Work: Day 5 + relatives coming over + weekend!

Morning left house at 6.50 am, trying to enjoy the free ride offer. At the same time, earn points under the insinc initiative coz decongested trips are those made (tap in) between 6.30 am and 7.30 am and also 8.30 am to 9.30 am.

Wanted to alight at Dhoby Ghaut but looking at the time on phone, it was already 7.43 am at Clarke Quay, so didn't want to gamble with myself - alighted at Clarke Quay and tapped out.

FREE EXIT.

完全喜洋洋去！

The feeling at that moments was just 'undescribeable'. I was just very delighted! This, already made my day to conclude the whole week and to welcome the much-awaited weekend!!! WEEKEND, HERE I COME!

Took 61 to office. Trip cost was 24 cents. Still almost double of what I should pay. Well, leave house a bit earlier next time lor.

Aigoo, yang yang yang, shall do that if I can for the next 3 months. *grin*

Work is getting better and worse. For the better, I began to meet new people, though they may not be my immediate colleagues. For the worse, think the work is much more than I've expected. Well, hire people is to do work right?

Lunch was at some canteen aka food court at one of the industrial building behind. Lor mee $3 is jin yang! Taste wise, Taman Jurong one wins!

Still taking me about 1 hour 15 mins to reach home from work. Traffic was better than yesterday. 這就是早去早回的好處啊！

Just when I was thinking of the question whether relatives would have reached SG, the moment I opened the door to enter house, was a little bit surprised that they already settled down. They already arrived in SG around 2 pm! Aigoo, that's early. But everybody's working wor, come SG early won't bored meh?

It turned out that afternoon they went to uncle's house and then came back, plus already had dinner liao lo. 拜託，好快喔！

Paiseh, 身為手機發燒友（Ok啦，我形容到有一點點誇張）的我，忍不住特地寫了這一段關於手機的東西，呵呵：

 Mega 6.3跟Note II對比

Note II真的就這樣被比下去了
既然Note 3跟Note II體積沒什麼太大差別
那麼也能說Note 3跟Mega 6.3就是有這樣大的差別

表妹 bought and brought her new phone - Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3. I thought my Note 3 is quite big already (almost to the point of uncomfortable use), but hers totally owns all other phones, even Note 3. It is so big that one hand operation is quite impossible already. Anyway, this phone is a mid-range one

Just now went JP to see see look look - let them have a feel of how shopping centre in SG would be like. WX bought new tablet from redwhitemobile - Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 for $200. Very very cheap leh!

Tomorrow and Sunday would have whole full day to go out with them to play. After that, go back to work on Monday is will have blues le shuo.

Work: Day 4

Things are getting better and better each day: today even lunch out with CB! Not too bad ds! And also thanks for the teh~

Laptop came in the afternoon. But need to bring own mouse to use?!

Evening traffic was real bad. Took 1.5 hours to reach home. 154 - 985 (couldn't board) - 151 - MRT from Botanic Gardens. Totally sag. Might as well took MRT from NEL straight? Save a lot of time ds.

Now can't wait for relatives to come SG tomorrow! Wonder what time would they arrive at home leh?

Work: Day 3 + lunch alone

After 2 days of immersing myself into world of technical manuals, today got a chance to clarify any doubt with boss. And also got to know need to take safety course - can't wait to get to practical! Sitting at desk alone whole day could be quite mundane. There were occasions that the sleepy feel was getting on me. Must get something to do or move about, then I won't feel sleepy.

Finally got talk a bit with colleagues, but lunch still alone bxds. Lunching alone isn't an issue, lunching together is all the more better coz can interact and bond with colleagues mah... These two days went outside for lunch around the kopitiams opposite to office. Portion not very geneous but at least is much more reasonably priced and is enough for an office worker, but not manual labourer.

Morning and evening sagged. Took 1.5 hours to reach office from home and home from office. Is there a shortcut to get home? I badly need new ideas to travel in the best way where a balance is striked perfectly between speed and cost. 8.30 am start work and 5.30 pm off from work works best for me ds, a habit that is carried on from the K9 days, though work always start at 8 at that time. Maybe Friday can try 8 to 5? Jin yang!

While taking 157 home, saw this guy wearing smart 4 and he got off at 347 bus stop whom I find very familar. After a few moments, I recognised him because he got visit the JE gym one. 難怪那麼面熟！最近老是碰到一些不是很認識卻有見過面的人, aigoo...

Har, simi?! NTU Electrical and Electronic Engineering programme is in the top 10 programmes around the world?!

Source: http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/three-subjects-ntu-rank-among-worlds-top-ten


Three subjects at NTU rank among the world’s top ten

SINGAPORE — Three subjects offered at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have ranked among the world’s top ten — a first for the university.

According to the 2014 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings by Subject, NTU’s Communication & Media Studies is ranked 6th in the world, Materials Science at 8th position, and Electrical & Electronic Engineering is ranked 10th.

NTU said the subject Communication & Media Studies jumped an impressive 17 positions within two years since QS started ranking this subject, to become No 1 in Singapore and in the Asia-Pacific.

Subjects Materials Science and Electrical & Electronic Engineering are also among the star performers with the biggest improvements over the last three years.

At 8th place, Materials Science has vaulted 33 places since 2011, while 10th-placed Electrical & Electronic Engineering has leapt 26 places within the same period.

NTU President Professor Bertil Andersson said, “The result for Communication and Media Studies is an affirmation of the international standing of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information.

“NTU’s global reputation as one of the world’s biggest engineering university which produces top quality graduates is validated again in the high rankings of its engineering subjects, with Materials Science and Electrical & Electronic Engineering rubbing shoulders this year with the big boys such as MIT, Stanford and Cambridge in the top 10.”

The QS Subject Rankings were launched in 2011 and provide a guide to a range of popular fields of study in universities around the world.

The rankings were based on the combined responses from academics and employers around the world, as well as citations measures.

The QS World University Rankings by Subject 2014 evaluated 2,809 universities and ranked 1,344 institutions in total.


This is totally unexpected. For a moment I thought it's a joke (or April Fool's joke) or a mistake. Those who went through would know what am I talking about. I mean comparing to the top US/UK universities like Havard, Oxford, Caltech, Cambridge, etc., we are not in the same league. And also look at the subject modules we take, it's kinda not very in-depth, but broad because the course is Electrical AND Electronic Engineering! So have to study both electrical (e.g. EE2001, EE2005, EE3001) and electronic (EE2002, EE2004, EE3003) modules and sometimes even a little bit on programming (EE2008, EE3002)! So all bao ka liao! But nonethless, the experience was definitely worth reminiscing, regardless good or bad. I guess I didn't really have a lot of bad moments during uni. Hohoho...

Work: Day 2 + testing out ezlink card top-up through ATM

Boring.

Took bus to office in the morning, and it is just as fast as MRT, but cheaper by 20 cents per trip! *Needs to find ways to save save save!*

Colleagues busy again, left me alone in office, reading up manuals and stuff like that.

5.30 pm went home. 985 is jin yang, by 6 pm already reached King Albert Park. *Shrieking mode now ds* Tried out using ATM to top up my ezlink card as it has less than $5 of credit. Aigoo, didn't know it's that convenient and I can select any amount I like, not like those General Ticketing Machines (GTMs). It's another option (likely the most used one) for me, so that I do not have to make a trip down to Lakeside MRT just to top-up ezlink card. Downstairs got ATM already!

