I feel like giving up.
It was interesting at first but now it's approaching "uninteresting". I'm going to quit before it reaches "work".
They made organzing outings sound like a chore, so I volunteered to see what it's like.
It felt good at first, but my motivation is waning.
I've long come to the conclusion that they aren't particularly interested in outings anymore. Asking them to go out together for anything is like proposing marriage - they've got to think really long and hard about it.
That's not a really bad thing because there are so many of them, but it's tiring to have to consider so many restrictions set by everyone when planning each outing.
The worst part is anything that's wrong or bad isn't pointed out. Nobody bothers to read the whole description of the proposed event. To me, that means they just don't care enough to want to know what we're going to do.
I have the impression that they're joining to please the rest of us, whatever the reasons.
In the end they just play along till things screw up.
Must I handle every single detail?
I'm not some kind of volunteer manager of theirs, am I?
I'm just trying to get friends to go out together.
I'm just trying to keep friends.
Their apparent disinterest is chafing my desire to keep it going.
Perhaps we are just too different.
Perhaps it's time to let go of the past.
At this point in my life, I'm already letting go of plenty of things from my past.
Such is life.
Friday, 13 January 2012
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Rant 921 / 10 J Q K A
Runespell: Overture was kind of a good game.
Mostly good but far too short. No wonder it's called "Overture" - it's just an introduction to the real game, a tutorial prologue.
First, the battles. I love the poker-inspired mechanics. Simple.
But they're unbalanced. Then again, they're going to need a mathematician if they want to resolve this issue. That's not going to be cheap for an indie developer.
In the early game when HPs weren't high, I go for full house and four/five-of-a-kind. Later I go for royal flush.
Right from the start I'd start assembling the 10,J,Q,K,A of each suit. The trick is to flip my own cards to reveal new cards except for the last act because I didn't want the opponent to steal the last card I reveal in case it was one that I needed.
All unnecessary cards go to one stack, although each of these trash stacks must end up with at least a pair so that I didn't lose HP.
When I got the wolf priest ally, it became even easier. I cast his ability as soon as I could and kept flipping cards till I get the right ones. The game usually end by the time I hit the enemy with royal flush twice, because I'd have more than enough RP to cast more spells at him/her.
The only weakness to this is the Fear spells, especially the one that takes out 75RPs with one hit.
The spells seem unbalanced in their cost-effect ratio. For example, the ally with that 120RP ability that only does 40-50 damage is totally not worth it.
This ability is only good when everything else is on cooldown and you need need to deal a hard blow regardless of the cost.
Except by the time anyone has 120RP, you wouldn't need a hard blow to end the game.
Finally, maybe it's just me, or did they really call Italy by that name back in the 1200s?
Because nobody call China "China" until relatively recent times. Marco Polo, who lived in the 13th century, was responsible for spreading the use of this name in Europe, and the first recorded use in English was in 1555.
So I checked Wikipedia and they did use the name by then. In fact, they'd have been using that name for that region for about seven centuries by the 13th century.
Microsoft is about to give us the PC version of the Kinect.
No surprise there.
I'll probably get one after the hype dies down a little.
Grotesque Tactics: Dungeons and Donuts is a pretty interesting game. Some of the humour is actually humours.
As the title suggests, the combat is turn-based and the characters move on a battlefield split into square tiles.
In the game, the player is an emo shepherd. He wears dark colours, spots an emo haircut and talks like a faggot.
The story begins in an underground dungeon where a celebration party was interrupted by a man-eating magical mist.
Apparently, they were celebrating the end of the monsters in the dungeon.
Apparently, they were wrong.
As hopeless as it seems, the emo shepherd was able to... help in some way. I can't say how because there are three paths and it would be a spoiler.
After regrouping and finding somewhere relatively safe to stay, the emo hero goes on the quest to get everyone out of the dungeon and to safety.
Anyway this is actually the sequel but that isn't important because the hero gets "hero's amnesia" after the tutorial prologue.
This video makes me sad.
Fifty thousand years of existence. Fifty thousand years!
And we're still producing people like that in a developed country.
I think that's how a lot of people feel as they get older.
