Sunday 15 February 2009

no.parking


Right.
Either the sign is placed at the wrong place.
Or the bicycle rack is at the wrong place.
And the bike owner can't read the sign.
*Sigh*

Wednesday 11 February 2009

cadbury.strikes.again.

Once again, Cadbury has come up with a totally irrelevant ad.



TOH liked it, he thought it was interesting. My first impression when I first saw it? Totally disliked it. Don’t see the point. Until The Sunday Night Project and Lily Alen did a spoof on it.

Lily and the boys did it well. It was hilarious!

Now, I see Cadbury ad again. It’s okie. I still think it is irrelevant, regardless if sales of their chocs going up.

Someone shed a light on this issue, Cadbury eyebrows: Do the eyebrows have it?

Are you convinced?

death.to.the.garden

Dramatisation?

Well, I live for dramatisation!

Just heard from mom last night that she has decided got the builders to lay cement on the whole garden, leaving only parts of the ground around the red and bottle palm trees.

Now, if you know me, I’m bias toward gardens.

I.Love.My.Gardens.

Not clear?

I.LOVE.MY.GARDENS!


Back home, we have a rather large garden by the side of our corner lot house. It is so big, that it has been mistaken that there could have been another house on that plot. And that is partially the reason why we have two numbers to our house. Partially.

I remember when we first moved in, there wasn’t much grass, as you can imagine what any newly build houses are like. Unlike new builds in the UK where you get your ground area turfed, ours had patches of grass and plenty of lumps.

Mom’s ingenuity and effort had turned the garden into a nice lush green grassy land.


Yes, we still had some of the lumps and yes, we still had some bogginess after it rains. Still, the lush green of the grass was divine!

Then we lost part of the front share of the greenery for a more practical reason. We had replaced it with interlocking bricks to park our cars.

In some ways, I see mom’s point to the cemented ground, less hassle and maintenance. But I can see many other negative points as well.

You will still need to sweep the ground. You will still need to clean the area. Even though there are trees around, the cement will absorb the heat during the day and release it in the night, and we’ll end up having a warmer area, instead of a nice cool garden for BBQs or garden parties.

And don’t get me started on the location or condition of the area or what ifs of the workmanship...

Concrete is so unsustainable as well. Besides the material itself is unsustainable, it will prevent water to be absorbed into the ground, disrupting the natural process of the water cycle.

I know. Besides mom, hardly anyone does the garden anymore. I used to do it now and then when I was back at home. And it is very unpleasant when you had those mosquitoes attacking you while you do your gardening.

But that doesn’t mean we had to get rid of the garden.

It doesn’t mean that by cementing it, there won’t be any mozzies.

Now it’s going to be like my aunt’s compound.



I will miss the wonderful times we had in the garden - BBQs, mooncake festival, and garden parties.

I will miss you beautiful green grass.

I will miss watering the grass when it was hot and dry.

When I was last back in KL, I said to TOH, how much I hated a garden being cemented or equally bad, tiled up. And here we are another statistic.

Gone will be the great and wonderful dreams of having a nice green garden with pergolas and sitting area.

Gone will be the ideas of beautiful landscaped garden.

At least, we managed to spend a little time together when I was last back.


Just like the idea of the shed, this whole cementing the garden is a really bad idea. It is going to be fugly.

*BIG SIGH*

And I know it is not mine or my money. But still...

I’m really upset about it for all that anyone cares.

Goodbye garden, you’ve served us well.

Garden (1995-2009).

Tuesday 10 February 2009

Friday 6 February 2009

honestly? promptly?!

I checked my email and guess what I received?!

An email from VFS, regarding 'Feedback on UK Visa in Malaysia'!

I sent my feedback like eons ago. Last year! In DECEMBER!!!

And they only sent me a reply now.

"Dear Applicant,

Thank you for registering your feedback. Your email will be responded within 2 working days promptly."


Blardiehell, I have to wait a respond in 2 working days, as well!

Promptly? O.o??

Promptly should have been December 2008!

Let's wait and see...

Wednesday 4 February 2009

songsmith

Songsmith eh?

Sounds like a good idea. Until everything in your life becomes a song.

Still a good idea?

changes.to.APC.process

Did anyone know that there have been changes to the APC process???

Read Jon Lever’s article, ‘APC Tips: Recent changes to the APC process’ on Building website.

The article summarises the recent changes.

Then go to RICS APC to read on what has been changed.

For anyone sitting for Final Assessment from 2009 onwards, these changes affect you.

That means all of us who are still recording our diary, and referred candidates.

RICS has provided a comprehensive guidance for your APC. You can get the following from the link:

1. APC candidate’s guide
2. APC / ATC requirements and competencies guide
3. APC guide for supervisors, counsellors and employers
4. APC pathway guides
5. Rules of Conduct - Guidance notes

First of all, read up on the updated Candidate’s Guide, which everyone should have a copy handy for reference. This was recently updated in December 2008.

For UK candidates, you will need to read through the changes in the APC Templates, for non-UK candidates, please go to the link at the end of the second paragraph provided on RICS APC Guidance Notes.

For us UK candidates, read what is provided in the APC Templates. This article explains the changes in APC templates in December 2008 and the way you submit your Final assessments.

There are pathway specific Excel workbooks (located on your right on the APC Templates webpage), which you need to download for your pathway, to be completed for your Final Assessment submission. This workbook should be updated every quarterly.

The Interim Assessment has been deleted from the process.

There are no changes to the APC diary, and Supervisor Report and Counsellor Report templates.

However, I did not check if there are any changes to the RICS Structured Training template. I suppose it is a template (?) after all, for guidance.

There is also a guide on how Final Assessment Submissions should be sent to RICS.

All the above mentioned documents are available for download. Documents for download if not appeared as a link on the article will be available on your right: PDF downloads, Word downloads, and Excel downloads.

So that would be your reading exercise and updating your pathway workbook for this week.

I’m going to speak to my Supervisor and see if the company is aware of the recent changes, read the new workbook and updated Candidate’s Guide, and start filling up my pathway workbook.

Don’t you just hate it when these changes occur when you are halfway through your training?

p.s.: Please click on ‘APC journey’ link below for my APC experience. It is based on my experience and opinion only. Please check with your Supervisor, Counsellor or local APC Doctor if in doubt.

Tuesday 3 February 2009

contactless.barclay

New Barclay ad. So cool! This is the extended version - a whole minute extra! Well, almost.