After yesterday's headache, today body started to adjust itself to the routine, so I do not have any headache. Perhaps it's due to stress on first day too. But now, things are a tad better. Shall see more improvements to come! :)

Omo, another MRT breakdown now?! NSL, in particular, Dhoby Ghaut to Marina Bay, affected again due to track fault according to SMRT twitter. Nowadays the MRT system is not reliable at all. One can't predict when is the next one to happen. Heng I took bus to and fro office. Oh yea! ^^

Work: Day 1 + most expensive cai png

Although I'm to reach office by 9 am, because I didn't experience how's the morning traffic like, so woke up at 6.30 am. Left house at 7.15 am and wanted to tap in before 7.30 am to have the multiplier effect in insinc. But it turned out that I was late by 1 min... =.= :(

Is that Lyold? Think I saw him at Queenstown aigoo...

Reached Potong Pasir at 8.20 am. MRT was quite fast and it's less crowded than those 8+ am ones, which was a lure factor to leave house earlier. As it was too early for 9 am, sat at the bus stop opposite and waited for time to pass before reaching reception to be received by HR.

First thing in the morning was went through some induction courses and signed the letter of appointment. Met boss and also colleagues (whom I need a bit of time to remember their names). In fact, already started work proper in the first day - received some lessons from boss about the stuff that I am going to work in future.

Lunch... Was led by boss to the office cafe cum canteen. Without him, I'm all alone - my colleagues all don't know go where liao... 拜託！Not expecting each of them to stay at their seat whole day to welcome and orientate the new staff on the first day whenever there is one, but all of them disappearing

Ordered cai png. This has to be the most expensive cai png I've eaten. Only veggies and tofu and it cost me $2.40! (after some discounts from the original $2.80). Oh gosh, 瞬間垂掉去, very chor leh. Kinda appreciate and 懷念 the one I had at Corporation Place last time, not ex and got 煮炒 one. Jin naise~

And then during lunch, I was the odd one out. Because the others whom I lunch together with are ang moh and they spoke in their languages which I couldn't understand. So had to use phone to pass the time. Aigoo~ Hopefully not everyday like that.

Colleagues came back in afternoon, but didn't exchange a single word. Seemed not very welcoming ds. But hope things will get better as time goes on - as I get more and more customed to the culture there ba. :) Saw they also rather busy with their work. Just that, got a new comer like me today, shouldn't be a little bit more welcoming?

As IT infrastructure isn't ready yet, meanwhile read through the technical manuals. As everything is new to me, information overload! On way back, MRT so crowded, still can board at Outram Park. PG already at JE. He super yang lor~

*Saw this noticeboard set up by the police at the 501 carpark entrance which says car theft happening around that area. Is it me or are there more crimes occurring around my are?! Because not only this, there is another one just below my block that says moneylenders disturbances ds.*

Headache now ds, so shall sleep in early!

Already started missing my holiday even though today is only the first day at work baituo... :( 我懷念的……

Last day of holiday

Today marks the last day of my super super super long 9 months of holiday before I embark on next phase of journey. Thanks to this holiday and some sort of a crisis, I've now reorganised my priorities. Perhaps in the past, I could have plan 1 or 2 gadgets aka expensive hoots per year. But now, hell no! I shan't spend so much money on getting new stuff when the existing ones are working well.

A perfect example is the iPad. If I started working back in June last year, I now already would have thought of upgrading it to iPad Air. Maybe iPad Mini with retina display if started working in September. But what if only now then start working? No way I would upgrade iPad 2, and I appreciate it now more. It's still a great device, just without the high resolution display only.

Another example would be camera, I told myself that I would get a DSLR when I earn enough money to buy one. Till now, I haven't had a slightest thought of getting one. Perfect.

As for going out, I now go for the cheapest dining option or else totally stay at home by finding excuses. But of course, that's not to say I must stay at home 100% of the time. Just that I feel that there is no need to meet up so frequently, so rejecting invitations sometimes may help me financially.

Last but not least, I really wanted to visit Korea for another time, somewhere next year. But now there is a possibility that I have to postpone to a later date because I want to repay debt off ASAP. So that I could really save what I earn.

Other than the re-priortisation, I also enjoy 100% holiday. Morning wake up around 8 am, then use computer, wash up and have breadfast. Vacuum and sometimes mop the floor around 10 plus. When everything is finished, it's about 11 plus in morning, so get ready for lunch. After lunch it's totally free time as I could do whatever I want - job search, watch drama or just surf web. Then at 5 pm would go for run. Night time is another period of freedom. A day ends like this.

那些日子，一分錢都沒賺，但真的過得很寫意。現在要告別了，休息那麼久還是會不捨得的，但始終這種日子不能持久，總有一天得做工賺錢。就當作是做個很長卻很完美的美夢吧！

Anyway, that's all for the thoughts. Back to blog what has happened for today.

Morning went gym with PG at 9 am. WX woke up late baituo! He claimed alarm didn't sound off... Well, it could also be that he was so used to waking up super late, so overslept is the real reason, it's not surprising at all.

He only came at 10.40 am when both PG and me were almost done with the exercises. Aigoo~~ Then PG went off first while I stayed back a little bit longer with WX.

Now already jin tired. Nonetheless, still have to prepare for first day of work tomorrow ds. And I haven't finish reading the materials sent out by the HR! Aigoo...

About the transportation, PG suggested taking MRT  and tap out before 7.45 am at any of the 16 stations in town and then take bus coz the bus trip would be counted as transfer and not a new trip - super cheap! But because I have no much experience in 7 am MRT traffic, and the meeting time is 9 am.. so shall take MRT all the way to office for tomorrow, can sleep longer too!

That's all for now. Going to get prepare myself for work, yay! ^^

Saturday chill: 주막 Korean restaurant + Teadot

Yesterday (Fri) was super boring. Only thing done was ran 2.7 km along PIE and still manage to finish in 15 mins 30 secs. But I wonder if can hit the IPPT pass timing. Felt too exhausted and lethargic by 12 midnight. Almost dozed off while using the laptop and phone on bed.

Again, today was rather boring as well. Afternoon went to Yunnan bookstore to buy a small notebook for the new job, so that I could jot down any new information. *Haven't finish reading the PDF sent out by the HR! Aigoo...*

It was boring until the point where PG said he bx wanted to go out to satisfy his Korean food cravings. It just got me excited also! Aiyoyo, all because of the Korean drama Let's Eat la! 看到韓國美食就不行去…… Even WX also bx when I just wanted to test water on him as he's usually not very keen on Korean food. Of course I used 'Teadot' to lure him out LOLOLOL... 每個人的抵抗力都很低呢！

Supposed to meet around 6.15-6.30 pm at Beauty World. 5.30 pm set off, went to the usual bus stop and bus 157 went off. So took 187 to bus stop opposite of Parc Oasis, then walked towards Blk 303 bus stop, hopefully there were other buses could bring me to destination quickly. It's only now then I know that 178 could bring me to Bukit Batok East. Lastly, changed to 970 in front of Autobacs bus stop.

Saw PG at the traffic light! How come he can reach so fast when he said he left house at 5.40 pm?! Still got time to make a visit to Lotte Mart baituo!

Not long after, WX also arrived. Off we went to 주막 Korean restaurant!

Ordered 자장면 ($12), 치킨 ($35) and 부대찌개 ($30). The 자장면 wasn't really fantastic, given that I've tasted Tae Woo's one before, the taste was slightly off. So I would cast my vote to Tae Woo and 동방홍. As for the 치킨, they don't allow us to mix 2 flavours into one serving (8 pieces), a bit disappointed though. But the chicken pieces were so huge until WX raised white flag! Aigoo, Both me and PG managed to stuffed 3 chicken pieces each. Very full after that. This was my second time eating 부대찌개 @ 주막. Some people may say this dish is way too overpriced. Yep, it's totally correct and I do agree that. But I want to go for the taste and with cheese and ramyeon added, mmmm... it's just so fit to my tastebuds. Hehe!

