Rant 1059 / "Need For Speed" Has Already Been Taken

The workout continues to improve my strength despite my waning interest in it. Today I found the 10kg bag of rice to be surprisingly lighter than before, causing me to lift it higher than was necessary to put it onto the cashier's counter.

But it's getting boring again and I'm not seeing results often enough. This was a boost for my motivation but I'm not sure how long it will last.

Meanwhile my workout continues to evolve.

Now instead of doing three sets of five for a number of different exercises, I'm trying to reduce them.

Initially I tried to combine several exercises into a single continuous movement but that didn't help.

Currently, I'm doing two sets of ten instead, warm up by taking a short walk downstairs to collect my mail or go to the market, and doing fewer but harder types of workouts.

Like instead of doing the lateral raise, I'm doing the overhead clap with dumbbells. Probably trains different muscles but it gives me some variety.


























Not sure why the widget says 206ms because the test result was 208.6.

Screenshot added after dinner, hence "4 hours ago".

At rank 37 for the week and 171 for the month, I am kinda proud of this, even though

I'm only 6.4ms quicker than the median reaction time, ie pretty average. In case it's not clear, a millisecond is 0.001 second. My fastest was:

Which also means that my slowest was pretty damn slow to drag my average down to 208m.

It's 2.50pm right now, and I'm sure I'll be much slower at night.

Go ahead and check your reaction speed at http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime/index.php

...

Ok, as expected, I got even faster after my pre-dinner workout and a dinner. It's now 189.6ms for the second session of 5 clicks. Surprised my dinner of MCD's Hotcakes and a Filet-o-Fish didn't slow me down. Exercise is more effective than I thought!

In other words, even e-sports players need to dabble in physical sports to be good.

This is not proof but it's good evidence IMO.






















When someone who has done far worse deeds than you becomes more successful than you are, it is simply proof that sense and justice are concepts invented by the human mind in its search for a predictable pattern in reality.




























Surprisingly, this is not an American film but a Hong Kong one directed by a terrible HK director, Godfrey Ho, who used the same poor actor (the guy talking on the phone) for several of his bad ninja films, which are under the little-known film category "Z-movies" which is like the category "B-movies" but far lower on the scale.

These films pretty much killed the actor's career.













































I Am Alive isn't my cup of tea, the biggest reason being the nausea it causes me.

Another is the unexciting plot. I'm only at the mall and I can already see where the game is going.

This game, unlike most other games, seems to focus on climbing as its main gameplay feature.

While the shortage of ammo is not an uncommon theme, in this case it forces the player to not only aim properly but consider the gun as the last resort.

Moreover, combat isn't the main theme of the game. While it is in the third-person view, it is only a third-person shooter in the sense that you can shoot, but you don't always have to.

This is because the gun itself intimidates enemies who are armed with only melee weapons. Often, it is enough to either knock them out or kill them with your machete.

Most of the time, though, it's like what one would expect in a post-apocalyptic world. I learnt the hard way that I really have to watch my every step. Just because you're on a deserted street doesn't mean there's nobody out there.

In one area, I was going my own way when, all of a sudden, I got shot by someone hiding in a doorway. The game seems to be programmed in such a way that NPCs who are just trying to protect their own territories would shoot me when I'm within a certain radius, even if they hadn't seen me a moment ago and did not give me a warning.

In this case, I was not within range of sight until I was right in front of the narrow entrance, and then I was way too close since I was trying to stick to the walls.
























Still waiting on NS2, which I expect to be sent to me at around the same time as its release.























I'm thinking of getting an interior designer to renovate my place. My wooden floor is full of warping boards, my airconditoning system needs to be removed, I want a balcony that's actually a balcony instead of a sun-baked storage area, I want a spot for a hammock and I want an aquarium or pond for our terrapins.

But it's expensive D:

I wonder how much it will cost. Without knowing for sure and without an actual plan for what we want, I think I'll have to wait till my bro and I have like $50,000 to spare before we look for one.

Or maybe I should wait longer since there are signs that my flat's about to be demolished for redevelopment within the decade. If we get a new flat, I'm definitely getting an interior designer as long as we can afford it.




















