3 hour dinner

It started with a 2 hour wait from when i got off work. I then proceeded to meet up with my dear friend cheryl T(well i know about 6 cheryls,thankfully all with different surnames).  I got to the station in the east near geylang and strolled around for a good 1 hour before she finally appeared. Apparently busy at work, she came down for dinner at 7.45 pm. Funny thing is, she calls her work flexi hours, meaning she plans all the hours herself(and yet …dinner is… not well planned in advance)

Anyway I must admit I was very tired and sounded very irritating, even to myself, over sms. I slept at 3am the day before and had been caught dozing off in front of the computer at work earlier in the day.  I honestly wanted to go back home to catch some shut-eye. I glad  I didn’t.

I spent about an hour wandering the odd numbered streets of geylang under the playful golden strands of clouds that seem to change with every skyward gaze to the awesome golden spectacle of the retiring sun. It was between savouring the aroma of ripe , 1 dollar durians and wondering why my friend was missing out the beautiful scenery that I began missing my camera. Then i realised the spectacle set up today wasn’t for a day of photography, but more for a day of solitary contemplation of what lies ahead in life.

I was tired, underpaid and waiting for the next phase of my university life to resume from the long hibernation of the summer holidays. And here was a friend who has no real intention of pursuing her degree, fresh out of “work” (ML-Marketing) having dinner and looking very much awake.

We talked about everything from work, rich dad poor dad, and what our plans for the future are. I outlined the fact that I had a rough plan for the future (which, honestly i made up right there and then!) and she revealed her aversion to debt. I told her, using whatever I had gleaned from my brief encounters with rich dad poor dad material, that debt wasn’t a plague to be shunned and that personal spending , how much you want something, can be controlled. Monthly cashflow was how I was going to run my life. And she highlighted the loopholes in my ideal plan- What if?. Man proposed and god disposes .

She tried to make me see the need to make a headstart in increasing cashflow with the view that university fees will never be paid back, ever. But our university fees total about 60k after the grants. 90% of which is covered by a no interest loan that only starts to generate interest 3 months after graduation. Which means you have 4 years and 3 months to make 60k. Now, you don’t have to work your ass off to get yourself that amount of money. Furthermore, 500 dollars every month will not kill you. Straight out of Uni you may even choose to pay off your loan 1k at a time, finishing it in 60 months- 5 years. As a grad most likely still living with your parents, with clothes on your back, food at home about 1.9k-3k per month in income, don’t you think its possible to pay off the debt?

I intend to do a phd or at least a masters if possible. And there’s where she didn’t probe. its economically not viable to do it unless you hail from a millionair household. But no one does a phd on a whim. Almost all PhDs are funded.

I also realised why I was mentally prepared to let go off archery. I’ve already learnt something about myself that I did not know before- I get anxious. I do suffer from a slight bit of anxiety. And at the shooting line, it shows like a madman at a parade. But its all good, we all have limitations. Better to know it now, and try to fix it, or deal with it, than to live with it lurking in the shadows like a tumour, slowly eating away at your well being.

I wish I had more people to talk to regarding such grand plans . Everyone just seems to coast along here in NTU. Its ok if they are relaxing , willing the days to pass more slowly as they soak up the sense of freedom without obligations; they only have another 3 years to make up for lost adolesence. The ones that worry me are those that coast along, yet will it to pass quickly as  though they were in secondary school; as if 20 years of maturity have thought them nothing; as if work will bring solace to their minds cluttered by the testing tutorials and tiring timetables. Those are the ones that get a job and look back, wishing it was.

There’s no convincing cheryl to study like she likes it, like she enjoys it. Money is paramount to her as they’ve preyed on her filial piety as they nearly did mine. I admire her intention to support her family with this “work” of her’s and I can see that she’s taking to it more than to her coursework, but I can tell she’s going to wish she had spent her time studying or playing.

5 years down the road either she strikes it rich using this scheme and earns 50k a month by 30, or ends up as disillusioned as my mother by so many schemes before.(to be fair, my mom is getting a fair pay for her efforts after 4 years in the industry) The worst part is, she wouldn’t have the time or the frame of mind to think of what she wants to do in life.

