A Mind of My Own

After flooding Twitter and emails to request for voters, my bag design finally got into the top 20. Thank you my friends! The final round was to convince the judges that the design will get the money rolling in. Although it was my design, I assigned DD to present it to the audience as I have severe stage fright. He credited me on stage. Shucks!

I’m grateful that HF and NL were able to make it. Thank you. The place was held at Fort Canning Greens. Familiar, right? I finally saw the designer who did the Chinese Opera singer. Her design is way cool! It took her 4 to 5 days just to get this final look.

My final bag design is so different from hers. All made from Photoshop brushes.

The Opera singer design won her the MacBook Air. She deserved it! All other bag designs can be viewed in my album here. There was free food and drinks, including beer. Apparently, Agva and Ripplevox love beer. There was a magic show during one of the presentations where this guy attempted to impress the judges further by taking out a $10 note from his empty hands. Cool trick to impress the girls. Flowers would be better, boy.

Another guy had stage fright and he ended up talking louder, faster and incoherently. I only caught a few words that I understood but ultimately, he ended up making prejudiced sentences with his long speech prepared in his paper. I think he should have asked someone to help him present it instead of insulting everyone without meaning to.

I was really honoured that the designer for the opera singer loved my design. Thank you!

My question is: Will I get royalty fees if the bag designs are being mass produced? I do want to credit the Photoshop designers.

Donations. Something that is being done most of the time during crisis. The Myanmar’s encounter with Cyclone Nargis brought about an influx of requests for donations. Such is the time to request for money. What I can’t understand is why don’t they ever accept blankets, tents, clothes, food and other non-monetary stuff at such urgent times.

[via Flickr]

Isn’t that what the citizens need most at this time? They need food and water to be delivered as the water supply is not portable at this stage. Will money always solve it? Or it’s easier to transfer money as opposed to the manpower to manage the stuff that has been donated?

I have clothes that I don’t wear any more. Will they want or they prefer their clothes? Without blankets, won’t the people feel cold at night? Without tents for temporary lodging, will they feel cold when the wind is blowing, will they feel hot when the sun is shining down on them?

Money is easy to transfer but where is the money going to? Can it be used at the moment for buying medical stuff? Can it build the road faster? Will the money really be used to help the people instead of going into the pockets of those who should be helping the people?

After the NKF fiasco, one does wonder if the donations are really being used for the reasons that were supposedly stated. When I saw the way they dumped boxes of water and food from a helicopter without any parachutes to prevent the boxes from being smashed into smiterins, I wonder if China is truly giving the necessity such that the people feel that they are truly looked after.

I’m no longer sure if I’m donating to the right causes despite what the signboard says. I’m not that heartless but if proven that the donations are not going for the causes that is being stated, why should I donate to those who have too much authority over the money and used them for other purposes?

I’m a walking Milo advertisement for today. No, I am not wearing green. Neither am I wearing its T-shirt. I had simply spilled half a cup of good Milo over the desk, chair, top and pants. The trip didn’t start well either. The train I took was silent. It didn’t announce the stations, even if it did, it was too soft. Something told me that I would miss my stop. I did.

[via Flickr]

Overslept by a station. After that, I got to the office. The story of the spilled Milo began when I was checking the codes and had to answer a call. I always have a call from this user. Doing programming is no longer fun. And so, just as I had replaced the receiver, trouble began. I hit the spoon when my hand returned to the keyboard and the cup just fell over despite its fat bottom.

I had warm Milo, thankful that it was no longer boiling hot, all over the desk, chair, pants and top. Replacing the cup to a normal position stopped the spillage but the damage was done. I was reeking of Milo. Still having that faint smell on my clothes. The chair took the most damage.

The chair is now a Milo advertisement too. Lunch didn’t go that well either. Service at Cafe Cartel in Junction 8 is truly bad. Today is so not my day.

An aunt of my cousin’s passed away this week due to womb cancer. She was in her 30s. Womb cancer often strike women of age 30 and above. AY’s mother was diagnosed with womb cancer and had hers removed. She was also above the age of 30 during the diagnose. [Update] She got better after the operation. [/Update]

A talk with my father a few days back had him telling me that stomach cancer runs in my paternal side. Stomach cancer tends to hit men more than women. The causes for it is unknown. However, there are certain factors:

• Age: Most people with this disease are 72 or older.
• Sex: Men are more likely than women to develop stomach cancer.
• Race: Stomach cancer is more common in Asian, Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and African Americans than in non-Hispanic white Americans.
• Diet: Studies suggest that people who eat a diet high in foods that are smoked, salted, or pickled may be at increased risk for stomach cancer. On the other hand, eating fresh fruits and vegetables may protect against this disease.

Symptoms may include the following:

• Discomfort in the stomach area
• Feeling full or bloated after a small meal
• Nausea and vomiting
• Weight loss

What I do not know if I will pass down the genes to my children. It’s also a good idea to compile the family’s medical history.

