My 27th Birthday

No prize for guessing where I spent my 27th birthday on 13th Nov. It sure didn't kick in how old I'm beginning to get until I went for a revision class yesterday at school. I have classmates from the full-time programme. Classmates who are 10 years younger than me. omg...

Then again, I always believe that men would look better with age. e.g. Pierce Brosnan. Of course a suit and an accent might helped.

Back to my itinerary.

We checked into The Sentosa (Or Beaufort) on Saturday's afternoon. I'd stayed in the Rasa Sentosa before twice so this makes for a good change.



The place reminds me of Nirwana @ Bintan. Very relaxing atmosphere that one should just pig out in.



We checked in without wasting much time. Needed the air-conditioning.

Wa Lah!



I love the extensive use of wood. It makes the room very cosy. Maybe a little too cosy because we spent too much time on the thick, comfortable beds.

And I also found out that my wife becomes excited when she got her feet wet.



And you gotta check out the pool. You could actually just walk in and take a look. There's no closed gates or anything like that.



Who knows, you may catch some eye candy.

Can't see? Hang on while I zoom in...



Not your cup of tea? How about some nice looking trees instead.



Very quickly, we proceeded to check out the Spa Botannica. This is supposedly one of the best(and most expensive) in Asia. Needless to say, we opted to give each other back rubs instead.



They have this seemingly very interesting mud pool. Just pay $15 and you get to try it, plus get to use the pool and relax at the waterfall(picture). But skip all other. Not worth the dollar in my opinion.



The most exciting thing we did must be the Luge ride. Or rather the Skyride up to the Luge ride.

I always thought I got over my fear of heights. How quickly one's opinion can change in a matter of minutes



I totally enjoyed myself on this. So long had never undergone such adrenalin pumping activities.



**To my wife: Thank you for the thought and planning you took for this to happen.

Insurance

I had always wanted to write something about this topic but my recent schedule has not been cooperative.

And it should be worse now that I just failed my IPPT. Now I have to go for Remedial Training twice a week for a full 4 weeks before my next attempt. And I failed by 6 secs for my 2.4km run. :(

Anyway the topic is insurance, not my fitness level.

Having read Mr Wang's dissection of a typical pitch, it sure makes one think again about forking out money after money is getting higher and higher coverage.

For my current portfolio, I'm already paying about $650 per month of premiums. And somehow it never seemed enough. One of my agent recently reviewd my policy and if I were to have myself "fully covered", I need to spend another $600 per month on new policies.

I was like "Wow". And my intial $650 was only achieved not so long ago. It was only $150 per month previously.

$1200 per month!. That is like someone else's salary. This is financial planning?

Even if I'm earning $10k a month, spending 10% of it on insurance seems ridiculously high. My savings may not even be at 10%, though I must admit that all my policies are ILP, which carries a return and thus a higher premium.

Yes, the probability of you dying may add a heavy boulder over your family's shoulder. But all of us only have finite amount of money. Would you prefer to throw all $$ into insurance and let your family become overnight millionaires, or should you use that money to better the quality of everday life with your family.

Quantity versus quality.

Post Note: Many of us should be familiar with this.

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CA Burger @ Changing Appetite

Following my attempt to try all the nice burgers I could possibly find, I made a trip to Changing Appetite at the advice of my new friend Kelvin.

He tried it after reading the rave review on Asiaone. And this guy is like the burger addict. So his recommendation alone should worth many pennies.

The place was having this Halloween theme on the day I was there. Zombies, nuns, monsters would be serving instead of your normal waiter(ess)



They sure took pains to do up the decor. But it could be a bit distracting to keep having such "creatures" breezing past the corner of your eye.


If you break it, you ate too much

The burger took quite a while to arrive but looking at the presentation, it sure was worth the wait.



And it came with my fave. ONIONS!!!

One shortcoming though. It made me realised why beef pattie in burger are so dry. So that they will hold together and not fall apart when you simply poke your fork into them. So my beef burger ended up becoming Minced Beef with bread.

A.k.a. Roti John.

And I think they can do a better job at melting the cheese over the pattie for some adhesive effect.

Overall it's nice. The serving is huge and the salad carries a huge portion.

