I made an impulse buy today. Was at Kino book shop with the guys today. You know how the place has these 10% discount things and alongside Hanz’s membership card for an additional 10%, the 20% discount sounds like alot in savings..

Anyways, seeing Lumster and Hanz browsing through the comics, I suddenly realised that I haven’t read any good books in a long time and felt the sudden urge to get something to read. Browsing through the many titles and finally decided on The Sirens Of Baghdad by Yasmina Khadra. The book’s about a fictional sequence of events for a student-turned-radical-turned-terrorist from his side of the story and the subsequent intervention of his morals and conscience during a terrorist operation in London.

Spoilt for choice, initially wanted to get a title by Haruki Murakami. Heard from friends that his titles were all rather good but also having heard that his writing was of a much deeper level, was hesitant in plonking down the 20 odd dollars for it. What if I can’t connect with his writing, what a waste of $$.

Play safe la~

*****************************************************************************************************************

Oh. Any my CitiBank Clear Card just came in the mail~ Now I got a pretty credit card in my wallet. Whee~ xD

Today. A usual draggy Saturday again. Outing with the Hanz, Lumster and KT. We went to Orchard(again) just to look about. The weather today was quite unlike the past few days, it was good! Cloudy with a little bit of wind and sun was minimal. The past few days were terrible, totally scorching.

We had fun at Toys R Us at Orchard Forum. Kids nowadays are sooo pampered man.. The toys of our time(omgosh are we that old?) and the toys now are really so different. We had alot of fun playing about with the guns and swords as well as the soft toys.. especially the Kung Fu Panda series. Looked at the latest Lego toys too… A shocking $100++ for the latest lego toys..

*****************************************************************************************************************

Friday was a really great day. Activity for Friday, Caught 2 movies, Wanted and 21. Watched 21 with Raymond and Justine and Lymon. Lymon’s weird.. He took half day off so last minute-ly just to catch the movie with us. We met Tingz for lunch near her workplace at Bugis at 1pm and had Pepper Lunch at a food court. Same food quality, half the price (:

21 was a great movie. I kinda expected it to be like something along the lines of Ocean Eleven and Ocean Twelve but it the gist was slightly different. Though supreme intelligence was involved, the method to beat the system in 21 was so much more complicated that I didn’t even bother to try to understand. I just assumed it as “that” method. And the show was based on how they used “that” method to make a killing and the subsequent downwards spiral when jealously and greed started to get to their heads.

Met Colin and Wei Sheng for dinner at Serangoon Gardens after the show for dinner. Justine, Lymon and Raymond all had their own programmes and couldn’t join us.. Colin DROVE!!! Having a driver for outings make things SOOOO convenient. We had dinner at R.K House(it’s the inspiration behind the No Pork audio clip).. prata feast.. Drove to Tingz place to pick her up before making our way to Hougang Plaza for pool session. That silly girl made us wait at the bottom of her flats for a good 20 minutes and we kept mistaking other people for her in that 20 minutes.

Pool was great. Haven’t played in a long while. Stopped playing at 10 or so. With a driver around, the feeling of freedom was simply too good. We decided to go catch a second movie… at Tampines! Wanted @ 2355HRS. Colin was panicky while going down the the slope to the basement carpark cos the lane was narrow and he damn scared mount kerb = lose face, no issue though, parked the vehicle like a pro.

Wanted was.. below expectation. Its simply an action movie through and through. At the end of the show u’d realise that there’s no head or tail, no ending none whatsoever.. If not for the mitigating factor of the non-stop action… Completely phail.

Colin sent us home after the show. Reached home at 2am. I’m so gonna say it one more time. DRIVERS IN THE GROUP MAKE THINGS SOO CONVENIENT!!!

******************************************************************************************************************

Been 5 months since I’ve gotten my license. I’m pretty disappointed in my parents’ attitude. Initial claims and promise of letting me have free reign of the vehicle once I was good enough spiralled down to absolute refusal to let me use the vehicle for completely lame reasons. Here’s a conversation which has happened one too many times :

Me : Pa, can I use the vehicle tomorrow/later/tonight? Just wanna go nearby to Hougang/Kovan/Bedok.

Pa : No la.. Cannot la.. You not ready yet..

(note I’ve been driving for nearly 4 months+ under his supervision on highways and normal roads already)

Me : But I’m not going any busy road, just nearby nia, ulu roads, somemore so late not much vehicles la..

Pa : Cannot la, at night lagi worst cos alot of spot checks

(er.. so? I’m not drunk or driving illegally)

, somemore you P-plate driver very easy license kanna take back

(right, i REALLY wanna go cause an accident, I’m gonna meet with an accident EVERYTIME I drive. If thats really the case, your supervision wouldn’t really help at that point of time.)

