.001+08:00

Haha, but 五月天's 离开地球表面 was super fun, Poh lost his voice after that too, Sauw Leng survived though. Update soon!

Bits & Pieces

2009-07-06T12:39:00.001+08:00

Repainting :D

Evening stroll with Mui Mui

2009-07-06T00:44:00.000+08:00

Fender works

2009-07-05T00:18:00.004+08:00

This is an all-original Z50M:

Charming!

This is how ours look like now:

The rear fender is a custom piece. I think the fabricator made it look too much like a chopper piece, which is the majority of bikes they do custom bodywork for. Although the work quality is good, the fender's style doesn't suit the bike too well. I wasn't too bothered about it back then, but the more I look at it these days the more I think the huge chopper-style fender is a bit too chunky for the petite Z50M.

I did a mock-up this morning :p

I think it looks better this way, plus the fender will be more functional too!

In the evening, I got to work making marks and Dad helped me off some metal with the grinder, making a 3-minute job out of what would have taken me way longer with the metal saw :D Many test mounting, marking, and drilling later:

Looks about right now! I've still gotta change the rear lamp, maybe make a tool box for the bike, and some other stuff, but the bike is finally looking the way I want it, nice :)

Here scooter scooter!

2009-07-04T23:52:00.003+08:00

Haha, before I forget again, we have a new two wheeler at home:

350 bucks including registration. Seriously? I never knew they were this cheap. I mean, I can and do spend about that much money on a plastic model kit, and that money could actually buy a real working scooter? Woot :D It was meant to be a parts bike for a project, but Dad thinks it's a bit too good to be parted out, so this will be the new grocery getter for now. Nice number plate too, "Business Die Die Prosper, 生意死发", better than the last one anyway, "Dicky won't grow, 67不生" :D :D Hm, I've never rode a scooter until the day we got this, Tuesday or Wednesday I think, pretty docile, and quite amusing at low speeds; I'm surprised how stable it is at a crawl, it doesn't even feel like it's gonna topple anytime soon!

Xantia ran away again

2009-07-04T22:37:00.002+08:00

Dad got home at a bit after 1am this morning and was surprised when I opened the door for him.

Dad: "You're home already? Where is your car? Broken down again? How did you get home?"
Me: "Broken down? Where got, mai parked opposi...... Eh wtf? Car not there oledi?"

...and sure enough, my car wasn't to be seen beside the field in front of my home where I parked it an hour ago.

Me: "Haha, fark la, must have rolled off somewhere again"

The road has a slight downwards gradient towards the left of my home, the first time this happened, the car rolled backwards and took a right corner at the junction to the left at my home, then bumped into a tree and stopped at 30 degrees on the road.

I brought my car keys out and started looking for my car. Dad thought it was the car on the right of the junction but it was the neighbour's KE30.

Disarmed my car alarm. BEEP BEEP from the left. And there it was, nicely reversed and tucked to the left of the junction, in a very dark corner. Parked nicely! Apparently it rolled pretty slow this time; a little curb was all it took to stop the car this time :D

I started the car and parked it back, this time remembering to apply the handbrake firmly, we had a good laugh about it and woke Mom up. Hot parking brakes on the front wheels and locked steering, good for letting your car roll and hide around corners :D

Tuesday night out

2009-07-01T23:47:00.003+08:00

Heavy rain, and on top of it I wasn't informed of a venue change, so I went from home > old town > Ipoh Garden East :p

Take care Shen! We'll be missing you T_T

The Z50M's new carburetor!

2009-06-28T23:02:00.004+08:00

OK, back to this! As you can see, the Z50M is now equipped with a Keihin side draft carburetor from a Honda GBO!

While the Keihin down draft unit works perfectly fine, it doesn't connect to the airbox (the black round thingy with a funnel) and that's always bugged me, so I figured best do something about it before I give the bike a respray!

Here's how it looks like originally, but these carburetors are way too rare and pricey, we're talking RM400 onwards per pop! The price doesn't bother me at all, but my current plans are more resto-mod than a period correct restoration, so something more modern fits the bill nicely, and that's where the GBO unit comes in. I gotta say my thanks to the boss of Ban Hin Loong for putting up with me bothering him for days. I've tried quite a few carburetors until I found one that fit! I bought an EX5 unit earlier and it wouldn't even fit into the gap, so I hauled the bike out to the parts shop just to be safe!

Haha, anyway, so I finally found a carburetor that somewhat fits, but couldn't find an intake manifold that fits the application, so it's off to the machine shop we go!