But at $11.90, I can have two Botak burgers? ;)

The Premiere Tampines

I finally got the chance to take a look at the showflat of The Premiere, the latest HDB to be built in Tampines. The area has not had any new flats for the past ten years so this excited many potential house buyers.



My wife and I had been waiting anxiously for the showflat opening. It started last weekend but the crowd was unbelievable. It was much much better this time.


How many people can you spot?

But the showflat still has too many people for my picture to tell anything, with the exception that it can hold many people.

There are two different showflats, one deck in black theme and the other in white. The theme is very gothic for the black one and very modern yuppies style for the latter.


I like the wallpaper

The design is very idealistic. Even the bomb shelter was coverted into an art piece. Who in the world would have zilch stuff to keep in the bomb shelter.


So.. sleepy

As with all new HDB, the room remains to be small. One bed and that's about all for nothing else.



The most impressive would be the balcony. Large enough for a bench and an indented section for plants.


With mirrors so big, who need walls

But the most impressive collection of props they had must be the....




...LAMPS...



VERY BIG LAMPS~~!...



Most really nice enough to distract one away from the many shortcomings..



like the plain ceiling...(the flat are supposed to be in moved-in condition, akin to condo)



the obvious power outlet...

But you can't help but wonder where they get these very impressive chadeliers..



$450k for a small HDB? No problem..



Just make sure it comes with one of these...

Debt free so easy meh...

Much as I try to be financially prudent, my efforts really look as big as a speck of dust when I see what others have managed to achieve.

On the other hand, the writer husband must be drawing real BIG bucks. Not many people I know can pay cash in full even for a Kia, let alone a Toyota.

So when I come across such letter, it doesn't really make me feel good. Need some retail therapy to help me get over this.

HDB flat, two kids, aged parents - and debt-free

Oct 13, 2006
The Straits Times

I REFER to the letter, 'Govt should relook income qualifying levels' (ST, Oct 7), and the writer's reason for buying a private property and not having children.

My husband and I have two young children and are totally debt-free. Even though we each hold a master's degree, I chose to be a stay-at-home mum to nurture our children. Despite surviving on a single income, we are debt-free.

We have paid fully for our home and car. We give our children a good standard of living and education. We support aged parents. We also set aside enough for rainy days and are saving diligently for our retirement.

The key to financial freedom is to live beneath your means.

We could have bought a private apartment with a loan but we chose to live in a five-room resale flat, paid for with our CPF.

We could have bought a BMW with a loan but we chose to buy a Toyota, paid for in cash.

The interest savings from being debt-free could be used to support one's aged parents and young children.

Subsidies should be channelled to people whose needs are greater than ours.

Allison Yeo Li Hwa (Ms)

Johor

I surprised myself over the weekend. I actually went into JB(Johor Bahru) to spend my saturday.

The last time I was there was more than a year ago. It was that long because I spent a total of 2 hours in JB that time before heading back to Singapore.

The routine was always the same. City Square, Holiday Plaza(Now called Mutiara), The Store and Pelangi.

My 2 hours trip then didn't encompass all 4 places but thinking that I have real objective of going to the latter 3, I decided not to and head home instead.

And the crowd at the custom was always a killer. Surprisingly it was very swift. Maybe the Hari Raya fasting got most people hanging at home instead. I didn't even need to queue at the Malaysia custom.



My friend and I reached there about 2pm and spent way too much time walking around at City Square. It's really a good place to go hunting for CNY clothes.



The highlight must be the thai massage. It cost RM65 for 90 mins.

I never screamed louder in my life before. She had to cover my mouth at one point.



And for those who don't know, xbox 360 can be modified. RM50 or RM100, depending on the kind of ROM chips it carried.



Despite how the hawker centre seems to make you think the food here is good, it isn't. Pretty disapppointed.



I think I can cook a better fried oyster.



My next target massage centre when I'm there again. Man Zhu Shuang!

Blur blur Singapore

The recent forest fire in Indonesia(Yes, I'm sure all of them are accidental) has created quite an atmosphere to Singapore in my opinion.

It make places look so mystic doesn't it. Sometime things not so clear may not necessarily be a bad thing. They do smell terrible I must admit

For one, it sure make the traffic condition much better. You don't see any driver crazy enough to zig zag along the highway in such visibility.



According to ChannelNewAsia, the pollutants index stands at a high of 80 today. 20 more and we can all start ordering in our meals.



