I've been BUSY!

I have been talking of putting my Hijauan condo up for rental for quite some time, but other than a few half-baked attempts at getting agents to take it up, I had not really done anything concrete.... and the reason for this is simple. First I had to decide - if my condo gets rented/sold, where do I go and stay? Do I get a smaller place for myself? Or do I move back to my PJ house, which is where my parents have been staying for the last decade, and which is where Ken and I stayed for the first few months of last year when we first discovered his cancer? Took me SIX MONTHS to come to a decision.... and the final decision? To move back to PJ, see if I can handle living with my parents again, because I do not want to wait till they are gone and then regret not having spent time with them. So, having made the decision, towards the end of Sept I was put in touch with another agent via a good neighbour / friend of mine at Hijauan (Marge - a true friend, and a genuinely nice person). Of course, given that there are other empty units in Hijauan, I was pretty sure that it would take several months to rent out the place... so, on 8th Oct, late night, I flew off to Melbourne. And, would you believe it, Marge called me on 9th evening and said "Hey, friend, you have a tenant lah!"!! I mean, talk about sheer luck!! BUT, he wanted to move in ASAP, he did not want to wait till 1st Nov... and since I was only due back on 20th Oct, this was a bit of a headache.

With Marge and my Dad's help I tried to get things all organised remotely.... so started with just enjoying my 3.5 days in Melbourne with Marilyn and Robert. I think Marilyn and I started talking on the 9th morning (when they picked me up from the airport), and we never stopped talking till they put me on the airport bus on the 12th morning. We still have so much to catch up on - I HAVE to go back soon! From Melbourne I flew to Perth and was met by dear lovely old friend Jan Ring. And, as with Marilyn, we started talking almost immediately, and I think we never stopped either! We did, from time to time, when Geoff (Jan's husband) was up to it, include him in our conversations, and we also had the pleasure of the company of Jan's daughter, Dale, and her absolutely gorgeous little boy, Jack. Now HE is going to be a total heart breaker when he grows up! Phew... talk about HANDSOME!

I had a great time, and even managed to meet up with old friend Hanim, and also the lovely daughters of two of my good friends - Murphy (Molly's daughter), and Shonna (Suja's daughter). They are both totally gorgeous girls! Murphy took me to the Witches Cauldron in Subiaco for a totally yum breakfast, then she had to rush to work (she is doing her internship at Duxton Perth). Then Jan and I met her at Opus for a degustation - and that was totally amazing and delicious. Shonna, Hanim and I met at Fremantle markets, and then went back to Hanim's place where she had cooked a totally delicious and scrumptious lunch for us. (Hanim darling, you can cook for me any time!!!).

But, it was also becoming obvious that I could not sort everything out regarding the leasing out of my place. I had to go back, so, sadly, I cut short my Perth trip - departed late 17th Oct, Sunday night (early Monday morning), arriving back in KL on Monday 18th Oct at 7.30am. Then it was just rush, rush, rush - to get in the things the tenant had requested (not a lot - a clothes dryer, dish washer, and water filter) and then arrange for the movers to get my stuff out (all moved out by Fri 22nd Oct), and then get the place cleaned, transfer my phone and broadband, get the lease agreement signed, walk the tenant through the apartment, confirm the inventory list, unpack all my stuff at PJ, etc, etc, etc. To cut a long story short, EVERYTHING, including the unpacking, was done as of Thursday 28th Oct :-). Tenant installed in Hijauan, and me all sorted in PJ - including now being COMMUNICADO again! (Only took 1 week and 2 days, which is a record by Telekom M'sia standards!!).

So, what next? Well, I have one more trip to make - in November, to Singapore, for Tony and Pengs wedding. Then back home and decide what I want to do next. Work? Travel some more? Not sure yet... let's see what life brings me after I get back from SG.

Till next time folks, have a great day, every day!