Final Entry from the Tenth Floor

The blog is not headed anywhere. But the subtitle “View from the Tenth Floor” will be changed starting today as we will no longer be living on the tenth floor.

Nasi Arab in Kangar

The last two months has been a whirlwind of activity.

I have accepted a job offer in Kangar and we’ll be moving there – five hundred klicks away – shortly.

This has been a blessing, as we have been wanting to leave Kuala Lumpur for many, many years but there was nowhere to go, not without a job there to ground us and provide us security there. Now there is an opportunity for us to leave the city. A new job beckoned us.

The visit to the Cave of Dramatic Lighting was the only hint of the upcoming change, during our prospecting trip to visit the new employer and workplace.

We will be leaving behind the Tenth Floor with a lot of memories, the only home Irfan ever knew… until now.

Here’s an account of the last month or so leading up to our eventual move:

After returning from our scouting mission to Kangar in Late October, I accepted the Alterkine species art commission. The art job should not have taken more than a week, even if I took my time. I would have time to complete the job, then move on to my university assignments. I have one more semester to go before I finish my course.

Then we all got sick for a week and a half. Fever, coughing, throwing up, the whole works.

During the sickness’ downswing, I started on the first Alterkine artwork. Also, we started looking for houses to rent in Kangar.

We found one house, booked it but suddenly the owner cancelled it because she had to do more remodelling on her property which might only be completed in a couple of months.

After I had finished one Alterkine alien, the work Linux laptop died. It had been shutting off randomly on its own a few days prior to this. But then, it shut down and would never turn back on again.

My backup was the Win XP netbook, but it was slow. Every application window change slowed everything down for 30 seconds; more if I had been using one RAM-heavy application for an extended time. Even drop down menus was an exercise in long waits. Additionally, the small screen resolution forced me to magnify and move the canvas around more than I usually would.

Because of this the Alterkine artwork was completed only after 10 days or so.

A constant and reliable companion for the last 8 years

I was now unable to take on any other art commissions until I acquire a new computer. No matter, I had the move to deal with.

I had a week to finish three 2000-word assignments. The concepts and ideas for the assignments came easy, but I needed reference materials to cite. Lots of web searches to execute. Again, alternating between the word processor and web browser made the netbook RAM throw a hissy fit.

Meanwhile, we had decided on an alternate house to rent, and with Atok and Opah’s help, officially booked it. This house is on the ground and not on the tenth floor of any Shadowrun-type arcology.

Then, the application for my examination location change from here to Alor Setar has been submitted and approved.

Then, Ain had submitted her resignation and would be looking for a new job in Kangar.

Finally, Irfan’s paperwork for a school transfer was done yesterday.

There are no words to convey my gratitude the friends whom I made along the way living in Kuala Lumpur and made our life here more comfortable by just being great friends. I wish I could repay them for their efforts.

Nothing left to do but to change the blog banner, get in the car tomorrow, drive north, begin a new life there and start work Monday.

End of the Tenth Floor