Last minute Resolutions

Better pen something down before I kiss 2008 good-bye.

New Year Resolution
1) Manage my work and time much better so that I can be a more satisfied person.

2) Overcome my own limitations and barriers that hold me back from getting what I want.

3) Lose those flab, learn to drive, master more of guitar and Jap

I would have liked to type more but I was busy tidying the room from 6pm onwards until just 10mins ago. Phew... Mostly down, though I still need to sort through clothing and stuff to throw away and more.

Happy New Year to all.

不死之身

Yesterday, I listened to the earlier JJ album and found another song, 不死之身， that I really like alot. Went online to find the guitar tabs, print it and actually started looking through it and tried playing parts of it. So far I am practicing 2 JJ songs (my own project) and 2 Jay Chou songs (syllabus) Later couldnt sleep so watched Thundercats until the wee hours of the morning.

Woke up today to see sinseh for my finger. Before that, I went back to playing that JJ song cos its in the D key, can just capo. I had figured out the introd and the chorus. Didnt know how to fill in for the verses cos its a bit like rap and the tabulature didnt mention how. I kinda of figured it out before we left. Now I am left with interlude and ending which would have to be improvised cos the guitar is meant to be an accompanyment to the piano for this song, hence its blank. Hmm... I gotta to wait another 2 days before I can start playing. The sinseh massaged my finger and tell me to give it a rest for 1-2 days.

Came back home around 4pm and felt tired. Slept, then woke up rather late. Now dunno what to do with myself. Dun want to fight for tv with my dad, now listening to the documentary about PuYi, last emperor of china. Dun feel like mapling. Dun feel like eating, cos ate around 4pm liao. Dunno what to do with myself, cos the past few days, been busying myself practicing guitar alot.

Hmm I should either just go next door to walk a bit or continue watching Thundercats now instead of in the middle of the night.

No Life?

Yar, in a sense, I am somewhat the master of my own time DURING holidays. Especially after friday, I would end up practicing the guitar til the wee hours of the morning. Last night was no exception. Then this late morning, I continued until somewhat mastered the new stuff, ie chord melody interlude with accompanyment and a new plucking style and new song.

Told my youngest sister and friends about the so-call performing of a song in a month's time. I would have to select a song by after next week to decide to play. Friends wanted to attend, though I dunno where it would be held.

Today, my sister passed me the CDs for JJ and Jay Chou. They were the earlier albums, and I spent maybe two hours listening then went to practice the chord melody part. Inbetween I went out to buy lunch, run a few errands nearby, bathed. Have somewhat got the hang of things. Also inbetween rubbed muscle cream on the forefinger and massaged it. Still if my fingertips were not so sore, I would like to practice a few more rounds.

So now I am online, to take a break, also searching for guitar chords, with interesting introd and interlude otherwise just kinda plain sounding. Well free time is running out. Very very soon, work will start and I am not sure, if I can indulge in guitar as much as now. Its satisfying to hear and see improvement compared to what I had just 1.5mths ago. Dilligent practice helps though.

Shooters.... the whole point of it all

Argh still suffering the after-effects of yesterday's party. Mostly my stomach is churning. It could be due to the noodles I bought for supper when I reached home.

Today wanted to move my stuff but things are not ready hence I ended up in IMM cos I was looking for a toilet. I went to Daiso and actually saw more shot glasses. Undecided whether to buy or not, I smsed Tab who was still stuck at work. In the end, I got 2 more shot glasses. The difference is that these 2 are much bigger than the one I used. Its like a giant vs a dwarf. The larger one is 100ml, my smaller one, I am not sure, maybe less than half?

Back to the point about concocting shooters.

THE WHOLE POINT IS TO SHOOT OTHERS, NOT SHOOT YOURSELF...

Didnt help dun have enough shot glasses and lack of Baileys, which is used in many shooter recipes. Man, I kept making shots for myself... Only later, sabo the guys each with a Adios Motherf*cker - kahula and tequila.

Shots I drank, tequila pop x 3, Mind Eraser x 1 plus 2 beer... kinda whoozy by then

Did do up the AdiosMF, SOB and nasty bitch for others.

If there is a NEXT time, lol, with Baileys of course, will make everybody drink a shot each...

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Nothing much else happening except work's starting real soon next week and I am not ready for it. Didnt do up anything for work. Played, slept the time away and its not enough.

Shooters!

Yar I been into shooters ever since the Howl at the Moon, tasting that Brokeback Mt drink. Wanted to get the butterscotch schnapps thingy but not available in the duty free nor in supermarkets. Btw, that shooter is a common mix known under many other names.

Anyway its almost that time of the year where we head to Tab's place for the usual christmas afternoon. Last year I remembered mixing 6-7 drinks using that alcohol book of mine. This year, I am just going to bring beer, Miller and Budwiser in bottles. Though need to chill it by the time I reach there. I am also kinda keen to make a few shooters. I've been looking through internet recipes on common ones. A website I had favourited long ago had over 1000+ recipes. Man, I looked through as many as I could, taking down common ones and those that can be made from the usual array of drinks available. I scribbled down at least 20+ recipes into that book.

Let's see if I can add shooters to my repertoire.

A day gone just like that?

Yar I woke up around 10am cos I watched a movie marathon of the Blade Trinity. Watched Blade I, II and Trinity at one go. Of course by the time I was done, its way past 1am. Man part ii and iii kinda lame-mo story line.

Then woke up, loggin into Poems. Wanted to sell some shares but prices have fallen some, so watching how it pans out. Finally decided to set a target point, if prices reach that, would sell off some. Otherwise stay invested, keep feeling up and down as prices move up and down. Think take a bit of profit can keep me more invested. Something like that but its not to be. Today's market going down still, though recovered a bit by the end.

So I ate some leftover, read some stuff online, looked at Live prices movement of shares. That took me past 2.40pm. Felt so tired, went to sleep. Wanted to head to Ginza a bit, wanted to head out a bit but nobody was free at that timing, everybody else working. Feel into a deep sleep and woke up past 6pm. Ate dinner, login to record closing prices n monitoring Excel file and read stuff online.

Now is already 7.30pm. I should head over next door to pay my bill, buy my pack of coffee and even walk around. Even for a home-stayer, too much indoors is a bit tad hard to swallow. At times, just go next door to walk a bit to clear up any pent-up feelings.

BTW my finger still sore, dunno if I can play the guitar later.

The "Singaporean" Lifestyle

Before I start on this probably controversial post, lemme give a background as to why this came about. My sister had told me that when her colleagues asked her if she had gone abroad during her leave, she told them she just stayed at home. They say that she's kinda weird for staying at home instead of travelling abroad for holidays. I just told her that its a Singaporean lifestyle it seems. While I am trying not to stereotype anyone, its just what I figure from my interactions with friends and colleagues that shapes this perceived lifestyle (man, its hard to type fast with a wrapped forefinger...)

Well what is this lifestyle shared by so many?

Firstly there is the 'time-frame formula' for marriage. At least for the guys. They plan to finish NS, work for a few years, then get married before or by the age of 30. This seems to be a fairly common practice. Though the formula doesnt really work for the gals cos being Asian, its still the guy chasing the gal, not the other way around, hence the increasing number of singles (me being one of them too)

Second is the way they spend their holidays. Its almost always a trip or two abroad, be it the nearby Asean countries or the further European, Asian tours or free-and-easy trips. Talking to some colleagues and friends, it seems to them like a sort of getaway. Like work so hard through the entire year so must reward oneself with a trip. Some save up hard too, to enjoy this reward. For some I've encountered, their dream is to be able to travel to many many countries in their lifetime, hence they work and save up and then go to those destinations.

*At least for my family, we dun really like to travel. The only frequent travelling is back to the home country. Having to go back regularly during the holidays when we were younger, meant we didnt grow up travelling abroad for tours. When one is older, dun feel compelled to travel unless necessarily. Though not all other foreigners share this. It didnt help that we have only a few destinations that really want to go to, unlike some whom seemed like wanting to travel the world. There is no right or wrong but just dun go about pushing one's lifestyle onto others. Do note that many things lies on a spectrum, the ends being the extremes. There are those who love to travel on one end, and those travel-adverse on the other end. Its not entirely one or the other, most lies somewhere in the middle*

A third obvious trait is the need to own a housing. It is understandable cos the price of housing in sg is very expensive compared to the neighbouring countries, hence for Singaporeans who intend to work and live here, get married, its very high on their list of priority. It is so important that boyfriends and girlfriends would go to HDB to sign for their first unit, and then after a place is settled, then go for engagement then marriage nearer to the completion of the unit.

*At least for my family, the main investment tools seem to be in shares and in land. My grandfather is mainly agricultural land and my dad is through shares. Not housing land but more commercial and plantation land. Though I myself dont own any physical land, I note the value of it through what I saw as a child. In agricultual produces generating income, in commercial ppty generating rental and capital appreciation. As my dad had explained, though one doesnt own the land, but if one buys shares of a biz that owns land, one is somewhat 'owning' it. The biz generates returns from the land and you get a slice of it. Moreover, land appreciates in value over time, though commercial is faster and more valuable than agricultural, hence the 'value' of such shares will rise. But unless one can have the capital needed to buy up a piece of land and develop it and sell/rent it, the prices are beyond the reach of a middle-class. This view is somewhat echoed through the stock counters I am buying into. Most are ppty related, not housing ppty, but retail, commercial, agricultural ppties, some with manufacturing activities.

