my tenants from hell

9.16am

joh eun achim (good morning, in korean). hows it going people? everything ok with you? well i hope so.

i'll be heading back to singapore tomorrow and i have been tying up some loose ends regarding my property that i sold almost a year ago. and let me tell you, its not an easy task. i want to get back my deposit from the utility board and its been taking a while now. i dont know what the problem is with these people who are working at the utility boards. (water and electricity). sigh. these people are just so slow. on top of that, they are so unorganized. seriously!

anyways, after going from one place to another, filling in forms and whatnots, now i have got a problem with my ex tenant. i dont know if they are thick or what, but i had to inform them that i have gone to close my accounts and to kindly change the name to their own names as im no longer the owner of my property. can you beat that? wouldnt that be the first thing that you do after you have purchased a property(if its not new). nooo...i had to spoon feed them. yet, they are rude to me!! via sms!! i really cant stand people like this. i have been a very good owner and never bothered with my tenants as long as they paid on time. on the bright side, the 3 tenants that i rented my property out to were good paymasters. unfortunately, my mother and i have had seen the "other side" of them just before they moved out. as i do not live in my hometown, my mother is the one that is handling the situation(if anything) because she lives here. and yet, they were disrespectful towards her. imagine that.

i wont go into details but just let me tell you, they were mean people. and only recently, my last tenant who bought my house, was rude to me via sms! well basically, i was informing her that i went to the electricity board to close my account and they told me that after the last reading which was late last year, they had deducted some money from my deposit(as the name on the bill was still under my name, i hadnt gone to change it then). so fine. but obviously, i dont live in that house, therefore the right thing was that the tenant should refund me back from whatever amount the electricity board had deducted off from my deposit, right? so, after informing her on this and speaking to her over the phone, she had the cheek to tell me to liaise with the electricity board as its not her problem and she had paid a certain amount, which wasnt the right amount that one puts in as a deposit.(it was under paid).

sigh. i was really mad. and after talking it over with family, my mother told me to just leave it and there wasnt any hope of me getting a single cent from the ex tenant. so i left the matter. and my mother, bless her, wrote in to the electricity board asking them to clarify the matter and asking for past bills. that too was a problem. alot of run around.

i really give up. and now the electricity board has informed us, that the tenant went to change names and under paid the deposit(usually its fixed but i have no idea how come they were allowed to get away with it) but instead gave the old billing number. now, that isnt right. they have to have a new billing name and address. so currently, their money is basically stuck in between. neither here nor there. good, they deserve it!! the way i see it, its the electricity board's problem for not informing them that they should be paying the right amount and also that the old account has been closed by me and that they should have a new billing number instead of the old one. and its the tenant's problem for not knowing what to do and what not to do. nobody told me what i had to do when i first bought the property, i had to find everything out on my own, with the help of my mother of course.

so thats really that. what a way to end my chinese new year. tenants from hell! previous tenants sent my mom rude and mean smses(almost towards the end of their tenancy), which she didnt deserve as she was only the middleman doing me a favor and helping me as much as she possibly can, as i do not live here. and yet my mother never once complained about it, but only informed me on what was going on and  showed me the smses which she kept. i mean, how can these people be like that? it amazes me at times about peoples behavior. i bet you that they are not rude or mean to their elders or friends/family.

as a owner of the property, i have never harassed them in any way for anything. i let them be happy as long as they dont destroy or deface my property then im fine. but  if there was any problem, they would quickly ring my mother up and get her to solve the matter.(if i was in town,i would be doing it of course). so every little issue, was solved as soon as possible, that was our way. fast and efficient. but turn the tables around, they became nasty. this makes me wonder, is it any good being nice when the other party isnt? being mr nice guy sometimes just doesnt cut it. yet mom keeps on instilling in me, to be calm and patient, no point in getting upset or mad with these type of people. she says - "if you get mad, they wouldnt know if you were mad, so whats the point? and if you were to voice it out to them, you dont know what they would end up doing to your property."

alas, i think of the saying - what goes around comes around. i believe in that. one day, all these people will get their comeuppence. just wait and see. and so folks, i really hope you dont get tenants from hell like i did and i do wish you all the best.

