1, 2, goal! (of 2023)

Took a day off today and went to Kajang. The whole drive was OK but once I reached the town side, I wish I had taken the MRT instead. The traffic was horrendous! I was trying to get to Maybank Kajang and had to circle round the whole town looking for parking. After 40-45 minutes of going in circles, managed to find a spot about 50m from the destination.

The reason I went to Maybank Kajang today was to check on a full settlement for my car loan and termination of my ASB financing loan. And I did it! I paid off my car loan and terminated my ASB loan within an hour.

My calculations were somehow off by 2k because I ended up getting only RM9.5k rebate instead of RM11.4k. And based on my simple calculations, still a good option since I'm not paying off the full amount and if compared to putting the amount in FD/ASB, the returns are still pretty much the same if not more.

The ASB loan was something that I had been wanting to terminate for quite some time but the recent dividend announcement had pushed me to finally do it. The bank was charging me 4.75% p.a vs the dividend rates of 3-4%! It's madness when I think about it.

Anyway with these two loans sorted, as of today, I have no more bank debts. Wish I could say I am bebas hutang, but I still have that damn training loan that is hanging around like an albatross round my neck. Its sheer size and the outcome of the training program itself have really been a bane of my existence. Way I see it, I made a costly mistake when I was a dumb 18yo and I am still paying the price of it, and not just in monetary terms.

But for now, I'm feeling a relieved/happy/proud that I could afford clearing out my debts and more importantly, getting 2 of my 2023 goals closed up with 11 months to go.

Alhamdulillah.

First Trip 2023

As the first trip of 2023, took an impromptu drive to Tangkak this weekend. Booked a hotel in Melaka on Friday, left office early to collect my new passport, and then went home to pack.

Plan was to stay in Melaka for 3d2n and go to a wedding of a friend at a Felda in Tangkak on Saturday. I took into account that eventhough there was no class that day, there was a test at 12.30pm which I assumed I could finish by 1pm and head to Tangkak afterwards ETA 2.15pm latest. However, despite leaving on time, I only managed to reach the Felda at 2.45pm. Worse, I actually got to the wrong wedding and had to ask my way around until I found the friend's house. By the time I reached the right address, it was close to 3pm and not many guests left. It was a scorching afternoon so I decided not to stay for long and left after about an hour and respectfully declined to take pictures with the bride and groom.

I confess that the main reason I decided to go to the wedding despite the distance and limited time was because I expected to see a dear female friend. She left for Singapore about 2 months ago and I was hoping we could catch up. I didn't know if she was coming but took the chances anyway. Sadly, she came but had left some time before my arrival.

Because of that, the drive back to Melaka was dreadful. The disappointment of missing her, and made worse by attending the wedding alone while the rest of the guests who were in fact my juniors during training that came with their spouses and kids had left me despondent.

She was a dear friend because despite the complicated nature of our friendship (I can't yet put this properly into words), she was the only one who I could really talk to on an emotional level. And although I doubt if she feels the same way with me, I have a strong feeling that she IS the one.

Anyway, once I got back to the hotel in Melaka, I spent the whole night in the room reflecting. And I did the same on my way back to Sepang this morning. 

So upon reflection, I'm setting a target to get into a relationship this year. Will start seriously looking at and considering options. I never planned to spend the rest of my life alone. It's just that I've been caught up with too much stuff that I never got around to seriously finding someone. That, and also my natural uneasiness with the opposite gender (LOL). When I was in kindergarten, I told my parents I hated girls for no apparent reason apart from finding them repulsive (I have been dumb since I was young).

At 31, socialising has become even harder for me what with the other guys already being married and most with kids. My social environment has drastically changed and I'm sticking out like a sore thumb in it.

And this is unrelated, but I also plan to do an full settlement for my car loan so that I can get the rebate while freeing up my monthly commitments.

So there I have it, 2023 goals sorted.

As with the dear female friend,

I think it's time to move on for the final time.