Yet in sg, things are different, there are those who profit from the housing market. We dont hear much about individuals with commercial land but about pple selling/en-bloc etc and making money. The difference is that in msia, the owning a housing wont make this type of money, nor is renting as prevalent. Also the fact that in sg, most can only afford a unit in their lifetime. Its a bit like a gamble that one can sell off when prices have risen. The only problem is that selling off one, meant have to buy another (if you live it) to replace it, both in a market that is going up. Hence based on our background, our perception of owning ppty differs. But again, to each his own, there is no one right way to make one's dreams of wealth. Maybe mine will take longer or even not materialize but that's my path so far*

Maybe another minor one would be the need to own a car in sg. Most would have a license by time one is a uni or poly grad. Then those who got married would get their cars, though not always. Those singles would still get their cars a few more years into their working life or settle for sharing the family car.

*Understanably the transport system in other neighbouring countries pales in comparision to sg transport. In fact time and again, I have to mentally chid myself for being spoilt rotten by the public transport here. Things like having air-con, tv to watch, a comfortable seat, the ease of changing modes as well as the relatively low fares are often forgotten in the grinds of daily life. Compare it to taking a bus in JB or my hometown. Cramped and squeezed into a non-air con bus, manually buying a ticket from the bus conductor, waiting long under the sun for fifteen mins to half an hour for the only bus plying the road, no desiginated bus stops... etc etc So in those countries, the car is a must. Its the most efficient mode of transport. At least in sg, there is a few choices, bus and mrt, or cab or own car. Some would say even in sg, getting around is not easy without a car. If one wants to save time, gotta pay the price for it though cos sg has one of the world's highest cost of owning a car. So for those who are paying, they would want to maximize it*

Well other minor quirks aside, its easy to forget that there are others from other cultures who cannot seem to understand or fit into this sg mould. Its part of the percularities of each country, shaped by the way things are in their lives. Hence practice tolerance towards differences.

The End is Neareth

SORE FINGER

Last nite, I rubbed my left forefinger with some cream cos it felt stiff yesterday. The day before, ie Saturday I had practiced guitar again to master the new song. The thing is I have somewhat mastered the bass melody introd. Think overplayed or what? Overbend?

Today still stiff and sore so I bandaged it with some muscle cream. So whether I wanted or not, I cannot play the guitar, to give it a rest. Think if tom also not better, will have to stop for a few days to observe. Am disappointed. Its not even the fingertips that are sore from the hard strings. Its like the stiffness in bending the finger.

TOTALLY....

Went out with sisters who wanted to sing karaoke. We headed to Kbox nearby and it was a wasted trip cos they didnt accept the coupon again. First instance was cos it was on a public holiday. Today was cos its the festive period so not applicable.

While walking around, they each bought a new watch from Citychain. Both watches they bought are similar to my 2 watches, the sporty green one and the gold leather one. Cos both brands had sale and so each bought one from the brands. Then Geoky started her "Totally.... cool" thing with her fake bimbolic american accent. I had lost count of the number of times, I had shown her the whites in my eyes by the time we reached home. She'll ask the time and we'll all look at our watches and she'll do her line again about how cool she looked with her new watch *eyewhites*

I HAVE THE POWER!!!!

We headed to PS and played the arcade again. Played the basketball game twice. I couldnt finish the guitar game... with a wrapped forefinger. Then I got all the swords that I was collecting from the gachapon.

Ate at Pastamania. Had a hearty meal with chicken sausage linguine with nachos and top off with apple crumble pizza. My sisters also enjoyed the meal with their various spageitte. They like the nachos and the pizza alot. Then after all the stuff, we headed to the careffour to get stuff. I got a dozen beers at one shot, Miller and Budwiser, a pax each. Bringing a few bottles to Tab's party.

WORK COMETH...

Work is starting this week. Tom I have to start calling and stuff. NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am enjoying this way too much to start the slog again.... bubububu

My last chance to monitor stock prices so actively I reckon. Better finish my list of errands tom.

Lost Youth?

Drinking at Morton, drinking 3 martinis then going for guitar lesson is not really a good idea. Made my way from Cityhall to Dolby Ghaut area in a daze... Not drunk cos I didnt swayed but feeling very very relaxed. In fact I was listening to the Chinese songs I am learning for guitar in Midori and singing along. Maybe not too loudly like a drunkard.

By the time I got off at DB, I went to a 7-11 to buy 2 bottles of mineral water and downed one to sober up. More sober by the time lesson started. But guess alcohol affected my playing of the bass-melody for the new song that we started learning, also new stuff like playing accompanyment in melody, another way of ending the melody to plucking and also a new chord. I did write down notes and pointers. Somewhat by the end of the lesson, about half done with the song. Able to play the strumming parts, left with the melody and the song which I completely dun know.

Oh yar, later met up with the rest. I had left the place midway for lesson, then joined them back. Showed them the new song. Thought it was JiGong de yue ding. It turned out to be Pu Gong Ying de yue ding. Man, the martinis affected my ability to read chinese titles! Kena suaned by Tab, the kantang of the group.

Later Quetzal drove us, she offered to drive me back. So we headed down and landed up at the West Coast Park. They had never been there before, very amazed by the 5-6 fittness, playground corners. We were swinging to and fro, at least Candle and I, about half way, on the flying fox thingy. Had to pull in Candle when she ran out of momentum midway. We laid on the nets looking at the cloudy night skies. Later Candle climbed up the rope pyramid. After all the exertion, we headed to the 24hr Macs. Ordered nuggets meal and shared. I felt hungry and bought the 20 piece one and a Mac wings, cos havent eat before. After talking and eating, we headed home.

I reached home, changed and locked up the front door. Went to my room and didnt feel sleepy yet so I took out my guitar and practiced very very softly the bass melody part. Got it nailed mostly then slept in the wee hours of the morning, maybe around 3am?
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This morning woke up and went out with Mom and sisters. Went to the temple in River Valley Road. Its called Ju Shi Lin. Prayed, donate, buy flowers for offering.



The huge statue of the Goddess of Mercy, whom is the one that my Mom, sisters and I pray to. For my case, is my protector according to the time and year I was born in. Also my pendant is of the Goddess of Mercy.



After that we headed to eat dian xin at Hong Xin. Some of their stuff not bad. Came back and I felt very stoned. Did practice guitar until my fingers damn pain. Think the melody part okay a bit, with accompanyment. Left listening to the song. Nothing else much, went to do errands, buy 4D for mom, Mapled until very sian.

Now blogging and listening to the 4-5 chinese songs I am learning on the mp3. Later going to play abit more before sleeping.

Btw, I told my sister what I did yesterday night, ie the playing in the West Coast Park around 12am and she gave me this look (-_-") She said we are all going through this mid-life crisis. Like hankering after lost youth?

Hair-do

It seems like that time of the month that one goes for a hair-cut. Been thinking of getting one ever since 2 weeks back cos when I eat, my fringe also wanted to eat too. BUT kept putting off. Finally I decided to go today (or yesterday as now is already tomorrow)


Brought my usual pic along to my usual salon which is nearby and just tell them to follow it but change it to centre-part cos I wear specs so a sideway part is not convenient as either have to sweep it to the side, pin it there etc etc (which would spoil the look cos its meant to fall over the face in the first place)


Got a different hair dresser this time. My previous few visits, the first one whom cut 2-3 times quit, the second one cut once for me, dun see. Today another guy cut for me. The male hair dresser who is quite tall and rather handsome cos his face is okay but his styled hair makes him stand out. Its nicely long at the side and very J-rockish. K the sad part for me is that when I take off my specs while he cuts, I cant exactly see him very clearly lor... Maybe I should get contacts lol


Anyway he did quite a good job of styling it and I went around with the most J-rockish hair (though I cut it several times already) cos he used an iron to straighten then style it really like this pic. I look at myself in the mirror when its done and man, I look great (though later walking around the windy places and taking bus, the wind did blew a bit of it off)


The pic I use for my hair.


I seriously doubt I could style my own hair til this standard. Well next time, I shall take a huge bunch of photos after a haircut. Haircut + treatment = $43 after their discount. Bought a new pair of specs with transistional lens that cost $398!!! If I had just taken normal lense, would cost me $98. The transisitonal lens cost $400 for the thinner ones due to my higher degree of shortsightedness. The good news is there is no increase for my short-sightedness. I should settle for Lasik... but afraid of such procedures.. need to consider further.


Later met Tab and we walked around to get gifts and stuff. Must mention though it seemed like there is recession but at 4pm in Taka, its quite crowded. And at 5pm, there are so many people eating like me and the Mos burger is crowded too.


We walked towards PS cos my sister smsed earlier to ask to watch the Bolt movie. So on the way there, we walked through Robinson cos Tab needed to bio some stuff for christmas presents. After buying the tix, we parted and I met my sister, Yingel.


We headed to eat at the Hot Tomato, but dunno why, the grilled pork was so hard today. The aglio aglio was kinda tasteless too. Is it a change in chef? Later we headed to the arcade to have a re-match. There is this basket-ball machine where you have to throw as many baskets in a given time. I had lost the first match in VivoCity arcade. Today I am proud to say I trashed her twice. LOL *nose high up in the air* Also played a few other games and I tried Guitar Freak cos I could somewhat manage Guitar Hero basic songs. Surprisingly I could go through 3 normal songs.