have a great week!! will definately check in sometime next week after i've settled back in singapore.

ttfn


10.10am

gong xi fa cai/haengboghan seolnal/happy chinese new year

3.01pm

gong xi fa cai. wow..how the days have flown by. there i was waiting impatiently for the chinese new year to come and now its almost over! sheesh. just like the saying goes - all good things must come to an end. so i have to come back to reality. ho hum. so how was your lunar new year, for those who celebrated it? was it plenty good? did you eat like there was no tomorrow? hahaha...its ok..once a year you are allowed to binge and stuff your face silly.

anyways, my chinese new year was celebrated up in penang, which is my husband's hometown, with lots of family gathered around  and good friends. oooh there were loads of delicious food that my husband's relatives cooked (all family receipes, mind you) and on top of that, there was the "low hei" ( low hei in cantonese means prosperity toss. in order to have this prosperity toss, you must have the dish known as yee sang which basically consists of raw salmon(usually), lots of shredded veggies, several types of other condiments and sauces, all tossed together using chopsticks. one can also add in other ingredients such as preboiled jelly fish or scallops. so really anything goes). i think that this dish is kinda healthy. (see picture below, thats the yee sang dish before being tossed together).






so, besides all the eating, drinking and merry making, there was some gambling too. oh yes, the chinese are quite famous for their gambling habits. hahahaha...but well once a year, we play with our family and friends, so thats ok. its not a habit. i call it a ritual. a yearly ritual.  and thats why for the past one week when i was in penang, there were many late nights! but trust me, i didnt complain at all from the lack of sleep!

and today, im back in my hometown. i will be here till end of next week before heading back to singapore. spending time with my folks. and also to catch up with my relatives and friends too. when im not out and about, i've been youtubing and googling alot on Big Bang and TOP quite a fair bit. so, thats really how i've been spending my chinese new year so far. so what about your chinese new year? did u guys gamble at all?

well, whatever it is, i hope you guys have had a good break during this festive period and wishing you lots of luck, prosperity and abundance of joy and happiness for this snake year!!


ttfn


3.20pm

BIGBANG & TOP

2.14pm

why hello there. or should i say - annyeonghaseyo. (which means good afternoon, even hello, as per my google translation). today's blog is not going to be long as its a dedication blog to BigBang.

how i started to like this group was by accident.  couple of years back i was surfing channels on the idiot box and just so happened, channel V was playing some k-pop music and then BigBang came up. heard their song and well, it blew me away. i didnt know korean guys could sing and dance like they do. i know there's alot of korean boy and girl bands/groups out there but my gosh, this one just rocks!

and the past week, i dont know what kinda bug bit me, and there i was sitting by the lappy and listening to almost each and every song from them and figuring out which ones i liked best and downloading them, both music videos and audio files, into my ipad and walkman. plus i've been googling them and reading up on their biodata etc. hahaha...and quite frankly, this is just a phase that im going thru (i tend to go thru phases every now and again). i dont know how long this will last, this so called "obsession" of mine. 

anyway lets see, what  do i like about them? well i think its the whole entire package. they are multitalented. these boys can sing, be sponteneous, be funny, get serious, have great sense of dress style, can really shake their tailfeathers, write their own songs, on top of that, they have their boyish good looks( plus great bodies) and well just about everything and anything about them is plain fascinating not to mention captivating too. thats how they have fans all over the world, i'll have you know. sigh, especially females, like me. im one of the millions. god only knows how i would stand out in this "crowd".

but seriously though, out of the 5 of them, for some strange reason, i'm kinda drawn to T.O.P (aka choi seung hyun). i think its those eyes of his. it hits me like a ton of bricks. just like that. BOOM! its so intense and its as though he can see right into your soul. my gawwwddddd. mmm...is it getting hot in here,i dunno. right then, i think i'll just  plonk some pictures for you guys to see.

ok if you are looking at this picture(above), i'll start with the guy in the sweater, with blue motifs, thats daesung, then followed by taeyang, next is g-dragon, then comes my favourite guy T.O.P. and lastly seungri. see! told you so! arent they just adorable?

