Note: It's obvious that I look really stupid in the earlier parts of this post and I
have considered not publishing them, but I think I will go ahead and
post everything. My life isn't perfect and I'm not a particularly smart
guy; hiding it here while I'm semi-anonymous is pretty pointless.
17 March 2014
Great success!
She's just... Whoa! If not for the fact that she's Muslim, she'd be too good to be true. Yea, that's the catch, and a huge one lol.
But the things she's been doing, WOW! No wonder she gave her number so quickly! Such an extrovert! She's totally my role model now!
At 22, she's already planning to start an aqua gym within 3-4 years - in New York. I don't think she's lying because she really does travel a lot, and have photos to back up her travel stories. Yea, her family used to be rich, so she's really a different breed compared to me and people I know. So ok, my family used to be rich too, but I didn't grow up in wealth. Maybe just upper middle class, back then.
Her, she travels almost every month as long as she's not too busy. Wtf, right? She's so outgoing, she's based on Australia, grew up here, went back to Australia for a while before getting posted back here last year, and sometimes travel to the US for work. Holy shit. 22 years old. Holy shit.
As I type this, a sense of disbelief is exploding in my mind. Well, at least she's agreeing to more dates so I can find out more about her.
Yea, dates. I just had a lunch date with such an incredible girl, and I've only started chatting on Whatsapp with her at 8am today.
Now, I have an even harder time believing that she's still single. Am I being paranoid or does this make sense? How does a girl like that stay single for so long? She says she doesn't like Muslim guys in Australia and here, but I know plenty of nice Malay guys.
I don't know. On one hand, she's just unbelievable. On the other hand, she's just unbelievable.
Probably not a good idea to think too much on this; I should just be more cautiou, even though her Australian number does say a lot about her finances.
Regardless of whether the date was really "awesome" like she said, I'll have to wait till the second date to confirm whether this is going well. For all I know, she could just be very polite.
As for the long term, yea it does not look that bright unless I expand my business. In fact, the chances of a happy ending, assuming everything she's told me is true, are very slim.
18 March 2014
So she's willing to meet today for lunch again! Now I'm excited because a second date usually means success to a significant degree. Not complete success but this must be going somewhere.
Still worried about the long term consequences though.
Anyway it's not confirmed because of her work. If she's busy today, she's already agreed to lunch on Thursday anyway.
But I can't keep treating her lunch. First date, ok. Today, she's got some serious family issues to worry about, so ok again. But next time, I'll need her to pay her share. At the rate I'm going right now, I'll need to watch my money to have any hope of taking that business class flight to Canada this year or early next year.
19 March 2014
She's totally ignoring me, but then again, she's got major issues at home and lots of work. Kinda rude though.
Or maybe it was because I was straightforward enough to tell her that I can't keep treating her lunch because I want to start saving for a chance to take a business class flight to Canada.
She's so sad.
Yet I am not as motivated as I would with other girls the more I learn about how devout she is to her religion.
As for her character, I still don't know enough about her to make any sort of conclusion. I think she's as self-centred as I used to be because she neither offered to pay for our first lunch nor really asked about me, although to be fair, her story is pretty bad so she's got a lot on her mind.
Or it may have been an elaborate scam to get free lunches from gullible guys.
Got my MOS shirts and chinos back from the tailor, and during the same trip, I also brought my suit, my blazer, 4 pairs of pants and 3 shirts for him to fix. $247 this time, but it's way cheaper than buying brand new ones to replace all of them.
That suit was the most expensive to shrink at $85 but that's just 10% of the cost of that suit, so overall, from that perspective, I feel that I've got a pretty good deal already.
20 March 2014
Second day ignoring me. Strange that she didn't block me outright, but I guess that's still a rejection. Still a bit confusing since she asked me where I was, for some reason, after we parted that day. Phew! No more worrying about the long-term consequences of dating a good Muslim girl. Now to move on to another girl! I think this one is going to be overweight but practice is practice, and I'm not particularly slim myself.
As for the MOS shirts and chinos, the pair of pants was ok. Pretty awesome since the fabric is super stretchy, but the slim fit shirt was too slim for me. Dang! All that loose skin around my torso needs to go away! In the meantime, I can only wear the classic fit shirt and keep the slim fit one in my wardrobe for the future.
