Rant 1263 / 2020 May Be The Fastest Year So Far.

26th Dec 2020

It's probably not surprising but since phase 2 of P90X, I've had to sit in the toilet with my shower at highest heat... spraying it at my thighs, calves and knees, at descending order of priority.

Plyometrics is a killer on my thighs, so much so that if I only thought of it the first time because by evening, after sitting down for a few hours after the workout, my thighs could not handle standing up and would cramp up when I get up, and sometimes stay cramping even when I sit back down. This is the sort of fatigue-led cramp that DOES NOT go away by stretching.

When it first started, after stretching for entire minutes in vain, I guessed that hot water might help it relax. This cramp was possibly caused by a lactic acid buildup from anaerobic activity during the 1-hour long session of jumps and squats, so enlarging my blood vessels should help my blood rinse it off.

It probably did, since this works. Also tried to look for a bath tub but they're at least S$80 for one that I can rest in, since there is no tub that holds just my lower body as I sit other than the walk-in tub, and walk-in tubs are not popular for reasons I have mentioned in an older rant years ago.

Not willing to spare S$80 when I could just spray hot water at my legs for half an hour while reading on my phone.

Despite the brutality, I persist because the weekly Plyometrics session works. Seriously, it used to seem like an insane idea to do lunges for an entire minute just for warmup, but now I can really do it solely to raise my heart rate a bit. My mouth doesn't even need to open up to breathe by the end of it, which is awesome.

31st Dec 2020

Last day of probably the nadir of a generation, though not the nadir of my life. Physically, could be one of my best years; romantically, could be one of my most confidence-boosting years, mentally, could be one of those strange years that let me understand myself better; financially, hopefully it is the nadir.

As in all of life, one cannot assume most things - worse things may be on their way. Who really knows?

I got the impression that lots of people thought a vaccine would end this pandemic issue, but with the concerns regarding the multitude of vaccines available, it is not feasible to make it compulsory for the public.

Therefore, it will take yet another array of various means to get the herd immunity we need to end these measures we have now to curb the spread of the virus.

2021 will be a year of a completely different set of challenges, including paying for whatever people have done in 2020 that should not have been done.

What will historians think of this entire period?

The world is definitely changing, eg in the airline industry. Everyone who had been betting on big planes with large business class cabins is going to pay for the gamble because with online conferences being forced on everyone now, companies are realizing that you don't need to pay a fortune to get so many people to those meetings. Some will still have to meet personally, but in a drastically reduced number.

In fact, ZipAir is already offering flat bed economy recently in Japan. Flat bed used to be solely the luxury of first class, then in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it was brought to business class. Simultaneously, you may have noticed that first class has been gradually disappearing, eg even in some of the largest Airbus planes during trans-Atlantic flights, I have seen only 4 of those in the cabin, and in many planes they don't even exist.

This is the trend, and it is being sped up by the pandemic. Soon, we should see flat bed economy seats, and as someone who's tried flat bed business class, I can safely say sleeping makes a world of difference in our flights. I may have said it before in that post about my business class experience, but I'll say that again - the main selling point to me is the bed, the food and champagne are just bonuses.

Anyway, I'm, of course, stressed. Wondering if I should do something completely different career-wise or if that's the escapist in me talking.

Legs and Back was reduced in intensity yesterday. Right knee felt funny - no pain, no ache, just weird, so decided it was better to play it safe, and just stuck to the toughest alternatives that were still comfortable, eg 80/20 speed squats (80% on one leg, 20% the other) became more like 60/40 for the right leg.

Not worth it to take the risks like I used to.

Butterfly pea! One actually sprouted! I had given up hope when the two on top starting becoming mouldy, but it's been 2-3 weeks since they were planted and one actually grew! And this is after another plant was transplanted into that pot because I didn't want to waste the soil.

Now it's going to be weird.

In the meantime, my brinjal sprouts seem to be doing well. I had to keep my windows ajar because crows were coming in to bite the leaves, one a day. They don't touch my gingers though, strangely.

Rant 1262 / Christmas 2020 Is A Weird One.

31st Oct 2020

So...

Looks like if you want to stay healthy by avoiding large glucose spikes, go for a walk soon after a meal, or just about any mild physical activity.

02nd Nov 2020

Phase 2 of P90X classic is insane. First session today - Chest, Shoulders and Triceps. In phase 1, chair dips were more lenient, you were encouraged to start with bent knees. In phase 2, chair dips go with one raised leg and it is assumed you can do proper chair dips. Yes I could - 2 whole reps of it! 

For pushups, it is both harder and easier. The slow pushups where you count 4s going up and another 4 going down were absolute killers, but one of the people in the video was constantly doing knee pushups so that eased the pressure to some extent. But then the claps, ie plyo pushups, came along and seriously, they don't get much easier on your knees. Plyo pushups are pushups where you jump up with your arms, and claps mean the same but with a clap in mid-air.

03rd Nov 2020

Today is Plyometrics. At least that's something I'm familiar with.

06th Nov 2020

Ok Back and Biceps was a killer. Also, maybe it's because of age, the aches from these sessions sometimes come after 2 nights. Back and Biceps was 2 days ago, yesterday was Yoga, and yoga never hurts, so it has to be the session before.

It's the back of my right shoulder blade, the side near the spine. At least there's an easy way to stretch it.

And both my biceps hurt, of course.

18th Nov 2020

I am starting to find supermarkets redundant. My last grocery purchase was still from a supermarket, but gradually I have discovered online stores that offer better prices as long as I can buy a lot of it. Used to be that this was only for frozen meats, seafood and processed food, but recently I have also found a fruit wholesaler offering good prices. My meals in the last few months have included a lot more fruits, with my meals now consisting of only fruits until dinner, so I can buy a lot. As for price benchmark, as long as it's under S$5 per 500g, and it doesn't have a lot of skin or seeds, especially heavy stones like peaches, it's fine. So apples and guavas, for example, I take them as seedless and all 500g is edible fruit (except for the apple stalks) hence they're usually good deals.

Anyway, with both meat, seafood and fruits/vegetables all found at good prices at their respective wholesalers, why bother ordering online from supermarkets.

I think the eventual endpoint of this is that we're going to be ordering directly from the farms eventually, as we already can do for some products. The main hurdle is bringing the farmers online and connecting them with good shipping companies and convenient payment platforms.

