Updated list of 100 things to do before I die

Places To Visit

1. Japan for ohanami
2. Australia for a few days of farm stay
3. Negri Sembilan
4. Penang
5. Kedah
6. Pahang
7. Kelantan
8. Perak
9. Perlis
10. Selangor
11. Sabah
12. Sarawak
13. Beach resort like Langkawi
14. Genting or Cameron Highland

Things To Learn
1. Acoustic guitar (doing)
2. Japanese language (doing)
3. Electric guitar
4. Drums
5. Learn one martial art form
6. Malay language (bahasa melayu)
7. Technical analysis applications (not just theory)
8. Drive a car (doing)
9. Swim well in the 4 types of strokes
10. Master and bake 10 types of desserts cakes (doing)
11. Make most basic types of alcoholic cocktails by memory (doing)
12. Music theory and foundation
13. Compose musical pieces
14. Draw the ideas in my brain down on paper
15. a couple of Magic card tricks
16. Chinese calligraphy
17. Learn how to brew beer
18. Learn how to make wine
19. Animation
20. Character creation
21. Storyboarding
22. Website design using computer language instead of just copy-pasting codes
23. Sculpting (be it ice or stone or wood)
24. Oil-based painting of scenary
25. Design and make clothing
26. Learn Hair styling
27. Learn to cook more authentic Chinese dishes >20 dishes
28. Learn candy-making (french style dessert)
29. Learn proper chocolate-making (gourmet chocolate)
30. Learn a Chinese instrument - Flute
31. Metallurgy to make trinklets
32. Jewellery design and making

Things To Try At Least Once
1. Wave-boarding
2. Cosplay an actual character from anime/j-rock
3. Bungee jump
4. Fly a glider
5. Fly in a helicopter
6. Surfing
7. Go for a sauna
8. Go for a full spa treatment
9. Jet ski-ing
10. Archery
11. Shooting at gun range
12. Snow ski
13. Snow board
14. Fishing in the open waters
15. Ride that banana boat pulled by a speedboat
16. Ride or drive a speedboat around
17. Go for a cruise trip
18. Ride a bike (not on road, on dirt track type)
19. Sit in the side-car while a bike ferrys me around
20. Go for a wine appreciation course
21. Pottery

Things To Eat At Least Once In A Lifetime (Resembles fear factor)
1. Escargot
2. Foie Gra
3. Sea Urchin
4. 海盗饭团 (taiwan)
5. Frog legs porridge
6. Fried worms (thailand)
7. 盆菜
8. Authentic Peking duck
9. Braised Pork Trotters/Knuckles (stewed until it melts in the mouth)
10. Ma Han Quan Xi (Emperor's full 100 course dinner)

Things To Achieve In This Lifetime
1. Be my own boss (a firm dunno what biz)
2. Finally achieve my ideal weight...
3. Get $250-$300k in cash by the time I am 35, $500k cash by time I am 40, $800k-$1mil cash by the time I retire.
4. Own my own place

Total:  81

I guess what inspired me to build up on this list and to re-visit time and again is to see if I am making progress somewhere towards things I want to do. I have come to the realisation that Life is not about waiting for the things you want to happen by chance, its more about making them happen for you. I have not fully internalized it yet but am making some changes here and there.

Life is a complicated passage for me. I am plagued at times by the seemingly lack of 'purpose' and yet the supposedly 'right' path of studying hard, getting married, working until retirement and thus living a fulfilled life doesnt seem that doable for me. As the years go by, the prospect of a lifetime of singlehood is something that is a real reality.

Yet a lifetime is a pretty long time. There are periods of 'free time' that is not occupied by much but more of repeating the same routine of life - be it heading out for dinner and stuff or staying at home and stuff. Whatever the routine, if there's no variety, Life suddenly seems pretty grim and dull. Yet many stuff that we do are 'forgetable'.

Ask me what I did 2 weeks back that was memorable... the one that comes to mind is the chocolate strawberries. I cant remb the conversations I had with friends, nor what I had eaten or where I had shopped.

What was memorable last week?  Its going to Universal studio after hours.

Things out of the ordinary are definitely more memorable than those of the usual manner. Sometimes we get caught up in too many of the life's mundane routine that we forget that by adding variety, it can be rejuvenating, yet it actually requires more effort to add variety. That effort is something I wanna make sure it stays.

I get bored of the same stuff pretty fast, hence would like to move onto new stuff. Eg I wont want to keep making the same dessert over and over again. I like to move on once its sufficiently mastered to keep the newness and variety going.

Liquer chocolate experiment & RWS after-hrs

Friday, spent more than 3+ hrs fiddling with liquer truffles... The coating part went awry... Still have an idea in mind but that would have to be done when work starts next week, as it involves the use of microwave to melt another type of coating chocolate called "Candy chocolate" which is more liquidy n dry fast, doesn't taste as good cos it's more candy than chocolate. See how if not, just have to either shelf or just eat whatever was made...

