The Facelift.

I've always liked the colour black and white... im not much of an arty farty person but when it comes to colours, i feel i know what im talking about. Personally, ive always liked the simplicity in style of the colour black against a white background.....

Their not loud colours, but the combination stands out when matched and balanced well..

My latest jersey that i bought had a combination of white and black...

When i customize cars in need for speed, i always seem the most impressed at a car with that combination of colours.

I guess thats why the combination is used as a colour for the Yin and Yang sign. It portrays perfect balance.
So enough of this jibberish.

Charlotte had been gone for a week being put under the knife. It was a long wait and i counted the days till Thursday. Mr Sim from the paint shop mentioned that the fastest he could get it done by was Thursday. True to his word, he managed to complete almost everything by 6pm on the promised day. Unfortunately, he closes at 7pm and i get home from work at 8pm.... so it was one last night of which i had a pretty crazy nightmare of the car turning out looking terrible. It was so real i practically didnt feel myself wake up until i realized i was in bed.

Im sure by now its pretty clear that i sent charlotte for a paint job. If you havent guessed it by now, you need to go back to school and return all your qualifications to the establishments you obtained them from :p

ANyway....

Im extremely proud to be able to say that i own her and made some decisions that im very happy with and a lot of blood, sweat and tears have been shed in the process. I cannot deny the fact that i owe my family big time for me to even be owning this car and driving it around. But here she is...ive still smiling since this morning everytime i look at her :) unfortunately, these pics were taken with my handphone camera and arent too clear...they dont bring out the colour as well as id like... but hey, its served its purpose.



View at an angle.


Always liked the front view of the Charade.


Much much better rear profile and a nicer stance with the wider and thinner tyres.


I got these 15 inchers through a swap and RM100 top up with my car buddy Gavan.


Here's a flaw which im looking to fix soon. I was on a tight budget and had only sprayed the exterior....its not as pretty as id like it to be once i open the door. The interior linings are unfortunately, still red. Ive promised myself to get that fixed some day. Got some other things which are more important for now.

What can i say? Im just uncontrollably ecstatic with the outcome. Its exactly as i planned it to be. Just a little touch ups here and there and it'd be complete from the outside.

Im sorry if the car isnt as amazing to you as it is to me.... but im proud of it nonetheless.....

Well... heres whats next up...

1.Visors.
2.New rear brake lamp.
3.Darker tint.
4.New rear number plate. Mine looks like....well....crap....
5.Custom making some Daihatsu stickers to balance the black out more evenly at the rear end.
6.Interior spray.

But to burst my own bubble...my road tax, speeding ticket and insurance renewal have to be paid this month.... such an anti climax....

Dougie signing out.

21 years young...

I think that no one would actually notice this update as i havent been blogging for ages now due to unforseen circumstances, time constraints and my ever hectic work which causes me to feel ratehr exhausted by the time i get home..... Therefore, thats my explanation for not blogging.... not really "unforseen circumstances" actually...

But today... Im off from work after a much more than expected event filled weekend.....

Saturday was cool....a nice laid back pizza party with the family of which i forked out a bit of my own money to buy more than enough pizzas.... Thank god for dominoes Privelege Gold Card which entitles a card holder to a buy 1 free 1 deal....So i bought 4 pizzas and guess how many i got free? Yea..u do the math...

Old folks

middle ages folks

My little cousin Ethan.. apparently we were impesonating Ronald McDonald????

younger folks

My cousin Lynette who celebrated her 30th bday with me...

The Grand-One handing me my birth certificate and some other documents... Me posing as if i'd signed a deal with Manchester United...hahahaha....

I got an overdose of Pizza and ang pows which came up to quite a bit....practically tearing with joy as i opened the red packets... enough for me to finally get my paint job for Charlotte.... its gonna be awesome...

Back to my birthday.... the highlight of the weekend came on Saturday night.... my baby went through the trouble of arranging a small meet up for me at Chinoz in KLCC with the rest of the guys and 2 girls.... I was basically blind folded for a good 20 minutes, almost pissed in my pants when my baby almost met in an accident whiles i was blindfolded, and i was a laughing stock for a large group of foreigners at Chinoz as they observed a young dude, with a tie wrapped around his face walking hand in hand with a hot chick...me being the young dude with a tie around his face and the hot chick being my baby :)

at Chinoz on the park KLCC

I cant thank everyone enough for making my bday a bit more special that i had intended it to be... and more so, i cant thank my baby enough for what she did for me....

thank you thank you thank you.... love u so much...

Only deflation was that this is the first time ever, that i celebrated my birthday without anyone of my immediate family members.... things change i guess... coz now my sister has also moved to the US of A with my mom.... havent seen my dad in a while either....

