31st Oct 2022
Now that my brother no longer wants Netflix, I'm taking the opportunity to try the other streaming sites, starting with Amazon since it's so much cheaper.
It's ok, selection seems a lot smaller. Let's see how this goes.
1st Nov 2022
It is November already. Time flies. All my relationships fly. Restarted the swiping yesterday, both CMB and Bumble. Three likes on CMB just within half a day, two on Bumble. Didn't like the likes on Bumble but the ones on CMB aren't revealed till noon later. It's going to be like Christmas.
Practical test tomorrow, with me being the first to be tested, for once. I was starting to dislike the anxiety of waiting so long all the time.
But memorising the short list of common drugs for it is still a pain. Trade names, generic names, drug classes, indications, common side effects, nursing implications for fourteen drugs.
I guess as nurses we really do everything but with a focus on care.
Only one among the three likes that I could kinda consider, but feels unlikely. Another two liked popped up on CMB after that but somehow they were revealed instead of being hidden till noon tomorrow, and among these two, one could be considered, so two matches today.
04th Nov 2022
The one from CMB seems very nice, and she did not upload her best photos onto the app, as I'd discovered when she invited me to move on to TG. In any case, we won't meet for these two weekends since she's flying to the US tomorrow and I will be in Bali by tonight.
07th Nov 2022
Learnt about how easy it is to hit the highest frequent flyer level in Flying Blue, and it really is.
It costs under S$176 for a return journey in Dec 2022 from Paris to Barcelona on Transavia on the lowest fare that earns miles (Plus), and that makes 10XP per trip.
It costs 100XP to go from the basic Explorer to Silver, another 180XP to go from Silver to Gold, then 300XP more to go from Gold to Platinum. Hold Platinum for 10 years and it becomes permanent.
Since prices fluctate, let's take it as S$200 per return trip. To start from zero and hit Platinum requires 580XP. Each Paris-Barcelona trip (about 1.5hrs long each way) gives you 10XP, so that makes 58 trips, costing... S$11600. Do it for 10 years for lifetime Platinum.
Platinum benefits include free 1pc checked luggage, free access with a guest to their lounges, free upgrade to front row seats, extra legroom seats, Economy Comfort (aka premium economy) seats, and seat selection.
Since I'm from Singapore, I can stay home when I'm here instead of having to book a room, and not have to fly to Europe at all, which cuts the total cost of such an endeavour a lot. In other words, I should keep doing what I've just done over the last weekend - fly to Bali.
A trip to Bali costs about S$300 each time, so 58 of such trips will be S$17400.
The qualification of each tier begins the day you earn the first XP, ie it resets each time you move up a tier, so this means you have three years to hit Platinum initially, plus your excess miles roll over, so eg if you somehow earn 10XP when you already have 98XP, 8XP rolls over to the next tier.
Following that, you will have to keep earning 300XP a year to maintain Platinum, or thirty trips to Bali annually for me. Is it really that ridiculous in reality?
In any case, the weekend trip to Bali has refreshed my miles for another two years! Yay!
08th Nov 2022
But if I fly to London via Paris on Air France, the flight from Singapore to Paris nets 12XP while the little flight from Paris to London gives another 5XP, so the return trip totals 34XP, almost seven times the XP from a Bali trip.
Promo return fares right now (that still give XP and miles) are going at S$971 total, or about S$990 after credit card fee, which is still three times the price of the Bali return fares. Three of this will give me Silver status, as compared to ten Bali trips; SEVENTEEN of these will bring me to Platinum.
If I can find seventeen of this under-S$1000 fares, it will bring the cost of hitting Platinum to below S$17,000, or if they're all specifically S$990, it will be S$16,830, slightly cheaper than sticking to Bali.
Beyond that, it will take nine trips to London to maintain the status each year.
But what if I look further?
Buenos Aires with two transfers gives 29XP per flight, or 58XP per return fare - only two will be needed to hit Silver, exactly ten to hit Platinum. The catch is that the lowest fare in the short term is S$3430 - ten makes S$34,300. Nope.
New York? Mostly one transfer at CDG (Paris), costs under S$2000, and gives 22XP per flight, or 44XP per return fare, so fourteen of these to reach Platinum, or S$28,000 - still nope.
Ok so using the Singapore-Heathrow fare as benchmark, every XP has to cost only S$29.12 or less.
Anyways this is pretty ridiculous for my new lifestyle. S$17,000 over the max three years is still almost S$5.7k annually, followed by S$9k maintenance per year, for... what? Free upgrades to premium economy on KLM, Air France and Delta, free access to their lounges, and elite status on Skyteam (priority everything on all their airlines).