Friday bowling also didn't work out as much partly due to my mistake of the bowling venue. Plus late dinner. See if we can make it next week.

Sat trip to the Resort World Sentosa together with friends was interesting. A first to buy the after-hrs tixs. It's interesting that a queue already formed at 6pm and snaked outand showed little signs of growing shorter. Luckily we were there earlier n were quite infront. Got the tixs and then walked around more cos can only enter at 7pm until 10pm plus. We headed in after we brought ZX n Krynnder around most areas of the IR. There's just the waterfront left that is still building.

Well inside the theme park we walked around, taking photos n went into the merchandise shops. There were more eating places; a few cafe, a few restaurants. The warf of burger n pizza were especially enticing. After eating, we were just in-time for the fireworks. We headed out of the 60s diner and got a pretty front view. The fireworks were synchronized with the music played. We were also impressed with the strong breeze from the mounted fans. The fireworks was really a treat. Though I did wonder how much would a nightly show like this cost?

But like clockwork, once the show was over, there was a mass exodus of crowd heading towards the exit. We decided to hang around so the crowd would clear off first. We managed to get onto the tram n drove out of sentosa. With the firework show, it does feel more like a holiday. Can see the reason why quite a number bought the annual tixs. It's a good way of spending a sat late afternoon n evening. We ended up in Macs but didn't order more stuff to eat, yay for us, boo for calories.

Misc stuff

Forgot to post someo of the stuff that happened up.

First up is the pic of first try for Stuffed Strawberries. Inside is cream cheese mix and on top to cover is melted chocolate.














This is the 2nd try at it but I decided to half the strawberries so that I can put more of the cream cheese on it but it didnt stick as well cos lop-sided. So in the end is put all the strawberries together, put cream cheese over them and finally chocolate all over the top. Then chuck into freezer. So despite not looking too nice, it actually taste better cos strawberries sweeter (chose more ripe ones), more cream cheese mix, also chocolate.

Overall view. Doesnt look good cos didnt layer well













The bottom view of the strawberries

So no more tries of that, due to fear of sensitive teeth.
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Failed my driving test cos hit curb twice during directional change and also during directional change, adjust >4 times = instant fail... So that's the end of driving for now. Until I can figure out the schedule. Now the test is into mid oct. I really need to replan the schedule a bit if not drag up to next Jan.
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I have decided on how to spend that $1k if I hit investment target of $15k. I will treat family a meal and then put it aside for the Jap trip? Like that makes it easier to get the supposedly $5k needed without having to save up harder for it. Plus I counted the 'accidental savings' in my piggy bank, about $420. So that will also go towards that. So now is still August, still got 6 months of accidental savings to go.

Not long back, there was an article on Yahoo about what type of spending makes a person happy (to be fair, they based the study on 50s and retirees) It appears when one spends money not on materal things but on experiences, learning, the happiness lasts longer. Things like a trip, things like a hobby, the satisfaction is longer lasting. But for them, they qualify that for retirees, they have reached that stage in life where their time with family is important, so they are happier spending on that.

Hmm is my thinking that old instead?

So far personal finances are on track. Should be able to hit back the diminished reserves in a couple of months and then the remaining months save up for annual insurance premiums so that after netting off, still have the reserve amount. Then its onto trying to hit $50k in the next year. Then can consider applying to work abroad in Jap for a year or two. The worry is the job-search again after coming back. That can be alleviated with a higher level of personal reserve. With my 2 years of experience then plus a higher level of personal reserve, plus assignment obligation finished off then can go in peace. Something like that. That's a rough plan still and a work-in-progress.

For now, am just trying to encourage myself and remember not to burn myself out. Just continue and enjoy the experience. As long as I keep myself open-minded, willing to try out, willing to move out of certain comfort zones, keep myself busy with new experiences that I wanna gain, life certainly seems more hopeful. Though on the aspect of singlehood, I am still heading nowhere.

Into the final week of the hols

Yup, next Wed, on Teacher's Day, I start the 2nd of 3 terms. It will last all the way until 22nd Dec, where there would be a break of 2 weeks before the last term. Then there's another 2 weeks hols. Alot less than as an ex-educator but for the lighter workload in exchange, seems a fair trade of sorts.

After the failing of my first driving test on Monday, and assignments just or finished their CAs, so I asked for 1-2 lessons off, it meant finally I could breathe a bit easier this week. Of course, next Wed, everything resumes - work and assignment, but it meant I have a few purely free days to play around with.

Any holidays for me would see me lapsing into a few days of very late night sleeping due to either gaming / reading manga / watching anime. So Tuesday, I really piahed the anime "Death Note" until finished. And yesterday, I piahed the manga "One Piece", reading online from morning until evening. Then went for assignment. Drank coffee to perk up. This meant my sleeping timing got a bit messed up than usual.

Then since last week, I started setting my alarm on and earlier. From 9am to 8am to today's 7.15am. Going back to the routine of sleeping earlier and waking earlier. So far havent gone back to workplace at all. No reason to except for me to check schedule, tidy workstation. There's an element of inertia here. Since nothing of importance so no need to go back. If need to, next week mon or tue still can go back for a short while.

