EA may have a negative impression of Steam's strategy but I guess the VP has a point.
DeMartini, when asked about replicating Steam’s strategy of giving deep digital discounts: “... we’re not trying to be Target. We’re trying to be Nordstrom. When I say that, I mean good value – we’re trying to give you a fair price point, and occasionally there will be things that are on sale you could look for a discount, just don’t look for 75 percent off going-out-of-business sales.”
Steam's sales may look awesome but ever since I kept visiting the Store page for new bargains I realise they most likely have some sort of algorithm or some sort of statistician to give bigger discounts to games that aren't expected to sell well.
EA, on the other hand, is going for higher-end stuff. I mean, seriously, Steam's getting filled with cheap crappy games these days just to stick with its strategy and fill its store page.
I guess ultimately it's kinda like comparing Gilt with Gmarket, except EA can never reach the status of selling "luxury goods" like Gilt.
Moreover, it makes sense. The cheap games market is already filled with the various "indie bundle" sites, GOG, Steam and all the others to the point where there are websites like Cheapshark that's surviving just by comparing the prices of all the games offered by all those stores.
EA isn't going to survive there, especially with its current reputation.
Extra 25% off on Gilt was kinda tempting but I had nothing urgent that I really wanted.
Maybe another pair of shoes just so that I can rotate them and one of them can be my main pair when the "winter" season begins and it starts to rain everyday. Suede shoes and daily rain sound like a bad combination TBH.
But that's not absolutely necessary, or at least not necessary enough for me to fall for the 25% off.
I'll wait till the end of the year for bigger discounts.
The new shoes are comfortable! Maybe it's because my home is too small, but I realized I hadn't been walking the same way at home as I do outside. Smaller steps.
So testing it was different from actually wearing it to work.
The first difference was obvious - it was so much lighter than my previous pair.
But the second was how comfortable the soles were. I had expected to the soles to be very hard and inflexible like in most shoes I used to wear but I didn't feel anything. How is that possible?
The shoes were a little loose but it's a small compromise for convenience. I don't think it will come off if I run and that's the important thing.
Speaking of convenience, if I'm going to brush and spray them after every wear, I'm going to need a specified place in my home just for this, and also to avoid getting it kicked like it would if I leave it at my doorway like all other shoes.
Didn't foresee this problem of it causing me to avoid getting scuff marks. Not good but I'll have to accept that these cannot be avoided in my work, which means it's important that I brush them after I get home.
Also got a water stain on it. Ugh.
Does this mean the spray isn't working?
It was just a drop of my sweat and it can't be simply scrubbed off. Fortunately it's on the side and my shoes are now dark brown so it's not very visible.
The only way to clean it off is to use a damp cloth and wet the whole shoe thoroughly before letting it dry slowly on its own without using a heat source or something.
I don't want to do it without using a shoe tree so I'm letting it be for now.
Another thing is that I've realized that the shoes didn't simply turn dark brown. If I brush the suede with my shoe brush it turns a lighter brown again, so it's probably just that the spray made it kinda wet and the texture somehow stayed that way when it dried.
Wearing suede in a place with a tropical climate must take balls, or ignorance as in my case.
The next time I see someone wearing suede, I'll have a lot more respect for that person.
Had some buah duku today after so many years.
These were different from what I remember.
For one, their surfaces were horribly filthy and sticky.
I guess it's because they're so ripe that their juices had been leaking and drying on the skin but it got really annoying when I realized they couldn't be simply rinsed off under a running tap.
I was expecting to bit the skin to split it so that it can be torn off, but I couldn't put those in my mouth.
Did try that on one at first because I was eating in the dark. When I felt bits of stuff all over my lips I rinsed my mouth and switched on the lights.
There was just so much dirt stuck all over them. :\
In the end I used my thumbnail to tear the skin from the top where each of them used to connect to the stem.
They were ripe but my fingers got all sticky because of them and the dried sugar couldn't be simply washed off.
Also bought 3 more coconuts, at $4 for 3 again.
This time they didn't seem as fresh. The husks had browned a little and the flesh inside were a little softer.