AAAAnnyway....

Sunday was the actual date of my bday and i was greeted with a nice load of sms's which was a nice start to the day.... more so, i woke up with my baby by my side and we spend the morning just lazying around.... Brought my buddy Shane to do some shopping in IKEA, and headed to futsal later that night.... unfortunately, i played like shit.... enough said....

And so here i am on a Monday afternoon.... taking a day off from work....speaking of which, ive already taken a couple of steps to taking a step out.... i dont seem to see much mroe advancement for myself here.
But yea, im here now and ive finally found some time to keep my blog alive.....

Next up will be a full write up on Charlotte and whats new.... been itching to do a review on my own car now that shes starting to look more complete...

SO yea.. thats wraps it up and until next post.....

Cheers to being alive for 21 fantastic years.... and ill take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been involved in making me who i am today....To my mum, sister, family members, the love of my life, friends and other people along the way....

THANK YOU!!

Dougie signing out..

What now....

I need a new job....

If anybody has anything for me.... please let me know...

Not that my job sucks... i just need a change of scene....

*****end of announcement*****

I hate to admit it but i have nothing to blog about.... dont get me wrong, life is good now...and thats possibly a reason as to why theres nothing to blog about....

But of course theres charlotte... who needs an exhaust which is gonna cost about RM400 or less, then i also want to replace my front disc brake pads with Ferodo pads which'll be about RM170 bucks for a more solid bite...plus, my current pads are slightly "not so good" now, then theres the heavy vibration at the steering wheel which i want to get checked soon... hopefully its just some bushings which need replacing, and OH YEA...i finally decided to spray my rims black and so i have done so about 2 weeks back...the results are fantastic.... :)

And then theres Manchester United winning the English Premier League, the trophy is back where it belongs..... but unfortunately theres no hope of glory in Europe.... Hopefully ill be smiling after the FA cup final with chelsea as well... :)

My 4th year anniversary with my baby will be on this 27th....hehehe...4 years...wow.... and i like the feeling that the "flame"...so to speak.... is burning as brightly as it did 4 years ago....i cant help but smile just thinking about it ....

And what better way to sign of a blog entry......heres my new look for the 2nd half of 2007...

Guess thats all....

Dougie signing out.

Life is like a turbo

Life is like having a turbo on your car..... You never get enough of boost and you always want more.... but yet, you know what you currently have can be sufficient......

Over the past week... ive realized that the management at my workplace isnt as "alright" as i thought it was, i had a really bad day with love, then i had a really good day with love, i got a call from an organization asking me to go in for an interview which i am excited about, my sister is leaving in a couple of weeks, ive realized that my perception of one side of my family is pretty negative, ive got this weird pain from the right side of my jaw till my right temple.....

Life is also like a turbo because u can spend so much time building it up, improving things, making it better, but it can all blow up in your face without warning.... mind you , it hasnt blown up in mine yet.... neither my life nor my turbo....

Oh yea...i have to gloat that i managed to fix in my "fish valves" with 5 valves to bleed pressure off of the wastegate vaccuum hose and my boost is now at 0.7 bar...hoping that itll show more improvements once i get my exhaust done next month... GOOD SHIT....

And also...i finally managed to coat my rims flat black like ive been wanting to for so long..the results are fantastic.... i always liked the look of black rims since i started modding charlotte.... this current set of rims are no exception.. ill probably paint my brake calipers red when i have the time....

A Turbo can also be related to our love lives.... when u think about it.... Lets just say im the turbine housing, and my baby is the turbine fins.... most of the time both components are working in perfect harmony..... but sometimes seals will break, boost will start to leak, and then the turbo needs servicing....kinda like my relationship..... love you baby..... hehehehe.... ur my turbine fins er.... :)

Then theres friends....Friends are like vacuum hoses, turbine pipings, intercooler pipings and blow off valves.... So many different kinds of friends, but somehow or rather they all play a part in our lives the same way the mentioned components do for a turbo....hahahha.....

im so lame...


Now for some sighing....

I think the one thing stuck at the corner of my mind which is bothering me in a way, is my family life.... on the more positive note, my sister is looking optimistic to head to the states and im sure my mum will be happier with her around.....
On the other hand....
I mentioned it earlier but heres something more specific..... I feel for some reason, emotionally detached from the family ties with my "Tan" blood..... call me ungrateful or whatever....but i cant help the fact that i feel this way.... and i hate how its making me feel coz my dad is absically a big part of this feeling of mine..... I've found it so extremely difficult to love him as the same dad i knew..... it hurts, yet its frustrating at the same time.... Nevertheless, he's my dad and i know for a fact that somewhere in him is the man i grew to love..... sigh...emo emo emo.....