Usually, I prefer 3D2N trips as it allows me to have a goo rest on the 1st day of arrival. However, Batam isn’t really a place where you would like to stay for more than 2 days. It’s mostly known for its massage services, just like Thailand. Batam was hot and sexy.

We boarded the ferry at 10am and reached Batam at around 11am. It was still 10am, Batam time. It doesn’t matter how early we reached the place. The hotel rooms weren’t ready. We reached the hotel, Pacific Palace, at 12 noon but were told that the rooms weren’t ready. So, we had to walk around to entertain ourselves until 1pm. By a stroke of luck, one of the rooms was ready just before we decided our next course of action.

Thus, we dumped our bags into the room and went out. However, we realised that we had left out something during our haste for lunch. Thus, we went back to take it. On our way out, the receptionist or some manager looked for DD. Thankfully, we went back because the manager actually went to the room to look for us.

Since we had the keys, DD and I decided to check out the rooms. We chose the room on the left and scared the lights out of the guy who was attempting to do something with the lights. So sorry. Then we went to check out the other room. Thankfully, there wasn’t anyone to frighten.

Since I felt that the 2nd room was better, I chose that room and left with the other choice to the other couple. I was right in choosing that room. The overall displeasure about that hotel is that it had no bath tub. It’s a 4-star hotel but no bath tubs for deluxe, superior and executive rooms. What sort of designer decided it to be that way?

The toilet was large, larger than the ones in Hard Rock Hotel Bali and Ritz Carlton Bali. So I can’t get it out of my mind that it doesn’t have any bath tubs except for Junior and Classic suites.

We went for a massage at Miracle Aesthetic Clinic which had quite a professional decoration. However, I found it odd that their jacuzzi had this vacuum like object that had a pipe to emit the jets. It felt that the bath tub had shrunk due to that extra object. The staff was rather nice to switch off the aircon after discovering that I was cold.

While the massage was average, the jacuzzi was superb. 2 hours of Strawberry spa includes body massage, body scrub, steam, jacuzzi and some refreshments. The package cost Rp 300, 000 excluding tax. Sweet deal, right?

Thus, our 1st day in Batam ended with dinner at some food court. I can’t remember the place but I think it was in Nagoya, with more than 10 stalls selling seafood. Apparently, Bali and Batam are known for their seafood.

The next morning, which is this morning, the couple that got the 2nd room, reported that their bathroom had flooded. The pipe was clogged. The 1st couple joked about letting the water level rise so that they had a standing bath tub. However, in reality, the shower door had opening between the fixed glass and the door. It wouldn’t have really flooded that high.

Naturally, we went to the Mega Mall opposite the ferry terminal before departing for Singapore. I bought nothing except J. Co donuts that Kris had introduced. It does taste different from those bought in the cake shops. The donut was light and easily bitten into. However, my favourite snack still isn’t donut as I am not fond of sweet stuff.

I won’t be booking Pacific Palace but will book another hotel for my next trip to Batam. There’s another option, I can just go for a 1-day trip in Batam. Another lesson lesson learnt, any change in the package meant more money for the locals as they would state a charge of a certain amount per person before you take up their service. The utter horrors of holidays that I dislike very much.

DD and I went to attend his friend’s baby’s 1st birthday. All the mahjong tables except one were out in full force. Goes to show that people do love mahjong. A lot. However, all the tiles had bright colours. I wonder how they managed to keep their eyes from being blinded just by washing them. The bungalow at Aloha was rather spacious. As were reached there at around 8pm, the rooms were close and I didn’t want to intrude on anyone resting.

The birthday cake was of Minnie Mouse. Apparently, the little girl must have adored Minnie Mouse. The parents wore matching Micky Mouse T-shirts. Most couples I’ve seen loved to do that. However, there was this couple whom I saw and they were wearing pink. Unfortunately, the guy didn’t look that great in pink.

With 4 bedrooms, I rather like the bungalow despite it’s age. It’s been there for quite some time. However, the bungalows are not that easy to be booked. They can only be booked 3 months in advance. If anyone has a bungalow with affordable rates, do let me know. I haven’t tried booking a bungalow for chalet, just NTUC, which can’t even qualify for bungalow.

I felt the cake was rather sweet to me. Not sure which cake shop as the box didn’t state. I thought cake shops are proud to show off their cakes?

Sometimes, it’s a good thing to stay at home during weekends. After my visit at 1 Night Stand, I couldn’t fall asleep and decided to watch 洗冤录2 (Witness to a Prosecution 2) from 2am till 4am. My first time staying up so late at home.

Needless to say, I woke up at 11am. Decided to watch 2 more episodes after lunch before proceeding to my friend’s house. HF and I kept playing with the elevators because the flat was built in such a way that you don’t really get to the unit because we were at the correct floor but wrong lift.