Me : But I also not driving highway won’t kanna check all that la, I drive very carefully one la, somemore less vehicles where got so easily accident one

Pa : No la, at night ppl drive more recklessly la

(ok reasonable, but here’s where it start to get irrelevant),

somemore petrol costs now increase so much

(okie wtf. I’m not gonna empty the tank per trip, and whats that to do with night driving).

Me : Wah lao eh, just let me use la

-At this point of time(or earlier), my mom would usually cut in with the usual pointless rebuttal-

Ma : Aiya, Daddy already say cannot why you keep asking, can you stop giving trouble anot, why you don’t understand that you still new driver if kanna accident your license gone den must go re-take will cost money.

(oh so now its the money)

Me : …

Ma : Somemore petrol now so expensive den you anyhow drive around waste the petrol.

(right. I’m really just taking the vehicle out for a pointless spin. And is it the money again?)

Me : But I driving nearby nia and I’m not exactly new driver..

Ma : So what if you already <insert driving experience at point of time> since u get your license, Daniel(he’s my cousin) got his license longer den you also never drive why you need to drive.

(Here’s the lowdown, my cousin’s family met with a finance crisis around the time where he just gotten his license so he never really had a vehicle to drive, which is besides the point as he is he, I am me, so why should his car usage relate or even affect mine.)

And thus.. we have this exact conversation over and over again everytime I request to use the car.. It’s simply not justifiable. Their reasoning is flawed, their mentality biased. I’m just irritated and disappointed. It’s embarassing when you have a license but barred from using the family vehicle based on such reasonings. It makes you feel like a failure. Not to mention.. Have you ever envied others and the convenience they have when they’re able to drive. The feeling is MUCH MUCH MUCH worse when you CAN drive but not allowed to.

Disappointment. Where has the trust gone to. Am I really just a financial investment?

After a long week away in camp. Its always good to come back home. I like to log onto my computer and check my mailbox, and grin away like a mad idiot when I see like 50 new mails or so. At least someone’s sending me mail, I’m not forgotten!! ;D Okie, just ignore my crazy self-indulging rants. Anyways, been receiving alot of lottery mails till its almost stupid. I mean, winning a lottery is really cool, but when you get mails from multiple companies informing you about your lottery win to the point where you’re processing winnings from 12 different lotteries at one point of time its really too too too fake. And dumb.

Enough about silly lottery scams. Met up with Justine and Xz today. It’s been quite a while!! Ate Long John Silver.. and I think the new pegs meal combo thing is a really good deal!! Seems like alot of food for $5.50 =X And LJS’s skin-on potato chips are absolutely WIN. Nuff said~

Yu joined us at LJS and Justine introduced a card classic to us. Hearts. Used to play it on the PC and never really got anywhere with it cos I sucked and never won. NOT ONCE. ZZZ. Alright, its a pretty brainless games(as all games that Justine introduces), but its quite fun la~

************************************************************************************************************************

Been reading Mindy’s blog and she just had an update recently. Now I seriously think joining an airline as part of a flight crew is really really worth it all. While its all good to dream, I wonder what kind of conditions are there for males to fulfill to become part of the flight crew. Okok.. Everyone deserves a chance to dream.. Right..?

Was surfing about my chums’ blorks after a week in camp. I read this uncle’s (;P) post (found HERE) and it couldn’t help but notice how our blorks really really showcase the development of our lives. We go from bitching about school, how your enemy sabo you, how the teacher pick on you.. all of that.. to complaining about parental restrictions, how we really really wanna buy the stuff that everyone has(or do not have), the super duper cute person you’ve been having a crush on.. that.. to worry about money, career, future, money, money and money.. The transition isn’t obvious, but when you really scroll back a few years.. boiboi/gerger is growing up after all~

On my part. While he has been fretting about his course choices as well as scholarship opportunities, I gotta admit that I really haven given the issue much thought. I guess you could say that I’m seriously taking things for granted.. That the next few years of my life is guranteed and accounted for.. BioEng.. Why BioEng? Truth be told.. I have absolutely no clue. It just felt.. right to me. You know when you’re making decisions and you decide to pick the one thats not wrong, not right.. That it might not be right for you, but you can’t go wrong following it.. Yup. Thats that feeling.

I feel that as a person growing up, I’ve failed. There’s 2 kinds of independence. One is the little swallow growing up with a long long long long long string bound to its feet. Its freedom is vast and endless, yet its still somewhat restricted. The other form is the hamster, bornt, raised, bred in its cage. Free to venture, free to explore.. all within its cage. I’m the latter. People see and they think, I’ve no limits and restrictions, nothing bound to me and they envy? This hamster is unhappy and scared, its about to be hurled out of its perfect legoland and this cage holding it has narrowed its view, its vision, its dreams. It’s afraid.. so very scared..

