Disappointed
The job search is not going anywhere. On appearance, all are a waste of time. I had gone for about 9-10 education related ones.
Of them, so far I had 3 offers which I turned down. The first being that 2k for 6 days, the second being 2.5k for 5 days but no weekend and public holiday, and the 3rd being the $30 per hr but prepare my own materials but in the end the scheduled classes makes up only 6hrs a week for 4 days of work. All are not what I had expected nor do they appear decent. Well at least 3 out of 10 get offers, be it poor or good offer.
What really diasppointed me was the centre, which had arranged for a trial lesson. Then maybe work out a schedule. Postponed from last Sat to this Wed. Then I headed down on Wed and was told they forgot to contact me about postponing. Imagine I reached inside for less than 5mins, told the news that they forgot. And besides a word "sorry", there wasnt any effort made to make some sort of arrangement except next wed cos I told them I couldnt make on friday. I had told FH I was going in, even though FH had indicated to me that I could leave anytime but I had already DID my part by turning up. You are the one at fault for changing on me. Then less than 5mins after arriving, I left to go home. Of course I grumbled at the bus stop, calling Candle to complain.
The next day I went for the Shanghai interview at Hougang area. Got to get up earlier and head out and travel longer to reach. Took a while to finally locate and find the place cos took the feeder bus and it took damn long for a ride. Anyway after the interview, I headed straight back to MRT and headed to driving school. I had gotten a driving slot finally and this sudden, last minute interview came in suddenly. Only consolation is that they dont clash. Arrived at driving centre, without having time to eat and did almost 100 mins full of driving with no stops. After the lesson, was so zombified. Met up with Tab and Candle for dinner and then Quetzal came and we walked around a bit.
Feeling rejected
Reached home, checked email and saw that tuition centre that postponed on me, sent me an email to 'cancel' me cos they found a part time, and I was looking for more full-time so they dont want to hold me back. PUI PUI PUI. After reading that, all my foul language came out. Usually I dont use the cb, lj, fcuk b1tch but all those came out. Didnt want to fuss family, so just sian and cuss that centre and that b1tch. Then later on, after checking the stocks, I went to bed cursing and swearing still. Then watched a bit of Naruto anime and then slept earlier at 1am cos I needed to work the next day. Was feeling the effect of sleeplessness on Wed evening.
Standing up again
Woke up for flexible work. Before I headed in, I logged into stocks to key in 2-3 sell orders. Then when market opened, one went through. The Irritating part is that I am selling now after the market has already turned, so the gains are lower than what it could have been. About halved. But the consolation is that I still make gains, halved but still income for me, compared to current inflow. So I take consolation in that. By the time, I reached office, 2nd order executed. I count myself lucky that I had sold in the morning cos prices stayed lower than what I had keyed in for the entire day. So recover capital to wait for more drops. I still have my CapMall, CapMall Asia, Capland. My Kland is a loss. My cpf counters are still there cos those counters, some didnt fall as much, some are not as affected, even those affected, little bit of gains after the gains vapourized does not justify me selling cos few lots. Care more about my cash portfolio cos more money due to more lots.
So a painful lesson about monitoring for turns instead of waiting for secondary indicators to confirm it, cos by then market already turned down and part of the gains have vapourised.
Actually I feel better today. Cos of good, deep sleep. I woke up almost forgetting why I had set my alarm. Except tio some food poisoning aka stomache and gastric from poisionous roti prata if not is the coffee. The sale of the stocks to realise actual profits helped perk me up too. Nevermind about feelings of regret, if 早知道就没有乞丐 and everyone is millionaire already. So just move on. I can sulk over it but I limit myself to a couple of days and move on. I am sure there will be other opportunities to buy back and sell again. Just have to be patient and refrain.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Stock results 2009 and Lessons in 2010
Just to do a book closure of my stocks for last year.
Made SGD$19.6k, RM$10.3k and CPF$5.7k.
Cash about $23.9k but some of these is taxable especially for those REITs distribution.
I have been unemployed since early Aug, meaning about 5 months plus including Jan. Though I did work flexible for Jan.
I am feeling kinda sian. Last year was a good year indeed esp on the stock market front. The gains helped me make the decision to leave easier.
But cos stock prices have gone up quite a bit, so this year is not that easy to earn something of this figure. For 2010, I have made 4 trades, 2 buys, 2 sells in Jan, not all of them good decisions. But the least is that I didnt lose capital in overall terms. The cost is wasted opportunity and lower gains ba.
Then after the Capricon effect, aka since Last Thursday, the Stock market has been diahorring down. As I am still mainly invested, I am seeing gains evaporate. Man I need to learn to read the market and am starting again reading that Chinese wave theory book again... only at chpt 2.
This quick downturn in prices has prompted me to sell off as prices are going down.
WHY?
Cos if prices are headed down south, I wanna to have capital on hand to take advantage of the lower prices. Then I actually bought in some... another judgement mistake, cos yesterday bought, today fell lower. Must remember this lesson about buying in a falling market... Getting a bit rusty and reckless. Need to remember this.
So this waiting and seeing prices going down south, meant that I COULD have earned higher profits esp before prices started going down. It meant that IF I had made the decision to sell just a few days earlier, I could have made several hundreds of dollars extra, and not the paltry sums I am getting... Signz another lesson to learn and remember about being more vigilant about changes and also making a selling decision earlier.
Hope the job front can fare better, then I dont need to monitor so intensely and can afford to put into more middle to long term investment.
Made SGD$19.6k, RM$10.3k and CPF$5.7k.
Cash about $23.9k but some of these is taxable especially for those REITs distribution.
I have been unemployed since early Aug, meaning about 5 months plus including Jan. Though I did work flexible for Jan.
I am feeling kinda sian. Last year was a good year indeed esp on the stock market front. The gains helped me make the decision to leave easier.