Isn’t that what University is all about?

there’s butter and there’s “NO! MUST use this one!” butter

I finally satiated my craving… to MAKE/BAKE cokies!! i didnt bring my camera in and my phone ran out of battery while at my uncle’s house so i couldn’t take any “PROOF” haha Well, i didn’t bring my camera coz i was travelling at night, after 9, all alone to my uncle’s house by public transport. I can risk my ipod and headphones, but my camera? you’ve got to be kidding me.

anyway, I tried the same recipie i used the last time, but i forgot my recipie book! thank goodness i got it from a webbie .. hehe… but i tweaked certain things like the proportion of sugar(though still too sweet ) and the amount of chocolate used. I also changed certain things like the adding of manuka honey as well as coffee powder.

I realised manuka honey isn’t fragrant enough and that its pretty much a waste if you put too much coffee too.

Well all in all my uncles and aunts loved it and were quite impressed but i sorta gave them ALOT of problems hahaha next time i’ll buy all my ingredients and stuff before i go over. And probably bring my very own mixing bowl! kinda ran out of bowls to measure all my ingredients… the red and black bowl i bought at jurong point would have been perfect!

10 ziplock packs (actually can fill 12) of cookies from 2 blocks of butter, 1kg of flour(some left), 1kg brown and white sugar and other required flavourings! thats a lot of cookies actually hahahah but i’m bringing some for my colleagues to eat . I think i’ll make it my personal signature move before i leave a company . lol  funfun

my aunts insistence on using scs butter was quite irritating, but it actually turned out more fragrant than using golden churn. both were NOT cheap. esp when bought in jb! goodness, i think i spent less when i was baking in sg.

I realised why my cookies were spreading out like water- the butter was melting! my 6th aunt mentioned in passing and everything made sense. I realised this didnt happen in america or australia coz they didn’t bake in 30 deg C surroundings! so if it got too warm ,the butter would melt and the dough would lose its consistency and become runny! so i had to periodically pop the whole mixture into the FREEZER to let the butter solidify. Next time i’ll prepare a double bowl of ice to place my mixture on while i load the baking trays… or just pop the mixture in the fridge between trays

I think i haven’t gotten the timing right yet… to me they’re ALL overbaked. 15 -20 mins…is too long, but the recommended 12-14 is too short! it doesn’t help that the oven’s timer handle is broken and you have to estimate where the pointer is pointing to.  However, my aunts and uncles all thought THATS the way its supposed to be. LOL I think its lucky that they haven’t tried my 1st batch of cookies made with adlin HAHA

Its my 1st time baking on my own (ok SOME help from the maid lah!) but I think i’m ready to do it without the recipie the next time , and without help(both physical and monetary) . the only thing is the damn oven! i don’t have an oven!

why haven’t i heard of her yet?

hall senior’s camp! etc.etc.

ok i reneged on my promise to upload pics… well, coz i realised the pain of working on 2 different platforms and 2 different operating systems dealing with 3 different  avenues of doing one thing- uploading photos.

so i shall forget about posting pics LOL

but it was fun. like the hss camp, just that we each knew everyone. It was really more of like, a reunion , whereas the hss camp was more of a get to know each other session as well as a manpower check (well, they need manpower for their games!).

Was supposed to bake cookies this sunday, but realised my grandma wasn’t going into jb, so everyone would be out here at my place and i would be stuck here without an oven, or mixer, as usual. shit.zzzz I resolve to bake myself a quiche (ok cookies take backseat over spinach+meat quiche HEHE). been itching to try my hand at it for the past 2+ months! I realised i needed to get this out of the way when i was shopping around in TANGS for a mixer… siao… a guy, in tang’s kitchen department after work comparing prices? w.t.f?

Anyway back to the camp, well, its not so much of a camp as we didn’t stay over…. but what the heck, we tried out a lot of games! and the atmosphere was so much more fun than the hss camp coz everyone was like old classmates(well, the hss camp has people of diff specs ) and even the competitive water bomb games were so funny.

