Your result for The Elemental Beauty Test...

Natural Beauty

50% Earth, 42% Air, 8% Water, and 0% Fire!

You scored 50% Earth! Outstanding!

The Earth element is a natural beauty. They tend to keep more toward greens, blacks, and natural colors for their wardrobe and their make-up, if they wear it to begin with. They tend to be grounded and not caught up in the latest trends. They are more interested in doing what feels right for them and being in touch with what is around them.

For inner beauty earth elements look for stability and commitment. They look after others and their family. They are realistic and tactile, meaning they aren't afraid to touch and be touched. But they can also be quite stubborn and unmoving when their mind is made up.

Zodiac signs for earth are Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn.

You also scored:

8% Water: Water is the etheral beauty. They like things that drape and shimmer. The love vintage and heirlooms; things with emotional ties and history. 0% Water may mean that you don't trust or use your intuition. Equal Water and Air would indicate a person that is a hard worker with a need for security and an attachment to possessions.

42% Air: Air is the fearless beauty. They are offbeat and funny. The mix old fashions with new and love to make new trends. They aren't afraid to be new or crazy. 0% Air could indicate that you have trouble looking at things objectively. Persons with equal Earth and Air are usually those who think and use good common sense.

0% Fire: Fire is the alluring beauty. They like to wear bright colors and show some skin. They are sexually minded and spicy. They use a lot of charm to get what they want. 0% Fire can often be seen in someone that pushes and tries to force self-expression. An equal Fire and Earth person is someone who has the ability to be powerfully creative. Fire provides the motivation and Earth provides the tangible results.

Take The Elemental Beauty Test at HelloQuizzy

2nd Day of CNY

Today also went out again. Its like I've not stayed home since last Friday. Its 6 days in a row. Dunno if tom got Jap lessons, if so that is 7 days. Missed lazing around in the bed. Wont say that I have been doing much of that cos of either going out or Mapling.



Yar here are the pics of the stuff I bought from Chinatown, namely the bird whistle, the Cai Shen and the Cai pig. The other frog (my cheapo version of the Cang Zu, the frog that is supposed to bring wealth, it is seen with a coin in its mouth) is from another trip elsewhere. So the frog, the Cai Shen and the Cai pig are all sitting on my Toto and 4D tickets. My table is seriously messy, need to tidy it up again. Hope will bring me lottas luck.



This is the drinking game Bingo thingy that I bought for $4.99 from Giant. Cant wait to try it out with all the funny shooters. That will all happen in the next Dec party.

2nd Day

Anyway my mom, my sisters and I went to visit the Qin Long Ye Temple again. This time cos supposed to visit for the new year. We headed there around 10am. Prayed, donated and then there was a lion troupe that performed and then the lion dancers formed 4 numbers using the mandarin oranges. Then we all went to buy the number, though in different combinations. I just went for the I-bet version instead. This time, we stepped on the bridge and got a shower of water from the two dragons overhead, went to get the water from the dragon sprout where you have to kneel and the dragon sprouts water. That being done, we went for lunch.

Later my sister Yingel and I headed to check out the New Jurong Point. It was under construction to expand it and now its completed. Woah, it is big. There is now JP1 and JP2 buildings, though JP1 the new building only has 3 floors including the basement. Quite a good mix of shops and dining places in the basement. There is Kushinbo, NYNY, Fig and Olives, Ocha, Cavana and many more. Though this being CNY and all, so most are not open but its really larger than before. We headed to the arcade and played more Basket throwing game. Man there was this kiddy version and this street version that was much taller than the one in PS. Played until arms numb, I played 4 times, my sister 2 times. Then I was playing the Jukebox game there, could play songs in hard up to 7 stars. Not bad if I say so myself. We explored around and then headed home by bus.

Reached home around 3pm and I felt so tired that I headed to snooze until 5pm. Woke up, Mapled, ate dinner, mapled some more. Then I was emptying out my piggy bank cos it was getting too heavy plus also its already more than a year. So I wanted to empty it and start over again. Spent quite some time emptying, counting and then wrapping up the coins in sticks of 50s. About 1k in all. Not bad. I take it as I got back half the money I spent for the Thailand trip. Now is only finding out when are the coin deposit days and bank them in. Now my piggy is very light again. Its back to another year of incidental saving.

Still havent drank some of the beer. I should chug one and then head to bed.