But cos stock prices have gone up quite a bit, so this year is not that easy to earn something of this figure. For 2010, I have made 4 trades, 2 buys, 2 sells in Jan, not all of them good decisions. But the least is that I didnt lose capital in overall terms. The cost is wasted opportunity and lower gains ba.
Then after the Capricon effect, aka since Last Thursday, the Stock market has been diahorring down. As I am still mainly invested, I am seeing gains evaporate. Man I need to learn to read the market and am starting again reading that Chinese wave theory book again... only at chpt 2.
This quick downturn in prices has prompted me to sell off as prices are going down.
WHY?
Cos if prices are headed down south, I wanna to have capital on hand to take advantage of the lower prices. Then I actually bought in some... another judgement mistake, cos yesterday bought, today fell lower. Must remember this lesson about buying in a falling market... Getting a bit rusty and reckless. Need to remember this.
So this waiting and seeing prices going down south, meant that I COULD have earned higher profits esp before prices started going down. It meant that IF I had made the decision to sell just a few days earlier, I could have made several hundreds of dollars extra, and not the paltry sums I am getting... Signz another lesson to learn and remember about being more vigilant about changes and also making a selling decision earlier.
Hope the job front can fare better, then I dont need to monitor so intensely and can afford to put into more middle to long term investment.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Grocery shopping can be fun
One can never realize that grocery shopping with parents can be fun sometimes. It's something I hadn't really done much cos the 4 months, I was out almost daily on the week days and IMM is crowded on the weekends and we avoid like plague. Then the last month sparked all the job interviews plus my normal classes and driving and exercise so also not home free on most weekdays.
Today I am free... Have guitar in the evening cos last sat got postponed. Then was thinking of going for flexible work nut FH is not around in the morning, so if nothing pops up, will go in on Friday. So I was at home, woke up earlier at 8.30 to adjust body clock. Started looking at the share market at 9. Today quite some fall but of course not as bad as the previous fall in end 2008. I am still mainly invested but I sold a bit, so am looking for some trades for cash and some thing longer or trades for cpf. At one point there was a rather intense fall. To cut long story short, I made 2 trades, one cash, one cpf. hope market don't crash on me.
Then went grocery shopping with both parents at Giant IMM. One would think it boring but I quite enjoy walking around a rather empty Giant. Don't feel any urge to buy the clothes or electronic stuff but once we reached the food section, man I had to really controly myself. Imagine pushing trolley to the veg section, one would dismiss it saying that there is nothing I would be interested in. Wrong!
I was suddenly looking at the sweet potatoes, sweet corn and watermelon. Thinking how it's been a while since I ate those. Then walk to frozen section lagi worse. I saw the fillets, wedges, wanton, pop corn chicken, prata, tempuras and all are tempting though they are frozen cos the amount of cooking is minimal. But I made it out empty handed. I was being reminded constantly of the steamboat at krynnder's home on New Year eve. That was a good hot pot I hadn't had in quite a while.
We walked to the canned section and I sucumb to 2 cans of lychee, 1 can of mango. Saw many flavours of instant noodles and I bought curry magee for myself. Then picked up a bottle of sweet pickled vegetables and a yellow kaya. Those for common consumption. Man when I passed the meat section, I was restraining against buying the packs of Taiwan sausage or the hotdogs and stuff. At the Chinese new year goodies area, I bought 2 packs of sweet mainly for temple going. But then I saw and am reminded of some food that I really like and alot is available during cny period. Things like chilli tapioca, egg cakes, rice biscuit and more.
Man, so much desire for food but so little desire for electronics or clothes is not good for my efforts to have calorie deficit to lose weight. I been restraining and started monitoring my food and drinks intake starting yesterday. More effort put into the calorie intake control part. Will power mist persist. Same for will power to exercise.
On the job front, I pushed away that one assigment. Haven't sent out resumes since last week. Will try to work on doing. I wanna be selective and also not want to waste my time and effort going for wasted interviews. Also been thinking and sometimes worry won't be employed and earn minimum wages... There are still many years left in this life, cannot imagine earning minimum wages for the rest of the life. Unfounded fears but it's something I think about at the back of my head. Also a deadline to go into home based tuition. Cos if I keep waiting around for perm offer but nothing is happening, I should start home based ones otherwise just doing nothing much. Though I still have jap, guitar and driving, jap is not that intensive cos I don't need to revise daily. Guitar also interest is waning. Driving, so far into 17th practical lesson. Whole of feb is booked. Sian. So I am left with looking at shares, pia anime like otaku which I can do at night, going exercise which I try to do twice a week. Not really much action. Of course I have started doing up some own resources but not so easy and takes time to reach somewhere.
The problem is that somehow I feel I am heading nowhere. Sign... I better print out my list of 100 things to do, start doing them, maybe even do my cooking experiments and forays. How to balance all these with the jobsearch. Guess after all the low, lousy offers and no answers, I am aflicted with some worries and anxieties. The dust of daily life has covered thyself that even the beautiful clouds in the sunny skies. cannot uplift.
Today I am free... Have guitar in the evening cos last sat got postponed. Then was thinking of going for flexible work nut FH is not around in the morning, so if nothing pops up, will go in on Friday. So I was at home, woke up earlier at 8.30 to adjust body clock. Started looking at the share market at 9. Today quite some fall but of course not as bad as the previous fall in end 2008. I am still mainly invested but I sold a bit, so am looking for some trades for cash and some thing longer or trades for cpf. At one point there was a rather intense fall. To cut long story short, I made 2 trades, one cash, one cpf. hope market don't crash on me.
Then went grocery shopping with both parents at Giant IMM. One would think it boring but I quite enjoy walking around a rather empty Giant. Don't feel any urge to buy the clothes or electronic stuff but once we reached the food section, man I had to really controly myself. Imagine pushing trolley to the veg section, one would dismiss it saying that there is nothing I would be interested in. Wrong!