Anyway, why do people not try and appreciate new music?
I wonder if most of the people I know listen to dubstep.
Or am I just a strange person for liking some of those on Youtube?
I think some people just stick with what they grew up with because they associate it with "the good old days".
They don't actually like the music that much (except for some, but you probably won't be able to tell them apart without some serious analysis); they just like the feelings and perhaps the nostalgia that the music brings.
In other words, they find the present less likeable than what they think the past was like.
People like that need to rethink what they're doing, or recall all the crap they went through before today.
Mostly good but far too short. No wonder it's called "Overture" - it's just an introduction to the real game, a tutorial prologue.
First, the battles. I love the poker-inspired mechanics. Simple.
But they're unbalanced. Then again, they're going to need a mathematician if they want to resolve this issue. That's not going to be cheap for an indie developer.
In the early game when HPs weren't high, I go for full house and four/five-of-a-kind. Later I go for royal flush.
Right from the start I'd start assembling the 10,J,Q,K,A of each suit. The trick is to flip my own cards to reveal new cards except for the last act because I didn't want the opponent to steal the last card I reveal in case it was one that I needed.
All unnecessary cards go to one stack, although each of these trash stacks must end up with at least a pair so that I didn't lose HP.
When I got the wolf priest ally, it became even easier. I cast his ability as soon as I could and kept flipping cards till I get the right ones. The game usually end by the time I hit the enemy with royal flush twice, because I'd have more than enough RP to cast more spells at him/her.
The only weakness to this is the Fear spells, especially the one that takes out 75RPs with one hit.
The spells seem unbalanced in their cost-effect ratio. For example, the ally with that 120RP ability that only does 40-50 damage is totally not worth it.
This ability is only good when everything else is on cooldown and you need need to deal a hard blow regardless of the cost.
Except by the time anyone has 120RP, you wouldn't need a hard blow to end the game.
Finally, maybe it's just me, or did they really call Italy by that name back in the 1200s?
Because nobody call China "China" until relatively recent times. Marco Polo, who lived in the 13th century, was responsible for spreading the use of this name in Europe, and the first recorded use in English was in 1555.
So I checked Wikipedia and they did use the name by then. In fact, they'd have been using that name for that region for about seven centuries by the 13th century.
Microsoft is about to give us the PC version of the Kinect.
No surprise there.
I'll probably get one after the hype dies down a little.
Grotesque Tactics: Dungeons and Donuts is a pretty interesting game. Some of the humour is actually humours.
As the title suggests, the combat is turn-based and the characters move on a battlefield split into square tiles.
In the game, the player is an emo shepherd. He wears dark colours, spots an emo haircut and talks like a faggot.
The story begins in an underground dungeon where a celebration party was interrupted by a man-eating magical mist.
Apparently, they were celebrating the end of the monsters in the dungeon.
Apparently, they were wrong.
As hopeless as it seems, the emo shepherd was able to... help in some way. I can't say how because there are three paths and it would be a spoiler.
After regrouping and finding somewhere relatively safe to stay, the emo hero goes on the quest to get everyone out of the dungeon and to safety.
Anyway this is actually the sequel but that isn't important because the hero gets "hero's amnesia" after the tutorial prologue.
This video makes me sad.
Fifty thousand years of existence. Fifty thousand years!
And we're still producing people like that in a developed country.
I think that's how a lot of people feel as they get older.
Anyway, why do people not try and appreciate new music?
I wonder if most of the people I know listen to dubstep.
Or am I just a strange person for liking some of those on Youtube?
I think some people just stick with what they grew up with because they associate it with "the good old days".
They don't actually like the music that much (except for some, but you probably won't be able to tell them apart without some serious analysis); they just like the feelings and perhaps the nostalgia that the music brings.
In other words, they find the present less likeable than what they think the past was like.
People like that need to rethink what they're doing, or recall all the crap they went through before today.
Monday, 9 January 2012
Rant 920 / Deer Penis Soup With Meat Balls
I'm starting to really respect those guys behind the search engine of Google. When you google "spesskem", you get results for the game Spacechem.
How does it do that??
I'm interested to know the rest of the story in Skyrim, but I just can't find the motivation to play it. Meanwhile, I try to avoid spoilers.