My bdae day itself, CNY eve and CNY first day

Bdae Day itself,

I went out in the afternoon with my brother after cooking and eating the pasta. We reached Orchard around 4pm. I needed to collect my pants that I had bought two weeks back with Tab. Didnt know that it was already ready as indicated on the receipt, only realized when I looked at it closely, had thought they would call me to collect. After collecting, I was asking my bro, whether he was hungry for food or had any drinks in mind. He was, so I brought him to the Cathay, to drink Yuan Yang at Man Jia Le and eat Chao Da Ji Pa at Shilin. He likes the chicken chop and the Yuan Yang drink alot. Then we went to a bookshop nearby for him to buy books for his tuition biz.

Lastly we headed to PS to play at the arcade. Before that we went to scrutinize the many hobby shop on the top floor, with the numerous figurines, models and swords. Then we headed to the arcade. He played this Aeroplane game that he was quite into the last time, and I played the JukeBox game, playing at Intermediate level up to 6 stars. After the game, we headed down to check out this book sale thingy by carrefour I think. After digging around, I bought 6 brand new books, my usual diet of sci fi for $6 per book instead of $16.95 per book. Too bad I already had some titles cos I saw the same ones selling cheaply.

Then we took a cab home. Overall its nice to get out of the house on a weekend and hang around a bit with the sun still in the skies. Its like a way to make the day last longer.

CNY eve

I woke up a bit later cos of the night owling and helped to sweep the floor. It was part of the last minute spring cleaning before the year arrive and its bad luck to do so. Then we had a simple meal of fried rice. My sister, Yingel and I decided to head to Chinatown in the later part of the afternoon cos we had explored the Dead Chinatown before 2 years back and now wanted to see how its like on CNY eve. The rest of the family didnt understand why we wanted to do that, well partly cos I wanted to get the Jelly Guo Dong cheaply and also just for the sake of going out. Its sort of a CNY tradition thingy that started 3 years back when I started staying back in Sg for CNY. So wanderlust and boredom plus search for food led me to go out with sisters to explore. We've been to deadtown Chinatown , deserted Clark and Boat Quays, IMM and Orchard during the first one, two days of CNY.

So both of us headed down, expecting to be squashed and having to fight toes and nails to pass through the throngs of crowd that would congregate at Chinatown searching for last minute new year goodies. BUT that didnt come true leh. Firstly the new year goodies were mostly the same, prices are the same too, nothing very fantastic. Its just like a repeated pasar malam except the crowds were quite thin. We didnt have to push through to walk to each stall and look. We walked through the 3 streets and peered at everything. Second, most of the stuff we dun want to buy eg egg rolls, more cny decorations, so that kinda put the meagre offerings out of the picture.

Though after walking around, we did buy stuff plus eat at the food street part. Both of us spent a total of $50 all in. We shared to buy 3 small boxes of Hume cookies 3 @ $7, and 3 figurines with light at 3 for $10. I spent about $35. I bought a bird whistle $2, a Cai piggy weight $1, a Cai Shen light figurine $3.30 (will put up the pics later cos now using my sister's laptop) a kg of Jelly for $10, half kg of dried permesson $4, food and drinks $10 and a cough medical tea for $1.50. My sister ate and bought 250g of Gua Zi. We went back by bus kinda disappointed that there wasnt that much offerings as in most of the stuff are the same. Only few unique ones, though being unique doesnt mean, we had to buy it. Then reached home, helped Mom to cook in the kitchen for the new year reunion dinner feast, helped to cut and prepare some meat, veg and also cook dishes. Chose to help out cos many hands make light work. We had around 8-9 dishes. Then ate dinner together with bro.

After dinner, helped to decorate the outside with new year decorations with Yingel. Both of us were twisting some decorations over the cacatus and plants outside our doors. Later I checked the 4D only to find that I HAD MISSED THE 2nd PRIZE BY 1 NUMBER AGAIN! Argh, the number by the Unwelcomed guest in the house, it missed by the last number. Peng! Argh my fat ang bao and the hopes of it being welcome were dashed. Okay, no more leg shaking and eating beef. Abstinance until I strike.

After that, it was around 10pm, when I login to Maple. Was listening to the Channel 8 new year show while playing Maple. Later after the show ended, I stayed up until 4am playing maple, partly to Shou Shui for parents. The rest all retired by then.

