The long wait - Renovations 2012

You guys have no idea how much torture I went through living in my current interim rented place. The amount of bed-bugs is crazy. We have gotten expert pest control to fumigate the entire house twice, soaked with crazy ass chemicals, dripping from every corner of the house, and the horror returns 2 weeks later. I once had to live with an entire 'moat' of bed bug powder at my bed because I wasn't getting any sleep at all.

I would think the situation has worsened quite a bit now because I can even get bitten while not being seated on any fabric! Just me, my non-fabric chair, the metal table, and my legs can get bitten. Yes, the horror.

But in less than 2 months time, I will be moving away from this living hell. No more digging for clothes from plastic bags, boxes, etc. No more having to deal with pests. No more lousy old dull-lit sad looking place.

I am so excited with the start of the renovations of the new place. What a coincidence that I chanced across Xia Xue's latest post about her own renovations as well. Funny thing is, some of the contractors that are sponsoring her are actually places that I've went with my mom to hunt for the latest designs. It does help a huge load when my brother is in this line himself now. He gets everything for us at contractor's price and that freaking saved a huge ass sum of money for us. Yes, the construction industry is quite lucrative because half the time, owners are too damn lazy to compare prices and just leave everything to the main con. to bao the job so it's damn good to tok them freely.

I remember back when I was working, it was so nice having to service clients who owned condos and landed properties because they just let you do everything from hacking to tiling to painting and all the carpentry works, ironmongery, masonry, sanitary fittings. You just grab a bit from everything and you have a high profit margin from the project. Oh, I just revealed the trade secret. Now you know. Haha. ;p But the catch is, even though you personally source each aspect out and get them quoted separately, you still don't get a good deal because there is no 'economies of scale'. Moral of the story is, become a contractor yourself and get contractor's price. Ha ha ha.

Back to my excitement about the new place. We're trying out a new theme this time, moving away from our previous modern black-white/wood decor.
I can't wait for the hacking works to start, and I will be having the biggest room in the house. The perks of being the only student in the family - I get to demand a larger space to fit my study table and all my books. Oh, did I mention? My mom insisted we all get king sized beds. I said I didn't have the need for it. She insisted we just get it. Ha ha. Talk about pampering. And she said it's to accomodate people who wants to sleepover. Hint hint. And I would suppose there'd be a lot of crashing to study at my place seeing the proximity it is to school.

I'm thinking if I should buy a bike to ride to school every day or should I do my favourite past-time of just skating. The ultimate convenience of skating is that you can go through any corner and maneuvere through tight spaces because it is really just like walking. But much faster. Bikes can't bring you through corners. But then again, why do I sound like I'm going through an obstacle course on the way to school? Haha.

I am so glad that I have 3 weeks less to stay in this horrible terrible hideous interim place. The past months of being too busy have gotten me so drained. It is equally draining and taxing as when I was working during the 7 months before I started Uni. And back then, Krabi had been an awesome time for me to unwind and forget about the world, even if it was just for a few days.
But no, this time I'm going for 3 weeks. And 3 weeks in that part of the world I've never been to. I'm actually going to France. I still can't believe how blessed I am to be travelling to a European country for the first time and to spend a good 3 weeks there.

My first day of getting back my leading skillz. I felt like a dog panting whenever I came down from the routes. Good workout today for me. It felt like I was doing fartleks, just up and down the wall. And for the first time, I will be flying all by myself to CDG. I'm really amazed at how independent I've gotten just within the last 2 years. Why oh why. The beckoning of adulthood.

I haven't hung out with my mom in the longest time ever and we had my used-to-be-favourite-place for sashimi, shopped around getting things for my trip, stocked up on Sushi's food and litter, had bubble tea together, had chicago cheesecake at Coffee Bean.. and went home to pampering myself further with a mask, the air con turned on, and some nice big bed to myself to relax and chill. Did I mention the weather is so horrendously terribly hot?! The drastic contrast of walking in and out of my room. Air-con and no air-con. It's like walking from a shopping mall to a sauna.

I see my life only getting better from now on. I am so thankful for having a good rest and I treasure this as an opportune time to recharge for the new academic year.