Workers tried to make me give them an extra day off for Chinese New Year.
Fortunately one was honest enough to tell me when my mum used to let them go and when their CNY holidays used to end, because that was one of the many things that she never remembered to tell me.
So their holidays begin on the twenty-sixth day on the lunar calendar, and ends on the third day like everyone else, which means they get only a single free day this year because that day is a Friday.
One kept asking me if I could let them go on the Thursday instead, but I insisted on following my mum's practices.
That was a convenient excuse.
Why on earth would I want to let them go earlier than usual when I have no idea if I am going to get more work for them just before the holidays?
Maybe, just maybe, if things remain quiet for the first three days of that week, I'll let them take the Thursday off. No point making them stay when there's no real work I need them to do.
Moreover, since their wages are calculated on a daily basis, I'll get to save some money by giving them an additional day of holiday.
I can't tell them this. It might give them false hope or something. I'll just see what happens on the Wednesday.
EDIT: Holy crap! I'm glad I didn't agree to giving them another day! New goods are finally coming just before CNY! They're going to be busy!
Blizzard came up with a new offer I almost couldn't refuse: buy 1 year's worth of WoW subscription and get Diablo III free.
I almost subscribed immediately.
Then I saw the price: 180 days cost US$77.
Nope.
I don't play MMORPGs these days. Even when I found out that Lineage II, a game I spent about 2 years on and the first 3D MMORPG I played, has become f2p and removed most of the grinding for players, I still didn't bother to even check out the website.
US$155 for D3 isn't worth it.
Moreover, the WoW today isn't the WoW I used to be addicted to anymore.
Kids in Singapore think that being the President is "the coolest job ever".
If the parents are right about the reason being that they think the President is grossly overpaid for his workload, then this implies that kids today are a bunch of bloody slackers.
I wonder if those parents are proud of this.
These kids aren't going for something they respect, nor are they going for something meaningful.
They're going for something that's easy.
Bloody slackers!
And then you blame the government for bringing in so many foreigners to boost our workforce.
I am not amused :\
1) Money can provide happiness. You're just thinking about those morons who take on too much work for the money in the mistaken belief that they can handle the load.
2) Money can buy time and family. When you spend more to travel faster, you're basically buying time.
With enough money, you can buy a spouse, kids and just about anybody you want. Need blood relation in the family members? Clone them.
You can't buy a perfect clone complete with the original's mind and all that. That's about it.
3) Money is not always there. Think 1997 Asia. Think 2008 US. But neither is your family, so you need think about how you spend your time.
Why do people still insist on feeding our next generation with that simplistic nonsense? This is the 21st century already.
How does it do that??
I'm interested to know the rest of the story in Skyrim, but I just can't find the motivation to play it. Meanwhile, I try to avoid spoilers.
Workers tried to make me give them an extra day off for Chinese New Year.
Fortunately one was honest enough to tell me when my mum used to let them go and when their CNY holidays used to end, because that was one of the many things that she never remembered to tell me.
So their holidays begin on the twenty-sixth day on the lunar calendar, and ends on the third day like everyone else, which means they get only a single free day this year because that day is a Friday.
One kept asking me if I could let them go on the Thursday instead, but I insisted on following my mum's practices.
That was a convenient excuse.
Why on earth would I want to let them go earlier than usual when I have no idea if I am going to get more work for them just before the holidays?
Maybe, just maybe, if things remain quiet for the first three days of that week, I'll let them take the Thursday off. No point making them stay when there's no real work I need them to do.
Moreover, since their wages are calculated on a daily basis, I'll get to save some money by giving them an additional day of holiday.
I can't tell them this. It might give them false hope or something. I'll just see what happens on the Wednesday.
EDIT: Holy crap! I'm glad I didn't agree to giving them another day! New goods are finally coming just before CNY! They're going to be busy!
Blizzard came up with a new offer I almost couldn't refuse: buy 1 year's worth of WoW subscription and get Diablo III free.
I almost subscribed immediately.
Then I saw the price: 180 days cost US$77.
Nope.
