it was saturday, and a quiet one. here’s the background story to make everything make sense. sf was having an company function at her colleague’s place which wasn’t that far away from mine, so i decided to go meet her. initially i told her that i could meet her at the shell station outside the private estate, but she started nagging that its going to be a very very long walk. in my opnion, it didn’t look very far on the satellite image. anyway so i decided to walk to her location instead.
i checked the map, the other house was really deep in the estate, and before i set off, i made a last minute decision to take the car. and yes why was it a last minute decision to take the car? you see, initially we both agreed not to take the car, bceause i have been driving out late and night almost every night, and my dad can easily track the time of my departure and return. so we decided not to take the car. but looking at the distance i need to cover, i decided against it, and i was lucky to do so. after i reached the place, sf was totally suprised she thought that i had walked the distance in, but i guess she was abit too smart, and suspected something was fishy. so she just said “did you drive? later can give my friends a ride out ?” and i just plainly said “yeah sure” and that gave it away. sigh. to think i actually spent the effort to hide the car in a different lane altogether.
anyway blar blar, normal stuff, but here’s what’s interesting that happened. my dad actually found the car missing again at midnight and called me.
daddy: son! where are you? why do you keep running out at night, bad you know?
son: erh, i’m at my friend’s collegue’s place, not very far from home
daddy: why so late ? must be you instigate all these late night outings.
son: no no, i’m just catching my friend after her bank’s company function
daddy: so late ? where got function so late one, rob bank is it ?
son: … … …
sigh, anyway i managed to clear it up, but now my parents are relentless in nagging about me going out so late. i guess i shouldn’t, but hmmm, maybe its a bad habit bah. my dad was right though when he said that i became like that when i got the car. hiakz. bad boy i have become.
was reading about this in the tribune. last year, i was neutral about this day, but this year, i’m glad i’m spending it the way i want to. i’m happy to be single, because i get to be friends with people who calls me a piglet and many other things. - to be continued.
well well, i’m bored enough to blog during my COM 224: Web Design and Technologies class. We are actually commenting on Starhub and Singtel’s website and trying to decide which one is nicer. Yes nicer. Somehow I think this module is a complete waste of time, hence I shall work at it abit more to get a decent grade to make it all that worth while.
the cny celebrations are mostly over, and thankfully the festivities are about to end too. i never really liked doing all these traditions and stuff, i’m prefer a simple and uncomplicated life.
another 13 more minutes before the lesson ends. 43 minutes before i leave the school compound, and 14 hours more before all this start all over again.
i’ve been feeling quite restless all this time, can’t sit still, bones are abit aching, and i hope to have a good night rest. catching up with old friends lately, and its been great, sf turns out to be a nicer person then i thought she would be. instead of the ice queen she always had been, good wife material haha, but that might offend her if i say that to her face. met up with some people from jc time at mingren’s company’s first anniversary. i’m really glad for him to come thus far. it surely brings back memories. was great to see terrence, yuanshan and willy once more. would have caught valerie if i stayed longer, but i had another engagement to attend to. tomorrow will be able to catch hj, its been more then 6 years since i last saw her, i wonder if she has grown taller or more adult-y then when she was a fresh secondary school graduate.
lately have been avoiding parking at carpark A, really don’t think its worth it, i rather save abit so that i can use it for the keppel at marina or more exclusive places. and currently suffering from a phobia of prata, thanks to a week of supper with it, during cny. and been driving more and more now. probably would reach a rate of 2000km/mth soon enough. brakes aren’t that strong anymore, maybe wear and tear has set in after the last 10,000km.
5 more minutes before the lesson end, now a comparison between the aesthetics of tyra banks and oprah’s website. 2 people which i don’t even care at all. 4 minutes left. i think this is just a complete waste of time.
well at least i managed to sneak in a post.
update: omg, he actually marks attendance, to think i wanted to skip all future lessons of his.
it maybe chinese new year, but i was more interested in the partial solar eclipse singapore was about to experience.
it was such a cloudy day, and i didn’t prepare a solar viewing rig, but i was glad i was able to take these photos around my house area, at holland plains.
picture taken through a sunglasses @ 5:42 p.m. (holland plains)
picture taken through the same 35-135mm lens without sunglasses
not too sure how long more before this happens again in sunny singapore though.
friday was here, and i decided to go travelling abit. thinking back it maybe abit of an overkill.
