Rant 1011 / In Korea, Coke Is NSFW.

And that's why people should learn multiple languages from young. It helps them pronounce words properly that they would have a lot more difficulty to if they had to learn them in their adulthood.






















Spreadsheet wasn't the best idea. It could only display one graph at a time when I wanted multiple graphs plotted on the same pair of axes.

Looking for more of such free graph apps and right now I'm trying out Glimpse. The catch here is that the app itself does not allow data input so I have to import spreadsheets to do it. However it appears to be able to handle multiple graphs so there's hope.



















Monday. 5 mins to Monday.

This is the first time none of my staff goes to work on a normal weekday. Since it's been so quiet, I let one go on vacation with her family. Never expected the other one to have a rather urgent medical issue that required a visit to a specialist on the same day.

Having been to a few in the past, I know the dates available to someone who got a referral from a polyclinic aren't a lot. She's one of those skinny types with weak immune systems so I let her go as well.

Therefore my office is going to be empty.

This could be the first weekday ever in which I stay there for more than 5 hours, if I decide to go. However, judging from the trend in past few weeks, it's unlikely that I'll have much to do the entire time.

I'll probably just kill time with more data processing work.

Maybe even make an updated catalogue.

Haven't done anything about it in a long time because there hasn't been any need to. My current buyers need to physically check my goods so photos are mostly pointless after a certain point.

But today my housekeeper asked me about my stuff because a friend of hers was going to work in Finland. I couldn't help her without a catalogue and she can't go to my office except during her weekday off days. Even if I told her to look at the stores I work with, the only way for this to work is to get her to tell the items she want so that I can bring them home before her next visit here. It's not really by the book so I suggest it to people I know well.

It's not exactly a good idea to piss off the few buyers I have right at the beginning of my career.





















Thought about the plans I had long ago about my iPad and confirmed that I don't need a spare battery for it at all.

The battery lasts long enough for 3-4 days of use. Not saying it lasts this long for everyone but I don't use it for gaming a lot, and game apps are usually the most power-consuming apps. Mostly I use it for web-surfing, cloud storage and emails. Those don't use a lot of power.

As for Skype, feels kind of pointless now. I cannot lose my current phone number due to social inertia (changing a contact number is a pain especially when it's used for work) and I'm already using one of the cheapest post-paid mobile voice plans available.

Moreover, I also use emails and Whatsapp so a free phone line is not really worth the effort to convert to.

Rant 1010 / Terrapins Love Seafood

I don't usually think about this but it is strange how sometimes, it appears as if I have a separate memory in my dreams.

What I mean is that there is a certain continuity in some of my dreams once in a while that I do not recall in reality, like in one dream I see and hear certain things that led me to the memory of the events in a previous dream, yet I usually forget about it when I'm awake.


There are only 2 instances that I can think of right that in which I remember this false memory long enough wake up to think about it and conclude that it had happened in a previous dream and wasn't real. Therefore I bet it has happened more often than that.


It goes something like this: long ago in a dream, something happened and the story of the event went from point A to point B. Much much later you dream again, this time from point B to point C, and you remember the last dream thus recognizing this to be the sequel of the previous event, which, right now in the dream, is also recognized as a true event instead of a dream.


Or at least this is how the first one went.


In the other, I overheard something in a dream or something happened. I'm not sure. In the next dream (chronologically not close at all), someone says something to me or something happened that made sense only because what occured in that previous dream.


I don't think it's common to remember another dream as if it's actually happened while in a dream. It's normal to mistake a dream as reality, everyone not into lucid dreaming does, but mistaking a memory of a dream as reality while in a dream? The memory isn't even part of the dream, not in the way that a person can detect with his five senses.


Don't dreams fool only those?



TBH this also feels kind of creepy because I'm almost completely out of any sort of theory to explain this phenomenom.


How does this work at all?


How does a dream mess with memory like that? Like most people, I almost never recall any dream after waking up, so not only does it dig up something completely forgotten but it also convinces my conscious mind that it was real. Is this even normal?

I'm thinking about this because this morning, I woke up with a question in my head: did my father go to China for treatment?

In the dream, I thought he did only because I saw it happened in another dream (or at least I think that's how it went).

As I woke up it felt stranger and stranger. Did he really?

I had to jog my memory a bit to realize that it didn't actually happen and that it came from a previous dream.

I just hope this isn't some kind of amnesia. Memory loss can sometimes lead to the creation of false memories to "fill up the gaps". I'm too young for this.



















































Today on my way to work my wandering mind came across the idea of a new kind of hawker centre.

Usually, these open-air places have rows of hawkers separated by tables and stools.

I feel like although this is an efficient way to spread the attention of the customers, it is an inefficient use of space.

You know, like if they can share a large washing area and frozen storage room, so much space can theoretically be saved.

In addition, they can even share servers.

My first idea was to use a tablet. A tablet on every table so that everyone can just sit down and make their orders there, then food will be served from a combined kitchen.

This was too easy to exploit. Beyond the issue of possible thefts, there is also the problem of costs, filthy hands and breaking down of the machines.

In addition, this will likely be run on a wireless network, and it really isn't too hard to find out how to hack into any commerically available router.