I was suddenly looking at the sweet potatoes, sweet corn and watermelon. Thinking how it's been a while since I ate those. Then walk to frozen section lagi worse. I saw the fillets, wedges, wanton, pop corn chicken, prata, tempuras and all are tempting though they are frozen cos the amount of cooking is minimal. But I made it out empty handed. I was being reminded constantly of the steamboat at krynnder's home on New Year eve. That was a good hot pot I hadn't had in quite a while.
We walked to the canned section and I sucumb to 2 cans of lychee, 1 can of mango. Saw many flavours of instant noodles and I bought curry magee for myself. Then picked up a bottle of sweet pickled vegetables and a yellow kaya. Those for common consumption. Man when I passed the meat section, I was restraining against buying the packs of Taiwan sausage or the hotdogs and stuff. At the Chinese new year goodies area, I bought 2 packs of sweet mainly for temple going. But then I saw and am reminded of some food that I really like and alot is available during cny period. Things like chilli tapioca, egg cakes, rice biscuit and more.
Man, so much desire for food but so little desire for electronics or clothes is not good for my efforts to have calorie deficit to lose weight. I been restraining and started monitoring my food and drinks intake starting yesterday. More effort put into the calorie intake control part. Will power mist persist. Same for will power to exercise.
On the job front, I pushed away that one assigment. Haven't sent out resumes since last week. Will try to work on doing. I wanna be selective and also not want to waste my time and effort going for wasted interviews. Also been thinking and sometimes worry won't be employed and earn minimum wages... There are still many years left in this life, cannot imagine earning minimum wages for the rest of the life. Unfounded fears but it's something I think about at the back of my head. Also a deadline to go into home based tuition. Cos if I keep waiting around for perm offer but nothing is happening, I should start home based ones otherwise just doing nothing much. Though I still have jap, guitar and driving, jap is not that intensive cos I don't need to revise daily. Guitar also interest is waning. Driving, so far into 17th practical lesson. Whole of feb is booked. Sian. So I am left with looking at shares, pia anime like otaku which I can do at night, going exercise which I try to do twice a week. Not really much action. Of course I have started doing up some own resources but not so easy and takes time to reach somewhere.
The problem is that somehow I feel I am heading nowhere. Sign... I better print out my list of 100 things to do, start doing them, maybe even do my cooking experiments and forays. How to balance all these with the jobsearch. Guess after all the low, lousy offers and no answers, I am aflicted with some worries and anxieties. The dust of daily life has covered thyself that even the beautiful clouds in the sunny skies. cannot uplift.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Birthday post
Yar I seemed to have a whole string of birthday posts in this blog since I started it a long time back. Its a diary of sort and I intend to capture my thoughts and memories over time.
Today I have NO idea why the hell did I get up at the ungodly hour of 7.30am even though I slept around 2-3am last nite. I was watching some naruto still and then either I switched off and slept or I watched until I slept and mom or sis helped me switch off the tv. Think it might have something to do with my clockwork bowels in the earlier part of morning.
So its my birthday again. Yar again. Time 'seemed' to go past quickly even though passing through a day at a time can be either slow-going or even uneventful. Yet time still passes by each and every second, never to return. Am reminded of my list of things to do before I die. I have to organise a 100 things list and then start ticking them off when I do it. So that even in this period of unemployment and relatively lack of focus in life, there is a direction that I am moving towards.
Later before 9am, I will head to the gym, return near 11am and then maybe go out with family. Give them a treat, maybe something not so expensive. Last time whenever I get my bonus, I would give a treat at a restaurant that my parents and sisters never been to, at times expensive, just to let them have the chance to eat at a new place and expand food choices. FYI, my dad loved that korean bbq chicken place for their hamburgs.
So this year, I had told my sisters NOT to get anything for me. Guess I just dont have that many things that I WANT. So earlier on Yingel gave me this $100 voucher to CMPB in Dempsey that she won in her annual dinner. She doesnt have friends who drive and hadnt gone there before. So I woke up earlier in January to see it on my table with a note that Dempsey is inaccessible via public transport and has many Ang Mohs. But I dont really bio Ang Mohs, I prefer Asian. They are the ones who like to bio Ang Mohs. Duh. Geoky got me a PSP soft cover with Cloud and Sephiroth. When I asked her if it was cheap, she assured me that it was cheap. Then I accepted. Still havent put it on my PSP yet.
Then for the celebration with friends, I was working at FH's office that day. Couldnt find my keys, entire bunch with rings, home keys and FH's office keys etc. Cant find for several days liao... Hope I didnt drop it somewhere... Last time I saw it was for Jap class. Either drop at jap class or outside along Orchard area. Then really no hope. So it meant I had to knock off at 6pm instead of my usual 6.30-6.40pm, cos I reach about 10.30am. I wake up earlier but headed out to eat a very heavy brunch and pack some bread. Reversing my breakfast and lunch to heavy breakfast, lighter lunch. So I dont go out for lunch breaks cos not hungry. Clock in about 8hrs each time this way.
I got my first pay from FH. He is generous. We agreed on about $10 an hour, flexible days and timing. When he was doing the pay, he saw that I did ALOT of stuff, a whole year's of receipts, did clean up for his scans for floor plan, legal doc, did excel for recon, help him check the recon and made a user manual for the data entry system. That is quite a lot for about 50hrs of work only. So he gave me a higher pay than the $500 that I would be getting. Its not grand but its better than nothing. I am grateful. He actually gave me the rest of the afternoon off after I finished the final piece of work around 2.30pm. There wasnt anything else to do and he would be out. But Candle and Tab already coming in around 5pm so might as well do some tuition-related work.