CNY first day

As expected, woke up lagi late around 12pm due to staying until 4am trick the night before. Went online to Maple again. Watched the Mr Hong Kong with sister Geoky, spent 2hours of my life bioing at guys. We were making comments about certain contestants. Then I went back to Mapling. After dinner, both my sisters and I headed to VivoCity. Just to see whether shops would be open and a change of exploration venues. We headed there by bus. While on the bus, I quickly sent out late cny smses cos it was kinda almost night by then.

Surprized to see that there were many many pple milling around too. Even more surprising was that Giant was open. We headed inside and I bought this very cheap drinking game. Its like Bingo and comes with 6 shot glasses. The person who rolls out a coloured ball has to drink the shot glass of that colour. Its only $4.90. So now I have 9 shot glasses. Then we bought some food and drink items. Me and my sister try to stick to our resolution and had been drinking mineral water and unsugared oolong drinks when we buy drinks outside. I had not been munching much of new year goodies at all. Just only earlier today, I ate 3 jelly. That's all.

After a long while inside looking at the many stuff including electrical appliances, we walked around the shopping centre. There are quite a few shops open esp the F&B ones. We headed inside the Baleno/LP boutique that was having a sale and bought a total of 5 t-shirts. I bought only one for $9.60 cos I didnt want to run out of storage space. I had cleared away most of my old T-shirts from Uni days and early contract teaching days. Now my t-shirts consist of those I had bought from the 2 thailand trips, plus JB jasco trips. After that we walked a bit more and headed home. We reached home around 10pm, having left near 7pm.

Think tomorrow will go and explore the newly finished expanded Jurong Point somewhere in the early afternoon.

Bdae again

Yar since this blog is like a diary, record of my life cos memories get blurred over time. Its that time again for a bdae post.

Err feeling kinda tired cos slept near 3am last nite and woke up around 8.30am to cook pasta. Last night, thankful to friends who met up for dinner and thereafter waited for me after guitar class. Like I had told them, had my evaluation and scrapped through. Cos seriously not comfortable playing on the stage even if there was only the instructor around. The mikes, the light and the stool. Kinda screwed up with lots of mistakes. Could play much better without having to sing along. Signz at least I will go on to the next level. Hopefully can overcome this nerves or discomfort in similar stage conditions.

Reached home late, 12.30pm. Went online to check shares since I had purchased some due to falling prices. Though at this point, I wonder whether I am still going in too early, also whether I should wait more, also wondering if I am over-invested. Was calculating and updating my Excel file to monitor my shares. Its in 3 portfolios, basically CPF portfolio, Cash Sg portfolio and Cash Msia portfolio. Slight losses in all 3 so far. If look at individual stock counters, there are some paper gains, losses. So added more calculations to my Excel file to monitor the % invested in the counters, the amount per counter. Also trying to make some decisions regarding whether to buy more of some counters or wait some more for more downside. Was thinking about all these until near 3am.

My wish is for Good Health for myself, family and friends. Err if there is a second wish, I wanna win a BIG prize from the upcoming HongBao Draw. Cos having wealth is important too.

Tiredz... and more Rat chasing later

Today I am exhausted.

Yesterday a long intense day, thereafter head straight for jap test. So stoned though I did try to study while on the train. Went for the test in zombified dead mode and felt very bo chap about it, though I really did try to answer those questions with my hole-ey and tired brain. Dunno whether pass at this moment in time. Too tired to care.

After the paper, just headed out straight to get dinner with Tab. Ate soup and we walked around a bit before heading back. I saw the Rat last nite around 1.30am. It scurried past in the kitchen when I switched on the light to go to the toilet. Was contemplating whether to hunt for it or go to sleep. Cos I had to wake VERY early, I just wrote a note for my sister and went to sleep. Knocked out.

Today is even more longer day than yesterday. Basically the total hours is 11hrs straight. My free periods marking intensely. Think health not good cos of my chronic problem. Then I made so many errors today cos too stoned liao, so paiseh. Came back to hear my Dad nag about the rat and his plans for all of us to simultaneously hit the shelves etc in the room to flush out the rat. The irritating part is I was thirsty and tiredz after coming home. Just had my dinner and he had to tell me in his tone which irritates my temper. Just told him to start telling when my other 2 sisters are back so that I dun have to hear it again when he says it again to them separately.

I am so tempted to walk over to buy a mouse-trap and just be it. Think after this, am going to lie down a bit. These 2-3 days have been exhausting and my chronic problem is aggravating the fatique and sapping my energy. Lemme rest before the rumble later.