Its almost been 1 full month of 'pure' holiday in a sense. Too bad I had quite a number of things going on and didnt take some time off to go travelling, either back to Msia or to other places. The driving, assignment, gyms and guitar classes took up almost 3 whole weeks. Running around daily meant by sunday, I just wanna stay at home for a change.

Am I recharged enough? I guess so, cos I didnt have to think about work at all. That's a welcome change. So these last few free days, I hope to do something that would make it feel like a hol, except the part of sleeping late. Feeling a bit sleepy now due to waking up earlier and last night still couldnt sleep as early as I would like. Ate my breakfast and am waiting for the 2hrs after meal to go for a morning swim (if not then gym) so that can head out.

So far I still need to tidy up the clothes and resources in the room I am occupying... Okay one thing at a time.

43th week into discplined weekly exercise

Last year, I started going to exercise more regularly. It started with swimming and a bit of gym. But the problem being a gal is the monthly thing that meant unless I want to pollute the pool with my blood, I'll rather go gym on those days. Yet it meant a break of the swimming-intensive routine. So gradually it changed to pure gym going. But there were periods of starting and stopping. Its not a routine kept up every week. There would be breaks due to sickness, or lazines etc.

Finally started the gym routine again, somewhere in the midst of my unemployment. The aim to lose weight, tone up, also upkeep my fittness for health reasons. From then until now, the minimum I went was once a week, max was 4 times a week. Average about 2 times a week.

The 21 days to set a routine and 7 days to break it is very true and I dont want to break it.

But the verdict after 43 weeks of weekly exercise is that I still havent lost the weight I've gained compared to Uni days. Its stayed at 6.5kg. Weight goes down and up, up and down. Havent hit anywhere near 65kg at all. I guess it has something to do with the food that I am eating. I have made a lifestyle change to eat breakfast daily, drink less sweetened drinks with outside meals, also not ordering desserts (though I am making those for cooking experiments) Those did help somewhat when I see my weight going down some. But it doesnt stay down for long.

The lack of positive results in the weight loss area doesnt mean I would stop. It might indicate 2 times a week is not enough. But I wont dispute the increased stamina esp for work, assignment and even classes. I could go for those and not be as dog-tired as I was previously. Also fittness is getting better and arms looked more toned though still soft at some parts. Guess this is where the DIET aspect needs to come in and do more.

Think I need to make a few more lifestyle changes to increase exercise to 3 times a week, also limit the portion of food I eat at every meal, also reduce/cut out certain food types eg fast food... just had BK on Sat cos of watching the documentary "Modern Marvels about fast food technology. So had cravings after that. Need to do up a food diary so that I can really see what I am eating, how much I have eaten, also how many meals I eat...

So far my expenses are reined in, having comfortable levels of saving, so end of this month onwards, not tracking monthly expenditure, just only need to check bank account at the end of every month.

To start major tracking of Food eaten for all meals in a month and see where are the problem areas. Hopefully the discipline that I acquired and applied for exercising every week can apply to the Diet aspect and hope to see permanent results. Maybe not so fast showing but still hope to see something over the next few months.

Things to cross out from my 100 things list

Recently tried Archery for the first time, ate Escargots in garlic herbal sauce. These can strike off from the list of things to do for at least 1 time.

Things in progress include now I am able to make about 5 desserts from my cooking experiments and can remember some alcoholic drink recipes from memory due to playing this Bartending app.

Acoustic guitar is still continuing. Then my instructor informed us that he would be opening an electric guitar class soon. So after we finished this level 4 of acoustic guitar, we can continue with electric guitar. So good, I wont have to go looking around for electric guitar classes. Can just continue. Still in progress.

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In about less than 1.5 weeks time, its back to work. So far I have been having a relaxed time at home except on days when I have to go for lessons/assignment/gym usually a few things happening in a day and that's a bit tiring. Its good not to have to hurry to places etc and can take my own time except for those activities, other than that time is my own to manage. Also time seem to pass so fast when there are at least 2 main things to do. There was one day when I did go driving, go gym, go dentist and even go for assignment. Then by the time I reach home near 11pm, I was seriously knocked out. The intensive driving lessons and stuff took up most of the first 2 weeks.

Only starting on this wed, was I finally freed up and have more time to do other stuff though I still had assignments at night. I started tidying up my outside table on Wed and left a bit which I put aside to go for haircut and then head out. Find myself losing momentum to pick it up again. K will do that after lunch. Then move to tidying up the room. Main things are Clothes and Teaching resources and Old notes and stuff. Think I would have a lot to throw. Its a Herculean task again. And also try to hit 2nd time in gym by early evening. Maybe should go out? Its so much less hassle if I could just bring myself to go to the gym but cos I am eating later than previously like now still havent eaten lunch, so plus 2 hrs, going to gym around after 3pm. Still got tidying to do plus feeling tired cos of watching cable tv until wee hours of the morning... meant I may drag things out over today. See how things are.