As you can see the insides are smooth , but the exterior is just plain old rough and fugly.

2 hours later:

Looks way way way way way way way way way nicer rite? For 2 hours I patiently put a file to it and ground away! Manual labour! I wish I could use the huge buffing machine but the sanding wheel isn't good anymore, so a small sanding wheel and electric drill was all I had. I think this is about the most I can do, I could probably clean off a bit more weld, but that's it. It's plain iron, so rust and corrosion is imminent, oiled it up now and sending it off to be chrome plated once the GT750's parts are ready!

With the new carburetor, the bike doesn't leak fuel anymore, idling can now be set lower, rev and power comes a teeny bit slower now, but they do drop a lot slower on easing the throttle now, so the bike has more torque coming out of corners. The bike jerks noticably less during gear changes too, nice, and I just love the new induction sound, it's beefier! As an added bonus, the bike is a lot smoother when slowing down, and the crackle pop sound I love so much is still here, woohooo!

Here's how it is now. Need to reroute the hoses for a cleaner look, and the airbox opening obviously does not line up to the carburetor now, so I've got more to do! Yay, no more ugly carburetor setup to bug me!

Oh, btw, had lunch at Akamomiji with my family this afternoon, my treat, since for Father's Day last week we all gave Dad conjunctivitis too, and had to stay home, Sis was the only one who wasn't infected :D Anyway, Akamomiji, I'd say the price is lower than what I expected, and the quality of food, higher, nice! Thanks for the heads up TK, or I wouldn't even notice it's there :D

Yippee!!

2009-06-28T00:52:00.003+08:00

More stuff I don't need hehehe. Ying helped me get the CD because I will not accept the "Malaysia Edition" ones sold in Ipoh, Utada Hikaru's This Is The One, good stuff, it's been on heavy repeat on my playlist for months! The boomerang's a souveneir from Perth. Neat huh? I think I'll just use it to scratch my back. Just joking lol, thanks again Ying!

Carburetor swap!

2009-06-27T01:01:00.002+08:00

New sidedraft carburetor and custom made inlet manifold! Yes the Xantia has awesome storage too :D

World's coolest scale model. Period.

2009-06-23T10:26:00.003+08:00

It's been completed last Tuesday! So awesome! It'd be taken down come 31st August! How I wish I can make it in time to Japan to see it personally! Haha, anyway, I hope it'll be relocated after August, instead of being taken apart and left to collect dust in some warehouse!

Pictures from:
http://punynari.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/assembled-life-sized-rx78-gundam-part-1/
http://punynari.wordpress.com/2009/06/09/assembled-rx78-gundam-part-2/
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/06/13/odaiba-gundam-lights-up-the-night/

Gotta love Japan!

Down with Conjuctivitis

2009-06-19T10:25:00.002+08:00

Left eye swollen already. WARGHHHHHHH!! How can this happen to me, so farking irritating, not handsome anymore!!!! WARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Random nerdiness

2009-06-16T23:54:00.004+08:00

Went for drinks at Moon River last nite, me, Fanny, Poh & Sauw Leng. Apparently it was a busy day for the others because the rest couldn't make it. Shot time talking about insurance, life, camera people, fruits, Japanese AV, gwai los, travel, cars and other random stuff. I know, so incoherent :D

Yen got me this clear document holder today! It is, from Giordano, I think? Haha I like the illustration!

We had dinner at Kizuna tonight, me & Yen ordered Unagi and Salmon bento respectively, nice stuff, Unagi bento, if you can handle raw meat, the fish is fresh and flavourful :) I know you had lotsa awesome food for the whole week in Australia, GPY, so diam a bit, don't make me hungry again :D

Went to Jusco after dinner cuz Yen wanted to take sticker pics, and I wanted to walk a bit after stuffing myself with bento and sushi rolls anyway. We did just that and ended with quite a few spoils too!

You can't really see it; but the front pocket's on Yen's overalls was full with capsules!

Pipe and Boo mascot banks from the Super Mario series! I like everything but the Pipe in the series. I'd love to get em all, we'll see!

BOO! Cute! I wish it is covering it's eyes with it's hands like in the videogame!

Action Kamen Shin-chan! He's afraid of Boo though!

"Maybe the ghost wouldn't be able to find me if I stay hidden in this pipe"

"BOOOOOO!"
"Warghhhhhhhhh!" *falls into long pipe"

Apparently not :D

People...

