An apple green sofa bed 31 October, 2007
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear1, Reno & Furnishing.1 comment so far
Yeah… We have our sofa bed. Hohohoho… It has really been a long while since we started shopping for a sofa bed, and now we finally bought it. It is apple green in colour, 3 seater sofa, opens up to be somewhere between a super single and a queen size bed, sleeping 2 people shouldn’t be a problem. Well, actually we bought it a month ago, just that I haven’t gotten down to writing it here. Hehe…
After months of desperate search for a sofa bed, we finally bought ours for $400 (included Gst and delivery) at K & D Furniture Trading, their warehouse showroom somewhere in Kaki Bukit. We were introduced to this company by a friend, and it turns out that their selection of furniture was not bad, and in fact a little bit unique, not the everyday furniture you see at local neighbourhood shops. But still, their goods come from China, so dun expect European quality. Not to mention we received a small discount by virtue that we were recommended by a friend. Yeah…
We’ve been to quite a few places to search for a sofa bed, but nothing really comes close. Not Ikea, Courts, Harvey Norman, IMM, Seahorse, etc… What was rather surprising about this shop that we bought our sofa bed from was that they had lots and lots sofa beds to choose from, easily more than 20 varieties. But only 2 were on display, the rest were in the catalog. Our was chosen from the catalog.
The sofa bed is currently in our study room. One of the main purpose of this sofa bed is to act as a sleeping place for guest, or simply a guest bed. But when there are no guests, it can be folded up into a sofa setting and save space in the study room. Now, who are the guests that we’re expecting? Well, maybe our relatives might want to stay over for a night (however unlikely that may sound). But mainly, its for our friends who we invite over for overnight mahjong, or movie marathon or gaming.
Eventhough I mentioned folding it into sofa mode to save space, I’m now thinking of leaving it permanently in bed mode. Haha… Why? Because it just feels great knowing that there’s a bed in the study room as well. This way, I can walk around the house, take a nap in the master bedroom, relax on the living room sofa, or I can walk to the study room and lie down on the sofa bed. Sounds really cosy and relaxing ya? Alright, I shall do just that.
-Dear1
The weekend when Dear2 went overseas 27 October, 2007
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear1, For Him For Her, Slice of Life.add a comment
Today’s mood: Dull… *rant mode on*
Today is that weekend. Dear2 went to Phuket with her company for 3D2N. But luckily Dear2 is coming back tomorrow night. I won’t have to wait much longer, I missed Dear2 so much.
I was just thinking, what do guys, boyfriends and husbands do when their girlfriends and wives are out of town for the weekend? Hmm… If we all watch enough of television programs like me, then the scriptwriters will tell u that, all hell will break loose. Guys will invite their soccer buddies to watch the latest premiership match live on cable tv. In addition, they’ll also bring beer and peanuts, so be prepared that the house will be in a mess, the sofa stained with beer and probably also some dirty handprints on the walls. Or maybe they’ll go out for a guys night, and visit places that only a bunch of bachelors can go, some sleazy nightclubs perhaps…
Back to reality. I’m not saying that such things won’t happen. In fact, I’m quite sure they do, but just that these things isn’t that popular at least in my social circle. For me, today had been a dreadful day. It’s a saturday. Dear2 is not in town and I have no energy to do anything. I didn’t want to stay at home the whole day and laze the time away. So I thought I’d go to school and do some work. And that I did. But it was so boring the whole day. I dunno what I am feeling. Just unhappy. And maybe a little bit bored and lonely. Even the usually delicious youmian at Clementi kopitiam I had for dinner doesn’t taste good today, dunno why? I really enjoyed spending time together with Dear2. It always feels like there just isn’t enough time when I’m with her. And after a week’s work, I always look forward to the weekend where we can spend time with each other. Sigh… Not this weekend. I suppose such things do happen, sometimes we will kenna overseas working trips.
I suppose this just goes to show that we must learn to cherish our time together. We spend 5 days a week working and about 10 hours a day. By the time we reach home, it’s probably around 9pm. After bathing and other personal errands, it’s probably already 10 plus. After a short chit chat, it’s bedtime again. All the more reason that we must cherish our weekend time together. I think a good way may be to discuss about weekend plans on weekday nights, so everything can be planned in advance, and things can proceed smoothly on the weekends.
Okay, enough of blabbering, it’s a uneventful saturday night, I’ll just go and sleep early and look forward to fetching Dear2 home from the airport tomorrow. Goodnight.