 小菜

這次沒有雞蛋捲

也沒有江魚仔

小失望的說～

 

부대찌개

很久沒吃了

雖然材料很便宜

但只要是辣

就是那麼美味

 這碗炸醬麵被另外兩道菜比下去
就這樣遜掉了

 

 這個我欲罷不能！

^^

 Damage: $28.30 (total $84.70)

Business was good on a normal Saturday - the restaurant was almost full hosue. Left the place at 7.45 pm and brought WX to Lotte Mart for the first time. He wanted to buy 봉봉 drink but sadly the shop didn't carry that. Then bus 174-66 to JE. They xyy played SGS on bus, while I enjoyed the trip by myself.

Over at teadot, PG had matcha gravity ($7) while I had hazelnut ceylon ($7). But because of the 1-for-1 offer, it's HALF price! The cashier made a mistake by giving 25% discount when it should have been 50% discount. Almost sagged when she doesn't know how to cancel off the transaction. The result was to wait a few minutes for transaction to be reset. Aigoo~

 半價喔

兩杯才$7而已

The hazelnut ceylon, put it bluntly, is actually the teh which we could order at kopitiams, otherwise it's a little less milky and sweet. On the other hand, the matcha tasted like it should, no complain here.

WX said ever since he bought the Zenbook, he 不捨得 use his laptop. Can always understand how someone feel whenever there is a new gadget coz I myself also guilty of this. But for his case, as the laptop is the only computer lying around and is so important to him, by right he should use it more mah, not meh?!

Damage: $3.50 (total $7 after half price offer applied)

Mum is considering new tablet. Was looking at Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition, but felt it is a little expensive no doubt the specs are good, a bit overkill for mum and sis to use if for light usage. And Samsung has a smaller 8 inch one, but the specs looks average at its best leh.

Then saw this LG G Pad 8.3 looks not bad, it's a lot cheaper than 10.1, almost half price as that of Note 10.1 Omo... Specs are much better than the tab 8.0 too. Otherwise Nexus 7 would be the best bet liao.

Shall wait, as upcoming weeks most likely I have lots of stuff to settle.

Breadyard cafe + Hwang Korean restaurant + Molly Coddle cafe

Today is food day! Basically went to 3 places to jiak... jiak and more jiak!!!

Moved out of house at 4pm. XYY 198 appeared just when I reached the bus stop. PG said he missed 196 so he very sagged. In the end he boarded 197 to SUTD (former ITE Dover) instead lol.

Then WX said he also going! Omo~~~ 很大機會看到他的說

In the end, both PG and me arrived at the gate almost same time, with him slightly earlier. The first stop was Breadyard cafe (FB page) located right inside SUTD. The school campus looks rather run-down, not as bright as NTU IMO and then the cafe is situated at level 2. Not much people inside too. WX not there! Saggy... He said he going Teadot with friend coz he gian the offer. After which, he would then train down to Sim Lim to send his spoilt Lenovo laptop for repair (hopefully, if it's repairable). SSF ds, carrying the laptop around and wasting a lot of time travelling... Should have either Teadot-Breadyard-Sim Lim or Sim Lim-Breadyard-Teadot mah.

Ordered Eggs Bettino ($5.90), what a failed one! The eggs were boiled till almost all done, it's not poached eggs anymore! Aigoo... Staff sleeping while preparing food is it? 有一點點失望的說。

PG had Duck + Orange ($5.90). Looked good, it's almost same as the one I had at Group Therapy.

失敗、失望！

雞蛋都熟去的說

蛋黃沒爆出來！

賣相不錯咧

Then in the morning I asked SK to send me the statistics question so I can try to see what's the problem. At the same time, I could ask PG for help ds. PG said this one very easy... But it seemed so difficult for me lo~ Anyway, got to try to work out jek.

Damage: $5.90

After that walked to NUS U-town. It looked like a short walk, but it was soooo long! Aigoo... PG wanted to satisfy his Korean food cravings after watching Let's Eat (actually me too... that's why today go out is exactly because of Koran food hehe). Initially wanted to eat jjm but just had our jjm fix at Tae Woo not long ago aigoo. Went to Hwang's Korean restaurant instead... And realised ramyeon sold out! Sag! Settled for their Kimchi fried rice ($5). Not too bad, but Kim Dae Mun's one wins hands down.

PG had their shredded spicy marinated pork ($5.50). Both were not bad, but didn't get to jiak jjm or fried chicken is jinja truly sag.

味道雖然沒有可圈可點的地方

其實分量給很多

加上剛才吃了Eggs Bettino

飽到鬼

While enjoy our dinner, we also waiting for WX to reply whether he wanted to join us for desserts after dinner. WX said the laptop available for repair, about $100-130, which is slightly above his budget of $100.

Actually, laptops are unlike desktop: they are highly non-repairable as the PSU, processor are soldered onto the circuit board. Nowadays, even the HDD and RAM are also soldered as well, making it impossible to get repaired. So I suggested to WX might as well sell that laptop away and get a tablet instead. Clean and neat!

Damage: $5

Anyway, WX didn't want to join for desserts, so at 7 plus off we went to the last destination for the day: MollyCoddle cafe.

It's a newly opened cafe located at some shop of Clementi HDB neighbourhood, selling toasts and beverages. It's not a big shop, enough to keep about 10 people at any one time. XYY coz only 2 customers inside - not crowded. We took the launch offer of toast + drink  = $10 flat.

The toast was quite crunchy and the drink was okay, quite balanced between coffee and chocolate. The most xyy was that both water and maccha were FOC! Aigoo, first time seeing maccha is free flow jek~ But of course it's not those thick thick one la, but still, welcome that option!

喜洋洋吃這個吐司

這個latte art很普通咧

沒有美一點的圖案了嗎？

While finishing our desserts, the girl came over to take polaroid! One for us and one for them to either advertise or to make memories ds. Aigoo!

Sat our way till way past the opening hours then slowly left to take 185. Yang that 185 arrived right after we crossed the road. Came back home jin fast!

Damage: $5 (total $10)

I thought I saw Vincent at void deck, heng he didn't see me baituo...

Teadot cafe 1-for-1 offer

Almost thought the outing at Teadot was cancelled because WX didn't reply. Actually WX late was because his prof held them back in lab don't know do what and there was no reception - that's why WX couldn't reply to my question.

Nonetheless, this was still on: went out at 2.30 pm. Reached 4 mins before 3. WX bx took 52 all the way from his school and not changing to MRT at clementi. Baituo, that 52 will detour around Toh Guan de!

Why Teadot (FB page)? Because they are having this 1-for-1 offer till end of this month. And it would be my first visit to the cafe at Westgate! Near to house ds!

Ordered Little Red Fuji tea frappe ($7.50) and matcha latte ($6.80). The matcha latte came with a latte art, looks like but it's the easiest design I've seen - guess I could even create this on my own!

Damage: $3.50 (total $7.50)

WX talked about his laptop and he complaining about the Windows Update and the way Microsoft support centre handled his email. Aigoo, unless you further escalate the matter, the first level of course is to issue a quite official template reply mah.

Then he was so wowed by my macbook pro... didn't know i got one quite sometime ago.

So we decided to find one free day to bring out laptop to haolian to each other lol... Not anytime too soon please, foresee myself getting rather busy once start work le.

