What a clever idea...

Saving Petrol Consumption
It was a smart but risky idea... On certain days, my mum goes back at the same time as me, so we thought about it, why not car pool back, and fetch the car on the way to work the next day... That way I'd save petrol going to and back for one trip. And that's 50+km for one way, which results in about 100+km of petrol in savings... for one day! :) Of course safety precautions had to be taken, especially since the car has no alarm system. Steering is locked with the hammer lock, Alpine face detached, Smart Tag removed. Thankfully, being a 'cold' car ensured it some form of added security. Parked it at a 24 hour petrol station. Hmm... maybe I should invest in a car security system...

The Fast and the Furious : Tokyo Drift
Ooo... it's coming, the third and latest installment of the Fast and the Furious series sets it's sights to the exciting world of Japanese drift racing... This is definitely one movie I'm looking forward to, having enjoyed the previous 2 movies... It's coming in June. Here's a trailer uploaded by Fast Car Magazine, enjoy!



Ok that's all for today, dun have much to say...

PEACE and God Bless,
Aris Tee

It has actually passed?

1 Year...So a year has passed, since I 1st started into the working world. Yeah, it's been that fast... How is it? Hmm... I dunno wat to say. Still trying my best to cope, although I admit I'm much faster and efficient in what I'm doing, I think I still have some way to go before I'm really good at what I do. Actually wanted to celebrate my 1st anniversary by going out and doing stuff... but due to unforeseen circumstances it's not gonna happen. I guess just have a quiet night at home... It's not really a big deal, it's just a 1st year, other people have been working for years and it's nothing to them. The contract ends in a couple of days, wonder what is the next step...



155 Updates...
Fixed some of the problems with the 155 that have been plaguing me for the last month or so... Fixed the driver's door that just wouldn't let you open it. Finally... hehe... Fixed the boot-release, which didn't function for some reason, resulting in me having to shut off the engine and going to the back to open the boot each time. Now opens nicely... Fixed the rear de-mister. Finally I can see the rear during the morning runs... it's been off for a week. Installed new gear linkage, and also the Italvolanti wheel, which I admit was a lil too small for me, but I soon got the hang of it. It has a nice feel and sculptured grip. Nice...


Gear linkage...

Italvolanti wheel...

Boss included... (Look closely at the engraved text)

Logo as the horn button...

All fitted and set!

Spotlight on Morgan +4
Let me introduce to you to one of the most beautifully crafted new vehicles in recent times. Yup, you heard that right, like all Morgans, the +4 is old skool... and they've been doing that for 70 years. However, the +4 is the 1st Morgan in a really long time to actually properly sit 4 people. The car is powered by Ford's latest Duratec engine, in order to comply with new emission regulations. Couple that to the timeless design, and what you have is a masterpiece.






Okla, not much else to say,

PEACE and God Bless,
Aris Tee

A morning with the LRT...

Haih... so tired, just reached the office. Made the big mistake of taking the LRT at Pasar Seni and not Bangsar like usual. Found out it's quite far from Dataran Merdeka... bout 1 or 2kms. And I had a heavy bag with me. Sigh... I was soaking wet when I reached the office, luckily I brought an extra shirt. Thank God I'm not meeting someone today :)

Val was so mean, can still laugh at me... :(

Anyways, it's also good to see that Malaysians are finally getting the hang of being courteous and also more civilised when getting onto an LRT. No more of the squeezing before the ones inside get out, now they even line-up. Yup, you heard that right, they line-up! Which is good... But it was like a real sardine can... omG... if I take from Bangsar I could still get a seat. But I was stuck in between people with no bars to hold. And suddenly there was this emergency braking for God-knows what reason... alot of people almost fell down... it was almost at Kampung Baru station. Well, okla, I reached safe and sound... today's LRT trip was really different, I wonder why...

Okla, take care,

PEACE and God Bless,
Aris Tee

We Don't Need No Sleep...

Ok, haven't written in a bit... I've been too tired lately... Haven't been sleeping much either... hehe...

Jac @ Planet Hollywood
It was going to be a late night... I could just see it coming. Fetched Ulee and LeOn at the LRT station in Bangsar, then went straight to KL. It was raining... rain, rain, rain... thankfully the wipers didn't give way. Arrived there early, tried contacting MXV and Jihan to find out their wherabouts. Uncle Frankie & Auntie Wendy were there with a couple of others down in Planet Hollywood. We went to the food court at Lot 10 because it was cheaper... hehe (actually I dun mind PH, but I have to be considerate too). MXV joined us, and almost gave LeOn a heart attack. Went straight to PH after that.

Met Detnelat there, got us a place at the side, not exactly good viewing, but at least we got ourselves a spot. Waited 2 hours plus for it to be 10.30... *yawn*. Detnelat makan some delicious-looking pasta, while me, Ulee and LeOn just talk-talk to waste time.


Detnelat's Pink Drink that eventually became Myn's

Planet Hollywood? Not kopitiam meh... haha...

