A Mind of My Own

[via Flickr]

Flying kites in Singapore often means East Coast Park or Marina South. I was rather surprised that we would be at West Coast Park to fly kites. Someone was in charged of buying the kites and all we had to do was to turn up. Turn up we did.

I had the common sense to bring a bag with mats. It was a good thing too. Although my friends teased me for bringing such a huge bag, again. At this moment, it’s best to ignore when others laugh at you. However, we chose the wrong place. The sun was setting and the wind was blowing towards the sun, meaning we had to face the sun when our kites got flying.

I just let the kite go and it fly up high. Twice. Without any help. I’m a good kite flyer. Got these genes from my father, obviously. The second time, I got my string tangled with another kite and it got stuck high up in the tree. I had to break the string. So sad. Kite flying instructions here and here.

After dinner, we went to Settlers Cafe at Holland Village. It’s a fun place for small talk and board games. Officially tired from kite flying and playing exciting brain games at Settlers Cafe.

I didn’t have to spend too much today since there is someone who is very nice, drove us to and back.

Ventis and Wises 2000 study, “Choice, Chance and Wealth Dispersion at Retirement,” found that people in the lowest income groups were able to save more than some of their middle-income peers — by about $100,000. This is because they spend less than they are able to earn.

Professor Tahira Hira has 25 years of studying how and why people spend money, including why some end up in financial trouble such as credit card debts, loans and others. Thus, MSN Money Central has come up with the following 7 ways to help with saving money.

1. Hold a garage sale.

Anything that is in your storage for more than 6 months and not being used, sell. This is because if you are not using it for 6 months, you won’t be using it anything soon either.

2. Quit smoking.

With the expensive packs being sold, what do you think?

3. Drive less.

Rising petrol, global warming, maintenance, etc. Enough said. Except there’s no way you can control how much to spend on the public transport.

4. Buy used.

This means buying 2nd hand goods such as clothes. That’s for people who don’t mind, IMO. If you want a list of thrift shops in Singapore, I can think of YWCA and other thrift shops can be found in the NEA list here.

5. Cut housing expenses.

I don’t know if that’s true here as the rentals are more expensive than owning your own flat.

6. Don’t use credit cards.

True in a way since you look at the amount deduction immediately.

7. Become a homebody.

This means eat out less, make full use of the library for books, movies and music.

I hope this will help you save more money this way too.

This little girl is unable to eat food. She needs a special formula concocted by the doctors in order to survive. The bill is expensive too but the health insurance refused to let the family claim the amount. It’s a food supplement issue according to them.

This makes me wonder, if my insurance refused to cover such issues and I have to fork out so much money, why on earth am I buying from this insurance company for? Have we ever bought the “wrong” insurance before? What if one day, you thought that your insurance is enough to cover for almost everything since you have paid high premiums, but the company says, no, sorry. You can’t claim because it’s <insert some insurance or medical or whatever term> and you won’t get a cent from us.

What is the purpose of buying insurance if we can’t claim it? What are the things we should be looking out for? Can we ever be able to cover absolutely everything in life?

Went for a dinner treat by ES because the sisters have helped out at her wedding. It was great and I am now fatter than before. Great. I have resolved to do some workout but have done nothing until now. I think by getting wider in the girth, I get lazier. Darn.

We had the dinner at Just Greens in Chinatown. Ordered my favourite, fried golden mushrooms. Yummy and oily and sinfully great. I love the salad and oat meal prawns too. As for the mapo tofu, sorry, I’m not a fan of spicy food. However, everyone enjoyed the treat.

After the full dinner, we went for dessert. Oh no! The money for the drinks and fries! Erm, I think I got 2 free treats today. Thanks! Anyway, I’m growing old. I noticed that I have minute crow’s feet! NO!

A man used his aunt’s XL underwear to put out a fire in the kitchen. He and his cousin were frying bread when the meal caught fire. So, he “grabbed the nearest thing from a pile of laundry to put it out: his aunt’s billowing, powder blue, size XL underpants.”

The fire official said the general principle of using a large, wet cloth to cover a grease fire was a sound one.

As for using underwear: “Clearly it depends on what size you are — but I don’t want to go there.”

