New found pas-time

Ah the second day of February. That much closer towards the halfway mark of my final year as an undergraduate. You mean I've been here for almost 4.5 months already??? Mother of G0d......

I think I've come to enjoy blogging lately. Just kicking back chilling with my favourite tunes (churned out through my DAC + Grado SR125i combo of course) while I'm typing away just makes me feel more relaxed and accomplished in some sort of way. Peculiar ain't it? :P

The day started with Chester inviting me to a lou sang dinner which I've NEVER had in the past 2 years if I'm not mistaken. Sadness much. Well I've just recovered from my illness and I actually felt pretty good so I agreed with dinner later in the day. But that feeling soon changed as I left the house for a meeting with my FYP supervisor. It's freakin freeezzzziiinnnnggggg bringing the season to a whole new chill level. It felt almost sub-zero as my ears felt as if they were about to fall off my head. No joke. It hasn't been this cold in quite a while. Anyhow, the meeting with my supervisor didn't go as smooth as I expected. Rest assured it wasn't in a bad way. Remember me toiling away at the code the past couple of days even when I was sick? Well it wasn't what he had in mind (or how I thought he wanted it). So it was back to square one...... almost I guess. He explained his idea more clearly this time and I think I've a thought or two on how to implement it from the work I've done in the past few days. Safe to say that not all hope is lost then :P

So I returned home after the hour long meeting as I've cancelled my 'nurses appointment' later that afternoon thinking I've already fully recovered. But the trip home felt as cold as the journey towards uni and I felt as if I was about to fall sick all over!!!! Dammmmiiitttt....... Ookkaaayyyy...... I'll be honest, it was probably just a feeling I had and was mostly influenced by my thoughts that I MIGHT be sick but in fact I wasn't. Hahahaz. I did feel that my throat was feeling a little out of the ordinary so I decided to pass on Chester's yee sang and hibernate at home instead.

Well it was the usual stay-home and hope for a 100% recovery before the end of the week in preparation for the Careers in Asia summit held the following weekend. Stayed home and Dad was online. We talked about accommodation for the graduation trip which then led to a small pick on ........ you've guessed it...... CARS. Yes I'm thinking if I was gonna work back in Malaysia I'd need a car. So we were discussing about prices and suitable first car 'candidates' which boiled down to a handful. I don't really have a preference but I do have a certain liking towards the 2010/2011 Honda Civic. Just like all pretty things in the world it does carry a rather hefty price tag. I mean...... the drivers compartment+dashboard looks like a friggin fighter jet cockpit!!!!!! How cool is that! 

Well of course reality tends to limit mankind in either a monetary trade in place of time and risks. So I've looked past the jet cockpit dream and took aim on the Kia Forte/Cerato as a more realizable alternative. 

Its a technological marvel priced economically relative to its competitors in its class. The exterior looks a tad plain but it has the necessary hard lines and edgy-ness which gives it a distinct look from the regular 'I'm old and I'm playing safe' look. Did I mention a 6-speed gear shift even for the A/T transmission? I can't really comprehend how that adds up to the experience but who doesn't want more right? :D

$ really played an important deciding factor and for what the Forte had to offer, it was a pretty good deal considering that its about 30grand cheaper than the Civic and that's no small sum for a fresh graduate!!! So dad mentioned about Sime giving employees an INTEREST FREE car loan for Sime licenced vehicles! ZOmg interest free?? The catch was that it had to be a BMW, Mini, Ford or a Hyundai. I'll save some research time and cancel the first 2 choices off the list. So it was either  Ford or a Hyundai. The Ford had only one attractive mid-class model which was the Ford Focus. It was a pretty decent hatchback but it didn't look very attractive. And sure Ford doesn't really hit me in the sweet spot considering what they did to Bob Kearns (with reference to Intellectual Property protection). An easy skip for me. 

So there goes. Just one on the list. Hyundai was pretty famous for their Sonata but that was a higher-end model which costs more than the Civic. Dad then mentions about the Elantra. Elantra..... Elantra..... sounds really familiar. It glanced my mind as I tried picturing the outlook of the vehicle:

D@mn was I right. Kill it before it lays eggs!!!!!!!!! The picture above illustrates the 2005 model. Thankfully...... that's not the one Dad was referring to. He said the 2012 model will be launching soon (I've checked and it will be in Malaysia this 22nd February). Here's how it will look like:

 OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG...... can you just feel the sleek lines slipping off the picture? I mean come on...... its like comparing heaven and earth! The 2012 model looks millenniums away from its predecessor. The specs say that its a 1.6cc vehicle with a 6-speed transmission. Wow now that's one good looking car! Its supposed to be priced competitively with the popular bunch but early reports say that the 1.6 would be priced approximately around 90-95 grand or so which is probably a tad more expensive that the Forte but still much cheaper than the Civic. And of course we'd have to wait for its launch before making and concluding remarks about the vehicle.

The beauty of it is that Dad might be able to get it under the interest free loan!!! That's great! The nominal interest rate in Malaysia is around 3% for this range of vehicles. So lets take for an approximate 60month (5 years) payback period. That saves about 12grand depending on the amount of down-payment!!!! 12 grand is a lot of $!!!!!! The catch here is that Dad will be retiring on the 22nd July (and its his birthday! :P ) and if the offer stands he will have to purchase the vehicle before that date. Yes its another race against time. 

Well it kind of depends if I will be getting a job before that and of course if I will be working in Malaysia being the least of my worries. So I told dad that I'll try my best (AND I WILL) in the coming few careers fairs and I am praying that G0D does the same in setting the pieces ahead of me.  

Yea you guessed it, I spent a chunk of my day looking at cars. Not a hobby I'm trying to get into (I hope not) coz my other hobbies are already taking a toll in my finances. But other than that.... I've been lazing around surfing the net and playing games. Oh and I managed to finish Transformers: War for Cybertron today! Slightly repetitive shoot-em up game but great great epic plot which I just too awesome (it is Transformers :P ). So to Optimus and the rest of the Autobots:

Thanks for the memories :)

Will be waiting for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron this fall when the king makes his debut.

Ok that's all for the day. Until next time ;)