Rant 1007 / The Hardest Part Of A RPG Is The Part Where It Asks You To Name Your Character.

All these bailouts, wow. Just... wow.

When all these are over and the EU finally recovers, Germany is going to be king. The rest of the EU will agree to anything Germany says, and Germany is going to say a lot of things obviously.

But that will all depend on whether the EU can recover at all.

I mean, if something terrible happens there now, like some kind of natural catastrophe, the world is so fucked.

Like all the volcanoes in Italy that may erupt at any time. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD and wiped out 2 whole Roman cities. Then in 1906 it destroyed 3 villages and part of a fourth.

At only 9km away from the city of Naples, it's practically the disaster of the millenium just waiting to happen.























The jelly is so filling. When I said I made chrysanthemum jelly, I didn't specify how much.

Each cube uses 1.5 litres of water, so 3 cubes makes 4.5litres.

With the jelly being more solid than my previous attempts, I'd say I made something closer to 4litres.

4 litres of chrysanthemum jelly.

I split it into 3 large containers and 3 small ones, so that's about a litre each in the large ones and 400mls in the small ones.

400mls worth of jelly is no small amount when eaten at the end of a meal as dessert. Since the jelly is mostly water, that's the same as drinking 400ml of water.

So filling.






















There are times when I think I want too many things.

I'm talking about the things I think I can sell.

Maybe my standards are too low?

Even if I'm ok, the problem is space.

Either I lack space or my goods move too slowly.

I am not satisfied.

Going window-shopping online is like going to a buffet - there are so many things I am kinda sure can sell.

Money is no issue for the cheaper things, but the main issue is space. I'm still baffled today by my lack of space.

How are my workers supposed to deal with another thousand pieces of jackets, sweaters or pants?

How do people deal with that?

Do I actually rent an extra storage space? Because I'm tempted.

Yet that is not a good answer because it has been proven for years that this is not a necessity.

Unless...

My mum didn't order jackets during the entirety of the spring, summer and fall seasons?

I do not know and it's probable that I never will.

However, it is one option.

This is fucked up. So fucked up.

I want to do more!

Why don't I have the space for it?

Oh, and surprisingly, the lowest-grossing store I work with beat the odds last month and made more than another store. This has never happened before. Apparently, the problem was in the current worst store - the entire building did badly this month despite a major promotion that was so awesome even I went over to buy something.

It's just crazy.

When I saw the invoice I was like,"WTF?". Right away I called the buyer I was most familiar with who happened to know people there and asked if I had offended anyone accidentally, and the above was the explanation (of sorts, because it didn't actually explain anything) I was given.
























I now understand why people stop playing video games as they get older.

Problems.

Not in the conscious mind, but in the subconscious.

It is a sign of adulthood when one is able to suppress issues. It's supposed to be a healthy response that postpones the less important so that one can focus on the problems that matter more, a way to enforce the priority list in one's mind.

It is also an important aspect of adulthood to take control of one's life, therefore gaining the burden of real responsibilities, which I view as a form of persistent problem.

Put one and one together, and there is the picture of adults who are constantly suppressing problems that they either cannot solve or are unwilling to put in the effort to solve.

You cannot play video games that do not allow you to quit at any time when there is that nagging sensation that something's not right at the back of your head, that feeling that something remains undone that needs to be completed.

It is hard to fully appreciate a game when your mind is not silent.

Not for me anyway. Escapism works for a bit, but things that must be done must be done. To think otherwise would be addiction.


But the worst part is that when you're finally used to the rhythm of life, when you're confident that you can solve all problems you face and live without suppressing anything, it's time to quit.

I see why people cling to life so hard and I do not like it.




























Dad's Shepherd's Pie is pretty nice. Got scammed by a really bad discount offer (ok, technically that's not true) but I don't regret it.

First the scam. The voucher was for a 8"X 8" X 2" shepherd's pie with a garlic bread, delivery included, and free membership. The problem is that there is already a set meal at the exact same price for the same pie but with 3 chicken wings and a bottle of Coke. If the pie hadn't been good, I wouldn't want the membership at all, making the set meal a vastly better deal.

Now I think that's actually a decent deal.

The membership allows free delivery ($5 for my area) for orders above $40 (non-members $50), which is important to me because my budget for deliveries are always limited at $50 and not a single cent more.

Second, there's $2 off any ala carte pies. This is important too because the pie in that voucher is normally $25. With $4 or $5 off (as in the case of the free delivery), I could squeeze in another side order. A salad's $3.50, 3-piece chicken wings $4.80 and potato cutlets $1.30 each.

Finally, when I order 10 pies a year I get free membership for another year. I like the pie so this is going to be easy. I order delivery at least once a fortnight, and this is better than fast food.

One problem though is that the pie's small.

8X8 is smaller than the ones from another store my bro ordered from once and never ordered again.

The problem is that my budget is $50 and each pie from the The Shepherd's Pie cost $25.90 excluding delivery. Worse still, the menu contains only pies, so if I order from them I can only get a single pie.

Two smaller pies with a side order or just one that's larger by 17 square inches?

Even if The Shepherd's Pie has the better cooks, clearly Dad's Shepherd's Pie is winning with better businessmen.
 
But if I want to compare all the fast food deliveries I know of in Singapore in terms of volume, TBH MacDonald's still offers the most for $50 with their Dinner Boxes.

With just $40 excluding delivery, I can get myself 6 burgers, 6 medium fries, 6 small drinks, 18 nuggets and 8 wings. My bro and I would have to split that into 3 meals at least. How the hell can you beat that in terms of volume?

The only reason I'm considering the pie is because I'm tired of MCD.

In terms of quality, the food is pretty nice.

Two reasons, taste-wise, for why we never ordered from The Shepherd's Pie again was:

1) corn and carrots in the filling. We dislike that mix.
2) too much mash or not enough filling

The Classic pie from Dad's contains mainly minced meat and mushrooms for filling and there was more filling than was necessary. I guess that's part of the reason why their pies are slightly more expensive per unit volume.

As for the side order, I've only tried the Chicken Country Captain and it's pretty much just non-spicy curry chicken because of the similar spices used. Not bad but something like bread to dip into the gravy would have been nice.

Overpriced though, for curry chicken, especially since it's such a common dish. Heck, I could probably ask somebody in my office to make some for me for free :\

Probably the last time we're ordering that from them. Next time we're going to have to look at what we can get for $10. Maybe 6 potato cutlets and a salad.

The potato cutlets are on their flyers but not on their websites. I believe they haven't updated that since last year since it still features a promotion that ended then.