Then parted our ways, he went home to put his stuff and eat dinner before
Went Daiso. Wanted to get a pouch just nice for phone, so that the phone could have some protection when going for IPT/RT. Doesn't have the opaque black cushioned one. Only got the plastic film type.

Trolling maze + real 'spiderman'

這招毒到鬼ᄏᄏᄏ

Came across this video on forum. It shows how 2 Russians climbed up the Shanghai Tower (650 m) without any safety gears or aiding equipments! The guys themselves also admitted it’s illegal and they chose to do this mission during the Chinese New Year because that’s when the security the most lax in China - people are going back to their hometowns to celebrate the festival. Legal aspects aside, it’s pretty impressive. The video has gathered more than 20 million views to date!

Then another article pops up. This time round, the venue is in Singapore! Omgakkk! One of them actually came to Singapore in Jan last year to pull off similar stunts. But again, leaving legal matters aside, the photos look exceptionally stunning!

照片很震撼的說
看了不敢想像自己來這種stunt

Picture source and complete article here: http://mothership.sg/2014/02/russian-guy-took-photos-from-super-high-places-in-spore-authorities-will-freak-out-if-they-saw-this/

Original blog post: http://raskalov-vit.livejournal.com/131830.html

Run + soccer ball on PIE + trolley found in drain + McD at King Albert Park closing soon - for real this time

Left this week as the last week of my super long holiday before I embark on the next phase of life.

WX bought new laptop yesterday! UX302LG for $1498. Don't know where he bought it from. But congrats and good luck on using Windows 8.1! ᄏᄏᄏ

Afternoon went for a run. One month without exercise + CNY goodies = grown fat! In fact, from the weighing machine at gym yesterday, I weigh 67 kg now! It isn't a shocking news, but I'm quite relieved that my weight is the same as before I went gym. Thanks to the dieting plan that I've set for myself before CNY. It works, slowly but gradually...

Saw two scenes during the run.

Firstly, the soccer ball flew from Hong Kah Sec's field, over the jogging track, canal drainage and onto PIE, causing jams and chain collisions. Is either extend the existing fence taller or don't play until so hiong. 險象環生！

誰醬狠心把推車丟下壟溝？！

Then, saw a supermarket trolley in the drain. Wah... Who could have thrown it in?! It's so absurd that I took picture of it. Based on the appearance, it looks like the trolley belongs to NTUC. But nearby there isn't any huge supermarket around. At the most are those NTUC, Giant and Sheng Siong mini-supermarts where trolleys are quite useless due to the space constraint. So does the trolley came from JE or Jurong Point?

Then just now this news came by:

麥當勞3月17日結束營業

Initially I didn't know there exists a McD there one. The first time I visited was back during NS time where I went to find YZ and SH. Time flies~ Recently also went there with PG they all to chill and play SGS after studying at NUS. Easier for HH to go home from there and it isn't too far from my house too. Last time already heard that King Albert Park was sold for new development or some sort, but at that time McD didn't announce anything yet. So I thought the development plan could be cancelled. And now, it is going to cease its business on 16 March. Together with others like Spinelli and Island Creamery as the whole building was en-bloc and new developments are coming.

It's not hard to link this and East Coast Park's McD where it also had the same fate in 2012. So coincidence that during that time, McD chose to cease its operation on 18 Mar, which is almost same date as this I may not have visit these outlets very often - actually it's once in a blue moon,  but I do note of its existence because of the fantastic location.

Goodbye. You'll be missed.

嚴重炸到 ＋ 嚴重不行

It's Sunday again!

Back on track with exercising at gym. PG cannot go because he got outing with his primary school classmates. And therefore, only me and WX able to make it to the session today. Brought sis's iPod Nano and left phone at home, the small size of the iPod Nano... just... made me so yang!

Talking about his computer, WX said that the Model 302 variant of the Zenbook is known to have problems because hearsay that Asus rushed it to be unveiled in December last year. Aigoo, then get other models or Samsung series 9(?) lor!

Baituo, he can't wait any longer as he doesn't have any spare or desktop computers around - that up-lorried laptop is the only computer he has. Though the Note 3 could have accomplished most of the tasks but problem surfaces when he wanted to send out gifts on mousehunt, the iPhone 3GS is painstakingly slow.

Then buy computer now la, what is he waiting for? =.=

Then he was talking about something which I couldn't remember, then he mentioned 'burst'. So I said

‘你沒有burst，可是你有bust。’

It took him a while to get what I meant. ᄏᄏᄏ~ Then he burst into laughter and said 我還很認真聽你講。Wahaha! Oh yeh!

Then moving on to the topic of HH, he said his 小姨 came to his house for CNY visit. Then he showed her the video of HH singing at Neway JB. His 小姨 was laughing out loud and she asked her children to watch also. Aigoooo~ HDTM!

Good to see that WX gradually overcame his fright with the threadmill machine. Now he's even running on 9 km/h! Last time 6 km/h only.

Then he said JW got pay increase recently. Wow, his pay is good ds! But management trainee earn so much? It's either slightly lower than or same as an entry-level perm staff would earn. That amount is already over entry-level staff liao leh.

My priority now is to pay off my school fee ASAP! Can't wait to finish off the debt so that I can start saving more money for overseas trips/future plans etc.

Afternoon kena bombed by JX. 他真的不懂是完全在狀況外還是真的忘記了。不懂有沒有在看手機的。OK, the story went like this...

On 13 Feb, Thursday, JX whatsapped over and said he's working night shift on that day and next day, i.e. free on Saturday and Sunday, and asked us what's our plan on weekends, hinting want to go out with us ds. On that day PG replied free on Saturday.

On 14 Feb, Friday, I didn't reply till next day morning when he most likely just got back from work, resting. I said I was free on both days, obviously meaning welcome him to plan anything he wants lor.

On 15 Feb, Saturday (yesterday), nothing happened when me and PG waiting for his reply. In the end, we called him 미쳤어 because he didn't say anything? Did he read our messages or not?! SSF...

At noon time today, he whatsapped again and ask what's our plan today. I answered that 'you now then ask...' Then he refuted back by saying that he asked on Wed, Thurs and Fri and asked to look back at his previous messages.

*Since when he asked on Wed and Fri? I didn't see his messages lor.

I refuted back by saying I already mentioned that I'm free on Fri. Then he admitted that he saw but still waiting for my detailed answer. =.=

*What sort of 'detailed answer' he wants? Isn't 'free on Saturday and Sunday' very sufficient liao meh? If I have something minor on, I would automatically provide the details one mah... 진짜 미쳤어!

He then asked about PG and HH. Aigoo, PG already said 'free on Saturday' means not free today la. And HH is not even inside the whatsapp convo. 真的給他炸到無言去⋯⋯

But too bad, since he didn't reply earlier, my dinner had already cooked, so can't go out le. He still can comment that aiyo why my mum same as his mum de. Aigoo, since need to cook lunch might as well cook for the dinner also, save the effort for cleaning and tidying up the Kitchen the second time mah. He knows this fact so well, then all the more he should ASAP set and decide on time, place and activity mah. Wiyatno also said he can't go out today. JX totally sag that can't go out on both days...

Felt this quite strongly because I think I wasn't in wrong. I could have replied one day later (actually few hours later), but that was still ahead of weekend leh. Couldn't understand him why the same question needed to be asked again and again when people already replied to him and he still dared to challenge to revisit at his previous messages. Would like to know if he got even look at his phone for new messages or not.

Perhaps what Jordan said is right and I have to agree with him 100%...