Longing for weekend

In a short while more, I be making my way to work.

Before that I was looking at the stock market from 9am. The January effect seems to have worn off and the market has been falling. A couple has reached my target price to buy-in. Most havent. So I'll be watching at the sidelines. Need to transfer money from bank account to trading account but man, think have to do it on Sat and brave the long queues of pple going to get new notes etc etc. Nevermind one more thing to do then this Sat morning.

Inbetween I had gone out to dabao my brunch as I am trying very hard to eat before going to work cos dun feel like eating once there. Its the sheer amount of stuff to do. So it resulted in irregular meals. Hope that my changed eating habits can firstly prevent my gastric problem from worsening and also shave inches off my waist. Consciously trying to reduce taking sugared drinks also.
______________________________

Think I rather enjoy just watching the market and making investment decisions, though at a small scale. This year, I just set an investment target of $10-15k arbitarily and aim to hit it. If I can achieve that, it would mean about 28.5-42.9% of my estimated take-home pay, of course excluding CPF payments. That would also mean that maybe I can take a break from work for a while. Also if I can hit it, a treat for family and friends. Til the end of the year then.
______________________________

The Unwelcomed Guest in the house is still in-the-house. My sister was chasing it and banging around 3am last night. Think I was too tired from the long day plus guitar playing and more importantly studying 1 more chpt of Jap that I was knocked out and didnt hear anything. Well based on the date and month it entered our house, plus we kinda want it out, bought a 4D number for it. Haha, if strike then its a Welcomed guest then.
______________________________

Just 1 more day to Jap test tom and I havent finished, 1 more chpt plus looking thru the vocabulary and extra notes. That's alot to cover tonight... Signz.

Just 4 more days including today to the weekends, my bdae (getting older and older) and CNY.

Unwelcomed Squatter

The whole espisode started much like the previous Taliban experience. I was in the room, watching Thundercats dvd cos I couldnt fall asleep. Had slept earlier in the afternoon then. Just when I got comfortable, I heard a few banging sounds. It sounded like someone had fallen. Thought it was my dad but didnt hear talking. Then the sound started again, I went out to investigate, only to see both my sisters jumping and looking cautiously around. They told me there was a BIG rat in the house.

Ya my dad had left the door opened a few days back and apparently one sneaked in and hasnt left. They spotted it near the computer table and it zoomed off towards either my parents' bedroom or the kitchen. My sister and I armed ourselves with sticks, whilst the other stayed on the couch with a broom and we went to bang around the kitchen. Surprisingly despite the size, we couldnt find it in the kitchen. Then we woke our parents to search their room. Cant find also. We did a couple of searches around the kitchen some more then gave up. Before we went back to bed, we tied up the garbage so as not to expose it and chuck it down the chute, to cut off the rat's supply of food. I went back to watching dvd and later fell asleep.

This morning, still no news. Think its still in the house. The unwelcomed visitor.

Man... I look FAT

This post came about cos on thursday or so, my Dad suddenly handed a stack of photos to my sister. Its the photos taken when we went to the airport to fetch her back from taiwan. When she looked at the photos, the first thing she said was "OMG!"

She showed me the photos and I went "OMG too!" Man, the photos are unflattering and I look seriously FAT in there, my sister too. Both of us experienced a sudden reality check. We kept going on and on about being fat, putting on weight this 2 years or so. Then I dug up this older photo of myself in 2001 to make a comparison. The verdict -I AM SO DARN FAT.

Its very obvious with the side-by-side comparison. My sister did also with a pic of her near her graduation and she also became more round. So whilst my Dad was unaware, I cut out the FAT me and my sister did it for her, pasted it next to my older photo and even added a note to myself to eat regularly and cut sweet drinks. I put that right in my wallet. So that when I see it, I will be reminded to quit drinking sweet stuff or eat extra stuff beside the main meal. My sister also did similarly. We also had a pinky-promise to lose the 8kg each from our waist lines.

___________________________________

Though on Sat, my sister went out and when she came back, she said she "破戒" everything cos she had a coffee and scone. For my case, I still had a sweet drink or two, ice lemon tea in outside meal, green tea packet that my Dad bought for CNY. I try to consciously reduce. Just like now, I havent drank Coke in quite a while. Now for me is mainly to jumpstart going to the gym again. Stopped for a while now. Try to make it to 2 times a week at least regularly and also make sure I eat my meals esp breakfast and lunch on week days.