I don't play MMORPGs these days. Even when I found out that Lineage II, a game I spent about 2 years on and the first 3D MMORPG I played, has become f2p and removed most of the grinding for players, I still didn't bother to even check out the website.
US$155 for D3 isn't worth it.
Moreover, the WoW today isn't the WoW I used to be addicted to anymore.
Kids in Singapore think that being the President is "the coolest job ever".
Kateline Teo, a 37-year-old mother of two told Yahoo! Singapore, "It's like taking a swipe at the President. I don't think they voted it as the 'coolest or best job' because it's a respectful job."
"The kids probably get the impression that a President's job is easy money and they get paid forever," Teo added.
Other parents echoed this view. Another parent, Mrs Chua, 33, said that "even kids realise that the President doesn't do much but still gets paid a load of money."
If the parents are right about the reason being that they think the President is grossly overpaid for his workload, then this implies that kids today are a bunch of bloody slackers.
I wonder if those parents are proud of this.
These kids aren't going for something they respect, nor are they going for something meaningful.
They're going for something that's easy.
Bloody slackers!
And then you blame the government for bringing in so many foreigners to boost our workforce.
79 per cent of the children said they would prefer to spend time with their families than making money. This was a drop from last year's 96 per cent. The children surveyed gave reasons such as:
- “Money simply cannot provide happiness”
- “We can't buy time and family”
- “Money is always there but my family may not be”
I am not amused :\
1) Money can provide happiness. You're just thinking about those morons who take on too much work for the money in the mistaken belief that they can handle the load.
2) Money can buy time and family. When you spend more to travel faster, you're basically buying time.
With enough money, you can buy a spouse, kids and just about anybody you want. Need blood relation in the family members? Clone them.
You can't buy a perfect clone complete with the original's mind and all that. That's about it.
3) Money is not always there. Think 1997 Asia. Think 2008 US. But neither is your family, so you need think about how you spend your time.
Why do people still insist on feeding our next generation with that simplistic nonsense? This is the 21st century already.
Friday, 6 January 2012
Rant 919 / SpessKem Is Unexpectedly Fun
My gaming preference took an unexpected turn recently when I somehow just kept playing SpaceChem, a singleplayer puzzle game involving the production of predefined molocules using what was provided.
Currently, I'm at the final stage of the fourth planet, Alkonost, where I'm again allowed to choose between going straight for the final Defense mission or complete an optional challenge named "Going Green".
I'm on the challenge now and this game is starting to get very complicated.
For example, in one of my reactors in Going Green, it looks like this:
This pair of loops assumes that Input Beta always arrives earlier than Input Alpha. The trouble is that this isn't true, and that sometimes Beta takes forever to get here, and which totally screws up the timing.
If Beta arrives later than Alpha, then top most white Bonder slot would be filled by the red loop before the blue loop can arrive at the Sync in the cross-junction the second time. In this case, they would collide, which isn't allowed.
The trouble is, I can't just put another pair of "Sync" down to synchronise their timings because one blue loop is programmed to take as long as two red loops.
My solution: a complete revamp of my entire system of 5 reactors because this reaction requires me to adjust the timing of the two molecules of the inputs which will take one more reactor than I'm allowed.
The tools mechanics are all very easy to understand. The only challenge in this game is that what you're given need to be processed before they can be used to make what is asked of you.
IMO computer programmers would find this game similar to what they do. It's all about logic and perhaps a bit of judgement about the placement of things.
The two main reasons that keep me interested are:
1) the story. I still don't know what's disrupting their operations but the story at this point hints that an external factor is being hidden by the upper management from the rest of the world.
2) the autosaves. I love how everything is autosaved constantly such that I have yet to be annoyed by any bugs, and every step I make is recorded from the very first to the 9000th so that I can just undo each one till I reach the state I want to return to.
3) the completed system. Once you get the entire system working flawlessly, it's... beautiful.
EDIT: OH SHIT I JUST REALIZED I CAN SOLVE THE TIMING ISSUE USING THE SENSOR! I CAN JUST PREVENT ALPHA LOOP FROM WORKING TILL THE SENSOR DETECTS AN INPUT AT BETA!