2009-06-16T13:54:00.003+08:00

...or rather, the problem with them. There's this huge drain near my office, huge enough for a 10-wheeler to 3-point turn in it and then some. Lotsa people pass by it everyday. There's the occasional monitor lizard or 2 or 3 doing their thing down there. People see it, people pick rocks, people throw. At the monitor lizards. Just what the fark is wrong with you guys? All have been bitten by scaly reptiles in the ass or kuku when you were small izzit? Phobia oledi izzit? Or do you just plainly have an irrational fear for things you do not understand? Dude, you're, what, 5 feet tall at least? The reptiles are 3', maybe 5', max. You're up on the road, it's down in the drain. It's not interested in you, it ain't bothering you, much less gonna harm you. So biatch, please, do the lizards a favour and just leave them alone, go do something else or throw rocks at illegally-triple-parked cars, go buy pao even though you've just eaten, or you can just stare blankly at the drain, anything, just leave the lizards alone.

More bike stuff!

2009-06-14T23:17:00.003+08:00

So, this has been lying around the floor for quite some time...

Looks puny huh? Hehe, it actually is quite puny, coming off a Ducati Falcon 50, probably 1964, displacing just 48cc; the piston's circumference is smaller than a can of Nescafe! I like the angle of the carburetor, looks interesting!

Yep, Italian thru n thru!

Dad's plan is to just repaint the fuel tank, then put it on display together with the engine, but I think that's a waste, so, we might make something out of it ;)

White little oddity

2009-06-11T23:36:00.007+08:00

I love the styling of the Xantia, especially the side and rear profile, but sometimes I can't help but notice that the front fascia looks a bit dated compared to it's Peugeot twin, the 406, and I'd told some friends how interesting I think a Xantia would look with a 406's face. Anyone ever noticed I rarely take frontal pics of the Xantia and all you ever see is it's sides and butt on this blog? Well, today I saw that someone has took the concept to reality with the smaller siblings :)

Saw this hatch this afternoon. Just a normal ZX, rite?

Haha, but what's this? Apparently the owner have swapped the fenders, hood, headlamps, bumper and grille from a Peugeot 306, the ZX's twin, notice that even the Lion badge has been replaced with the Twin Chevrons :)

By the way, you cannot just make every other Citroen look better with a Peugeot face swap though; some, like the XM, are absofarkinglutely PERFECT, untouchable! I just hope I don't see one with a 605 face, XM face on 605 would be as bad!

While I still prefer the 306 hatch compared to the ZX, it does look nicer than original; the 306 and 406 both came out 2 years later compared to the ZX and Xantia respectively, so naturally they look fresher, and I doubt many will notice the not-so-subtle differences, so it probably doesn't attract too much attention, nice! You might see it a bit in the first pic, and the dashboard isn't the ZX piece anymore. I had a quick glance and it is a 406 piece with a late model Xantia steering wheel. It's not mindblowing, but hey, it makes me warm and fuzzy inside knowing that someone out there has such an interest in these french oddities too :)

Mission Parts Hunt Friday - FAIL

2009-06-09T22:51:00.004+08:00

I spent the later part of Friday (05062009) running into motorbike shops with a printout of the Z50M, hoping to score some parts. Some glanced at the picture and gave a cold "no", some just smilingly shook their heads, some were more enthusiastic and even suggested places I might get lucky (though I've tried my luck at those places previously, no luck), the funniest must be an Indian kid who just kept shaking his head saying "tak ada lah, tak ada lah", but he kept holding on and staring at the pic, and it wasn't until I've kept my hands up for a few more seconds did he hand the pic back to me. The outcome wasn't unexpected; I was just pushing my luck a bit hoping some stores will stock unique parts for a rare bike that wasn't even sold here, yea right, like they will have plastic emblems that was only fitted on one single model year bike. Haha, anyway, the highlight of that morning was meeting an oldtimer stocking parts for some classic kapcais. He doesn't have what I want, but told me he could get something similar if I could wait, and tried to interest me in a 70cc block. I left him my number in case he has something new, and after more small talk, it turns out that he knows my father back when Dad was still racing and working as a mechanic, woot ^^

Anyhow, the first place I visited on my parts hunt is none other than Ban Hoe Seng (local Honda dealer), the uncle at the office saw the pic and told me I'd have better luck in Thailand, haha, ok, I know that and have asked a friend to keep an eye out already earlier. Out at the entrance, by the way, is this other reminder of an era when simple motoring was kinda chic:

It's a Honda P25, and despite it's name, is actually powered by a 49cc single OHC engine operating at the lower left of the rear hub, with other components housed in the hub itself, and check the fuel tank behind the seat! It was introduced back in 1966, so that makes it slightly older than the Z50M coming in at 1967, and apparently that blue is an original colour, though I'm not sure if it is the original coat of paint. Doesn't matter really; I think the colour's blah anyway, the only vehicle I remember pulling off that colour nicely is the Isuzu Bellet R6!

