Kelapa,Ikan dan Seekor Kucing

Yesterday, while I was on the road headingback from Putrajaya to Kuantan, my phone rang and I thought it was my mom. Butit turns out that it was my Cu (my youngest aunt). She asked me whether I'm inthe mood for a home-cooked patin ‘tangkap’? Since I was driving and I didn’t intendto prolong the conversation, I just agreed to drop by at her house in Sungai Isapsince I’ll passed the area anyway.  

Yeah yeah you heard it right, Sungai Isap.Funny eh? I'm not sure the meaning behind the name ‘Isap’ but rest assured itsnot hisap (sucking) kind of Isap. Lol. 

Hojhiromake his grand appearance for the first time in Sungai Isap

ApperentlyHojhiro and I was not the only guest of the house. Harry Boi dropped by to sayhi and joined the party. 

Harry Boi tried to steal my light on being the guest of the house hehehe. Well he only came for the food and its either breakfastor hi-tea. No need to catch up for gossip y’awls. He was too macho for that.

whatchoolookin at punk?

Harry Boi lives next door and if I'm notmistaken he is almost 8 years this year. 8 years and he smells like an old man..pfft

While I was lepaking with my dear uncles,Cu and Azizi, I just notice there is a Kelapa Bonsai tree in front of thehouse. I'm not sure the exact name of this kind of pokok kelapa. Since pendeklike one annoying jawa that I know of, so I just simply call it kelapa bonsai.(that remark is unnessary but juz sayin’ yawls).

 

There are another three of the same kelapabonsai but this one had the most buah kelapa masak. Since I'm hopeless on thepractical side of life so I was like“heyazizi can we actually eat or drink this coconut?”

And he looked at me wondering whether this guy is for real and said “why not?”

He simply went in to get himself a butcher kind of knife and butchered his sacrifice. There goes an impromptu session ofminum air kelapa bonsai.

Amazingly the air kelapa tasted normal. Imean since its pendek, what do you expect from something pendek kan? Lol.. Anyways,this pendek was satisfyingly good. The sweetness was original and the isikelapa was also fair. I took back home a jug of air kelapa for my mom. As amatter of fact I'm still enjoying the leftover while writing this post.

 

Aaaaaah here comes the homemade patintempoyak. I enjoyed it like how I enjoyed my tomyam or soup. Hirup sampailicin.

Till we meet again my beloved patin..cant wait to enjoy you with my not so little gang since we have biiiiiiiiiig appetite

Rims and Future Mods

If i have the money, I'd love to change Hojhiro's shoes from stock to BBS. Cant comment much on Taiwan made replica but i heard from car enthusiast that current quality are satisfyingly good and affordable.

Ada sape2 nak sponsor BBS for Hojhiro tak? I promise to be your best fren for a week.

Kemah boh. Molek sangak doh tue

This pic was shared by LGTC international member. He claimed that this rim is expensive. Cantik jugak kan?

Takpelah pelan  pelan kayuh. Next mod mau buat nose job and side plate. Baru la Lancer.

There are few elements on the above mods;
1) Side plate + nose job
2) Rear bumper
3) Double spoiler
4) Double exhaust (unlikely for me to do this)
5) Evo X bonnet (yummy)
6) Side skirt
7) Stickers (less is more for my Hojhiro but none is dull)

Im also considering the idea of blackening the roof with stickers (CF nampak pelik tak on rooftop).

Performance wise I need to do sound insulation. Gotta visit KLauto for that.Exhaust nak kasi vroom vroom manja just like my beloved Gen2 CPS.

In loving memories

Protect: Tinting My Ride

The enthusiasm of getting a new car is amazingly exciting. Okay, I shouldn’t narrowed it down on cars alone but it could be anything under the sun like a new phone, DSLR, or anything that you ever dreamed of and it became reality. I have a list of things to do with my Hojhiro if budget permits me to proceed.

The first thing that popped into my mind when I received Hojhiro was to Protect. There are 3 things that falls under protection.

1) Protection against heat

2) Protection against theft

3) Protection against scratch

I’d start with protection against the heat i.e tinting your ride. Tinting your ride is always exciting as it could also boost the cosmetic look of your car. Its amazing how a plain ride could turn into a beastly looking ride by a simple tinting.