I'd already erased the entire map and redid things several times. I'll have to replace everything from scratch.
EDIT 2: Nope, that didn't work. The sensor prevents the red loop from delivering its O atoms on its second lap when blue's S atom is already at the centre. Guess I'll have to make a new plan.
Unfortunately this doesn't work here.
All those coupons shown do not have a minimum purchase requirement even though they allow a discount on small amounts of each product.
This is a deliberate omission which never happens for any coupons here.
The most similar coupon I've seen would be the same except it allows a percentage discount. No such thing as a $1 discount with no minimum purchase because what she did was exactly what the marketing people want to avoid.
Believe me. I've even tried to see to if I could combine coupons the way she did, like the ones from Giant.
What I observed was that the guys working there knew exactly what they were doing, so that any overlaps are carefully avoid other than the few products that still aren't cheap despite a combined discount. They seemed to even taunt me with almost identical products that differ only in brand or amount.
The Prosperity burgers from MCD suck, the sole reason being that it's just black pepper.
The black pepper sauce dominates the entire burger so much there is really no other flavour.
The beef version is even worse because the patty is so soft (unless you like mushy patties).
Sauces and gravy are supposed to improve the flavour of a dish, not become it.
No wonder MCD only whips it out during certain special occasions. Its novelty and the fact that black pepper is so popular makes it successful, but only as long as its novelty lasts.
I procrastinate. The reason is different but the result remains the same - I procrastinate.
I no longer have to worry about failure, yet I still try to put off tasks till much later.
It is a reason I do not wish to talk about, yet I must think about it to find a solution.
I must do it, therefore I must overcome it.
I know I've posted this long ago but I just don't get tired of it.
After watching some more Valkyria Chronicles streamed by someone live from his TV, I really feel like getting a PS3.
Yet I know if I do, I wouldn't have the time nor mood to play it.
Heck, I still haven't finished Persona 4 after all these months.
Maybe I'll buy a new TV someday, one that consumes less power than the one in my home.
Then I'll get a PS3.
Valkyria Chronicles brings me such nostalgia, but I'm not longer the person I once was.
To fully appreciate JRPGs and any games that require grinding, one must possess a certain degree of dislike for reality.
I used to be able to handle grinding, maybe because that's an easier way to achieve anything than what I have in real life.
Now I find grinding very boring.
Currently, I'm at the final stage of the fourth planet, Alkonost, where I'm again allowed to choose between going straight for the final Defense mission or complete an optional challenge named "Going Green".
I'm on the challenge now and this game is starting to get very complicated.
For example, in one of my reactors in Going Green, it looks like this:
This pair of loops assumes that Input Beta always arrives earlier than Input Alpha. The trouble is that this isn't true, and that sometimes Beta takes forever to get here, and which totally screws up the timing.
If Beta arrives later than Alpha, then top most white Bonder slot would be filled by the red loop before the blue loop can arrive at the Sync in the cross-junction the second time. In this case, they would collide, which isn't allowed.
The trouble is, I can't just put another pair of "Sync" down to synchronise their timings because one blue loop is programmed to take as long as two red loops.
My solution: a complete revamp of my entire system of 5 reactors because this reaction requires me to adjust the timing of the two molecules of the inputs which will take one more reactor than I'm allowed.
The tools mechanics are all very easy to understand. The only challenge in this game is that what you're given need to be processed before they can be used to make what is asked of you.
IMO computer programmers would find this game similar to what they do. It's all about logic and perhaps a bit of judgement about the placement of things.
The two main reasons that keep me interested are:
1) the story. I still don't know what's disrupting their operations but the story at this point hints that an external factor is being hidden by the upper management from the rest of the world.
2) the autosaves. I love how everything is autosaved constantly such that I have yet to be annoyed by any bugs, and every step I make is recorded from the very first to the 9000th so that I can just undo each one till I reach the state I want to return to.
3) the completed system. Once you get the entire system working flawlessly, it's... beautiful.
EDIT: OH SHIT I JUST REALIZED I CAN SOLVE THE TIMING ISSUE USING THE SENSOR! I CAN JUST PREVENT ALPHA LOOP FROM WORKING TILL THE SENSOR DETECTS AN INPUT AT BETA!
