Been having a pretty bad cough since last Tuesday, but couldn't afford to take MC due to work until last Thursday...? Following a one day rest at home there was a mild improvement, which only worsened when I had to co-emcee the office christmas party with a colleague. That was pretty much all the talking I needed for 2010, let alone one night >.<

So here I am, still coughing sporadically, but also looking forward to the Penang wkend getaway. Though it sounds like a vacation, the Khos true purpose and mission for stepping outta Summer Place is to discuss the dowry and bridal gift required for the wedding. Such is the chinese custom I guess, and though we modern people would definitely prefer to keep everything simple, the parents (elderlies) would still want to observe such traditions. So Chet, my parents and I shall depart on a Grassland Super Coach on Fri and return on Monday. May our trip be a fruitful and enjoyable one, if not, at least let everything be smooth sailing without hiccups.

The marriage has set a major deadline for us, which is the house renovation. At first, we were faced with serious objections for wanting to "pick up the bride" from the new house, which, the elderlies insist, should be the destination rather than the start. So we bummed around a couple' a weeks and tried to think of alternatives (chalets, hotels, friends' house) to no avail. Finally we consulted the elderlies one more time and they said it was fine if we did not return to the new house after the banquet, which, naturally we aren't cuz that would mean forfeiting the 1 night stay in the hotel suite.

So there's that... we managed to persuade the elderlies that the new house would be ideal for the picking up of the bride, but that leaves one big hurdle, which is that the house renovation must be completed before the wedding. To be realistic, we gotta work the dates backwards, giving us time to buy some furniture, electronics and toys to complete the house. Seeing how local carpenters are really Malaysians who'll be away for CNY (for a fortnight, mostly), we decided that renovation works need to be completed by 05 Feb 2010 (CNY falls on 14th, which is Valentines).

Supposingly, we were supposed to kickstart the renovation at the time we get the keys. Though on some forums we read that it is possible to start the renovation even before getting the keys to the flat, we're not sure how. It must be through some personal under-the-table negotiation with the previous flat owner, because to start renovation, the contractor must submit the as-built and design plans to HDB for approval (which takes one week), and submision requires the house owner to be the new guy.

Anyway, there was more bumming around and thinking about the design and juggling all these things while work still carried on. And then to make things worse, the contractors we found were passive in nature and not really interested in new projects... or rather, too busy to interest themselves in new jobs. Until finally by an ex-classmate's recommendation we found a pretty good contractor who was more pro-active than usual and gave us pretty competitive quotes. So the date is set, work commences on 14th Dec 2009, if things go well (ie. no objection from HDB).

I guess whining about work isn't really safe these days so I'll spare my imaginary readers that agony... in short, I'm sure what I'm doing these days will one day contribute to my portfolio / ability to pratice as a registered architect, just that they might be in the most infinitesimal way... Still, I am happy to be employed and I should be.

More facade lighting tests at night, this time behind the perforated panels. The secret was really to flood the wall behind the panel with light, rather than to shine directly onto the back of the panel. Photographs taken at the 1st testing. Heard from boss it was later further refined, but I haven't had the chance to look at the latter.

Pass by this school almost everyday, cuz AMK Ave 1 leads to my house... Really wanted to visit it cuz the exterior looks pretty well designed. Later I realized it was done by a famous local architecture firm, and was kinda glad we arranged for a visit. It got even better when the architect himself brought us around the school. We also met with the school principal and students that day. It was a delightful and inspiring visit. I'm officially a fan >.<











Characters with aura, these two...


Before the visit, I've already thought of lining up fluoresent tubes in my new home, to match the path of the stainless steel dividers embedded in the cement sand screed flooring for my living / dining area. Then, the introduction of a ceiling allowed me to blatantly copy the recess fluoresent tube detail as seen above. Nice... I hope it turns out well in smaller scale too.

Honestly, I am quite happy to be given a chance to be involved in this high-rise school. Composed of 5 volumes, the school clings on to a sloping site. Currently about to finish detailed design... The office commissioned a professional to construct the physical model, which turned out to be great representation of the design, imo.

Woah... It's been awhile since the last updates, so here I am back-dating my posts as though I have been constantly blogging. Anyhowz, we celebrated MAF on 3 Oct 2009 with my niece and nephew. It was the night they were taught that fun stuff like sparkles and lanterns exist. Rong was a bit intimidated by the sparkles at first, but later decides to hold one himself, very very cautiously >.<

Mrs Kho had a good time too!

Grandma and grandson.

Father and son.

En-en wants to play too... maybe next year...

Below, some shots of Chet's new work place. Pity they won't allow outsiders into the building. Would love to take a walk along one of these these sky bridges. Went there after a presentation to MOE HQ... Hopefully the meetings end beyond 1730hrs each time so I can just fall out from there :P

Like for the past couple of years, we did it nice and simple. 1 cake, 1 candle, 2 persons.

It's a very Bat-ish Birthday for me this year, since apart from cufflinks I received from ZM and CM (thanks alot, my 1st cufflinks >.<), I got Batman: Arkham Asylum for PS3 from Chet. 1/2 way through the game... it's really a job well done. I'm sure any Bat-fan will attain geek-gasm / nirvana from it, and sure as hell a normal gamer will enjoy it too.

...and to complete the "Bat Birthday", colleagues from office pooled together to get me this DC Direct statue of The Dark Knight featuring Batman from the 2nd movie. My 3rd Batman statue...

Then below are gifts to myself (herh herh, then again, it doesn't take any special occasion for a collector to buy a figure lah~). McFarlane Spawn's Series 22 The Viking Age Bloodaxe (R3: Repaint, Resculpt, Revisit), and from the same series Skullsplitter. These 2 figures features hidden articulation, some new materials (velvet / fabric), and some really ass-kicking sculpting works. Been purchasing some pass Spawn figures, cuz recent releases in general really couldn't match the level of attention to details displayed in these figures. Sigh...