Bay sent this in. This is ultimate dangerous!

中毒

中毒1
Xiaomi's Hongmi phone coming to SG this month and retail price for the non-contract phone is $169! I am quite poisoned by it's low price now. Should I choose it or Moto G?

哇賽！醬便宜？

就算不是買來打電話

買來當MP3還是遊戲機玩都值得的說

中毒2
Introduced that popular Korean drama to sis and cousin. Looks like they going to be addicted oh yeah! Will blog about this drama next time round.

中西情人節 ＋ 火鍋

今年的2月14日剛好碰上農曆初十五，意思就是今年是雙料情人節！過去幾天聽933，DJ死命在那邊一直講關於情人節的東西。好顯啊！

一如往常獨自過情人節。

我不覺得有什麼好大驚小怪的，不管目前有沒有伴侶，日子照樣過啊。今年好才沒有人過來問我感情的問題，都以工作爲飯或見面聊天的話題，好險避過去了⋯⋯

Morning received an email from PUB, regarding an invitation for job interview 2 weeks later. Aigoo, I already found a job le, had to reject it.

In the afternoon, while using USB thumbdrive on the new computer, noticed that the computer is able to shut off power supply to the thumbdrive after clicking 'safely remove'. Isn't the case for my computer ever since Windows 7 was installed. Went to lookup for related article and Microsoft did acknowledge document this situation in its Knowledge Base (KB).

USB Port Remains Active for Disabled or Safely Removed USB Device

Not sure what exactly is the reason but my guess is that the motherboard may be old (not designed to run Windows 7 optimally). After followed the instruction there and now the USB device got switched off after safely remove!

傍晚吃火鍋。很少會煮火鍋吃的，可是因為今天是元宵節又是情人節，所以媽媽決定來個火鍋宴。叔叔一家還有表妹也來一起吃。不要小看需要自助服務的火鍋，其實是需要很多事前功夫的。

釀豆腐、五花肉片、蔬菜、雞湯

就是今晚的主角了

很飽很滿足

過後還要收拾碗盤、鍋，把桌子搬回去。也是一堆工在那邊等這座做。

Came across this cute penguin video - it will chase you when you run away from it!

The cute penguin is at Matsue Vogel Aviary Park in southern Japan.

Saw this on FB, very mean yet funny description:

First attempt to build computer: success! (part 2)

As it took time to install Windows 7 and even more time to do Windows Update, some of the software installations couldn't be finished yesterday. Therefore today contnue with the installation.

Noticed from yesterday after shutdown that the keyboard numlock was lit even when the system has been turned off. Weird...

Even weirder was that I couldn't get into BIOS to try to change the setting, hoping the light would go off when computer is off. Somehow the system was too fast for my fingers, could only enter into the option menu for selecting a different OS (if any). Another weird thing! Usually no matter how fast, after switching on the computer and press DEL key, BIOS main page should appear liao mah.

Unplugged the keyboard from the CPU and left it like that overnight in order to prevent people asking me questions why there is light. Then went sleep as I was too tired and tensed up from setting up the computer.

Morning woke up, the first thing to do was to resolve this issue. Plugged the keyboard in via the PS/2 port and power up the CPU. This time round I could get into BIOS. Finally! The reason for the super fast boot up is that the option for fast boot is enabled. No wonder la! Now went to disabled fast boot and also disabled numlock wake up.

The result? Yes, the computer is firing up as it should! ^_^

Now, for the fast boot. Recently, motherboard manufacturer has been adding value to their motherboards by tweaking here and there so as to add more functions to the bare basic ones. Asus has been advertising some USB boost, GPU boost and fast boot. Pretty attractive package I would say.

After finishing the remaining software installations, continued to move files back into place from previous HDD.

Realised that the computer doesn't have a rear fan. Need to get one 90 mm one to further enhance the ventilation though the computer is running really cool now. This would complete my installation le.

Ran the Windows Experience Index test to retrieve the numbers. (1.0 and 7.9 being the lowest and highest score possible)

My 5-year old Intel Pentium Core 2 Duo E7400 is still very good at 6.4 points. Though the new one sports a Celeron processor, it's a tad better than my one. I would expect the i3 and i5 ones to be marginally better lor.

But what made my delighted is the graphics part. There have been much improvements made to the on-board Intel graphic card. From 3.4 to 6.4 and 4.2 to 4.7, I can even feel the smoothness when scrolling the webpages now - it's almost on par with my MacBook Pro - the undisputed winner when come of scrolling smoothness, despite coming to 4 years liao. So next time if I were to upgrade the computer which is quite unlikely, I would expect a big boost! Yippee!

Hard disk is worse off because one is using conventional spinning type another is using the modern SSD drive. The data transfer is already heaven and earth kinda difference liao.

Played Running Man and and discovered that the K-lite codec + media player classic would crash at random timing. Weird.

 LG G Pro 2 phalet

WX told me that LG has announced the G Pro's successor, LG G Pro 2. Looks neat and nice leh. The 5.9 inch IPS display must be a gorgeous display. *Drooling now...*

The downside is that it doesn't have a stylus. If only LG released it around the same time as Samsung Galaxy Note 3, otherwise could consider it if I'm still using iPhone now.

Nowadays LG has been producing really good models to compete with Samsung, Sony and HTC, the LG G2 surprised the world by having the physical button at the back. It gave mixed impressions initially, but after that, reviews praising the genius design. Therefore it has the highest screen-to-area ratio by having the thinnest bezel available. Oh ya, the superb battery life came as a surprise as well. With battery at 3000 mAh, it seems that LG G2 has beaten Sony Z1 and sometimes even Note 3 in battery life tests!

Came across Eason Chan's songs, nice but they aren't new now:

王菲的唱功真的不是蓋的！感覺有一點像30-40年代的女歌星一樣，很清純高音的聲調。如果少掉換氣的聲音就完美了。

First attempt to build computer: success! (part 1)

Decided to go down to SLS to get the computer parts, mentioned on this link. WX whatsapped over and said he could accompany me down to buy ds and he can go see see look look for new laptop, but he didn't say what date/time. Went out at 2 pm. Boarded 185 and then 48 because didn't want to walk all the way to Lakeside MRT and have to walk from Bugis MRT to SLS. Furthermore, MRT might be slower too.

But the conclusion was that it might be faster taking MRT becuase it took me slightly more than one hour to reach SLS lor. Aigoo, 48 wasn't that fast enough. It was already 3.10 pm when I reached SLS le.

After stepping into SLS, the only thought I had was to quickly get the parts and zao. So immediately headed to the shop at level 5. After understanding the whole situation, e.g. checking out the casings, asked for the prices, what type (WD green, blue HDD), I went on proceed to order the parts.

But one saggy point was that when looking at the price list, I saw the motherboard and CPU bundle cost m $150 and not $140 which I saw when at home. Perhaps they raise price? But it turned out that all along I was looking at the wrong motherboard! Only to realise something was wrong when they took out the motherboard box and placed at the cashier counter. Upon double checking the invoice then I realised that I had ordered the wrong motherboard! Not the Asrock H81 but Asus H81 series motherboard which cost $10 more. Eyes pak stamps liao. Aigoo...

But nevermind, I still proceed with Asus because I feel that Asus motherboard really can last - current one is using Asus P5K series motherboard and I think it's a great motherboard. One of the desktops last time used Gigabyte one and I didn't think it's as lasting as Asus one. Just that this time round wanted to go budget and it seems that Asrock is something that I could try. Too bad, I'm sticking to Asus again! ^_^

The casing wasn't the CM 311 but model 342 instead. Looks good too. :)

Everything was done by 4 pm. Total cost: $532.
Took a cab home. Reached home already 4.45 pm. For the first time felt trip by taxi is slow. Cost me $13.70. Ok la, was expecting more than $20 ds.