My final comparison of life being like a turbo...is probably how we end our days respectively.... You basically turn off ur engine, and let the turbo rest... as i have to do now in the form of getting some sleep....

Dougie signing out...

Under Boost...Over Spending

I finally fixed hooked up the boost meter that my baby bought me about a week ago. Managed to tap the vacuum hose to the intake manifold ala DIY and left the lighting wiring to be done by the peopl who actually know about wiring in Mr.Tan's shop... FOR FREE..... wohoo.... Now i can monitor my boost levels and to my dismay, it reads that im only getting about 0.5 bar of boost at normal settings when im suppsoed to get about 0.7 bar..... im just hoping theres no issue with the wastegate (the component that limits the exhaust pressure to the turbine). Ive made a decision to learn by using a 3 way valve known as a "fish valve" in local automotive jargon, to increase boost to about 0.9 bar. Which is from what ive read, the maximum that the stock ECU will handle in terms of fueling....

And so with the money that i saved, i lowered my 2 front springs by 1 coil each....

Theres a theory that cut springs dont serve any good purpose apart from enhancing a car aestethically, but i beg to differ and i say this based on current experience.... The springs are now stiffer because theyve been shortened, takes noticeably flatter corners, is actually more comfortable, and its lowered my car in the front by about an inch and has given charlotte a much nicer stance..... But of course if i get a proper set of lowering springs it'll have much better results... but hey, if i had RM500 bucks or so then of course i would....but then again, theres some other things which are more important... so i wouldnt have spent that amount of money anyway

My car aside, i met up with this guy who owns a kancil that ive seen running around brem park and is usually parked in there.... He found his way to the sulbime forum and well, we had a drink at McDonalds and i got a chance to feel the might of the L2 turbo.... his car is boosting at 1 bar mind you and i swear, it'll give almost any road going sports car a run for its owners money until about 140kmh... which we reached from standstill in hardly any time at all.... all the more tempting for me to hit the 0.9 bar that i want to test out :)

I hate to admit it...once uve got urself in this automotive hobby, its extremely difficult to control yourself.... im sure every petrol head will testify to this....

AAnnnyway....

Works been real heavy this past week.... been working till past 6:30 on tuesday and i was in the office till about 9:30 today, only got to spend hardly an hour plus with my baby : ( But one thing, it makes me realize how much i miss her when i dont see her for a day.... im happy that that feeling is still there, most relationships i know off usually lack it after 3 years or so....so yea...its good in a way

Shaitz im tired but for some reason i feel compelled to blog.... i cant explain this craving but its just there.... and of course i realized that i havent blogged in a while too..... SO this post will serve as yet another cure for the itch to blog and rant about my life..a quarter mile at a time.... ..corny corny corny..... hehehehe...

Oh yes...how could i almost forget the Man United vs Roma game.... what can i say?

now who wouldve predicted...

SEVEN GOALS TO ONE!!!! ahh..that should cover it.... treble glory is in the horizon.... hopefully...

I missed the live game but managed to catch the replay yesterday...and as if god wanted me to watch the game, i jt turned the TV on, and there it was...just starting as well....what mroe could i ask for from the TV gods....

Oh btw, thanks kyle for calling me at 3am in the morning to let me know that we were 3-0 up before the stroke of half time.... i thought i was dreaming when i woke up the next morning...

Life is really great now i have to say.... its been this way for a while now and im really glad if i can maintain it like this... but the one thing that really bothers me but yet, i seem to be passively ignoring, is my financial management.....

I mean...okay...im not earning THAT much....its enough for me to survive as well as for me to enjoy a little....spend a little....have some luxury..... but at the same time, i feel the need to actually save.... as my baby keeps on telling me to do.... SAVE SAVE SAVE..... which is something i should do, but i just cant at the moment..... I dont know if its because im so used to having something to fall back on, ive always dug my way out of situations , or merely because im so overwhelmed with the fact that i can finally buy the things i want, eat nice food, show some generosity, yada yada yada which ive never been able to do before i started working.....

whatever it is...i need to start saving as well as paying my dues.... which i really need to do... but i just havent been able to put much aside for it.... things keep coming up, or i just get so caught up with something..... sigh.... I'll just have to discipline myself and i have to start it real soon.....

Its Friday....yeay....

Dougie signing out...

Dark clouds have silver linings?

My trip to perhentian this month has been forced to be cancelled.... nuff said...

