Kenapa....? by Adam Ismadi

Well..
Thirty = YES!
Flirty = NOPE or at least not as much anymore. Feeling more settled down and stable now
Thriving = YES YES YES! Accomplished quite a few of my long term plans. And very happy it all went through without much of a hiccup.

Now, its time for me to go through my thirties... Happy 30th birthday to me!
Today another FREE buka puasa at Equatorial KL with bunch of corporate people...

I will only get to celebrate my big 30 in Chilli's later tonight... for sahur. Yay for the free desert!!!

Posted by AdamIsmadi at 2:19 pm | Permalink | Comments

I've been trying to help out a good friend of mine on getting his very own pad. Even since I've bought my own place, I've been on the lookout for something that will suit his budget/taste. I like this apt/condo hunting. I like so much that I would consider it as my favourite hobby. The thing I like the most is to view the show units. Get some design inspiration for my own flat later on.

His ideal apt would be :

1. something very close to a LRT station (STAR or Putra)
2. a 3 bedroom and 2 bath room preferred or at least a 2 bedroom apt plus one parking space
3. the complex should have full condo facility - gym + swimming pool
4. if possible, Freehold
5. should be as near as possible to KL
6. priced less than RM150,000

After month of searching and viewing numerous show unit... still none suits his needs. As usual I will buy The Star every Saturday, last saturday as I was flipping through The Star I saw the ad for The Axis Residences. I suited all of his strict criteria except one. It is a Leasedhold property.

I immediately notify him and we went to view the show unit on site in Pandan Indah on Sunday. It really is a fantastic development! It is like 20 meters to the LRT Pandan Indah! He is so very very excited, he paid the RM1000 on the spot! Hehehe.... he took the 839sq ft, 2+1 unit, on the 17th floor, with the view of the mountains.

The price of the unit is 151k after 5% bumi discount, its 143k! After that the developer gave another 5% discount! So it is actually 136k! The developer also thrown in a Free 10 foot kitchen cabinet too! The condo has gym over looking the swimming pool with full height glass wall... The swimming pool and gym are located on the 9th floor I think. But the best thing of the condo is its roof top SKY Lounge over looking KLCC!!! The roof top would house a cafe, restaurant and lounge chairs to relax...

The project will start early 2006 and complete April 2009.

Posted by AdamIsmadi at 3:18 pm | Permalink | Comments

All the steamboat feast... the Yong Tau Foo stuffs and Prawns+Crabs!

Posted by AdamIsmadi at 12:51 pm | Permalink | Comments

Been to this place a few times and it seems that it stayed pretty much the same. Only the price has gone up a bit during puasa period, it is now RM30 nett per person...

1. The food
a. All as expected, mostly local dishes decent choices
b. 2 types of rice, nasi kerabu and nasi minyak
c. No soup, no salad.. ohh come on, its only RM30nett!
d. Some grilled fish and chicken, I avoided
e. Some fruits and local desert
f. The steamboat is surely the star of the buffet. Took loads of prawns, crabs (though both kinda small-ish but for RM30nett cheap!) plus cuttlefish (these are great if dipped in the Yong Tau foo sauce!)
g. Tomyam soup as the steamboat stock. Not too spicy, not over powering just nice for steamboat use.
h. Mostly I concentrate on the seafood steamboat all satisfactorily fresh.
i. The only annoying thing is that they only provide those pre-packed mineral waters in cup. So not sufficient! If you want something more or something else… that’s extra. I though the whole concept of buffet is that they would include unlimited non-alcoholic beverages… well perhaps they just felt the need to make even more money.

2. The ambiance
a. Some traditional Ghazal music was played line. Soothing and entertaining.
b. I asked for more ice and the waiters were quite efficient, getting drinks but very very lazy to clear up the tables!
c. Throngs of people last night, till the amount of food is more than sufficient the do refill them often.
d. My table is in the middle of the restaurant so I could not enjoy the view of the lake. Sigh...

Hmm.. I actually paid this buffet myself and I chose to come here. To me, the RM30nett buffet/steamboat is well worth every penny spent. Still its kinda in a middle-low end of the buffet spectrum. For the price it is quite a bargain I think.

Verdict = 7.5/10

Posted by AdamIsmadi at 12:32 pm | Permalink | Comments

Or its known previously as Ming Court Hotel. I have nothing much to say on the hotel itself... so lets go on with the review. Last night's buffet was in the Chinese restaurant 38++ per person.

1. The food
a. Very very limited choices of food. It is a disappointment
b. The prawn is OK-ish
c. The sweet sour crabs are quite fantastic... the only good thing here!
d. No dimsum
e. No western
f. No salad
g. No roast lamb
h. Very very hard and icy local ice cream
i. Drinks – Soya, Air Tebu, Sirap Bandung
j. Very slow on refilling the buffet items

2. The ambiance
a. None! No traditional music... no music at all.
b. We ate in a conference room so I felt like I was in secondary school canteen!
c. The buffet was arranged against the wall hence everyone has to go through one long queue. This only emphasize the canteen feeling.