Then 5pm WX whatsapped again say can go down with me to SLS (tomorrow). Aigoo, I already back. He literally go sag after I replied by exclaiming 'so fast!'... LOL~ Don't want to procrastinate further since early Jan mah.

 戰利品！

Satisfied with the purchase. The tower casing was smaller than I expected - I thought it should be the same size as mine one. Guessed I bought the 2nd largest size for my casing last time lol. But it wasn't a bad thing, in fact I would have preferred as small as possible as it's going to be placed on floor.

With no experience, I began to start assembling the parts. But where to start? Asus recommends building the processor first. On the contrary, Intel recommends locking the motherboard onto the chassis first before installing the processor. But anyhow, went with Asus's method because that way allows easier installation of processor, i.e. I can do the installation on table then transfer onto the casing.

Step 1: Following Intel's instruction, opened up the catch and placed the processor onto the gold-plated base. Closed the catch to lock the processor into place.

Step 2: Installed heatsink + fan on top of the processor. Connected the fan power supply cable to motherboard.

Step 3: Installed RAM.

Step 4: Mounted motherboard onto the casing. Attached the connector backplate to the motherboard and casing.

Step 5: Installed PSU.

Step 6: Installed DVD drive and HDD.

Step 7: Connected power cables to the casing fan, motherboard, DVD drive and HDD. Also connect the cable for casing power/HDD activity LED lights, power and reset buttons to the motherboard. Organised and tidied up the remaining PSU cables.

Tada! All it takes just 7 steps to complete the building of a computer. Of course it's time consuming. But luckily I had a little bit of experience in handling the SATA connections of the HDD so that part had been settled for. 不用那麼戰戰兢兢。Half-way went for dinner with instant noodles + yong tau foo! :)

After that went back to continue assembly. By the time physical assembly had finished, it was 8 pm. Next, it was to try to turn on the newly set-up computer.

Tada! There was BIOS message - the motherboard was able to receive power from PSU and detect all components. 成功了！好開心！

There is room for upgrading in future as the RAM is quite future-proof, capable of running at 1600 MHz. Now it's running at 1333 MHz due to processor limitation.

Then proceeded to install Windows which should be a very easy task by now. And the standard Windows activation + update and software installations followed. But couldn't finished everything in one go, so certain softwares had to be installed tomorrow.

To be continued...

Saggy with Whatsapp

After charging the phone last night, immediately set it to airplane mode and went to sleep as I wanted to monitor how's the overnight battery life like. Ideally, it should be 0% as on iPhone but I always getting 2-3% with Note 3. It shows that how efficient iOS is. But Android has its advantages too.

Morning woke up and saw 96%, a 4% drop in just 7 hours. Aigoo... But noticed that there is a high usage by the 'media' category. Feeling a bit saggy, went to see how to factory reset. Some forumers recommend doing this after a major update (e.g. 4.3 to 4.4), not necessary for smaller updates (e.g. 4.2.1 to 4.2.2). After confirming that the factory reset would bring back the apps and leave contents on the microSD card alone, I went to do back up and transfer those personal stuff from phone's built-in memory to desktop. Then proceeded to do factory reset, hoping to solve the high media usage.

After the reset, the phone reinstalled the apps back, but without the previous settings. Had to do it manually all by myself! OMG~ Then went to restore Whatsapp back, it's the most used app now, so definitely the data is important.

Everything looked normal on Whatsapp, happy to see that the conversations were retained. However when I went into see the media files sent/received in the conversation windows, some of them were messed up. E.g. picture of HH appearing in other friend's conversation who has no idea who is HH! Aigoo!

I thought literally everything was intact after factory reset and I followed Whatsapp's instruction to restore the messages back. But WHY LIKE THIS?!

Went to uninstall, reinstall Whatsapp and restore the data back, still the same thing. :(

Sad and sag...

The feeling was quite sian actually. Suspected Windows might be the culprit. Because Note 3 is identified as a portable media device and not removable storage device just like thumbdrive. Felt that the transfer mechanism between the two differs and issues tend to arise when moving files between computer and such portable media devices. Windows cannot handle the large fan-out folder structure of Whatsapp. Last time when wanted to transfer some 3000 photos+videos from a single folder, problems arised causing the card to be unusable. Also damn sian also...

But the consolation was that the bug on the web browser got solved. Now I can move away with Samsung user manual bookmark and replace it with my bookmarks le. Yay!

So given the circumstances, decided to remove all media files and start recollecting it as of today. Some media files aren't worth anything of memory anyway, so okay to be removed.

Sian... Spent half the day doing this and yet 節外生枝. Told myself not to do factory reset again.

Getting ready to build new computer + CNY visit to neighbour aunty

Didn't want to talk so much with HL after yesterday night's incident at Whatsapp. Felt she had cross over the boundary line liao.

Morning did a little read up on how to build computer. There is another option - buy a fully assembled one from reputable computer manufacturers. It sounds so much more hassle-free. The problem is that they tend to use customised parts for the assembly and it's a bit difficult to replace if the part fails. And it's more expensive, pay more for the assembly cost. So I would avoid this option.

Another thing is that I would want my old LG monitor to continue function in my house. It's actually a good monitor with nice, quite accurate colours. The comparison was so huge when placed side-by-side with sis's laptop - the screen on the laptop was horrendous. When viewing human pictures, the cold colours made the skin lifeless but it isn't the case when viewed on the LG. Only downside is that it's TN panel and CCFL backlight consume more electricity than the nowadays ever popular LEDs now. So without the CPU, I need to get another one to complete it lo.

The mindset I have now is that every EEE student should know how to build a computer ba, though it might not be related directly to EEE. I didn't have any chance to build one since university days. The current one was assembled by GYS. Given that his relationship with us turned sour since June 2010, it's not nice to go approach him for this help again. That's why I want to use this opportunity to learn it now.

It turns out that it's quite easy to build one. Furthermore, the cabling are now more or less standardised. No matter how many HDD/ODD devices are there, only need to use the SATA cable to connect to the motherboard, no need to take the order or device type into account.
Another good news learnt when last time added in one SSD and replaced my 500 GB HDD with a 2 TB one into my computer is that there is no need to set master/slave when there are two or more HDD le, it's the case during IDE era. But nowadays, with SATA being the standard, it's really that easy now. WQHDW :)

Now I want to build a new one which is very similar to my desktop now - no need super high end specs but need to be super reliable so that it can last for a long long time.

Went HWZ to look for some of the recommendations for building such computer. These were what I got:

1. Asrock H81M-DGS + Intel G3220
2. Adata 4GB 1600 MHz
3. WD Blue 1 TB
4. CM 311 + FSP Hexa 500 W
5. Samsung ODD

Recommended place to buy: Tradepac @ SLS

Sis complained that the razer mouse was a bit not sensitive liao, I agree with this too. So I added two more components in:

6. Windows 7 64-bit
7. Logitech M100 mouse (the one I'm using now, quite good ds)

Need to buy and set up everything before I start work. Shall end off this topic for now.

On the other hand, 姑婆 came to stay for a few days.

Just now went neighbour aunty house for CNY visit. Lots of food there with the 魚片 bought in Taiwan received praises from us. It's really nice! Too bad phone was charging so didn't have a chance to take pictures. The 鐵蛋 was a bit weird though and texture is similar to 皮蛋。拜託⋯⋯

Luckily I got a job now, so no need to afraid 被人家講! Yay! This year the topic of conversation has been changed from studies to job/careers... Haiz, it's something which is inevitable and have to endure.