The original point of a retailer is to offer a large variety of different products according to the needs of the people close to them. Pre-internet, we had no way to buy directly from farms far away, and farms did not want to deal with customers constantly because it was not worth investing in a sales department and shopfront near the farm to deal with the few people who are willing to take the long journey to visit them. Moreover, farms and most manufacturers deal in humongous quantities, so selling a large grocery bag of apples to each of the 30 people who drove to an apple orchard every day doesn't make much economic sense to the apple farmers, it's a lot of sales talk and after-sales service for a pittance in profit - they would prefer to deal with a few entities buying at least a couple of tons of apples per harvest.

Hence the wholesalers, they buy those tons of apples from the orchard at one go, then sell them to the retailers who can't deal with that much apples. They have the capital, storage capabilities and the shipping system to bring the apples from the farms and to the retailers. Similarly, they would prefer to deal with tens or hundreds of stores each buying many cartons of apples per purchase than the individual customers buying a few per day, although if there are individuals who are keen to buy a few cartons at one go, that's fine too, but these are few so it makes little sense to have a salesman specifically for such customers.

 

Finally, you have the retailers from whom you can buy your five apples for a few dollars on your way home.

Reminds me of how the big fish farms in Vietnam work - you can only get their attention if you can buy hundreds of tons of fish in a single order, which explains why there aren't that many food importers in Singapore, although they're probably growing in numbers from all the niche foods gaining popularity here.

Anyway, the Internet is changing this. By cutting the cost of selling directly to customers, online stores is making it much easier for wholesalers to deal with them. Eventually, it will be the manufacturers who do that, even the big ones. Maybe it will take a few generations for it to be the norm, but if that happens, agricultural futures as they are now may go obsolete - it would just be pre-ordering your groceries before they're harvested, so the futures can be sold at the individual household level.

Things will get so much more streamlined and efficient, I feel.

29th Nov 2020

Just to clarify, I sometimes do feel that there are mistakes in the things I had talked about in the past here, and it does make me feel stupid. On the other hand, thanks to the adult ability to compartmentalize, I also rarely think about that. But if you ever disagree about something in previous posts, I probably do too, so meh whatever.

Going to the showroom to get the new stove was probably one of the better decisions I've made in recent years. Looked through the various stoves on Lazada, Qoo10 and Shopee, read up a bit about them all, and settled on Tecno.

After considering their catalogue for a while, I felt that a stainless steel one would be fine, 3 or 4 hobs are acceptable, and probably their own Tecno range instead of the cheaper Uno range.

Fortunately, at the showroom, the salesperson saw the model number of my current stove and told me for stainless steel stoves that would fit in the same hole aka cutout, it can only be the Uno one. There is no discount for getting the cheapest stove in the entire showroom for sure, but not saving the $20-40 is better than finding out it doesn't fit only when it's delivered, at which point I'd have to either reject it with an unknown penalty cost, or alter the cutout also at an unknown cost.

Could also have paid about double the price to get a hood but just didn't want to spend that money to get something I know doesn't really help much, plus I don't cook that much everyday. These days, most of my cooking is done in the pressure cooker or by microwaving anyway.

02nd Dec 2020

So we've just approved lab-grown chicken meat.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/eat-just-lab-grown-chicken-cultured-meat-first-approval-sfa-13681072

This really has major implications on a lot of aspects of our lives, foremost being the concept of vegetarianism or veganism... or heck, the interpretation of the Jain diet.

Obviously I'm not referring to all types of veganism/vegetarianism, just the ethical/moral sort, eg people who don't eat meat due to the terrible conditions farm animals are kept in, or they just don't want animals killed.

With lab-grown meat, no animals were harmed, no animals were killed. Even Jains should be allowed to eat it as long as they interpret their rules to mean no animal is harmed. As long as there is no nerve cell grown in there, you can totally forget about the idea of pain. 

Life is now more complicated because instead of simply asking if a restaurant guest is a vegan, now you have to know what kind of vegan that person is.

As for Muslims and lab-grown pork, that's going to be a really divisive issue - it boils down to what sort of "dirty" pigs are. Do they see pigs as literally dirty because they roll in mud and etc, or is it a more abstract or spiritual definition?

10th Dec 2020

This is certainly stupid - my PC has been giving me problems all these times because something inside was loose. It gave me this idea when it could crash when I knock or jerk it hard by accident, but the last time I tried to fix it, I only pressed the graphics card into its slot really hard, almost risking breaking it.

Yesterday morning, I pressed everything including the cables connecting to each component, because it could also have been the RAM being loose and since the casing has been opened, might as well press everything else and dust it too.

So I did, and the PC has been switched on and off at random times for the last 48 hours, and it's totally fine each time. Even if it does start giving me problems maybe a week down the road, due to the fact that it came back fine for a few weeks the last time I sent it for repairs and they told me nothing was wrong except the hard disk and it should be replaced by a SDD (bs just to make me pay more), I have any possibility in mind - the small form factor (SFF) of my desktop PC is somehow pressing the cables too hard, hence gradually loosening or bending out of position each time we press them back in.

So it is perfectly ok to ask her out almost right from the outset when you match with her in a dating app. Not "Hi, coffee?" but it seems to work when I talk to a match about her photos and lead to her preferences for cuisine or beverages, and then once she replies, it's time to ask her out.

Talking from very limited experience but it has worked twice in the last few months, for girls around my age.

Just restarted XCOM: Enemy Unknown and the previous saves still in the game gave me a shot of nostalgia because they began in 2012, when this part of my life began.

But now I'm no longer the perfectionist that I was then - having a well-trained member die no longer makes me quit. What did make me quit was assaulting the enemy base too early with my people still too inexperienced and under-equipped, therefore getting wiped before the boss, if there was a boss.

25th Dec 2020

Finished X-Com: Enemy Unknown a while ago. I did become more of a perfectionist as my soldiers got promoted, since they are hard to come by, especially the Colonels, although I was willing to let 1 die if that particular turn accomplished a tougher objective. Just not the ones with the Psy abilities.

Was considering replaying the game with the Enemy Within expansion but felt too similar in all the important aspects, so now I'm looking at buying X-Com 2 instead.

Somehow Xenonauts just didn't feel very appealing to me.

Also, merry Christmas. My Reddit secret santa is weird this year and wanted to drop it off at my door on Sunday, so I said I'd take a whole minute to get to the door to give him/her a head start to run away, but if he/she was still there, he/she can come in for coffee.

I mean, half the people who goes on Reddit in Singapore can do with more friends. I'm in the other half but since he/she is making the effort to come over just to drop off some snacks, might as well show some appreciation.

So, maybe I'm getting the hang of it, but having dates isn't hard, the challenge is in sustaining the dates long enough for a relationship to form. Too many of us are becoming jaded and guarded as the failed dates pile up, which leads to even more failed dates, so I am taking breaks to avoid feeling tired during these dates and hoping the ladies would do the same.