It would be kinda cool if that were to happen on a weekday. Offices would be closed and schools would be shut.



And everyone could take a breather and spend more time with their family at home. Singaporeans are too stressed up, even those that are not working.

It sure would at least make Singapore more interesting in a way. Something unpredictable.

We may be one of the safest countries in the world but safe can be so plain boring when it become so consistent.

It's like those super nice guys that could give any women a safe sense of security.

These are safe people really. But no women want them. Too boring.

So please forest fire setter, do all of us a favour and be more hardworking this time. Let us have a Monday off!


Post Note: Singapore PSI hits new high of 130

Vincent's Wedding

How times fly. One by one we are all getting married liao.

It seemed only like yesterday when we were still hanging around the playground at Pasir Ris Park after our lessons at Hai Sing High.

Still can remember always bumping into Vincent playing soccer at the void deck whenever I was heading to the interchange.

To the newly weds: may you be blessed with a happy and blissful marriage.

Damn good food at a damn good price

And it sure was at Botak Jones.

Hearing the ad over and over again on the radio really got me excited about these all american food. I'm always into burgers and was so excited when Carl Junior came into town. Though I never stepped into that place after my 2nd attempt. It tasted too Burger King.

I had read about Botak Jones in the papers some time ago. It was opened by this Ang Moh. The interesting about his food is it is located at Tuas and at a coffeeshop, the first deemed by many to be the lousiest location one would consider and the 2nd you normally won't associate ang moh with.



Fast forward to present, he has two more branches at Ang Mo Kio and Clementi.

For those who had tried our current Do-&-Me standard of Western food, you are going to be surprised by Botak Jones.

Imagine having Billy Bombers kind of standard at coffeeshop and at coffeeshop prices.

They even have mustard for your burgers. That is something I don't even see at Billy Bombers.



The portion was huge too.

I had trouble keeping the fries from falling out of my plate. With sprinkling of pepper and chilli powder on it, it sure keeps your fingers busy.



You must be asking, " where's the meat?"

It's under that patch of cheese at the top. The thick pattie (close to an inch) was dipped into cheese for the final touch.

Verdict? Bagus! But will they kindly open a branch in Tampines or anyway else in the east?

OS X is cool?

Then you ain't seen everything yet.

Acting

I was walking back to my office yesterday and stumbled upon a filming in process.

Adrian Pang was there posing as a waiter. The rest I'm not really sure who they are.

The entire Ya Kun was blocked off due to the filming.

There are about 10+ extras sitting within the cafe, pretending to be customers.

This really bring back memories for me, when I was very keen in exploring an opportunity to establish myself in showbiz.

My first time was with Channel U. It was a comedy sitcom based in Ancient times. So I got to dress up like an Ancient Chinese men. That took about a whole day and provided me with an extra income of $20. And it also made me realised that I might not be suitable for this business. Because my face just look too big on tv. Think William Hung.

My 2nd and final involvement was an outdoor shoot. I get to play a Policeman this time round and acted with Kit Chan and Marco Lo. I even get to say something and sit in a mock-up police car. Half a day and $50. Come to think of it, I have it on tape. Maybe I can try to Youtube it.

But my focus wasn't on the main actors. It was on all the extras sitting aimlessly in the cafe, waiting for the whole thing to come to an end. For everyone else, they are actively doing something. The cameraman is trying to get the best shot, the director is organzing. But the extras, they just wait and wait.

I'm sure a few of them are in this for quick buck. But surely there will be a couple who are into this in hope for something greater.

Which was what I used to think too. But with the myraid and the rate that Idols/Superstar shows are sprouting, performing real badly during the audition has a higher chance of providing one with an easier path.

Technorati Profile

Customers are always right?

Customer forced out of restaurant after spat with chef

She had 'complained loudly' when told drinks from outside were not allowed

By Sarah Ng
Sep 10, 2006
The Straits Times

A QUIET dinner at a quiet restaurant in Upper Thomson Road turned ugly on Friday night when a spat broke out between the chef and a customer.

Teacher Ang Ai Min, 43, claims she was left with bruises on both her arms after the chef at the Le P'tit Breton, a French crepe restaurant at Thomson Imperial Court, physically forced her from the premises during an argument.