Myn, Ivy and Jihan soon came and Jihan told us she has places already, so she won't be joining us. So Myn and her went off to their place while Ivy joined us. Farah turned up after that and she sat at the same place as Jihan &Myn. Btw, Ivy looked really pretty and feminine that night. Cute leh...


You take pic of me, I take pic of you...

Candid shot!

Let's play "Catch the Hat"...

Ivy being shy...

The crowd...

Our view of the stage...

Wassup...

So the show started at 10.30pm sharp, and when Jac came on stage there was loud applause. The place was jam packed like sardines or tuna. People were all standing as far as even PH's staircase... wow. Jac sang a lotta songs, mostly nice and familiar tunes... she seemed really well-prepared, and I bet it must be really daunting to have the show all to yourself. Well, on our side, we were quite united in cheers because MXV was with us... haha... Jac called him up on stage to dance too... he seemed so happy!





Well, of course some of us saw it coming, Farah's duet with Jac! They sang "Since You've Been gone" by Kelly Clarkson. And I know there were critiques saying Farah's singing would be drowned by Jac. And boy did she prove them all wrong! She sang AWESOME, her voice was so powerful! Like Chong said, maybe the challenge of singing with Jac brought out the best in her. Towards the end she covered the long notes and it was so good... ended with a nice warm hug, followed by the Farahnatic's loud coordinated screams of her name! Btw she looked really pretty dat nite... wow!





Jac later called in an unplanned 3-person duet with Misha Omar and Siti Sarah. I admit that performance was excellent too.. wow. We got such a nice show that nite... And there were many nice numbers like "All by Myself" and "Gemilang"... it was also cool that Jac's "cikgu" was also there and also sang! Wow... At the end of the show we were like in a standing ovation! (Boy I can't wait for Farah's turn... ). It that wasn't enough, we goofed around taking photos...


In between songs must main-main...

Farah playing...

Isn't she just plain cute?

Everyone in one pic... Ivy so ganas...

Hehe... why only Yaya looking here?

Wheeeee....

Small group pic...

After that went for a mamak session till almost 4am. *yAwN* So many stories... MXV, me, Ulee, Detnelat and LeOn were there... I sent Ulee, LeOn and Detnelat home before reaching my home at 5am. Slept at 5.30am and woke up at 7am. Yay!


Teh tarik, Teh ais, Barley panas...

Not yet sleepy ar?

Tales, tales and more tales!

Farah's Birthday
Yay it was Farah(Shamin)'s birthday... after being the person behind all our birthday dos, it's time for a birthday for the mastermind herself. Wished it could've been much better, after all she's done for us... if only I knew her birthdate earlier. Val and Lin got a nice cake and we surprised her when she came to the office. Haha... she seemed really happy tho...
*Happy Birthday Farah!*


Val presenting the cake to the b'day girl...

Make a wish!

Ok, that's all for today... next time then,

PEACE and God Bless,
Aris Tee

Time Wasting...

Nothing much happening lately... just wasting some time before Jac's lil performance at Planet Hollywood. It's at night but the tickets start selling at 7pm. Also waiting for the Malaysian GP to start too... on TV. Yup, no tickets... sigh, last year before I joined, they gave out tickets. This year, when I'm already here, no tickets! Aiyaa... oh well, should have bought it early... nvm, as long as can watch I'm grateful enough. This year's F1 has been really exciting, as it is unpredictable and you can't tell who's gonna win like the last 3-4 years before... Met my dad yesterday for lunch, first time in almost a year... went to Chilli's. He passed me some gear linkage for the 155 that was bought some time back, as well as an Italvolanti wheel... Managed to catch the qualifying of F1 there... looks to be a good start to this year's Malaysian GP. We'll have to wait and see what happens...

Okla, I dun hav much else to say,

PEACE and God Bless,
Aris Tee

Cruze Control

Not much to blog about... so let's focus on a car I find rather interesting...

Spotlight on Chevrolet Cruze
Some might have heard about this car. It's the Chevrolet Cruze, also known as Holden Cruze and Suzuki Ignis. Confused? Haha... I find it rather cool, maybe because it's not common on our roads. I've stumbled upon a few before, mostly black, silver and white. It has rather cool details like those Opel-like lights up in front and super-cool twin rounded lights at the rear (rather like our Juara, but a lil cooler... maybe that's why I like it). The signal indicators are frosted (on the Chevrolet and Holden versions) and blend in with the rear windscreen. The car by the way, is based on the 4WD version of the facelifted Suzuki Ignis. Being under the same parent company (General Motors) meant that a lot of badge swapping occurs in certain markets. It's sold in Europe as the Chevrolet Cruze, while in Australia it's called the Holden Cruze. In it's homeland in Japan it's called Suzuki Ignis, but has recently been changed to Chevrolet Cruze. The ones I've seen on Malaysian roads were Chevrolets. Based on information from Wikipedia, the Cruze is a compact SUV, and is powered by a 1.5 litre 75kw DOHC engine, up from the 1.3 litre 60kw DOHC in the original Suzuki Ignis. It's available in both manual and automatic and its rivals included the Suzuki Jimny and Daihatsu Terios (Perodua Kembara in our market).