Egg noodles are so easy to make. Speaking of food, Lavo at MBS has the best oysters I've had in a very long time. The last time I tasted anything like this was probably 8 years ago in NZ when my aunt ordered a few crates of them from a nearby oyster farm. Now oysters are usually not my thing, but it's probably more accurate to say I only like the completely fresh and plump ones.

Clearing my home is going to be a long project. So glad almost all my windows can be opened now because the amount of dust bunnies everywhere is ridiculous. With the windows open, not only does it allow much more breeze through my home, I can also go to the side where the wind is blowing outwards (thanks monsoon season to bringing strong winds) and brush the heck out of all the dusty objects I find so that I don't have to clean up the dust that collect on the floor afterwards.

My new rule for my home is going to stay the same - all new furniture must be off the floor whenever possible, ie standing on legs with enough room for the robot vacuum to enter and clean. Absolutely do not like the fact that some bugs made a nest under a small cabinet that my brother used to store his terrapin equipment. They were gone by the time I flipped the empty cabinet upside down for inspection, but cleaning up the remains of the nest was not exactly my idea of fun.

Also found a new use for the old PVC yoga mat that my brother left me that I really dislike after getting a TPE one for free. It is going to be padding for resting my dumbbells and barbell. Yes, they are mine now. Rusty as some of them may be, they are still good solid weights.

Funnily enough, I used to think 10kg dumbbells are crazy heavy; now I'm building a 14kg one using my final remaining plates and single dumbbell bar hoping that that's the heaviest I'll be needing in a long while. Stripping my lightest ones (4.5kg probably) is not an option yet because they're still needed for tricep exercises.

But before laying that mat down, I want the TV shelf gone. It is my least favourite piece of furniture in my home because it is difficult to clean at the back and it has a huge block of wood as a central leg/pillar which blocks my view of the underside. I want a clear view of the entire floor as much as possible so that they can be cleaned and bugs cannot hide.

To remove the shelf, however, lots of stuff need to be removed, sorted and organized. Ugh.

After that, however, I'm getting a tiny TV shelf with long legs that's hopefully stable enough.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The laser printer my brother left me finally died after all these years, fortunately brand new ones aren't expensive, and can be found for under S$100.

Rant 1261 / New Fountain Pen!

23rd Aug 2020

Oat milk in coffee was amazingly good! Soy milk in coffee was no different from a whitening water diluting the precious espresso, and almond milk on its own did not give me any confidence in its ability to improve coffee, but after trying oat milk in coffee, I can see why it's catching on despite its ridiculous price tag at S$4-6 per litre, as compared to soy milk at about S$1 per liter.

For a vegan liquid, it's amazingly creamy but not exactly sweet. Even fresh whole milk is less creamy though it compensates with sweetness. However, the creaminess of oat milk can be compared with that of cream (dairy).

Since I have a soy milk maker at home, I'm now trying to make oat milk with it as of time of typing.

 

...

 

 

Nope, 200g of oats and filling it to the 1L mark made a whole lot of cooked oats and a little patch of burnt ones. Will try 50g tomorrow.

25th Aug 2020

Didn't try it. The oats are still in a bowl in the fridge, drying up.

Finally encountered a no-show through Carousell yesterday. This seller had over 90 reviews and average 4.8 stars, and he was offering a used entry-level Kenwood kettle in good condition for S$15, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and waited for an hour despite also giving him a reminder a few hours ahead. Moreover, he was online an hour before I sent him the text, so he was alive.

Two hours after the agreed meet-up time, he came online, and without a word, cancelled the reservation he had accepted from me. Fortunately, Carousell allowed reviews to be exchanged as long as a reservation has been made, so I gave him a 1-star review right after he silently went offline then. Upon discovering that the review policy was to publish the reviews 14 days after the transaction ended or when both parties have given a review for each other, whichever is sooner, and that in the meantime the reviews can be edited, I elaborated on the review.

It's been the second day and he has not given me a review, so if this remains to be true when the 2-week waiting period is up, then at least he's not a complete asshole, just a huge one.

Anyway, to keep this transaction cheap, I took a bus, and along the way was a Fairprice, so I went in to shop for the stuff that's been in my cart for a while - fruits and vegetables. Ended up making vegetable curry last evening, and it was actually one of the best curries I've made if not for it's spiciness. Could not solve that issue.

So this is why I did not do anything about the oats - curry comes first.

And also got a new moka pot a while ago but didn't get around to trying it because I was still testing the Aeropress with the standard paper filters and Prismo. Regarding that, my preference for thicker coffee made the filters a poor option for me, and the Prismo won hands down.

As for the moka pot, just tried it and it's great! Haven't had espresso in a very long time and accidentally added a little too much sugar.

Also, the aeropress can be used in so many styles except espressos that it can really replace the French press. All you need on top of the standard aeropress is a metal filter or the Prismo.

 

,,,

 

 

He actually had the gall to ask if I'm still interested! I'm ignoring him. Not even going to open the app since there's nothing needed right now from there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Been watching a number of videos by James Hoffmann, initially because of their educational value regarding coffee and his voice, but now also because he knows what he's talking about.

 

He's part of why I was interested in my bro's Aeropress and Prismo, and now I intend to simply buy the Aeropress parts individually, and only the chamber and plunger because as mentioned earlier, I very much prefer the Prismo to the standard paper filter. Another option is to use the filter cap with a steel filter but... why bother if I only want strong coffee? I could easily get a V60 if I want a lighter brew via the pour over method since it's very affordable.

Or I could water the coffee down. It's same but different.

In any case, this Aeropress set would cost US$15 on top of another US$11.89 for shipping (US$26.89 nett), as compared to the US$25 Prismo with US$6.35 shipping (US$31.35 nett or with the 10% discount code for subscribing to the spam, US$28.85). As for as coffee gadgets go, this are very affordable prices - the real hurdle to the perfect cup is really the grinder.

 

Coffee mills are really more important than the coffee makers, but we tend to focus on the latter because they're better marketed and on the surface, the difference in grind size and coarseness spread are hard to tell. 

 

All of my grinders are entry level, hence they grind unevenly, only better than a blade coffee mill. Hand grinders use burrs which give a better consistency but they're difficult to motorize due to the inconsistent hardness - anyone who's used a hand grinder would have experienced moments when something seems to jam the grinder. These are the times when a strong motor with higher horsepower (?) is required, but strong, light motors are expensive, and even then, another problem crops up - stability. When the burr shifts due to pushing against harder beans or simply from spinning too quickly, it creates an uneven grind. When the beans jump out like popcorns while grinding, it also creates an uneven grind. This is why a really solid grinder with great strength and stability is required to produce professional-level grind consistency, and why these machines have price tags that run in the thousands of dollars, US.