The problem started because Mrs Ang's two sons had brought a drink into the restaurant.

The co-owner of the two-year-old restaurant, Ms Sabrina Tan, 42, told her that drinks bought outside were not allowed in the eatery.

Ms Tan said: 'She told me off and said that I was picky.

'She also said that her sons did not drink in the restaurant. Then she stood up and said loudly that she was not eating at our restaurant anymore.'

Ms Tan said that Mrs Ang was still complaining loudly when she walked past the open-concept kitchen in the middle of the restaurant.

'Our chef told her to keep quiet, but she continued with her complaining and was taking her time to leave the restaurant,' said Ms Tan.

Mrs Ang alleges that the chef then grabbed her and forced her out.

She told The Sunday Times yesterday: 'We were leaving when the chef waved a spatula at me and told me that I can't talk so loudly in his restaurant. He also told me to get out.

'So I asked him why I can't talk loudly, and before I knew it he grabbed my arms from behind and yanked me out of the door,' she said.

'It all happened so quickly. I was so shocked that I didn't even scream for help.'

She called the police while outside the restaurant and later went to see a doctor for her bruises.

'I want people to know that such behaviour is unacceptable. How can anyone lay his hands on another person, not to mention using brute force on a customer?' she said.

Ms Tan said: 'The chef probably grabbed her arms, but it was not for no reason.'

She said that Mrs Ang had created a scene by complaining so loudly inside the quiet, 24-seater restaurant while making her way out.

She added: 'Our restaurant is a small and cosy place with a quiet ambience and we have to consider how other diners might feel about the noise.'

The police confirmed that they received a call from Mrs Ang at 7.35pm on Friday.

They will be following up with the case.

It really saddens me to see how people practise double standards nowadays, Maybe she was showing off her argumentative queen's english or she was hoping her complaints would be sufficient to grant her a free salad as a pacifier.

But dear Teacher Ang, can you imagine if your students bring food to class?

====================================================================
Teacher Ang: "Student Tan, why you bring food into class. Don't you know that food is not allowed during class?"

Student Tan:" Ai yah. Food only mah. Why you must pick on me? Somemore I bring it in only, I never eat it lor!"

Teacher Ang: " You xi ginna, no big no more. I tell you what is stated in the rule book, you still talk back to me so loudly!" (waving a ruler)

Student Tan: "why I can't talk loudly??!!"

====================================================================

Education used to be a pre-cursor to culture & manners. Not anymore...

Modern Relationship

Kenny just posted an entry relating to, shall I say, the complication of modern relationship.

Obviously he doesn't agree well to what his ladies' friend had commented on how one should handle such relationships.

The fact of life is the relationships nowadays are so much different from the ones our parents been through. Back then, there ain't 5Cs, no TV glorifying promiscuity, no FHM and there are only men in offices.

The value in our society has totally evolved. Divorce is a norm and single parent are everywhere.

But what he got rattled by from his friends, I got rattled by his closing thought.

That's why I plan to marry late, so I could get all the fooling and flirting around out of my system before I commit to one woman and one woman only, for the rest of my life, till death do us part.

Well, this is like trying to sleep as much as one can now so that one doesn't have to sleep anymore in the future.

I'm not advocating that we should go down the road of deterioriating the few strains of makes our relationship nowadays.

Just that the approach to the modern relationship doesn't work no more.

He started to have doubts in his mind, but when he came home to his messy house, his wrinkle-infested overweight wife and his Dolby Surround Sound™ bawling child, he's gonna wonder what the hell is he doing with his life. Outside, there's a young sexy lady wanting to blow his mind, and he's turning her down for the sake of morality? Screw morality!

My point here isn't the extreme opposite spectrum of the comparision. It's how the hell so much time was given for the house to become messy, for the wife to get all crumpled and for the kid to escalate into Mega Bass mode WITHOUT any intervention in the mid of the process?

Putting this into national context and it is akin to our PAP not seeking other engine of growth back when the industralisation evolution was heading downhill.

In a company context, that would be something like continuing the service of a worker whose's productivity has always remained stagnant for the past 20 years.

More than ever before, the need to reinvent & refresh oneself has became paramount.