Also on the 7th floor, there are 4-5 hobbie shops that opened up. I went to play a gachapon for swords cos the swords are extendable. The one I got reminds me of the Sword of Thundera aka ThunderCat sword. Tom since I am heading down to the same area for Guitar class, I shall go play Guitar Freak and play a few more gachapon.


The movie is good. The hamster takes the cake for humor. Think its a worthwhile dvd to keep. By the time both of us came out and reached home, its near 12. Washed my hair and there goes the nice styling. Oh well.


Went online to check on stock prices. Work is starting soon and I might not have so many hours and opportunities to monitor, track and make decisions regarding certain counters. Also I needed to check if my trades went through and need to pay via ATM within T+3 days, also to update my excel file which havent been recording these few days. Kena distracted by games and mapling.


Now kinda sleepy. No more mapling til the wee hours of 4am... did that yesterday and today still somewhat zombified in the late morning. Its a enjoyable day.


Tom drinking at Morton. Later go to guitar class and press wrong fret.

Soup and my life

Curry-Potatoe Soup

In my first foray into proper soup, I made this. Its a milk-based soup with potatoe and a bit of curry powder for the taste. Its not a curry-potatoe meat soup, just soup with tinge of curry.

I was supposed to blend the soup after cooking it to make it all smooth without foodbits floating about but I was just not willing to blend it (it would mean alot of work too) So I did a short cut, I boiled and mashed up the potatoes, cut the onion into very small pieces.

First fried garlic and onion. Then add water, milk and mashed potatoe. Stir and add tablespoon of curry powder. Head and boil. But from taste-testing, it was too blend and thin. So added more curry powder, 2 tablespoon and 1 cup more milk. Boiled and simmer it some more. Scooped away the froth on top (supposedly the crap comes out in the frothy thing that have to scoop away) Until the soup was thicker then put aside.

It doesnt look appetizing but it taste alright. It was my lunch last Sunday.



Scooped up and put in a bowl and ate it with bread and some leftover heated veg and meat. Its kinda tasty on that cold and rainy sunday afternoon. BUT think I have to work on the appearance of the soup. Kinda gross. My sisters came back later on in the evening and thought that the soup was made by my dad (seriously his soup are smelly and gross) and I was kinda insulted. But they still ate it.



Staying at home

Been staying put right at home this holiday. Save for going out for weekly lessons, the most I've done is go next door to Ginza. The reason is that just kinda sian of going out, didnt feel like travelling. Also stayed at home cos Mom's health also not good. Stay at home to keep an eye and help out if I could. Also went out with her to buy groccery, evening walks to get her to exercise, go temple to pray and also see sinseh.

Sometime sian, then walk to Ginza with sister. We'll walk around inside, go Cold storage and then dabao kopi and come home. Other than that, I'll be heading to the bank and run some errands nearby. Weekdays at least for last 2 weeks, spent looking at the stock market to monitor closely. Practice guitar until fingers become almost purplish.

Still havent tidied my room.

Didnt really game until crazy until last weekend. Started Mapling a bit and went overboard. Also yesterday, I played the Yahoo game - Chocolatiar until crazy. Its an interesting trade route game. Go one town to buy materials for chocolate. Then manufacture in your factory. Then you travel to other cities to sell. Its resource managing, buy low, sell high, inventorizing game. The early part of the game is more fun cos you start with small amount of capital and need to manage it well. Subsequently profits ballooned until can anyhow inventorize cos just so much money made. But after playing for more than 6hrs, I still couldnt complete it. Maybe may buy but cos didnt want to repeat this going-crazy, better hold that for a while.

Today

Went with mom to a temple nearby, called Qing Long Ye. Its one dedicated to Qing Long Ye and a very dragon theme temple. It has altars for Tai Shui too. So my mom had made a wish and needed to 'huan yuan' and I tagged along to shun bian pray.

First went the usual round of lighting the incense and walking one round to pray at the 7 different altars there. Whist my mom continued to pray. I went to look at the fortunes of the various Chinese horoscopes for 2009 displays. I remembered not so long ago, I had came to the temple and was reading the 2008 displays. Looked through the family's various horoscopes and noted down the lucky months and some advice.

Later went to pray at the main altar, give donations at the various other altars. Then helped to burn joss paper. After that, went to uncle there to buy a huge coiled incense to burn under my name. Its diameter is about 40cm wide. Its the biggest coiled incense I had ever seen! Too bad didnt bring my camera with me. Lit it and hung it up. Helped to hang the other 3 huge incense for my bro and sisters, under separate names.

My bro next year 'fang tai shui' so my mom bought a light for him to fend it. Its going to be lit for a year. Dun worry its not overly expensive. Works out to about $2.50 per month, once-off payment of $30.

Went to the Dragon fountain, where if you kneel on the mat, the water sprouts from the dragon statue and you wash your face and drink. Also went to the Laughing buddha and rubbed his tummy. There's another dragon fountain at the back, this time with water falling down continously from its fangs. There's also a dragon bridge where when you walk past, water will sprout from the smaller dragons on the bridge. We forgot to walk across the bridge though.

Finally after finishing, we went off to eat nearby. Then buy 4D using the recipt numbers. I shun bian did my banking and then we headed home. Kinda stoned after all these cos I slept late last night. Remembered reading comic but didnt remember sleeping. Next thing I know, I woke up in a darkened room with my spectacles still on. Had woken up rather early at 7am.

Lessons and packing more things into my weekly timetable

With Wed and Fri taken up by Jap and Guitar lessons, now I am thinking of putting in 2 days of exercise dates where by-hook or by-crook I am going to lug my fat ass into the gym. Maybe one is Sunday morning and the other remains to be fixed.

On top of that is the Driving lessons. My mom's been nagging me to take it now that my Dad's health is not so good. Thinking of putting it on Sat if I am not up to it on a weekday. The weekday schedule is still kinda unknown to me unless work resumes.

So that would mean 5 days a week heading out. Not really all to faraway places to take lessons eg gym is in the vicinity. But it would mean, at least heading home later on 3 weekdays so far. Its kinda tiring but hopefully the reduced travelling and me taking the MRT would shorten the commuting time.

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On another note, I am really enjoying the guitar lessons so far. Into my first month, 4 lessons in a group. So far the instructor is really good at least, I can understand most of the stuff, its really brought down to earth, plus I can hear improvement in my playing. Am having a bit of problem with remembering the scales C,D,E,F,G,A,B and the changing or progression. Eg playing C on the C scale is C but when play it on a E scale, its a ? Wonder if I have to commit those scales and the progression to mind. Cant seem to get it to stick in a day yet...

Thinking of changing my guitar to a more mid-range model cos my old one is really really painful to my fingers cos the strings are relatively further from the fret. I used the ones the school provides and its actually easier to play cos its strings are not so far from the fret. IF I reach mid of Intermediate level, I'll go and get a new guitar. Also aim to stick to this for maybe 2 years to master Guitar and then move onto Electric guitar (not at Yamaha) but at some other schools cos this school doesnt offer that. There are other schools that offers Electric guitar courses. Let it be a progression then.

Now looking for Chinese songs and their chords to listen and practice and sing a long using the plucking and strumming styles learnt so far.

A whole series of "incidents"

Yesterday started seemingly innocent...

#01 - Malfunctioning Body Clock
Woke up at the bloody early timing of 6.45am, in time to see my first sister, Yingel got ready for work. THEN I decided, crap, I'll just go and play my sister's maple account since mine was locked up for wrong password attempts. While playing, my younger sister, Geoky got up around 8am to get ready for work. My intention was to play until 9am then login to Poems account to monitor and buy this lot of share that had fallen to my target price the day before. BUT cos I went to work and had errands on the way home, I couldnt rush home in-time to key in an order. The order didnt go through.

Back to the story.

#02 - Costly decision
I ended delaying the logout for Maple until by the time I finished, it was 9.30am. And when I login to Poems as planned, that counter price had shot up 6cents from my targeted price. I was feeling "WTF!!!!!" (1 cent in share pricing world meanst $10, since I had wanted to buy 2 lots to dilute earlier holdings, it meant $120 difference)

"OMG, Mapling has cost me an investment opportunity!" I was telling my bro but still keyed in my order at my target price and just left it there. "I've got the whole day to wait for this price to fall."

#03 - Sudden Rush
Later fell asleep and woke up near 2pm, the time to go to the temple. Suddenly I recalled that I hadnt bought Tab's christmas tree yet. Wanted to do that the day before but I was rushing back from work, doing errands on the way to reach home in time before the stock market closed. It wasnt along the way so I had deferred getting it to the next day, only to fall asleep... Then I told my mom and bro to wait at home while I walked damn fast to Ginza to buy the bloody cheapo thing once and for all and walked fast home. Still it took 20mins under the hot sun... Ass

#04 - A samurai and his sword
Reached home and wanted to set out then Mom not going cos she didnt feel well. Me and bro carried the big bags of scriptures, teachings and CDs, discs to take a cab to put at the temple for devotees to pick up. I had my bag, with the Tree half sticking out of it and my Jap book inside. After settling that, we prayed and made some donations and walked towards the nearest MRT station. We walked past UE square, SwissMerchant Hotel, through Liang Court, through Clark Quay, to the Clark Quay MRT. The destination was to go to Suntec cos it was 3plus then and I needed to reset my Mapling account cos it was locked up. Transferred at Outram and reached Suntec after walking through CityLink. Just plain ordinary right?