Bad happening weekend

Sunday or so I got an ulcer on a side of my tongue and it's insanely painful. Worse is that the other side, my molar was sensitive. I thought there was decay. So getting hard to eat as the ulcer grew... Even eating porridge almost made me tear up cos it was very painful. So having mostly porridge, noodles and just yoghurt. That lasted until I got my dental appt on Tuesday, only to find out that there wasn't any decay nor leaky filling, even a suspected tooth infection wasn't yo be after doing a small x-Ray. Well it meant I have perfectly healthy teeth at the side but the cause of the sensitivity might be the strawberries. Been eating up the strawberries with chocolate that I've made, also just bought another basket, so guess more sensitivity to come until that batch is gone.it also meant that I've spent $100 on treatment and $50 on toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash etc etc. And brushing after every meal. If that can prevent more drilling, I would do it gladly. Now brushing my teeth with the colgate pro total.

In that same period of time, Internet down since Monday. Called my Internet provider 3 times in 3 days before they call me back to send a technician down today. It meant abt 45mins of being put on hold and listening to the music and repeated msg of pickin up blah blah. Grr... Tab was advising me that u should have just travelled down to their service centres and make a fuss. Generally I am patient and not overly demanding but after being put on hold bet 15-20mins, I morph into irritated customer. Then having nobody call me back despite what the customer service officer told me, meant I have to call back the following day, meant I morph into irritated and disgruntled. Then when I have to repeat again on 3rd day cos nobody call back again meant I morph into a Monster of Fury. luckily for them their technical called me back just when I was losing my temper waiting. But it took until the 4th day to do something speaks of the level of customer service...

1st Investment Target hit - 2010

This year, quite slow going, already mid-August.

Next January, I shall remember the Jan-Feb effect and sell if prices rose alot.

Just hit my first investment target of $10k profits on Friday with a sale of some shares from my cash portfolio.

Sold off cos I thought the market falling, so when it rebounced, decided to sell off. Sold mostly is CPF, so cpf portfolio this year is making better gains than last year but as one cannot withdraw any cpf gains, so all goes back into cpf account. So I dont count them as part of profits. Yes an overall profit picture, but not counted into the investment target which is about cash.

Next target is $15k profits then I can reward myself with $1k to spend. But really, $1k is not alot if one decides to get big toys.

K when I get there, then I think about what I really want and need.

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Hmm compared to my old last drawn pay, as a civil servant, plus the bonuses, I havent hit that income level even with the stock gains.

Cos I didnt have income for 3 months and also a pay drop. After doing some computation, I still need to get an extra income of $6600-$8520 (depending on calculation method adopted) from either assignments or stocks to hit the potential income for a year as a civil servant. Guess still have quite alot of room to make up.

Why this fixation on making up my last drawn pay full year potential income. Well cos I am NOT getting younger, yet taking a pay drop, so have to make up. Others are making more annually with pay increment, I have to make up the shortfall so as not to short-change myself with a job change. At least, that's my perspective on it.

Saggy Man Boobs VS Huge Man Pecs

No, I didnt suddenly develop a breast fetish for man boobs nor man pecs. The issue came about maybe cos I had tried to intensify gym-going. Last week alone, I went 3 times. This week, I managed 3rd time today. HOPE I can have the discipline to go on Sunday despite hitting quota, cos my mouth is very very itchy during the hols. Been eating and my weight is going up again though my fittness is ironically getting better...

K back to the issue. Going to the gym packed with males, the ratio of male to female gym users are in the range of 15:1 and higher. Its hard NOT to notice certain things about the males who are pumping iron at the weights section and certain machines.

First, this is an old one. There's a lot of Chicken Legs... Yes, I've discussed this with Tab already. Basically guys want to pump iron on their biceps, chest, shoulders and pec (will come to that later) and obviously neglect their legs. Plus legs are not that easy to train up also. My collegue was telling me that guys' legs are usually more scrawny and thin naturally, so harder to train up to match their overall physique.

Now what is wrong? Imagine seeing several guys who look very nicely built on top and once u see the scrawny legs, you wonder, why they dont go work those out. That's for those with well-proportioned muscles on top. It gets worse when you come to those who are not well-proportioned on top. This means they overtrain certain parts, eg biceps. So these guys mainly only have Huge-ass biceps and shoulders such that when you see their scrawny legs, you can see that the circumference of their biceps in total is Twice the size of their calves, sometimes even their thighs... Really unflattering despite having huge muscular shoulders and biceps like the Incredible Hulk. You really wonder how do they keep from toppling over *imagine a damn wide inverted pyramid*

Next is the Man Pecs and Man Boobs. So except for those who trained and got a very nicely proportioned physique, meaning their man pecs do not over protrude, either I see very Saggy man boobs or I see Oversized pecs. Now how does that appears?