Playing with a syringe. Though you can't squeeze water out of stones, you can squeeze water out of air, literally.





















Taking a small step towards the possibility of getting a dog. Emailed a dog shelter about it, explaining my lack of expertise in the field and asking for help in considering this option.

As a dog shelter, I'm sure they are concerned about potential owners of their dogs, so I'll trust that they will make better judgements than I can, or at least help me make an informed decision.

Though I had previously expressed hesitation in this, I'm trying to be open to new possibilities to solve my problem at its root.

Being fully aware of the future this path leads, I do not feel that it is a good idea to simply maintain the status quo. Better to get rid of the issue now while I can still afford most options. I'm only 27, surely I can make it all back quickly in the future once this is over.

I'm... flabbergasted by myself. It is so easy to make a profit I can live on, yet I'm only putting in like 5% effort into it. I recognize the fact that there are lots of money within my reach, yet I'm unable to stretch out towards them. I want to because what I need to do to cut even is a piece of cake, I know exactly what I need to do and none of it is beyond me, yet something stops me every time I try.

Certain tasks, I can delay out of laziness. Not this, lest I lose the motivation to resolve this issue altogether, like how alcoholics don't give a damn about their addiction after some time.





















I just realized I can get Diablo III for S$72.54 inclusive of $5 shipping.

$5 coupon plus 7% discount cart coupon.

And I'm still not buying it.

Too bad this shop doesn't sell Guild Wars 2 or I might have seriously considered spending money immediately.

Rant 1058 / One Has To Wonder Where They Got The Funding From To Make Games Like "Train Simulator 2012" And "Street Cleaning Simulator".

Just realized it's been 15 years since Hong Kong's return to China. Now they refer to it as "the Southern Chinese city" instead of "the former British colony".























Why is it that they make it sound like it's so high-tech and difficult to make the lights in a home remotely controllable?

I mean, I'm sure it cannot be hard to connect the lights to a central router or something, and it has to be a very simple task to write an app that controls light switches from a smartphone or tablet.

I don't believe setting all these up is beyond the abilities even an electronics engineer undergrad, with the help of a friend with some knowledge in mobile app programming.

Moreover, there are already apps out there that lets you create a blueprint of your home simply by taking photos of corners while standing still.

The light-switch app would only list switches in a simple numerical list and if it's combined with the app that makes the blueprint, the user can theoretically mark the locations of the lights the buttons control on a map of his home.

I imagine the combination could go like this: the user makes the blueprint for free using the already available app, saves it as an image file (on the iPad I could just take a screenshot if the app couldn't do it), loads it on the light switch app.

On this app, there is a list of 1 to maybe 50, each represented by circles with a number inside. The user would have to take note of which light is connected to each number, and he would drag the circles to the locations of the lights on the map.\

Of course, this means there is a need for additional hardware that would need to be connected to routers. However, it would merely be a like multi-plug except with more numerous but smaller slots for only electrical wires instead of sockets like in the photo.

This can't possibly cost much to make, and it's seriously low-tech.

And if the router is always connected to the Internet, the user can even control his lights from outside using 3G.

The only real work that the average guy can't do is rearrange the electrical wiring in his home to make sure the wires from the lights all go to the same place. This will call for a simple, quick renovation.

Nothing I've mentioned is complicated. Why isn't anyone doing it yet?

Think of all the possibilities that we can go from here! This is just a starting point, with the app only controlling the power switch.

Since the electrical wiring can also be a medium of data transfer, it's not impossible to eventually bring this to the point where you can control all electronics in your home via the app and router without calling it "high-tech".

Because it isn't. You just need a programmer and a contractor.


















I just noticed I have 600 Safrapoints, probably for signing up for membership and for the insurance.

So far the best deal seems to be the SAFRA Rewards voucher that goes for $10 for 450 points, since all other merchants, regardless of the costs in points, are going at the rate of $2 for 100 points.

Except if I get that, I don't know what I can do with the extra 50 points. The last 100 points can be spent on only one thing - a $2 MCD voucher - so that's settled.

Since I have till the 31st of Dec to redeem the points, I'll just keep them just in case I visit any of the participating outlets.