Will be spending the next day @ home….

the moment i get my i/o plate (the plate covering the spaces between the ports at the back of your computer, yes thats removable and unique to each motherboard model) i will set up my 4.1 speaker system, which i intend to screw to the bottom of my table, and finish setting this baby up!Its been way too long man…

Actually i’m itching to build a new system for someone.. hahhahaha guess the reassembly of my current rig has reignited the spark… lol

Now i’m faced with a dilemma- should I save up another 400 bucks and buy a bow for about 800? or should i just blow 180 on a new graphics card? OR maybe get a 30 dollar mixer and 120 dollar oven! OR build my dad a new computer!! OR… just save it and splurge on myself in other ways??

choices… choices…

I’m a bit under the weather lately. after the camp i slept like a log the moment i hit the hard plastic seats in the mrt. I was in the train with 3 friends, and all i could do was sleep. man… when i got home, my nose started to leak . It hasn’t stopped since. been having on-off symptoms of the flu for the past 2 weeks already and on- off migraines that have incapacitated me on two occasions.

one more week of work , then one week of rest, and 3 weeks of camp. i’m in such a need of a workout!!!!

rat race? why race? why be a rat?

every day i inch closer to a possible future in the corporate world. every semester done is an unconcious step out of the protective estuary and into the wide, vast unknown.

I worked 2 days of overtime, and didn’t feel like I was wasting time. I wasn’t learning anything new, I wasn’t even properly remunerated for the qualifications I have, but i’m burning another 2 hours after official hours. For once, I am working for money. For once, I am not of the mindset that its an opportunity.

My muse is down under on intership. Its quite interesting to draw inspiration from someone. But if they are your muse, the mere thought of them should spur your imagination and passion in whatever it is they inspired you to do in the first place.

I’ve been reading and talking with people who are looking to get rich. reading rich dad’s how to think like an investor and reading every news clipping relating to the stock market and even attending a seminar about options trading. I am drawn to economics due to the trend of the stock market. I was facinated and drawn to it when I was small and used to cut them out! The interest grew when I realised that the trend could be explained(albeit very very lousily) by a subject called economics. And my thoughts have generally gravitated to the life blood of the system I am so drawn to- money. And honestly I see many opportunities. But thats all I see- opportunities, money and the work required to get at both.

I am not thinking. I am not thinking about the right question. Thinking about all these things, and especially money, has driven me to think like a banker. Thats not who I am or who I remotely aspire to be. Its not what I want.

I surfed random blogs on blogger for 30 minutes then i stumbled upon one that featured a recepie. Well, I didn’t even know what the recepie was about, but reading the description stunned me. Here was this family of 3 who make “their own soap, bake their own bread, store their food….and bought a used van after a year without a car(by choice)”. What struck me more was the entry that drawed me like a magnet: My happy man.

A simple life. A simple life revolving around food, cycling, children and most of all, living.

I’m not going to stay in singapore.

-

Its weird typing on a silcone keyboard covering. much quieter, but the keys seem less responsive but this forces me to be more exact.

Its weird typing on my desk in my room. For the first time since ns. for the first time . ITs like i never owned this desk before.

cleaning up my life.

Time to move.. time to move on , slightly.  I’ve done some site clean-up and am planning to use the week to clear my room. Will be putting my beloved com back together too. Moving everything back to my desk, reclaiming some floor space.

I will watch my grey’s anatomy!! over 6 months overdue lol I have season 2 and 3. Will start tomorrow.

1. clear desk

2. clear floor

3. clear room

4. clear mind.

then its off to mediacorp on thurs… for singapore idol!  

4 dollar slippers and a walk round jalan besar

I remember when my dad shopped for slippers with me last year just before hall. It was a little frustrating as we scoured queensway for a pair that could fit me. In the end he had to fork out 22 for a pair of teva’s… which is very ex considering its only a sole with some cloth at the top holding the sole to your feet.

Today i took time out to do my course registration proper, then collect my motherboard from the distributor Since it was in Kallang,I decided to take a hike to sungei road. I had no idea where it was, only a rough idea from the places my 70+ uncle told me about. Jalan besar, the blue mosque on lavander road…. and a very strong hunch it was west-northwest of lavendar station. So i started off from lavendar station, walked till i suddenly reached this place where I had very nice beef ball soup.. and laksa…(just off jalan besar! now i know how to get there by foot ) and a shop which specialises in veneers and wood….and i found it!