After weeks of planning, the public transportation of malaysia doesnt seem to have been kind enough to set us up for the final stages of our planned trip.... and what a dissapointment it is... i really havent felt sooo dissapointed in recent times... But heck, dont think ill sit around and cry about it....

In the words of the great limp bizkit... "from the good comes the bad, the bad comes the good...ima live my life like i should"

And true to those words my baby and i were.... because our trip would be cancelled and postponed.... i pretty much went on a shopping spree.... and my baby got something that shes wanted for a while, which is, the Crittertrail X hamster cage thing which looks bigger than my house...

For myself?

I got a new pair of Nike Tiempo Naturale Futsal shoes for RM130 of which i customized a car decal and made a number 17 and stuck it to the heel of the shoe.... As always, the shoes are mainly white in colour, with the Nike SWOOSH and other details in Anthracite (which is like dark grey)... very nice and simple and i got it at a bargain!

my baby bought me an auto gauge boost gauge which was at an offer price at ENEOS.... so their not the most accurate or high end brand of performance instruments, but they should serve me well for at least 1 year or so... and they look good too! I really cant find sufficient words to express how much i appreciate my baby doing that... It's actually my birthday present....teehee.... hopefully i can find that particular stand in the picture...

And although its not shopping, ill be finally settling my speeding fine that i was slapped with a couple of months back... RM150 green ones..

Oh yea... the TOP GEAR magazine is finally on sale in malaysia!! i finally got a look at it but noticed that most of the articles are available online.. apart of course from the more pictures, adverts, contest, additional articles...the RM10 i would pay, i can spare for something else... But heck, if you like cars, thats a fantastic magazine for only RM10 bucks i tell you...

On the way back from work today...i finally heard the full version of Linkin Park's latest single... "what i've done", very trademark linkin park piano riffs, effects, has a more alternative sound to it....but the melody is pretty cool and although it isnt as good as some of their older materials, it gives a good look at wht to expect from the Minutes to midnight album... good stuff...

http://www.linkinpark.com/ <------click here and let it load

I have to say..its been a pretty good month so far....much more ups than downs.... my mum seems to have settled in the US and its a ncie feeling to know tht she's doing alright....my sister seems to be doing fine with her processing to go to the States....my baby is happy and as cute as ever.... charlotte is behaving really well.... heck...what more could i ask for? perhentian aside of course...

just gonna hope it stays this way for a looong while... havent felt such an UP time in life for a long while....

Dougie signing out

Tag thing..

It had to happen sooner or later....

PART 1: ON THE OUTSIDE
Name : Douglas Robin Tan Hiok Thien
Date of birth : 17 June 1986
Current status : In a Relationship & sort of Married
Eye colour : Dark Brown
Hair colour : Blackish brown?
Righty or lefty : mightey rightey
Zodiac sign : Gemini..

PART 2: ON THE INSIDE
Your heritage : Banana... yellow on the outside, white on the inside
Your fear : losing a loved one... losing my sight a.k.a becoming BLIND
Your weakness : my nuts?
Your perfect pizza : Beef pepperoni with extra cheese and more cheese..

PART 3: YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW
Your thoughts first waking up : Sigh...monday...
Tomorrow : Sigh...tuesday...
Your bedtime : half past midnight...
Your most missed memory : My childhood when my whole family was around....

PART 4: YOUR PICK
Pepsi or coke: Coke
McD's or Burger King: Burger King...
Adidas or Nike: Nike....coz my new shoes are nikes...ive crossed to the swoosh side..

PART 5: DO YOU...
Smoke: Nope...
Curse: Yes.... if this means saying bad words...then yes

PART 6: IN THE PAST MONTH
Drank alcohol : Does Beer count?
Gone to the mall : With a girlfriend like my baby, every month ill be at a mall.... :) hehehehe
Been on stage : Yeap...
Eaten sushi : Nope....
Dyed your hair: Nope...

PART 7: WHAT WERE YOU DOING
1 minute ago : Answering PART6...
1 hour ago : Driving my baby home...
4 1/2 hours ago : Lying on my bed with my baby...
1 month ago : Probably the same thing im doing now
1 year ago : Bumming around...jobless...

PART 8: FINISH THE SENTENCE
i love : My baby!
i feel : Like installing my boost gauge...
i hate : Cars with loud mufflers who tailgate me....
i hide : My private parts everyday...
i miss : My baby's scent...oh no...im getting ho..... =)
i need : My mother.... my baby....loooovin =) .....a new set of tyres....a new paint job for my car.... Stiffer springs....a more interesting job....a ball bearing turbo.... the list goes on....

Im not gonna tag anyone...

Dougie signing out..