Wrong! I was walking with half of the christmas tree sticking out of my bag slung on my back. I would think I somewhat resembled a warrior carrying a half-assed green tree in-place of my sword on my back... Walking past those malls with the Christmas tunes dont help to lighten the burden (in case you are wondering about my language, or the lack of it, watching 2 seasons of South Park does wonders to the vocabulary)

#05 - Walk through newness
Took the lift up to the E-life area, cos never did it before and saw a whole area of shops that sells electronic stuff. We amused ourselves when we walked past some laptops and two of them had this photo program with camera that puts pirate hats and american football hats over your face.

After settling the account, we walked around the Suntec area, looking at the actual swords on display in Caesars, looking at the arcade and noticed there's a small archery gallery that offers a dozen arrows for $4.50. Damn, saffra in Tampines has an archery range, not any other saffra in my area, though I wonder how am I going to get in to saffra, being a Malaysia and all?

Later treated my bro to MOF, where I duly signed up for membership. Cos in Ginza, they are going to open 2 outlets, the dessert one which opened and the Qian Long Cha Fang, maybe is cheena food. Then we headed back on the train which is cramped full of office workers on the way back from work.

#06 - Coldness and Shivering
Arrived for Jap class rather on time and handed the Tree over to Tab who then proceeded to use it as a "Whose Line is it Anyway" prop to irritate me. Use a given prop, think of all sort of uses for it and act it out. She had numerous uses for it and enjoyed irritating me, though I did think of shoving it up her ass if she continued. Besides that type of 'coldness', it was actually very cold. Felt cold in Suntec, in Jap and later in Orchard road. Even the bus back was cold and the night air was chilly.
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Today pleasantly surprised when I login to Poems and found that my trade DID go through, and I did get 2 lots at my price, and Mapling didnt cost me an opportunity. Now the stock price has actually gone up a bit and for once, I am sitting on slight paper profits. The stock market this week is going higher. Is it a irrational excuberance as mentioned in the newspaper or is it a sign of investor confidence or a sign of recovery?

Cooking Reloaded

Another day of pots-banging. I was the cook for the day, hijacking the kitchen and started clanging around the kitchen from 8.30am until 11am.

It meant alot of chopping, peeling, boiling, more chopping and finally cooking, followed by serving and washing up. Luckily had done up the mashing of potatoes the night before. It meant, a shorter time for the whole 3 dishes though.


Pasta with sauce
Pasta- boiled by my sister Geoky, whom helped out cos if she didnt, I might not have finished in time for her to eat cos she was going out in the afternoon.

Carrot-skinned then boiled until soft. Then cut into small cubes.

Onion-skinned, cut into small pieces.

Garlic-skinned then diced into small bits for frying.

Fried garlic, then carrot, then onion together. Put aside. Fried mince meat with garlic. Then mixed in carrot and onion mix. Cooked a bit more. Then pour in Pasta sauce bought. Added about 1 bottle of water then bring to boil.

Boiled and cut up cocktail sausage to thin slices to add on.
Also my sis helped to grate some cheese to add on.

Viola!




The Gnocchi soup from the last Iron Chef in the kitchen.

Used the carrot, onion prepared for the pasta sauce. Added in the boiled potatoe that are chopped into cubes. Similarly, fry garlic then potatoe, carrot, onion. Then pour in diced tomatoe bought. Added a can of water then let it simmer and boil.



Tuna-Onion-Carrot Potatoe Patties

My own adapted recipe for Tuna-Onion-Carrot Potatoe Patties, instead of the original Salmon Potatoe Patties.

Following the steps, boiled, mashed potatoes the night before.

Added cubes of onions and carrots, an egg and grated tuna. Mixed it around and shaped into patties. Coat patty in a plate of flour, then dip in mixture of beaten egg and a bit of milk, then into a plate of breadcrumb to cover it.

Later I heated up the wok and fried it. My frying compared to the first attempt at potatoe croquette has improved. The first time I fried. The first batch was crispy and brown. The second batch soggy cos the oil not hot enough. The third batch was about crispy. But didnt take a photo for the first attempt.

Today's frying is much improved. A better feel for the hotness of the oil and the frying process. I put in about 4 patties in 3 batches. Fried one side until about brown then flip it for the other side until similarly brown. Then flip again twice. Sufficiently cripsy looking then put on servettes to drain the oil.



At this point the patties are gone. There's still lots of pasta (cos cooked 2 packs of pasta) and the soup left. So far the verdict. Everybody likes the patties but I kinda found it plain by itself. So I added some ketchup to mine while eating. The pasta is also nice cos the pre-made sauce is kinda tasty. Overall at least improved the nutritional value by adding lots of carrots, onions to both dishes.

The soup is not that popular cos its kinda sourish cos of the tomatoes in the can. Most likely the tomatoes were not that ripe when they were canned. Next time I should settle for the puree version instead.

Boiled Broccoli simmered with Oyster Sauce

Had eaten a very nice stir fried broccoli at some Zi Ca place. Wanted to replicate it. Just trying my own. Boiled the brocolli then fried garlic and added it. But when put in the oyster sauce, I wasnt sure to continue just frying or just add a bit of water to let it simmer. Let it simmer and it became Simmered Broccoli. Well, at least its anti-cancer (didnt take a pic)

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Well all these cooking made me kinda tired. Dun think I shall try my next dish anytime so soon like tomorrow. Also there's still pasta and soup left. Been eating 3 bowls of pasta for Brunch, Tea and Dinner altogether and 1.5 patties.

I went out after dinner with my bro and bought another 2 more cookbooks, Herbal and Vegetarian. Now I have 5 cookbooks: Potatoe, Simple Chinese dishes, Soup, Herbal Soup and Vegetarian. Cos Mom's health is not good, have to go for healthier, low carbo, low sugar food.

So far I've cooked up 3 potatoe dishes.

The next agenda is Soup. Thinking of the Curry Potato Soup, Honshijimeiji Mushroom Soup and Minestrone Soup.

Testo to Biyoki to Tabemono o tsukurimashyo

JLPT 4

Today's the actual exam. When I arrived there by cab (cos didnt think I could make it with taking 2 buses, cos need to so-call report 30mins in advance), the venue is at Nanyang Girls. Its a huge school compound, a reminder why parents are so kan-chong about PSLE grades. Cos you need super high grades to go in, if not there's the Hwa Chong next door which has a full-sized swimming pool and a track (which I kinda cant help but notice when I walked across the overhead bridge to take a bus)

As part of occupation hazard, I had a deja vu feeling that I had done this before. Cos the setting reminded me of a national listening and written exam I had invigilated. Its almost exactly the same. Then the test is doable though there were stuff that had long forgotten plus never revised seriously (like burn midnight oil, cramming notes, wearing a headband with "Banzai" on it...") The worrying part is the Listening, they only read once. No repeat at all and damn tricky for those with pics to select. Then the writing part, got some grammar not so sure, cos never looked through Level 2 book.

Flu

Yar whilst taking the JLPT 4, I was actually fluish. Had woken up at night cold and think I caught a flu then. But it started to act up more today in the afternoon. Started coughing, throat itchy. Partly why kinda stoned during the inital part. Feeling sleepy plus coughing alot. Later recovered a bit and headed home after the test.

Cooking

Tom, I am going to attempt to cook several items, namely pasta (which I have done numerous times), tuna-onion-carrot potatoe patties, boiled broccoli AND tomato soup used for gnocchi last time. Then I also bought ingredients for making curry potato soup the next time around. Went groccery shopping for those foodstuff. Had wanted to boil the potato first but kept distracted by psp and checking 4D. K later after this, I am going to boil and mash the bloody potatoes and keep them in the fridge for tom. It'll save time. Will put up photos of finished product. Its going to be a mamoliath task again.

Stomach unstable

Dunno what was it I ate or drink. This morning woke up and suffered a sensitive bowel thingy that is still on somewhat now. Already ran to toilet thrice. I seriously wonder how much crap can a person store in the body? A huge mystery.

My supper with Tab was KFC. Had a craving for it for some time but I kept putting off until last night. Tab stared at me, lamenting how was it I ate more than her but my waist is still slimer than hers. BUT hey, I had put on my weight loss back. Its back to square one. I sadly found this out while weighing myself this morning.

The weather is cooler but the house is stuffy cos the windows are closed. Just finished practising my guitar for tom lesson. Last night on the bus journey home, I managed to read about 4 chpts of Level 1 book for upcoming JLPT 4. It'll be a huge shame and scandal if either or both Tab and I failed that exam at our current level. We went through the last year's JLPT papers together. Discovered that each of us is good at certain components. Should be able to pass? I better go about to reading the remaining 9 chpts, 1st book is 13chpts altogether.

Just now before it started pouring, I went to do some more banking, in view of trading in Poems. Had to transfer funds around. Then came back, practice guitar and now stoning in front of laptop.

Considering whether to go out for dinner with Tab and Candle or stay at home to rest. Frankly yesterday went out, tom going out. I think given the unstable bowels, I'll be staying home.

Uneventful?

Its been a rather uneventful few days of holidaying. Mostly my activities involve going out on days where I have Jap or Guitar classes. Going out with family members, mainly Dad, Mom and Bro given my sisters are working. Not that the going-out itself is uneventful. But just nothing extremely out-of-the-ordinary.
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Starting this Monday, I have been logging into Poems everyday to trade and monitor prices more actively. Found another Sg counter that seemed quite undervalued. Hence I bought in just today. Hope to hold for long term. Msia shares for now, dun intend to buy anymore. Partly cos not many sellers, partly dun want to commit too much SGD, partly also to conserve some capital in case there are more downsides later.