There are machines now that can do a pretty good job at relatively affordable price ranges as compared to professional machines, but these are still in the high hundreds, like the Niche Zero Grinder which I've decided I would get if I ever have the budget and opportunity to host more dinners. At about S$800-900, this is actually the cheapest good grinder I've ever seen, but this will remain only a possibility for the foreseeable future.

Right now, I'm sticking with my coffee mill that comes with my Philips food processor. If hand grinders are still uneven, motorized blade grinders can work for me too. At worst, Hario does offer good hand grinders in the S$20-40 range, very reasonable numbers for their quality as far as I can tell.

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So finer grind does not equate to more extraction in espressos. Scientifically proven in a new study, reason is channeling. When your grind is very fine, at high pressure as is needed to make espressos, water cannot pass through the chunk of fine powder, so it forms a little stream through instead and all the water would go through that channel instead of seeping around the individual grains.

This is a new concept to me and it makes sense.

It is not what I thought it would be though since it seems to be more applicable to industrial production, because the result of the study is that the ideal extraction point involves more water per gram of beans than most espressos. Though you may get more out of the beans with their procedure, it will also be more diluted.

This is like how espressos have evolved outside of Italy. Back in the day, espressos were much thicker and with as much extraction as possible. Today, espressos tend to be lighter than in the past, not because of cost but because you can taste more of the espresso with today's method.

26th Aug 2020

So after getting that portable electric stove aka hotplate, I realized there are also converter plates for gas and induction stoves. No idea what they're really called because they're uncommon, but they are literally just circular steel plates, sometimes with holes and sometimes with handles. The small ones with holes can be placed within a pot on induction stoves I think, but even if that's not true it's no big deal.

What my point is is that I could have gotten one of those to be used with my induction stove, or use it with my gas stove for my glass kettle.

However, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference given that they cost about S$19-20 while the electric hotplate costs only a few dollars more in exchange for more efficiency. The catch is that the steel plate will definitely last a lot longer than the electric stove, especially since it won't be in direct contact with food or water and hence is still perfectly functional even when it's covered in rust in the future.

On second thought, the filter cap of the Aeropress only costs a few dollars, so might as well get it.

So the difference between polyester filling and down filling in jackets has been shrinking (at higher costs) over the years. Fundamentally though, the pros and cons still exist, it's just that you can reduce the cons or increase the pros if you spend more.

To begin, I must explain how they work. It's all about stagnant air when we talk about insulation in garments - trapping air and keeping it still is key to warm clothing. To do this, we use fibres in a loosely-interlinked form, and the quality of how fluffy it is is "loft". Clumping is when they get compressed into a clump, thereby losing loft.

Polyester fibres 

- are cheap to produce

- moisture resistant and hence clump less easily

- are larger fibres so they are easier to prevent from sticking out, therefore allowing bigger gaps between threads in the material containing it

- has fewer ethical issues

Down

- is warmer per unit weight

- is resistant to bending when you compress it

Clearly, down is the better material since the main purpose of a jacket is to keep warm while being as light as possible. This is part of why it's the more expensive option.

However, there are several other factors that will come into play as you use a jacket over the long term.

First, which layer will this piece of garment be? The inner, middle or outer layer? The inner and middle will require more breathability than water/wind resistance. The more weather resistant it is, the less breathable it gets, and water resistance is very important in the outer layer, particularly for down jackets.

Will the jacket be folded and compressed regularly? If so, you might want to consider paying more for down filling.

Are you able to give the attention down needs when being washed or afford to get it cleaned professionally? I mean, if you're spending big bucks on a down jacket, it makes absolutely no sense if you're going to scrimp on the money and ruin it in the laundry process.

 

This is how you wash a down jacket properly:

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Will you be very active while wearing it? This means you will likely perspire a lot inside, hence requiring excellent breathability while your constant physical exertion might make insulation a slightly lower priority. In this case, you might prefer polyester filling.

To be clear, there have been technological advances like waterproof down that you might consider while looking for the right winter jacket, depending on your budget. You'll have to consult the salespeople for what's available where you are.

27th Aug 2020

Have you ever had an idea so exciting you could almost tear up over it?

That's the thing I've noticed over the years - just because you have great ideas once in a while, ideas that no matter how you think about it are excellent, doesn't mean it will be a great thing, because execution is a whole different ball game altogether!

It simply makes no sense to consider yourself smart if you have very unique and probably fantastic ideas if they never result in anything.

So I have such an idea now. Wonder if anything will come out of it.

29th Aug 2020

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Just started on Wasteland 3. At first I thought it was ok, starting getting annoyed by how the camera view couldn't zoom out further, then the first boss battle happened... with this music.

Mind blown.

This song is instantly recognizable as a very Christian song, but in the context of Wasteland 3, the lamb can easily interpreted as the people weaker than you. Played in the boss battle, immediately as a named antagonist gets his brains blown out onto the screen, this is a song of murder en masse... calmly.

03rd Sep 2020

So far, Wasteland 3 feels more interesting than 3 which I didn't finish because it got draggy.

One great aspect of the game is that you can create as many characters as you want, and not having a full team makes a noticeable difference in combat, hence encouraging you to create a full team early on.

However, as the game progresses and sends me characters to join my team, I find that the new people just don't fit unless I reassign skill points for a few of them. For example, Scotchmo just tried to join but I already have his skills spread over a few of my Rangers, and with his best skill being with the shotgun (while drunk), even this has been covered by my first character that I made (but without being an alcoholic like Scotchmo because alcohol costs money and I didn't think in the beginning of the game that the extra 30% damage is worth the constant search for booze). Moreover, I already have enough damage done by said shotgunner, a sniper, Marshal Kwon's assault rifle, and Lucia's revolver, and a glass cannon brawler who can't wear armour whom I maxed out Coordination ASAP for tons of AP.

So unless the devs gave us a way to reassign skill points, this could be the biggest catch to allowing players to create unlimited characters.

04th Sep 2020

Just made a small step towards making the idea a reality. No real plan here but I don't see the point of planning far ahead before something I can consider a solid step is made in the right direction.

The first step of the very first phase - this is about as far as I went with a few of my previous ideas. TBH things went even further for some things that gave far less excitement.

Exciting ideas. I see why some people can go crazy with work.

06th Sept 2020

Minuscule hitches already coming up. One is in the form of a non-responsive company, the other being a delay.

