It is almost the end of the first quarter in 2012 and this year seems to be looking fairly interesting. One of them mainly is that I will be renovating my house and I have been trying to figure out how to budget and juggle the budget so that I don't blow everything away. I have already received the 1st quotation on the heavy work that needs to be done and it really didn't leave me much to work with in terms of my initial budget.

I thank God for my mum and her slew of various contractors that I can leverage off otherwise things might just be too costly. Heck, it was an adventure driving deep into Klang just looking at a timber factory there to negotiate a good deal for some hardwood merbau flooring. Thanks to more recommendation, I have a few more leads on floor tiles and then I can start focusing on kitchen fittings and toilet fittings.

Diablo III has been slated for a launch sometime this year, although it might get a lot of people very excited about it, I kind of lost interest in the game. Heck, I even started to lose interest of Starcraft II even though I have been waiting for more than a year before their so called "expansion" would be released. If they keep on delaying all of their games, I really might just completely lose interest in it.

Also last weekend was the first time I played at the golf course for 2012. Decided to head back to the UPM golf course (University Pertanian Malaysia) since all of us haven't played golf in a long while. Thankfully there wasn't a crowd there on Sunday and we managed to play at our own pace. That game also marked my first use of my new R9 driver which I managed to "steal" last year. Definitely not an easy driver to use thanks to its super steep head angle. But if you hit a good shot with it, the ball just flies. Speaking of flying balls, I think I lost about 9 balls that day. Thanks to super long grass, huge ponds by the fairway and of course the dead dried leaves which litters the fairway (yes, fairway and not the rough!). Hope to play better in our next game.

The Volkswagen Club managed to pass 2500 members in the forum which I think was an awesome milestone. I guess with the launch of more VW models as well as the upcoming CKD Passat at lower prices, I can definitely foresee more and more Malaysians buying into the brand. Of course there were the usual rumour mills and reports that Proton was going to rebadge the VW Polo. I think it would be a good strategy for Proton as well as VW but DRB HICOM has already denied that so there goes that theory.

There hasn't really been any new TV series, I am still waiting for Game of Thrones Season 2 to start and I think the only TV Series which I am actually really following is How I Met Your Mother, Two and a Half Men, Modern Family and of course, Spartacus: Vengeance.

In terms of movies, I definitely can't wait for the Avengers. Other than that, there really isn't any other movie that I am looking forward to. Not too sure why but maybe perhaps there hasn't been any real hype for other movies.

Apple has released their new iPad, seems like a good upgrade for me since my iPad 1 is really suffering in terms of speed and I can hardly watch any HD movies on it thanks to its slow processor. This time around, I shall get the 64Gb non 3G version as I really hardly require the 3G data.

In the tech world, it's definitely tough especially if you are the CEO of HP and have to answer questions by shareholders such as, "Why HP isn't like Apple?". Definitely a high reach for even a giant like HP to achieve but it all takes is a visionary within the firm to push things through. Focus on the key business driver and be fantastic with it. Anyway I am just ranting away.

More to come in 2012!

Yes, this blog is still not dead yet. Why? That's because I am alive and have been a little busy. Busy with work, busy with interviews (conducting them), busy with more work, busy with renovation plans, busy with Munz's new business (I'll talk more about that later) and have been sick lately. Perhaps I haven't been drinking enough water.

In pops an email, automated as it seems, I was just about to trash it when I skimmed through the contents and decided that hey, it was something interesting. It was the newsletter for the upcoming KL Marathon and I am really contemplating running the 10km run. That means it would definitely force me to start training up for the run due in June. This might just be the push I need to lose some much needed weight. So much so that my nickname amongst the VW club members is now "Touareg".

So what else has kept me busy? Well I started my renovation plans already and am still trying to finalize some of the layout and design ideas with my ID. The hardest thing I must say is trying to stick within budget and I haven't even included in the furnishings and fittings! Why must it be so difficult! Also the target to move in is about mid year so yeah, that's gonna be tight deadline to meet.