suntec -> yishun sight seeing -> jalan kayu (prata) -> pasir panjang -> rifle range road -> king albert park -> home -> 2nd uncle’s home -> 3rd uncle’s home -> friends’s home -> friend’s friend’s home -> friends’s friend’s aunt’s home -> ho ching’s father’s home -> sister’s home -> gultrie house -> 2nd avenue -> holland plains -> friend’s home -> biopolis -> fusionopolis -> marina at keppel -> henderson waves -> labrodor park -> friend’s home -> home
25 places in 8 hours ! well, it was very fun, and wouldn’t mind doing it again.
holland plains @ 3 a.m.
labrodor park @ 5a.m.
being sick isn’t fun at all. been ill for 5 days straight. so sickening (forgive the pun).
well, eventually i went to see the doctor in the pursuit to cease naggings from friends.
what peeked my curiosity was that i went to the doctor with dewi, we both had the same illness, but we got different prescriptions. not that i am complaining, but considering we had the same cold, dewi received antibiotics, and i received cough syrup. i had to pay $13.50 for my medicine, while dewi had a flat rate of $5 (staff medical benefits) which includes the antibiotics she received.
doesn’t that make prescriptions a vague science of general practitioners. i mean, seriously, we trust our doctors right? so we take any medication they disperse to us, without question.
however, the doctor was nice to explain to me that as an undergraduate, we pay a certain medical free on a semester basis. this entitled us to free and subsidized medication. e.g. like a flu tablet is free, while cough syrups is heavily subsidized. its undeniable, the prescription was written to provide the lowest cost to the student. i appreciate this alot, since it some other doctors would prescribe anything without concern for the price of medicine. but what went through my mind was what if, you can’t afford it? medical fees are so expensive, if a poor man is sick, how would he have enough to see the doctor.
what i’ve learnt from this bout of sickness, is that even though i can keep the symptoms in check, but drinking plenty of water and plenty of rest, i still require medication to be on the path to full recovery.
so what about the less fortunate, what has been done for them to help them achieve a better quality of life. this just makes me feel blessed and reminded me of the importance of good health.
and yes i have since recovered much.
The application form for supper buddy is out.
Interested parties please click on the “supper buddy” link at the pages navigation bar, or jump using the following link.
To be updated.
i just wanted to get away from everything, so i took the car out and i made it as far as the bbc far eastern relay station. here’s a picture i took.
i thought this was a nice picture. though the color composition and lighting has to be improved. i’ll probably compile a collection of photos i have taken. seems to be a long way before i become a decent photographer.
I thought this is a very apt picture that I copied from my friend’s website. Thanks erlin.
Don’t you think this is actually in fact very true? I’m stupid enough to fall for it enough times already. I totally finally agree. Don’t you think its weird that you see things in a different perspective when you’re made promises to yourself.
with the current number of jobless people in singapore reaches 70,000 and many are graduates, it got me thinking about how much do we need or expect as a salary to live comfortably. more importantly, i was thinking about our expectations as undergraduates are well founded.
while these numbers are not guarenteed, but my own guess of the salary of various graduates. Arts - $2.2k, Science - $2.4k, Engineering - $2.6k. All assumed to be an average student lacking of a 2nd upper honours or better. So I would use a pay of $2.5k as a basis. i may be wrong, but i believe we have to contribute 20% of our pay to cpf (thank you singapore government for helping us save because we don’t know how to), that means our take home pay is $2k. to make my calculations, not gender bias, i am going to assume that the undergraduate is part of a couple which helps out in financially greatly. a hdb flat is estimated to be around $300k, which we assume you pay in 30 years. which translate to $300k/(30*12) = $830/mth. Each part of the couple has to pay $415/mth if the burden is evenly shared. car wise, i believe i have discussed this matter earlier and i would just put it as $800/mth for a small car e.g. vios. Each part will then have to pay $400/mth for it. Assume you pay for basic insurance, which costs about $50/mth. Food wise, lets say we spend $5 on a meal on average. That is 30 * 3 * $5 = $450 on food. You can’t save on food, unless you’re on a diet, but hey that would be gender specfic already, not meaning that males do not diet. but seriously? (probably offending some people here). Anyway that translate to $2k - $400 - $415 - $50 - $450 = $685. Thats a very pathetic amount of money left, and you would be wise to save as much of it as possible.
i didn’t really go into detail, but it dosen’t look good dosen’t it. Even as a graduate, we are limited to quite a basic level of living, what else to talk about holidays, shopping and luxuries. if you are single, you will be in deficit already, so don’t even bother to buy a car.
am i being pestimistic again. i always find myself doing these calculations. next time i shall do a posting regarding an income analysis of the coffee shop just outside my house.