Was shopping around for supplements since mine are finally running out. Here are the lowest prices I thought were useful for myself and anyone else as benchmarks:

1) Glucosamine sulphate 1500mg are about 31c per daily dose

2) Fish oil 1000mg capsules are about 40c per daily dose

Glucosamine is completely unproven but harmless to take while being affordable, so I don't see why I should splurge on the more expensive formulae that are equally unproven and contain even less glucosamine, sulphate or otherwise.

Fish oil is fish oil. I do take fish-derived products occasionally so my diet has enough fish-related nutrients, and as long as there's omega 3, it should be fine.

I bet in about 2-3 months there were be much better deals, which is fine because my supply will only last the rest of the year.

Wasteland 3 is indeed buggy as expected of a freshly-released game, but it's still fantastic. Still a lot more interesting than the previous game.

The difficulty is a lie though - on Normal, enemies of a higher level than mine aren't particularly challenging. Maybe my characters just happen to have good synergy, but I accidentally went to a place for higher levels, had to rush to a time-sensitive mission there, and beat it without having to reload.

That said, I have to admit when I made my characters, priority was given to their combat abilities to a greater degree than the devs did for theirs.

09th Sep 2020

Finished Wasteland 3. Holy cow! Expected from the outset that the three kids were just the buildup to the actual boss, but it built up nonetheless. The ending was just beyond my expectations - they made a song that is based on your choices, ie they made multiple versions of the lyrics and got the singer to sing them all!

Absolutely satisfying, especially after the last game's underwhelming ending.

 

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Another Christian song, but again, re-interpreted in the context of the game where as before, it was played in a battle but this time without the shocking dialogue scene preceding it. I guess they can't keep pulling that trick in a single game. Really fits the mood though.

Spoiler alert!

Haven't made one of these in so many years LOL! Probably because I haven't played many games when they're still brand new, let alone ones that I want to talk about.

 

This time the dilemma is on whether it is better to be a stable nation built on both glorious deeds and morally obscene actions, or an unstable one with decentralized leadership and a clean conscience.

Initially supported Angela Deth's idealism but Lucia's last words had a point - the rule of law should be upheld, although my take is that the Saul Buchanan had done nothing but be honest and upfront with me, and his Colorado was indeed a stable nation where people could live in safety and prosper. His past decisions might have been tyrannical as they said, but the result was a rare gem in the post-apocalyptic world. Kwon also had a point - it is better to change things from within. It's not like they're in dire need of immediate change, and killing the Patriarch would have indirectly punished the citizens who had nothing to do with his decisions.

TBH, I find that the Colorado in this story is similar to Singapore in some ways. Anyone who's familiar with what our government has done in the past would know there were quite a number of events we're not entirely proud of, to the point where we basically skipped over decades in our history textbooks, but these things have led to the Singapore we know today. Should our government be removed and punished immediately for these sins? How does this help beyond assuaging our collective guilt?

No lasting nation was ever built with clean hands and on a clean conscience.

Anyway I reloaded and immediately felt relieved while siding with the Patriarch. Don't know if I will ever play this game again for another ending because seriously, I feel that this is the best ending and the others would have felt a lot less comfortable.

The only part I'm unsure of is the Gippers - I transferred the Reagan AI to the Machine Intelligence and destroyed the cult, expecting the MI to allow the AI to leave if he wanted to, and to take over the oil wells, but they did neither. Would it have been better to let the AI take over Valour's mind and become human? But then he would have wanted to stay with the Nancys, therefore the Gippers would have needed to stay alive, in turn meaning the peace-loving Commune would have to be destroyed. However, this would also have let Colorado prosper by having the Gippers around to work the last existing oil wells, so it's not entirely bad. Is there even a real moral choice here or is this scenario entirely grey?

 

Ok, maybe I could play the game again siding the Patriarch but with his kids following me instead of going to jail.

End of spoilers

It will be a long time before another game of this caliber comes along again.

TBH I didn't even remember backing this game but after a quick check on my emails, it turns out I did it in 2016 on Fig, for 33 USD. Weird, because I didn't even enjoy Wasteland 2 enough to complete it. On the other hand, those were the best 33USD I've ever spent on games.

10th Sep 2020

Missing Wasteland 3 already. One of the songs stuck in my head while I was making coffee and had to listen to the songs again, first thing in the morning with my coffee.

A whole new GROUP of Arabica coffee varieties have been formally discovered in Yemen, named the "Yemenia". This means there could be a whole new wave of flavour profiles for people who like lighter-bodied coffees. For people like me, it shouldn't make a huge difference because I prefer dark and darker medium roasts, which no longer retain most of the initial flavours.

11th Sep 2020

Started looking into more boxer shorts but couldn't find any good ones at reasonable prices, so went back to Jshoppers to check out if it's still around.

So it's still around and still sells what I wear, but after checking for old order confirmation emails, I also noticed they have stopped sending promotional emails since 2018, even though I didn't unsubscribe. Moreover, they have started to display their prices in CNY in addition to JPY by default.

It's likely that business has been booming after opening up to China and they have no motivation to spam customers, although it's still weird that they haven't sent a single one since July 2 years ago. I've checked my spam too, none there.

Also went directly to that brand's website but it became almost impossible to order from them since they don't ship overseas, and by limiting my surname and given name to ten characters each, and requiring both in kana on top of that, it seemed there was no way I could input the name my forwarders assigned me, which was my full name plus my identification code. Even if only the code was used without my name, plus my name without the code for the kana part, it still detected that the code wasn't a name. According to the customer service rep, I have to enter the code, it's actually more important than my name - I can omit my name and only use the ID code, but not vice versa.

So after checking Jshopper's slightly marked up price again, I decided it's not worth the effort to save maybe 10 dollars on my order.

Anyway, they have a new kind of boxer shorts now called "hammock shorts". It's a kind of boxer shorts with the just the portion of a pair of brief specifically for the genital sewn underneath, like a hammock for your dick and balls.

Looked interesting at first, but after thinking about it, it just wasn't such a great idea after all. It's for people who want to wear briefs but don't want to show that much skin, perhaps for those who tend to wear nothing but their boxers at home.

14th Sep 2020

Time to figure out what to do with it.

17th Sep 2020

Sometimes things are a lot less complicated than we think.

26th Sep 2020

Restarted P90X classic and I was so surprised by how unfamiliar it was. Almost every exercise seemed new, it's not like I faintly recall them, it's as if I've never done P90X before, except the wall squats, but only indirectly because I remember being a little surprised that P90X3 didn't have anything that required the wall.