Frankly investing in stocks now meant that most of the counters I've bought making losses. Those that I've bought more recently is small losses. Those 2 lots that I bought way earlier around July, making huge losses. Though my sister reminded me that that's paper loss. But it doesnt make one more confident or feel good from paper losses. The consolation is that I have the holding power to hold until hopefully the market will recover til its pre-recession levels. It meant locking up those capital which could have been used to buy up even more lots of stocks. BUT nobody is perfect. I am still learning along the way.
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Havent started watching the South Park Season 10 and 11 I've bought. My bro took and watched it and laughed like mad yesterday. I did sit through War of Worldcraft episode and am reminded of my earlier Mapling days.

I finally got Yugioh Tag force in my PSP and been playing it for the past 3 days. I'll be playing it on the bus rides, later while login to Poems and waiting, play along. Until my battery flat. Its kinda the type of game you can keep playing like DJ Portable.

The weather has been behaving in a funny manner. Its very hot on most days, just now it rained a bit then stopped. It made me real lazy from leaving home. Plus today is Jap day plus upcoming JLPT 4 this Sunday which I havent even started looking at anything. Been too 'busy' with sleeping, psp and going out to do it. Even if I want to read, think I am too distracted at the moment. I shall just go ahead and play, then when I am so sick of it, I shall start studying. Lemme find the book first.

Banking, Stocks @ Pelangi

Cos sometime earlier this year, I asked my dad to buy some msia stocks on my behalf (didnt start using my Poems acc then) I owed him some RM which I didnt want to pay for in SG dollars cos I didnt want to use up my sgd. Since I had some RM, wanted to use that to pay him back instead. BUT as I was still working and Msia is also 5 day work week, it meant I owed him until today when I am finally free to go banking on a working weekday.

So since he wanted to buy shares, we headed to Pelangi cos his remiser is there. Transferred him the rm at the bank then he checked out the share prices. We headed to eat at the Secret Recipe and then just went to the 5th floor with the Popular. I drew out additional RM$150 on top of my RM$100 just in case I had lots of things to buy... Sadly there is seriously nothing much to look at over there. I realized since I didnt buy stationary, the only thing I bought are discs. So that meant more couch-potatoing on the bed watching Dvds.

Before I headed there, I login to Poems to check out the stock prices. In Sg, didnt see anything within my targeted price for the few counters. When I looked at the Msia shares, I noticed one of the counters I bought, prices went quite below what I paid the last time. Its kinda cheap plus there was higher no of people selling it. So I bought some. This is not exactly a good method. Which is if you had bought some shares at a higher price, then when prices fell quite a bit, you buy some to lower the average cost of the more expensive shares. Cos I went in too early around June. This method meant need to sink in more capital and have the holding power to realize the gains. It also meant buying more at cheaper prices and holding it for longer term.

Later after the trip, I login again and bought more from the same counter and also another counter. Cos of the strong SG dollar, and the low prices of the stocks, near $1. It meant instead of buying 1 lot of SG counter at $2 per share, in RM terms, that's RM$4750 which can buy slightly more than 6 lots of the Msia counter. Which means when share prices rise, the gain is multiplied by 6. Dividend is also multiplied by 6, provided its a dividend-carrying share. But I am only buying into counters that my Dad is familar with in msia. Cos didnt take time to study the counters and search for other counters like he did.

Only in the Sg market, did I foray outside his counters. Of course it dont feel good to be holding shares in RM cos it meant having less SGD but in the event sold off the shares, I shall just use that amount as the malaysia share investment capital and try to grow it. Hope dont have to pump more SGD to it. Unfortunately SG stocks are still quite expensive despite the huge fall earlier. It had now gone up some, I was still waiting for more downside then it went up. Now just observing at the sideline. If some of the counters fall near my target price then I may buy to lower the average cost.

Another bomb (financial one)

Saturday plan was to go to Quetzal's place, then I want to get another portable hard drive, plus search for the printer (so that Dad can stop nagging about not having one to print out his things...)

Woke up, went to fry the croquettes I made. Yesterday didnt fry cos many not in at home, and the gnocchi was enough. So I fried the first 2. Oil kinda hot so the crust a bit more crispy and darker. The other 4, the oil not hot enough, came up soft. The last 4 looked just right. Man, even frying requires skill...

I ate 2 and then headed out. Think didnt manage to get out still alot of pepper. Remember I spilt half the bottle inside and scooped out most of it. The croquette tasted kinda peppery (no wonders) but the onion bits inside makes it more tasty than just plain potatoes. Dunno though, but after eating two, I didnt feel up to for anymore fried food.

Met up with Tab for lunch at Ding Tai Fung. First time there. The pork given is nice but the noodle is not as tasty. The Xiao Long Bao Crab one tasted better with the vinegar instead of just plain original flavour, cos of the natural smell of crab meat.

After lunch, hopped over to Quetzal's place to visit the kittens and play Wii. Guitar Hero is a nice game. Its mainly rock songs, though there are different genres of rock too. Some more headbanging, some with cool rifts, some with irritating rifts... Tab and I were holding up the Guitar after we completed the stage. We ROCKZ! Then we played Wii bowling, boxing, and Yoga. Had a good laugh and a good time. The boxing is really really tiring. Cant really balance as well in those yoga games.

Also stroked Bossa and Nova alot. The kittens are so active and playful. Taunt them with the red ribbon and they are all over it. Nova is getting bigger than Bossa, within the space of a week?

Later went to Challenger. I ended up buying the printer, extra ink, portable hard drive (another brand from my first one) and a 8Gb card for Aoi cos found out from the sales lady, that PSP lite can only support up to 8Gb. The next 16Gb is only for the new PSP 3000? which is not on the market yet. My Aoi is less than 1 year old (it'll be 1 soon near end Dec) I dont have plans to change it cos its still good. Its just meant, I should just go ahead and buy it so I can load more games into it. So I have just transferred some Music and Video files to my original 4Gb one, and Games into the 8Gb one.

(While I was halfway typing, my bro went to switch off the whole electricity supply for the tv, video, internet modem and cable... Had to restart it, and reconnect)

Tomorrow which is already here, I will be fixing up the rest of the stuff. Setup printer, tidy room, settle the 2 hard disc - transfer data around to both, organize the files too and transfer more files to both the memory sticks of the PSP. Man, why do alot of my tasks involving some sort of tidying. Very sian of tidying already. Tidied up my table, my workplace already almost everyday since last week. Sian. Be going off soon once the dl is done.

Potatoe Gnocchi & Potatoe Croquette

The picture from the Recipe book, Potatoe Gnocchi. Looks simple enough that I decided to give it a try today. I headed out to the supermarket and bought the stuff. Headed back again to buy cos I forgot about the cheese.



Potatoe croquette, another seemly easy dish. Which I tried to do at the same time cos I had seriously underestimated the line "boil potatoe, mash".

Bloody hell it took forever to boil the potatoe, mash them, then prepare the rest of the ingredients. Hell, even mashing many many potatoes was an huge endeavour. At least up til the point before I started mashing, things went pretty smoothly.

THEN mashing was so totally different from what I had imagined. It took damn long and lots of effort. Finally mashed and then the trouble starts....

Accidentally poured half the bottle of pepper inside... OMG! Then scooped out and threw most of the pepper. Mixed in egg, flour and pepper. Scooped that into a container (even finding the container was a pain in the ass) and added in chopped onion and then chucked the thing to cool in the fridge. That was only for the croquette...

Then resumed mashing the rest of the potatoes, added egg and flour and knead the mixture. It was still soft and bit watery. Bo bian, the kitchen weighing scale was unavailable (dunno where the hell it is) so I went by gut feel for the flour. Grated in cheese. Then divide the dough (which is still mainly potatoe) into 4 parts. Then subdivide into more little balls to roll into an oval and use a fork on it to create the grooves.



These little buggers are a real pain in the ass to make too. But I am proud that it looks edible. Its been a long while since I've last tried cooking something.



With those buggers done, then its time to the main cooking part. Had to boil salted water to 'cook' the gnocchis in. Then I cooked the garlic, onion and carrot, stir fry them before pouring in the can of diced tomatoes. Added half a can of water and let it boil. Later after tasting, added pepper.



Divided the gnocchi into 6 bowls for family. Scooped the warm tomatoe soup with the bits over it and viola. My own version of the gnocchi. Its not like the pic cos I didnt blend the soup until its smooth. I just cooked it and poured over.

The taste? Edible. Could taste the cheese in the potatoe. Its okay to eat while its hot and the soup with the little bits to bite makes it better.

I would give myself a 6/10 for this dish.



For the remaining 10 gnocchi, I had an idea. To toast it in the oven cos its mainly potatoe and some cheese, a bit of egg and flour.



Viola, baked gnocchi. They taste like their soupy cousin. But more drier in tasture. Hmm maybe a 5/10. Given I do have high culinary standards for myself.

With that I looked at the croquette recipe and OMG, I still had to roll the croquette mixture in flour, then egg then breadcrumb. Its a messy process, with lots of flour, egg and breadcrumb sticking to my fingertips as I transfered one to another...



The final product. Notice that its round and flat patty instead of the long sticks in the recipe? Thats right! Cos the mixture was too watery and I didnt want to add flour to dry it. I had to put them into the fridge for another 2hours before I can fry them....