Here's how you pull off baby blue and still look uber manly :D

IF, IF I have a car like this (I can always dream), I'd so daily driver it, smouldering clutch in traffic be damned :D

Car cleaning...

2009-06-08T23:36:00.001+08:00

...because I can't remember when's the last time I did it :D I think I should get new rugs for the car too...

The Water Buffalo

2009-05-24T23:09:00.003+08:00

It's alive!

Random pic of strawberry sky:

Makes me crave for strawberry milk :p

Today's progress

2009-05-16T23:39:00.004+08:00

Not much, but...

Lights on! Also reinstalled the horn and front number plate thingy!

So we found out that the starter switch is conkers and wouldn't allow current to the lights, and a replacement is hard to get, but I was determined it'll have lights and I shall go riding tonight! Soooo, I did a heck of a hack job and hardwired the lights. Engine on, lights on, engine off, lights off. Simple, no need for switches, just like normal kapcais. The light bulbs will burn out easily without a rectifier, Dad said. I thought if it was fine originally without a rectifier it should be fine now, but then he mentioned something else about different coils with 50 n 90cc engines, and I remember the light bulbs burning out easily the last time it ran, even when it's running higher voltage bulbs. Don't ask me, I'm a complete noob with electrics, so I just made a removable joint for the light circuit to keep the bulbs safe until a rectifier joins the circuit. For now I'll just snap em on when I need lights :)

I've finally found out where all the petrol is leaking from: turns out petrol was backflowing out from the carburetor's reserve fuel inlet, which wasn't connected because there isn't a petcock with the tank anymore. Easy fix, just stick another fuel line to it and some random plastic bit into the other end to arrest the flow. Done!

There's a knockoff Vespa horn Dad bought for the bike, but it looked fugly, so I just machine-brushed the original one and gave it a few layers of chrome. I've almost given up hope on that can of chrome when my scale model car engines wouldn't dry. Apparently it doesn't work on plastic :p Doesn't look too bad now huh? Yep, it doesn't work, but I don't really mind :p

I just checked some old pics and noticed I fixed the number plate thingy the wrong side up. Whoops, fix that tomorrow :p

Table mod!

2009-05-16T23:23:00.002+08:00

QUESTION: What would you do if you had two tables?

One with damaged surface...

..and one with damaged base?

So Dad had an idea, and 5 minutes later...

TADAHHH! Done!

Didn't even break a sweat ^^

Backlog: Jessie & Shen's Birthday 30042009

2009-05-15T23:07:00.002+08:00

Yay, I've finally gotten the pics off Wennice yesterday! Took forever :p On to the pics!

Birthday girls! OK la, actually their birthdays were already past and we weren't free on those respective days, so this is a make up celebration :)

This is the same place where they celebrated my birthday last year, but I couldn't recall a thing when Wennice told me the venue earlier. Had to check my blog before I knew where she was talking about. Old already, is like that one :p

Checking out the gifts!

Shen showing off her electric "aquarium", because all her previous fishies died. Scary girl.

Playing with electronic fishies. I think they all move more like rats scurrying along.

Also Shen's. Nice huh? I'm not a girl but I dig this one :)

Last pic, Nicky's new hairstyle. Like ngam ngam leave secondary school like that, so young :D

Must watch must watch!

2009-05-15T12:58:00.001+08:00

Ebisu Circuit: Spring Matsuri Part I - The Drift from Luke Huxham on Vimeo.

Too damn awesome to not watch. Fullscreen HD and pump up the volume please!

Oooh I want I want I want!!

2009-05-09T23:51:00.003+08:00

Feeling like getting a Z50M chassis on the cheap to cut up :D

Unlike cars, these bikes are dangerous, not because there's no metal to protect you in a crash, but because you can afford it, and you know it; you just very well might go broke to satisfy that desire :p

Oh someone please keep me off eBay now!!! I have to save up I have to save up!

It's that feeling again...

2009-05-09T23:47:00.002+08:00

...when you feel that some things you should have always done yesterday. Makes no sense why you'd wait at all.

I've been busy. Can even smell the petrol on my fingers when I dig my nose now, whee ^^

So it ran out of fuel...