The weights training is also going well for me. It's starting to feel easier to do lateral lifts with 3kg weights. I think tomorrow I will move on to 5kg ones.
21 March 2014
Went for another movie outing with another small group. This time there was this girl who seemed to keep trying to talk to all the guys, not just me. I don't know if she was joking but she claimed that she was 31 and hence she was joining all these outings to know single guys.
I gave her my number; practice is practice. She seemed like a pretty fun person too, going to Cambodia alone next week. Technically I could join her, but will I?
Another girl there talked like a robot; I have no idea why and it seemed rude to ask. She just seemed to pause between every word in her speech.
Also saw Mark Lee, the Singaporean celebrity, while searching for the group, just chilling with friends.
As I look more carefully at the top end jackets, I realize how large the gap is between my products and theirs. No wonder they charge S$800 (shipping excluded) for some of those! Seriously, they make my $100-200 jackets look at junk!
A jacket meant for extreme conditions and wear and tear weighing only 700g! I will never achieve that standard with my current manufacturers, not even close!
23 March 2014
Met this cute girl again at another event organized by another club last night and we got along pretty well since we already knew each other. Pretty sure I could have gotten her number but... she turned out to be much older than she looked. Seriously, I thought she looked and sounded like around my age, but she was really 35.
That was a deal-breaker right there.
Just to clarify, I'd still totally ask her out for dinner - in fact I wanted to - but it didn't feel right to waste her time. She was looking for a husband and it would take A LOT for me to overcome my hesitation about settling down with a girl 7 years older than me, not to mention I'm not ready to settle down so soon.
Still, these events are far better than online dating sites, seriously.
Went for two movies today but didn't really make many friends this time. I suspect I'm more tired today and henceforth I won't be going for these events on so many consecutive days.
Anyway I mentioned that joining these movie outings were better than joining than those dating outings because of my relatively young age (I was the youngest yesterday evening, and the youngest girl there was my age), and also told the group about the girl I mentioned earlier, and everyone told me that age is not a barrier.
But I'm not trying to get hitched within the next five years.
Anyway the harder a girl tries to find a partner (not just me specifically), the more hesitant I seem to get. She was not totally desperate like another girl but the way she told me about her failed attempts just turned me off. Worse was how she seemed to have given up being proactive.
The more I think about her, the less attractive she gets.
Or maybe I'm just a terrible guy.
Looked back and thought about the two things I'm pretty sure were taught by that dating coach that I observed during the dating club event. Missed his dating seminar so trying to learn something from the guys who went was part of my reason for going there.
The first I already noticed before - don't describe yourself using the word "boring" even if it's true. I found out about that on the online dating sites because after I removed that word from my profile, responses came more often.
The second was to try to share a meal with the girl. Didn't seem to work by itself because the guy who tried that on the girl I mentioned didn't get along with her as well as I did. Looks like it has to be done together with something else. You can't just eat silently when you're sharing food with the girl, and the "Is it good?" or "How do you find it?" questions can only go so far.
And if she turns out to be some kind of connoiseur, I'm going to be pretty fucked. It would be like another girl I met during one of today's movie outings who turned out to be some kind of film and theater expert. My attempts at talking to her always ended in monologues.
24th March 2014
So there was another girl I met on Friday evening that seemed like an unlikely choice. She was so friendly that after the last two experiences with friendly girls, I pretty much doubt that I was going to have any chance with her.
Yet... so far so good. Hopefully she's still single though, otherwise I'd feel so bad.
We only talked a bit before the movie, and she disappeared quickly after the film ended. The only reason I have her number is because of the Whatsapp group. That's the best thing about this club - every outing has its own Whatsapp group, so we don't even need to ask for anyone's number. The downside, compared to dating clubs, is that not everyone is single nor is everyone in the same age group.
But talk to her I did, the morning after. Somehow just managed to get the courage to message her, and her replies have been positive. Today, she told me I was more mature than other guys my age, so I said she was sweet, then she asked if I was employing some tricks I learnt from the dating club because I appeared to know what girls like to hear.
I just hope she's being honest like me. I mean, she really is a sweet girl if everything she's told me is true, like how she is considering a career change mainly because of her desire to help others.
Forearm muscle pain!
This I really didn't expect when I increased the weight of the dumbbells I use from 3kg to 5kg for my shoulder exercises.