To improve on that, I thought about having the machines at the entrance. They don't have to be tablets, just something that has buttons. Every hawker and their individual dishes can then be assigned a letter or number and people can just type it in, pay, and then be assigned a table number before being allowed to enter.

The menus can be placed outside on a giant wall or on multiple large TVs split into different cuisines.

The problem here is how last-minute orders are handled. Like sometimes, people would order more stuff halfway through their meals.

To counter this, I thought the order kiosks (sounds about right) can be placed at regular intervals between multiple tables, kinda like how mics are placed in auditoriums or lecture halls for the Q&A sessions.

The problem here is then back to the menu. Large menus are going to be needed for convenience so that people don't have to walk to the kiosks to find out what is available.

Or maybe this isn't an issue at all. It's not like we can see all the food available on every stall right now without walking to the stalls anyway.

The kiosks will also require everyone to state that number of seats required to accomodate groups of people who want to sit together before they can make one unified order for the entire group. Only after ordering will they be assigned a table number.

If there aren't enough tables, the system will give them a queue number instead.

Obviously with an automated system the whole process of getting people seated will be more efficient than letting everyone find their own seats.

The problem will then be how the system is notified of the departure of someone and it is not simply just a person who needs to answer the call of nature.

Maybe that should be scrapped. People will find their own seats and the machine will instead issue a queue number.

While queue numbers usually mean the person will have to collect the things himself, this isn't what I have in mind because this isn't always necessary even now.

I thinking all the hawkers will share the expense of hiring servers to bring the food to the customers, like a restaurant but on a larger scale. These servers will only be in charge of bringing food around and not for taking down orders so that anyone can do the job. The cost of hiring them will become part of the rent.

Since every order is also recorded, the wage of a server can be performance-based and hawkers only pay when a server successfully brings their food to a customer.

How will the servers know where each customer is seated without a table number assigned automatically?

Maybe every table will have a tall stand and the machine will issue a large reusable card with the number printed that can be placed on top of the stand. This stand will have to hold multiple cards in case the people seated there have consecutive numbers. At the same time, the card will be taken by the server as a record of the number of serving jobs he had completed.

Colours and shapes can also be used to further differentiate the cards to make them easier to spot.

This still feels too complicated.

A keypad on every table will work too. People will be issued a queue ticket and they type their queue number into the pad when they are seated down and the servers will be notified of the table number and queue number.

I just don't like having too many machines because they are harder to repair when they break. A simple stand would be easy to replace in a few seconds.

The entire thing is based on the assumption that the long-term cost of a unified automated ordering system will be cheaper than having waiters like restaurants (or "assistants" for each stall) and be worth the benefits of having a larger seating capacity and greater system efficiency.

Come to think about it, maybe it doesn't even require automation. You can just get a few people to stand at the order kiosks instead to take down orders and as these cashiers key in the digits and letters that stand for the hawker and food into their cash registers, these will also be displayed in the kitchen together with the order-cum-queue number issued to the customer.

More reliability, and it cannot be too complicated to hardwire a cash register somehow to a LED text display in the kitchen.

Then I realize the kiosks can be combined back into... a single counter like in certain restaurants and most fast food restaurants.



This will change the concept of a hawker centre into something closer to a restaurant except with a more down-to-earth "community" kind of feel in the kitchen because of the way the hawkers share so many things.


























Found a free app called "Spreadsheet" that allows me to make charts using specific values.

A little clunky but it does the job.

Thought I should plot some sales graphs for individual items so that I can see more clearly.

Takes a long time to input all the numbers from all my delivery invoices from March. Including breaks, this could take the whole weekend.

For some reason I couldn't find the invoices for the period between Dec 2011 to Feb 2012. Got to try harder next time.




























The Blogger app on the iPad sucks. It's just the iPhone app enlarged. I can forgive the lack of functions but I can't rotate it and the button above the keyboard blocks the words.

























Whoa! Gilt gave me US$10 in credits because I complained in the post-purchase followup survey about how the shoe's manufacturer undercut them by $9.

I appreciate the gesture but TBH I really have nothing I want that I'm willing to spend a lot of money for. It's not about the money but the principle, and this $10 credit has satisfied that to some degree.

Gilt didn't even have to do it and I certainly didn't expect it. Nowhere does the store state that it will match the pricing of anyone.

On the other hand, even if I spend it it's only as if I had bought the shoes without discount. Worse, on the manufacturer's website I have even more customisation options like shoe width.
























Paypal's exchange rate is horrible.

It's about 0.787USD per SGD today but Paypal's payment conversion rate is only about 0.75USD.

But the CNY is at 5.01CNY per SGD. Damn! I don't owe anyone any money right now! I bet I can get like 4.9 if I remit money today.


























The ice brick is awesome. Better than the soft pads that are for sitting on.

When I'm sitting, I wrap it with a towel and put it on the back of my chair to freeze my lower spine. Today I tried sleeping on it as a pillow and it works with 2 layers of towels.

Somehow having a cold head or tailbone makes the rest of the body feel cool too. The ability to spread heat (and hence a lack of heat) in my body must be greater than I thought.


























Just asked my insurance agent aka financial consultant about the Prudential policy my mum left me. Apparently it's an investment-linked life policy.

My priority now is to know about the premiums, and it's actually quite easy.