Are you the hamster or the swallow?

Someone shared with me some very very real facts of life of living in Singapore..

Owning a dream car, lets just take one of the cheaper desired “dream cars” as an example, the BMW 320IA. At the cost of $139k. Assuming we place a 10% downpayment and take a loan on the remaining $125k over 7 years, it would come up to to 1.9k/month for 7 years before we actually own the car.

Owning a house, 4-room average flat at 220k… For it to reach maturity at the not-very-short time of 20 years, the instalment required would come up to ~1k/month which would require an income of at least 4k to maintain it comfortably.

Spouse, Children, Family. Traditional marriage ceremony, easily 10-15k for a grand affair. Children. Education costs for a basic degree of current amounts to 40-50k in fees, while in 18 years, we can expect it to rise to 90-100k, a cool 50% increase.

Any of the item standalone, we can safely say that if we work hard and dilligently, we can easily afford one.. any one, but what about putting them together, alongside with healthcare, bills, maintenance of the vehicle/flat. Where den do you get the $ from…?

While cost of living in Singapore has gone up, our salary has not. Cost of rice, fuel, eggs.. basic food items and necessities have all gone up easily 30-50% over the last 10 years. Yet salaries do not follow. A good year would see perhaps an increase of 1-3% in salary + bonuses which is pittance compared to our increasing costs of living.

Its hard to live in Singapore.. Will we reach the level whereby a monthly income of at least 4k is required for a basic lifestyle? Because thats where we are heading if things continue to happen the way they are happening now.

Same question again.. $ get from where..?

*All figures quoted from recent paper articles*

Saturday. The morning was ruined. Initial plans to go swimming was cancelled due to bad weather. The weather’s always gloomy on a Saturday morning off late.. As gloomy as I am…

Afternoon, met up with both Edwins to go to PC show again. Honestly, this year’s IT show is seriously an epic phail~ The true purpose of IT shows have seriously degenerated, from what was meant to be an exhibition to showcase the latest and most upcoming gadgets and electronics of the annual quarter has became an avenue for companies and distributors to compete and try to sell off as much of their goods as possible to make way for the newer products. The actual releases of new products such as the MSI Wind or the HP Mini was so hushed-hushed that it almost took some effort to catch a glance of the products. And its a disappointment.. The promise of affordability while mobility and functionality is not comprised just doesn’t cut it for the latest UMPCs. Less the first series of EEE, the newer models of UMPCS are already skirting the 4 digit price which is really just not worth it at that price:functionality:mobility ratio.

After Edwin(Hanz) got his portable HDD( WD Passport Essential at $129), a quick deal, left the place as the crowds were seriously getting a little too much to bear. Left the place as had to meet Randy, Nicholas, Cornie, Rui at T3 for a chill-out session. Its been awhile since we managed to have a get-together because Rui was really busy with exams back den.. So this was the first in a long time.. Checking out T3 because non of us has really walked through it before.

T3.. One word. Overhyped. Can I just say that T3 is absolutely BORING. Was looking for a decent place to have dinner. But its just crappy. The food courts are serving hawker fare at restaurant prices while the restaurants there are just doing their usual thing.. which means dinner is definitely gonna be an expensive affair. Sigh. Settled on Fish & Co since its been quite a while since anyone had it, and I JUST JUST JUST gotta say that the service there is terrible!! First first is that they did not serve us the glasses of water that all respectable restaurants serve the minute the customers are sitted! Secondly the food took such a long time to come!! Nearly 30 minutes! Even though the waitress who served us said that only Randy’s Swordfish Collar needed the additional time. Grrr. And during the meal, we were requesting for cheddar powder and extra mayonaise and they only brought it after the 3rd time we requested for each!!!! Likewise when it came to the bill, we had to remind the staff there a 2nd time that we wanted to settle the bill. Brush up on e service please thx. Omg, I’m such a horrigible customer to service. xD

Met up with Kai and Weisheng after bidding farewell to catch The Incredible Hulk at 2210. Great show, much much better than the previous one. Definitely worth the movie ticket.

Friday, 13th. Took off today to renew my passport. Crappy restrictions. Alright granted my passport’s nearly 10 years old.. Anyways, ended up having to apply for the new biometric passport. Thats $70 down the drain. Great.

Met up with KT cos he wanted to renew his passport as well. And managed to do so in less den 5 minutes because he travels regularly enough so his passport is relatively “in order”. Went out with him to check out the PC Show 2008 and met Randy as well.