2009-05-08T00:22:00.005+08:00

The bike sputtered to a halt yesterday, and I thought there's dirt inside the fuel system, so I just pushed/rode it home and stored it. Dad was laughing when he saw me pushing the thing back home.

I went out to work on it today, intending to clean the carburetor and maybe install a fuel filter somewhere in the fuel line, but I noticed there's no more petrol in the tank, so I poured in a bit, and... the engine started nicely, nothing's wrong, apparently I just rode the last drop of fuel off it :D :D :D

Added a much-needed side mirror!

Yes yes, that's a Suzuki emblem on the mirror. Cuz I stole it off the GT750 :D

And, after another week...

2009-05-07T10:44:00.004+08:00

...it's back!

It's overheating on idle, so the guys from the workshop came and took it back just now. Yea, it's hospitalized again, barely 18 hours after it got home. Haha, and what is that people say about their German roundels, scary maintenance? There ain't seen nothing. Nothing's scary anymore after you've gone French and Italian, but they're just so damn good. You know it's not good for you, but you cannot resist, you know it's what you want. Joy.

Edit: btw, I just realised the car was as much joy to draw as much as it is for me too look at. I isolated the car in Photoshop in like, what, 10 curves? Smooth ^^

Sunday

2009-05-04T00:07:00.003+08:00

Epic pretend-to-ride-curb fail :p

0700: Woke up and took the bike for rides.

1300: Came home with Yen and took the bike for rides.

1940: Had dinner and took the bike for rides.

0011: My butt still hurts :D

Saturday: Not-so-late night Edition, Bro's Birthday!

2009-05-03T11:04:00.004+08:00

Wee, more pictures to post!

Bros birthday won't be here until the 6th, but since he'll be back off at college then, we celebrated earlier. We wanted to try out Brewster's, but it was packed, and I noticed all the patrons are smiling as they chew the food, must be good :D

Anyway, dinner was at Miner's Arms; a pretty spacious tavern/pub/restaurant in Old Town that Mon & Dad haven't been too in more than a decade. It feels pretty rustic inside, and there's a lot of that old school pseudo-Western-industrialist charm to it, whatever that means, I can't even figure out what I'm trying to say :p, probably because it hasn't been renovated since the last time Mom & Dad went. It's not a bad thing though; the red tartan tablecloth, red velvety seats, wooden furniture, and black-brown cement beams with faux-wood all look dated, stepping into the place feels like stepping back into the 80s if not for the Astro football broadcast on a silver modern TV. Even the tiles in the washroom are the same as the ones in our bedroom back at the old home, haha, not the kinda place I'd expect or like to remind me of my old home though, the toilet :p

The place surely holds a lot of nostalgia for white-collar workers employed at the many law or accounting firms in the vicinity. They must have used to frequent the establishment when Old Town was still kind of a commerce centre for Ipoh, I can imagine. Oh, how was food? Sizziling Tenderloin, and Fillet Steak's great, the fries are good too. Sirloin Steak, regular or with Green Pepper, is ok, but for the price, Bro and me will take two at Scotch for better flavour and bigger portions ^^

New couches delivered on Friday! I was egging Dad about buying furniture a few days before we were bound for KL and so IKEA, but, hm, I must admit these are pretty comfy. For the record I've managed to fall asleep on em 3 times in an hour, while watching TV ^^ So yea, if I'm not out or online, chances are I'm snoring like a pig in the living room *oink* *snort snort*

Saturday: Evening Edition

2009-05-03T10:21:00.004+08:00

Sooo, I thought since the engine only needed new piston rings and a carburetor service, I reckoned it was a pretty conservative plan that I should be riding it around happily by 1400, just in time for a bit of after lunch leisure. However, unforeseen circumstances like the sudden discovery that the exhaust valve needs to be replaced, the fuel valve needs reworking, and the extended search for nozzle lapping paste made it sure that at 1430, I was still grinding valves :D Oh, Dad was also having a "nice time" grinding some 05 oversized piston rings for better compression ^^

And.. due to erratic, but welcome rain throughout the day, we're done, about 3 hours later! Dad's tuning the carburetor a bit here, since it's not the original piece, and the inability to fit a filter on it makes it a bit cranky.