For my beast, I'm looking for a tint that could reduce the heat effect on the cabin. I don’t want it to be too dark simply because I don’t want to have problems with the authorities and of course I want people to notice who’s driving the blue beast around town..lol riak tu astaga..

While researching on the net for the best brand, I came across these terms and what it meant;

-TSER (Total Solar Energy Rejected) 
TSER is the percentage of the total solar energy that is rejected. The higher the cooler.

- Infra Red Rejection (IRR) 
Most tinting shops use Infra Red Rejection (IRR) as a guide to the level of heat rejection. However, IRR only covers a fraction of TSER. Typically the IRR now could go as high as 99%. Higher means cooler.

-Ultraviolet (UV)
UV is the percentage of ultraviolet energy deflected away from the window film. Ultraviolet rays can cause upholstery and furnishings to fade. It can also cause skin damage and skin cancer.

-Visible Light Transmission (VLT)
VLT is the amount of visible light that passes directly through filmed glass. The darker the tint, the lower the visible light transmitted. According to JPJ, the regulations require at least 70% of Visible Light Transmission (VLT) for the front windscreen and a minimum of 50% for the sides and rear windscreen.

I dont bother to get any layer of security film. Reason being is that (touchwood) the glass will still need to be replaced if there were any attempt to break the glass so no point of the layer la kan? Another point to note is during emergency when i need to break the glass in any situation. 

Initially I wanted to get V-Kool but I went against the idea when i found their customers' complained on workmanship and bad customer service. Well I don’t want my tint to have bubbles and dust in between the films. Then I found another brand, 3M with good workmanship and good heat rejection but most existing customer complained on its practicality because 3M will disturb your Smart tag and remote control for your gate. I guess this is due to its high IRR rejection. 

Finally, I decided to try out Ecotint with their HQ in USJ Taipan. According to the testimonies, Ecotint provides good heat rejection, good workmanship and most importantly cheaper than V-Kool and 3M. For Hojhiro, I’ve decided to be generous on the budget. For Ecotint on Hojhiro, I was quoted RM 1,950 for the following specs (3M quoted RM 2,200 on the same spec);

  

e-Par Excellence
- Ray Barrier Signature Class (RB-SC)
Colour : Dark Blue & Grey
Visible Light Transmitted: 58%
Ultraviolet (UV) Rejected:99%
Infrared (IR) Rejected :97%
Total Solar Energy/Heat Rejected:64%
Warranty Period:10 years
* SPF 50 + PA+++ (Skin care tint)
Price-RM2600-25%=RM1950

The quotation was provided by an agent by the name of christint and he could be contacted via chris.hybridtint@gmail.com. I found that his quotation is slightly cheaper from the shop. The 10 years warranty by Ecotint covers workmanship, JPJ and discolouration. However JPJ coverage only limited to their legal package only.

These are my before pics;

Below are the pictures of the installation process;

Notice that they removed the spoiler for measuring and tint fitting? painful

The worker literally climbed on the boot to work on the rear tint. pain #2

And the result;

Hojhiro under the hot sun of Putrajaya

 

Not so dark eh? Menyesal ambil legal package sebab tak gelap sangat but rugi plak kalau I spent thousands and bila kantoi JPJ koyak because warranty tak cover. Frankly, I'm considering for a second layer on the rear glass bagi gelap sket. Definitely second layer will void the warranty. Macam rugi pulak. *sigh

I also found out from the salesgirl that Inspira came with the above spec of Ecotint. However I cant verify Ecotint’s claimed on this.

Personal Review;

Workmanship – good. No bubbles whatsoever. However, IMHO they were a bit rough during the installation. Maybe I was overly sensitive on this since its a new car.

Heat rejection – This is my first expensive tint. I think the heat rejection are good but that doesn’t mean it is heat-proof. A thin film wont make your car heat-free like nights during the day. I could still feel the heat after I get inside my car if I parked Hojhiro under the sun without any shading. But after 2 minutes of minimal aircond, it cool down instantaneously without the need to turn my aircond into a full blast.