The premium term is for life but I can stop at any time to use the money inside to pay for me temporarily. Obviously it's not so good but it doesn't treat is as a loan and charge interests for it like a certain other policy I have do.

I can also stop paying premiums permanently and just let the money inside work its magic, presumably with the insurance part removed.

The funds are directly invest into any of the many investment funds available but my mum clearly didn't know anything about them so everything's been invested into one Singapore-based fund.

I don't know what that means but it made me read about the different funds and the details of such investments.

One major issue is the initial investment charge and the continuing investment charge. They charge you for putting money in there and for letting it stay there. I didn't know about it but it makes sense.

I forgot to ask if I could throw in more money at one go rather than through the monthly premiums.

Anyways I also realized that I have only about 20% of my money in such medium-to-high risk investments and another about 60% in low-risk ones aka fixed deposits. This is, of course, discounting my business's networth and my liquid capital for the business. The final 20% covers my tuition fees for a while and my living costs. I haven't taken any money from the business for some time now.

Sounds like the portfolio of an old man.

...

Oh fuck I only have a thousand in my business account right now! I must have transferred too much to my remittance account. Oh boy monthly fee here we go. I don't really want to transfer money over because payday is coming anyway.



























Bought some suede waterproofing spray and suede eraser from Amazon because they're kinda hard to find here and I can't bring my previous orders to Singapore yet.

Then my bro reminded me that there was a chance I could have gotten them from someone not half half the globe away by using Ebay.

Damn, too late.

As for the things I bought previously, they're waiting at Vpost because the promotional code has been fully redeemed for this month. Fortunately my stuff can be held for 21 days for free so I can try again on the first of July. My new orders would have arrived a week before that.





















Fed the terrapins some raw baby squids and fishballs. The old one liked them as expected because we've fed those to it before. The young one loved the squids too. Took some work to gut the squids though. Didn't want to risk choking it with the cartilage nor dirty the water with the ink. Not really worth the effort but it's fine to spoil them once in a while.

Also testing the shelf life of those fishballs in the freezer. In the previous weeks, I tested raw ones unintentionally and found out that they last only half a week before the texture change to something bubbly and tough.

This time, I cooked them before placing them in the freezer as per the advice of the seller who didn't sound like she was confident about it because she never had to keep them in the freezer for that long (Captain Obvious strikes again!). Kept two packets so that I can open one after half a week and one in the weekend.

If this works, I can buy a lot more at one go! 100 raw fishballs for $20 this time, so I wonder if the seller would lower her price next time when I visit.

These things are versatile as human food and very convenient as turtle food. I can cook them with vegetables, in soup noodles and even in curry. I like versatile ingredients because I never know what I will do with the food I buy when I buy them. One day I could feel like making minced pork in oyster sauce and the next day I could feel like making hamburger patties.

Rant 1009 / CPF Of A Deceased Person Is Distributed To The Beneficiaries In Cash!

I just realized I believed in a myth - that a deceased person's CPF monies are transferred to the CPF accounts of the beneficiaries.

In my hands right now is a DBS cheque from the Public Trustee's Office for half the money my mum had left in her CPF accounts.

Gave the other cheque to my bro already.

I'm aware that it is generally not a good idea to post a clear photo of a cheque online but after over 9000 hours in MSPaint, I believe this is safe enough.

When I opened the envelope and unfolded the papers I thought there was some kind of mistake. After scrutinising the entire document and found everything to be in order, I thought about asking my lawyer if this was supposed to happen.

Then I remembered her secretary's email to me containing scans of letters sent between them and the timing seemed right.

To confirm, I googled and found... only a few results that affirm this. This really is how a Singaporean's CPF monies are distributed - in cash (or cheque if you want to be technical about it) - but nobody seems to mention it.

Too bad the Office didn't send us just one cheque like the insurance companies did together with disclaimers that it is not their responsibility to make sure I distribute the money equally even though I'm supposed to do so.

I was planning to give my bro a larger share like I did with the insurance money.

I had even sent him a bit more by accident after transferring over 60% of it but it was ok. Lost track near the end because the daily transfer limit I set for my DBS internet banking forced me to split the process into weeks. Kept forgetting to transfer for weeks sometimes and by the last few transfers it became something like muscle memory.

I would have transferred even more if I hadn't randomly done some calculations after one transaction and realized that I had just exceeded what I promised him.

But this CPF money has been split equally into two cheques so I'll just see the extra I sent him unintentionally as part of this. Oh well, since I'm also paying the lawyer from my own pocket, it's as good as giving him my entire share plus a little more too.

As for this cheque, I'm depositing it in my business account. Nobody said I have to save it.



I think the same goes for the free Singtel shares. The shares of a deceased person are usually sold at the right time as decided by the trustee (I think) and the money is distributed evenly in the same way.

I'm not actually sure if this cheque includes the money from those shares but it's not a big deal. I'll just ask my lawyer next time I see her, which will probably be several months into the future.

This whole intestate crap is expected to end next year due to the lengthy process caused by the LACK OF WILL, which is why it's called "intestate" in the first place.

So yea, if you have some money and kids, get a DAMNED WILL! Unless, of course, you expect to get married or divorce in the near future because those will cancel the will.
























New jacket samples arrived after all these months! Wheeeeeeeee!

...

Ugh. The one that was supposed to be the final draft turned out to be... too plain.