• Messy house? Clean it.
• Wrinkles? Botox
• Noisy kids? Discipline

Dullness set in so fast now that playing catch-up is no longer a choice to maintain or sustain status quo.

But still, many people would not just take the foot off the pedal but completely turn off the engine espcially once the marriage cert is signed.

Image is gone & manners out the window and being replaced by weight. And sometimes lotsa it.

A cynical perception that there is no need to do any maintanence. What for leh. Married already bah.

Well, try taking a laid back approach to your new job once you secure it. I'm sure your boss will reciprocate like your partner does.

Postnote - Shelly on the same topic.

Singapore 0 - 0 China

It must have been years since I last drop by National Stadium to catch a football match.

Amazingly not much has changed. The Pepsi is still expensive and diluted, crowd control still sucks and they still haven't repair the speakers that make my $30 computer speakers sound like something from Bose.

But it sure brings back the good old Malaysia Cup sentiment. For once there are so many people at National Stadium and it's not because of NDP.

Looking at the picture, you would think they are there for some freebies.

We queued for the entire first half before we could get in. By the time we could warm our seats, it was the half time whistle.

The remainder of the match was a bore. Given that it is China, one would expect much more. We sat at the Chinese fans area and I kept wondering if they would turn on us should Singapore were to score a freak goal.

The more important aspect of this trip to me is reliving my memory lane. I'd been here to catch many Malaysia Cup matches, to catch Newcastle versus Singapore Selection. It was always packed to the brim. The claustrophobic atmosphere really brings out the adrenalin which makes a match so emotional and exciting.

And I'd even participated in NDP 94 under combined school choir. And one of our fellow school member were even caught on national tv yawning to the national anthem. That surely didn't got us invited back the following year.

This place should be tore down by end of the year, to make way for a sports hub plus a nicer stadium.

Thanks for the wonderful memories National Stadium.

Our next generation

An interesting article from littlespeck.com about Singapore's pampered youth. It's pretty paralle to what I had commented after reading BlinkMummy.

Is it the upbringing? The social conditioning?

They should be well aware since their first step into school that studying well is important so that one can get a good job, which basically means good pay, can have a better and easier life. This is something that parents preaches all the time.

Somehow along the way, the message got lost and all the time spent studying became merely a past time.

And this is not exclusive to youth with deep pocket parents.

Again, the long vacation after graduation so as to prolong facing up to reality.

One lady, for example, took off for a month-long backpacking Europe vacation immediately after graduation with parental approval. "I need a break before I start my career," she told them.

That trip lasted five months and cost more than S$25,000, before a threat to stop the funds forced her to return. Some wealthier kids are provided with a supplementary credit card.

This lady obviously brushed off the thought that her parents would also want a break from her bleeding them dry.

Our social conditioning had taught my generation to embrace materialism, and the next generation to become pampered and self-centred. I dare not imagine what would the following generation be gripping with.

To Comex for an Xbox

The advertistement states only for the first 100 customers of the day. Fwah, this sure adds pressure.

An exhibition like this can easily have 100 people passing through the gate within a single minute.

Ok, must have proper planning. Have to be there by 10am to recce and monitor the situation. This is even though the gate only opens at 12pm.

Reached at 1030am only. Hmm, not a lot of people. Maybe I was a bit overboard about this.

Time ticked away and soon it was 1100am.

Why suddenly can only see heads and nothing else. DAMN! And it seems to be clear now that a lot of people are harbouring hopes of getting the free xbox 360 with a maxonline 400 service.

We went to the entrance and started to blend into the queue.

==============================

The clock strikes 12! Ready! Get Set! GO!!!

We rushed towards the StarHub booth with all our might but BANG! I got my wind knocked out by a fatso who was surprising quick.

My wife went all the way in front. Haha. With her determination, I can slowly slowly jalan there.

Hmm.. I'm sure it is

Efforts did pay off. We got to be one of the 100 and I even bought a bluetooth earpiece at a good discount.

And guess what we saw. The DJs from my weekday morning staple, Petrina & Joe.

I had wanted to take a picture with them but as usual, I'm too shy to ask.

They were playing some who-can-blow-and-burst-the-ballon first game. And no, the lady on the left didn't win.

There is Petrina although I was aiming for Marilyn who was beside her. Kekez.

I so can't wait for my Xbox collection day. I'm going to be so lifeless again.