Funny, this bike was originally 50cc, and Dad installed what he thought was a 70cc engine back when he got this bike more than a decade and a half ago; the engine turned pretty fine then so he never took it apart for service. As it turns out, it is actually a 90cc unit from a C90. Coupled with the extremely small wheels, no wonder the bike have managed to throw 98% of it's riders off even in third gear, myself included ^^ For the record, Yew Loon, the 2%, had actually been dislodged from the bike, but somehow he managed to still hold the handles and chase the bike (now doing a full 80 degrees wheelie, 90 degrees and possibly way way more if the rear mudguard wasn't scraping the tarmac already) down the street, and eventually slow it down, on his own feet. So practically, he was the only one ever thrown-off the bike but not fall on his butt while the bike went freewheeling into a nearby wall. It was an epic moment, I think we all cried joyful tears at the thought of not having to rebuild the damn thing again, who cares if he fell and broke his bones, lol. Oh, and ever since that day, Yew Loon never once rode the bike without starting off in 3rd gear anymore ;)

Wee, it's done, off to rack up some mileage!

Saturday: Morning Edition

2009-05-03T10:11:00.003+08:00

Sun, check! Fan, check! Umbrella, check!

Dismantled minibike sitting on a chair-cum-makeshift-bike-hoist, check!

So, quoting Utada Hikaru from Budokan Live 2004:
"覚悟はいいかー？
よーし！
さあー行くぞー!!"

Raining Ice

2009-05-01T23:53:00.002+08:00

It was raining, and I was dismantling an engine underneath the store's shelter, when I thought I saw ice on the floor...

It's really ice! Wow, I've read about it, but this is my first time being in a rain of hail. It was ephemerally beautiful! Hurts quite a bit when some catches you by the ears or head though :p

Boyish Mui Mui

2009-04-25T23:30:00.001+08:00

Here's Mui Mui, looking adorable, and like a boy. Yen's doing :p Don't worry Mui Mui, I still love you!

Chop chop chop! Ow my finger!!!

2009-04-25T23:15:00.005+08:00

Went to clear some overgrowth behind one of our shops this morning:

What it looked like just an hour earlier:

One of the trees was like, 2 stories tall.

There was so much growth that we had to clear lots off before the gate can even open!
I have some new blisters and cut from the endeavour. Amazing how little weeds can totally overrun a place if you leave em to their own devices long enough, makes you think huh :)

It's still here...

2009-04-25T02:49:00.006+08:00

...even though I said I'd sell it and get something more worth the trouble. Haha. But can I really?

Change of plans, it's crazy. Here I am so near one of my dreams, 2 years ahead of time too. And I suddenly think of abandoning it all in search of something else. I'm not giving up anything. I plan to put in wait again one dream, go around it in a huge circle, and grab everything in one swoop. Is it ever too much to ask for everything? I'm feeling a bit crazy and I'm loving it!

Watches!

2009-04-24T00:14:00.004+08:00

Just got my Seiko Chronograph back and realised I never took any pics of my watches, and thanks to my recent ability to NOT procrastinate anymore, I set off to do so immediately!

This is not everything; I still have watches from my primary school days in my collection, I just messed with the ones currently not hidden in some random drawer :)

Casio Edifice. I wore this during my Senior days, reaching back to even my Junior 3 days, that's 9 years ago! I had the batteries replaced a few weeks back when my usual watch ran into problems, and wore it for a few days, but I think it looks too small on my wrist now :p Unfortunately, it's an electronic watch after all, and even though the casing and bracelet is in excellent condition, the illumination doesn't work anymore, and the minutes display is kinda cuckoo sometimes :p

Timex Expedition, probably one of my least-used watch, no thanks to metalic items in my pockets doing funky things to the compass ^^ This has been with me for, hm, since 2003, hehe.

Seiko 5. Not mine; I bought it for Grandma a few weeks back :D I've always liked it since I saw Bou and Uncle Leong wearing one each; it's kinda like the Z33 Z and S15 Silvia to me: I think it's pretty, but not my cup of tea. Anyway, it's a super worthwhile buy because for RM230 it is an automatic, and it also comes with Day & Date display!

Yep, automatic! Not beautiful, but purposeful! I'm happy to see Grandma wearing it a lot, more than her last watch anyway, hope she really likes it :)

Timex Indiglo. Woot, I last wore this piece in Senior 2 I think! Back then, this was the first non-digital watch I've wore after a long time going digital with my Casio Databank, Forester, and Edifice, so when a classmate asked me for the time the first day I wore it, it took me a long time to be able to read the time! Thinking back, that moment still makes me feel stupid :p I'm surprised, but it's still running even now though the illumination doesn't work anymore too. An Indiglo with non-functional Indiglo, hm... Anyway, since I deemed the Edifice too small-looking, and another Caterpillar too scratched, I've been wearing this piece for the past few weeks while my usual watch is away. Pic doesn't do this piece justice, the watch looks 30x better in real life!