Therefore this is is going to be an experiment for me to learn about matching colours which will show me how having multiple colours affects its popularity. Because having it in plain colours is going to be a terrible idea.

The fleece jacket was nice. This is the first time we're dabbling in softshell jackets. Even my mum didn't do those.

Another jacket was just ok. I don't remember ordering it TBH but hell, I'll take whatever I can get.

Fun fun fun.

Also learnt that larger department stores do make small orders like I do from their manufacturers frequently. They don't always order a lot more than my average orders which was unexpected due to their relative sizes.























May was boring. So quiet. Grossed about 50% more due to GSS surprisingly despite being quieter than previous months.






















After the last few disappointments, they finally came up with something much better.





I just don't find it right that they're using live people when it's supposed to be about historical figures.

Rant 1008 / What Colour Is In?

Filled the new recycling bag today right after we got it.

The recyclers come every fortnight to collect the filled bags and give us a new one. I still have another fortnight of recyclable trash to go and my bag's already filled.

Last weekend I decided to sort out the mess around our shoe rack that no longer holds any shoe that anyone normally wears.

What's the point, right?

So I threw all of my mum's shoes, my ancient patent leather shoes that have only been used once or twice for some presentations in school, my old hiking shoes because the outsole has reached the point where simply applying half a tube of shoe glue isn't working anymore, my bro's old shoes, and all of our old sandals and slippers.

There were five full plastic bags of them when I was done, and I think all my neighbours noticed the giant pile of trash. Heard someone ruffling through it (carefully, fortunately for me, or I'd have to tidy them up) and one little boy from next door asking someone why there were so many shoes there. I was still tidying up the shoe rack behind the closed door so I heard everything.

Used some old shoe boxes to hold the less-used shoes neatly. Deliberately chose the ones with covers that weren't attached and kept them open so that no one has to search for anything.

Now the more frequently worn shoes are on the mats and the less-used ones and my suede shoes are on the rack.

Actually I don't even know I should call it a rack since it's more like a shelf. Shoe shelf?

I'd place my suede shoes on the mat but I don't want the housekeeper to accidentally wet it while mopping the floor.

And it feels nice to have a whole compartment just for the pair. The rest of the shoes are placed two pairs per compartment.

There's still one compartment empty which his girlfriend hasn't realized that she can use. Doesn't really matter since she's got only three pairs here and she seems to use all of them often.


As for the new bag, I filled it with all the reusable sheets of paper, half-used and unused exercise books, and notebooks (the paper sort) I've collected over the years because I no longer need paper these days.

I have an iPad now.

I also have half a mind to fill another bag with the three years' worth of the National Geographic magazines in my room, but now I'm thinking of asking my neighbours if they want them if I ever see any of them before the recyclers return.

TBH I rarely see any of them because of my... different... work hours. Like my mum before me, I go to work only after 9.30am and come home before 5pm to avoid both crowds and taxis' peak hour surcharge.

I've almost never met any of my neighbours between these times and usually I only see some of them when I go for grocery shopping on Saturdays.


So the recyclers are going to have a field day again when they return. I'll probably have another giant pile by then partly because I throw in all the used envelopes and any paper I find.

I also remove the transparent plastic from the envelopes before I throw the paper in while I'm watching videos or streams. I think it helps them but I'm not sure how much work the people there are willing to put in to separate the plastics from the papers.




Next, I think I'll sort out the mess on the large shelves right outside my room. I have a feeling that if I can move the whole mess away, there are a lot of things my bro and I can do with all that room.

Maybe even put a decent terrarium there for our terrapins.

I used to imagine that if I could buy some cement somewhere, I'd make a very low wall somewhere to make a pond.

Now that I think about it, if I do this, it's going to be a lot more complicated than just a wall and floor.

For one, I have a wooden floor. Do I want to cover the floor with more cement or do I want to find some way to prevent the cement from coming into contact with the wood?

Also, how do I change the water then?

I'll probably have to go with a large fibre glass tank.




















When I first saw bamboo fleece, I was excited. This fabric's relatively unknown and I thought it sounded like a good idea.

No it wasn't.

It is just rayon.

Rayon is an artifical fabric that can be made from a number of plants, and bamboo is just one of those. It's just cellulose transformed by (usually) harsh chemicals.

Yes, growing bamboo is very environmentally friendly compared to cotton because it needs a lot less pesticides and other chemicals, and they grow really quickly, but the process of rayon production is rather controversial.

Worse is that pure rayon is very sensitive to water and not stretchy.

Nope.





















I'm so glad I went to the bank to remit the money last Thursday.

That was the day the Singapore Dollar peaked so far this month. Got the best rate possible since the middle of last month when it rose above the 5CNY per SGD level.

I didn't actually expect it. I chose that day because I was lazy and wanted to postpone it for as long as possible. Then I recalled my past experiences with visiting banks on Fridays and thought I really should avoid that as much as possible.

At first I wanted to go on Wednesday but I felt lazy again and saw SGD on a rising trend.

So I went on Thursday.

And that was possibly the wisest choice I made this month because it dropped like 0.05CNY on Friday and has been dropping this week.

It did rise sharply when markets opened on Monday but that was nullified by an insane drop followed by a mediocre recovery. I think the difference between the peak and the nadir was about 0.1CNY.