If I don't earn any points by then, it won't matter if I choose the other vouchers since the 50 points will be wasted anyway. But I'll probably end up with the SAFRA vouchers anyway since I do have some electronics I'd like to buy during the year-end major sales and those vouchers can be used at quite a number of malls and merchants including Best Denki.

One of the things I want is a portable air cooler, since we're currently decided on removing our air-conditioning system altogether.

After almost a year without a functional A/C system, we've gotten used to it and the savings is just pretty damn good IMO. Moreover, past experience showed that it is very addictive, to the point where I'd turn it on even on cool days just in case it warms up later at night, or it rains at night and forces me to close my windows.

Having the air cooler is just an insurance for the really warm nights.

Another electronic item I'd like to buy is an air filter that uses both active carbon filters and true HEPA filters that can handle the size of my room.

After all this time, I've realized that cleaning won't work unless I'm willing to move the larger furnitures. There are just too many gaps and niches that have been gathering dust over the years.

My office is even worse. I don't even know how I can get rid of all the dust without an industrial-strength air filter that will likely cost 4-digit numbers. I thought about buying one of those cheap water-spinning air purifiers for the office but decided no matter how many discounts I can heap on it, it still won't be effective at all.

This was the one that tempted me. Though it says $18 here, it occasionally drops to $17 on Qoo10, and I can throw in a $2 cart coupon. Delivery is $3.90 so the nett price would be $18.90, which I believe is still damn cheap.

I've already got one at home, but how effective it is I don't know. What I do know is that it doesn't kill the dust mites that wreak havoc in my sinuses.

Water only kills dust mites when it's at least 60 degrees Celsius. I'd have to buy some pesticide specially formulated to kill the mites if I want it to work, and that stuff isn't cheap at all.

So right now it's just there to make me feel better.

Rant 1057 / Sense, Like Justice, Is An Imaginary Concept

If the justice system takes into account income inequalities, all fines would be proportional to their income.

Except the numbers on the income tax declaration form can be fudged.

So the fines should be proportional to the total assets of the criminal.

Except that, too, can be fudged.

Moreover, in Singapore, there are plenty of millionaires with little liquid assets but a valuable home from decades of real estate value appreciation on this entire island.

To be fair, all numbers can be fudged. Even governments do that to some degree.

For example, the UK counts unemployed people only among those who are above 16 years of age. In Singapore, it's 15.






















Got a few cans of tonic water at a budget store while looking for tealights. Their tealights, though made of paraffin wax, are irresistably cheap at S$5 for a hundred. I estimate their burn times to be around 3-5 hours but I never really timed them. Definitely in that range though.

Too bad the store is, as usual, unpredictable. The first time I found the tealights, I wasn't even looking for any. They were so cheap, so I decided to get one to try. At that time, I was only interested in playing with candles, so the lack of scent didn't matter.

Now, they warm up my oil diffuser for my aromatherapy oils I've been getting from Qoo10.

But it's also its unpredictability that made the cans of tonic water appear on the shelf today. There were only like a carton's worth of them next to another carton's worth of soda water, both Schweppes.

Now, gin and tonic.

And I think my bro and/or his gf tried out the gin because the bottle was almost empty when I took it out.

Gin and tonic is actually not too bad. The sweeter tonic covers the bitterness of gin, leaving the juniper flavour to turn the drink into a juniper-and-lime-flavoured soft drink.

If gin and tonic is popular enough, it would make sense to produce such a carbonated beverage.

...

Apparently that does exist.





















So the pharmacy, Guardian, had a one-day sale just for PAssion card members from 1pm to 10pm... and I received the email when I was resting comfortably at home after work at 6.31pm.

Fuck you, PA. Fuck. You.

























So I'm quitting school again. After seeing the counsellor, I realized this is going nowhere. No matter how much my mind is entrenched in the belief that I must get a degree asap, I have to admit what I'm doing isn't working.

I don't even need a degree; it's merely a symbolic gesture for my parents.

The lack of purpose is what I believe to be the main reason for this waste of money.

In the past, I never knew how much it sucked to have a terrible job. My father was a factory owner by the time I was born, though he became a simpler importer later. My mother took over when he passed way after being a housewife since my birth.

With only minimal contact with relatives, I had little idea what it's really like to be an employee.