No problem with Smart tag and my gate remote controller. So that is good lah kan?

Overall, I'm one satisfied customer.

First Accident

There's always a first time for everything.

No one would expect their car to be involved in an accident especially when he is only 1 week old.that's like 1 day in human life.

Hopefully the trauma will end soon. Hojhiro get well soon my dear and just pray to god to be kind to us.

Love,
Your Traumatic Master

Mitsubishi Lancer VS Honda Civic

Why Lancer?

I haven’t came across anyone who asked me why did I picked Lancer over Inspira just yet. But somehow I'm expecting such question though some are honest but some will speak in jest. Surely there are other cars of the same segment with Hojhiro such as Civic,Altis, Inspira(?) or cars of the same price like Polo or 308 Turbo. However for my new beast, I have narrowed my option between Civic FD2 and Lancer (GT or Sportback)

Reason #1 Exterior wise: I always love the way Lancer GT looks. The jet fighter front grill with a shark-like nose is simply handsome. I also fell in love with Civic but Civic alone cannot satisfy my hunger for a handsome looking car that looks as if it crawls on the street because I know I will convert the exterior (front & rear bumper + spoiler) into FD2R which will cost me a fortune. On the other hand Lancer GT on its stock like is simply mesmerizing in my eyes.
[Result: Lancer 1 – Civic 0]

Reason #2 Complaints & Issues: There are no perfect cars in this world whether its Proton, Perodua, Honda or Toyota… (you can name it all). Please stop fantasizing a perfect car. Even a Merc or Beamer has its own issues. But surely when you are about to spend more than RM100k for a car, you have every reason to be picky. I’ve checked Civic’s Owner Forum and compared with Lancer’s Owner Forum on issues and complaints of respective cars. I found that Civic are prone to issues with regards to its steering rack, braking issues as well as frequent change on its wear and tear. Yes you are reading it right; Wear and Tear which means you’ll have to spend more on its maintenance. I don’t like the idea of having a problematic car that prone to breakdown. Meanwhile Lancer may have complaints on CVT but other than that the complaints are minor and nothing as serious as braking issues. My conclusion is that Honda is overrated and some of the owner regretted buying thet car.
[Result: Lancer 2 – Civic 0]

Reason #3 Maintenance: The maintenance of both cars is high for me as compared to my previous love. Both cars more or less require the same periodic inspection with more or less the same price. Nothing significant although you may find complaints on Honda Customer Service at their Service Centre while Mitsubishi in EON Centre (EON is no longer the authorised service centre for Mitsubishi)
[Result: Draw Lancer 2 – Civic 0]

Reason #4 Fuel Consumption: The most determining factor for all or at least for most of us. Civic is more economic comparing to Lancer. Although lower in fuel consumption, I'm comparing an apple with an apple. If you are comparing fuel economic cars like Myvii with Civic then Myvii is a definite winner.
[Result: Lancer 2 – Civic 1]

Reason #5 Interior and Gadgets: Lancer is simple in terms of its cabin with moderate gadgets (Rain Sensor, auto light, auto cruise) as compared to Civic. But this are all personal liking. I personally prefer Lancer’s cabin because its all black without any hints of beige like Civic. I don't like smudges on my car. In terms of cabin size, you’ll be surprised that Civic is smaller than Lancer.
[Result: Lancer 3 – Civic 1]

Reason #6 Noise,Vibration and Handling: Yes Lancer is one noisy car with an obvious vibration maybe due to its tyre profile. Lancer is a performance car unlike Civic which is catered for comfortable ride and handling (from my reading). I cant comment on handling of Civic since I never test drive the car.
[Result: Lancer 3 – Civic 2]

Reason #7 Wow Factor: Lancer WAS an easy winner but thanx to Inspira, it becomes common these days. But hey the Wow Factor is still on Lancer for me.
[Result: Lancer 4 – Civic 2]

Reason #8 The Perfect Car: Well on this you have to tepuk dada Tanya selera. How do you interpret the car on YOU not any plain Joe? I could see myself on Civic as a working professional with a hint of moderate fun seeking. Lancer meanwhile looks notorious and wild. Lancer on me doesn’t reflect too much on me as a working professional but it suits me in terms of attention seeking looks and reflect myself on its young but mature(debatable) as well as a fun seeker.
[Result: Lancer 5 – Civic 2]

Isn’t it obvious that Lancer is the winner? Actually I tried my best to find every good reason to make Lancer as the winner. Tepuk dada sampai terbahak tanya selera yang tetap pada Lancer.