I tried to do up template worksheets that I can use for. Cos an offer came in but it wasnt that much when worked out the hours and rate, plus have to do own resource. Asking friends and family later on about whether to take up or push. Seems the verdict is to push. I will reply to the email today or so. So later on, Candle and Tab came and while Candle was chit-chatting with her ex-collegues, Tab and I were solving the maths problem sum that stumped me still.
Well I have to give it to Tab for solving the problem sum eventually using models. But that meant she was in her world of her own up to the time we sat in Fish and CO. I was thinking of where to eat at FH's area cos can reduce time and can go straight after work. Finalize 2 places, Fish and Co or Swenson. Since knock off at 6pm, can go straight in and just sit. No need to do reservations. I did call CMPB and reserve table for drinks.
I must admit, its been quite a while since I ate at Fish and Co. Missed the rice and drinks. But my mind and mouth not coordinated again, I ordered Sambal grilled fish instead of Whole Sambal line fish... But it tasted alright still though the sambal very hot. Had a fishy maria. Thanks to friends for the dinner treat. Really ate until very full. Of course inbetween dinner, alot of chatting and stuff.
We headed to CMPB which fyi stands for Contemporary Melting Pot & Bar and arrived. We sat outside instead of inside cos considering our laughter, later disturb the performers. Wow could see the stars in the skies. Ordered our drinks, with quite a few mojitos and margaritas. Did our usual of crap and discussion about topics relevent to this period of time. FH came and ate his $10 roti john with wagyu beef. We got free mistrone soup on the house later on. Bill came up to $106 but with $100 voucher, its only $1 per person. Cheap and good.
The next day though, I didnt feel like getting out of bed until 11am plus. I was lazing around in bed. Then later accompanied dad to eat Guo Tie at Queenstown and he washed his car. Reached home near 3.45pm and just watched cable tv.
_______________________________________________
Same thing every year.
1) I still wish for health for myself cos its very important. To have the energy and stamina to move onwards. Well-being is important for both body and mind. Yep lemme continue to lose weight... which incidentally, I had gained over and above my fat self again. Argh
2) I hope to continue to change myself consciously to become more extroverted, smile more, be more comfortable and happier being in my own skin.
3) Dunno if this can ever be fulfilled. Find a guy? A soul mate. Guess I am feeling the effects of getting older.
Today I have NO idea why the hell did I get up at the ungodly hour of 7.30am even though I slept around 2-3am last nite. I was watching some naruto still and then either I switched off and slept or I watched until I slept and mom or sis helped me switch off the tv. Think it might have something to do with my clockwork bowels in the earlier part of morning.
So its my birthday again. Yar again. Time 'seemed' to go past quickly even though passing through a day at a time can be either slow-going or even uneventful. Yet time still passes by each and every second, never to return. Am reminded of my list of things to do before I die. I have to organise a 100 things list and then start ticking them off when I do it. So that even in this period of unemployment and relatively lack of focus in life, there is a direction that I am moving towards.
Later before 9am, I will head to the gym, return near 11am and then maybe go out with family. Give them a treat, maybe something not so expensive. Last time whenever I get my bonus, I would give a treat at a restaurant that my parents and sisters never been to, at times expensive, just to let them have the chance to eat at a new place and expand food choices. FYI, my dad loved that korean bbq chicken place for their hamburgs.
So this year, I had told my sisters NOT to get anything for me. Guess I just dont have that many things that I WANT. So earlier on Yingel gave me this $100 voucher to CMPB in Dempsey that she won in her annual dinner. She doesnt have friends who drive and hadnt gone there before. So I woke up earlier in January to see it on my table with a note that Dempsey is inaccessible via public transport and has many Ang Mohs. But I dont really bio Ang Mohs, I prefer Asian. They are the ones who like to bio Ang Mohs. Duh. Geoky got me a PSP soft cover with Cloud and Sephiroth. When I asked her if it was cheap, she assured me that it was cheap. Then I accepted. Still havent put it on my PSP yet.
Then for the celebration with friends, I was working at FH's office that day. Couldnt find my keys, entire bunch with rings, home keys and FH's office keys etc. Cant find for several days liao... Hope I didnt drop it somewhere... Last time I saw it was for Jap class. Either drop at jap class or outside along Orchard area. Then really no hope. So it meant I had to knock off at 6pm instead of my usual 6.30-6.40pm, cos I reach about 10.30am. I wake up earlier but headed out to eat a very heavy brunch and pack some bread. Reversing my breakfast and lunch to heavy breakfast, lighter lunch. So I dont go out for lunch breaks cos not hungry. Clock in about 8hrs each time this way.
I got my first pay from FH. He is generous. We agreed on about $10 an hour, flexible days and timing. When he was doing the pay, he saw that I did ALOT of stuff, a whole year's of receipts, did clean up for his scans for floor plan, legal doc, did excel for recon, help him check the recon and made a user manual for the data entry system. That is quite a lot for about 50hrs of work only. So he gave me a higher pay than the $500 that I would be getting. Its not grand but its better than nothing. I am grateful. He actually gave me the rest of the afternoon off after I finished the final piece of work around 2.30pm. There wasnt anything else to do and he would be out. But Candle and Tab already coming in around 5pm so might as well do some tuition-related work.
I tried to do up template worksheets that I can use for. Cos an offer came in but it wasnt that much when worked out the hours and rate, plus have to do own resource. Asking friends and family later on about whether to take up or push. Seems the verdict is to push. I will reply to the email today or so. So later on, Candle and Tab came and while Candle was chit-chatting with her ex-collegues, Tab and I were solving the maths problem sum that stumped me still.
Well I have to give it to Tab for solving the problem sum eventually using models. But that meant she was in her world of her own up to the time we sat in Fish and CO. I was thinking of where to eat at FH's area cos can reduce time and can go straight after work. Finalize 2 places, Fish and Co or Swenson. Since knock off at 6pm, can go straight in and just sit. No need to do reservations. I did call CMPB and reserve table for drinks.