That's a significant difference because the increment I'd have to pay could have covered my transport costs for at least a week.



















Woohoo! I'm getting Siri for free just because I have the new iPad!

iPad 2 owners don't get Siri, but they still get iOS 6 free. That's better than, say, Microsoft. You will never see Microsoft offering free upgrades for Vista users to Win 7; it's as likely as me discovering a way to divide by 0.

But the new iPad owners get Siri. That would be like getting an upgrade to Win 7 and a free copy of MS Word.

Well, almost, because there are free legit clones of MS Word that work just as well as the original but there are no good clones of Siri on tablets.

And Siri opens apps! No more awkward silence as I search for the right app while I'm talking to my buyers.

It really sucks when the tablet refuses to detect one of my fingers so I couldn't minimize or switch an app until I do the gestures like 5-6 times. With Siri, I expect to just talk.

On the other hand, I have no idea how well it can handle my Southeast Asian accent. The dictation tool on the iPad's keypad has been pretty disappointing so far. Furthermore it's totally useless when I'm at home because I always need a fan blowing straight at me (too broke for air-conditioning) and the wind ruins the voice detection.

Like just now when I said, "120501 needs to be changed sleeves need to add one inch," it thought I said,"120501 needs to be taken seriously -"

I can't take down notes with that.
























Been looking at other forms of savings products by Prudential.

Some of them sound like the crap one of those UOB bankers tried to feed me.

But others look kind of nice, like PRUcash max limited pay

Guaranteed 120% plus possible bonus plus non-guaranteed interests after 15 years?

Doesn't beat inflation but better than fixed deposits.

Assuming inflation = 3% p.a. (which is lower than the current rate in Singapore), to beat it I will need 1.03^15 = 1.558 or 155.8% returns after 15 years.

The bonus is totally unpredictable and the interests are non-guaranteed 3% of the annual instalments you want to accumulate at Prudential.

The other one that looks nice is the PRUincome rewards. The concept is intriguing but the rates are not displayed, probably because the premiums depend a lot on my age and health.

You pay for 10 years, or up to 50 or 60 of age and after another 5 years you get monthly income for another 15 years plus 2 lump sums at the beginning and at the end of those 15 years.

The main issue is that they are not saying how much is guaranteed vs the premium rates.


Using the example on the website,

Total premiums paid = $61200

Total guaranteed returns = $99110

99110 / 61200 = 1.619 ie 161.9% returns

Inflation for that length of time assuming 3% p.a. = 1.03^45*100% = 378.2%

So... hmm... Terrible idea, eh?

Also, the Needs Analysis Tool there is scary.

I just learnt that I'm going to have to save over S$5000 a month for the rest of my working life if I want to afford a monthly expenditure of S$2500 for 25 years post-retirement.

This is based on a return on investment (ROI) rate of 2% and an average inflation rate of 6% which is quite likely given the current economic climate.

For the S$2500 monthly expenditure, it also includes the possible medical costs but averaged out. I certainly do not plan to spend that much every month after I retire if I live long enough to retire, even with inflation taken into consideration. Maybe $1500 a month.

Hmm... perhaps $1000 a month for medical costs is a little too low. Not sure and I probably can't tell right now anyway.

Finally, 25 years of post-retirement life means death is expected at 90. That is definitely not what I have in mind but there's no such thing as dying with too much money. Someone somewhere is bound to be happy when something like this happens. And if I do live till 90, well, then it was a good idea to have planned for it.

Saving $5000 a month? This is kinda close to my definition of impossible - I don't even net half that amount a month right now.

This may be very inaccurate, but I realize that I cannot just live comfortably with a little more than what I have now.

Even if I only have to save $3000 monthly, simply expanding to another store or two won't be enough.

Fuck.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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























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

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

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

4 litres of chrysanthemum jelly.

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

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

So filling.






















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

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

Maybe my standards are too low?

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

Either I lack space or my goods move too slowly.

I am not satisfied.

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

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

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

How do people deal with that?

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

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

Unless...

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

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

However, it is one option.

This is fucked up. So fucked up.

I want to do more!

Why don't I have the space for it?

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

It's just crazy.

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
























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

Problems.

Not in the conscious mind, but in the subconscious.

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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




























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

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

Now I think that's actually a decent deal.

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

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

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

One problem though is that the pie's small.

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

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

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

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

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

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

In terms of quality, the food is pretty nice.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rant 1006 / One Fruit Too Many

WED/THU


EA may have a negative impression of Steam's strategy but I guess the VP has a point.

DeMartini, when asked about replicating Steam’s strategy of giving deep digital discounts: “... we’re not trying to be Target. We’re trying to be Nordstrom. When I say that, I mean good value – we’re trying to give you a fair price point, and occasionally there will be things that are on sale you could look for a discount, just don’t look for 75 percent off going-out-of-business sales.”

Steam's sales may look awesome but ever since I kept visiting the Store page for new bargains I realise they most likely have some sort of algorithm or some sort of statistician to give bigger discounts to games that aren't expected to sell well.

EA, on the other hand, is going for higher-end stuff. I mean, seriously, Steam's getting filled with cheap crappy games these days just to stick with its strategy and fill its store page.