Happened to come across this song on 933. Quite nice ds.

2014農曆新年（繼）

*昨天隔壁aunty不在家，不然可以去拜年……

經過了一個很無聊的禮拜六，今天繼續去拜年。跟以往如常一樣，過年後的第一個週末，去拜訪媽媽那邊的親戚。

早晨還未吃早餐7點30分就出門了，長堤沒塞車，一切都很順利。原本要去皇后那邊吃早餐，忘了要去吃什麼了，好像是鮑魚麵還是什麼了。在沒有辦法的情況下，到下一個吃早餐目的地——士乃的祥記（雲吞麵）茶餐室！時間才8點45分的說。

這間茶餐室主打就是它的雲吞麵，有分大(RM 5.50)、中(RM 5)、小份(RM 4)。中型雲吞麵不會小份，反而剛剛好。麵的咬勁真的很好，一咬即斷！不像有些用的很rubbery感覺的麵條，真的會大扣分……而且比起一些比較好的雲吞麵的麵條，這間的較細，吃起來比較獨特一點，加分！加上一粒生熟蛋和teh，就是很滿足的早餐了！

單是賣相就已經吸引到我了

吃起來還擄走我的心！

也因為在士乃吃早餐，所以先去古來找三舅、小舅他們。過後二舅也來了，就先去他家參觀。他家位於角落頭，所以光線可以直射進來，內部亮又比較涼爽一些，還不錯一下……

待了一下子後又回去三舅家，小舅在煮飯。

簡單的菜餚就完成今天的午餐了

蝦炸得蠻香的

Sotong搭配那個本來沾點白斬雞的蒜頭油

完全sedap！

然後阿康也來找我們，大概聊了一下醬子吃飽飯後1點就離開去三叔公家。在哪裡待半小時又回來了，因為爸媽要去看八大巨星演唱會。好像很趕醬，但沒辦法，誰叫Giant不給晚間8點的票。

就醬，2014年的農曆新年就這樣劃上句點，算是結束了。話說回來，我倒是蠻嚮往大概十年前新年的模樣，感覺好熱鬧——不像現在的冷清，似乎沒有節日的氣氛。那時候還真的可以通宵不用睡覺，可以聊天、吃喝東西、小賭怡情，包括牌子和麻將，哪怕只是過夜一天，回到家後筋疲力盡，但不得不認真的很有氣氛的說。唉，只能說時間一去就不復返，現在多麼期待多麼嚮往卻不能倒回去那些時光了。所以每年特別都會期待新年的說。

Pre-employment check-up + Turf club visit

Afternoon went for the mandatory pre-employment check-up at a clinic in Paragon building as instructed by the HR. Also, came along with the instruction email were those employee handbook for my reference.

Left house at 2 pm, bus 334 to JE MRT then MRT to Commonwealth before took bus 111 to Lucky Plaza - it's the cheapest route already coz train to Raffles Place then go up Somerset took more time I guessed and 111 came immediately after I reached the bus stop. Aigoo, quite yang. But soon after got sagged because 111 travelled so slowww... Reached Lucky Plaza a couple of minutes before 3 pm, then rushed to Paragon. Almost late liao ds.

Was advised to reach the clinic by 3 pm which I could but I lost my way and got up to level 9 from the wrong lobby =.= In the end got late for about 5 mins(?) The receptionist asked me for the hardcopy letter from company which I was a bit surprised yet could understood. If the company had informed the clinic beforehand, then there was no need to produce the letter, just the IC and at most the electronic version would be enough. Anyway, somehow they got the information and was told to wait...

The clinic was quite small and crowded. Then there was this AT who just came back(?) to SG to work and she mentioned that she must go for checkup every 6 months in order to be continued to be employed. I have nothing about that, but she was talking relatively loudly on her phone when everybody was waiting for their turn super quietly. Want talk on phone can't go outside and talk? The whole world knew what she was talking hbh... And the worst was, she was talking while being called and walking into the consultation room. Know that's her choice, but hung up for that few minutes won't die mah =.=

Then it was my turn, first it was a urine test, then took height and weight, next it was eyesight test. Out of all, the eyesight test was the most challenging one. Given I staying at home looking at monitor screen for most of the days, my eyesight would have deteriorated by a bit le. Aigoo... some of the numbers were a bit blurred.

The urine test was somewhat different from the previous one I went for IA. At that time, the urine was sent for testing at a lab elsewhere ds but this one was analysed straight on the spot. So different companies/clinics would have different criterias for pre-employment medical screening.

Lastly, it was the physical examination by the doctor. Took the blood pressure/heartbeat test, guessed I was too nervous at that moment lol... The doctor forgotten to ask me to take the test for colour blindness. Baituo...

Towards the end at 4 pm, I was told to go to level 7 called Radiologic clinic to take the chest X-ray. Only 5 mins wait, the X-ray was even faster. Finished everything by 4.10 pm. However it was still rather early so went Taka first. Saw the KkoKkoMyeon selling for $8.80 at cold storage. OMGAKKKK! It was more than double the price ($4.35) at NTUC! SSF...

Then went Ion to shop. Saw the long-sleeved shirts going for $9.90 (it's $14.90 before) at Uniqlo. Heng never buy before CNY. Phew~ Then bought tack stickers from Daiso which I have been looking for it for a while le - to label some of the souvenirs given by friends so the labels help me to remember who gave this and when etc... 開始工作了，腦袋裝不到那麼多東西都會失憶的說。

Then went Muji to see see look look, they got sell those baumkuchen cakes! But the thought of the vast amounts of  CNY food at home put that idea away. Heng ah... didn't splurge on unnecessary things. After that went EpiCentre to try out the iPad Air and iPad Mini. Possible to upgrade my iPad? Honestly, would love to. But given the current situation, I would like to save up the money for better things. Moreover, my iPad 2 is doing well despite it's an 3 year-old model le. So my final conclusion is to keep it until it spoils.

Also visited Marks & Spencer. Got their double choclate cookie @ $1.50 cheap cheap to ward off my little hunger ds. The shop 'Chocolate Research Facility' now has been replaced by gadget accessories shop called 'Nimbus' and Big 'O' is now replaced by Bangkok Jam. Omo~ That's our chilling place last time ds!

2010年9月4日拍的

還記得嗎？

這些畫面已走入歷史了

當天我們去掃Body Shop的東西！

Omo... 好吃到鬼！

After Wheelock place walk-a-round, went Shaw Towers to take 190 then 960 to Kranji MRT. Was the first to reach Kranji, but I got down the bus one bus stop earlier! Aigoo~ But also good la, at least no people there so I could take my time to get on to DiGi network and shut off the mobile data service. If not the next time reload RM 10 in, straight away deduct RM 30 out to continue the data. Aigoo...

Then walked towards Kranji MRT. YB also arrived shortly after. James and Sophie arrived together. Without causing much delay, we stepped into a place which I wouldn't be stepping in for the coming few years or even decades! So it's an eye-opening experience for us, except for Sharon since she's working there haha.

Sharon said that there were 2 areas, one for $6 admission fee, another $30. Of course, the $30 ticket holder could enter the Owner's Lounge without any problem where there are food and beverages by 龍江海鮮 served in an air-con environment and enjoy horse racing at the same time.