I'd already erased the entire map and redid things several times. I'll have to replace everything from scratch.
EDIT 2: Nope, that didn't work. The sensor prevents the red loop from delivering its O atoms on its second lap when blue's S atom is already at the centre. Guess I'll have to make a new plan.
Unfortunately this doesn't work here.
All those coupons shown do not have a minimum purchase requirement even though they allow a discount on small amounts of each product.
This is a deliberate omission which never happens for any coupons here.
The most similar coupon I've seen would be the same except it allows a percentage discount. No such thing as a $1 discount with no minimum purchase because what she did was exactly what the marketing people want to avoid.
Believe me. I've even tried to see to if I could combine coupons the way she did, like the ones from Giant.
What I observed was that the guys working there knew exactly what they were doing, so that any overlaps are carefully avoid other than the few products that still aren't cheap despite a combined discount. They seemed to even taunt me with almost identical products that differ only in brand or amount.
The Prosperity burgers from MCD suck, the sole reason being that it's just black pepper.
The black pepper sauce dominates the entire burger so much there is really no other flavour.
The beef version is even worse because the patty is so soft (unless you like mushy patties).
Sauces and gravy are supposed to improve the flavour of a dish, not become it.
No wonder MCD only whips it out during certain special occasions. Its novelty and the fact that black pepper is so popular makes it successful, but only as long as its novelty lasts.
I procrastinate. The reason is different but the result remains the same - I procrastinate.
I no longer have to worry about failure, yet I still try to put off tasks till much later.
It is a reason I do not wish to talk about, yet I must think about it to find a solution.
I must do it, therefore I must overcome it.
I know I've posted this long ago but I just don't get tired of it.
After watching some more Valkyria Chronicles streamed by someone live from his TV, I really feel like getting a PS3.
Yet I know if I do, I wouldn't have the time nor mood to play it.
Heck, I still haven't finished Persona 4 after all these months.
Maybe I'll buy a new TV someday, one that consumes less power than the one in my home.
Then I'll get a PS3.
Valkyria Chronicles brings me such nostalgia, but I'm not longer the person I once was.
To fully appreciate JRPGs and any games that require grinding, one must possess a certain degree of dislike for reality.
I used to be able to handle grinding, maybe because that's an easier way to achieve anything than what I have in real life.
Now I find grinding very boring.
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
Rant 918 / Everyone Lives In His Or Her Own World
I've been getting calls from so many girls ever since I took over the business.
I just wish they weren't telemarketers.
And Dell keeps calling me about their new promotions.
The last call was particularly funny.
Telemarketer: Hi, I'm calling from Dell. Is there an IT officer or technician I can speak to?
Me: We don't use computers here.
Telemarketer: HMMMM.............
But it is true.
The highest form of technology we use here is a typewriter and a basic solar-powered calculator.
I can easily switch to a PC because it's much easier to make changes on MS Word, but my mum had bought too many carbon copies of invoices from a wholesaler or something which cannot be used with a computer printer unless I print on all copies separately.
That's a huge waste of ink IMO.
We're so 1970s over here.
Still, it helps to keep the operating costs lower.
I'll make the switch when one of the following happens:
1) The typewriter stops working and I can't find someone to repair it.
2) I cannot find the ribbons outside when ours run out.
3) I run out of blank invoices.
So today a friend on FB was being so excited about getting the Pleasures card from Ritz-Carlton.
That's its loyalty programme.
Costs a crazy S$888 p.a.
I used to wonder why so many people with no money are unable to spend their money wisely.
There are two conclusions I draw from this after some thought.
First, it's a cycle. They can't spend money on only the right things, hence they spend too much compared to their incomes and that prevents them from becoming wealthy.
Second, they spend their money like that precisely because they are not rich enough to spend such amounts casually.
It makes them feel richer, and basically creates the illusion that they aren't as average or poor as they actually are.
Which makes such an act the same as any other forms of distractions like video games, fiction novels, getting drunk and most arts in general.
They take a person's mind away from reality which they view as harsh and maybe even painful.