For the first case of man boobs, if you think girls who dont wear bras are bad... imagine guys who have more saggy boobs and those nipples protrude unflatteringly cos the shirt is fitting or only slightly larger... I wish I can workout without my glasses at times. And there are so many man boobs around. Older and elderly men, nothing to say, its part of growing old especially. But I keep seeing man boobs in little cubby kids, fat kids, fat adsolecent, fat adults, fat middle age... and they are all around. Worse when they start bouncing cos so much sag... Shouldnt these guys wear bras too? Geez....

In the latter case, again not discussing those whom train until very well-proportioned, there are quite a number of guys who overtrain their pecs. What happens is they have Man pecs that put my busty friend, Tab to shame. Why? Imagine a guy who has bigger and perkier breasts than my very very very well-endowed friend. Plus those breasts are rounder and also stand at 45-90 degrees relative to the ground. Talk about not having to use push-up bras. Beside the fact that guys like to appear broader with pecs, I've realized why pecs are so important on every guy's routine...

Because, when your pecs are Bloody big and protruding, such that it overshadows the stomach or even pot belly, overall, at least to them, they look better. Imagine a side-view, when compared to the potbelly, the pecs are even more protruding, then relatively the bulging stomach seems smaller in comparison. I've notice this among quite a number of guys who only seemed interested to train up their pecs, most of them dont seem to train their stomachs, so you can see the unflattering pot bellies still there. Also some of them also dont train their other muscles eg shoulders, triceps, so they look pudgy... K very unflattering. Yes imagine some guys who have huge breast sizes that puts alot of women to shame and envy.

Guess what I am trying to underline is the need to focus on all the major muscle groups, not just target one. When one only focuses on that one muscle group, what happens for guys (who are not that lean in the first place) is that relative to other muscles and the overall physique, it looks very very disproportionate. Why those who are not lean, meaning you got more meat on you, maybe not so toned looking, more obvious. Same for women I guess, they tend to focus on their thighs and butts, doing mainly if not all cardio. Again for those who are not lean in the first place, like me, who are trying to get into shape, IF I only focus on the bottom, it would still leave the other problem areas of the flabby stomach, the batwings on the underside of the arm, the general soft and saggy skin etc.

Hence at least for me, I do all parts. I do cardio for my bottom. Also do a squats machine for legs. For stomach, I do 2 machines, plus inclined sit-ups plus crunches. For arms, I do a tricep machine, and use free weights with a few exercise for bicep, tricep, shoulders. I think my fittness is at its best so far but my weight is not dropping due to EATING/PIGGING out especially during this holidays on days when I have no driving, no assignment, no classes. I just eat and sleep, eat and watch tv. I realized it and am now trying to control, sometimes hard cos 'hungry' so a measure is to Up the exercise. So either tomorrow or Sunday, If I can, I will go to the gym again.

Best part is little or no muscle aches with help of Cold muscle cream.

Missed a driving lesson = Suay

Yesterday was so SUAY. I looked at the driving slot timing and saw the wrong timing. So when I arrived, I found out to my dread that I had missed 1 slot of driving... Its the correct date but I got the wrong timing cos I looked at another date... Argh.. That meant wasted $60. But I dont have to pay extra cos it was from the money left in the driving account. But still I feel rather sore about it.

Then on the way there, cos I hadnt had lunch yet, I ate some food, thinking that after driving, its just nice to go to the gym and later after that head for dinner and assignment. Guess that missed driving lesson threw a huge wrench into the plans. So I headed to the gym but only could do about 1/2 hr of workout cos just after food, cant do much of crunches nor cardio. Dont want to tio appendix. So just do a few machines and a little bit of weights and felt so sian that I decided to just finish up and then bathed in the gym. Yes I did bring my bathing stuff and change. The hot weather was getting to me too. Actually felt better after bathing. Contemplated either going out or going home.

In the end, I headed home. But on my way home, I stopped by the NTUC to check out the prices and availablity of the ingredients for CheeseCake. Yes I have researched the ingredients and recipes and short-listed 2 types of New York Cheesecake first. But cos baking in oven is required, so I sms my collegue and asked if she was going back to workplace to bake. She replied that its still under reno and I didnt want to trouble her to go back to check. She did offer her place but I declined, no point troubling her with just my experiments.

So I shall KIV and put the cheesecake on hold first until after the term begins. In the meantime, maybe I shall have a rematch with Alcoholic Liquer Truffles again. I bought 1.5kg of cooking chocolate still not used from Carrefour on our jap graduation. Best part is I saw a video about coating the chocolate truffles. Its a better idea than what I did the last time. And can just package up and give to friends. Great idea. Dont have to worry about eating them up. Okay, more liquer truffles - this time I can use alot of my alcohol collection - kahlur, baileys, vodka, pear vodka, maybe my mom's contrieu.

Also just saw a video or two about making Chocolate-coated strawberries and Stuffed strawberries. They look easy enough to try.

Boring National Day itself

Hmm though I was supposed to go for gym on Sunday, I didnt cos felt too tired. Slept alot of it away.

