Home Improvements

Can’t believe that it has been two decades my family and I have been living in our current humble abode. I’m sure there are many who can quote a higher record, but each man to his own, no?

The passing years are not kind, though. Just as much as time leaves its marks on living things, inanimate objects are not spared either. A house this age is bound to incur costs sooner or later. Our kitchen has been leaking water from the roof recently, and our pipes aren’t helping the already-ridiculously-low pressured water supply. Worse yet is that whenever you start investing money to fix them, more things pile up. Apparently it is also time to replace our water tank; I climbed up the roof to take a look at it myself and the plumber sure wasn’t trying to rob me. It *is* in a sad state =P

Sadly, all this just piles on to an already tight household budget. We’re not talking a few hundreds worth of expenses that can be absorbed by rationing social activities and other minor ‘luxuries’ that are already rather limited in this household. Add to that the rising costs of maintaining my rather well-cared-for car; its a nice car but its maintenance costs aren’t proportional to its size, haha. The year *just* started, and already I’m having a headache.

But back on the topic of the home maintenance, it just might be a better long term solution to get a new house. Or is it? Right now, the commute to and from work is LONG and it eats my time and budget. It was never cost effective to rent another place because then I’d be maintaining two homes. I’ll almost definitely never have a career in Klang, and long term prospects of good education (yes.. THAT long term :P) in Klang has long been a fallacy. Long are gone the days of excellent government education in this humble city.

However, landed property are priced ridiculously… and my current career does not encourage getting a decent home, especially if I’m going to have to support it alone. So which should be a priority? Switch careers or get something affordable that will hardly compare to the current home?

Decisions… decisions…

New year all over again…

Being Malaysian has its perks. For starters, we get TWO grand new year celebrations… one being the New Year we all know and love, and the other being the flashy and noisy Chinese New Year, which is pretty big here considering the percentage of the population that the Chinese in M’sia represent.

2011 thus far has been rather positive thus far from a general perspective, but I’ll also admit that the celebrations are also far more timid that I’m used to. Chinese New Year, especially, was a lot quieter and peaceful than years past. Of course, living in Klang does mean that ONE thing doesn’t change and that is the 9th day of the new year. It’s like being in the middle of a war; crackers (BIG ones!) everywhere and extravagant fireworks lighting up the skies. It does a good job of reminding us that CNY indeed is here, but it also reminds some of us that we’re losing our good night’s sleep this time of the year every year.

It also marks the end of a long string of holidays. It’s typically a constant flow of public holidays from Christmas all the until Chinese New Year, and depending on the Muslim calendar, additional breaks get mixed in. It’s also the hardest period to get work done, with all the breaks as well as the heavy feeling of getting back to work once the breaks end.

Alas, it is all not meant to last; I believe after this week, it will be a LONG stretch of full weeks worth of work and no play. With the start of the new financial quarters for many corporations, it also means work will ramp-up full steam ahead again.

Sigh… I miss school days :)