Your body is your amusement park temple

dialysis

I have treated my body (and mind) as more of a amusement park instead of a temple. I have done that for almost half my life, searching for the next hedonistic experience and by the time I realized that you can’t just do that and expect to live forever, it was too late.

kidney damage

You see, I used to have nothing to live for (or thought I didn’t). In my short sightedness, I have taken various interesting pharmacological agents to excess, damaging my kidneys in the process. I even needed an emergency dialysis and nearly didn’t make it – the doctor fully expected me to die and I was obstinate enough to recover.

home funeral

I have so much to live for now. My mom has passed but my dad is still around and I want to take care of him. I also have the best partner ever, which I’m very lucky to have. My better half is the best thing that has happened to me and she really set my life on the straight and narrow. I have two kids that I love to bits and I like to be there for them too!

jacuzzi

I am starting to live a very healthy lifestyle now and part of that includes exercise. You really can’t have a healthy lifestyle without exercise. I run, swim and play badminton with the kids (and sometimes my better half, who is, naturally, better than me).

family dinner

We Malaysians like to eat (a lot) and most of the time, the food that we eat is superbly unhealthy. That’s all fine and good but it needs to be balanced out by having an active lifestyle.

mooncake family 2013

The 1 thing that matters to me is being healthy enough to take care of all my dependants and to give them a happy life.

happy us

#matterstomeMY

kids

I can’t very well do that if I die of obesity related complications like heart disease or diabetes and I don’t want to give up eating well so I have to exercise a lot. It’s the best way to have a healthy lifestyle.

morib goldcoast us

I swim…

riding bicycles

I cycle…

run

I run…

bicycles

It doesn’t really matter what kind of exercise you do as long as you do it – but if you run, you might want to download the Allianz Pacer app from Google Play or iTunes.

setting sun

Allianz’s priority is to help Malaysians to start taking care of what matters to them most, with a special focus on your health. They’ve set up Allianz Pacer – which is a social running community. It’s really quite interesting.

swimming with kids

Go and Like the Allianz Malaysia Facebook and participate in the sharing now!

family trip morib

#matters2meMY

Wardrobe woes

shopping

The people who know me personally always give me a lot of grief about my wardrobe, or rather, the lack thereof. I keep turning up in the same outfits every single time. It’s not that I have a drought in the attire department, but rather I have a few favorite shirts that I keep on wearing.

This is compounded by the fact that I am an impulsive shopper. Worse still, I am an impulsive shopper who tends to get the urge to shop at totally random moments (usually twice a year) and comes back with a shitload of clothes, most of which I wouldn’t wear (see favorite shirts above).

sale

I don’t go during sales or the usual periods people shop – I go when I feel like it. This is generally detrimental to my financial wellbeing as I shop on credit so when the credit card statement comes at the end of the month, my reactions range from being slightly taken aback to downright horror.

I have several credit cards but no debit card so when I saw Alliance Bank’s Debit Mastercard I decided to take it for a spin. I had an urge to shop and decided that a debit card would be a better one to use during my retail forays.

Yes, contrary to popular belief, I do actually shop for clothes – else, where would all my shirts come from? smirk

I set RM 750 as my daily spending limit – no more RM 5,000+ credit card bills (happened to me a couple of times). I hit the shopping malls and got the stuff that I really need. I decided that this time I’m going to buy items that I will wear regularly instead of one off items like the RM 575 jacket I got two months ago which I’ve only worn once.

Quiksilver board shorts

board shorts

This is one item I don’t have in my wardrobe. I have Speedos and Bermuda shorts but nothing even resembling board shorts. Why would a 29 year old who doesn’t surf need board shorts? Well, it’s perfect as beach wear! I had a string of beach vacations planned and I thought this would be a good investment.

buy board shorts

Price: RM 269

DC skate shoes

dc

Yes, I know I’m not a 16 year old skater boi anymore but can’t a man revisit the prime of his life? :p

old shoes

Besides, I haven’t bought a pair of shoes in ages, I’m still wearing almost 2 year old adidas tennis shoes. I figure it’s time to change the tatty pair of smelly shoes for some new ones.

dc shoes

DC shoes is not a brand I would choose to buy but one of my ex-girlfriends really loved the brand and bought a pair of them back from Australia for me. I spotted the DC footwear line and decided to get a pair – it’s useful for weekends and it’s also a pair of sneakers so it’s quite comfortable to wear.