-Dear1
Dry Cleaning 24 October, 2007
Posted by dear1dear2 in Around the House, Dear1.add a comment
Recently, we visited a dry cleaning outlet to have our sofa cover washed. The place is called Best Laundry & Dry Cleaning located at the Bukit Batok West central marketplace. When we bought our 3-seater sofa, we specifically asked the salesman whether the cover can be machine washed or not. The salesman say yes, but now come to think of it, I also wonder if the salesman is just trying to make a sale or is telling the truth. Anyway, we decided to machine wash our sofa cover using our washing machine.
Our sofa cover comes in 2 separate pieces. One big continous piece which covers the entire cushion area and one smaller piece which just serves to cover the sides of the sofa to make it look coherent. The small piece isn’t an issue becos it is thin and easy to stuff into the washing machine. The big one is the major headache. It is made of a fluffy material which tends to bloat and is not very compressible nor foldable. After a lot of effort and bull strength, we managed to stuff the big piece into our washing machine. But the machine is so fat that it puffs out of the washing machine door. At this point, I was wondering, even if we can close the door, will the washing machine even be able to spin with such a bulky load inside? And not to forget there’s another small piece not in yet. And so we decided to send it to a commercial cleaner instead.
Looking through the yellow pages, we found this shop which has a rating of 4 out of 5 stars, so we decided to give it a shot. At the dry cleaners’, we requested for our sofa cover to be machine washed, as said possible by the salesman. It would have cost $10. But the lady from the stall, based on her experience, insisted that it is better to dry clean our sofa cover instead, which would cost $12. Ok, I thought, it isn’t too much more expensive. But this is only for the big bulky piece. Then she went on to quote us another $6 for the small piece. The smaller piece of cover is about a quarter the size of the big piece and she’s asking for half the price! I was feeling rather ripped off, but then, we needed to wash the sofa covers and it is the first time we’ve ever washed anything at a dry cleaners’ so we dun really know the market pricing either. Ok, so $18 for dry cleaning an entire set of 3-seater sofa cover, sounds alllll-right although it’s a little past our budget limit.
The next thing the shop keeper told us was interesting. She mentioned that dry cleaning services are also a seasonal business. It tends to get very busy during festive seasons. When we were there (which was a few of weeks ago), the upcoming festival was Hari Raya Puasa. It turns out that a lot of Muslim families are also washing their cushion covers, bedsheets and dresses. And becos of this, the shop keeper told us that our order may not be processed as quickly as usual becos the other order needed to be ready by their Muslim new year, hence more urgent. Of course we were ok with that arrangement, we’re very reasonable people. But the thing is, the shop doesn’t call us when the item is ready. I had to call them three weeks later to enquire about my order to know that it was ready for collection. -_- Since this is the first time we’ve been to a dry cleaners’, we dunno if three weeks for dry cleaning a sofa cover is considered fast or slow. I personal think that it is too slow. But we did learn quite a few lessons from this trip. I think the next time we want to wash the sofa cover again, we may try out another dry cleanrs’ just to compare their services and see what kind of other interesting facts we can learn from there.
-Dear1
Our 4D philosophy 21 October, 2007
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear1, Dollars & Cents, Leisure & Games.1 comment so far
We have been buying 4D for quite some time now, since our ROM day. We began with buying our wedding cert number. The wedding cert consists of 6 numbers, abcdef. We decided to 2 sets of numbers, abcd and cdef. And we bought $1 big for 3 draws a week. That meant $6 a week. Well, it seemed like a rather large extra expense, so we changed our strategy and bought our house number instead. This amounts to just $3 per week, much more affordable. So far, we have not struck any 4D with our house number yet but our marriage cert number did appear before… after we stopped buyng it. Grr…
Here, I would like to do a simple analysis for our philosophy of continuing to buy 4D. First of all, let me quote the prize table that can be obtained from the Singapore Pools website.
So you can see that if we bet $1 big for each draw, we can potentially win $2000 if the number comes up as first prize. Therefore, if we continue to buy $1 big for each draw, we can potentially participate in (2000/3=) 666.67 weeks. If we divide by 52 weeks a year, that’s (666.67/52=) 12.82 years. This implies that we can continue buying $1 big for 3 draws a week for 12.82 years in the hope of striking 1st prize at least once within this time period. This is of course making the assumption that the cost of 4D tickets does not increase and the top prize also remains unchanged. Additionally, we can also break even if we manage to strike at least a second prize within 6.41 years, or at least a third prize within 3.2 years. Well, that sounds comforting enuff, knowing that we can afford to wait for more than 12 and a half years and still break even on our 4D investment.
Let’s take a quick look at ibets. The number that we’re buying falls in the category of 4 different digits. So for a $1 big ibet winning 1st prize, we get $83. Hmm… Doesn’t sound like a lot. This means that we can buy my number for (83/3=) 27.67 weeks on ibet and break even with a top prize win. That’s only about half a year! But then, we need to factor in that ibet allows us to increase our chances of winning by 24 times. Looking at this in another way, it means that we’re buying 24 different numbers every draw with each set of number costing (1/24=) 4.2 cents each! In the end, the winning prize to cost ratio is the same as before ($83/4.2cents=2000).