The fruit stall also had $10 boxes of lychees that were labelled "very sweet" (that stall's recommendations can be trusted) but I skipped that. Enough fruits.
Also bought another $9 packet of dried chrysanthemums and some rock sugar from the Chinese pharmacy.
Was thinking of making more chrysanthemum tea but now...
Time for some chrysanthemum JELLY!
When I have the time, of course.
Funny thing was the pharmacy owner mislabelled the rock sugar and I got shocked by the prices. He was labelling some other stuff next to the shelf when I came over and asked him if the brown rock sugar was the same as the white one if I was making chrysanthemum tea.
Yes they were.
After I looked at the price of the brown one ($1.20) I picked up a packet of the white one, looked at the price label and threw it back instinctively and exclaimed," Wa, $8!"
Turns out it was only $0.80.
Also have to remember to add the sugar after I remove the chrysanthemum from the pot. Doesn't make sense.
I was right that my bro didn't know what SGS bonds were.
Told him about SGS bonds because he hadn't been buying FDs like I did and he told me about someone recommending him Aberdeen bonds.
They are different obviously.
So I told him to check it out.
I have yet to open a CDP account though.
Took out my bathroom's fluorescent tube to see if I had any of the same size as spares.
Nope.
But I was too lazy to go down again so I placed two tea lights in the bathroom for the night.
What a romantic atmosphere to take a shit in!
Fri
So my bro bought an 8GB Sandisk Cruzer Edge from the PC Show for S$7.50. Cheaper than a certain "deal" I saw on a certain group deal website which was offering the same for S$8.90 and has no delivery service included.
Apparently the market rate is about a dollar per GB for things like this right now, so this is supposed to be normal.
And the "deal" was a bloody scam.
To think that I almost bought it.
>:(
Made chrysanthemum jelly. I really should find a way to make chysanthemum tea that's not so thick.
Anyways I didn't know how much water was in the pot so I just threw in 3 cubes.
Turned out to be fine. This jelly is much better than my previous attempt.
World's first 50-thousand-pound-sterling DLC.
DLC. Like, as in the game expansion thing.
There's only one of it and it costs 50,000GBP.
The game's called "Curiosity" which is simply about smashing a cube until you reveal the secret inside.
A multiplayer game, everyone's hits are recorded in real-time, and the last hit gives that player whatever is inside.
Players start with a normal chisel, and there are iron chisels that are ten times stronger that cost 59 pence, and finally there is the one and only diamond chisel that is the sole feature of said DLC.
Obviously the stronger the chisel, the likelier you will have the last hit.
Apparently it's an experiment to see how much money someone or some people are willing to fork out just for curiosity's sake.
Took a good look at the dental clinic's receipt and realized the scaling and polishing cost S$70 while the mouthwash cost $5.
Chlorhexidine 240ml.
That stuff is expensive compared to the Listerine mouthwash I usually use.
And this is what D&D is about.
Tim Cook announced that they're releasing the iPad Mini, a 7-inch iPad.
I was kinda enthusiastic when Siri was announced for the iPad, but this?
Three times. This is the third rehash of Apple's old products.
There's the "new" iPad, then Siri, now this!
What's Tim Cook doing? He's just making improving on the old, recombining what his company already has.
I am disappointed.
So I recently noticed that DBS was offering remittance service on its internet banking site.
I looked at it and it was only available in SGD and USD.
:(
The telex fee was blank but the remittance fee was S$10. Maybe the former depends on the country or something.
I usually do my remittance at the Bank of China, where they have special rates for CNY remittance.
Like on June 7 when I paid for those pants the rate was at 4.97CNY per SGD.
I'm not actually sure if it was higher than what DBS offered but since it doesn't allow CNY remittance, this point is moot.
Anyway I'm glad I went that day because it dropped like 3 cents the next day.
As for the fees, it was only S$20 total.
TBH I'd really consider using DBS if it allowed CNY remittance, the main reason being the removal of transport costs from the equation when I use internet banking with DBS.
On the other hand, it's still possible that DBS may be more expensive than BOC even with my cab fares included. It mostly depends on the rate DBS offers. Even a single cent can make a huge difference when we're talking about tens of thousands of dollars.
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