This is the original, the Suzuki Ignis, which also did well in rallying. The facelifted version formed the base for the Chevrolet/Holden Cruze.





This is the Chevrolet Version, which featured a new grille and that lovely rear with frosted lamps and twin pair of rounded lamps. It also had some revises in the interior department.




Last but not least, the Holden version, which is actually a rebadged version of the Chevrolet. So it has all the same detailing.








It's an economical and chic runabout, I wouldn't mind driving one of these, it might never win anything in terms of power and performance, but it has a lot of potential for modding... You won't find this in our Chevrolet showrooms though, because despite rumours that they were going to launch it a couple of years back, it never seemed to take off.

That's all for today... I might focus soon on another small SUV which I really like ;)

PEACE and God Bless,
Aris Tee

La la...

Too many things circling in my mind lately... Trying my best to focus, though it has been really hard lately. Doing lots of stuff to keep my mind off my problems... And also thanks to Chong, who never fails to make me feel better at times like this. I'm so grateful to the Lord for that. Not only does he send me a good friend in times of need, he provides me with such a lovely family and also an adopted family... what more could a person ask for? I tell myself I can get through this, and that I'll do my best to make this work...

155 Photoshoot...
Needed to finish a couple of shots before I submit my roll of film, so decided to utilise the empty parking area of the office to do a shoot of the 155. Well, it was 7am, so there wasn't anyone there, so I arranged the car in a few places and shot a couple of pics. Add in the newly-polished sparkle and nice morning sun, and the pics turned out pretty ok. ;)






Meow MeowTook a pic of my cutie Muffin before going to work too...



Work StressI admit working life has been really stressful lately... but I'm doing my best to hold on, coping no matter what happens... Been putting my best in my work, doing more pages nowadays, and most of the time very minimal or no changes are needed for the layouts. But to be honest, the working hours are killing me. I spend 11-12 hours at work daily, and I get 3-4 hours of sleep a day for almost a year. It's started to show on my face and eyes, taking in all this stress and fatigue... too often do I feel sleepy on the road and needing 1-2 stops to doze off. Most of this time is considered OT, louis vuitton handbags but frankly they dun exactly give all the OT that we're entitled to... sigh... But there are so many instances that I'd rather trade in my OT for a night's good rest and sleep... It's weakening me and I've been getting sick too often... adding to that, the pay's really poor. And I mean REALLY. It's bout 300-400 less then my expected salary, and after confirmation, the pay has almost no difference, just slightly. And there's no merit or anything like that, for instance like most of my friends' workplaces, the boss would offer a random extra for a good performance during the month. Nope, none of that here... and NO BONUS. Yup, you heard that right. NO BONUS! Even the poorest companies give at least some form of bonus. But here, nil. Sigh... And I've been working for almost a year and they don't even have my name anywhere in the paper! Not even the front page where they'd normally put "Graphic Designer - who-who", every other magazine has it... my buddies all have their names in their publications. Not that I'm so into credit, it's I'm just worried that later I won't have any proof to say I designed something later when I change jobs. It's as if I'm not working here... they don't even provide name cards... sigh... I think there's no use complaining. It's not like it's gonna change anytime. That's why I've been doin my best to adapt and absorb it... waiting for the opportunity comes to move on to something better. But it's not all bad actually... well, there are merits, and so far, the good points are more than the bad ones by a slight margin. Well, there's free parking, a nice kitchen with fridge & microwave, free movie tickets, nice environment of people to talk with, 24hr internet and a relaxed dress code. I just hope this delicate balance would not be overturned to negativity. Pray that I'll get through this ya, I'm trying my best... I like how things are, except the bad points...

Dinner & Polls
Went to dinner with Myn, because she ajak all of a sudden. But in the end only me, her and Ivy went. Met at her house, then she decided she wanted A&W, so we went to the one in PJ. Had so much chatting there, it was so much fun. Went on to many silly and outrageous topics to even about boyfriend and girlfriend experiences... lol... After that I asked if Ivy and Myn could fill up some of the company's polls (kinda silly poll, as Microsoft takes over almost 70% of it...). Well, Ivy answered well, just that Myn was kinda naughty (well, she's only 12... hehe).






After that we had some fun at the back playground, which brought such nice and happy memories... eventually had to head to our cars to go home because it was getting late and Myn has school the next day.




There was this car that parked in the middle of the car park, causing a lotta problems. Myn wrote a note for it. "-deleted-" hahaha... Anyways, guided Ivy to the highway, and sent munchkin home. Passed the money I owe her family (the change from her b'day dinner) and wished her nite-nite. Btw, she left the phone in the car again... haha... ;)

Oh well, looks like life ain't so bad... it's just how you make the best of it...

PEACE and God Bless,
Aris Tee