It's finally here

This weekend, will be the day I marry my fiancee, Li Xia. A pastor and good friend of ours reminded us to not spend too much time preparing for the wedding ceremony and dinners only, but to prepare ourselves for handling the marriage itself. The festivities last just but a day, but marriage lasts a lifetime. Very wise words actually. So we've been preparing ourselves mentally, going for pre-marital courses and counselling...and the day is finally here. To all relatives and friends coming to Kota Kinabalu this weekend, hope you have a safe trip and see you all soon.

Tax Day

The ghosts of taxation in Malaysia has come once again to haunt us all...have you done your taxes? You have few days left...unless of course you have a biz income. I wasn't very satisfied with my tax deductions in 2007 and began 2008 with an intention to try and reduce my income tax. One of the ways I could think of was to spend as much on books and magazines as possible, since they other options under the 'Deductions' section are more or less like that already. I spent RM440 on books and mags in 2007.

So last night I collected all my 2008 receipts and calculated...
RM439?!! Whaa?? Aiyo... I thought I really bought a lot but apparently I didn't. I guess I also forgot about it as well since the tax ghosts comes once a year only.

Well, I've spent RM235++ on books so far this year...Hopefully I will not make the same mistake as last year. Lol...

Die!!!!!

Its not the first time I had problems with ants actually, but this time they were starting to get on my nerves. Insecticide sprays are quite efficient when I was staying in a single rented room. Just spray any trail of ants you see...and if its not in my room, its not my problem. Heheh...

Not anymore though. If its not the wet kitchen, its the dry kitchen. If its not the dry kitchen its behind the cabinets...and insecticide sprays may take out part of the colony but they will come back with a vengeance. The only way to wipe them all out is to get rid of their leader...the queen ant and after consulting with many people, ant baits are the way to go.

They didn't have a supergeng ant killer..so I bought the OK one

I managed to find these China made ant baits (you can tell its a genuine made in China product by its english instructions) at a morning market at Lido. RM1 for 4 packets. That evening I sprinkled some of the baits at different locations and within minutes it was an instant hit.

Ants dragging the bait back to their HQ (top right hand corner where there is a gap in the cement)

I was expecting ant carcasses when I woke up this morning but seems there were still some ants crawling about. They took all the bait though... Hmm, maybe it takes some time to work?

Its only a game

Some people take football way too seriously...(LINK)

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Iraqi shot dead attempting goal

Associated Press

BAGHDAD -- Police say an Iraqi soccer player has been shot dead just as he was about to kick what could have been the tying goal in a weekend game south of Baghdad.

Police Maj. Muthanna Khalid says a striker from the Buhairat amateur team was facing only the goalie during a Sunday match in Hillah when a supporter of the rival Sinjar club shot him in the head in the final minute of play.

Sinjar was leading 1-0 when the shooting occurred. Khalid said a spectator was arrested.

More Iraqis are turning out for sports events now that security is improving. Major matches in Baghdad are heavily guarded but security in amateur games in smaller cities is often lax.

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Memorable Weekend

I've had a lot of things on my plate recently and I've been wondering if I had bitten off more than I could chew. Its been quite a while since I've been this stressed out. Fortunately, last weekend saw an end to one of those things. I've finally moved into my new house...heheh.

No words can describe the feeling of how it is when you first move into your new house...though if you really insist, 'tiring' or 'stressful' can be used. Yes, its tiring but I'm happy. I'm currently living out of cardbox boxes at the moment (literally), that is until I can unpack everything. It will take some time. That's why I've only showed the one place that is the least messy to look at...heheh.

I also had one of the best 'moving-in' presents ever...

Liverpool beat Man U 4-1 at Old Trafford!!! Woohooo! I couldn't have asked for more. I did not watch the match as I was still cleaning up the house at that time, but I had a good friend text me goal updates. Ironically this good friend of mine is a die-hard MU fan... and I was wondering for a while if he was trying to pull a fast one on me as he SMSed me the third and fourth goals. Now at least when people ask me, 'Oh, when did you move in to the new house?' I can always reply with 'The day Liverpool beat MU 4-1 at Old Trafford.'

Heheh, I know there are a lot of MU fans reading this blog...and most of my friends are MU fans as well, so I won't say much. Hey at least you guys are still top of the league with 1 game on hand...

Silver Wedding Anniversary of Joseph + Lili (Renewal of Vows)

The Silver Wedding Anniversary (25 years of marriage) of Joseph and Lili was a very timely shoot for me. Having been caught up in so much preparations for my own wedding and for the house, it is refreshing to see firsthand the life of a couple that has made it through 25 years of thick and thin, ups and downs and coming out with such a deep love and respect for each other and their own children. I would like to congratulate Joseph and Lili for having reached a big milestone in your lives and hope that you will have great years ahead of you together!

Pang Sai Chua

How were your Chinese New Year break everybody? Heheh... I hope you all had a great time (With lots of food too) cos I definitely did. I found these Zimbabwe dollars when I was going through some of my old stuff last week...


Thats $4 Zimbabwe Dollars there. As of today, the rate on the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe's website listed the currency value at:

FOREIGN CURRENCY RATES 30/01/2009

Interbank Exchange Rate ZWD 7 039 188 034.00 per US$1

USD$1.00 = Z$ 7,039,188,034.00!!! Holy Cow! That means the toilet paper I used last night is even worth more than these 2 sheets???