Today is a free day for me. No driving, no assignment. Had planned to go for gym but kept pushing back until near closing time. Was feeling lazy and bored. Morning woke up earlier than alarm again. Then I was the 2nd person up but mom went to market. So I watched 3hrs of World War 2 history with regards to the atrocities done by the Japanese soldiers. Yes, I dont worship them, only like certain parts of their culture. But the atrocities carried out reminds me that we are different from them. Also most of those soldiers might still be alive cos they are long-lived. For the entire war, only 28 were sentenced in a war tribunal, the rest of them werent at all... Sadly that General McArther engineered alot of it, including letting the then Emperor get away with responsibilities...

So after that ate lunch and really just stoned around. Was playing game on I-Touch. Play until very very intense then I finished and stopped. By then was so bored out of my mind that I went out next door to have Double Up Chicken at Astons at 4.45pm for dinner. Then came back and bathed, watched Naruto Dvd until I dozed off to sleep.

Woke up and ate my remaining lychee non-alcoholic konyaku at home. I realized that to avoid the konyaku having water coming out, I should refrigerate it at least 2-3 days in the chiller section in the mould without removing, if not I will have to work on the total amount of liquid used but might end up too stiff and too sweet cos of the amt of lychee syrup I used. Like the current version where the konyaku resembles jelly texture instead of stiff konyaku (my personal taste) 

Then tidied up my table and room a bit. Chucked 3 bags of paper and some empty bottles in the recycling bin next door. Now my room and table slightly less cluttered. Now need to work on it tomorrow. Guess the rest of the night would be Naruto and sleep. Tomorrow is another round of busy and hectic schedule.

National Day dessert party

This year's National Day party at Tab's place was more subdued than normal I guess. There's no free flow of alcohol. Guess cos the alcoholic desserts took the place. After the heavy dinner and then dessert, I wasnt up to eating or drinking anymore. But of course, given our endurance to alcohol, it wasnt enough to make us drunk of any kind, I guess.

Well it was also one, where instead of getting just pizza. We got zhi char plus fried chicken wings (those wings were my moment of weakness after catching the heavenly aroma). We also got some prawnballs, crabmeat sticks, siew mai and 2 boxes of cherry tomatoes to add-on to the dinner. At least with the cherry tomatoes, it was a more balanced meal in that aspect. Those tomatoes were very nice, I ate quite a fair bit with the crabmeat sticks with the fried rice and bee hoon. Then we all had tiramisu and they ate the konyaku. It was quite enjoyable eating and watching 'Charlie and the chocolae factory' followed by a dog movie, Hachi.

On Friday, after the dental visit, I actually bought close to $30 of tooth-related stuff including new toothbrush, special tooth paste, mouthwash and a bristle-type brush. Then on Sat, I got another toothbrush travel set. I am very very sensitive to drilling on my teeth esp the molars. I dont want a repeat. So after every meal I have been brushing and rinsing with mouth wash. Hope to keep this routine up. Hopefully I dont brush out the filling, trying to be gentle at the same time.

The next dessert to try out is Cheesecakes - plain, oreo and caramel. Also to see if they can be alcoholized. So far I just looked at one. It requires some baking. I need to get more recipes for comparison and then make a sort of plan on when to try it out and get the ingredients, especially since I am on holidays, and even going back to workplace, also need other collegue to be back there baking. Hmm nothing concrete planned out. Cos next week is another week of intense driving, gym and assignments.

My first week, so far no time to do anything else, though I did squeeze out time for making the 2 desserts, but no time for movies as far. See how things go. Maybe once after driving test, things might speed up.

Today I just slept most of the day away after lunch and a break. I was waiting to go to the gym, aka after 2hrs from last eaten meal. I had watched 4 episodes of Bones S3 at a shot and felt tired. Woke up, it was almost 7pm already. Gym closes at 8pm on weekends so just have to go tomorrow. This week, I went 3 times already. Guess too much to ask for the 4th. Then ate dinner, practiced guitar. Dunno what to do except either to sleep or watch Naruto Dvd.

Its been a Hectic week

Its almost a week into the holidays for me.

What have I been doing?

Hmm... since Monday, I have been going for driving lesson then followed either by gym or assignment. Its been either driving + gym, driving + assignment or gym + assignment. Man its tiring. Especially the combination of driving + assignment cos of the travelling. Its not timed nicely such that one leads into the other. I spend time going from home to drive, go home, then go for assignment and lastly travel home. I would like them to be consecutive but timing doesnt allow. Also inbetween the running around, I went to the supermarket at least twice to get the ingredients for the Tiramisu and Konyaku... so many errands to run... just wanna hide at home, in bed at times. Finally I've finished my 3 slots of assignment and am a little bit more free tomorrow.