Hehe, and finally, my usual watch, this Seiko Chronograph i got from Dad on my birthday in 2004. I love it so much and it's absurd how I've spent RM200+ fixing what cost only RM500+ brand new. Siaoness typical of me anyway, could have gotten another Seiko 5 with the money ^^ I just got it back with it's 2nd new glass case today because installation of the first one was botched. Came back to me 2 weeks ago after a mechanical and glass case replacement with dust and fingerprints inside, and a glass case that is unevenly-fitted. As if that wasn't bad enough, moisture got in soon after too. Obviously I was dissatisfied; bollocks to feasibility regarding cost of postage and repairs, or even what the old watch is worth at all now. I want it looking mint and nice, and sent it back again. Well, it's back today, free of charge, and with a different, better-looking protruding glass (the original and first replacement was flat). It's also surprising how I used to polish my old watches every week, but never polished this one in the nearly 5 years I've owned it, so I spent 2 hours Autosol-ing the hell out of it and it looks very shiny now! Satisfaction ^^v

Mom's Birthday!

2009-04-23T23:17:00.004+08:00

Tasty!

We had dinner at Delight last night as it was Mom's birthday, and even though he food is always good on the few occasions Mom n Dad went, it kinda disappointed this time, and IMO the food is only worth slightly more than half of the RM600+ we paid for dinner. The servings, as my brother concisely and effectively put it: "Hm, not bad, I'm most satisfied with the Coke, tastes like Coke should" Go figure. To their credit though, the ingredients used were fresh, and the captain and waitresses were pleasant people and did their job well.

Yen made this for Mom! I made Mom a card as usual, but haven't got a pic of it.

My camera sucks at night so pics are blurry as usual. Believe me when I say some faces in this pic have been stitched over from other shots. Couldn't tell which ones? Muahahah, bow at my awesome photocopy, aiks, photoshopping skillzz then :D

It's true that the food isn't good, but we had a great time nonetheless, thanks to great company :)

Sis turns 14 :)

2009-04-12T23:38:00.006+08:00

14?! It's been that long? Man, I'm nearly a decade older than her, and fark, I feel old now :(

We had a small BBQ at home last night; was a small thing, just some relatives and friends. Today, we had dinner at Scotch, my treat :) Aunt Amy and Uncle Yoke Theng came after we've ate the birthday cake, with another 2 birthday cakes :D

Lalala

2009-04-07T23:16:00.003+08:00

This was and used to be a stupid, spur of the moment, sohai emo post. Due to the unexpected and totally undesired worry it caused, it has now been replaced with...

LALALA-LALA-LALALALALALA!!!

It was a really small matter, really.

I'm fine. Thank you all for your concern! Thank you very muchie and 谢谢你的爱! :D

Sunday

2009-04-06T00:16:00.005+08:00

Woke up at 0600, and from then till 1300, proceded to clean 4 graves and visit one more shrine. Very tiring. Btw, there were lotsa people at the shrine and a lot of them were holding a bunch of incense high up in the air to avoid singeing the skin off others in the crowd. They remind me of runners carrying the Olympic torch ^^

Got back home, bathed, ate lunch, and sat glued watching Sweetness In The Salt on DVD for hours, Tavia Yeung is so beautiful!!! Took a nap, had dinner, bathed, and watched DVD again till 2230. Then online, and to bed soon. Yes, I'm a pig :D

Also, never, ever, call your girlfriend and sing a Happy Birthday song, to Jessica. Not when your girlfriend's name is not Jessica. No, I don't have another girl called Jessica. Yes, it was meant to be a joke, but some people are too thick in the head to understand. But 4 years and she cannot even trust me? Oh fucking please, it's so damn disappointing. Nobody feel sorry or worried for me please, because I'm truthfully very ok; I can stop giving fark about people, and I can even finally make the decision to let go of my beloved car. Suddenly, all these tough decisions become so easy. I just had to let something out. Thanks for reading and goodnight everybody!

Earth Hour

2009-03-30T22:40:00.004+08:00

Any of you reading this turned off your lights for it? I did. Seriously. Hell yea :p

It wasn't THAT inconvenient, we still have illumination from the laptops and a small lamp I left open; I don't believe in saving the Earth if I cannot even save myself from falling down and getting hospitalised again :p

Nearly the whole street I live in is dark, safe for 2 houses on the opposite, but then again the other neighbours all either sleep early or don't turn their lights on at night, at all. Also thanks to the rain and the streetlights malfunctioning, again, it was almost pitch black outside my house. No joke, almost couldn't see shit.