I must admit, its been quite a while since I ate at Fish and Co. Missed the rice and drinks. But my mind and mouth not coordinated again, I ordered Sambal grilled fish instead of Whole Sambal line fish... But it tasted alright still though the sambal very hot. Had a fishy maria. Thanks to friends for the dinner treat. Really ate until very full. Of course inbetween dinner, alot of chatting and stuff.
We headed to CMPB which fyi stands for Contemporary Melting Pot & Bar and arrived. We sat outside instead of inside cos considering our laughter, later disturb the performers. Wow could see the stars in the skies. Ordered our drinks, with quite a few mojitos and margaritas. Did our usual of crap and discussion about topics relevent to this period of time. FH came and ate his $10 roti john with wagyu beef. We got free mistrone soup on the house later on. Bill came up to $106 but with $100 voucher, its only $1 per person. Cheap and good.
The next day though, I didnt feel like getting out of bed until 11am plus. I was lazing around in bed. Then later accompanied dad to eat Guo Tie at Queenstown and he washed his car. Reached home near 3.45pm and just watched cable tv.
_______________________________________________
Same thing every year.
1) I still wish for health for myself cos its very important. To have the energy and stamina to move onwards. Well-being is important for both body and mind. Yep lemme continue to lose weight... which incidentally, I had gained over and above my fat self again. Argh
2) I hope to continue to change myself consciously to become more extroverted, smile more, be more comfortable and happier being in my own skin.
3) Dunno if this can ever be fulfilled. Find a guy? A soul mate. Guess I am feeling the effects of getting older.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Primary level questions
Hmm I went for an interview yesterday. It was kinda last minute and there had been 2 missed calls cos they called on Monday and I was in JB for the good half of the day. Then I tried to call back but no answers. Then received a 3rd call. An interview on Tuesday. There is a academic test also.
Huh? I have heard of tutors being tested academically but didnt felt the need or urge to prepare by studying cos at this point, some of my maths stuff, esp those that I dont use eg Integration, sin, cos, tang, I had all returned to my teachers. So its either I know, or dont.
So I headed there, its actually near my first workplace. A bit nostalgic cos I walked down the same path daily to work during my contract days. But despite having driving lessons in that region, I didnt specifically walk the same path inwards. I filled up my details which is the norm on a form. Then had to do a Psychometric test, ie DISC assessment (which I found out today thanks to references from Wikipedia) and had to solve a few questions for Maths and Science and mark and grade 2 Eng compo.
Now the funny thing was that a couple of the Maths questions gave me a headache. Esp one deceptively simple question on ratio. I was literally cracking my brain on it. And supposed to solve with models. I tried but unsure if that simplistic manner was the answer. After the interview, I asked my sister, who btw scored better results academically than me. She managed to form 2 simultaneous equations very quickly and solve it. (Now looking at it, she got the correct answer) Problem is, looking at the solution, I am STILL unable to translate into model method. My model foundation is very strong but when it comes to this type of funny ratio, I am unable to use the model way. (Still thinking ath the time of this post)
After jap test, met up with Candle and after Tab left home cos she was unwell, I asked Candle to help me with the question. She also used equations and even an unorthodox matter to help determine the answer. The problem was working backwards. We literally cracked our brains in the BK (which I am 注定 to eat there...) I was almost home when Candle called me and mentioned she managed to solve. Still using equation.
Hmm primary maths literally can make one crack one's head. Cos unless I remember wrongly, up to P6, they only learn 1 variable. Only in Sec then they learn simultaneous equations. But my sister's method did solve with only 1 variable. Yet when I look at the method of solving, the amount of solving is at the Sec 1 standard. At least that's what it felt to me.
Still thinking about how to solve using ratio-proportion method, and/or models. Tomorrow I would go and get the PSLE 10 years series to take a look esp for solutions. Think I need some revision on ratios with models.
Huh? I have heard of tutors being tested academically but didnt felt the need or urge to prepare by studying cos at this point, some of my maths stuff, esp those that I dont use eg Integration, sin, cos, tang, I had all returned to my teachers. So its either I know, or dont.
So I headed there, its actually near my first workplace. A bit nostalgic cos I walked down the same path daily to work during my contract days. But despite having driving lessons in that region, I didnt specifically walk the same path inwards. I filled up my details which is the norm on a form. Then had to do a Psychometric test, ie DISC assessment (which I found out today thanks to references from Wikipedia) and had to solve a few questions for Maths and Science and mark and grade 2 Eng compo.
Now the funny thing was that a couple of the Maths questions gave me a headache. Esp one deceptively simple question on ratio. I was literally cracking my brain on it. And supposed to solve with models. I tried but unsure if that simplistic manner was the answer. After the interview, I asked my sister, who btw scored better results academically than me. She managed to form 2 simultaneous equations very quickly and solve it. (Now looking at it, she got the correct answer) Problem is, looking at the solution, I am STILL unable to translate into model method. My model foundation is very strong but when it comes to this type of funny ratio, I am unable to use the model way. (Still thinking ath the time of this post)
After jap test, met up with Candle and after Tab left home cos she was unwell, I asked Candle to help me with the question. She also used equations and even an unorthodox matter to help determine the answer. The problem was working backwards. We literally cracked our brains in the BK (which I am 注定 to eat there...) I was almost home when Candle called me and mentioned she managed to solve. Still using equation.
Hmm primary maths literally can make one crack one's head. Cos unless I remember wrongly, up to P6, they only learn 1 variable. Only in Sec then they learn simultaneous equations. But my sister's method did solve with only 1 variable. Yet when I look at the method of solving, the amount of solving is at the Sec 1 standard. At least that's what it felt to me.