Closed the last of my accounts in online dating sites. They suck, enough said.
Bought a clutch. It was a little hard to find on Qoo10 because I wanted a cheap one that had a loop and was large enough for my iPad. Ended up with one that only cost less than S$30.
This is meant to be a trial run to let me see if a clutch is a good idea for me. Currently, I use a large laptop sling bag but it ruins my shirt. If I like using a clutch, I'll get a better one from the more expensive brands. Obviously a $30 clutch from some unknown Korean brand is not going to last very long, and I don't want it to break when I'm at work outside.
Also considered using my father's but the leather was coming apart.
Monday, 24 March 2014
Sunday, 16 March 2014
Rant 1192 / Nowhere To Go But Up Now
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Wednesday, 26 February 2014
Rant 1191 / The Comfort Zone Is A Trap, And Comfort Is The Bait.
16th Feb 2014
How to handle an expired can of abalone:
18th Feb 2014
So I had a nightmare in which I weighed 94kg today.
Imagine my surprise when I stepped onto the weighing scale for real after work and found my weight to be... still 90kg!!!
Woot woot!
Maybe this LCHF diet does work!
So far I've been cooking everything in butter instead of oil, and eating more vegetables.
Some random boiled leafy vegetables and some kimchi and achar.
Yesterday, I had burger patties made from minced chicken with skin, and that was pretty good. The minced skin gave it more fats than the minced chicken I used for the patties months ago, and fats make the patties much better.
19th Feb 2014
Disciples III: Resurrection has some nice music, like this one:
The only issue with this series's music is that they're always too short, another nice example being this one:
22th Feb 2014
Didn't know it had such a good trailer. That double entendre was genius!
26th Feb 2014
89kg! EIGHTY-FUCKING-NINE!!!!
LCHF WORKS!!
Woot woot!
Cheddar and brie everyday!
Also been talking to this girl who's really confusing me. She says she talks to me because, unlike most guys she knows, I don't sound flirty but then again, I wouldn't know how to be "flirty" even if I wanted to. Duh.
The funny thing is that she talked about private stuff that no girl has ever discussed in such detail with me before - on the second night we chatted on Whatsapp. And that was after she offered me her phone number without my asking.
Now it feels like something is off - or that I'm really, really inexperienced in social interactions with younger girls.
It was only recently that I have learnt that girls will give cute nicknames to guys they're friendly with, but do they get even friendlier than that?
In any case, I believe I'm mentally prepared for any possibility.
How to handle an expired can of abalone:
18th Feb 2014
So I had a nightmare in which I weighed 94kg today.
Imagine my surprise when I stepped onto the weighing scale for real after work and found my weight to be... still 90kg!!!
Woot woot!
Maybe this LCHF diet does work!
So far I've been cooking everything in butter instead of oil, and eating more vegetables.
Some random boiled leafy vegetables and some kimchi and achar.
Yesterday, I had burger patties made from minced chicken with skin, and that was pretty good. The minced skin gave it more fats than the minced chicken I used for the patties months ago, and fats make the patties much better.
19th Feb 2014
Disciples III: Resurrection has some nice music, like this one:
The only issue with this series's music is that they're always too short, another nice example being this one:
22th Feb 2014
Didn't know it had such a good trailer. That double entendre was genius!
26th Feb 2014
89kg! EIGHTY-FUCKING-NINE!!!!
LCHF WORKS!!
Woot woot!
Cheddar and brie everyday!
Also been talking to this girl who's really confusing me. She says she talks to me because, unlike most guys she knows, I don't sound flirty but then again, I wouldn't know how to be "flirty" even if I wanted to. Duh.
The funny thing is that she talked about private stuff that no girl has ever discussed in such detail with me before - on the second night we chatted on Whatsapp. And that was after she offered me her phone number without my asking.
Now it feels like something is off - or that I'm really, really inexperienced in social interactions with younger girls.
It was only recently that I have learnt that girls will give cute nicknames to guys they're friendly with, but do they get even friendlier than that?
In any case, I believe I'm mentally prepared for any possibility.
Sunday, 16 February 2014
Rant 1190 / How Did They Get My Card Info??
14th Feb 2014
Ok, I will stop this insane starvation diet next week. I'm currently at 90.5kg and obviously that last half kg will be gone by the end of this week, even with the weekly feast taken into account.