Dead tired by then due to the numerous trial and errors with dish sizes, mixing bowl sizes, I cleaned up the kitchen before my mom came back. Including washing dishes, utensils, pots and pans, wiping table.

PHEW!
2 seemingly easy dishes took me 4hours! And I havent even fry the damn croquette yet. Its still cooling in the fridge. Felt very warm and hot. Drank up 1litre of herbal tea and mixed a Brown Cow for myself. I served some of the gnocchi to my dad, he says its edible.

Then I went to play the guitar, wanted to bathe and sleep but got lesson later. My mom came back and I have to sweep the floor soon. Then maybe fry the croquette then bathe then leave the home.

"Huh, shopping at those place, I dunno know if I'll be buying..."

Famous words while talking to Quetzal when she called to meet up to go shopping at the wing tai outlets cos they had this password that allows you to get 30+10% discount for one day only. I was really very chor lor looking, in my bermudas, T-shirt, carrying 2 bags cos I went to work and didnt feel like wearing jeans or 3/4 jeans either.

Anyway I headed down, and didnt see much at Top shop etc etc until Tab went and Quetzal went to try clothes in Miss Selfrige. I was waiting outside and ended up looking more closely at the jeans and the offer. 2 for $69. The more I looked at it, the more tempted I was. Not to mention that I really needed more jeans. Cos put on weight and I dun really have that many pairs. So after more than 10minutes of looking. I took 2 pairs and went to try too. Ended up buying them. With the password, it cost $54, about $26 per pair, a steal. Tab bought 2 pairs too. Quetzal bought a dress and a necklace.

Then we c0ntinued onto Raffles City. We split up, me and Tab heading to find food to munch, draw money. Candle and Quetzal continued to shop. Later we met up. Tab and I had walked around the supermarket and came out with stuff. We were reading up the recipe books being highly tempted to try making them during the holidays.

Later after dinner at Celede, nice pasta, cake and tea, we headed around once more. Inside the Raffles city Miss Selfrige, I saw more jeans. Different designs and tried 2 more and bought 2 more pairs... It just meant, I had outshopped the rest again. But about $125 for 4 pairs of jeans, meant each about $32. Still a steal, given I wear my jeans alot on weekends and holidays. Now I have more pairs to wear and rotate.

Went home on bus and was glad to have a seat all the way. Reached home, bathed and slept.

Guitaring, Stroking & Stoning

That kind of sums up what I did over the weekend.

Friday guitar class was kinda enjoyable. It brought back fond memories of C's guitar lessons during Uni days. The instructor is quite helpful, telling me about certain aspects and fingering during melody, answering my questions in a very easy to understand manner, which is great for a zombifed-after-work-mode which I will be in.

I somewhat can 'correct' certain wrong techniques accumulated along the way. Its kinda relaxed for the moment cos I have done those parts before, eg chord changing, playing bits of melody and plucking, so can pick up faster. My classmates face the inital challenge of the painful fingers, chord changing speed etc etc.
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Saturday was spent sleeping. Was feeling very very stoned in the morning, played guitar until fingers ache then managed to sleep in the afternoon then headed to Suntec with Tab for the Anime fest. Its kinda empty in the sense of the booth displays. Luckily there are cosplayers who spice up the event. After that we headed to Ichiban boshi. Later met Quetzal for dinner at my Humble Home. Next time will try to eat dinner there instead. They only start around 6.30pm and I was hungry before then.

Quetzal came with this kitten problem. She had agreed to bring one of the two kittens found int the Esplanade home. So after dinner, all 3 of us had to baby-sit a box with 2 kittens inside. They were kinda scared and kept hissing (first time, I heard cats hissing) Then I fashioned a string like toy from my 2 rubber bands and a ribbon-like deco piece from my perfume. So used that to 'stroke' the kittens in the box. We sat along the river, being near enough to hear the outdoor performance. The kittens seem to calm down after a while, partly the stroking? partly the music, so they were aptly named Bossa and Nova.

Bossa is a black tiger-striped tabby cat. Its kinda fierce. It kept hissing. But it became quite docile after it was stroked by the make-shift stroker. Nova is a ginger cat that is more timid and didnt like the stroking. But its a more active kitten. It slept, walked about, stretched and even groomed itself while in the box. Bossa just laid in the corner. Then after more than an hour, we brought Nova out of the box. Its very easy to reassure with the stroking of its fur and its kinda curious. Kept walking over to try to escape over my thighs which were blocking its way. Quetzal and Tab were taking photos of it. It responded quite well to Quetzal's friends who came along later too.

Shortly after they came, Quetzal brought out Bossa. At first, it seemed calm enough but maybe cos didnt manage to stroke it a bit to calm it cos there were 2 kittens in the open, quite a handful. Suddenly it freaked. It tried to jump and dash off the seat and landed straight in my vest. My vest acted as a net and it got caught. It let out a mournful miao and we brought it back into the box where it calmed down. Guess it may like the darkness of the box, its more reassuring to a young kitten when its scared. So human.

After that we washed our hands from so much stroking of the cat and I used soap to wash a few scratches from both Bossa (its panic episode) and Nova (its curiousity which I ended up being its claw pillow...) But they are shallow so its okay. Then Quetzal and her friends settled upon ownership of the kittens, Bossa being kinda unpopular and Nova being both cuter, active and friendly. Its kinda sad for Bossa. It seemed to be a nice kitten except maybe it opens up slower than Nova. Both seem to take a bit to me, maybe cos I was the one stroking them for close to 2 hours... they better be... BUT I cant keep them cos my parents dont approve. Also my place is kinda small and cramped. If I live alone, maybe I will consider raising 2 kittens and my Shetland Sheepdog.
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Sunday was spent stoning also. Woke up with the intention to go to the gym but was hungry so it got shelved. Ate then went online to try this game Gaiaonline, a game I was given a banner to during the Anime fest. Later I wanted to head to the nearby shopping mall but first I practiced my guitar a bit more with my sore fingers, then next thing I knew, I had fallen asleep. Woke up near 7pm and after dinner, headed to the mall, then now back online. The day is almost over. Feel slightly more rested after so much sleeping over the weekends. Think batteries still kinda flat at the moment.

Finally the HOLs are here

Its been a hectic week, everyday meeting from morning til near evening, much like doing double session of work except that alot of it is listening to endless crapping. Listen until very very stoned, then have to discuss stuffs which also force you to think hard and that made me even more 'zombified' by the end of the day.

Imagine going for Jap class in that type of state, though going for Guitar was easier cos its music and not so much of words, at least for the first lesson yesterday.

Then been going out for the past three consecutive nights after work. Due in part to the lessons above, which meant, I travelled straight there, had my lesson, then later ate dinner and then stone a bit and then head home via bus cos its direct. By the time reached home, its always near 12am and then just knock out until wake up around 7am the next day for the same cycle.

BUT finally the HOLs are here! A well-deserved, hard-earned break that meant finally having time to recharge the flat batteries and turn back into a human again, without having work at the back of the mind.

Still feeling kinda stoned cos woke up around 8am+ due to the light in the room and later flipped around in bed, heard my Dad's loud voice, forget about sleeping. Got up to search for the Chinese songs learnt yesterday for the guitar lessons. Just now, helped to carry heavy stuff downstairs cos wanted to give to Salvation army. Had been tidying up my table outside and workplace table for the past week too.

Now I still have the Mamoliath task of cleaning my room or aka my bro's ex-room aka another storeroom. Looking at it, it reminds me of the Myth of Hercules and his 13 trials. The trial of cleaning the stables... I shall just eventually morph into Hercules and do it.

That cycle again...

The last time I remembered, fresh, wide-eyed and looking for employment, it was one of the worst recessions. Partly the reason, why I landed up as an Educator.

Now when my bond is nearing its end and I am reconsidering my options, the recession comes again. One of the new worst in history. Making choices so much harder to make... given that most people are not born with a silver spoon.

No wonder, the Guanyin temple qian said, timing is not right. Oh well, at least my relocation has been finalized and maybe can start afresh, in a new environment, so that I wont be bored in the same routine for the next 1-2years. Then reconsider after the Connect? Though that is still not-so-near in the future.

For now, I am just counting down a few more days to the weekend and finally the holidays. Dont intend to travel anywhere. Partly cos nowhere in mind, partly to save up cos 2 thailand trips this year cost me, also have JLPT test in early december, partly not to travel to neighbouring countries that are getting unstable and thereby worry my worrysome Mom whose health is in danger cos of her constant worrying.

Plan to do up some ppt, word doc templates that I can use for work, go to the gym more regularly, wake up earlier, sleep earlier and also catch up on other aspects like guitar playing, stock price tracking and monitoring, reading up those books, tidy up my room and so on, so forth. Quite a formidable task, the tidying up of the room.

Lagi LOOOOONNNG day

Its been a lagi long day.

Woke up 5.50am, left 6.35am, went in at morning session timing, worked until the end of the afternoon session timing.

By the time I detoured to get a bubble tea to drink and dabaoed dinner for family, and waited damn long for the bus, I reached home near 7.45pm.

Lagi sian and tired though its only the 2nd day of the week and there's still more to endure. Both days tio gastric cos couldnt find the time and appetite to eat breakfast until 8am, by then, tio liao. Then lunch is a hurried affair before work resumes... crap

But still I walked next door after dinner to de-stress a bit and check out comic rental and buy soda water to mix with the Sherry, which is TOOOO sweet for my liking. Maybe I should just drink one before I sleep.