Sat was spent mainly concussing in bed. So tired that slept from 2-6pm. By then the day almost gone liao. Then at night couldnt sleep so end up watching dvd. X-file movie sucked big time. Hellboy the golden army was better than the Mummy dragon emperor.
___________________________________

Today woke up and did some spring cleaning so dun have to be nagged by Mom. Wiped cupboard, door, window, tidied up shelves a bit, tidied up my clothes a bit. Now left with my collection of dvds. Later I went to the gym, 10 mins running, then weights, then crunches, then stretches. Thats all. No point piahing and later muscle ache. On the way back, I went to the supermarket to buy some pasta and the sauce. Supposed to cook for my bro, cos in msia, the sauce is expensive. Since he likes it, I'll cook up next Sat.

Came home, tidied up some more, then went to carry stuff for Salvation army. My dad only drives, we had to carry the stuff. Later went to buy a few new year decorations for work purpose. Chose the cheapest I could get. Everything is own budget so dun bother. Played a bit of guitar then went online to Maple cos had agreed to meet up to do party quest.

For the guitar evaluation, I am still not sure if outsiders can come in. Also the song to be played, maybe I shall go for the safest one, though boring.

Yar btw, I have not touched a word for the Jap test next wed. I am seriously screwed. Better kicked my unwilling ass to do it otherwise by the time work starts tom, will be too tired to do so.

Some Photos to brighten up the day

Actually I do own a digital camera, though by now, its kinda outdated compared to the more powerful specs of the newer, subsequent generations. Think by now got Canon A dunno what, got 10 mega pixels one.

Err I think I gave it a name too but had forgotten. Think I take a look later in this blog to find the name. My laptop is Siren, the PSp is Aoi, the mp3 is Midori.

Nevermind that.

Its my trusty camera that I use to take the occasional photos, though I try to stuff it into my bag. Its the one that has been documenting my cooking forays.

My favourite dessert for now


Had this in my camera for 3 months liao. Its exactly what I ate from Nectarie, went with Tab for a second time. The strudel is the Wine Poached Pear. So far I've eaten it 3 times in a row. The tea is the Strawberry cream one. Had it the first time and liked it to order it again when I went with my sisters. Meant to put it up earlier but always forget and left it in my camera.

Autumny Bed


My bed with the Aussion theme of Autumn that I've bought some time ago. Did it up around Christmas while clearing my room, a Herculean task. Managed to clear it off, now still with a small bit of clothes to manage. Now I actually have 4 sets of bedsheets with 2 sets of quilt covers... After my bdae with the Return of the Bedsheet Bimbos, think I will end up with more (Please tell me when are you free, from my bdae date to go for a mass buy. Especially the newly married who need the bedsheets, pillows etc)



Its looks so comfy. Nice to lie on and imagine myself in an autumny country. Now with the cold winds blowing, brrrrrr it feels like I am living in a cold country. Thank god I got a quilt now to cover my cold ass esp in the early mornings, though I had kept kicking away the quilt during the hotter months.

"Luke, I am your father *breathes, breathes"



Meet your doom, fellow Tab's christmas party go-ers. After the lack of shot glasses episode, I had actually gotten 2 more shot glasses from Daiso. Had wanted to take a photo to show the difference in sizes. Look how big the new glasses are, it actually is 100ml compared to the one that I used then. Dun worry, I intend to get some more gradually everytime I go to Daiso so that I can get different sizes. By Dec, I should have more than a dozen shot glasses, enough to shoot everyone. The new tradition, besides the Christmas present (which BTW I still IOU Ros)

LOL! Now for the next party, everyone will get a shot made by me - the bartendar wannabe. Since Tab had restocked her Baileys, prepare thy livers and shoot yourself.

Man, looking at these photos, I wish its the weekend already.

Tiredz but no work-in-the-back-of-my-head

Well its from the quite hectic day plus going in early to clear my stuff, marking and planning so that I wont have to dabao home anyday esp on weekends. I wont have to think about it during after-work hours. Just have to persist with it to get a peace of mind after working hours. Yep at least I can have a peace of mind for this week.

My cd drive is not working well, cant rip more JJ songs into my mp3 player. Trying to get a couple of songs more to listen. Not all his songs are good, but there are those which are. And that's only his first album. I shall start the slow, slow explorationg into chinese songs, while waiting for my favourite jap bands to launch new songs.