Mark and Spencer vests

mark and spencer

This is an essential item in all men’s wardrobes. I didn’t know that until a recent image consultancy that I went for. I’ve never had the habit of wearing singlets or anything like that under my shirts.

cotton vest

To be perfectly honest, I think that practice is incredibly old fashioned and slightly repulsive as only octogenarians (like my late granddad) do that so he can wear his shirts more often without the need to wash it.

vest

However, during my image consultancy, I was told that wearing a vest under your work shirt actually bulks you up and makes you look buff and more authoritative. I’m all for that so I grabbed a couple to wear when I go to work. smirk

It’s RM 79 for 3 x 100% cotton vests so it’s a pretty good investment.

I spent less than RM 750 that day which is really good. That’s the benefit debit cards give you – you don’t spend on credit, you only spend what you have. Even better, I set RM 750 as the daily spending limit and the transaction bounced during the Mark and Spencer purchase so I took a pack of vests out. Nifty, eh?

alliance debit card

I’m using the Alliance Bank Standard Debit Card under HYBRID savings and the best thing about this card is that you get instant 1% cash back on all your purchases. It goes up to 2% cash back for the Premium version. I also really liked the financial control the card affords you. You can set a daily spending limit like what I did so you won’t go over a pre-planned amount that you’re willing to spend.

With more than 1.4 million ATMs around Malaysia, you won’t have any trouble changing your spending limit too! Find out more at my.alliancedebitcard.com.

You are a You:nique snowflake

hqnine

It was getting dark and I’ve been on the road for close to an hour. I stopped to ask for directions multiple times but I get conflicting instructions and end up driving around in circles. However, there is (neon) light at the end of the tunnel – I spotted the HQnine signage at TTDI! I was supposed to meet up with Nicholas for a couple of drinks at HQnine…it’s more comfortable than a rat-infested roadside mamak, that’s for sure.

speach

It seems that we have (inadvertently?) gate-crashed an event – it was a sneak preview at Alliance Bank’s new You:nique credit card. Except they call it the Picture Card, and with good reason too – you can put your own photo (or any other photo for that matter) on the face of the card! I don’t have any reservations against admitting my narcissistic tendencies – I can already imagine my likeness on the face of the credit card. Imagine the looks you’ll be getting when you pull out a credit card with your photo on it from your wallet! =D

younique

The card face is a tabula rasa – that’s “blank slate” for those of you who failed Latin. 😉 You get to choose what goes on top of the credit card. It’s revolutionary! You can either upload your own photo or choose a photo (except anything from goat.cx or veritas’ archives) and personalize your credit card!

We were subjected, er…I mean treated to a presentation by the good people at Alliance Bank about the features of the You:nique Picture Card. The website has a very user-friendly step-by-step process to guide you through the process of creating your very own personalized credit card.

pam

The presentation concluded with a question and answer session, with the poor people at Alliance fielding all sorts of stupid questions. My apologies, there are no stupid questions, only stupid people…with yours truly being one of them. 😉 I managed to glean quite a few details about the card that night from the barrage of questions I unleashed.

options

The amazing thing about the You:nique picture card is that you can choose the features you want!

Bargain hunter?



Choose Great Rebates – it gives you a 2% cash rebate for ALL retail purchases! Cash rebates regardless of where you shop…I can smell the demise of retail-credit card partnerships for specific store rebates. I love the smell of napalm in the morning. 😉

Strapped for cash?



Choose Great Rates – it offers a flat finance charge of 9% per annum instead of the 18% other banks are charging you right now. I think this plan is going to put a lot of loan sharks out of business – interest rates are finally dropping below the “unlicensed credit facilities” benchmark. Heh! It’s perfect for people like me, who spend more than what they earn. 😉

Love rewards?



Choose Great Rewards with its 2x (that’s DOUBLE) points reward for every retail purchase. You don’t have to wait for “promotion periods” – Alliance gives you TBP (Timeless Bonus Points) so you get twice the bang for your buck every time you swipe. It’s “promotion period” 24/7, 375 days a year with the You:nique credit card*!

* Except for leap years. It’ll be 366 days a year for leap years. Scared you with the asterisk, didn’t I? 😉

girls

It’s the first credit card in Malaysia to offer you the chance to personalize the face of the credit card. It’s also the first to allow you to CHOOSE the type of reward scheme you want! They agreed to match my credit limit, so I’m going to get one…a sixthseal.com Alliance Bank You:nique card! I already have a couple of designs in mind to customize the Picture Card.

…because just like you, I am a beautiful and You:nique snowflake. 😉

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...