It's been over a week, just did the first session of the second week, and things have definitely improved. For one, I know my pace now, and I didn't go crazy in the beginning only to resort to knee pushups by the end of the second set. And from this week on, I'm doing the Ab Ripper X when the schedule calls for it. Today was the first and I could not even handle half of everything. 

As long as I'm careful, it will be great.

29th Sep 2020

I suspect I have been overtraining. Noticed since the day before that I wake up with heavy eyelids even when I have slept for 8 hours. Changes in sleeping posture didn't affect it, even woke up slightly early when it's still dark and went back to sleep immediately, no body aches.

If it was just one day, ok it happens, maybe my sleeping posture was bad but not bad enough to lead to body aches. Two, maybe I need to consciously sleep in my usual sleeping position/posture. It's the third day today though.

It could be other things, but overtraining is the simplest possibility, so I'm taking a break today. Prolonged fatigue, increase in confusion/tension, loss of motivation, loss of appetite, all signs of overtraining, or diabetes. Definitely hoping it's the former.

04th Oct 2020

Just realized Singapore, like many former colonies out there, was technically a corporate colony defined by greed. This place was started and run by the East India Company, a joint-stock company, and according to corporate law, such a company is its own entity and shareholders have only limited liability. Singapore, like Hong Kong, was just lucky enough to have a great location instead of plentiful resources, so it was made into a free port instead of being used for agriculture or mining which get treated a lot worse.

And corporate colonies are often featured in games, like the upcoming "The Outer Worlds" featuring the scifi version of what used to happen in many places around the world - people sign up to work in those colonies hoping for a better future only to find themselves chained to their new masters and forced to work till they die.

In the real world, history may yet repeat as private corporations are now taking over space travel and exploration, a field that used to be dominated by governments. If Musk succeeds in starting his Martian colony, we can only hope he is a good enough human being to keep it ethical, but even then, he will be the first of many, and with many, there are bound to be some bad apples.

14th Oct 2020

Had a stiff neck since Saturday, strangely didn't get better by Sundau, got worse by Monday so went to the polyclinic. Doctor diagnosed muscle tightness, prescribed muscle relaxant pills and regular stretching.

Did not get better. Pills helped me sleep but over the days I noticed the pains are mainly in the morning when I wake up, and gradually gets better over the course of the day. Exercise in particular helps for some reason, and it's sleep that makes it worse to the point where for the last few nights, I've been woken up by the intense pain as I change position while sleeping. Last night I slept mainly on my back, which led to less sleep, but felt much better when the sun came up. This means it's my sleeping posture that's doing it, but I'd also switch to the big polyester pillow and it didn't help last night when I tried to sleep on my side initially. Putting something hard under my neck did not have any significant result, and made it even harder to turn.

Now that I've eliminated the possibilities to just my side sleeping position, maybe that will help the doctor when I return to the polyclinic tomorrow. It's Wednesday now, been almost a week, a simple bad stiff neck should not last this long, especially one that wakes me up at night, so I definitely require a doctor's attention. It's no longer a simple need for pain relief - something is really off.

I just hope it's not like that time during my uni days when I got inexplicable sharp pains in my eyes during afternoon lectures that lasted for a week before I visited the clinic, and when the GP couldn't find anything (and because it had been a week), he referred me to an eye specialist, who immediately diagnosed oily skin. Apparently my facial oil had built up so much over the course of the day, it started flowing into my eyes by the afternoon, causing the major irritation, and because oil couldn't be easily rinsed off by tears, each time it happened it lasted a while. Epic waste of time and money.

But better safe than sorry.

16th Oct 2020

The doctor yesterday again assured me that it's just tight muscle. Not sure how it relates to sleeping on my side, she said something about lack of support causing the pain, but I didn't think too much about it till afterwards.

In any case, it is likely caused by poor form while doing abdominal exercises, which makes sense given that I've been doing the Ab Ripper X since week 2, and week 3 just ended a few days ago. So I'm not doing it this week, and speaking of this, I am repeating the regular workout for week 4 even though it's meant to be a rest week. I just don't feel ready for phase 2 yet, and I've been spacing out the days by adding extra rest days in between workout days, so a rest week doesn't seem very necessary.

21st Oct 2020

Looks like heavy rain tonight.

Also just realized Caterpillar makes supposedly industrial fans that we can use at home too. It's only about S$110 and rated at 100W, so both price and power-consumption are very normal. That said, all my fans at home are KDK P40US that are usually bought second-hand for around S$50, and they are all 50W, so this isn't normal for my home, just normal in the fan market.

Realized I'm already starting to forget details about my time in Argentina, Uruguay and Antarctica. Should probably record everything down.

Neck's mostly recovered. Most likely it was the Ab Ripper sessions. Now that I've stopped it, everything is fine. Looks like my abs are not ready for it.

Didn't know Pilot makes such affordable fountain pens. Wonder if they're good. Then again, it's Pilot, can't be too bad.

Didn't even realize it's been roughly two months since this post was started. Time to post it.

Rant 1260 / In A Society Where Free Speech Is Truly Allowed, Lies Must Be Allowed To Be Told As Much As The Truth Is.

06th Aug 2020

But we don't really want that, do we? Ergo, we don't really want free speech.

There are few things that really trigger me, but the line "even if I don't do it, someone else would" usually does.

It's an excuse some people, particularly among the successful and wealthy, seem to use as a legit reason.

But... you could say that about pretty much anything that is lucrative and unethical/immoral/illegal, like human/drug trafficking and child prostitution. You don't have to be the guy doing the actual work - you could simply invest in it. You think they don't have a business structure like most legal companies?

So even if you don't invest in child prostitution rings, someone else would, and there probably are many. What's stopping you?

14th Aug 2020

So I was watching some discussion on Youtube where they touched on post-secondary education, and students find it not worth their money to attend nothing but online classes, but from the school's perspective, if they charge anywhere close to what online courses typically cost these days on sites like Udemy, they are going to go broke immediately.

Isn't this going to be similar for work? Like, employers will find that if you're working all day at home, it no longer justifies your current pay. For one, employees are now saving so much time and money by not having to go to the office and back.

Will this translate to general downward trend in salaries which then translates to deflationary pressure?

At the same time, commercial real estate and transport prices will go down, and these too should lead to deflation.

Yet at the same time, because of the low interest rates, loans should increase as people are either taking advantage of them or businesses needing capital for adapting or surviving. This should result in pushing inflation up.

Which will win?

And if Russia's vaccine works, these will still go on, but at a slower pace.

17th Aug 2020

Finished Grim Dawn without any DLC as a conjurer. The ending was... underwhelming, as if they called an incomplete game a finished product. Even the final boss, the Loghorrean, was easy beyond belief; there were hero class monsters which got closer to killing me than it did! To make it even less satisfying as an ending, the victory resulted in a bit of quest reward and congratulations from the NPC - no cut scenes, no special event.