Still thinking about how to solve using ratio-proportion method, and/or models. Tomorrow I would go and get the PSLE 10 years series to take a look esp for solutions. Think I need some revision on ratios with models.
Monday, January 18, 2010
CitySquare shopping
Yesterday I asked my dad straight out, if he might be going into JB aka either Pelangi or City Square. He didnt mind. I wanted to go in to check out the price for some A3 laminating sheets, A3 sized paper. Was still thinking about making my own resource part. I did cut out another week's worth of articles but alot of them are rather big. He didnt mind. Shun bian buy his newspapers, do banking. Later I told my sister, Geoky and she took leave for one day.
Heeding mom's warning about some rumors of targeting Singaporeans, hence we purposely dress down to fit in to the rest. Basically no handbags, no sunglasses on the head, no 3/4 or berms or khakis and sandles which are some give-away signs. In the end, we looked so sloopy and poor that others wont bother to give a second glance.
So all 3 of us headed into JB today around 10.45am. It was rather smooth, reaching around 11 plus. We headed to the bank, where I withdrew some RM, cos I didnt want to change SGD, and put some into the other bank account to prevent locking up. Then we headed to eat lunch first. Ate at Secret Recipe. Didnt dabao any cakes from them, kinda sian of eating those rich-tasting cakes. BUT I did buy Portuguse egg tart, but only 5, 1 each, no extra cos dont want to overdose.
Then we walked to the Inner City which is the youth belt part of City Square. Bought anime and movies. I bought Skip Beat set, Naruto 1 to 200 in 2 sets, Jishoku ShyoJo 3, cloudy without meatballs and fantastic mr fox. All animes. I did buy the Alo Alo 1 for my mom. My sister bought all 写实 movie titles which I am not keen at all to watch. She bought Mind your language for my mom. So my mom has enough to keep her busy and happily watching. My mom also watches the anime series I buy, so Naruto can keep her very occupied too.
The laminating sheets turned out to be a bit pricey and no A3 print paper. Instead of having to buy an A3 laminator and A3 laminating sheets, chose a cheaper alternative, A3 sized drawing block x 2 which were rather cheap and a glue stick. I bought an identical Green Water Bottle to replace the one I broke after 1.5 yrs of daily use. Yay!
Then Geoky bought 2 T-shirts for herself. Kinda funny print. At first want to buy for bro, but she didnt check the back wordings, got the female version instead. So is 注定to be hers.
We also had a late tea at a HK style cafe in the Inner City. The food was affordable and my order, a cold milk tea and the french toast with ham, were delicious. The milk tea is milk and sweet enough, big glass too. The french toast is warm and very tasty. It had both mayo and thousand island inside with the ham, very delicious combination. My dad ordered some steamed wanton that came with a thick dark sauce with garlic, bit of chilli oil, quite tasty. Next time should try to eat more at other places instead of Secret Recipe.
Saw some malaysian guys with J-Rock hair, Korean hair and even longer hair. A few okay looking ones though they would be younger than me... So just look, and joke with Geoky. Anyway seems to be able to see more interesting and funky hair styles than in Singapore. They seem to dare to wear those styles. Makes for interesting looks.
I spent about RM$150 for discs, and the bit of stationary altogether. Quite a lot of restraint already. Quite value for money in a sense, esp for the Naruto. Each set has 5 disc, each disc 20 episodes, so Pt 1 and 2 already covered 200 episodes. They had a part 3 which would cover episode 201 - 300 but it was sold out. Would go and get it the next time around. Each disc is RM$6. Quite a bargain esp since the Naruto anime is really fantastic esp when it reaches the Shippuden series. No new south park series though.
Heeding mom's warning about some rumors of targeting Singaporeans, hence we purposely dress down to fit in to the rest. Basically no handbags, no sunglasses on the head, no 3/4 or berms or khakis and sandles which are some give-away signs. In the end, we looked so sloopy and poor that others wont bother to give a second glance.
So all 3 of us headed into JB today around 10.45am. It was rather smooth, reaching around 11 plus. We headed to the bank, where I withdrew some RM, cos I didnt want to change SGD, and put some into the other bank account to prevent locking up. Then we headed to eat lunch first. Ate at Secret Recipe. Didnt dabao any cakes from them, kinda sian of eating those rich-tasting cakes. BUT I did buy Portuguse egg tart, but only 5, 1 each, no extra cos dont want to overdose.
Then we walked to the Inner City which is the youth belt part of City Square. Bought anime and movies. I bought Skip Beat set, Naruto 1 to 200 in 2 sets, Jishoku ShyoJo 3, cloudy without meatballs and fantastic mr fox. All animes. I did buy the Alo Alo 1 for my mom. My sister bought all 写实 movie titles which I am not keen at all to watch. She bought Mind your language for my mom. So my mom has enough to keep her busy and happily watching. My mom also watches the anime series I buy, so Naruto can keep her very occupied too.
The laminating sheets turned out to be a bit pricey and no A3 print paper. Instead of having to buy an A3 laminator and A3 laminating sheets, chose a cheaper alternative, A3 sized drawing block x 2 which were rather cheap and a glue stick. I bought an identical Green Water Bottle to replace the one I broke after 1.5 yrs of daily use. Yay!
Then Geoky bought 2 T-shirts for herself. Kinda funny print. At first want to buy for bro, but she didnt check the back wordings, got the female version instead. So is 注定to be hers.
We also had a late tea at a HK style cafe in the Inner City. The food was affordable and my order, a cold milk tea and the french toast with ham, were delicious. The milk tea is milk and sweet enough, big glass too. The french toast is warm and very tasty. It had both mayo and thousand island inside with the ham, very delicious combination. My dad ordered some steamed wanton that came with a thick dark sauce with garlic, bit of chilli oil, quite tasty. Next time should try to eat more at other places instead of Secret Recipe.