But if we consider it carefully, each draw there can be only 1 winning number. But if you buy 24 numbers, only 1 will be the winning one. Meaning that, potentially, we can win a maximum of (83*83=) $6889 if 1 of our 24 numbers win the top prize every draw for 83 draws. If we consider the case without ibet, this is equivalent to winning 3 top prizes and 1 second prize over 2000 draws. Which one is more achievable? You be the judge. For us, we believe buying ibet is not to our advantage, so we shall stick to just buying regular bets. Or maybe switch to $1 small to increase our break even deadline. When will we finally win some prize?
-Dear1
Since we’re on the topic of 4D, let’s drown our sorrows in this song.
Sharks Fin soup 17 October, 2007
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear1, Food & Beverages.2 comments
Recently, I’ve been eating quite a few sharks fin soup. Yes, I know, sharks are kinda an endangered species and we should really stop eating sharks fin to support the save the sharks movement. But still, sharks fin is consider quite a delicacy in this part of the world. It is also consider a must-have item for any wedding banquet celebrations. I had the chance to eat it twice this week, not at weddings but simply at a restaurant.
The first one was at a restaurant on the second floor of Jurong Country Club. I can’t remember the restaurant name but it doesn’t matter anyway, for 2 reasons. First, they’re moving out at the end of this month. Second, it’s not really nice. At $28 per personal size serving, I would have expected a little more, but it only came with one misery piece of sharks fin. Furthermore, it is so small and thin that it doesn’t really taste like sharks fin at all. The soup is equally tasteless and I had to add more than usual amount of vinegar. Probably the only nice ingredient is the bean sprouts. Overall, it’s decent enough, but not shiok and not worth the price.
Haha… and I thought I was the only picky eater around. Turns out that my mum also felt that the sharks fin was up to standard. So just 2 days after that, my mum suggested that we visit Thai Village restaurant for some quality sharks fin. We know this becos we’ve eaten sharks fin at Thai Village restaurant before and it is really good! So off we went. One look at the menu and Alas! The price have increased yet again. It used to be $40 per personal serving, now it is $60. So instead, we order a large serving at $120 to share. Yummy! It really does live up to its name. The sharks fin came in large thick slices, so much so that you cannot eat it with a spoon cos it keeps sliding off. Its better to use chopsticks to slow tear strips of sharks fin from the entire piece. Slurp! The soup was also of high quality, very thick and fragrant. In fact, I enjoy the soup so much that I want to refill of just another bowl of soup, but sadly, there wasn’t enough to go around, the large serving was just enough to serve 1 bowl per person. With 4 persons sharing, that works out to be about $30 per person, which is quite comparable to the other restaurant, except this one was much much better.
At the first restaurant, I had the luxury of not paying for the food because my dad normally foots the bill at this kind of family gatherings. But at the Thai Village restaurent, there was a 10% discount for UOB card holder. Since my dad didn’t have a UOB card, I have to paying using my card. *sob sob* So expensive, total bill about $200 including other foods. *sob sob* After that, I asked myself, will I visit such a restaurant on my own and spend $200 on luxury food if it wasn’t a family gathering? I think the answer for now is no. I’m currently not bringing home a lot of income, not am I at a retirement age where I can spend freely without worries. If I had this amound of money to spare, I would use it to make an investment or spend it on grocery shopping instead. I guess I’m not a person who knows how to pamper myself. Maybe I’m just not used to spending on luxury items just yet. There’s not point in enjoying today just to starve tomorrow. So, the first step is to build up and career and accumulate my wealth. Only then can I spend without worrying about tomorrow’s dinner.
-Dear1
Kartrider 13 October, 2007
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear1, Internet & Blog, Leisure & Games.add a comment
Recently, Dear1 started playing this online game called Kartrider. The idea is simple. You drive a kart and race with 7 other people from the internet and the winner is the one that crosses the finishing line first. :D
But this deceptively simple game has gotten me deeply interested, and I sometimes wonder, what is it about racing games that make it so fun? Maybe it is the controls. Racing games are so simple, just 4 buttons, accelerate, brake, steer left or steer right. Of course this is the traditional bang-bang controller where the acceleration is simple on or off, no medium or slow acceleration. But sometimes, simplicity works when people wants to relax. Realism is really not an issue in this sort of game because people who wants to play just wants to have fun. Real time collision mechanics, deformation and rag-roll physics is really for the hardcore fans.