I guess ultimately it's kinda like comparing Gilt with Gmarket, except EA can never reach the status of selling "luxury goods" like Gilt.

Moreover, it makes sense. The cheap games market is already filled with the various "indie bundle" sites, GOG, Steam and all the others to the point where there are websites like Cheapshark that's surviving just by comparing the prices of all the games offered by all those stores.

EA isn't going to survive there, especially with its current reputation.





















Extra 25% off on Gilt was kinda tempting but I had nothing urgent that I really wanted.

Maybe another pair of shoes just so that I can rotate them and one of them can be my main pair when the "winter" season begins and it starts to rain everyday. Suede shoes and daily rain sound like a bad combination TBH.

But that's not absolutely necessary, or at least not necessary enough for me to fall for the 25% off.

I'll wait till the end of the year for bigger discounts.




















The new shoes are comfortable! Maybe it's because my home is too small, but I realized I hadn't been walking the same way at home as I do outside. Smaller steps.

So testing it was different from actually wearing it to work.

The first difference was obvious - it was so much lighter than my previous pair.

But the second was how comfortable the soles were. I had expected to the soles to be very hard and inflexible like in most shoes I used to wear but I didn't feel anything. How is that possible?

The shoes were a little loose but it's a small compromise for convenience. I don't think it will come off if I run and that's the important thing.

Speaking of convenience, if I'm going to brush and spray them after every wear, I'm going to need a specified place in my home just for this, and also to avoid getting it kicked like it would if I leave it at my doorway like all other shoes.

Didn't foresee this problem of it causing me to avoid getting scuff marks. Not good but I'll have to accept that these cannot be avoided in my work, which means it's important that I brush them after I get home.



Also got a water stain on it. Ugh.

Does this mean the spray isn't working?

It was just a drop of my sweat and it can't be simply scrubbed off. Fortunately it's on the side and my shoes are now dark brown so it's not very visible.

The only way to clean it off is to use a damp cloth and wet the whole shoe thoroughly before letting it dry slowly on its own without using a heat source or something.

I don't want to do it without using a shoe tree so I'm letting it be for now.

Another thing is that I've realized that the shoes didn't simply turn dark brown. If I brush the suede with my shoe brush it turns a lighter brown again, so it's probably just that the spray made it kinda wet and the texture somehow stayed that way when it dried.

Wearing suede in a place with a tropical climate must take balls, or ignorance as in my case.

The next time I see someone wearing suede, I'll have a lot more respect for that person.























Had some buah duku today after so many years.

These were different from what I remember.

For one, their surfaces were horribly filthy and sticky.

I guess it's because they're so ripe that their juices had been leaking and drying on the skin but it got really annoying when I realized they couldn't be simply rinsed off under a running tap.

I was expecting to bit the skin to split it so that it can be torn off, but I couldn't put those in my mouth.

Did try that on one at first because I was eating in the dark. When I felt bits of stuff all over my lips I rinsed my mouth and switched on the lights.

There was just so much dirt stuck all over them. :\

In the end I used my thumbnail to tear the skin from the top where each of them used to connect to the stem.

They were ripe but my fingers got all sticky because of them and the dried sugar couldn't be simply washed off.

Also bought 3 more coconuts, at $4 for 3 again.

This time they didn't seem as fresh. The husks had browned a little and the flesh inside were a little softer.

The fruit stall also had $10 boxes of lychees that were labelled "very sweet" (that stall's recommendations can be trusted) but I skipped that. Enough fruits.














Also bought another $9 packet of dried chrysanthemums and some rock sugar from the Chinese pharmacy.

Was thinking of making more chrysanthemum tea but now...

Time for some chrysanthemum JELLY!



When I have the time, of course.

Funny thing was the pharmacy owner mislabelled the rock sugar and I got shocked by the prices. He was labelling some other stuff next to the shelf when I came over and asked him if the brown rock sugar was the same as the white one if I was making chrysanthemum tea.

Yes they were.

After I looked at the price of the brown one ($1.20) I picked up a packet of the white one, looked at the price label and threw it back instinctively and exclaimed," Wa, $8!"

Turns out it was only $0.80.


Also have to remember to add the sugar after I remove the chrysanthemum from the pot. Doesn't make sense.




















I was right that my bro didn't know what SGS bonds were.

Told him about SGS bonds because he hadn't been buying FDs like I did and he told me about someone recommending him Aberdeen bonds.

They are different obviously.

So I told him to check it out.

I have yet to open a CDP account though.























Took out my bathroom's fluorescent tube to see if I had any of the same size as spares.

Nope.

But I was too lazy to go down again so I placed two tea lights in the bathroom for the night.

What a romantic atmosphere to take a shit in!




















Fri 



So my bro bought an 8GB Sandisk Cruzer Edge from the PC Show for S$7.50. Cheaper than a certain "deal" I saw on a certain group deal website which was offering the same for S$8.90 and has no delivery service included.

Apparently the market rate is about a dollar per GB for things like this right now, so this is supposed to be normal.

And the "deal" was a bloody scam.

To think that I almost bought it.

>:(



















Made chrysanthemum jelly. I really should find a way to make chysanthemum tea that's not so thick.

Anyways I didn't know how much water was in the pot so I just threw in 3 cubes.

Turned out to be fine. This jelly is much better than my previous attempt.