Saw some malaysian guys with J-Rock hair, Korean hair and even longer hair. A few okay looking ones though they would be younger than me... So just look, and joke with Geoky. Anyway seems to be able to see more interesting and funky hair styles than in Singapore. They seem to dare to wear those styles. Makes for interesting looks.
I spent about RM$150 for discs, and the bit of stationary altogether. Quite a lot of restraint already. Quite value for money in a sense, esp for the Naruto. Each set has 5 disc, each disc 20 episodes, so Pt 1 and 2 already covered 200 episodes. They had a part 3 which would cover episode 201 - 300 but it was sold out. Would go and get it the next time around. Each disc is RM$6. Quite a bargain esp since the Naruto anime is really fantastic esp when it reaches the Shippuden series. No new south park series though.
Friday, January 08, 2010
Continued about budgeting...
Man I was knocked out after posting up. Feeling under the weather too. Thinking back, its been more than 5 months and I havent had to see the doc so far for any medicine. So I am actually healthier this period and not to mention, can concuss and sleep things off like today.
Really knocked out from 5pm until when I woke up, its already close to 9pm. No intention to practice guitar. Signz this week been rather busy, feeling the tiredness creeping back on me. I better clock in 1 more gym to make it twice. Past two weeks, I managed once a week only... but weighed myself just wednesday. Surprised that almost back to my original fat self firstly. K small consolation that the Christmas and New Year binge didnt leave a lasting impression. Good, now to up my exercise...
____________________________________________
I wanna comment about the 2 different budget method I mentioned in my earlier post, the one about Phantom money.
I feel there are 2 ways of budgeting, which I use at times.
First one is fixed amount a day for 30 days calculation.
I decide to spend between $20-25 per day for 30 days. This amount excludes driving and guitar course. Cos these are higher cost and they are really for a rather transient period of my expense. Also if these are included, it is near impossible to keep to $20-$25 a day target unless I really go into Scrooge and Bear mode (stinge and hibernate at home) I rather take this 2 items out and not consider them my monthly expenditure. But any other things like hp, internet, shoes, clothes, transport all goes into this. But of course I recognise that I spend money on guitar and driving. They are outflows too.
Hence I target a monthly expenditure of $600-$750 for normal expenditure, adding in $120 guitar and maybe $200 driving. That would bring to a sum of $920-$1070. Not an astronomical figure but remember for now, my income is near nil. Hence would have to see if can further minimize, if not, at least keep it within this range, NOT way beyond this figure.
Now at the end of a day, I would recall all the expenses for one day and get a TOTAL figure. Say by today, its already 8 days into the month of January. I recorded immediately the expenditure for today and yesterday which are very fresh in my mind. Receipts helped also. Then I work backwards a bit to trace, starting from New Year party and then the weekend, and then this week where I worked 2 days, went 2 interviews. Of course if you already started a bit late eg >10 days and really cannot get a pic, well simple. Start from today and end your 'accounting' exactly on the date 1 month later. Just to get an better idea of the cash outflows. I am not too concerned if I missed a few dollars, cents but I have to record most of the expenses accurately and also capture all large expenses.
So I am going to show my actual figures. No harm to me. Dont mind ya knowing my expenses pattern. I managed to get a figure accumulated for 8 days $321.10, I paid guitar $120 already. So I am going to subtract it out, $201.10. This seems like a high figure but remember I had a target of $20-$25.
Lets see how I fared, $201.10 / 8 = $25.14. Okay very close. But still at a higher end after averaging. Hence it meant for the weekends and even next week, I will consciously reduce spending, head out lesser etc. I will come back to check this average figure. Definitely would be better if I can lower to closer to $20 but I still have 23 days of the week to fiddle around with. Not to mention other bills like hp, cable tv coming in. Yup its going to be a challenge.
The 2nd method is discussed in the previous post. To put aside a TOTAL amount for each expense item that usually appear in your monthly expense. Eg $200 transport, $100 hp, $200 clothes, $100 shoes, $50 hp, $50 cable, $100 misc, $800 food, $300 outings, $120 guitar, $50 CD, $50 comics => $2120
Now for a nett pay of say $2900 (my old pay), it meant $2900-$2120 = $780. So IF I finished spending most of those amounts allocated in the expenses and didnt exceed much, I should have a nett figure of $780 in my bank account by the end of the month.
Whether how u check it, either using checking nett difference at end of the month method or actually drawing out $780 physically and putting into another savings account.
But of course, sometimes expenses are rather high, maybe cos I take public transport. Maybe I take cab more now, shop more cos need change of wardrobe that even $200 a month is too low. So the planned figures changed.
Cab $250, transport $100, $100 hp, $500 clothes, $200 shoes, $50 hp, $50 cable, gifts $200, misc $100, food $800, outings $500, $120 guitar, $50 CD, $50 comics => $3070
Now you see that this is above the nett salary of $2900. It is NOT FEASIBLE unless I have more income inflows. This is just the bitter truth of Reality. You are spending way too much for your income. There is no other way about it but to either GET more inflows per month immediately or cut next months expenses immediately.
Why do I say immediately? Because this is a situation of negative budget. You are running a negative. Now since money doesnt drop out of the sky, it means, this negative of $170 is being financed out of your savings. It will drain your savings down(like what I am doing now) But at least its your own money. BUT if you dont have savings, its being financed by debt. Either overdrafts or credit cards, cos these are the consumer loans out there, that is easy to draw up on and without having to put in asset as collateral/mortgage. The downside is the higher Interest Rates.
And had earlier explored the whole interest on interest on rolling over debt. It is really difficult to pay off, if every month is tight. So I rather err on the downside and ensure that every month is a surplus instead of a deficit. Some months cos of travelling, so really overshoot. I still have to see how much deficit, so that I can ensure the following months, there are enough surpluses such that the Nett figure at the end of the year is still positive.