Hojhiro: The Great Blue Shark

Ladiiiies aaand Geeeentlemeeen…

Introducing the latest stud in town..His Royal Highness Hojhiro 66

Finally, I could share the happy news with the world. My very own Mitsubishi Lancer Sport(Sexy)back.. So what’s the story behind the sudden change?naik pangkat?naik gaji?Noooott...

Well I dunt think I could even dream of owning this car if I have to use my own earnings. With the help of my Finance Minister a.k.a my Bak a.k.a my Dad, Alhamdulillah the dream came true. One fine day in Ramdhan I texted my Dad telling him how much I adore Lancer GT and that my job requires me to travel back and forth to Putrajaya with least expectation of him to agree. Tiba-tiba setuju pulak but then I made it clear to him that I have to live according to my means and with my earnings I don’t think that I could make it. The current (at that time) monthly commitment was high enough and its impossible for me to maintained and contribute for monthly payment of this beast. I’ll I have to scrapped 66.8% out of my income to pay debts and other commitment if I have to contribute in paying the beast. I’d rather maintained my CPS if changing my car means I have to scrap for living.

In the end after much deliberation and compromisation with the Minister of Finance, here comes the beast..

Well its proper name is Hojhiro which in Japanese means Great White Shark. If you notice Hojhiro inherit the number from my Gen2 CPS. I was inform by Mr. G (my dad’s PA) that my dad sort of ‘mengurniakan’ the number to me so it is unofficially my number (much to my mom’s dismay).
Hojhiro is the source of my happiness and my happy ending of 2011.

2011: Life on a fast lane

Every day is a new day and in every year you are granted with 365 days or 365 chances of new adventures.

In the midst of shits and crisis in 2011 as I have elaborated on my previous post, I was also madly deeply in love (but it didn’t work out and don’t bother asking me what happened) . It didn’t work out maybe because I'm not ready for it or I'm still afraid of attachment. Yeah maybe relationship is not for me for the time being. I don’t wanna die alone n I wish to have my own ‘family’ but maybe my adventure on this life has a different interpretation on what a family is.

2011 marked as a year full with the birth of bundle of joy. Yeah, Babieeees..lots and lots of 'em.....i have always love kids but don’t ask me to love some stranger kids on the street..sounds mean?yeah la how am I going to love some kids if they are a stranger,comot and nakal tahap jahat?i love watching stranger kids fought and get scolded by the parents. Macam padan muke kau puas ati aku kind of feeling.

Back to the babies, yes I started my year with the birth of my bestfren’s son..cute kan..

hi my name is amshar affan bin ashraf

Then in February marked as the birth of my fav baby..HRH..cheeky and friendly..you simply cant afford not to love him..although underweight at first but look at how huggable,gigitable and gomolable baby he is..

Apart from baby frenzy, of course i have attended lots and lots of wedding..without weddings there are no babies la kan (sangat). The wedding of the year award goes to non other than..

Faz & Marina

Yeay..well when i said it was a wedding of the year, i really mean it. Everything was beautifully planned..the setting, the event flow and i could say that the wedding really reflect the couple.okay memang not only pelamin and the dewan yang cantek because pengantin pon same cantik same padan (of course la my frens semua cantik2 n kacak2 k) and yang attend pon semua cantik2 and kacak2 (like me?)

(sorry curi gambar from Marina..hehe)

2011 was not all about my friends getting married and getting babies, I had a Visit-Thailand-Year where I have visited Phuket in March and Krabi in November. Percutian berdasarkan kemampuan..hehehe

I enjoyed Krabi the most (maybe because of the crowd..with interesting friends everything will turn up fine n fun) but in terms of foods I prefer Phuket. Sedap nak mampus makanan dia.