From next week onwards, I will try a different weight-loss regime. Currently, the LCHF diet looks interesting. The gist of it is to eat normally, except to avoid carbs as much as possible. No rice, no noodles, no bread, just meat and vegetables.
No fruit too, because of the glucose content, although avocado should be fine.
This will be interesting. I'll probably begin with lots of minced meat.
15th Feb 2014
A momentous day, but not the end.
Haven't been this light for years!
Now I shall stop starving and try something less crazy, like LCHF.
After reading on this diet, it became obvious that the name "Low Carbohydrates High Fats" is very misleading.
It's not about eating lard and oil but replacing your carbohydrate intake with fat intake. For example, instead of bread, you consume fatty meat. In terms of energy content, it must still remain constant because energy is energy, regardless of its source.
This method is supposed to work because it changes the way the body consume its energy store. Instead of using simple sugars, the LCHF diet forces it to go straight to fat-burning all the time, also allowing the blood to have minimal insulin and thus avoiding diabetes.
This method is not supported by all physicians yet due to the relative lack of data on its effects compared to traditional weight-loss methods, but there is sufficient information for health organizations to recognize it as a legitimate weight-loss method now.
So I will try it!
Everyday I will be eating meat! Probably pan-fried in butter with herbs. And lots of vegetables. How does minced pork stir-fried with peppers sound?
No carbs is going to be an issue in the long term though. No otah, no bread, no rice, no noodles, no fishballs, no fried food with thick crust, no pizzas, no pasta, no prata, no thick gravy due to starch content, no potatoes, no fries, no muffins, no cakes.
The thing is that I won't be able to have weekly special meals with this diet because for one, there is no energy-content-deficiency to compensate for. Another reason is that I expect my normal meals will be awesome as they are without carbs.
Well, I think wraps are still find. It's LCHF after all, not NCHF. The carbs just got to be kept at a minimal level.
Halfway through the dinner, I received SMSes informing me of payments I did not make. The first SMS was ignored because I tend to ignore all calls and messages when I'm eating, but when the SMS ringtone was sounded about fifteen minutes later, I thought it might have been an urgent issue from my brother and picked the phone up.
Both SMSes told me I had paid a small amount in USD to a company I have never paid before in my entire life.
Immediately, I called the number in the SMS and it turned out to be the bank's customer service number (expected it to go straight to the credit card department). The good thing was that they were quick even though it was a Saturday evening, and the girl who handled my case cancelled my card promptly before informing me that I had to go to a branch to get a new card and that I must go to the bank myself to make a report.
That will be done on Monday.
Next, she transferred me to the someone who handled new card applications but I told her I might as well apply when I go to the bank personally. Although it's a little troublesome, getting it through her takes 3-5 working days while doing it at the bank gets me the card immediately.
Before hanging up, I thought of another important question, so I did. It may have been common sense but I had to go to the police to make a report, and bring it to them when making a report at the bank.
Well, no shopping this weekend. Hopefully the bank will compensate.
16 Feb 2014
Today upon entering Kickstarter, there was a notice informing everyone that the website had been hacked. Immediately, I thought that might have been how someone got my card information yesterday, but then, I recalled I never save my card information anywhere except for one website.
The problem with that was that my password for that particular website was different from all my other passwords, so I wasn't too worried. Regardless, I've just checked the transaction history and removed the card (useless anyway). Nope, it's not that.
Also just thought of going to the company's website to see if I could talk to them about this. Good thing I could, so I'm doing it. Let's see if they have received the payment and can make a full refund....
LOL!!
So the Blizzard representative informed me that my card had actually been used SIX times since January but four were declined, including one a few hours ago. WTF?
Good thing I had SMS notifications for transactions of any value.
Even better was that the two that I knew about were cancelled since I managed to call the bank early enough, while on Blizzard's end, the Battle.net accounts were automatically locked.
LOL!
According to the GM who handled my case, the charges appeared to be most likely character transfer charges. In addition, the transactions were getting processed when they were cancelled. I'm so glad I managed to hear the ringtone and checked because often, I can't hear my phone at all when I'm playing games or watching movies.
Same for my doorbell, actually.
In any case, those assholes got what they deserved and I've only got to lose a little time to get to the bank for a new card. It's fine because it's just a ten-minute walk, and if I go there early, I should be able to avoid the queue.