World's first 50-thousand-pound-sterling DLC.

DLC. Like, as in the game expansion thing.

There's only one of it and it costs 50,000GBP.

The game's called "Curiosity" which is simply about smashing a cube until you reveal the secret inside.

A multiplayer game, everyone's hits are recorded in real-time, and the last hit gives that player whatever is inside.

Players start with a normal chisel, and there are iron chisels that are ten times stronger that cost 59 pence, and finally there is the one and only diamond chisel that is the sole feature of said DLC.

Obviously the stronger the chisel, the likelier you will have the last hit.

Apparently it's an experiment to see how much money someone or some people are willing to fork out just for curiosity's sake.





















Took a good look at the dental clinic's receipt and realized the scaling and polishing cost S$70 while the mouthwash cost $5.

Chlorhexidine 240ml.

That stuff is expensive compared to the Listerine mouthwash I usually use.

And this is what D&D is about.
























Tim Cook announced that they're releasing the iPad Mini, a 7-inch iPad.

I was kinda enthusiastic when Siri was announced for the iPad, but this?

Three times. This is the third rehash of Apple's old products.

There's the "new" iPad, then Siri, now this!

What's Tim Cook doing? He's just making improving on the old, recombining what his company already has.

I am disappointed.






















So I recently noticed that DBS was offering remittance service on its internet banking site.

I looked at it and it was only available in SGD and USD.

:(

The telex fee was blank but the remittance fee was S$10. Maybe the former depends on the country or something.

I usually do my remittance at the Bank of China, where they have special rates for CNY remittance.

Like on June 7 when I paid for those pants the rate was at 4.97CNY per SGD.

I'm not actually sure if it was higher than what DBS offered but since it doesn't allow CNY remittance, this point is moot.

Anyway I'm glad I went that day because it dropped like 3 cents the next day.

As for the fees, it was only S$20 total.

TBH I'd really consider using DBS if it allowed CNY remittance, the main reason being the removal of transport costs from the equation when I use internet banking with DBS.

On the other hand, it's still possible that DBS may be more expensive than BOC even with my cab fares included. It mostly depends on the rate DBS offers. Even a single cent can make a huge difference when we're talking about tens of thousands of dollars.

Rant 1005 / In China, Guns Don't Kill People, Drivers Do.

Five fun things to do as a tourist:

1) Dress differently from the locals.

2) Talk in a foreign accent.

3) Eat overpriced food.

4) Visit places locals rarely go to.

5) Buy junk you could have bought in your home country wouldn't have bought in your home country.


A lot of people do all of these when they're overseas and then return home telling everyone it had been a "great trip" and it was "so much fun", so this list should be pretty accurate.























Spent a bit of time trying the new shoes on and adjusting the shoe laces. The shoes are too new for me to really like the feel of wearing them but they should soften eventually.

Also sprayed the waterproofing spray liberally on the both of them and even on the inside. Opened my window to make sure the living room, where I left them, is well-ventilated.

Luckily the shoe fits well. No problem at all. No money wasted on the shoes.

Yay!

Now to wait for them to dry and then I can wear them. I mean, it's either these or the pair of old jogging shoes that's got the same problem as the one that just broke but to a lesser degree.

...


Applied a second layer for a stronger sense of security. Also deliberately sprayed between the layers where the laces are and inside the shoe, in case I get caught in some heavy rain.

The suede darkened after the first layer but I guess dark brown is fine too.

Bought a shoe tree and a multi-purpose shoe brush from Amazon after I recalled I had about US$20 from my days working at Mturk long ago. Was actually looking for a suede eraser/bar but that should work too.

It's a Allen Edmonds Combination cedar shoe tree, US$25. The US$5-brush has a metal suede brush, a softer rubber brush and a thin "fan" brush for the narrow areas.

Also found out I had over US$26 but none of the suede brushes nor suede erasers could be delivered to Singapore.

Thought about cancelling the whole thing but googled results said shoe trees are rare in Singapore. TBH I've never seen one IRL before.

But I really want one to make my shoes last, so I went for an alternative - VPost.

Coincidentally it was having a promotion that gives S$20 off for new customers like myself.

I calculated that the final cost of the delivery, which is 3.5lbs or 1.6kg, will cost almost S$28 without insurance.

But that offer is only for the first 150 new customers per month. If I don't get it, the other promotion is only 15% off.

Awesome!

Next I remembered that Amazon is offering free shipping to US addresses and both my items are eligible.

WOOHOO!

Net price I had to pay Amazon via debit card: US$3.01

Estimated price I have to pay VPost to get it delivered to Singapore:  S$8 or S$24

Final cost: S$12 or S$28

Reasonable. Perfectly reasonable. Both are cheap no matter how I see it - $28 is kinda cheap and $12 is fucking cheap.

:D

Technically I should not consider the US$26 as free money but it totally feels like it is right now.




























Found a pair of chino pants in my wardrobe while digging through the stuff for things I can throw away.

For some reason it's almost perfectly new, fits me perfectly, and I had no idea it existed.

Must have dumped it inside as a spare and forgot about it.

It's a little bit mouldy or something because there were a few tiny spots but otherwise it's completely fine.




















I overpaid!

I was looking at the box, thinking if I should take it apart and use it at work as a padding as I usually do with all cardboard boxes I come across, when I saw a QR code.