This year’s PC show was rather disappointing. Showgirls didn’t fail to impress though, but having the same girls for the various IT shows over and over.. Promotions and discounts were absymal… None of the deals there were really fantastically awesome nor were any of the flagship products so “godlike” that consumers simply had to blow their money on. The verdict.. Great for getting your “MISC” computer stuff like speakers, mouses, keyboards or stuff like thumbdrives, memory cards etc etc, but don’t expect to snag a really fantastic deal. In fact, some of the promotions were practically the same as the previous show except for a couple of pointless freebies :/

Show’s over, met up with a friend over at Geylang. Had dinner at the famous beef horfun. Never fail to disappoint but a cool $5 per plate.. After dinner, we ventured into the red light district. It was really a new and refreshingly scary experience for we were techinically Red Light District newbies. Geylang Lorong 7, Darlene hotel. Here’s where all the callgirls would be waiting along the roadside for business, somewhat like a view-and-take-your-pick gallery style of solicting, but they don’t really manhandle any of the passerbys except for calling out to them. When nearly out of the area, we were approached by one the pimps loitering about the area to follow him to view some of the girls under his charge. Why not? Doesn’t hurt to take a look. Followed him up one of the sleaze hotels where we were introduced to more girls. $50-100 per session… 3 per room, just a nod of the head and one could have a girl to do all their bidding for an hour or so…

For us guys, sex is important, it assures us of our manhood and our masculinity, that we’re desired.. At red light districts, its simply too easy to get the false re-assurance we need, but is it really necessary? Morals versus Confidence.

Callgirls. Are they really that despicable? My opinion is that its just a job which is more on the sordid side. They are paid to entertain customers(mainly male) whereby entertainment refers to much more then song and dance. They also need to earn money to send home to feed elderly parents, to support their young children, they have no education, no skill or talent to build a rice bowl, so its down to the provision of basic carnal services(To be less jarring on the ears).

Reflect.

Alright, the mouse icon is completely random.

It’s been a really long time since I wrote here about something. Anything. I guess that, with being in the army and all, you can’t really have much stuff to write about anyways. Writing about things that happen in camp is really a deathtrap. Bitching about people and going-ons is out because it’s criminally offensive to do so. Thrilling about that new office cutie is out because there simply isn’t such a thing. Everything boils down to the 2 measly days of the week that is lived the civilian way.

Had a class outing on one of the recent Saturdays. The turn-out was better than usual. *SUPRISE SUPRISE* =O Its good to hear that the girls are doing well with their lives, but it does irk me a little that army hampers the progress of us guys through life. I feel, and I’m sure the other guys concur, that this 1 year odd have yielded no significant achievements. It simply blew through and suddenly we’ve lost a year of our youth.. Lost time.. Gone, it won’t come back.

That aside, we had Indonesian food at this restaurant near Plaza Singapura(kudos to Justine for e intro). I really don’t know how to comment since I’m not really a huge fan of indonesian food and I don’t really have a “database” of food references to compare to. Heh, the food we had smelt good, tasted good, price was pretty affordable so.. you go figure.

The rest of the week after that is kinda just a big fuzz i guess. I haven’t done anything really interesting worth remembering but somehow, my bank figures seem to be trickling away into zero-dom. I think there’s this issue with the convenience of the ATM Card/Debit Card that spending becomes so easy, thus resulting in this somewhat passive income leak o_O”. I’m gonna limit to $100 of daily expenditures a month from June so no more “big fish big meat” le. Sigh.

Another thing that’s at the back of my mind is debts. NOT MY DEBTS. But other people’s debts which I must remind them to clear. Lols. Lent money to couple of friends. Couple hundred per pop, but luckily they’re responsible to return it without me having to hound them, that could really ruin a friendship. But somehow I feel, its really not good at all to lend or borrow money as it induces stress on both parties to settle the debt which is not good at all for whatever the relationship between them.

Whatever. Think I starting to shoot off the mouth.

pacchonbo-mo-inoinoi chakaretapatton pankorakettonto-n

An incredibly cute song which I can’t seem to get out of my head….

no-ra churere-rotton poraporapetton pu-rorattantan

pappu-ra mo-inoinoi chakaretapatton pankorakettonto-n

o-ra poruketthi-no poporattantanso-

kokoreccho pie-nto-ra ma-nima-ni ungarafoccha-ra de-ra

totora-pethiton totora-pothiton senekiniko-se-pon

kokoreccho pie-nto-ra ma-nima-ni ungarafoccha-ra de-ra

totora-pethiton totora-mathisi-po-n