I do now, but I'm already a business owner. Though the situation has changed, the lack of need for a degree in my mind remains.

Furthermore, my government subsidy is running out after all these years. Right now according to my university's website, I only have 95CUs' worth of subsidy and 3.5 years' worth of curriculum remaining. I'm not sure how long that would have lasted but I believe I'll be paying the full price just like foreign students by the final semester.

And for what?

What everyone must think but never said out loud was finally said by her; simply hearing it woke up that voice that was saying the same thing but was drowned out by other voices.

At most, I get asked why I'm not taking a business-related degree. Nobody goes as far as to advice me to do it.

It doesn't make sense for me to study what I did. Never did. Interest alone does not justify the costs of university education. I took it because I needed a degree to appease my mother, and translation sounded interesting.

Though I am willing to follow most of the advise she gave me, I'm not going to get a pet dog.

Things may have changed, I may have changed, but one thing stayed the same - I still dislike responsibilities. I know I run a business and all but, pardon the cliche, I never asked for this.

It was thrown on me and then I realized it was the path of least resistance. I don't actually love winter fashion; I just like all the other options available to me even less.

So now it makes more sense for me to stop this; I haven't even been going to school at all anyway.

Notified them online and mailed them my student card. This ends here.

I will apply for a more suitable course when the business is more stable and I find out which teaches something useful.

Rant 1056 / Back In My Day, Condoms Were Expensive So We Used Leaves Instead.

Fur-lined trenchcoats for S$30, shipping $7. Initially I was wondering how people could compete with that.

But after some calculations, it felt right.

I'm just used to the commission levels physical stores charge for their sales and forgot that Qoo10 only charges 12% at most.





















My claypot cracked. At first there was a burnt smell, then it got really strong so I turned off the fire and moved it to a cool stove. That's when I saw the two black lumps it left behind.

The first thing that came to my mind was that the claypot melted, but that didn't make any sense at all. So I thought, and really hoped I was wrong, that the paint that lined the inside of the claypot melted.

That didn't make much sense either but I didn't think the food could go through the claypot unless the crack was huge, and if it was just liquid, it shouldn't burn and form lumps.

Lifting and tilting the pot a little, I saw the blackened crack underneath but I could not lift it high enough to tell how bad it was because it's a FILLED BURNING HOT CLAYPOT THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN LEAKING.

Everything inside had a burnt smell, and when I scraped all the way to the bottom after it cooled, there was a layer of completely burnt rice that couldn't be removed. Fortunately, it wasn't the paint that melted.

So it really was the food. The crack was probably much bigger when it was hot, because when it cooled it didn't leak after I filled it with water to soften the burnt parts. The meat juices might also have been part of the reason there were lumps, as well as the fact that I had my door closed so I couldn't smell it immediately.

I could have just thrown it away, but if I had dumped it down the chute, someone's chute door downstairs is bound to get smashed in. The only decent way to get rid of this was to leave it at the ground floor next to the rubbish chute for the cleaners to collect, and I can't do it when it was filled with burnt food.



Now I know I'm supposed to season the claypot before use. A little late, I know, but I can do it again.

And that's how you waste money through ignorance. That was S$12 down the drain.

D:

It seems I was supposed to soak it in water for 24 hours before boiling water with some rice in it as if I'm making porridge.

...


Got a new one. It's completely submerged in a tub right now.

This one better not crack, or someone's skull will be meeting the same fate.
























The terms and conditions of StanChart's Priority Banking reminded me that its eligibility requirement is to maintain S$200k in deposits or a million in housing loans.

Well, I guess this ends here. I'm not going to get the card any time soon now.

Although, this is something interesting to work towards.


























Holy shit!

Natural Selection 2 is finally on Steam.

My body is ready!

I really want to buy it now despite the lack of discount but according to my bro, there aren't a lot of active servers, and for some reason, the Australian servers have US pings (~200ms) when they usually have around 100ms for us.

Moreover, the engine is not very optimized because my bro's laptop experiences graphics lag even though it's a pretty good gaming laptop comparable to my desktop.

These are not really major reasons because I used to play NS1 on US servers anyway.