Went over next door for a while to just walk around. Guess its like I dont want the day to just end by sitting down and next sleeping. Even borrowed Dvds to watch. Ya I should do that soon, otherwise have to stay up late.

The potential to be a boring day...

Yesterday, Sat was kinda of a boring day after a more 'fruitful' day of work, then guitar lesson then boardgames playing the serious game of 'Modley's Fool', then railway track building in 'Railway to Ride' and end off with 'Blockus'. Phew at least I wasnt the last in all 3 games. After that Quetzal drove us home and I think I watched Thundercats until I fell asleep.

Saturday was kinda uneventful. I woke up, shifted my stuff, then ate lunch with my dad. Later we came back and he watched tv while I mapled. I was so bored, restless that I did lvl up my other character 1.5 levels by the time I was done. Then went to practice guitar, my JJ song and Jay song which I have somewhat shortlisted to play for the coming evaluation. Guess what, there's a Jap test again! And I have NOT even remotely think of starting. I rather be practising guitar, sleeping... Just didnt feel like studying yet. In the end, nobody smsed, so I stayed at home. In the middle of the night, around 2am. I ate my chinese medicine and shortly after felt discomfort and couldnt sleep. Couldnt pin point the specific area of pain or what, plus feeling kinda hungry. Thinking that it might be a stomach pang arising from hunger, I went to fry an egg. Found that my egg frying skill has improved though I havent cooked anything else besides Magee mee since my last soup. Ate it hungrily with bread and ketchup and downed a brown cow. Then somewhat felt okay and went to sleep somewhere past 3am.

Sunday had the potential to be just another boring day. But it wasnt. At first it did seem like it was going to play out to be one. I was woken up by a call from the SeaHorse delivery pple saying that they are on their way with the new sofabed we had purchased about 3 weeks ago. We didnt tell our parents and just went ahead. Cos it was meant for mom who could sleep there in case she couldnt stand my dad's snoring. Also my bro can sleep there when he comes out. Its very firm and good for the back. My own mattress that I had slept on for more than 7 years is still very firm and I dont get backaches ever since. So my mom and dad answered the phone and they thought that there was a mistake until my sister took over. Shortly after, they came and we put in the sofabed.

After all that, it was still only 9.30am, so things settled and I went Mapling again. Wanted to level up before next sat but alas I couldnt. Hunger pangs set in around 11 plus. We could smell the aroma of the food cooking downstairs from the coffeeshop and headed down to eat. I went ahead with mom and dad, the sisters came down later. They took a while and when they did, they were dressed to go out. I asked where they were going. It seems they wanted to go Karaoke but not at KBox as they had given up using that coupon. I asked if I could go and joined them. We headed downtown to Liang court where there is a newly opened PartyWorld that has many many rooms. It had disco lights to switch onto and its kinda popular. Gradually saw more and more occupied rooms. I had a slightly bigger inventory of songs, given that I had been learning some Chinese songs for guitar plus listen to JJ's cd. Hence sang 7 cheena songs. Better practice before evaluation though I dun think my vocal poweress is anything noteworthy.

After 4 hours, we headed to a Jap style western restaurant inside that had relatively cheap food. Its more western with hotplates, pasta, pizza for prices around $7 before GST and service charge. My seafood rissoto didnt taste good BUT the chicken chop and pizza are good. My sisters ordered those. Interestingly when we were paying, the manager who is a Japanese, spoke japanese to me. I just listened, nodded and later said 'Arigato' when he handed me the change. I did understand him some, saying things like the total cost is XXX, here is your change XXXX. My sisters were glad that though they had kept saying each other dressing up like Aunty, Phillipino maid earlier (excludes me) , someone thought that we are all Japanese. Or is just that the poor guy doesnt speak english.

Then I showed them Nectaire, the place where I had ate wine poached pear strudel twice with Tab. Was telling them that its very good. I ordered the same order of wine pear strudel with strawberry cream tea. My sisters ordered the strawberry strudel, vanilla latte, hazelnut latte and the pichatto cake. We enjoyed eating it and they agreed that its nice. My sisters were bioing and scanning for good looking guys. Sadly not much to look at as it was kinda early around 7pm. I was just listening to their crappy talk and laughing with them. Later we decided to head back by cab. Since a cab ride is much shorter compared to a bus ride, I dabaoed a Mango strudel back for mom and dad. Didnt want to buy more cos both are already old, with health problems. Hence just enough for a small treat. The strudel came in a very posh looking paper bag, put into a posh looking paper box. When the person came over with it, we were like, "Wah, such a nice bag for a studel." We caught a cab cos there was no queue at 7.45pm where most pple are just having dinner and not around the area yet.

