-still trying to sell the apartment, so wife still remains at KL. Lowered the price a bit and seek out more agents.

-CNY was better than expected. This is the first year wife spent CNY at my place, so there were a lot of uncertainty for her as we weren't quite sure of the expectation placed on her as the new daughter-in-law of our family and also extended family. I stayed closed to her almost all of the time but turns out we overestimated it and things went OK.

-As there are a bit of friction between my father and me, I am relieved that he didn't say anything to cause awkwardness or uneasiness during CNY.

-It was my first year giving instead of receiving angpow, and I am happy to do so as I see it as 'paying it forward' if that makes sense.

-My 2 married elder sisters visited this year and it's always nice to see them again.

So overall CNY was pretty good

What is the significance of this? You were demolishing a house but you wasted money buying paint?

Your FIL definitely had a thing for shortcuts and risky calculations.

Thank you for the analysis.

I could not imagine how someone such as his FIL could be in the business of building and selling homes to the public. The stunt he pulled with that shops seem down right dangerous to me. One absolute certainty is if you pulled that type of stunts in PRC you won't remain alive for long. I guess with the existence of persons such as billcollector's FIL I finally can understand why my MIL would only live in a house that she herself commissioned contractors to build or was built by either Sime Darby or Sunway.

Both Billcollector and his FIL should be thankful they do not live in Switzerland as both could look forward to spending time behind bars. One for being an outright crook and the other for emotional abuse of a spouse.

Thanks

Currently will not rent it out for now, wife is worried having tenants might make it difficult for potential buyers to view the house. One agent did share a peculiar case where he came across a tenant who demanded there can only be just 1 viewing when they are staying there (not sure whether this is in the contract or not).

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Took me less than 3 minutes to dig it out, and not a whole morning.

When you retire, you should write a novel based on your eventful life. If so, don't forget to mention lurkingaround. 
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You should think and retire the American/angmoh way, ie at about 70 years old = your twins will be about 27 years old.
....... Only mostly Asians and Chinese retire at about 60 years old.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/11/if-you-cant...im-social-.html - If you can’t wait until 70, this is the next best age to claim Social Security benefits - 2018

Come to think of it, Malaysia and East Asia is a small market for the suggested novel like yours = you should have married the Swedish girl. 
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I don't think he can include you, it's gonna lead to a whole lot of questions from his wife. Lol! I can already imagine her reaction

Who is this lurkingaround in your novel?
He's from where? Forum??? What forum!?
What you post there!?
Show me! SHOW ME RIGHT NOW!

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If BillCollector publishes a novel based on his own life, he would already be sharing most of his life with the general public.  Mentioning lurkingaround in the novel would just be a small part of the sharing. IIRC, a female forummer even suggested herself selling BillCollector's drama-story rights to a TV station, eg HK TVB.

So, if his wife disapproves of the sharing, she would not allow BillCollector to publish such a novel at all since it would have her as one of the main "bitchy" characters.

Afaik, most old folks do not mind their life story being told, warts and all, eg Steve Jobs of Apple during his last decade on earth after getting pancreatic cancer.
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Oh God!!! Why would you did that??? Uncle bill, sometimes you are very logical, but sometimes.. don’t be upset lah if one day your future son in law treated your daughter just the way you treated your wife.

hate to break it to you, but reading your stories on how you slept with other women whilst still being married & how you ripped your FIL off, I can comfortably say the apple didn't fall too far from the tree. 

The writing is on the wall. FIL is going to die penniless and he will drag families from all over down with him. My suggestion would be to cut ties ASAP. Don't even bother sorting this out.. Get your share and get the fuck out.

If you are like TS.. then that's just too bad.. you've got to know though that your FIL cannot be saved and maybe should consider to start feeding him junk food to put him into an early grave.

Where do you draw the line at making a quick buck? I'm pretty sure I would draw the line at family..

But that's what happens when you grow up without a father..

You don't know where the limits in morality and ethical behaviour are.. You never had a stronger man, usually a father, to properly put you in your place.. This is why having a masculine father is important for young boys.. Fathers are there to teach their sons, by forcing compliance through raised voices and if necessary through using blunt force to impart a hard message of being compliant and agreeable. The wolf was never domesticated to be a Sheppard dog.

and the opposite of compliance is a destructive male who never learnt any hard limits, so in their eyes, everything goes. And if they have self-narcissistic tendencies then in all likelihood, they will develop to become malevolent Dark Triad psychopaths, and a skilled Machiavellian..

Not entirely your fault here either. You are just a victim of circumstances..

These sort of male figure is the total opposite of what we should be creating and a huge reason why our society is fracturing and falling into bad times.

There is no reasoning with such a person. In their eyes, decisions are made in absolute resolution. The only way to force compliance here is to dish out a beat down. But as there is no authoritarian figure in your life anymore, the likelihood of a bigger male figure in your life forcing you to comply and be more agreeable is low.

In other words, the only person that can recognise these destructive behaviour is yourself.. put yourself in the old dog position here. If you can empathize with his position, then you would know how much he is hurting and maybe you should afford him some respite and relief in the form of not taking advantage of him.

They were absent of didn't bother much with educating Pak Bill.

The critical stages is usually between teenager and before becoming an adult.

During that time, a masculine father was missing from his life.

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Quite agree with your assessment.

IIRC, when he started earning and working as an architect, TS's purpose in life was to own 40 houses by 40 yo = belief in mammon god, even though he was a baby-Christian. He pursued it legally but wrt his FIL, it was immorality against family, like dishonoring your father and mother(= broke God's Law in the Bible). To fulfil this greedy purpose in life, he even gave up a happy family life with his ideal Swedish gf = ended up with a troubled family life with a non-Christian Malaysian Chinese wife.

OTOH, his sonless FIL ended up with a brain-stroke by pursuing the birth-surname-right offer from his Team B's pregnant youngest daughter. His belief in traditional Chinese custom of patriarchy and ancestor-worship caused him to pursue it.

So, our purpose in life is mostly derived from who and what we belief.  False or wrong beliefs = wrong purpose in life = wrong actions or deeds.

Hope TS repents or changes for the better, which seems so = his life getting better or less troubled.

Good day to all.
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