還$30就可以進來這裡一邊享受美食一邊觀看賽事

Had Fried rice with BBQ pork ($9.80) with root beer ($4). The fried rice was super nice though I would have expected the food was prepared way before my order. Sharon and YB ordered fish and chips ($11.80) each. James had a super big serving of wanton mee and Sophie chose the healthier sandwich set. Thanks Sharon for the treat!

好好吃的炒飯喔！

讚讚讚！

好貴好atas的飲料！

她們女生叫的炸魚片 ($11.80)

 很大份的說

味道是不錯滴

很爽啊！

*There's ang moh waiter working in a Chinese restaurant?!*

The service was unsatisfactory TBH. The bell was pressed don't know for how many times before the someone appeared to take order. Then payment was also a hassle. Rather go to the counter and pay before leaving would be much more efficient.

We bombarded Sharon with lots of questions and she of course answered in quite a professional manner with all sorts of jargons used. Aigoo, 賽馬還真的博學多聞的說. Interesting that the horses have very funny names such as 大把錢?! Like that also can ah?

After the dinner, went to the parade square to take some photos with the horses parading around in a circle. Even at the parade square, they also separated the area into $30 zone and $6 zone. Of course the $6 one was filled with uncles and ah peks with a handful of aunties. Just feeling quite privileged to be in the $30 zone one, it's nearer to the horse!

這些馬很可愛hor？

不知不覺會愛上動物的說～

The jockeys are really small in size! 有驚訝一下下。Unlike my expectations on them - no limitation on body size.

Watched one of the races around 9.20 pm right beside the race track. The wind kept blowing and it was really a cooling evening. Overall it was a good experience. :)

Left the place around 10 pm and I was rather exhausted for the day le. Could foresee myelf taking more time to rest than doing work such as blogging and surfing net, after a long day at work, especially during 1st and 2nd week.

It's the first time meeting Sophie in person. IMO, she was more channel 5 than I would have expected and the pitch was even more unexpected~ 跟她不熟……

Of course, before we left the place, not forgetting to take a group picture! Thanks Sharon for everything, including the hosting and dinner treat! 你的工作還真的蠻有趣的！

James的頭髮效果好特別啊

初七人日：撈魚生！

初七被歸為人日，也就是祝大家人日生日快樂！

Afternoon bought the Apple charger for $10! Yang! Yes, it's 2nd hand, but I don't need Compared to the 3rd party one, not only it's better built, it's also heavier. Decided not to throw away the fake one so that I could explain to others about the importance of using only the original electrical accessories, i.e. not as much for the casing lol.

Cousin came again in the evening for dinner and she brought 魚生 from 翡翠飯店. 魚生 is a delicacy unique to SG/MY region and it must be used with chopsticks to 'kiap' the food and raise it to a height as high as possible to signify 步步高升. At least I got to lo hei for this year's CNY. Hope everything is smooth sailing and everyone is healthy for the upcoming year! Huat huat huat ah!

 看起來很豐盛

 確實很豐盛！

看到有三文魚真的很洋

 開始把材料倒在一起

一切就緒

準備開始撈起！

Liked how fresh is the salmon. I quite like to eat it raw given that I always quite fond of eating the salmon sushi in Japanese cuisine where the salmon is also raw. Keke... Of course, I bet most of us liked the crunchy crackers among those ingredients put in there. Haha!

On the other hand, whatsapp is beginning to show weird behaviour, especially on my spare phone where contact profile pictures are disappearing by themselves. I wondered what's happening to my whatsapp... 拜託…… 一大堆小小問題，其實很累人的。

Impart and gain IT knowledge

Afternoon spent lots of time teaching cousin how to use Dropbox - much better than MSN file transfer especially for connections which are not very stable (with occasional DC).

節外生枝

Usually, Dropbox needs to authenticate by asking new users to click on the link in their inbox to ensure the email address is used by a living person, not some bots or robots. But my cousin's Note 3 has some problem syncing with Gmail. The new emails won't appear on the phone. Even weirder at the sync account settings page, both of our phone display slightly different settings though running on 4.4.2!

After 2 hours of troubleshooting, finally got the thing going. Phew... 很幸苦咧！

Oh ya, WX's laptop finally died. Aigoo... Time for him to get a new one lo hohoho.

Started researching on Moto G, which could be the next potential spare phone I'm going to get. Though the current Sony Ericsson now isn't malfunctioning and initially I have no intention to change it within such a short period (it's coming to 2 years now), but the super limited internal memory doesn't allow me to update any app further, so many of apps inside are outdated versions. Worse still, I got to delete games in order to update. Now the phone pathetic no games inside aigoo... And after updating to Ice Cream, I guess the new OS isn't suitable for the phone. A lot more laggy ds. Got fed up with it at times...

After viewing the specs and briefly scan through the reviews for Moto G, I feel it's THE phone that fits into my requirements, cheap yet good. Snapdragon 400 should be enough for my usage, I'm not expecting super fast performance, but at least not like the Neo V lags almost everywhere. Moreover, Motorola branded it as a basic yet more than decent spcced smartphone which the masses would love. The cost is pushed so low that the phone doesn't even come with a charger nor earpiece! Haha, anyway if it's a spare phone, I can't be bothered with that too as I have accessories already.

All in all, it's perfect for a spare/2nd phone. Aigoo, being a handphone geek like me, already xyy while typing this out. Most likely will change after March ba I guess, after everything (sis desktop + job) has settled down.

表妹 came over for dinner and she revealed that her family set off firecrackers this year for the first time! Yay, so much better to get the CNY atmosphere ds.

Came across a thread on selling off the Apple iPhone charger as second hand for $10. It struck me because I had the intention of getting one ds. New one selling for $28 from Apple. A bit expensive... Still remember some 2 years ago when I read an article about USB chargers. Can't remember the details at that time, but noted that the original is always better than those 3rd party ones.

Went to search for that article and re-read it again to pick up details.

http://www.righto.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-quality.html

and also found this related article:
http://www.righto.com/2012/10/a-dozen-usb-chargers-in-lab-apple-is.html

The article said Apple went for a more complicated design which could be found in the more expensive industrial charging systems, than the more conventional, simpler and economical design. As such, the cost of producing might be a bit more but Apple is selling a lot more expensive than other original chargers.

The article also mentioned that Apple chargers had more features and better regulation than other chargers. On the other hand, the 3rd party ones disregard safety when designing the internal circuits. Upon reading this, being a EEE graduate who could understand what the article was talking about, told myself that I must get that Apple charger and stop using 3rd party ones.

I do notice that using my 3rd party one (got it when bought the Yoobao powerbank in Dec 2011), the charger got very very very hot during operation, got a bit scared scared liao, so now I try to use the one and only one Apple iPhone charger (from sis's iPhone 4 last time) to charge whenever possible, but that charger needs to support mum's iPhone and sis's iPod aigoo and I have a couple of devices myself already.

Now monitoring the thread see if the charger has been sold...

不是新歌，但只想分享：

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Some updates on Grace, the once-abandoned dog:

She is getting better and prettier! From the pics, one could see she's enjoying her life, living happily and contented!

There is an injury to the paws and it looks serious, guess she has to limp when she walks around. But the good thing is that the tests done on the paws has shown that it's non-cancerous! Woo... that's good news!

An even better news is that there is an adopter who is willing to take Grace in to accompany another 2 golden retrievers! Whoever he/she is, by taking in this once-abandoned dog, good karma will happen de. :)

Oh ya, I neglected about the donation part: as soon as this news spreads around via forums and FB, people sympathised Grace 的遭遇 and started to donate. The amounts are quite generous, at least in tens of dollars, not 50 cents, $1...