Furthermore, I've played NS for years since v1.04 and only stopped in recent years. In fact I'm very sure some of the posts in the earlier years of this blog mentioned the game.

Back in my day, lerks had spikes, and sieges in which the marines made their last stand in a hive can go on for half a day.

Ah, the bad ol' days.

I'm definitely pre-ordering it. The question is now or later.

Later, since I've got enough retail therapy for the day. Bought some designer scented candles on Gilt because they seemed like such great deals.

They're almost S$20 each with shipping fee included but they burn for around 60-85 hours each. It really sucked that a lot of them couldn't be shipped to Singapore and I didn't want to fork out another S$15 for a third-party forwarding service.

I really don't understand why anyone would buy that US$575 candle but it was already sold out when I got there.

The brand's Missoni Home and it's a 7" by 7" (diameter and height) 4-wick Italian "Torta candle" with wavy rainbow layers made of hand-poured wax.

Is that supposed to be incredibly special?

The funny thing is that it's available for "50% off" on Net-a-porter at S$244. Herp.

Not going to buy the lanterns though. I'm planning to get one from IKEA when they have a sale. IKEA also offers cheap candles (compared to these) but they're all made of paraffin wax, and I've been hearing bad things about it.


...


I AM SO GLAD I DIDN'T DECIDE TO BUY IT IMMEDIATELY!!!

FUCK YEAH!!!!

Woohoo!

Rant 1055 / Problems Are Problems Only When Someone Thinks They're Problems

Perception is truth.

Now waiting for Asia Miles and Cathay Pacific to get back to me on the same email I sent to both of them.

Because this IS important - Asia Miles has CTrip and China Eastern as its partners.

I've bought from CTrip before and its prices for an entire Shanghai trip compared to those from Expedia are higher by only a little. If CTrip gets me mileage, I'm jumping over there immediately.

China Eastern is a Shanghainese airline, so if I'm to fly there annually, chances are I'm going to find better prices there regularly. Already, one of my trips will be with this airline.

If I don't have to be a member of the loyalty programmes of the different airlines to spend my Asia Miles mileage, I'm going to rack up mileage faster than my initial estimates.

At the very least, I can definitely get a free upgrade to Business Class every 3 years, round trip.

First Class is still out of the question though.

The thing is that Business class tickets cost S$1000-1500 more than Economy class even for short trips from SG to HK. First Class, at least S$2000.

Signing up for Marco Polo, if necessary, is very worth it even with the annual $50 renewal fee if I really want the upgrade.

I would be paying about $150-200 for an upgrade.

Except this is not a necessity and therefore isn't worth it to me.



...

Holy shit!

I don't have to be a Marco Polo member to get upgrades using Asia Miles mileage!

Fck yes!

Free Business class upgrade by 2014!

My next 3 trips will be getting me almost 15k miles. If I book everything from CTrip from next year onwards, I'm totally hitting 30k by the beginning of 2014!

Or, if I'm feeling stingy, the same mileage can also be spent to redeem free Economy class return tickets on any of the partner airlines.

However, all these numbers are based on Category B, ie the distance of the flights are between 1201-2500 miles. The distance from Singapore to Shanghai is around 2300 miles while that of Singapore to Hong Kong is around 1600 miles.

However, the distance between Singapore and Seoul is about 2800 miles. Under Category C, the cost of free Economy return tickets is 45k miles while the cost of a free Business upgrade for return tickets is 50k miles. In other words, I will never be able to take Business Class for the longer flight to Korea.

I'm excited about this because I've never taken Business Class in my entire life. Part of me thinks it's overrated but all I know about those seats is what I've seen when I'm boarding and alighting. The same part of me also thinks that I should just save up 70k miles for the free First Class return tickets instead.

That last really depends on how much Asia Miles charges to renew my mileage upon expiry.

For a chance to redeem free First Class return tickets, necessity is not a concern. Saving up for 6 years means I will have to renew some of the mileage at least once. If it's less than S$100 total, I'm completely ok with it; calling it a "bargain" would be the understatement of the year.


...

Thinking about mileage makes me want to get the credit card from StanChart, except I don't have the annual income level to qualify for any but the Preferred Banking card, the only one that does not have a minimum income requirement.