Nothing much else happening. What can happen when almost all the waking hours are used up for work? Where is the work-life balance?

SHO YUE MEE!!!!

Hurray to finding the spring onion flavour in NTUC. I end up buying 6 packets at one go. And my family (dad, sis and I) just finished a pack already! (my mom and sis in msia) Its like $1.45 per pack. Its not as smooth as potato chips but its very nice to chew and that's addictive. Better ration those packs and not much through all at one go.

Booooos for my waistline with these type of snacking.

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Feeling the effects of shaggness from the busy and hectic weekend. This week is lagi worse in terms of work. After a rather long day, I just dozed off around 7pm while watching my Thundercats, still at Season 1, got another Season 2 thereafter. Just been such a long day that I couldnt keep my eyes open. The warmth of the comforter while curling under it after bathing is just too relaxing. Cant wait for this week to be over. At least, wont have to have lessons, report book admin and even finding stuff to occupy students.

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Have to run some errands today after work. Besides buying Toto and 4D like usual (still not a millionaire... bubu), settle Poems trade amount via ESP, updating of bank books and also packing dinner for Family cos my mom went back to msia. Rather hectic.

Msia ringgit is low now at RM$2.375 per SGD. Its a good rate to exchange some. Yar I already changed back that RM$350, I spent the last time. Should go for a msia day or short trip but only on days that wont clash with Jap or my upcoming Guitar class. Be going in soon in another 2 weeks time to settle banking biz with my dad cos still owed him ringgit for shares he bought on my behalf. Yar think I'll go and change more, when salary is in.

The internet is for porn. Porn, porn, porn.

"You save more in the LONG-RUN when you buy in bulk NOW."

An interesting line that underlines consumerism and runaway spending. I should get those words on a nice shirt.

Avenue Q was good. Bought the soundtrack for it.

"The internet is for PORN" is a catchy song :P
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Friday was okay. Not into Rock & Roll but more of ROCK songs. Later the music got better. Tab and Candle having alot of fun dancing with me sandwitched in the middle (though Candle admitted, she's just the Pei Cai-side dish) I feel like a coconut tree in Hindi movies, with pple dancing around.

Irish cream + Butterscotch schnapps shooters are a blast. MUST really get my hands on the Butterscotch schnapps to mix around. With Baileys, Khalur etc etc. But having work's a slut, waking up is a bitch and ending up with a shorter weekend's a whore.

Drinking Unsugared Green Tea works, though slowly

Around Oct 9th, I started this cold turkey thing off sweet bottled drinks like Heaven & Earth green tea, H2O and other drinks that is sold at workplace. Instead I fill a litre bottle full of unsugared green tea. Been drinking that for a month now.

The good thing is I dont feel so thirsty anymore cos I have now a bigger bottle of water that can last me through the whole day. Secondly I wont be tempted to buy sweetened drinks cos I try to finish the Green tea.

So from the heaviest point I was in Bangkok that was 9kg to lose, to regain my Uni-days weight, I am down to 6kg to lose. This loss also due partly to stomach acting up due to gastric or just lack of appetite on weekdays, though I try to force myself to eat regularly.

NOW just need to control my weekend binges then can sustain the weight loss. Hope to see a slimer self soon by the end of this year.

Coke with Milk is a Laxative?

Maybe it's not a laxative but it seriously produces lots of gas... But then I end up running to the loo...

In my 5.25 years of Jap class, there are 2 times I ever mixed both either subconsciously or accidentally.

The first time, I bought 2 drinks, one milk-based, drank and finished. Shortly I drank a Coke. Some time into the lesson, had to rush out to the loo. That was about 2 to 3 years back.

Today I repeated the same mistake again. Unconsciously. I was feeling the pangs of gastric by the time I reached IP, so I headed to a convenience stall to buy a pack of milk and took several sips.

Then decided, too hungry and gastric getting quite bad, dun think can last until after lesson was over. So headed to BK and ordered the meal, with a Diet Coke. Ate the food then drank the Coke. Later I reminded myself not to drink the unfinished milk too fast, had to wait for some time first.

So much later into the 2nd half of the class then I sipped the milk. After a while, my stomach was rumbling. Oh No! But think cos I separated the two and didnt drink them one after the other, I was kinda okay until I reached home. No diarrhoea or what but lots of sounds... (TMI => too much information)

If you ever need to re-create some diarrhoe-effect cos you wanna skip certain unwanted functions, do try.

Man, I need to check my email more often

Chances are once one starts working, checking email is a chore.

Cos at work, got to check and read so many emails. Keep checking that until one reaches home. The LAST thing to do when you're online is to check the personal email.

Hence I've told friends, the fastest and surest way to reach me is through sms or call. Even then, I do have many many missed calls cos I dont carry my hp during my work hours especially lesson times. Cos a hassle to put it in pocket and even if it rang, wont be able to entertain both the class and the caller at the same time. SMS is the best. I can read it later and reply.

Anyway just an indication of how dusty my personal email is, just before Krynnder's wedding, I log in cos Quetzal smsed me regarding her being sick and she had emailed me the emcee script. Thereafter the big day, I didnt go in at all. Completely missing out the rest of the emails, links to the video, emails regarding the Halloween party etc etc. At least up until a few days back when I suddenly visited the mail cos I had to activate my Poems account and had to send them an email. Err... *hides in the sand*..... Then I saw the rest of the emails.
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I remember a time maybe around Jul/Aug period where I had a lot of sms rants regarding work. It was a daily downer. Every single day I had to drag myself and perk myself up on the long, tiring journey to work. In recent months, maybe was too busy and hectic with the exam revision, exam itself, marking and then admin work to be able to dwell on things. Just yesterday, it came back with a vengence.

Maybe cos the year is almost over and cant wait for the final weeks of lessons to finish. Not that the Educators hate the students so much, but it would mean that ALL the ADMIN work needed to churn out the REPORT books would finally come to an end. And its not even just keying in exam marks and printing. There's a whole lotta admin work that its mind-boggling to the Outsiders. One cannot even imagine the sheer amount of work and hours involved. Never underestimate this horrible process. Just hanging in there.
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For two nights in a row, I arrived home, horribly hungry, starving. Ate a big bowl of rice, still feel hunger. Had to control myself somewhat. Yesterday bought Chinese rojak and Fruit rojak to munch. Today I munched a bit on that Mamee-japanese snack after dinner.

Brand Name: Sho Yue Mee. Managed to find 2 flavours in Sg. Actually its very very addictive. Way more than salsa with nachos. Once you start munching, you really cant stop... In less than 1 day, my 2 packs were finished by my sister. I opened both to try but the flavours Chilli and Original were not as good as the Spring onion one. This morning, I woke up and the Original pack was finished. Then before 8pm, the Chilli one was gone, though I helped to eat quite a bit of it after dinner. If you find other flavours, do tell me.
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My guitar lessons would commence on the 21st Nov, a friday. They had called me up again to mention that the instructor had rearranged (think is postpone or slow down) so I had to join them one week later than the initial time given. No probs with that. Few free fridays left or I can join after 9pm on fridays.
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Hmm stock market is recovering a bit. Prices are going up. Now is again time to wait. See if can off load the pricey ones I had bought to get back capital and if goes higher, get profits? Keeping fingers crossed.

Sian on the 4D-front, my bdae came out as 2nd prize and I didnt buy! Instead I had bought my guitar membership and just needed one digit more... BUBU!

Pia-ing dvd is NOT a good idea

Yar.

Besides the gluttony that arises when one sits for hours on the bed, watching dvd, its also kinda stressful on the body. Eyes feel tired, like staring at the tv screen is not tiring.

Also its a bad idea when you have to wake up much earlier than usual to go to work cos work dabaoed over the weekend wasnt done. Admin work piling up that I just had to go off much earlier.

My sister had a headache from watching too much Hellgirl. She's helping out to QC it. Hehe hope Tab wont mind. My mom and sister kinda curious about it and end up watching a marathon for 26 episodes.

SO now I am feeling the after-effects of work, fatique. A bit too stoned now to watch dvd. Just want the next 2 weeks to end asap, so that dun have to handle any more lessons.

Work all duly forgotten when I reach home for the weekends

Guess this happens to all.

Had dabaoed work to do, some to mark, some for admin. But all the plans of working over the weekend were duly forgotten once I've reached home and dumped my work bags to one side.The thinking was there's still two more days, surely I could do some tomorrow on sat. How wrong that is.

On Sat, my Dad suddenly offered to drive us to Citysquare to do shopping. Couldnt do banking cos banks in msia also on 5-day week. Had owe him some ringgit that I need to transfer to him. Should be going in somewhere again near 20th Nov on a weekday to do so.

K my dad had thought that last week was a long weekend so most would have gone in by then and didnt expect any jams. Wrong. We had to jam for 1hr to go in. Cos mainly of 'ugly singaporean road behaviour', no offence but not all are singaporeans but its just a term. Many cars jumped queue and caused a jam. They got ahead at other pple's expense. Ugly.

But the shopping was good. Too good for me in fact... I had brought along RM$500, and spent $320. Now need to change more RM cos that 500 was intended to be banked in. First we ate cos by the time we arrived, we were all hungry. Then we walked through the 5 levels. Interestingly, there is a section on the 4th and 5th floor that is developed into a Youth area, much like Hereen and Cineleisure. We didnt go in for the past few visits. This time we did.

