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.