We reached home around 8pm and both mom and dad like the strudel. The crust is very light and crispy, though they kept saying its a bit expensive for $6++ Its not like we eat that everyday. Plus in Singapore, its not like you can always get good pastry at below that price. Later I went to practice more guitar and maple a bit.

I have somewhat decided that I will just head to work earlier to clear stuff esp on Monday so that I dun have to dabao work over the weekend. Grrr.... now the weather is seriously very cold esp at my area. The winds blowing in from the open window and doors are literally killing me. Had to wrap myself up in a sleeved t-shirt with jacket plus wear track pants instead of my sleeveless top with shorts night-getup. Think be going to sleep soon, after finished watching Naruto 91 after blogging.

Overall today is a good day. Though it came from spending some money instead of having to spend just a bit of money and have a good time. Well as long as its not everyday I guess. Still I wish that dun have to work... bubu

TA? How to write it in Katana?

Met Tab for jap where both of us arrived an hour late. Mine due to work ending later than last year. So after travelling all the way down, it about there. Her's was she had ended late from morning and when she arrived, she decided to heck it and go for a hair job or something. Both of us ended up suddenly forgetting how to write Katagana for the word 'taxi' -> タクーシ

We wrecked our brains and frantically looked through the textbook and finally found it. Tab suddenly remembered that that character タ, appears twice in her Jap name which she had been writing for the past 5.5 years.

OMG! At least I could write the Katakana for my jap name... Suggested for her to doodle up this episode in her jap tb. That's another doodle in her tb that is still continuing... She should get them transferred elsewhere. After she quits, she can publish a comic book full of the adventures.
_______________________________

For this year, I dun want to say too much regarding work. Dun want to be specific or mention specific incidents. Just want to trash them from my mind once working hours are over. Though the negative feeling persists so at times, I may mention my own BLUE feelings but I'll be vague. I'll strive to write more interesting incidents that happen and other issues. Also widen experiences by doing more new stuff and blogging about those instead.
_______________________________

Stock market today like more restrained. Still havent reached the target price but seems generally to be going up. Be monitoring in the earlier part of the morning around 9am until before I leave for work.
_______________________________

Signz havent been practicing the guitar or start going to the gym yet.

My first 'sell' order

Just where I left off in this morning's post, I put in my first 'Sell' order.

Most would think, "chey, want to sell, just sell lor" But like most things about investing, its different when one is invested vs one who is watching from the sidelines.

So I offer the decisions and perspective from an investor who is deciding whether to sell or not.

First, I really dun have a clear idea how high can the stock rise to in one shot, given that it has started rising. One would never know unless with hindsight, how high the stock would rise in this one shot or wave.

This is when one has to set a investment target so that if the counter hits it, then you can start considering whether to sell or wait and see a bit or revise your target.

Next, is actually deciding whether to ACTUALLY sell the lot at a particular price and putting in the order. One would think this is easy but IF the prices actually went up alot after you have sold off yours, you have to just live with your decision made at that point in time with the information you had then. Hindsight is always 6/6, remember that and dun lament if later you missed the chance to make even greater returns cos you had sold too early. Just live with it.

Lastly is NOT to spend the gains freely. Remember the gains should be reinvested so that your pool of investment money increases. Of course, a small treat after a certain targeted total amount is reached is also advisable, so as not to spend everything in euphoria.

For my dad, the stocks are now his money-generators given he is retired. He has enough savings and makes extra from the stocks when opportunities arise. For my case, I just made my first sale on a counter independant of my Dad's typical counters. I sold off the few lots, and made a small capital gain. It was at the price I had targeted and the returns is 41.9% roughly within 1 month. Its not a big sum of money, still way off from making my annual income from shares alone and therefore retire. I shall keep track of gains. BUT this small gain still CANNOT offset the paper losses on my first 2 lots of shares where the losses amount to 2.5k.