If life as an average guy with a decent job in a developed country is bad, then how do I describe the life of a child born in the slums of Mumbai?
If you have the money to afford the internet access to read this blog, chances are your life isn't bad at all.
You just think it is.
It's just all perceptions.
Quoting the book Sword of Truth, "truth is perception".
If you can change the perception, you can change the truth.
The objective reality is ultimately of no importance. The moment you have to interpret everything you sense, you are already living in your own perceived world.
Singapore buying electricity from Malaysia in the future?
What the heck?
Responding to this, Prime Minister Lee said Singapore is very open to importing a certain portion of electricity from Malaysia, if the terms are right and if the private sector proposes an attractive offer which Singapore cannot refuse.
I don't know what they're doing.
After all the effort to wean ourselves off the resources Malaysia has been supplying to us, we want to increase our dependence again?
Then what's the point of Newater?
Despite the recently announced pay cuts for our political leaders, their salaries remain extremely high compared to those of leaders of other parts of the world.
I'm not totally against this high pay.
What I find wrong is that this pay cut accomplishes nothing solid.
All this really does is make the public happy for a while, but once the novelty of a big ministerial pay cut wears off, they're going to come to their senses and realize our PM's monthly pay still exceeds most of their annual incomes.
2.2M per year = 183k per month
One would have to make over 15k SGD per month just to have an annual income that matches the PM's monthly one.
That's not even including the annual bonus.
Plenty of foolish people say that the high pay is unnecessary - if people are sincere they wouldn't need that to attract them to public service.
Don't be silly.
A lot of people sincerely want to help charities too. How many people out in this world have a career in non-profit organizations?
Among these people, how many of them can be considered "the best minds"?
Monday, 2 January 2012
Rant 917 / Why Can't We Just Shoot The Dragon In The Knee?
So the housekeeper I used to hire first introduced me to her friends who seem to be newbies in this line, then she didn't answer my previous SMS.
Together with the fact that she was often unable to work here due to other commitments, I think she wants to stop this altogether and had been hinting to me that those are her successors of sorts.
Today I SMSed one of them to ask if they could work here this week.
Her language was not what I expected.
I'm her employer (kinda), not her boyfriend.
For example, "sorry" became "sowi" in her replies. And there was a "hehe..."
What the heck?
I only wanted a cleaner. The reason I chose her was because she was the first in years to voluntarily clean my filthy fridge. Not even the original housekeeper was willing to do that unless instructed to do so.
It was so filthy we did not leave anything exposed to the air inside when we stored food there. The mild stench just seeped into everything.
Bringing a friend was okay. She was definitely new to this job and there are only men in this flat ever since my mum moved to the hospice. All that I had to do was make it clear that I'm willing to pay for only one person. Her friend can sit around and watch for all I care, as long as the work gets done properly.
So I bought a translucent glass cup for my candles.
I think it makes a good candle lamp.
The only problem is it lacks a cover and I can't find a similar glass one for it.
Definitely need a cover because my fan makes it flicker too much.
Also bought 12 of these little coin-shaped candles.
I didn't know they smelled like milk candy till I opened the packaging.
Burning these makse me kinda hungry.
Also, how the heck do I stop the final bit of wick from falling and snuffing out when the wax at the bottom melts?
As for the second fondue experiment, I learnt that I cannot just use water. I probably added it too late yesterday, so I didn't see that if I add water to cheese and put it over a flame, it curdles after a while.
By "curdle" I mean the cheese turned into tiny hard bits. Not good.
Apparently, alcohol stops this process or something, so I need some kind of wine.
C&C RA3 might not have been a good game but it definitely had some good music.
Rant 916 / I Wonder If That Works
The Cold Storage at Holland V actually ran out of gruyere cheese!
It's probably because lots of people wanted cheese fondue for their New Year's Day celebrations.
Standard fondue recipes usually call for gruyere and emmental (aka emmentaler), and I was able to find at least 3 brands of the latter.
So I tested my cheese fondue with just emmental and water (no wine at home, only beer and cognac that are not for human consumption) as a simple experiment in which I tested the viability of using aluminium foil, a small steaming rack and a candle for cheese fondue.