=pictures soon=

I realised it was only 50 m behind sim lim tower… shit, which means its closer to bugis than lavendar. haha crap . Anway, it was filled with old stuff(DUH!) and it was a joy to see so many old coins . Too bad Thank goodness I bring enough cash if not I would have been on a buying spree for old straits settlement coins! but there were so many and most were in bad condition. There were merchants(old uncles lah) who specialised in stamps too! man, there were SO MANY!!! and some were in full sets! malaya stamps from the strait settlement times- all 12 states!!

I spied a pair of teva slippers… exactly the same model(ok diff design lah) and SIZE as mine… I mulled about, then asked the price- $5. wow… I flipped them over and noticed there were no signs of wear on the sole…cool but the top portion was very dusty. I took a walk around and called my mom for advice.. haha in the end, i realised I only had 5 on me LOL I still bargained for $4 LOL and i got it! my new pair of slippers for $4! HAHAHA best!

There were a lot of binoculars for sale too…but nothing there for archery lah… there were a lot of handphones too.

I hit sim lim tower after that. Its a whole lot smaller than sim lim square, and its layout was thus a lot simpler. I realised that it was THE place to go if you needed electronic parts- capacitors, solar cells, gears, rubber bands for gear systems, LEDs, LED signage, UV lighting, fans, soldering equipment etc etc. But not everything was cheap. I spied a $8.50 magnifying glass set (with 2 crocodile clips to hold the i/c board) that came with a stand at a shop on the top floor, but the same thing costs 12.50 in the basement! My dad is into minature modelling so it would be a great thing to get him .

I hopped over to the temp rochor food centre for a huge glass of chin chow+soya at 80cents! lol then had to head on home coz I think I was a bit dehydrated and had this very worrying headache. the kind that starts from the back, moves to the front then stays at the temples and.. yeah it just becomes very worrying.

fun day. But i hit the sack the moment i reached home. lol

1st week of work

Its a familiar, yet unfamiliar feeling. Familiar in the sense that I get home tired and mentally worn as usual, but unfamiliar in the sense that I am physically not. I sleep on the train on the way back. I could forsee myself in this situation when I finally don’t get hall .

Anyway, I’m working a temp data entry(more like extraction, since the data is already on the database) but there are a lot of temp workers around my age(most <20!) and the atmosphere is very relaxed. Even though the work is routine and boring, the people and the very very nice 30+ female boss make it bearable. Its almost like accounting book keeping. But its more like clearing up the accounting MESS. Its in such a mess because the “system” is very backward and flawed. They could save the 6+k per month hiring all 6 temps and invest that money into tendering for a SOFTWARE to help them manage the huge amount of information that is now being cumbersomely held in databases that require more than 10 minutes for a user to generate a printout for an invoice. The good point is that many forms can be generated from very raw information such as the price of medicine and bed prices with just a few(ok more than 12 clicks and about 4 minutes for one form LOL) clicks. The problem is that the databases are probably overloaded aged and nearing their full capacity. They don’t need to hire us, they need to hire a software systems engineer and upgrade their database server!

Well, the working conditions are dismal, but usable. It resembles those chinese “cyber gold” farms where they cram 6 people into a room no larger than 2 hostel rooms and use the space in between as storage. No views and one door. But I heard it was either that or sitting outside the CEO’s office, so i guess tihs is better lol. Its a small hole away from it all and a place where the youthful vibrance can flourish away from the stern, jaded and bitter admin heads that have been in the hospital for way too long.

I really can click with my new colleagues and although its really been less than a week, I feel like i’ve known them forever! Its quite fun and interesting with the girls being more “dirty minded” and taking things the wrong way and hearing the wrong things more often than the guys(for once) the other 2 guys are more work orientated than ME! And they’re really hardworking. And best of all, they’re all as lame as I can be sometimes Well, its refreshing for a change, to have the girls be the ones telling most of the lame jokes .