Since I don't fly much anymore, this makes absolutely no sense. I won't be able to take advantage of these perks enough for them to be worth S$9k a year.
Oh well, it was fun to look into.
The one from CMB probably is not going to be any success, but surprisingly, one of the matches in Bali on Bumble said she will be coming over in Dec, and that's great because it's quite unlikely I'll be getting anyone beyond the second date by then, so regardless of who I'm seeing for the first few dates, it's still acceptable to go on a date with someone else.
And the fact that an Indonesian Chinese woman is able to fly here with miles practically means she isn't a gold-digger going for some rich Singaporean guy.
Let's see how that goes. Probably won't be a long term thing, but these days, all bets are off with my matches anyway.
So topping up my CPF's Ordinary Account doesn't get me tax relief, which kinda sucks. But oh well, I'll just top up my Special Account a little.
12th Nov 2022
Lots to buy yesterday, like glucosamine, fish oil, saline nasal sprays, and a new chair to replace the one that I'm sitting on that doesn't feel safe anymore, not to mention its backrest is tilted further than it should be by default while its max tilt is also tilted more towards the right. Yeah, it's ready to collapse at at time, lets not wait till I get injured to get a new chair when the annual sale is here.
Also emailed the mattress company but no reply for two weeks already, so probably not producing it anymore. Should get a new topper then, probably. A hard foam one.
Probably one of the quietest weeks in a long while. No ongoing convos, no matches. Not too keen on keeping up the convo with the Indonesian lady.
Feels pretty horrible tbh. At least the weather is nice, cool enough to have some alcohol. Haven't touched the pear brandy in a while. Not going crazy with it of course.
Maybe it is the combo of the breakup and the massive difference in Bali, but it's driven me to reconsider dating agencies and singles events again. Been a while too, joining these. Not yet though, a friend did recommend someone to me, going to give her a try first. She'd always seemed nice, but didn't seem to click when we first met.
13th Nov 2022
Got two matches this morning, perked me up a bit. One seems ok, the other one might need help psychologically, could be depression following extended period of time being bedbound after a spinal cord injury.
Splurged a bit on wine again, but realised all my good wines can't be touched till at least 2024, and that's only for a German riesling. All my wines are now good though, unlike my previous purchases, since they're all gauged by price to WA (aka RP) score, so they're all S$105-165 and WA 94-97, which is a big deal since it's kind of uncommon to find wines WA95 and above being under S$300, let alone around S$150. The wine seller is reputable so it's ok, although the real tests will be in the years to come.
18th Nov 2022
While rearranging my wines, spotted ice on the top and back of my wine fridge, plus several spots on mould on the top wooden rack. That mould is horrible news so immediately wiped it with rubbing alcohol, which only removed the surface mould, hence it called for bleach. Strangely even half an hour of bleaching couldn't get rid of the last bit of mould, so I gave up and dried it, while planning to cover it with some baking soda before use.
Luckily there is no sign of mould anywhere else, so that's a major relief.
My Aeron arrived last night, almost an hour past the delivery time slot stated by the seller.
After adjusting it, only downside is the wheels, feels a little like they're scraping my wooden laminate floor. Probably will swap with the wheels from my last chair that were bought only several months ago. But they're a little too smooth, so idk, probably will take a good look at my floor later to check for evidence of scratches.
Overall, it is as perfect as advertised, though its durability will have to proven through the test of time.
No idea which wine to bring tomorrow. Maybe just the Chateau Mayne-Vieil. Or the Chateau Talbot? Nah, not the Talbot, it's only ready in 2025. Maybe the Aruma, because the first bottle of Mayne-Vieil wasn't very good.
Running out of flat horizontal space in the wine fridge though. Really have to stop buying collectible wines for the next few years.
And got to get some baking soda in there somehow.
21st Nov 2022
First group presentation tomorrow. Pretty straightforward, getting the hang of it, hopefully.
Many likes on CMB over the weekend due to my activation of Boost on the weekend before this. No idea why it took a week to work. Anyway, one was a straight up scammer and another felt like a scammer, so this marks the first time I'm encountering scammers on CMB. Regardless, two good matches and another like still hidden until afternoon later, in addition to the one arranging a date with me.
Still not much hope for the mutual friend being pushed to me, it's challenging to keep the conversation up, might drop it soon if issue persists.
The simple foam topper from the old brand Seahorse has improved the comfort of my bed dramatically. This might really be the permanent solution - just keep getting toppers over a really hard spring mattress. Definitely cheaper than spending S$3000 on a single mattress that is meant to last a decade, given my mattress was S$300 and subsequent toppers cost S$50-100 each - I could easily get twenty-seven toppers with the same budget, which would last the same number of years or more.