I must admit, it wasnt easy, and required more discipline and also monitoring and conscious decision making, deferring Wants alot of times, even evaluating whether this purchase can wait, or even if its a real need. I must admit my guitar course is not a need. But I have my vices too. I dont want to earn an income and yet spend $0 on things I like. BUT I recognize that I shouldnt indulge in everything or most of it at too regular a basis. Its a give and take situation.
K think, I have finished my thoughts about personal finances for now. Subsequent posts will go back to normal unless something hits me in the head to share.
Really knocked out from 5pm until when I woke up, its already close to 9pm. No intention to practice guitar. Signz this week been rather busy, feeling the tiredness creeping back on me. I better clock in 1 more gym to make it twice. Past two weeks, I managed once a week only... but weighed myself just wednesday. Surprised that almost back to my original fat self firstly. K small consolation that the Christmas and New Year binge didnt leave a lasting impression. Good, now to up my exercise...
____________________________________________
I wanna comment about the 2 different budget method I mentioned in my earlier post, the one about Phantom money.
I feel there are 2 ways of budgeting, which I use at times.
First one is fixed amount a day for 30 days calculation.
I decide to spend between $20-25 per day for 30 days. This amount excludes driving and guitar course. Cos these are higher cost and they are really for a rather transient period of my expense. Also if these are included, it is near impossible to keep to $20-$25 a day target unless I really go into Scrooge and Bear mode (stinge and hibernate at home) I rather take this 2 items out and not consider them my monthly expenditure. But any other things like hp, internet, shoes, clothes, transport all goes into this. But of course I recognise that I spend money on guitar and driving. They are outflows too.
Hence I target a monthly expenditure of $600-$750 for normal expenditure, adding in $120 guitar and maybe $200 driving. That would bring to a sum of $920-$1070. Not an astronomical figure but remember for now, my income is near nil. Hence would have to see if can further minimize, if not, at least keep it within this range, NOT way beyond this figure.
Now at the end of a day, I would recall all the expenses for one day and get a TOTAL figure. Say by today, its already 8 days into the month of January. I recorded immediately the expenditure for today and yesterday which are very fresh in my mind. Receipts helped also. Then I work backwards a bit to trace, starting from New Year party and then the weekend, and then this week where I worked 2 days, went 2 interviews. Of course if you already started a bit late eg >10 days and really cannot get a pic, well simple. Start from today and end your 'accounting' exactly on the date 1 month later. Just to get an better idea of the cash outflows. I am not too concerned if I missed a few dollars, cents but I have to record most of the expenses accurately and also capture all large expenses.
So I am going to show my actual figures. No harm to me. Dont mind ya knowing my expenses pattern. I managed to get a figure accumulated for 8 days $321.10, I paid guitar $120 already. So I am going to subtract it out, $201.10. This seems like a high figure but remember I had a target of $20-$25.
Lets see how I fared, $201.10 / 8 = $25.14. Okay very close. But still at a higher end after averaging. Hence it meant for the weekends and even next week, I will consciously reduce spending, head out lesser etc. I will come back to check this average figure. Definitely would be better if I can lower to closer to $20 but I still have 23 days of the week to fiddle around with. Not to mention other bills like hp, cable tv coming in. Yup its going to be a challenge.
The 2nd method is discussed in the previous post. To put aside a TOTAL amount for each expense item that usually appear in your monthly expense. Eg $200 transport, $100 hp, $200 clothes, $100 shoes, $50 hp, $50 cable, $100 misc, $800 food, $300 outings, $120 guitar, $50 CD, $50 comics => $2120
Now for a nett pay of say $2900 (my old pay), it meant $2900-$2120 = $780. So IF I finished spending most of those amounts allocated in the expenses and didnt exceed much, I should have a nett figure of $780 in my bank account by the end of the month.
Whether how u check it, either using checking nett difference at end of the month method or actually drawing out $780 physically and putting into another savings account.
But of course, sometimes expenses are rather high, maybe cos I take public transport. Maybe I take cab more now, shop more cos need change of wardrobe that even $200 a month is too low. So the planned figures changed.
Cab $250, transport $100, $100 hp, $500 clothes, $200 shoes, $50 hp, $50 cable, gifts $200, misc $100, food $800, outings $500, $120 guitar, $50 CD, $50 comics => $3070
Now you see that this is above the nett salary of $2900. It is NOT FEASIBLE unless I have more income inflows. This is just the bitter truth of Reality. You are spending way too much for your income. There is no other way about it but to either GET more inflows per month immediately or cut next months expenses immediately.
Why do I say immediately? Because this is a situation of negative budget. You are running a negative. Now since money doesnt drop out of the sky, it means, this negative of $170 is being financed out of your savings. It will drain your savings down(like what I am doing now) But at least its your own money. BUT if you dont have savings, its being financed by debt. Either overdrafts or credit cards, cos these are the consumer loans out there, that is easy to draw up on and without having to put in asset as collateral/mortgage. The downside is the higher Interest Rates.
And had earlier explored the whole interest on interest on rolling over debt. It is really difficult to pay off, if every month is tight. So I rather err on the downside and ensure that every month is a surplus instead of a deficit. Some months cos of travelling, so really overshoot. I still have to see how much deficit, so that I can ensure the following months, there are enough surpluses such that the Nett figure at the end of the year is still positive.
I must admit, it wasnt easy, and required more discipline and also monitoring and conscious decision making, deferring Wants alot of times, even evaluating whether this purchase can wait, or even if its a real need. I must admit my guitar course is not a need. But I have my vices too. I dont want to earn an income and yet spend $0 on things I like. BUT I recognize that I shouldnt indulge in everything or most of it at too regular a basis. Its a give and take situation.
K think, I have finished my thoughts about personal finances for now. Subsequent posts will go back to normal unless something hits me in the head to share.
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