I am really tempted to bring my own mouse and MONITOR there. The CRT monitors are REALLY killing my eyes. After 45 minutes, I have to look around and stretch. HAVE TO. If not productivity will dip. they’re really old and can’t even be set to the threshold freq that our eyes can’t detect screen flicker(above 75hz). Oh and its not doing my posture any favors too.  Well, not as if my posture is super good at home anyway LOL

Oh well, 6.5 an hour.. can’t complain , much. its only a month anyway

2 days of non-stop fun!

The past 2 days were almost like I was on vacation IN singapore. Actually, come to think about it, technically I am. haha

Friday started with tim sum @ a restaurant in orchard with my family followed immediately , at two, by ghost of girlfriends past. Ok, i thought it was a chick flick at first, but its really funny. It does fall into the romantic comedy genre, but its actually got quite a few twists that are really unexpected and very hillarious. It is FAR from cheesy. Ok, it got a BIT predictable when they got to the third ghost, but everything after that and before that was GREAT. The plot was actually very well written. And even if you’re not a fan, or are a skeptic of shows in the romantic comedy/ chick flick genre, the show will still appeal to you. A LOT of things were very very unexpected and jaw dropping hillarious.

After that I headed down to great world city and got tickets for the 9pm screening of angels and demons. I was about 70+% drained by then due to the fact that I had little sleep for much of the week. However, I didn’t sleep a wink through this entertaining and exciting movie. I must say, the story flows seamlessly with very few distractions from the main plot. As its totally fiction, its very unpredictable, but the twist at the end was very very nice. It does touch upon, albiet briefly, the immense red tape that is plagueing institutions or countries such as the vatican . Furthurmore, it gave roman architecture , history as well as the city itself , great exposure as the relentless action flowed through the present-day streets and ancient churches of rome. Definitely a show worth watching. The special effects were really few and far between but enough to make it seem real. My aunt even noted that the show had no swearing minimal violence and no sex!

I got home and slept at about 1.30 only to wake up at 7 to catch the 8am ferry to a casino boat. lol we boarded the casino boat at about 9.50am. We played about 2 hours of jackpot where my cousin and I squandered 100 bucks each. hehe but its my aunt’s money ! haha and she gave us another 50 each to spend. We used the cash to have foot massages and spent about 2 hours after lunch sleeping. hehe Well, of course I brought my camera and got all the shots I wanted(seriously nt much to take lah). We left the boat at 5 after my aunt had won about 1.8k lol cool… all from jackpot machines.. playing 2 cents per line haha

After that , we scooted on over to carnivore! LOL! omg man.. so fun! the beef there was PERFECT!! medium rare sirloin melted in my mouth! the rump was good, but a bit tougher and a tad chewy. The prim rib was well done, but it was so tender! i don’t know how they got it that soft like it was stewed! just great! I think i overate. For the first time i left beef on my plate! well, it was overcooked and really paled in comparison to the other cuts.

We headed over to page one to browse books and “work off” some of the fat lol but my aunt ended up at the central area at vivo which had a bazaar featuring  thai clothing lines. VERY cheap. 10 dollar tees and 1 dollar padded hp pouches for girls. bikinis for 15? smth like that. well, still, i think paying so much for string and triangles of cloth is .. stupid.. well, only if i know u . if i don’t, by all means, go ahead and buy/wear it LOL

Yeah, satisfaction…. the fb tarot card reading was quite right. “the world” card.. haha. anyway, its time to start reading up some macroecons. work will start on monday. Now to sleep off the after effects of the ferry trip! (i still have the feeling like i’m on a boat. really fighting the tendency to NOD along with the ‘waves’!)

goodness and goodnight/morning haha

its late.

I know i should be sleeping now. sleep at 3 and waking at 12 isn’t the same as waking at 9 and sleeping at 12. its the same amount of time, but somehow, the morning hours are really needed. its not good enough to hit the sheets so late. Its a different kind of rest i guess. And you don’t realise it till you sleep at 3 for long enough, then one night, you sleep at 1, not even 12 mn, and you FEEL the difference.

Sometimes, i think i need to get a life, get a job and get everything in my life sorted out. Its too late, way too late for me now actually. But never too late to change. my com table is supposed to be kept away, my books are supposed to be thrown away(jc books mind you) and my desk is supposed to be reclaimed… Procastination -.- i’m running out of floor space already!