Aquascaping (part iii) & New Year

Happy New Year all!!

The bigger plants in my aquarium died. Guess I'll have to be content with java moss and those river grass.

Got myself 10 guppies, 10 neon tetras. Gonna get a corydora (a type of catfish, but supposedly it eats algae and don't grow as big as pleco a.k.a ikan bandaraya).

Changed the water at 4am yesterday when I saw the gills of the fishes turned red (possible ammonia/nitrate poisoning).

Bought the guppies yesterday, and today found out the females gave birth to bout 20+ small fries.

Now I've no idea what to do with the little ones...

Had some friends over for New Year. Pretty low key affair comprised of close friends, some of whom I haven't met for quite some time. So... thanx to:

• Wan for the potato salad appetiser. Funky color, dude!
• Leo & Amri for the roasted chicken, chocs. Yeap, Ayamas's garlic sauce kicks ass!
• Hard & Azrul for the spaghetti bolognaise, jelly de la creme mon ami (or whatever the dessert's name is). Yum!
  
• Is & Shah for the signature drink SodaGelak and signature munchie CucurGelak.
• Safuan for the grubs & munchies, cranberry sauce, yummy dips, and best-in-class Pringles.
• Awis for the brownie & ice-cream dessert.

Played ps3 (no, i can't afford one and until there're 'cheaper copies' of the games, i won't buy it), charades (competitive bunch we are, aren't we?), watched movies (mostly halfway, different taste), discussed New Year Resolutions (new year, same resolutions, get it?!).

Well, cheers to all and thanx for coming!

Aquascaping (part ii)

Trying to not spend that much but still make it work.

Tough!

Bought a cooling fan, pH tester, CO2 tablets, but the leaves are getting brown and withered.

The whole thing in the aquarium cost more that whole bunch of stuff in the balcony.

I may end up with plastic plants and cheap guppies, then.

We'll see...

Aquascape and Footballers doing Single Ladies

Went with Is and Sharul to Pet Safari, Ikano, 2 weeks ago. Found some cheap pond, and a purchase with purchase aquarium promo. Then Am and Leo dropped by for an old Thai horror movie, Buppha Rahtree, which kinda scared all of us. To sooth our feelings before leaving, we watched Glee ep 4 - Preggers!



Decided to try to do aquascaping for the aquarium. One of the reference I read through is of course Imran's blog.

The pond will be used to keep cheap kois. And I've bought more plants. Farmville alert.

So, that's my new hobby, hopefully it'll work with limited budget.

Happy Burstday...

..to me

Starting to like my job, but staying in it make me lose my competency and get only 4% increment. What can I do if I leave?

But the offer from the previous company sounds enticing too. At least it'll be about 20% increase from my pay.

Really gotta watch my weight, the good food when I travel to other states add inches to my waist. Nak menolak, dah rezeki, kan?

But much thanx to Damage Control, Hardchub, Farihad for inviting to your Hari Raya open houses. I had a blast. SF4 brought me back the feeling I had when I first tried it bout 20 years ago in Ipoh.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri 1430H

Another year has passed. I survived the fasting and the celebration again.

What is raya? I pondered this almost every time I wanna drive home. Hiskk, budak ni (yea, I'm THAT young!), raya ni untuk menyambut kemenangan kita menentang hawa nafsu le, itu pun taktau ke?

Sounds like a paradox. Really... do they really believe that? Maybe it doesn't matter what they believe, do I really believe that? I want to...

Isn't it the day when people wanna show off their material things? Would I notice that if I've enough to show off myself?

Maybe they're just happy... and maybe I'm just not happy enough...

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, maaf zahir dan batin

What to do?

Got some job offers. Now let's see:

1. Current company- Pros: travel inbound almost every week, possible conversion from contract to permanent, good network. Cons: conversion could result with a pay-cut, career prospect not clear
   
2. Previous company- Pros: can travel further, possible longer projects in Middle East and Africa starting after Eid Mubarak. Cons: company still recovering and not doing well, late salary payout (28th instead of 23rd)
3. An established international company - Pros: better prospects ("Hi! I used to work at "), also will be stationed at project sites instead of desk-bound. Cons: no chance of travelling outbound, career prospect not clear
4. A new unit in a construction company - Pros: new focused area, can leverage and develop expertise. Cons: working on Saturdays (gasp!!), desk-bound forever

Guess I'll wait what's the conversion offer is like. Besides, the economy is still bad to job-hop, rite?

More boring bowling

Now... if only I can afford one of em proper bowling balls to get serious...