Fireworks. . . at 10pm

Last night some family, not for the first time mind you, was playing with fireworks in the parking lot of our apartment complex.

At first they were playing with the types that make very little noise. After that, they started playing with rockets that explode.

This was at 10pm. Felix was crying loudly because of the fireworks. Siew tried to shout down to the people, but they did not listen. So, I shouted. . . I have a loud shout. I got their attention, and a lot of other people's attention as well! Siew asked them to stop. She was not rude. After that, apparently, the family asked the father to stop. However, he refused to stop. He purposely turned back to light off more rockets!

I lost my temper and shouted at him, calling him a son of a bitch, that my son is trying to sleep, etc. That got his attention. He walked closer, so I stopped shouting, I was trying to control my temper, but he was basically saying that I should shut up. I said we'd call the police if he didn't stop. He said that we could do that if we wanted to. Ironically, at just that moment, the police arrived! Someone else had already called the police!

Now, the wife of that family, and her daughters, always glare up at us when they walk past. That's their problem. They were being jerks! We didn't call the police, someone else did.

I can understand wanting to have a fun time with your family. . but this is not the countryside. This is a huge city and we all live in an apartment complex. They have done this same thing before, apparently someone had had enough and called the police. We'll be doing the same thing if it happens again. No more shouting out the window.

At one point I was going to head downstairs, but Siew sharply told me to stop. She is wise. I'd have kicked the crap out of that guy in front of his family and gotten myself into trouble.

Private Islands

Who would have thought that private island was actually not overly priced?

Take a look at this site: http://www.privateislandsonline.com/ and have fun browsing!

Logo

I need a logo that has my statement on it.

Here is my statement:

I wish you were a zombie, so I could put a bullet in your brain.

That is all.

Clean

Last weekend I started something that I almost regret.

To give the history. We had hired a maid once to attempt to have a major cleaning done. However, it did not work out at all. In the four hours she was supposed to work, she had to redo many things because she was lazy/terrible/stupid. We had to pay 55 Ringgit for this "service."

Previously we had cleaned, but not as thoroughly as what I am now doing. Siew was "in charge" of that until Felix arrived. After that, she had no time for regular cleaning. I work quite a lot and do not have a lot of time to help clean either. So, we had thought about getting a maid to do some of the bigger tasks and we can maintain things.

That was our first attempt at hiring a part-time maid, and our LAST. I said no more of that nonsense. I can do a better job than a "professional" maid can, saving my money and ensuring that the job is done to our standards.

After that fiasco, I decided to start cleaning by groups. Why clean the whole house every weekend? Why not spend 2 hours focusing on a room (or room-set)? And then I could change room-sets every weekend. That way the entire house is completely, thoroughly, cleaned every month.

I figured out that I could do it like this:

Set 1: living room and balcony
Set 2: kitchen and "balcony 2" (it is not REALLY a balcony, but might as well be)
Set 3: all three bedrooms
Set 4: hallway and the two bathrooms

So I tried it out last weekend. I decided to start with the living room. Even with the maid's prior "help," it still took me 4 hours to scrub things down to where I considered them clean. I wore myself out. I did not expect it to take that long. Because of this, I have reconsidered my sets, but I am not decided on how I will break them up.

This weekend I did the kitchen. I am not sure how long I worked. I cleaned the cabinets, inside and out, and all other surfaces, pulled the fridge down (it's on an elevated platform) and cleaned it inside and out, as well as the whole platform, most of the walls, etc. It took me so long, and was so tiring to clean and re-arrange the cabinets, that I did not finish my "task" yesterday. Who would have thought it would be so hard to clean some cabinets and walls?

Today I finished the remainder of the kitchen, much to my pleasure.

The house FEELS cleaner by doing this. And Siew has been working hard, when Felix allows it, to keep the floors swept and mopped. That helps me out a lot.

I am not sure which set I will do, or how it will be setup, next week. I'll be very glad when this first round is completed. It will be much easier next time around!

Insects

A long time ago, while I was still in the states. A friend of mine was looking up things about Malaysia. He found out that they have the largest flower here as well as the largest moth.

Until Monday, I had seen neither of these things. Monday, however, I saw an Atlas Moth. I happened to be walking into my work place and I saw some large winged insect on the doorway. I stopped and look at it. It was battered, but beautiful nonetheless!

I took two pictures of it. One is without anything for reference, which does not show its size. The other has my hand right next to it.




As you can see, these things are BIG and pretty. I am sorry that my phone's camera is not very good. The real thing was really a spectacle to behold.

While I am on the subject of insects. I am not sure I posted these long ago or not. Just before Felix was born, while on my way to Penang for that event, I stopped at a rest-stop to use the restroom. While using the facilities I saw a rather large preying mantis. I took pictures of it as well.




I haven't really been to any jungles here yet, but one day I will, and I'll take a lot of pictures when I go. I'll need a better camera and lots of insect repellent when I go!

Hit and run

I just heard a loud crash. I ran to look outside, with the selfish reason of checking on my own car. I saw a car with its rear bumper torn almost completely off's alarm going off wildly. I saw another car driving erratically away. It was driving the wrong way (as is frequent in this apartment's parking), obviously the culprit.

I wonder if I should leave a note on the damaged car's window in the morning with a description of the car I saw driving away? (I could not see the plate numbers)

Someone is going to have a rotten day in the morning. Poor guy/gal.