What else can I say... I don't even think its worth taking photos of. I would avoid at all cost. Paying way too much for absolutely nothing at all! Apparently some other company is inviting me to Corus again... and I have gently tell them I cannot make it there...

Final Verdict = 1/10

Posted by AdamIsmadi at 9:15 am | Permalink | Comments

Yeah note to self... Need to snap up some photos of the star players on the buffet spread! Sorry guys, reached Eden at about 6.50pm! Another 10mins before buka puasa so not much time to snap any photo. The traffic yesterday was horrendous! Will try to be early today to Chorus Hotel.

Posted by AdamIsmadi at 11:15 am | Permalink | Comments

I think the new place looks great a double storey restaurant with steep steps up to the upper level for the buffet. Lower level is meant for a la carte dining. Once entering the restaurant you are displayed with lobsters as big as my arms! Nope, this is not for the buffet! Have to head upstairs for the buffet. It cost RM58++ per person I think, me not too sure because I am not paying. Heheheh...

1. The food
a. Not a big buffet spread, variety is kinda limited.
b. They have the Mixed Rice Section, nothing to shout about. Even the dendeng daging is not up to par, I find it taste more like rendang daging then dendeng!
c. Some prawns on the menu, prawn salad, fried prawn with chili, and sweet sour prawn. All OK-ish lah...
d. The star of the buffet is the Fresh, fresh, fresh oysters. Eden is quite well known to be a seafood restaurant and the freshness of its oysters and they are thawed to perfection. I hate having oysters that still partly frozen. Yuck!!!
e. The roasted lamb is also fantastic…. Succulent, soft, tender, juicy!!! With the mint sauce its divine!!!
f. They also serve dim sum... only a few variety but enough for me. I am quite the dim sum addict and to get good halal ones can be a pain! Their’s are kinda too dry because I think its being prepared much much earlier. But as I said good enough for me la...
g. Drinks – Soya, Air Tebu, Sirap Ros, The Tarik.
h. Some processed meat and salads...
i. The do refill the buffet item regularly, never once I can see an empty dish on the buffet table, its always filled! Good job!

2. The ambience
a. Some LIVE traditional music played. Gamelan stuffs... Very soothing I felt. Not too loud just right...
b. The seating in the restaurant is quite sparse. I think very comfortable lots of room around the table.
c. Presentation of the food again typical buffet look with a few stalls scattered around serving the roast lamb, bbq fish, cendol, ABC, char kuey teow, etc etc,
d. The waiters are pretty efficient and attentive on clearing the used plate quickly. I really like this.
e. The restaurant has not one but two surau! Large and clean with flip-flops supplied!

As a whole, I think Eden is a good place for the buka puasa buffet, apparently there was like 2 table full of Chinese customers munching away the buffet spread. Hehehe... Its all good, just that for RM58++ is quite steep, I think.

Final Verdict = 7/10

Posted by AdamIsmadi at 11:10 am | Permalink | Comments

Well, as usual during this fasting month, I do have a few berbuka puasa buffet to attend to. This will not help the fact I am hoping to loose some weight during Ramadan, hmm... perhaps after Raya then. Ok now for the buffet venues:

1. Eden Village
2. Le Meridien
3. Hotel Istana
4. Kelana Jaya Seafood
5. Chorus Hotel (Used to be Ming Court)

Of the entire buka puasa venues, the one I am totally looking forward to is at Le Meridien and this is in their Al Nafourah restaurant. Why? Because it is the most expensive buka puasa set menu in KL!!! I think it is like RM120++ per head!!! I cannot begin to imagine what they would serve to justify the totally outrageous set menu price! I think the restaurant is decorated like a Arabian Palace, and perhaps they will serve food on plate with real gold trimmings? The main question is does that makes the food taste better? Only time will tell... gonna have to wait till Monday for the verdict! Ok Eden Village at Jln. Raja Chulan is later today... BTW anyone has any good recommendation for a great buka puasa buffet/set menu?

Posted by AdamIsmadi at 10:55 am | Permalink | Comments

Been watching a few movies at the GSC and most of the time they will show snippets of upcoming movies. One movie does seem very very interesting. Funnily enough it features a cute chicken with headphone dancing its heart out to a weird albeit very cheerful foreign tune! So off to web to get more info... and the song is actually 'Dragostea Din Tei' by a Romanian boyband, O-Zone. If you observe the Chicken Run movie snippet, the cute chicken has headphones on and dances in a very peculiar unwavering move.