The result showed that firstly, aluminium foil alone is not suitable for fondue because it conducts heat so quickly the spot right above the flame will char the cheese.
Second, the cheese does not melt quickly enough with just one of those small candles, even though it chars, before I added water.
Therefore water works, although alcohol works better by lowering the melting point.
I now have a small ceramic ramekin I'll test tomorrow. Theoretically it should work.
The ceramic surface will spread the heat out better, so it won't burn as easily.
I need more of these round, flat candles though.
As for the gruyere, I'll just find some either after 1-2 weeks or at another supermarket.
Arrogance. That's what I observed in myself. Arrogance without a good reason.
I can't help it.
Despite my current income level, I have yet to prove that I can maintain it.
It appears that I can, but I don't know if I will.
I should not feel arrogant just because I made what I made last month.
Yet I was pissed when someone said something to the effect that my friends and I don't make a lot of money.
That was proof enough that it was arrogance growing in me.
Arrogance without a justifiable cause.
How ironic that a person with confidence issues can also be arrogant.
Yet I cannot say anything to deny belittling remarks regarding my income.
It is absolutely important that nobody I work with knows how much I make so that I have more room to lie when haggling prices.
Singapore is a tiny country after all.
Only my mother, brother, accountant and the IRAS can know my income. Not even my wife is allowed this information, if I ever have one, unless she works with me.
Frankly speaking, it is quite difficult for me to keep all the secrets that I do, yet I do not have a choice.
Plenty of other jobs out there require tight lips, so I'm aware that I must get used to it.
The good thing is that I'm quite a miser, so I don't mind not spending on any luxuries, which makes me look like I'm poor.
The only issue I need to keep in mind constantly is alcohol - it loosens tongues.
I know I shouldn't even be revealing the fact that I have secrets, but I feel like I'd burst if I didn't say anything.
Is it because it is overcompensating for my inferiority complex?
It's probably because lots of people wanted cheese fondue for their New Year's Day celebrations.
Standard fondue recipes usually call for gruyere and emmental (aka emmentaler), and I was able to find at least 3 brands of the latter.
So I tested my cheese fondue with just emmental and water (no wine at home, only beer and cognac that are not for human consumption) as a simple experiment in which I tested the viability of using aluminium foil, a small steaming rack and a candle for cheese fondue.
The result showed that firstly, aluminium foil alone is not suitable for fondue because it conducts heat so quickly the spot right above the flame will char the cheese.
Second, the cheese does not melt quickly enough with just one of those small candles, even though it chars, before I added water.
Therefore water works, although alcohol works better by lowering the melting point.
I now have a small ceramic ramekin I'll test tomorrow. Theoretically it should work.
The ceramic surface will spread the heat out better, so it won't burn as easily.
I need more of these round, flat candles though.
As for the gruyere, I'll just find some either after 1-2 weeks or at another supermarket.
Arrogance. That's what I observed in myself. Arrogance without a good reason.
I can't help it.
Despite my current income level, I have yet to prove that I can maintain it.
It appears that I can, but I don't know if I will.
I should not feel arrogant just because I made what I made last month.
Yet I was pissed when someone said something to the effect that my friends and I don't make a lot of money.
That was proof enough that it was arrogance growing in me.
Arrogance without a justifiable cause.
How ironic that a person with confidence issues can also be arrogant.
Yet I cannot say anything to deny belittling remarks regarding my income.
It is absolutely important that nobody I work with knows how much I make so that I have more room to lie when haggling prices.
Singapore is a tiny country after all.
Only my mother, brother, accountant and the IRAS can know my income. Not even my wife is allowed this information, if I ever have one, unless she works with me.
Frankly speaking, it is quite difficult for me to keep all the secrets that I do, yet I do not have a choice.
Plenty of other jobs out there require tight lips, so I'm aware that I must get used to it.
The good thing is that I'm quite a miser, so I don't mind not spending on any luxuries, which makes me look like I'm poor.
The only issue I need to keep in mind constantly is alcohol - it loosens tongues.
I know I shouldn't even be revealing the fact that I have secrets, but I feel like I'd burst if I didn't say anything.
Is it because it is overcompensating for my inferiority complex?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)