I'm so relieved.
Ok, I will stop this insane starvation diet next week. I'm currently at 90.5kg and obviously that last half kg will be gone by the end of this week, even with the weekly feast taken into account.
From next week onwards, I will try a different weight-loss regime. Currently, the LCHF diet looks interesting. The gist of it is to eat normally, except to avoid carbs as much as possible. No rice, no noodles, no bread, just meat and vegetables.
No fruit too, because of the glucose content, although avocado should be fine.
This will be interesting. I'll probably begin with lots of minced meat.
15th Feb 2014
A momentous day, but not the end.
Haven't been this light for years!
Now I shall stop starving and try something less crazy, like LCHF.
After reading on this diet, it became obvious that the name "Low Carbohydrates High Fats" is very misleading.
It's not about eating lard and oil but replacing your carbohydrate intake with fat intake. For example, instead of bread, you consume fatty meat. In terms of energy content, it must still remain constant because energy is energy, regardless of its source.
This method is supposed to work because it changes the way the body consume its energy store. Instead of using simple sugars, the LCHF diet forces it to go straight to fat-burning all the time, also allowing the blood to have minimal insulin and thus avoiding diabetes.
This method is not supported by all physicians yet due to the relative lack of data on its effects compared to traditional weight-loss methods, but there is sufficient information for health organizations to recognize it as a legitimate weight-loss method now.
So I will try it!
Everyday I will be eating meat! Probably pan-fried in butter with herbs. And lots of vegetables. How does minced pork stir-fried with peppers sound?
No carbs is going to be an issue in the long term though. No otah, no bread, no rice, no noodles, no fishballs, no fried food with thick crust, no pizzas, no pasta, no prata, no thick gravy due to starch content, no potatoes, no fries, no muffins, no cakes.
The thing is that I won't be able to have weekly special meals with this diet because for one, there is no energy-content-deficiency to compensate for. Another reason is that I expect my normal meals will be awesome as they are without carbs.
Well, I think wraps are still find. It's LCHF after all, not NCHF. The carbs just got to be kept at a minimal level.
Just got these from Qoo10 - two boxes of 50 sticks of ready-to-eat chicken yakitori and they only cost me $52.60 total with delivery included!
I am so sure this is alright in the LCHF diet. Guess what's for dinner every night this month?
Halfway through the dinner, I received SMSes informing me of payments I did not make. The first SMS was ignored because I tend to ignore all calls and messages when I'm eating, but when the SMS ringtone was sounded about fifteen minutes later, I thought it might have been an urgent issue from my brother and picked the phone up.
Both SMSes told me I had paid a small amount in USD to a company I have never paid before in my entire life.
Immediately, I called the number in the SMS and it turned out to be the bank's customer service number (expected it to go straight to the credit card department). The good thing was that they were quick even though it was a Saturday evening, and the girl who handled my case cancelled my card promptly before informing me that I had to go to a branch to get a new card and that I must go to the bank myself to make a report.
That will be done on Monday.
Next, she transferred me to the someone who handled new card applications but I told her I might as well apply when I go to the bank personally. Although it's a little troublesome, getting it through her takes 3-5 working days while doing it at the bank gets me the card immediately.
Before hanging up, I thought of another important question, so I did. It may have been common sense but I had to go to the police to make a report, and bring it to them when making a report at the bank.
Well, no shopping this weekend. Hopefully the bank will compensate.
16 Feb 2014
Today upon entering Kickstarter, there was a notice informing everyone that the website had been hacked. Immediately, I thought that might have been how someone got my card information yesterday, but then, I recalled I never save my card information anywhere except for one website.
The problem with that was that my password for that particular website was different from all my other passwords, so I wasn't too worried. Regardless, I've just checked the transaction history and removed the card (useless anyway). Nope, it's not that.
Also just thought of going to the company's website to see if I could talk to them about this. Good thing I could, so I'm doing it. Let's see if they have received the payment and can make a full refund....
LOL!!
So the Blizzard representative informed me that my card had actually been used SIX times since January but four were declined, including one a few hours ago. WTF?
Good thing I had SMS notifications for transactions of any value.
Even better was that the two that I knew about were cancelled since I managed to call the bank early enough, while on Blizzard's end, the Battle.net accounts were automatically locked.
