19 April to 8 May 2021
2021-04-19
Alright, it's 2021. Sous vide is not cool anymore. At this point in F&B, it's starting to feel like deep-frying. An artless, textureless, copy-paste approach to food prep. Just stop doing it - at least, with chicken, lol.
2021-04-20
Sleep: I think I'm at an environmental stage where I need to dial back on active dreaming, and revert to active non-dreaming.
Locomotion:
- Finally installed a second radiator fan on the Kancil850 last week ... which mirrors the setup on my old Kancil660. Happy to report that I can now get up to 100kmph in sun with the heat gauge very close to 50%.
- Assuming 100 km/d, at current RON95 prices of 2.05 MYR/L, my 12 km/L Kancil850 burns petrol worth 6,000 MYR/y or double a PriusC. Given 3,000 MYR/y savings, it would take 5-6 years to pay back the difference in price. This assumes they cost the same to maintain. Of course, the PriusC would be a lot safer and more automated than the Kancil850.
Rental consolidation: I need to work harder on this. I think at the rate prices are going I really should just buy an old flat in KL.
2021-04-21
Looks like zooming in on RM200-400k units in central locations is a diversification (vs the flat I already have in the boonies) I can afford to consider.
Meanwhile, trying to consolidate some social networks, to relaunch a restaurant. And to get myself a PA in the process.
2021-04-22
Strength training has been helpful. Bit of a walk past midnight to loosen up the mind post caffeination.
I wonder how long it will take to redlist the ads for the entire realestate market in Klang Valley.
MIEA needs to ban direct sales which obscured / obfuscated / unmentiond asset names. This is a shaggable offense.
2021-04-23
Got the Kancil back after replacing the distributor. Shaft seal degraded. Also replaced the signal relay, as the original one (1997!) would go faster on wet days (?!). Along the way, the tachometer connection seems to habe loosened, so I'll have to get that looked at next week.
2021-04-25
If you refer to the literary accounts of the role of the Royalty, it is explicitly mentioned by some that the Rs exist to give the commoners something to envy. So it is not shameful, under that narrative, that a R refers to such envy as a passing affair.
2021-04-26
Spent much of the last three days doing my first deep dive into real estate sales from developers. Pretty much looking to get (1) Home Ownership Campaign subsidies (stamp duty and memorandum of transfer waivers) signed down (sales and purchase agreements have to be done by 31May), (2) HouzKey rent-to-own financing for zero-downpayment, and (3) immediately available vacant possession to save on rent (I'm currently paying RM12,600/annum, and have my stuff split up in four locations). Big roadblock seems to be (4) my spotty employment over the last six months. So probably I will forfeit HOC benefits, and see what's on the market in another three months presuming I haven't been fired from the current job, etc. Meanwhile (5) my family seems to be fumbling with an old flat, and I may end up dealing with that also. I still have (6) one tiny flat in the boondocks to clean up, but I'm hoping my PA will get wheels and show up to help, before I end up soloing it. Reconnected with (7) an ex-customer from Sudo who seems to be working as a realtor, and is active in forums ... I have reached out to ask him to monitor secondary sales for me, if he can help to arrange for mark-ups on SPAs with owners to enable 100% financing (banks are regulated to allow less than that, but sellers big and small practice a convention of marking up prices and rebating cash to buyers - FFS, the central bank really should end this properly). Also (😎 rumours have it that HOC or other subsidies may be extended past 31May, as housing loan moratorium policies associated with the COVID economic slowdown will soon end ... effectively tightening monetary policy.
I was accompanied for most of this study by a lovely person, but I think we soon have to talk about seeing other people also. Sigh.
In other news, an ex-staff contacted me with notes on the government's latest update on hiring foreign workers. So now we have to study how to get jobs for some of the old boys.
2021-04-27
I big reboot kinda day. Relaxing ending. Familiar rituals. Growth logged, leverage planned, and looking forward to catching up on postponed work. So much work.
Received a small package to add to the backpack to be passed to my ex-staff. From her husband. I hope there is nothing illegal in here - I will have to do a rough search later.
2021-04-28
KLIA Immigrations Depot, Records Unit, reports that Cory's swab test is negative, so we expect to pass her a travel bag at the check-in counter on 29 April.
I will leave KL at 2:30pm, and I hope to leave KLIA by 6:00pm or earlier. Does anyone want to join me for an excursion?
2021-04-29
Saw Cory off at the airport. Introduced two friends to each other.
Post shower and cucumber snack, it is time to catch up on paperwork.
2021-04-30
X : horeca as an industry, is more prone to mental illness because you're hiring the lower end of the curve
Y : that's a popular misconception - many horeca staff are capable of earning higher wages in other industries, they just choose horeca because they enjoy it
Z : it's precisely because they choose enjoyment over higher wages that we refer to them as the lower end of the curve, in terms of power
People who lack impulse control are everywhere. The strong, who remain in corporate and get RM50k/mo wages can be sick, but those of lesser dispositions will find themselves elsewhere. Less sick or more sick, sickness can be defined any which way ...
2021-05-01
Pet peeve today: M40 and T20 dumbasses complaining about 5-bed-4-bath 900-square-foot flats financed on a monthly MYR 360 rate for 60 years.#freethemarket It's completely workable if Berjaya guarantees responsible facilities management. In fact, they should just nationalise the whole scheme. At least then in the future if we want to architecture landscaping, fitting, and facilities upgrades, there will be only one point of contact for a national roll-out. #governmentsusemarkets
2021-05-02
Stupid amounts of real estate research has happened in the last week or so.
The light on the wall in my room is distracting because I no longer look at it directly, as it was designed to be looked at.
I may need more shelves to clear my desk for work.
Gradually undoing the psychical contortionism I put myself through for most of 1Q2021. A good exercise, that relationship, but I do need to revert to my mean, sorta. More work, fewer carbs, less TV, higher productivity.
我不喜欢世界上有什么 ... 不确定的关系。
您可以说,我很不了解传统。
您也可以说,我跟传统没有什么关系。
是这样吧 ...
Thanks to all who have followed my staff's story. She is now home in Medan. Unfortunately, she was just in time to bury her daughter - who passed away as she was on the journey home. May their souls rest in peace, one present, one past.
2021-05-06
Booked my first freehold property. Location is selected to have one traffic light up to Pudu Raya / Times Square / MEX / SPRINT etc. Accidentally on my old walking path to school, where I bought my first Sony earbuds in the 90s. Walking distance to a large performing arts centre. Architecturally nicer than the college I attended (well, years ago), and overlooking the world I grew up in. This ought to make a nice storeroom, if it works out, where I shall sleep. I hope the real estate market doesn't drop through the floor soon. Maybe I can die here. (Said that about the previous gamble.) A lot of real estate chatter and logging happened over the past fortnight. I hope it was enough. Also this asset's positioning is meant to complement the previous gamble's. (checking the log, 21 APR to 6 MAY ... just over two weeks passed ... I feel better that it only took so long)
Been on about 6-7 hours sleep per night the last two days. Need to settle back into 10-hour sleeps. Much work at first job outstanding.
Also I learnt about engine knocking. Need fix.
2021-05-07
My new hobby is tracking the KL residential property market's new launches. Rationale : it takes a couple of minutes per launch ... and there are only a few launches every month.
2021-05-08
Still tired, but less so, as various uncertainties have been addressed. Yet many remain. Catching up on personal time, and getting to meet more people is good. Muchly lacking in Q1.