BUT my tooth filling dropped out so I had made an appointment on friday. I still have driving first. Then I planned to go to the gym. So guess it would be another day of driving - dentist - gym and end. Plus I have to really try to find time to practice my guitar, havent touched it all week especially on the 3 consecutive days Tue-Thur due to my assignments. Reached home quite late, tired and also so late at nite, not nice to practice. Guess its to the last day Friday for me to make it happen.

I did just finish making the alcoholic batch of konyaku for this sat's gathering. I used a diff brand of konyaku jelly so not sure how it taste. Its lychee martini (lychee liquer + vodka). Tomorrow I have to find some time to make the Tiramisu and make sure to chill it in the fridge. Its getting cluttered inside. See if I can make it extra alcoholic...

Quite tired at times cos I purposely dont wake up at 7am though at times I am awake, so keep flipping around. Also been sleeping later... hmm I just wanna go back to the normal routine soon but really its been very hectic, all the running around for at least 2 things per day, excluding errands. One day, I can only do about 2 such tasks, eg gym + driving, or driving + assignment, or gym + assignment, then by the time I reach home, its the end of the day. Hope to sleep more tomorrow... though my driving slot is 12pm.

So better start waking up and eating breakfast routine.

Personal Financial Plan for 2010 - 2010

My financial plan this year is to finish topping up my Personal reserve of $30k by end of this year. Also have saved up extra including 1 month completion bonus to pay off my Insurance annual premiums at the end of the year without affecting the $30k balance.

Then I want to up the Personal reserve amount to $50k which I will try to save up in the following year of 2011. The reason for this is that I am quite surprised at how much I had depleted in just a space of 8 months unemployed. Yes it was with driving which cost me $2.8k so far. But even without it, it would near $10k for just 8 months, aka $1250 per month. Thats high and really not that sustainable on a $30k.


It should be noted that this is just on my Personal reserve side. I have not touched my Investment account yet.

I want the Personal reserve to cover the annual insurance premiums and also provide the security in case of joblessness/illness.

The Investment account, I am trying to grow it. Of course it feels good that I am making profits here and there through some trades, some ST, some MT, some LT. Am looking for opportuinites to buy-in and sell whenever I can. Sometimes I dont make the best decision due to not being able to monitor 24/7 and some decisions and hesistance but so far on the whole, still pretty good. I take it as I am making some income by not having to sell my manual labour, yes there's still time investment BUT at least I dont have to travel here and there for the extra income. Just that its not enough for my retirement.

I am still young, can work on it. This is just my 2nd plus year of doing so. So far the 5 investment targets at still at $10k, $15k, $20k, $25k and $30k. Havent hit one yet. Almost there but really not selling much. So see how the market goes this month. Cos more free to look at prices and make decisions.

Natsuyasumi desu!

Its a first for me. Having the holidays in the month of August, following the holiday system of countries with 4 seasons. I've never loved August so much in my life, ever.

On Friday, was having macaron 2nd rematch. Saturday was spent out with guitar and later lunch and dinner. Sunday was spent travelling down for first time archery and later sleeping off the fatique.

Monday, I woke up at 7am, partly is alarm, partly is my intention to eat breakfast early then head out for gym. Instead, after breakfast, I started watching my backlog of recorded shows on cable tv. I watched through the whole bunch of "Criminal Minds S2" and also finished up "Dexter S4" by Tuesday. Of course, both days, I also headed out for driving lessons. Doing intensive now. About 4 times per week to try to clear off last bit, revise how to drive and having my practical test on 23rd Aug.

After driving on Monday, I had delayed my intial plan for gym in the morning due to watching cable tv. Hence I brought it along and after driving, just hopped into the gym by the mrt station. Did my usual of 1.5hrs, bathed and headed to meet up with collegues for durians at Dempsey carpark. Its a first for me and the quality of the durian is very good. Like the bitter-sweet type especially. Its rather filling and 5-6 seeds for $22 a bit pricey but cannot complain much. You pay for the quality. And its a first.

Tuesday, I spent nursing sore muscles all over my body - my triceps, my stomach, my thighs, my butt, my shoulders. Reason, was that I forgotten to slap on muscle cream. Ran low on it also previously I realized cos I was used to the routine, didnt need to slap on any. But I had forgotten I had trained at a different gym with different equipments and used different weights. Then returned home after driving and helped mom ran an errand on the way home but was cussing and swearing cos the things to buy were quite heavy and I was nursing sore muscles all over. Dabaoed my lunch and dinner of zhar cai porridge and ate around 4pm, 6.30pm respectively. Headed out for assignment, a bit reluctantly. Was wishing I got an sms to cancel but no avail. Also not good to keep missing... so far I've only cancelled once due to genuine reason related to work. Others I try to reschedule an alternative day. Got cancelled a few times by the other party though.

Last night, just before I slept, I did put some muscle cream on, but didnt have much left. Later I am going to get 2 tubes.