There is one additional twist to this game though, that is the drift button. With the touch of a button, you can throw your kart into a drifting maneuver and perhaps navigation a difficult hairpin turn without slowing down. Eventhough it is just a single button, some gaming experts who have been playing this game for a long time have developed complicated strategies that involve multiple drift techniques that blaze through corners at inhuman speeds. Let me embed a Youtube video of experts playing the game here to demonstrate what I mean.
I don’t think I’ll ever reach that level of skill, but I think those people are professionals and they probably does it for a living. We’re just simple people looking for some entertainment to our otherwise routine lifestyle.
Dear2 has pick up on this game as well and we’re taking turns to play. Dear2 didn’t want to set up a new account to play so we’re just playing on 1 account which also means that there’s no way for us to race each other. But then, in order to race each other, we’ll need another computer too. So for now, we’re just taking turns racing with people out there in the internet.
This game is really fun, so I think we’ll be playing it quite alot in the upcoming weeks/months.
-Dear1
My Second Japanese Essay 9 October, 2007
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear1, Nihon no koto, Travel & Discovery.add a comment
「わたしの夢」
わたしの夢は世界旅行です。でも、わたしの世界旅行のし方はちょっと違います。絶対飛行機(ぜったいひこうき)に乗ってはいけません。飛行機(ひこうき)で旅行に行くことはとても便利ですが、おもしろくないし、食べ物も特別じゃないし、雲(くも)の上で景色も見られないし、それに寝ることしかできないと思います。ですから、わたしの夢はバスや電車や船(ふね)で世界旅行をしことです。
わたしはシンガポールからスコットランドまで行きたいです。行く時、色々な町に止まって、違う習慣を習ったり、外国の食べ物を食べたり、お土産(みやげ)を買ったりしたいです。バスに乗る時、シンガポールでは見られない景色を見ながら、外国人と話して、船(ふね)に乗る時、写真を撮りながら、大きい空を楽しみます。
今旅行の本を借りて読んで、行きたい国を選んで、そして、お金を貯(た)めて、いつか夢に向(む)かいます。
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Here’s a literal translation of my second written Japanese essay from my Japanese class.
———————-
My dream
My dream is to travel around the world. But, the method of my world tour dream is slightly different. Definitely, taking a plane is prohibited. Touring by plane is convenient but, uninteresting, there’s nothing special about the food, there’s nothing much to see above the clouds and the only thing that can be done is sleep, that’s what I think. Therefore, my dream is to travel around the world by bus, train and boat.
I want to go from Singapore to Scotland. During the time, I will stop at various cities, learn about different cultures, eat specialty overseas food, buy local souvenirs and things like that. Riding the bus, I will look at the sceneries that cannot be found in Singapore while I talk with foreigners; In the boat, while I take photos, I will enjoy the big open sky.
Now, I will borrow and read books about travelling, choose the countries I want to visit, and save money, someday I will march towards my dream.
———————-
Yup, that’s it. This dream is real and I really hope to realize it together with Dear2. But it’s nothing we can do in the near future, so we should be looking at something like after our kids are grown up. That’s about 20+ years from now. What we can do now is start doing some active financial planning, probably buy some funds or savings plan that can help accumulate and grown that funds we need for the trip for 2. Current estimate is about $50000. That’s about $200 savings per month before inflation and investment returns. Sounds reasonable enough. :D
-Dear1
Protect the Heart and Your Investments 3 October, 2007
Posted by dear1dear2 in Dear2, Dollars & Cents, Shop till you drop.add a comment
The STI has reached 3,800 yesterday.
Investment. Investment means to gamble your money, hoping to make more out of less. Some people play the stock market – this is a fast earn fast loss market. Some people prefer to invest in unit trusts – my heart won’t miss a beat when my shares are still queing in the system, unable to be taken up by any buyer.
All of us wants to earn money. In this midst of this money grabbing process, we subjet ourselves to the fears and anxieties and worries and elation and shioks with the ups and downs of prices. Can the heart really withstand such pressure?
Every cent is hard earned money, so you have better make sure that your investment strategy is sound and not clouded by such emotional impulses. Develop a core portfolio – this will be in for the long time. To satisfy your own greeds and to join in the hearsays of that seemingly-made-a-lot-of-profit-friend, have a supplementary portfolio to Grow, Grow, Grow (or Lose, Lose) your monies.
Sentiments: Who is right? Who may be right? Nobody can really say, until you see that point in the chart, ie, the time has already passesd. Again, stick to objectivity, use excess money, evaluate personal risk appetite, evalaute current and near term needs, and look at the fund facts.
The STI is at 3,790 @ 3pm now. Aiyah, should have bought in more funds just now. But….. EVALUATE PERSONAL NEEDS!!! Not buy in sell out with the movement of the indices! Your heart will plummet when things are not looking good. Slap yourself, and continue to evaluate needs.
- Dear2