FYI, even though the song has a Romanian title, it is rather better known on the web as the Numa Numa Song. And if you looked harder on the internet there is a specific dance for the song, and yes its called the Numa Numa Dance. This song and dance was made famous by a American teenager doing a lip sync while dancing with the song or rather making numerous facial expressions and flailing his arms rigorously. It is a really really funny clip! Go check it out here Numa Numa Dance and click at the 'Watch This Movie' link. Go check it out... u will understand how the cute chicken got its dance moves from.

Posted by AdamIsmadi at 3:08 pm | Permalink | Comments

This photo was taken on my way to Cameron Highlands. Not too sure of its name now. Great place to relax after driving through some twisting country road.

Posted by AdamIsmadi at 6:18 pm | Permalink | Comments

Just wanna change the look of this blog. I have also published my blog's archive. And oh boy, I have been blogging since 2003! All the while I thought that I have just started this blog yesterday! I think Takdekerja was the one that sparked my interest in blogging. Thanks TK! I will regularly change the banner with photos I took. The current banner = beach @ sunset photo was taken in Terengganu on my last East Coast vacation (Feb '05). Nothing beats the feeling of being on a deserted beach while witnessing a majestic sunset, with the sound of waves crashing, the smell of the ocean, the breeze gently caress my face. Oh yeah, for sunset the west coast should be better right? But hey just have to make do of what's available laa...

Seriously I need to plan a vacation to a beach resort again. The last one was in Langkawi (Aug '05). Perhaps after Raya would be a good time to go to Terengganu but err.. it would be a bad season to go right? It is gonna be the rainy monsoon season. Maybe I should look for somewhere on the west coast.. Lumut? To tell you the truth I have never ever been to Lumut. I think Lumut has always sounds like somewhere I should avoid! I will start to do some research and hopefully it will be fine... Oh yeah.. I've got it! Been some while since I've been to Penang!!! They have good to OK beach hotels/resorts and the choice of food is endless. Ok la gonna scrap Lumut and opt for Penang instead.

Posted by AdamIsmadi at 12:22 pm | Permalink | Comments

Sigh... Well, I am glad that my time has come to turn 30 years old end of this month. Not that I have any issue regarding my age. It is just a number right? Yeah right! What I cannot ignore is other people's perception of me, especially my parents and siblings. Turning 30 soon and still no signs of settling down with a great girl, make babies as soon as possible... Any as usual I threw the same old reasons,

1. my flat is not yet ready (though it will around end of 2006)
2. even my eldest bro is still not yet married! And he is 37 this year?!
3. I am not financially steady yet
4. I am concentrating on my carrier now

That's about it really. My parents are not the pestering type, or at least they don't do it too much to me. I do feel that they are very accommodating to my needs. I do love them to bits... My bro (I have 2 bros, this is the other one) once asked me to introduced him to my girlfriend and then I replied that I have none. So he casually says, well, even if I have boyfriend introduced him laa... I was somewhat shocked by his forwardness... but again I played it cool and tell him off from talking such non-sense.

I enjoy a very tight relationship with my siblings and parents, albeit I have kept the burning secret for so long... Don't get me wrong here... I do want to settle down with a girl, get married and keep this whole side of me in the closet. I have made the decision long ago, I want to get married. The question is just when... when will I be brave and ready enough to take on this matter. Time will tell...

I have watched this one movie that I cannot recall the title anymore... its about a guy coming out to his dad... He had a terrible time coming out but right at the end of the movie, he sat in a small boat with his dad fishing, just the two of them. Suddenly his dad said, "Son, life is like a game of poker, you will just have to try your best to play the hand you are dealt with."

It's a great movie... or at least to me it is... I just could not recall its title.

Posted by AdamIsmadi at 3:28 pm | Permalink | Comments

Not only I will not be getting any bonus this year, my salary beginning January 2006 will be cut down by rm300! Then again the value is kinda small but who would accept a cut? I certainly cannot bear even the thought of it! I do feel the company has not been too kind to me. So I am taking a pro-active stand on this issue by updating my resume and passing it around. Albeit my bosses and colleagues are a great bunch of folks, the HR and top management are not appreciating their stuffs enough.

I truly believe since I am in IT, its rather pointless of staying in one company for too long. Next month (November) will mark my 2 years of service here. I was hoping to stay here for at least 3 years before hopping elsewhere but this whole no bonus plus pay cut fiasco is pushing all my wrong buttons... Recently after getting all this bad news, me now so very discourage to do any work. Resulting of more time spending surfing the web/replying emails. I've become so complacent now.

Posted by AdamIsmadi at 3:47 pm | Permalink | Comments

Actually I have been trying to start a new blog, but I suddenly felt bad on doing just that. It seems that quite a few bloggers have started to link my blog. So now I've decided to quietly continue this blog of mine!
I wanted a new leased of life for my blog. To start fresh, but, I would mean to start building the blog's character yet again. I definitely do not want that! This has to be it. This has to be my own personal mark in this whole world wide web.

Posted by AdamIsmadi at 2:57 pm | Permalink | Comments