Pretty good game though, as a Diablo clone.

18th Aug 2020

It's a foggy day!

21st Aug 2020

How information can be skewed while still appearing objective:

"California has the highest death rate among the homeless in the US."

This is objectively true, simultaneously painting a bleak picture in the Democrat state.

What isn't mentioned is that California, on top of having a very comfortable climate, is also one of the wealthiest states in the US with some of the highest numbers of homeless shelters and soup kitchens due to its extremely liberal policies, so of course it would attract homeless people from other states, particularly from those that would try to remove them from the streets or even the states entirely. With more than half of all homeless people residing there, naturally it would also have the highest death rate among the homeless in the entire country.

What I take from this is that no media can avoid being biased in some way because to avoid that, every single article would have to explain every minute detail mentioned, sometimes with arguments and counter-arguments if it cannot be objectively explained, like an opinion.

In fact, it would be easier to present all the numerical data instead of writing words.

22nd Aug 2020

Recently started looking at home reno articles after seeing someone's new home. My friend's new place is nice with plenty of personal touches everywhere, so it's different from what's being presented repeatedly in those articles.

What I see are very pretty spacious homes, but nothing beyond that. Where did everything with sentimental value go? Did they simply pop into existence yesterday?

Did they pull a major league Marie Kondo just before moving in? Or did they simply leave everything with their parents?

These articles feel nonsensical tbh. 

 

On top of the lack of identity, they're also a pain in the butt to maintain. These people are young couples moving into HDB flats, ie subsidized government housing, clearly they aren't going to have a domestic helper till some years down the road when they have a baby, unless the writer is also suggesting that everyone can afford such a helper at any time? So if you have leaves on vines growing from pots hanging right under the ceiling forming some kind of veil for half the length of the living room, yes it is going to be absolutely beautiful, but who's keeping them dust-free if they're fake, and who's watering the bloody high pots regularly and making sure they stay healthy if they're real? If you have pebbles in the bathroom, who's keeping them algae-free and making sure nothing grows in the gaps?

 

Yeah if you aren't having guests coming regularly, chances are you aren't going to be motivated to keep all those parts clean. I'd give you three years before your home loses that glow and becomes a complete OCD-trigger trap.

Rant 1259 / Golfer's Elbow.

20th June 2020

Lots of 20s todays.

Slowly discovering the flaws of the Admiral's Mug.

First, the inconsistent insulation is unfortunately the biggest flaw of it's "hard to tip" design - by making it smaller on top and bigger at the bottom so that its centre of mass is low, the insulation at the top is much poorer than that of the bottom, so much so that condensation actually forms near the rim where the plastic cover is. With good insulation, heat transfer should be so slow that condensation should not form because the rate of natural evaporation would be higher than the rate of condensation.

Second, the locking mechanism of the cover. It completely relies on the plastic to grip onto the same plastic surface to lock, no rubber, no silicone, no metal, just two pieces of plastic molded to a perfect fit. The workmanship is impressive because the design of this mechanism has very little room for error, but I worry about it loosening or wearing down over the years because you have to unlock and lock again for every sip.

Still, overall it's a fantastic mug. Still, the insulation is incredible, the handle is a perfect fit, the cover has a tiny hole for air to be sucked inside as I drink, and the drip-resistance is so good I was tilting the mug all around to look for any fine print and nothing dripped.

Had an idea of where to check out a few months ago but never had the mood to really look into it.

Explored briefly just now and mind was blown.

I think...there are a lot of things that can be done with a lot less difficulty than I had ever imagined.

Now to look through as many possibilities as I can.

Apparently what I am experiencing is called the "golfer's elbow". It's a few classes above the "people's elbow" because only golfers get it, and we all know only rich people play golf.

Damn.

24th June 2020

Moving is a nerve-wrecking event when you're the one in charge.

Couldn't sleep much the night before, kept thinking about what to bring over and where to put them, and etc, and each time those thoughts come up I get anxious.

In the end, managed to move almost everything. Now it's just the fire extinguishers and aircon.

So after a few months of using the cheapest instant coffee from Fairprice (house brand "Original Blend"), now I can finally see the difference when using Robert Timm's blend.

But unlike what some "experts" seem to be trying to say, instant coffee still lack something that brewed coffee has, and I'm using a relatively expensive brand. For one, it still tastes like shit without creamer.

Need variety, so instant is an easy one. I'm too lazy and cheap for anything else.

I have always believed that a country can do without blue collar workers among its citizens the way the oil-rich Arab countries do - you simply employ foreign ones, and let your own citizens work in the roles of supervisors and above. Nobody from your country would have to do the "dirty work", some would just need to watch foreigners do it to make sure they are doing a proper job, and your citizens get paid more. How is that bad?

The pandemic just showed everyone how that is bad. Times like this, lots of foreign workers just want to go back home to help their families in whichever way they can. Not enough of them wants to stay to work unless the money is REALLY good, and if accommodation wasn't provided before, it has to be now, raising the cost of hiring them even more.

Still, compared to the cost of having relatively highly paid local labourers permanently, is it worth it to rely on our own people for dirty jobs?

What can we do about it?

I believe 3D printing buildings is indeed part of the solution. It does not solve the problem but it will dramatically reduce the challenge we are now facing if it ever returns.

27th June 2020

After realizing that it's not a requirement, I've decided not to take the old aircons from the old office. It's not worth it, and nobody is available to work on them in time. Moreover, I've always wanted to upgrade to a stronger unit, so might as well spend a few hundred dollars more and do it.

Those things are not even 15k BTU, and my new office needs one that's at least 21k BTU.

Cleared a partial clog in my sink. Strangely, not even soda powder, bleach and boiling water could solve it, but the snake managed to push it away.

Upside: I didn't have to see what it was.

Downside: It may stop somewhere further down the pipe that is connected to the drains in the rest of my home.

But feels good to get it settled. Most likely it's gone anyway, since the pipes are bigger further down.

During the process, also managed to see how the sink trap works. I like how plumbing is always about simple ingenious designs.

Steam Summer Sale. Steam was surprisingly generous in giving S$4 off S$25 spend, so I used it on several games that were either at least 75% off or were under $5.

Space Colony turned out to be a 90s game that appears to be a base-building game, but feels like half of it is The Sims.