Instead, it requires a deposit of S$50k and is by invitation only.

I wonder if I can qualify for that card with my business account. Going to ask them.

Because, 1 airmile for every dollar I spend? Since I pay all the utility bills both at home and at work, I'll be racking up mileage LIKE A BAWS with that card!

And free travel insurance. Wow.

If deposits in that account are counted, I'm totally going for it immediately.

On the other hand, $300 annual fee.

D:

Let's see if it waives the fee when I spend a certain amount of money.





















The Runelords series is kinda weird.

It stands out from the other series I'm reading but not in a very positive way. Fortunately, it's not too negative either.

It's just strange.

The story and everything is good enough but the direction is sorely lacking.

Maybe it's meant to be two series under the same title but that just confuses readers.

Right now it feels as if the first few books were just backstory plus introduction, and Fallion is the real protagonist of the series. Yet he's completely missing in Chaosbound, the latest paperback volume.

If David Farland wanted to emulate the style of George R. R. Martin, he should have done it since the beginning, or he could have just split the series. You don't write one series with different styles; it's confusing.

The concept of this whole Runelords universe is great but the execution could have been better.






















Feels good when I use enough coupons so that I'm paying less than the total pre-coupon discounted price of the two bigger items out of the three in my order on Qoo10.

Two bigger items: $23.80 (discounted)
Smaller item: $5.00

Final payment: $23.30

This is obviously with a $5 cart coupon and a $0.50 coupon on the smaller item, and those numbers look great.

Then again, if I look at the total discount vs original prices, things don't look that good.

All 3 items: $30.80
Total discount $7.50
% discount: 24.35%



















Ordered more samples but will probably be too late.

Been postponing everything so much.

I don't want to break promises so I'll have to get some stuff during my Shanghai trip.























10 tubes of men's facial cleanser samples. That's how many that are standing in formation on my basin.

4 from the Silkpro hair treatment purchase at Watsons, 2 from Nivea's FB page and 4 from the goodie bag for buying an insurance policy at the SAFRA roadshow.

Not to mention the large tube I've been using since last month.

Looks like I won't have to worry about this for quite some time.

Rant 1054 / Kraken Roars

My flight in January has been delayed a little, forcing me to arrive in Shanghai after 8pm.

At least the dinner's still included in the flight, but it just means that the first night will solely be for sleep.

Nice that Expedia called me to ask me if it's ok.

This also reminded me to read up on the frequent flyer programmes. Right now, it seems like I'm likely to fly Cathay and China Eastern more often, so I'm looking at the Marco Polo Club and Eastern Miles. The former is under oneworld and the latter is under Skyteam.

The Marco Polo Club doesn't seem to be worth it. Even if all my flights qualify for 100% Asia Miles, which is the best the lowest tier membership (Green) can get, I'm only getting about 9000 miles a year at best.

To redeem a free upgrade to Business Class, I need 17,500 Miles for one-way or 30k for both trips.

Still, I'm signing up for the free Asia Miles programme just to see what happens. It's free and the mileage last 3 years, so I'm ok with it at the moment.

Right now I'm still not very clear about this: do I need to be a Marco Polo member to upgrade my seat with Asia Miles? If not, I'm perfectly fine without that. Mostly it's because I won't be getting enough mileage to maintain even a Green membership and if I want to retain it, I will probably have to pay that renewal fee of US$50 annually.

I guess I will have to email them.


























NTUC Income gave me a very vague reply on the phone on the definition of "major cancers".

I'm not sure why they're acting exactly the same way as how Mindef did when I asked what can be mentioned online regarding my ICTs.

Is the definition classified information or what?

According to this person from NTUC Income, presumably the Group and Health Department my email was forwarded to, she could not "ascertain" what I've been asking for because no claim application was provided.

Actuarial science must be more complicated than I thought.

Or maybe the real explanation requires a lot of medical knowledge.

MFW someone wiped out my new defense system in Galaxy Life Pocket Adventures and nothing else, then tells me "F*cking good defense!"

...

Hmm... apparently that wasn't sarcasm. Due to the fact that I've never used the Falcon before, I didn't know that this unit can only attack defenses and nothing else.