LOL!
According to the GM who handled my case, the charges appeared to be most likely character transfer charges. In addition, the transactions were getting processed when they were cancelled. I'm so glad I managed to hear the ringtone and checked because often, I can't hear my phone at all when I'm playing games or watching movies.
Same for my doorbell, actually.
In any case, those assholes got what they deserved and I've only got to lose a little time to get to the bank for a new card. It's fine because it's just a ten-minute walk, and if I go there early, I should be able to avoid the queue.
I'm so relieved.
Sunday, 9 February 2014
Rant 1189 / Reading About The Last Byzantine Emperors Is Like Reading A Series Of Tragedies
2nd Feb
Dieting!
Been trying out a milder version of my previous diet for a week and I don't like the result.
100g of pasta plus a generous serving of vegetable-filled gravy per day, no milk this time, jog/walk 5 times a week.
I've only lost half a kg (before passing motion today) this week.
So I must ramp it up more. No pasta from now on!
Instead, I shall try a vegetable-filled diet since it's more interesting.
According to some googling and calculations, an eggplant I can find in the market usually have about 60-90 calories (250-350g) while a small packet of 150g of shiitake mushroom only has 51 calories.
My aim is to have 200 calories per day at most plus 2 glasses of skimmed milk. The total will obviously be above 200 calories but should be less than 500 calories a day. As before, I aim to lose 1-3kg a week like this.
My current weight is 94kg and I have to stop at 70kg because eating normally will make me gain back about 5kg, and my target weight is 75kg.
If I lose 2kg a week, by the end of April (8 weeks from now) I will have lost 16kg and reaching 78kg. If all goes well, I will be done by the end of May.
9th Feb
Finally, a decent 100cal meal!
A can of tom yum broth - 76cal
a can of pacific clams - 132cal
a can of champignons - 28cal
a can of straw mushrooms - 62cal
total = 298cal
split into 3 and there are three 100cal meals!
Also found another great alternative - Marigold low-fat yogurt. They're all just 100cal a cup!
Managed to squeeze into a 35" business pants this week so I wore it to visit some people for the Chinese New Year. One of them could barely recognize me! Losing 18kgs is a lot I guess, though I can't tell since I see myself everyday.
The shirts were all borrowed from my bro though. I don't have any shirt that isn't baggy at the moment, but they were good enough. One of them, the Apollo 2 shirt from Ministry of Supply, had sleeves that were too long, but I really like the rest of the shirt, so I folded up the sleeves, and kept the collar button and the next button unbuttoned to match the sleeves.
Needed his belt too. All my belts are old and cracked, but they didn't used to be an issue since I never tuck in my polo shirts.
The Elder Scrolls Online MMORPG is unimpressive. It's just like most MMORPGs but in first-person view. Not buying even with the 25% discount on GMG.
Dieting!
Been trying out a milder version of my previous diet for a week and I don't like the result.
100g of pasta plus a generous serving of vegetable-filled gravy per day, no milk this time, jog/walk 5 times a week.
I've only lost half a kg (before passing motion today) this week.
So I must ramp it up more. No pasta from now on!
Instead, I shall try a vegetable-filled diet since it's more interesting.
According to some googling and calculations, an eggplant I can find in the market usually have about 60-90 calories (250-350g) while a small packet of 150g of shiitake mushroom only has 51 calories.
My aim is to have 200 calories per day at most plus 2 glasses of skimmed milk. The total will obviously be above 200 calories but should be less than 500 calories a day. As before, I aim to lose 1-3kg a week like this.
My current weight is 94kg and I have to stop at 70kg because eating normally will make me gain back about 5kg, and my target weight is 75kg.
If I lose 2kg a week, by the end of April (8 weeks from now) I will have lost 16kg and reaching 78kg. If all goes well, I will be done by the end of May.
9th Feb
Finally, a decent 100cal meal!
A can of tom yum broth - 76cal
a can of pacific clams - 132cal
a can of champignons - 28cal
a can of straw mushrooms - 62cal
total = 298cal
split into 3 and there are three 100cal meals!
Also found another great alternative - Marigold low-fat yogurt. They're all just 100cal a cup!
Managed to squeeze into a 35" business pants this week so I wore it to visit some people for the Chinese New Year. One of them could barely recognize me! Losing 18kgs is a lot I guess, though I can't tell since I see myself everyday.