aaah, my dream guy. hubba hubba......he looks just so dreamy in the photo. check out those pair of eyes! i could have a staring competition with him all day long hahahaha. gosh i would so love to meet him one day, but i doubt that would ever happen, only in my dreams. oh well wishful thinking on my part.

you know, fyi, this guy can really rap and does beatbox. yup, i went thru youtube and found that out (thru one of their interviews). besides singing and rapping, he's acted in some korean dramas too. he says he's not a very good dancer but he practices alot and if you notice in the music videos or when they are in concert, he's very laid back and cool about the whole thing. his moves are flawless and you wouldnt think that he was struggling or has 2 left feet from day one. well practice makes perfect yes. and from watching some of the interviews, he's the most "serious" one out of the lot. thats one of the things i like about him, his serious side. aah...and you know what else, he's a mummy's boy too!! awww bless you, T.O.P.!!!

well dear friends, you can go read more online about this group if you want to. i'll leave you with that. and if any koreans reading this blog, hey, feel free to message me!! then we can chat about BigBang. hahahhaahahah

ttfn

2.54pm

ok ok couldnt help myself. one more picture for the road, guys. jeulgyeo! (which means enjoy).

p/s T.O.P. if you happen to read this, na-ege mesijileul bonae

big bang and chinese new year

3.13pm

well chinese new year is coming pretty soon. for those of you who dont know what chinese new year is, let me give you a general outline of it. basically, chinese new year is the longest and most important traditional chinese holiday thats celebrated by all chinese folks around the world. in china, its also known as the spring festival.Chinese New Year celebrations traditionally ran from Chinese New Year's Day itself, the first day of the first month of the chinese calendar to the lantern festival on the 15th day of the first month. The evening preceding Chinese New Year's Day is an occasion for Chinese families to gather for the annual reunion dinner. Because the chinese calendar  is lunisolar, the Chinese New Year is often referred to as the "Lunar New Year".

usually what most people would do is that they will use their money to buy presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing. It is also traditional for every family to thoroughly cleanse the house, in order to sweep away any ill-fortune and to make way for good incoming luck. then on the eve of the chinese new year, most families would gather around the dinner table and have a feast.

some families will end the night with firecrackers (unfortunately, some courtries have banned the usage of firecrackers or fireworks because some people make their own home- made firecrackers and end up blowing their hands or fingers off). anyways, early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy  prosperous new year, and they will receive money in little red paper envelopes. the Chinese New Year tradition is to reconcile, forget all grudges and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone.

my yearly plan for the chinese new year is usually flying up to my husband's hometown and spend like about a week there with his side of the family and then fly down to my hometown where we will spend the rest of the holidays with my family. so, what are your plans then?

this past couple of days, instead of packing, i have been busy downloading music and music videos from this south korean male group known as big bang. im not sure if you have heard of them but they are super hot!! im not joking. some songs are really catchy and sticks to your brains. just like how its been playing over and over again inside my head like a broken record  hahaha...ok i know not all of you out there like what i like but you know, this is my opinion and what i think and how i feel. hehe

aaah there we go. bigbang for you.  hey if you have time to kill, instead of staring at the 4 walls, just take 5 minutes of your time and check them out on youtube and tell me what you think. who knows, you may just end up liking their songs(as well as their kickass moves!).

some of their songs that i recommend are - lies, always, cafe, let me hear your voice, my heaven, monster, blue; just to name a few. basically, this group started back in 2006 and is known for their unique urban-originated music and fashion style.(love their dress style by the way!) from 2007 to 2008, big bang received many awards, including "Best Male Group", "Song of the Year", "Artist of the Year", and the Grand Award at the Seoul Music Awards. sweeeeeeeet!!

ok ok i should be going. not sure when i'll be writing next. but do stay tuned ok!! in the meantime, take care and wishing you gong xi fa chai!! (translation - happy chinese new year!)

ttfn

3.50pm

p/s   sorry to lump the korean boy group together with chinese new year. hahahaha..