I mentioned Munz's new business earlier and I am proud to present "Milestones.my". Milestones is basically her entrée into the wedding planning business and last weekend was her first customer's wedding which was held in Ipoh. So practically my entire weekend was spent in Ipoh helping her out. Do check out her website ok? Especially those of you who are thinking about getting married :)

Anyway, I haven't had much time to shoot and recently Canon also released their 5D Mk3. On paper the specs show a lot of improvement. But until I try it out with my own hands and test shoot it especially with the F1.2 lenses, then only will I consider that camera. Otherwise I would be more than happy to stick with my Canon 5D Mk2. I really want to take more photos of cars but finding a free weekend would be quite tough!

A couple of weeks ago, a bunch of us from the Volkswagen Malaysia Club embarked on a weekend holiday at Cameron Highlands. We managed to book a bungalow at Tanah Rata which was located very close to the bus station. In total there were about 30 of us but not all of us squeezed into the bungalow.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I missed the convoy heading up to Camerons on Friday afternoon so I decided to take a drive up at night. Thanks to heavy rain, the journey was not an easy one. Besides having to avoid heavy traffic coming out of the Klang Valley, I am really thankful for the Guthrie highway which provided me an easy avenue out of the NKVE and straight towards Rawang. I initially wanted to stop at the Rawang rest area to fuel up and grab a quick dinner but thanks to the hordes of people camping there waiting for the rain to subside, I decided to continue on ahead.

By the time I reached Tapah, the rain had already subsided. After a quick bite at KFC, we then departed onwards to Simpang Pulai. I decided to try out the new route up to Camerons, instead of taking the usual route through Tapah, there has been a lot of reported landslides on the old route through Ringlet.



The new route via Simpang Pulai is a much safer route especially if you are travelling at night. The roads are newer and the uphill roads have dual lanes at quite a fair bit of points. Do note that the route is very winding so if you are going on a spirited drive especially at night, make sure you use your high beam lights throughout the drive. There are a number of very misleading sharp corners. Traffic up this route wasn't that heavy, I think I only encountered like 4 trucks on the way up.

This route will bring you through Brinchang and then towards Tanah Rata.

Upon reaching at our destination at Tanah Rata, a quick shower and a quick change and I was ready to join the gang for some "games", which involved cards, and lots of yawning away. Heck it was already 3am at night!

The next day we went out for scones and tea at the Lord's Cafe. Now if anyone asks where are the best scones in Cameron Highlands, I would definitely say, "The Lord's Cafe" at Tanah Rata. The jam that came with the scones were heavenly and I can definitely say that we all enjoyed ourselves at the place and even some of us brought back a huge number of scones for loved ones.

After scones we had more food by sipping tea at the Cameronian Valley and enjoying the view. None of us wanted to drive towards the Boh Tea plantation especially since we had so many owners with lowered rides and none of us brought a Touareg!

When night came, we started it all off with a barbecue and chit-chat which went on all the way till late at night.

The one thing I never did like about Camerons is that the traffic there is really crazy, because of the one way in and one way out, whenever we did pass Brinchang, we would get stuck in insane traffic. Heck on the way back, I was stuck for 40 minutes and over that 40 minutes I probably drove about 100m. I made a quick u-turn and then used the older Tanah Rata route back home. Overall it was a fun trip up Camerons and definitely would love to do it again when I have the time!

[gallery link="file" columns="2" orderby="rand"]

I would like to wish everyone a very happy new year! 2011 came and gone and 2012 has a lot more to offer.

New plans and new focus is my target this year, not so much on resolutions because I know I tend to break all of them but I will try my best this year.

They include the usual, work, loosing weight, exercising, reading more, picking up new skills, shooting new things and travelling.

Chinese New Year as well is also very close by, just the other day I walked into the local supermarket only to have Christmas music playing at the entrance and Chinese New Year music playing at the check out counter.

Have a great year ahead!