Wednesday, today I make myself stay in bed. I was already awake by 7.30am but I kept tossing and turning and trying to go back to sleep. Keep waking-sleeping until 9.30am. Then woke up and went out for breakfast and bought some Pain Relieving Paster and patched them on my aching muscles. None on my butt of course but on triceps, stomach, neck. Its a nice relief. Today there's no driving. I intend to head to the gym and almost forgot about assignment...  Okay so gym in the later afternoon, then go for assignment. Inbetween, I have some errands to run, some tidying to do, guitar to practice. Hope to make good use of the time today and finish what I've set out to do today. So not that much time.

While eating breakfast, I am reminded of my "unemployed" days, where I wake up early to train to eat breakfast, go swimming/gym, go for driving. Its really that feeling. Then come home, monitor the stock market, by letting the program run and looking at it periodically. Very that same feeling. The difference is that I am paid during this holiday. Yay! Though I had a pay drop, and hence have to work extra outside to get it back. So far, I have nothing too much else to complain about the job. Hence the reluctance to just drop and go for JET programme in the next intake.

Matcha Macarons Rematch Round 2 / Archery/ Durians

In the same week of my first try and failure at matcha macarons last wed, I had a second round last friday. It's the last day of the term and after 1pm, I had nothing to do. Luckily I anticipated and got ready for Round 2.

Same steps, change the proportions to follow an alternative recipe and made again. This time, due to better control of the size of the baking sheets, the baking time, the whipping of the mixture, it turned out better. Still no legs though... think need to go back to drawing board again first.

The matcha buttercream (inbetween macarons) was more liquid this time. The 1st round, more successful in the buttercream. But I had brought that home and forgotten to bring back so had to make another batch. So I chilled it for a short while but after I have finished baking most, it was too short a time for it to be more solid... so still slapped it on, hence the 'dripping' u see below.


After bringing it home and chilling in the freezer, and then putting in chiller, it tasted pretty good. Not bad for a 2nd try. Definitely not entirely caramelized wafers but a bit macarony in texture. I need more practice and also modify the recipe to see if I can improve it. Next try is Baileys cream, maybe try a bit of food colouring....

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Went for archery for the 1st time with sister. It was organized by her company and she jio me along. But after we signed up then found out it was at Geylang Seria CC... man City Plaza was just nearby lor. And for a west-dweller, it really so happen that I end up there in 2 consecutive weeks... But we didnt go in, we took a cab from the mrt to the cc.

The venue and organization was rather lousy. In the roof-top though it had a zinc-shelter. Then some were bbqing at the first floor, directly under, so kept smelling bbq smoke. Also rather poorly organzied in terms of the practice session. Not enough of bows and had to keep queue and requeue for 5 tries of 3 arrows each. Then its time for the competition. I did manage to learn a bit about archery, how to nock the arrow, how to shoot. But for myself I didnt expect much initially and after seeing the venue and manner, also more so didnt expect anything much from myself. After the practice session, immediately the competition, I shot 0 after 3 arrows. My sister shot 17 and got into the finals. But she couldnt match the other 3 so lost out in the prizes. She did hit a red balloon. Nice going.

Then we headed home and I really conked out. I was really tired by Friday. To many, they are hyper cos its the last day of the term. For me, I am really zombified. Just so tired and at the last of the battery. So after cooking, also conked out.

Sat I woke up earlier to practice guitar and then had breakfast but was looking and feeling preety sleepy. Sunday was another day, I didnt do much, not even go to the gym. So last week only managed once.

I slept from evening time until the next day. I woke up various times but didnt leave the room. Just turned over and slept, turned over and slept.
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Today I woke at 7 am plus intending to eat breakfast so that by 9.30am, I could go swimming. Stepped on the weighing scales and saw 69KG!!!!!!!!! Argh... Code-Red Code-Red. Still I made myself eat breakfast first. Then I watched the huge back-log of recorded shows........ and that meant I kept pushing going out until it was almost time for driving. In fact I pushed back some more until I had to take a cab otherwise would be late. Think tomorrow cant be like this.

After driving.... they changed car model to Jazz, aka no backside car, plus 4months never drive, alot of things forget but managed to have quite some come back. Just need to do more I guess. Hope I have enough sessions until before test.

Straight after driving, the shuttle bus dropped us at the MRT which has a gym beside. I brought my gear and went for my gym routine. So that meant 1 time so far. Hope to up it to 3-4 times in this period of holiday. Though I still have intensive driving lessons and assignments, I shall aim for that.

After gym, I had a nice shower (also brought the shower gear) and then headed to Dempsey to eat durians with my collegues. Its a first for most of us. My other local collegue and her husband helped ordered and we ate. The durians are really nice. The bitter-sweet and the more bitter ones are very good. Flesh is thick, seeds not big. I ate like 5-6 seeds of durian. Then we ate mangosteen and drank water. Each person is $22, 5 of us. We all got a ride back home. Thankful to my collegues for this new experience. Though pricey but you cant complain about the quality of the durians. Definitely different. To avoid hunger pangs, I did dabao porridge and zar chai for dinner, which I ate.

Tomorrow is more driving, maybe try swimming or if not gym and then assignement in the evening.