March of the Living is like Organ Trail but serious and much more elaborate. I thought my first run did pretty well till a Screamer somehow did massage damage during a melee fight with me and my baseball bat. It became a habit quickly into the game  that the last zombie would usually be settled with a melee weapon since I don't have to worry about getting attacked by multiple zombies anymore and they don't do more than 1-2 damage each time. Well, the zombie did probably 5 damage in one hit and then suddenly I was at 1 HP and died from the following attack before I could push it away.

Now I know not to stay grabbed. It was probably a bite that happens when you get grabbed, based on what we usually see in zombie flicks.

28th June 2020

Arm seems better now, no more pain when lifting stuff with arm stretched out.

It's the Screamers that really hurt in March of the Living. They don't even need to grab me, they just attack me so rapidly that my HP drains fast even when I'm running pass them.

Since the dehumidifier in my store room sucks air in from the back and blows it out through a swivel at the top, it made sense to keep it blowing forward to have the most moisture behind it. Ever since I left one of the thermometer-cum-hygrometer in the room, the humidity has been steady at about 70-72%, rain or shine, 24 hours a day.

Two days ago, I decided to change it to swivel about 120 degrees from straight forward to upper back, and also turned on Economy mode, and it has dropped to 65% today.

One of these changes made the machine more effective, and it can't be the mode change, so it has to be the swivel angle. I have no idea why.

29th June 2020

The beans used for Dolce Gusto's Lungo are partly from Vietnam, and this explains why it's so nutty.

Still wondering why Vietnamese beans I buy from Vietnam don't taste this nutty when I use it in my moka pot and French Press.

Anxiety, every night. Then again, employees get that too sometimes just like that, so it has nothing to do with running a business.

Glad I remembered during the regular anxiety-free days that such times will come occasionally and reminded myself to enjoy it while I could.

For once, I will write down a plan and hope it works - I am terrible with dealing with last-minute changes, yet counter-intuitively, I feel more comfortable handling such issues if there weren't a clear plan in the first place.

My guess is my mind is slow at changing the boundaries of a situation.

30th June 2020

Woken up probably at 5.30am when my alarm was set at 6.30. As usual, no idea what woke me up because it could be anxiety or the loud noises coming from upstairs. Whoever it was, it sounded like he/she was moving furniture.

Maybe I slept through it in the past, or maybe something got him/her up at 5-6am that motivated some furniture-shifting. That sounds like a cockroach, it's the only thing that I can come up with right now that would make me do something like that at this part of the night.

And just when I almost fell asleep, my alarm rang.

Space Colony's civilian missions were surprisingly few - I'm done with those now. The last mission was challenging, especially with the temporary downtime for the automatic lasers but I could handle everything.

Maybe I just suck at this sort of thing, or maybe people who grow up on these games are just better at it, but this difficulty level is what games should be like - challenging but still fun. Now games are so complicated it's basically work, so it's not going to be surprising if someone finds out that people in general have been moving away from 4X and other city-building games to other genres.

02nd July 2020

It's weird today that my eyes feel so tired since late morning, but I just can't fall asleep during an attempted afternoon nap. It's not anxiety, so that's what's puzzling me. It's also not dry eyes but just droopy eyelids. Makes no sense.

03rd July 2020

I forgot to check my office letterbox. Again.

04th July 2020

6 sets of 10 pushups, with long breaks in between a few.

11th July 2020

Have not had sleepless nights in a very long time till these few months, though it's mostly stopped now that I have some breathing room.

After months of religiously logging in to Quube daily for a bit of their free cryptocurrency, I had accumulated enough to redeem some stuff by the time they discontinued the login rewards. So I redeemed bag of dried scallops, 200g I think.

Yesterday I finally wanted to use some, and discovered they were all mouldy - there was a little tear at the bottom of the bag, letting moisture in.

Ugh.

At least I had enough fish maws, frozen pork ribs and various beans to give my soup flavour.

12th July 2020

Line of Duty on Netflix is pretty good, though the first season took a while to warm up.

Surviving Mars was good, to the point where time flew when I played.

But Halcyon 6 was better - it was hard to stop even when I realized I had to go, despite the fact that I could save and quit at any time. I just like the battles, and when the battles are over, I immediately want to settle the stuff that followed, like upgrading the refinery I've just rescued, or simply sending the ships back home, and then I forget that it was time to shut the game.

26th July 2020

So my PC's problem of booting up with a black screen (no display signal) wasn't a problem in my graphics card (or motherboard, fortunately because that's the worst thing to replace) but my OS hard disk.

Got some shop on Carousell that had a lot of good reviews (plenty of them) to diagnose and fix, and they added a new SSD hard drive with a new Windows 10 installed, for S$210.

Yeah, not cheap, I can easily get a Sandisk 240GB SSD for way less, but I have zero experience and this is fuss-free, so I picked the smallest SSD option as damage control, and when Black Friday comes, if my budget allows, a bigger SSD will come as the 4th drive. I mean, the original OS hard drive was a regular old-school hard disk with hardly anything important that can't be transferred, so there's definitely a slot for a new hard drive.

When it rains, it pours. Then it gets broken up by the intermittent dry spell.

05 Aug 2020

So, finger joints ache, especially my middle fingers. That was an entire week of moving filled cartons about while my staff unpack. Expected all the body aches from arms to legs, but did not expect finger joint aches, likely from gripping things all the time, in the process pressing those joints constantly.

Went for a massage, it was ok, more worth it than usual because I needed it. Very uncomfortable in the sense that we have to keep our masks on during a massage and breathing was harder lying down as it was even without a mask to make it harder.

Well, the package was probably 5 years old so it might as well be free. I'm really surprised they are still letting me use it. Pretty sure when they sold it to me they mentioned a 2-year limit, but if they aren't complaining, I won't either.

Definitely feeling fitter these days after that week of madness. Able to sleep less. Tired today though.

Took hours to set up the camera properly but might not work all the time. Connecting to the camera feed was not always successful for some reason, so it's unlikely I can expect my staff to be able to fix it if it needs to be fixed.

Going to place it at the door soon. At the same, I'm wondering how the cables can be set up since I am using the same extension cord for their radio, and also whether to get the cloud storage. The SD card is great and all but it can malfunction, and the camera itself can be easily stolen.

Holy cow the insurance premiums just keep piling up! I thought they were all in the first half of the year! Now that these costs matter, I'm really noticing them.

PC's fixed. Now it's booting up at the speed of light. You can't go back to regular hard disk after using SSD for your boot drive.

Dolce Gusto needs more flavours. Lungo Intenso is nutty like Vietnamese coffee having this, Grande Intenso and Cafe au Lait Intenso all the time for over a year is making me get tired of this, despite the ease of use.

At this rate I may just return to my moka pot and French press.