Although Krabi and Phuket are adjacent to each other, these two places are distinctive on various aspect. For an instance, Krabi is more laidback and more suitable for honeymooners. Phuket meanwhile is an island for the bachelors. The nightlife are simply lively, superb and wild as compared to the peaceful night in Krabi. Phuket in particular Patong has the best halal local foods and the price were effing cheap. Kusuma is a stall located along Bangla Road and it is easy to find (depan Ayuthaya Bank). It only opens at night and most importantly they can speak malay so its easier for you to order. Im highly recommending this stall for those who are planning to visit Phuket anytime soon.

So thats all for 2011: Life on a fast lane..owh wait i have another post coming on how i ended my 2011. Lets just say that you have to be careful with what you wish for because your dream may come true

2011 Recap: Work

It's never too late to wish everyone A Very Happy 2012 right? well at least better late than never.. That’s what I’ve been told.

Since we had consecutive long weekends, I believe that most people took a looooong (notice the long ‘o’s?) break from work and definitely the new year celebration varies with one another..Owh how much I wish that I could never be bothered with applying leave.

Good riddance, we finally could move on from 2011 to 2012. For certain people every day is a new day. However it’s not the case for me. Frankly I’m kind of looking forward to jump into another year although I’ll never know what awaits me for another 365 days (366 days in 2012).

Overall I’d say 2011 gave me quite an impact in my life. Sweet and memorable things happened as well as shits that happened. Nevertheless, wise man says that things that were hard to bear are sweet to remember. So I guess shits could be sweet as well. Depends on your taste bud.

Just a little recap of what happened in my life as a working professional in 2011. Apparently 2011 didn’t start off well for me. Since I was serving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in particular the Consular Division, so every disaster that happens in the world is a disaster for me. It started with earthquake near japan and later the one in USA. Nothing serious at that time but yeah we were put on alarmed.

However things get interesting when it turned from a natural disaster to political crisis. From Tunisia to Egypt then without being given a time to breath we were alarmed with an earthquake in New Zealand and later one of the major disaster was the major earthquake in Japan which has spawned a ferocious tsunami.

All this disaster happened between January – March and I was basically on-call 24/7. I barely had my long weekend during last Chinese New Year. WTF for a start of a New Year right? My first 3 months of 2011 were full with disasters all over the world.

Out of the disaster, due to all of the hard work, titik peluh dan air mata (too dramatic eh?) I rewarded myself with an expensive watch. I called it my ‘Crisis Watch lol..but what the heck..i lost count on how many times I spend on duty at the operation room from 6pm-9am (mostly I went out at 10am). So I vehemently believed that I of all people deserved an expensive watch.

Things got on interesting turn in June. I was part of the Accommodation Committee for Langkawi International Dialogue representing my Division. I was tasked to handle the accommodation for the Secretariat in Pullman Putrajaya. It was not easy tasked though because the number of secretariat was huuuuuge and I have to settle the issue of rooms under booking with the hotel. I was practically alone there because my committee members were segregated to various hotel and I was in Pullman all by myself handling hundreds of secretariat while my colleague handled 10 delegates at most?

However credits should be given to them since they did give me assistance on the issue but mostly it was left to me and Miss Alia, the sales rep. Nasib kau cun. I spent 11 to 14 days in Pullman. Apart from the stresses of the work I can consider the long stay as a paid break from the office. Yeah, I kind of enjoyed my time there although it was not an easy task. Cantik kan hotel ni?

The most significant turn in my life happened on the day when I supposed to check out from the hotel. Yeaaaaay I got a transfer order. Alhamdulillah after waiting for 7 months I finally got the chance to move out from Wisma Putra. Good riddance!! Well just say that I was not born to do diplomatic service. You might enjoyed it but not me. So moving on..

Overall I am very happy with where I am right. Im supposed to be happy so I have to be happy with my work. I cant demand for a stress free environment of Mr-Know-It-All kind of work so yeah I have to make do with what I have.

My new year resolution for 2012 in terms of work would be as following;

To stick with the current workplace for the whole year (I’ve been jumping places since 2009).

To learn and master my portfolios

Come to work regularly (lol who wouldn’t?)

Oh Tuhan permudahkanlah jalan hamba-Mu ini..may this year be more interesting than last year