Found the stalls, quite a few and bought discs. I am now trying to pia ThunderCats. A very old cartoon that I've grown up with. Many titles. How lucky one is to live in Msia with the numerous animes. Oh well. That's RM$100 gone.

Then went to Popular bookshop and bought stuff, mainly token presents for my class. Its a reward for their teamwork and final year results. A couple of stationary items for myself, thats RM$75 liao.

Went to the BodyShop there, and pleasantly surprised to find Oceanus perfume still around. But I bought the Gardenia scent, RM$79 I asked about the continuation of the Oceanus series, they told me they only have perfume and some lotion left. No more of body lotion and it will be discountinued soon. So hurry for Oceanus lovers.

Oh yar also bought some food back. Namely the delicious Portugese Egg tart from the outlet on the 3rd floor and a half chicken set. Also bought a pack of snacks from the Popular. Its a jap snack and it is less salty and tastes a bit like Mamee. Its quickly finished by the family. Next time will buy more. So thats about Rm$40 in all.

My sister bought 2 new pairs of jeans for RM$186, about $40 per pair. Kinda cheap if you consider the prices of the same pair in sg. Its from one of those outlets like Baleno, Samuel and Keith type. Maybe I should have done the same but didnt feel like buying jeans yet.

Other sister was buying plushies for her collegues as a return gift. Some are cheaper, others are the same price as in sg.

Then we came back, but sian again, kena jammed for 50mins. Both the jams occur at the Sg end of the causeway. They kinda strict with the checking to find Mas Selamat. Dunno if he had already escaped? So after all these, we came back near 5.30pm. Didnt feel like doing work. Regaled it to Sunday. Instead went to pia Thundercats.

Sunday is another day of not-working cos didnt feel like it. Continued my marathon and kept on eating non-stop... Sian. Had lost a bit of weight, still got a long way to go but this binge-eating is going to set me back. Sian. BUT what to do? Also didnt go to gym again cos woke up hungry. Then through the afternoon, just kept eating. Feel alseep later in the evening. And then its almost dinner time. Signz. Gluttony at its worst. Just have to restrain myself over dinner. Had a bowl of rice and sadly a Brown Cow. Man, now I am just going to drink tea and fill up that bottomless hole of a stomach. Work is now again postponed to tomorrow. Try to go in much earlier than usual to do it.

Stock market rallies.... bubu

Bubu... the stock market has rallied after the expectation of interest rate cuts. Stocks are going up at least for the past few days.

Bad news for me.
Had wanted to wait a bit more for more downside before going in. Found out that using CPF to invest, capital gains cannot be withdrawn. Then so far I have been using CPF, not much of cash. Though still have some cpf to use and was waiting for the price to fall further.

My dad seems to think the financial storm is over. My sister thinks otherwise. I am sitting on the fence and monitoring. If it goes up, wait. If it goes down further due to recessionary pressures, I would buy using cpf. Then if further drops, then use cash. Cos I am not monitoring the indicators like the rescue packages, the fiscal policies and their impact, the prices of commodities but only just seeing the closing prices daily if I can. So I dun have a full picture. So trying to lower the risk by doing more monitoring and making some decisions I can live with.
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My guitar lessons are starting soon, about two fridays from now. BUT I may not be able to make it or maybe still can cos of staff function. Need to find out more details before I can decide which one to go for.
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I have an adminstrative piece of work to do and I cant seem to bring myself to do it. I am still in my working clothes. I had arrived home later cos I had left later sorting through some work after work hours. Then ate dinner and stone slightly infront of laptop. Now its already 9pm+. Proscratination is not going to bring any rewards cos it meant I will have to rush it out by hook or by crook tom. Also I had intended to go in earlier to clear other admin work. It meant I just have to DO IT.

(You gotta do it, do it... you just gotta do it)

SIGNZ. I better go and take a bath first before anything else

Interesting conversation...

Life so far is still kinda routine.

I have been advised not to 'trap myself with worries' otherwise it will affect my wealth. K, so will try to look at the brighter side of things and start my pursuit of things that matters to me. One being the guitar course. Yay! Just crossing my fingers and hope for no more fiasco.

I kinda remember some conversations with Tab, Candle and Quetzal, that are blog-worthy cos of the nature of it. Lemme blog them down for the aeons.
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Be very weary if you ever get amnesia.

Certain friends (very very xin tong that they would all band together in this), decided that if I ever lose my memory. They would tell me that I was ORIGINALLY a branded bag totting lady who walks in high heels wearing short, frilly skirt who prances around the shopping belt. (Yar Tab drew that pic in her jap textbook a couple of years back)

Yar imagine the shock of sudden and total recall in that outfit in the middle of singapore.

To counter that, I would make a video of my REAL self to show my amnesiatic self who I really am, but which would duly be destroyed by these so-called friends who would replace it with another 'version'. So to be doubly safe, I would have to record 2 versions and hide them in separate locations.

Signz what kinda of company am I mixing in? My safety is in jeopardy.
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Suddenly I cant seem to recall the others. Lemme jog my memory and rest earlier. Leave that for another time, if I remember.

A 'hectic' weekend

Hmm actually quite a fair number of things I did this weekend. Its just that none of them extremely memorable or rather I cant seem to remember when I am trying to find things to blog. So I have to jog my memory as I re-trace things that I've done. See if some funny things turn up.

K, Friday, met up with Tab, FH and Candle for dinner at Big O. Thereafter went to Borders to buy books. End up getting near 45% discount for regular priced books plus I applied for membership but the card is in Tab's custody cos she frequents it more than I do. Also I often hang around with her, so chances are WHEN I wanna buy books, she be around with the card. Grudgingly handed over my card. That's it.

Saturday, went out to the Music school to be 'assessed'. Went with my sister cos she headed to the This Fashion outlet there. I hang with her cos Tab hadnt called me. In the end, I ended up buying a top. Met up with Tab, head to the music school, had to wait quite a bit. I could skip about 1.5months for the 1st level. So next comes the slotting of classes. The one I wanted on Sat was full! WTF? So fast? So there's another at Friday, late evening, into their 2nd month of lesson which I can join. So I signed up for membership and they'll call me up in about 2-3 weeks to tell me when to go for the class. So soon, my fridays are days I'll be out in town.

Then walked over with Tab to the GuanYin temple cos Candle wanted to go qiu qian for her love life and relocation question. While waiting for her, cos the weather was hot and sunny plus I needed the toilet. We headed to the nearby OG. I came out with a pack of nougots and a pocky-like snack.

Tab headed to Bugis Junction cos she saw the crowds throning at the temple and didnt want to wait around in that. I met up with Candle and headed inside. I didnt qiu cos the only remaining qn unasked would either be my love life or whether I would strike 4d or 1st,2nd prize in Toto. Didnt feel like asking. So I stood around until she finished and we looked at the answers using the qian book. Both for her are status-quo. Well at least its not negative bad news. We headed over to give thanks and put in donation, ask for a 'fu' to put in wallet and also eat a sweet from the offerings. That being done, we walked back to Bugis Junction.

Met up at the Fries place, a small food stall that sells fries (freshly fried after you order) with different sauces. Went for Garlic yougurt and Salsa. Both quite nice. Then walked around looking for Candle's dress. Stopped at MOF for a late breakfast+lunch+dinner for me. Breakfast I ate a bit of yam cake, then half the fries but it was around 4pm then. Verdict - the watermelon dessert in MOF are very light and refreshing. Siok esp the Watermelon Kakigori. Ordered the pork rice, tamago boto which is more egg than rice. Instead of egg sushi with lots of rice and thin slice of egg. Its egg-wrapped rice. Plus the surprisingly tasty and light Unagi salad. Its very filling. (Didnt really feel hungry until around 12am, cooked and ate instant noodles) Later after walking, I chanced upon a belt with an interesting way of belting up. Its like the two buckles lock only when a piece of metal is slide through the interlocking holes. Much like those old, ancient chinese door concepts with the sliding wood lock. So its only 5 bucks. Bought one.

Candle left later and Tab and I headed to Raffles City. We walked around and I bought Jellybeans and Sugar-free Butterscotch sweets at Mark's and Spencer's. Then we continued walking aimlessly around until I felt kinda tired and we sat for dinner at Coffee Club. Koup the salad and a few wedges cos still felt kinda full. After that we headed home.

They both went back empty-handed. I bought 6 items. Though mostly food stuff.

Sunday, went to the gym only to find my fittness dwindled after a few weeks of absence. Sian. Need to build it up again. Then headed to see the sinseh and after that treat family to dinner. The rest were good but today's curry fish head a bit watery, so sad.

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Incidentally many weeks back, maybe about a month ago. I had a dream where I won Toto and I remember the numbers from my dream. I went about to dilligently buy it until this week where I forgot about it. Then this thursday, 4 of the 6 numbers I remember opened. Well if I had bought my usual, its only $20 payout. BUT if I had bought System Roll, it would mean, $2500 in prize. Technically I could do that cos I have 6 numbers, I only need to choose 5 and R the rest. Then I still have that combination. The downside of this is its more expensive, $20 per draw. Still if I had done it, still could net in more than $2k. Signz. K lemme go to sleep more and dream of more numbers. I better remind myself in the dream to memorise those numbers.

Now I am not sure whether to buy those numbers still? Hmm... better treasure this Lucky year for Monkey before its over. It's gonna be over soon. NO!!!!!!!!!!