The shirts were all borrowed from my bro though. I don't have any shirt that isn't baggy at the moment, but they were good enough. One of them, the Apollo 2 shirt from Ministry of Supply, had sleeves that were too long, but I really like the rest of the shirt, so I folded up the sleeves, and kept the collar button and the next button unbuttoned to match the sleeves.
Needed his belt too. All my belts are old and cracked, but they didn't used to be an issue since I never tuck in my polo shirts.
The Elder Scrolls Online MMORPG is unimpressive. It's just like most MMORPGs but in first-person view. Not buying even with the 25% discount on GMG.
Tuesday, 21 January 2014
Rant 1188 / Sold Out Within A Month
6th Jan
So I bought a safe on the last day of 2013. My last major purchase of last year, and it arrived a few days ago.
About S$800. Been waiting for an entire year, looking for promotions and discounts, but they never have those for safes. This gave me no choice but to take advantage of the really tiny offers by the mall itself plus the store's membership points.
$4-worth of Capitarstar points and 798 Home-Fix membership points. Not sure how much the latter can be converted to.
Coincidentally, I was also eligible for $20-worth of vouchers for using a DBS card, so that's a minimum of $24 in rebate.
Anyway I was deciding between this safe and another, both having roughly the same price in the brochure. This safe has much thicker bolts, a pry-resistant design, but only is certified for only an hour of fire and water resistance. In contrast, the other safe had 50% more bolts but thinner, no pry-resistant design and is certified for 2 hours of fire- and water-resistance.
On a somewhat unrelated note, according to the manual, bolting the safe down to the floor also negates its water-resistance.
This safe was chosened because in a small country like ours, an hour should be more than enough for any fire to be discovered and for the firemen to arrive to extinguish it. In fact there's a fire station just 10-15 minutes drive away from my home, and that estimate is for normal cars.
Hence, I'm more concerned about burglars, which isn't saying a lot since this place is so safe my brother doesn't even remember to shut the wooden door properly before going out and only closes the gate. Not to mention my neighbour next door had installed a few cameras outside.
Unfortunately, this only comes with a one-year warranty, although this isn't a major issue either since I don't expect it to have any issue after that.
19th Jan
Icewind Dale is interesting.
Also, my order from Singsale came but my chelsea boots ended up as something else. Apparently they had mixed up the names and after a check, I realized that the boots I saw in the photo did not match the name.
Now I'm waiting for a reply to my request for either an exchange or a refund. TBH I would prefer a refund, even if it's going to be in store credits.
As for my safe, I'm done throwing in all my cash other than the coins. Now I've got to think about other stuff to store inside.
20th Jan
So they only do refunds. I'll have to see if they accept my return application.
Also neglected to mention that the 3D-printing pen arrived a while back. It's that glue gun that uses plastic instead of glue, and the results have been good so far. It's easy to use but very hard to master. The main issue I've been having is that I'm not used to the speed at which the plastic is extruded so it's hard to create straight lines in the air.
Otherwise, it's quite interesting. Now I'm thinking about drawing my home's unit number with it to replace my current one on my door, and some kind of hook for my wireless doorbell button to hook onto my gate.
21st Jan
Good thing Singsale has accepted my returns application so I'll be returning it today. Hopefully they will refund me in cash instead of credits because there probably won't be many good sales from now on.
As for my 3D printer, the earliest it's going to arrive is in March.
Also considing two more ways of spending money.
First, I'm thinking about buying a really expensive pair of oxfords, like around S$2000. They will be expected to last almost ten years so it's really not that bad. I need a pair for my brother's wedding, and maybe I'll even wear it for my own, but two thousand is a huge sum, especially for a pair of shoes.
In addition, if I buy this, I will want to wear the shoes often, in which case I will need to make some changes to my wardrobe since oxfords do not go with jeans.
Alternatively, I can just get a cheap pair for around S$200 and think about it again when I'm doing better.
Second, I'm considering going to school again. Initially, I thought about LASALLE's degree on fashion design, but then I discovered they also hold workshops and short courses, so now the short courses look like the best idea.
Maybe I will try them in the coming months.
Bought the last three books of the Wheel of Time series. Finally, they're all out in mass market paperback!!