He had nothing but Falcons, 26 of them, just to take out my turrets and bunkers, leaving no slot for other units to attack other structures. By the time he was finished, he had only 3 Falcons left.

So he wasted 26 Falcons for nothing.

On the other hand, losing two bunkers full of Wasps just bankrupted me. He might not have gained anything from his attacks, but it was painful for me nonetheless.




















My newer 1TB WD My Book Essential died. I had only bought it last year!

I think it had to do with the force shutdowns I had to do because I keep leaving it on and my PC keeps trying to boot from it.

It can still be detected by PCs and be "safely removed" but in Disk Management, it's "Not Initialized" and also cannot be.

WD tells me it's dead. However, since my warranty is still valid for RMA, I can have it replaced for free.

The problem is that there is important data inside, and the DriverSavers WD recommends will charge me US$700 at least for their data recovery service.

D:

That probably doesn't include postal charges.

Rant 1053 / Simply Surviving Is Insufficient

$50k, 10 days to go.




















Wore the multi-scarf at work on Sunday and it worked! I was worried that it might not have the capacity and my sweat would continue to roll down my head after some time, but no, that didn't happen.

The only down side was that my hair was badly messed up after cooking inside for hours, so I had to wear it out of my office before I was ready for that. Turned out to be ok so it wasn't a big deal.





















Bought the SAFRA Living Care policy at the SAFRA roadshow at Toa Payoh. The salesman further explained to me when I accidentally asked for the SAFRA Essential Term policy that the Living Care policy was like an upgraded version of Essential Term that contains medical insurance.

Essential Term was a term life policy while Living Care was that plus medical insurance.

The premiums are affordable, and I paid over $460 for an entire year for an assurance sum of S$200k. Didn't even have to think about whether to add Essential Term to it now.

What I didn't expect was the answer I got when I pretended I was curious about what "major cancers" meant. While the person on the NTUC Income hotline told me that the term simply referred to "malignant tumours", the salesman said it had to be Stage 3 and beyond.

The latter definition was a much stricter standard and it's pretty close to fatal. Stage 4 is when the cancer metasizes, ie spreads from its original spot. I'm currently emailing them about this since it's the weekend.

I still bought it anyway because I don't have medical insurance at all, and this is pretty cheap no matter how I see it, although I did choose the maximum limit for the policy.

Despite the fact that I'm paying more overall by buying early, I just feel that it's better to get the insurance while I'm still insurable for everything. Part of this came from how my mum was rejected by most insurance companies after she got breast cancer the first time. Together with her diabetes and hypertension, the only policy she could get was Eldershield, a disability insurance policy.





















Bought a giant claypot for about $12 and it's bigger than I thought.

Last night I used 3 cups of rice and it barely reached the line where the cap rests after everything was cooked and expanded.

Claypot chicken rice. Easy as fck.

Cleaning up the burnt parts is a bitch though.



















The Qoo10 seller agreed to a refund after I informed them that the bandannas are 44cm*49cm instead of 49*49 as stated in the online store. Together with a photo of them under a ruler, I'm glad the seller didn't try to bs me because it's just $12. Neither do I really want refund for the same reason. It's just a matter of principle; I could have easily accepted a replacement too and mail the ones I received back to them if necessary. That is, if they actually had any of the same design that are of the correct measurements.

TBH I have no idea why their manufacturer wants to scrimp on that. I mean, 245cm^2 of cloth really isn't a lot, and it's just cotton. Even if every cent counts, how many cents can the manufacturer save from this stupid little scam?

In terms of percentage, it's 5/49 * 100% = 10.2%

Unless they're scamming every single client they have, 10% isn't worth the risks IMO. Then again, I'm not a Chinese mainlander who can just run to another province and start a new factory.




















Looked up the VivoCare and Enhanced IncomeShield recommended by the NTUC Income salesman at the roadshow and they didn't feel very sufficient. Maybe my standards are unrealistic, but though they do cover early-stage cancer, they only cover specific cancers that do not include lung and liver cancer. The best they cover is prostate cancer and benign brain tumours.

Maybe that's the same for all insurance companies, or maybe not. Regardless, I'm not buying those, not with those premium rates. Looks like I'm going to have to consult another agent with whom I'm more familiar with.