Earth Hour nearly went past soon enough, and, feeling a lillllll bit proud having done my part for Earth and being part of something big, I started my car, which proceded to spew menacing black diesel smoke into the atmosphere and I floored it as I've to meet some Fei and Khong Chuan for drinks in Greentown, bollocks to saving fuel for now, hey, I switched off the lights ok!

It was 2120 as I was driving out, smoke happily gushing outta my Xantia's exhaust pipe in some highly accelerated Brownian Motion as I made my way to Greentown, that I noticed...

...that nobody, nobody outside had turned their lights off at all.

Nope. Bright as ever.

Screw la, Malaysians still have effin long to go :(

Edit: Blogging from Safari now, and hey, it did not dismember my words! YAY!!! But I still cannot change my search provider to Wikipedia without installing plugins, lamer. And hence, the search for a browser that looks and function to my expectations continues...

Bo Pit & Bo Pet ^^

2009-03-29T23:21:00.004+08:00

Yen made these:

Thanks dear, I'll take good care of them! Muaks!

My work, featured in a dA article! Again!

2009-03-29T00:04:00.006+08:00

Haha, yea, it's this one again:

Erm, I'm having mixed feelings this time:

1. I'm happy my work has been included with others that are of such quality, I'm truly humbled by them.

2. Why is this the only piece of my work ever featured? Are the others no good? Makes me kinda sad; I'd always thought the Z and cream-coloured Karmann Ghia is pretty swell.

3. Ashamed. Yea, I am. I've been so lazy and haven't been churning anything out at all. I've been working on Alpine A110, Honda NSX, Alfa Romeo Tipo 33 Stradale, De Tomaso Pantera, VW Beetle, and even a Matryoshka doll! I've even promised to draw Jessie a new Beetle and M6, just because I like those too. But, yea, all still WIPs and none near completion :(

4. Somewhat proud. Hell yea baby! One more chalk line on the board for me please!

5. Somewhat motivated. 20 years of procrastinating is somewhat hard to shake off. I feel that I'm making headways, I sincerely do, but I said that too last year. @#$%^&*(

Gotta try harder, just gotta improve! Let's hope it's a different piece featured next time, not that I mind another on the 911 at all, but still, more IS more sometimes :p

Edit: WTH is up with Google Chrome and having no word-wraps? As cool as Chrome is, dismembered words are getting on my nerves. OCD at work again!

Faewell Earthlingz, fer ma shining spicechip haz arrived!

2009-03-28T20:46:00.008+08:00

ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US!!

Was it spaceship? Sorry :D

No wheels, but still looks pretty damn fast, no? Swapped the original wheels back on today!

The Italians make pretty interesting boxes and wedges on wheels! Wait, I meant cars :p

BTW, IE8 farked up my desktop so I rolled back to IE7, but in the end they both farked up my computer together. Blogging from Google Chrome now, and I'm aware it looks a bit, well, different. Gonna try with Apple Safari later (Yes, I have half a dozen browsers on my comp due to the nature of my job, the geekiness!! My OCDness to have everything look at least half decent in all browsers known to humankind has nearly made the programmer wept quite a few times!). Microsoft, your new IE and MSN suck!!!!

Evening, Streetlights, Rain, Mist, Rainbows...

2009-03-26T23:52:00.003+08:00

...it was an awesome sight, and there're actually 2 strips of rainbow! Rainbows coupled with the glow of the sun reflected on the rain-washed surfaces was unearthly, but my lousy phone camera is not worthy :(

Swooning over saloons

2009-03-26T14:29:00.008+08:00

Citroen Xantia, Alfa Romeo 156, Mazda 6, all this pic needs is a Peugeot 406 in it! Ergh, the 156 is so handsome it hurts. NEED ONE. BADLY.

Turbo trouble. No more!

2009-03-21T23:10:00.002+08:00

Replaced the turbo and the Xantia's back on the road! No more crazy exhaust smoke, and the engine oil level should stay normal now, I might not find out though. Benzs are comfortable, but having to wait 2 seconds for response every single time you turn the steering wheel or step on the brakes is freakin absurd, so I'm glad to finally drive something that actually responds. Now for the repaint!

Home alone...

2009-03-18T00:06:00.002+08:00

... so the other "Me"s came to keep me company ;)

Fooled...

2009-03-16T22:59:00.002+08:00

Bought this from a 7-Eleven during my previous trip to Thailand. Johnnie Walker Soda Mix. Tastes like heavily watered down Scotch whisky, with bubbles. Horrible. Eugh. Don't buy.