Also got A Dance of Dragons since it's also out in that format and I needed to get S$50 to qualify for free shipping.
I haven't touched the previous books in years so it will be necessary to re-read the entire WoT series before I start on those.
So I bought a safe on the last day of 2013. My last major purchase of last year, and it arrived a few days ago.
About S$800. Been waiting for an entire year, looking for promotions and discounts, but they never have those for safes. This gave me no choice but to take advantage of the really tiny offers by the mall itself plus the store's membership points.
$4-worth of Capitarstar points and 798 Home-Fix membership points. Not sure how much the latter can be converted to.
Coincidentally, I was also eligible for $20-worth of vouchers for using a DBS card, so that's a minimum of $24 in rebate.
Anyway I was deciding between this safe and another, both having roughly the same price in the brochure. This safe has much thicker bolts, a pry-resistant design, but only is certified for only an hour of fire and water resistance. In contrast, the other safe had 50% more bolts but thinner, no pry-resistant design and is certified for 2 hours of fire- and water-resistance.
On a somewhat unrelated note, according to the manual, bolting the safe down to the floor also negates its water-resistance.
This safe was chosened because in a small country like ours, an hour should be more than enough for any fire to be discovered and for the firemen to arrive to extinguish it. In fact there's a fire station just 10-15 minutes drive away from my home, and that estimate is for normal cars.
Hence, I'm more concerned about burglars, which isn't saying a lot since this place is so safe my brother doesn't even remember to shut the wooden door properly before going out and only closes the gate. Not to mention my neighbour next door had installed a few cameras outside.
Unfortunately, this only comes with a one-year warranty, although this isn't a major issue either since I don't expect it to have any issue after that.
19th Jan
Icewind Dale is interesting.
Also, my order from Singsale came but my chelsea boots ended up as something else. Apparently they had mixed up the names and after a check, I realized that the boots I saw in the photo did not match the name.
Now I'm waiting for a reply to my request for either an exchange or a refund. TBH I would prefer a refund, even if it's going to be in store credits.
As for my safe, I'm done throwing in all my cash other than the coins. Now I've got to think about other stuff to store inside.
20th Jan
So they only do refunds. I'll have to see if they accept my return application.
Also neglected to mention that the 3D-printing pen arrived a while back. It's that glue gun that uses plastic instead of glue, and the results have been good so far. It's easy to use but very hard to master. The main issue I've been having is that I'm not used to the speed at which the plastic is extruded so it's hard to create straight lines in the air.
Otherwise, it's quite interesting. Now I'm thinking about drawing my home's unit number with it to replace my current one on my door, and some kind of hook for my wireless doorbell button to hook onto my gate.
21st Jan
Good thing Singsale has accepted my returns application so I'll be returning it today. Hopefully they will refund me in cash instead of credits because there probably won't be many good sales from now on.
As for my 3D printer, the earliest it's going to arrive is in March.
Also considing two more ways of spending money.
First, I'm thinking about buying a really expensive pair of oxfords, like around S$2000. They will be expected to last almost ten years so it's really not that bad. I need a pair for my brother's wedding, and maybe I'll even wear it for my own, but two thousand is a huge sum, especially for a pair of shoes.
In addition, if I buy this, I will want to wear the shoes often, in which case I will need to make some changes to my wardrobe since oxfords do not go with jeans.
Alternatively, I can just get a cheap pair for around S$200 and think about it again when I'm doing better.
Second, I'm considering going to school again. Initially, I thought about LASALLE's degree on fashion design, but then I discovered they also hold workshops and short courses, so now the short courses look like the best idea.
Maybe I will try them in the coming months.
Bought the last three books of the Wheel of Time series. Finally, they're all out in mass market paperback!!
Also got A Dance of Dragons since it's also out in that format and I needed to get S$50 to qualify for free shipping.
I haven't touched the previous books in years so it will be necessary to re-read the entire WoT series before I start on those.
Wednesday, 25 December 2013
Rant 1187 / Xmas 2013
Playing Crysis 2 now. The stealth is kinda buggy despite its age because the enemies can sometimes see through walls. Otherwise, fun game.
Watched the two seasons of Yoshihiko, "Yoshihiko and the Demon King's Castle" and "Yoshihiko and the Key of Evil Spirits", and I realized that the most interesting character was really the Buddha.
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