Meeting My Ex-Student

Robin was my ex-student at ICOM from about 10 years ago. He continued his studies after that at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, USA and is now a music producer, engineer and drummer based in New York city.

I was fortunate enough to learn of his holiday trip back to Malaysia this month and I "took advantage" of him (haha)... I asked if he could do a seminar for my Digital Audio class and Robin, just like the cooperative and exemplary student during his ICOM days, obliged (despite his very tight schedule in KL) by coming in to share his knowledge and experience in recording a live jazz trio.

Just before he left for NYC, Robin managed to squeeze in a little time to meet up with me and Eunice over dinner last Saturday. We met in Thai Express at The Curve. It was an interesting catching up session and exchange of stories, including how Eunice and I met. Although that story is also available on the About Us page of zenetlife.com, Robin had a 1st person account from us on how it happened, with quite a few more details, of course (than the summarized version on our website)... haha.

Another ex-ICOM student, Cecilia, later joined us at Thai Express. I have not seen her since her graduation ceremony about 5 years ago, and we caught up with each other too.

* From left to right: Cecilia, Robin, Eunice and Sze.

Towards the end, the air in Thai Express was getting hot and stuffy and it was time to go. But it had been quite an enjoyable evening for all 4 of us.

* Photo courtesy of Robin.

My Parkville Townhouse

Dad had frequently advised me to buy a house for investment since I have always had a place to stay in. In fact, Dad was more like pestering me about it... hehe.

I had been thinking about heeding Dad's advice but houses in KL were just too expensive and beyond my financial capability. So I asked Mom to look out for a cheaper piece of property back in Sitiawan (where Dad and her were staying). After a long wait, Mom found a single-storey house for RM98K. However, Dad wasn't too keen on that house as the value of property there does not increase as much as in KL/Klang Valley. So, I started hunting for a place here in KL after Dad indicated that he would help me out financially.

I looked at several places and found Desa Coalfields in Sg. Buloh. As it (Sg. Buloh) is a rapidly developing town, it seemed to be the new boom area. Rental rates and house prices there would surely go up then. A new, double-storey terrace house in Desa Coalfields would cost around RM238K now - other similar houses that I have seen elsewhere are in excess of RM300K. But when I asked several friends and colleagues for their opinions, many were not keen on that area as it was further away from the city.

Based on that feedback, I started looking for houses nearer to where I live here in Puchong. A friend of mine took me to see a new house nearby which she bought recently, and along the way, I spotted an interesting block of showhouses - they were the Parkville Townhouses in Bandar Bukit Puchong. It had already closed for the day, so I went back there the next morning with Sze.


Being a townhouse (duplex), there was the lower unit and the upper unit. Many house buyers might like the lower unit but when I saw the upper unit, I fell in love with it immediately... hehe. The interior was beautifully designed and was very spacious. At 1560 sq. ft. (24x60 ft.), it was priced at RM239K, which was about what I would have expected to spend.

I went back to see the Parkville showhouses with my younger sis later that same day and she loved it too. We compared it with a few other places after that but none could measure up and impress us. So 2 days later, little sis and me booked 2 upper units of the Parkville townhouses :) We paid an extra RM8K each as we wanted the end (corner) units.