I had came across the counter somewhat accidentally and reaslized that its undervalued. Did do some homework by checking out the SHARES book, the nature of its bix, SGX and monitor its historic prices and NAV before I went in with a small sum. I wanted to buy in more but within 2 days, the prices started rising. Again given I wasnt sure if prices would fall thereafter, I didnt buy more, just had 5 lots. So now it has become one of the 6 SG counters I am monitoring. I am looking at more than 6 counters in my mostly daily excel file monitoring but those I didnt buy-in cos wasnt sure or for a few, the prices are still very high, so I just monitor it as a proxy to certain industries, eg a ppty developer cos I have a few ppty related stocks.

For now I am adopting my own First-In-First-Out or Last-In-Last-Out record tracking. What does this mean? Well I had bought 2 lots of shares too early hence even with the rise now, I am still sitting on losses. BUT I had bought more lots when the prices were lower earlier then. So IF I sell of at current prices, I would take it as selling off the cheaper lots at profit, and keeping the more expensive lot for later. Something like that.

Oh yar, btw, work today was less tramatizing though still tiring.

Work & Alternative flow of income

In less than half an hour's time, I will be making my way to work.

Still unsettled, being a new place, new level and my stuff are all at home... plus some sort of leftover denial and monday blues. Not that enthusiastic about it.

But in this recessionary type environment, I have to remind myself to be grateful for having a job, being able to earn my keeps. Also remind myself that saving a portion of the salary is an important step to buffer such uncertainities and the basis to generating alternative flows of income.

From looking at prices now, it seems to be the Januarary Effect, cos suddenly all counters I am monitoring went up, see all Green instead of red.

Have finally put up an order to sell off a few lots of shares in a counter that I own. At this point, still unsold. Hope to cash in some, so that I am able to hold the rest longer. Something to look forward to at the end of today.

In denial

Denial.

That kind of sums up what I felt after my first day of work, on Friday.

Heaved a sigh of relief at the weekend to recover, but then denial kicks in.

Why the feeling?

Well I guess I did enjoy the hols way too much.

I enjoyed the routine, I kinda set up.

Somewhat along the lines of sleeping late to watch dvds, sleeping in late, waking up and just login to Poems to track stock prices, sit infront and do some calculations, going online at leisure, going out with Mom and Dad at times. Inbetween practicing the guitar, Maple, going out.

All without 'WORK' at the back of my head. In fact, its completely out of the picture.

So after the some-what traumatic first day, denial mode kicked in. Went for guitar in a zombified mode, after that wanted to hang around but nobody, so went home and practiced guitar. But work is hanging in the back of the head. SIAN.

Saturday, I jio Tab to go out shopping at CentrePoint cos I needed a wardrobe change. Before that, Friday night, I slept really late. Woke up and pia Maple until I was late to meet Tab. Later met her, we walked around and eventually after a lot of tries, I bought a pair of pants. Its more expensive but the material is good. Then we walked to PS. Both of us tried our hands at the basketball, the Jukebox game. Later went for dinner at Cathay. Headed back to PS cos thought Quetzal wanted to join us. When she wasnt coming, we headed to explore a bit the area near my guitar school, namely the Minds cafe and the Manga Kissaten (comic cafe) The environment quite okay. Then we headed to the Coffee Club and plonked ourselves down.

Sunday, today I went out to a nearby neighbourhood dept store and bought 2 more pairs of pants. They are much cheaper and I have actually noticed them while walking past almost everyday. Took 3 and tried. Then bought 2. Walked around with my mom for errands and went home. I was feeling more settled after going out the day before but I am still conciously trying to forget the work-at-the-back-of-my-head. Mapled and then headed out nearby to meet up with JC friends. When we met up and talked over dinner and later over dessert, I told them straight not to ask me about work, I would refuse to talk about it. Unlike them, most, if not all are talking about their jobs. I listen and wonder why?

Is it professional pride? Given that my friends are all professionals. Plus we meet up about once every 6 months, hence to catch up on the changes in jobs etc etc. Another might be that at this age, there's not much else to talk about, or that with long absence, its seems to be the common topic.

For my case, its not that I am ashamed of my job, but more of that fact, that it has taken a huge chunk of my time and requires lots of effort such that on my non-working time/days, I would like to put it aside. Plus given the fact that work does linger still (occupation hazard) hence it requires a conscious effort to push it aside if I find myself thinking about it, worrying, feeling sian about it. So I dun need to be reminded of it more by being questioned about it, by discussing about it.

Hopefully the next week will be better. Whether I like it or not, the week is coming.

My extra resolution is to make sure I can afford a longer break by saving, managing and investing my money to make it a reality.