I think the fire official was right. Oh, the knickers were slightly scorched. Can anyone tell me why there’s a need to fry the bread? I usually see bread soaked in egg and then fried.

It’s true. Singapore is green with trees everywhere, and look! Even our face is green too! You see, we work like slave, end up all wounded, but no pay raise. Just look at the Face Green Green video.

[via Tomorrow]

The Legends in Fort Canning sounds like a fantasy. A place where legends come to life. DD’s friend was holding her wedding dinner there and I went with him. A cocktail reception was still going on at 8pm. The wedding card stated 7.30pm. Eventually, everyone arrived by 8.35pm. Sometimes, I hate Chinese style wedding dinners. Everyone is hungry.

The newly-weds had 3 changes of clothes. The first was a white gown with a long train. She looked absolutely lovely. The food started arriving after that. The food was up to standard but the timing was off. It didn’t seem to come within a certain timing. The 2nd change of clothes for the couple came up after the 3rd course arrived. The couple wore black. My parents would have jumped at my throat for wearing a black gown.

This gown had a huge can can. It suited the bride very well too. At the end of the dinner, the couple had a final change of clothes. This time, to a Pernarakan for the bride and a white suit for the groom. The couple had friends mixing cocktail of beer, brandy, red wine and some soy sauce in red wine to drink. Oh my.

I liked the ambiance at the place, just that the area was rectangular and the 2nd walk in was to be done at the other end. I wondered why the drinks weren’t refilled that promptly by the time it was near the bottom of the glass. My favourite was the dessert, honeydew sago. Nice. I do hate the dish before the dessert, fried noodles. By that time, I was already bursting at the seams, I don’t need the noodles to add on to my growing girth.

I think I’m not going to hold such a dinner. I would like to hold mine in a different way. Now, to convince the parents.

It’s Christmas and this morning, I slept at 3am. That’s because I went to attend a Christmas party with DD at his friend’s place. The friend was so helpful. As the girlfriend, or as long as anyone is a woman, she is to buy the gifts for the gift exchange. Men and their ideas of what a woman should be doing. Them and their ideas of women doing the traditional role of housekeeping and looking after babies. Well, that’s if the men can bring home the bacon, ya?

Now, with 10 plus people attending this party, there has to be food. At 11pm. With fried chicken, wanton, salad and pizza. That’s a lot of food when there aren’t so many people attending. No wonder DD is getting, erm, more Buddha like. Now, what’s a party on Christmas Eve without a gift exchange? The drawing of the lots was simple, each gift had a number, you just pick one number from the box and the gift is yours, except not what you have bought.

DD had a cute photo frame with a bear holding a heart. I had Crabtree and Evelyn’s body and shower gel. I’m so tired. Waking up at 10.30am doesn’t help and I noticed that I’m having too many dark rings and wrinkles under my eyes. I’m old! And I am Legend doesn’t feel like a good movie to watch despite what DK claimed. I guess the only interesting and exciting parts are those shown in the trailer.

I’ve been asked way too many times and I feel it’s never too good to ask people such a question. My colleagues were talking about marriage during lunch and they touched on “When is your turn?” topic. With lots of red bombs these few months, I’ve been asked this question numerous times. The last time I was asked, the relationship ended. So, if you want me to get married, don’t ask me.

Call me pandang or superstitious but if you do care about your friends, don’t ask them such a question if you expect the couples to get married. Let the river flow and your friends will be grateful for being thoughtful and feel happier attending the events.

It’s no longer safe to wait at the bus interchange. I was on my way home from the wedding dinner when this drunk, yet another dark skin, stared at me. I walked away from his line of stare. Not happy, he mumbled loudly and attempted to walk in front of me as close as possible, twice. I was contemplating to walk home when he tried to make his advances on me. Seriously, the police should patrol the dark places and even bus interchanges at night.

I didn’t take a taxi because there was a jam forming at Orchard Road and I doubt that they would magically appear unless upon booking. It used to be safe when I got home late at night in my area. Now? It’s no longer safe. I have to worry about drunks, perverts and lord knows what else. Oh, and disappearing taxi drivers.