So I scanned it with my iPad just for the heck of it.

What I found was... nothing.

The page wasn't available.

But it led me to Eastland's website where the error was displayed, and it made me curious about it.

I went to the Oxfords and Lace-up shoes category and found my shoe.

US$70.

I paid US$79 for mine on Gilt >:(

I thought about shipping and saw that Eastland doesn't deliver directly to non-US addresses, so I looked for its weight and found it stated as 3.3lbs on the DHL label on the box.

A quick calculation gave me the price of S$27 without insurance, the same as what I was charged for delivery and handling by Gilt.

That was a pretty good deal, getting DHL Express delivery for the same price as what VPost charges for its delivery that would have taken 5-8 days.

A small consolation that does not compensate for the fact that I overpaid US$9 nonetheless. I could have just bought directly from Eastland and waited a bit more.

Oh well, it's just 9 bucks anyway.

But from now on I'll check the price on the original merchant's website before buying anything on Gilt. No matter what, its delivery fee is still a good deal so I will still return, albeit with more caution.
























Wii-U actually has a good game? IMPOSSIBLE!






















After all those zombie games and what seems to be the slow death of this undead genre, A NEW CHALLENGER APPEARS!

The game is called "Dead State: The Zombie Survival RPG" and it's less about returning the undead back to the dead and more about not becoming dead (and hence undead) yourself.

Both are included in the game, it's just that most zombie games these days are solely about killing them.

This isn't the case in Dead State.

It's got the standard RPG stuff like stats and level-ups, and it's got turn-based combat.

But wait, there's more!


It's got "base-building" too!

At this point I have this impression it's a turn-based tactical RPG combined with this game called "Rebuild" (and its sequel "Rebuild 2") on Newgrounds.

The page also mentions a reactive AI that sounds like the Director AI in the L4D games, but I'm not going to expect much from indie developers such as these working on such a low budget. It's just not realistic to hope for something comparable to what L4D had.

Nevertheless I'm very excited by this project and did not hesitate to pledge money to it. I only stopped to think about whether to pledge $15, $30 or more. In the end none of the options had anything I really want so I picked $15.





















Made some jelly from these coral weed cubes I had in my fridge.

Technically it's expired since last year but as far as I can tell the jelly is perfectly edible.

Had some ants from back when I first stored it outside the fridge after using one cube but I picked them out.

Boiled it a bit too to sanitize it.

In fact I left it boiling for a little too long and it got a little thick when I got back, so I added a little more water and then poured it into my reusable plastic containers.

Apparently it was too much water. My jelly turned out to be almost fluid except it doesn't break into droplets.

Initally I thought it didn't coagulate at all and was going to boil it a bit to reduce it, but when I pour it into the pot it went down as one whole almost liquid piece.

Derp.

Next time I'll have to remember that when the mix appears a little thick, it's ok. It would probably have become jelly with a little more texture if I had left it at that.

Right now eating it is kinda like somewhere between eating and drinking.






















A private company is offering a one-way trip to Mars.

Surprisingly, it's not about sending your ash into space like we already have today.

Mars One co-founder Bas Lansdorp has a very modern approach to funding the project: media exposure. "We will finance this mission by creating the biggest media event ever around it." He said in a company video, adding, "Everybody in the world can see everything that will happen in the preparations and on Mars."

This is a huge double-edged sword. If things go well, this is going to be the event of the century. The first space colony! It screams "sci-fi" so loud my inner ears hurt.

But if something bad happens... the PR fiasco in the Vietnam War would be nothing compared to this.

It's not just about killing the company; it's going set space travel back by decades at least if the pioneers die.

Worse - it's pretty likely they will.

I mean, think about how the Europeans colonised the Americas.

The first permanent colony was set up by the English in Jamestown, Virginia. Of the first 500 colonists who settled there, only 61 survived the first 3 years.

Mars One is also planning to send new people every 2 years. That's not going to be enough.

The problem is that it's likely scientists today, despite centuries of staring at the planet, simply don't know enough about surviving there.

The Europeans had had extensive experience with living there through their interaction with the natives and the Spanish conquistadores, but still they brought their old ways with them and tried to live their original lives in a new and completely different environment.

Whoever goes to Mars will have to accept that their lives are going to be totally different from what they had on Earth.

For one, a Martian year is 1 Earth year and 320 Earth days. How are they going to deal with that? Stick with Earth year? Yea probably at the beginning, but that will lead to inefficiency when the colony grows large enough.

Because of the length of the year, Martian seasons (and Mars as four seasons too) are almost twice as long as Earth ones. How is that going to affect Martian agriculture?

I don't believe in the first colony. It's going to be just an experiment, a lesson for everyone. Success will only come after that.

But it is going to be interesting to see how the English language will evolve on Mars if it succeeds. What will Martian English sound like a century after the arrival of the first pioneers? Or will it be the same as the contemporary Earth (most probably American) English of that time due to the ease of communication with Earth?

What I'm pretty sure about is that they're going to find that they require two-way transport early into the development of the colony.

Some people are bound to get homesick. Someone's bound to wish to be buried on Earth. Something's bound to require the actual presence of an expert or whoever who doesn't wish to be there permanently.

These are eventualities, not merely possibilities.