Usually, once you see the lift, you would think, it’s the one. However, the lift wasn’t the one. We went down a floor, walked along the corridor, found another lift but still haven’t found the right unit and were starting to wonder if we were given the wrong address. When we reached the other lift, we decided to go up and finally found the unit. Hallelujah!

We were quite early, when JC arrived, she had also committed the same thing we did. Aye, our dear friend left out which lift to take. We played some poker (Ban Luck), I don’t know if I actually won or stayed the same amount. However, I did get 21 3 times with just 2 cards.

By 10.30pm, they started on mahjong. This set of mahjong was of less tiles, not that I am familiar with and they were playing big, since I was happy with my current amount, I didn’t join in.

When I reached home, I still couldn’t sleep, so back to watching the VCD till 3.15am. I was woken up at 9am because of the loud blasting from the television. There went my plans to laze in bed till 10. After lunch, I was sleepy and thus, went to have my nap from 2pm to 5pm. Good grief, I didn’t know that I needed sleep.

My sister said the flowers at Sentosa weren’t that pretty. Hmm, so I guess I didn’t waste my sleep then.

Ah, the big day is here. No, I’m not getting married. Yet. It’s Valentine’s Day and we see florists having a field day selling to couples with exorbitant prices. It seems that love is being shown only on this day. Sometimes, I love/hate this day.

[via 3D Screensavers]

So, does that mean that we don’t show our love on other days? Restaurants and hotels having a good day because couples have booked the slots way much earlier to ensure that they will have a romantic day complete with flowers, dinner and finally, bed. Definition of bed is up to your imagination.

The soft toys often used in this gift giving period are teddy bears and more teddy bears besides cute dogs. To think bears are ferocious animals when provoked. It would also seem that ladies find Valentine’s Day as important as the date they started dating, wedding, ROM and birthdays.

Men find it a chore to remember so many things and prefer to just gift the ladies something and that’s the end of story. No wonder women find such men unromantic and dull. However, there are other ways to make it special, without spending too much money.

In addition, love can mean love for your family and friends too. It doesn’t just mean boyfriend or girlfriend love. Likewise, no one wants to be left alone.

Do note that it’s also the best day to propose to her if you have been meaning to.

[via Flickr]

With Chinese New Year falling on Thursday this year, 5-work-day week workers are happy to have a long weekend. For those working on shifts and unable to take any time off without sacrificing your allowance, I do hope your bosses will give you more time off subsequently.

It’s also time for me to meet up with my aunt who had gone through the trouble of flying back for this holiday. I’ve always been doted by her. This weekend is also the best time to travel but it’s expensive if you haven’t booked your trips early.

Besides the time of meeting up with relatives who are very concerned about your marital status, the next best thing is to get the ang baos from them since you are not married, yet. Eat, drink and be merry.

This is also a time to get fatter and I am no longer fitting my tops and pants. So sad. However, I shall comfort myself with the many ang baos that I will shamelesly collect and eat, drink and be merry.
[via Flickr]

I need a holiday. Taiwan or somewhere. The plans are still fuzzy but I’ll get round to them. Meanwhile, enjoy the holiday and don’t eat too much ba kwa, pineapple tarts, love letters, and play too much mahjong. If you still get ang baos, don’t waste them on mahjong la. Not worth it.

My dear readers, may this year of the rat or mouse be filled with prosperity, good health and joy for you.

[via Flickr]

Chinese New Year is coming. So are the frequently asked questions by the relatives who are very concerned about my marital status. Since they don’t see me every time throughout the year (that is in case they get sick from looking at me and won’t give me the ang bao so generously), they will ask me “So, when are you getting married?”

A colleague of mine would answer this way, every year, “Yesterday.” That was that. Good, I should start using from now until I get married. The next question to field is “When are you going to have a baby?” Maybe I should use the same answer, no?

As mentioned before, it’s expensive to get married in Singapore especially when most of the elders want you to hold an 8-course dinner. I want to say “SILENCE! I KEEL YOU!” Achmed style. Cool, right? Of course I can’t just tell them that. They will kill me before I have even ended the sentence.

Sometimes I wonder if life is just all about marriage, kids and work. Have we made our lives so utterly routine that the questions are always about marriage, girlfriend, boyfriend, kids, flat, money and many more? I want many things but they aren’t achievable at this stage but I will get there.

Another question they will ask you after your first child, “Second one coming?” Besides money being the problem of feeding the first one plus all the money going to the flat, I seriously wonder where the heck do the parents cough out the money for all those stuff.

What I’m hoping for is that they won’t be asking me about my mundane life and just focus on my kids about their studies and height. Or I should just go adopt one and let them ask the kid.

My question is “How come must hold an 8-course wedding dinner one?“