张清芳 风采不减当年

昨天晚上，张清芳出现在公益金的慈善筹款演出，真的是风采不减当年。虽然已经淡出歌坛，但是她的招牌金曲，还是让人回味无穷。从加州阳光，到Men's talk及成名曲激情过后，清亮的嗓音依旧，功力还是保持在当年的水准。

AWARE saga, do you care

Beside the H1N1 virus, I think the hottest news in Singapore is the AWARE saga. A group of women took over the exec committee by storm, the old members voiced out and the new committee was voted out at the EGM. Many twist and turn along the way.

The newspaper like it because the story is attractive, and people like it too, because it is something unusual and exciting. But does the people on the street care what happen to it afterward? I guess not many. People read it and follow it as an interesting news. However, after the saga ended, I doubt anyone would still have keen interest on what the organisation does.

Food hygiene in focus

After the Geylang food poisoning incident, the news everyday is about the food hygiene. How the existing grading system work? How the restaurant and hawker is preparing their food? Suddenly all this is in spotlight. Actually it doesn't really matter to me. This kind of incident is unavoidable.

All the focus you have for this period of time would frizzes out after a few months. Then, nobody would bother about this subject anymore. What you can do is actually to train up your immune system to be able to process more dirty food.

It is true. I always see hawker or assistant wearing the hand glove but handling the money together. Even in a restaurant/stall where the guy who cook the food has to double up to handle money, they would do this. So, how hygiene you can get?

Looks like mp3 player is outdated

I just have this urge, want to buy a mp3 player. So, I wait till this IT show. But there are not many choices around and the price is not cheap. Compare to the hey days, of course, it is cheaper now in terms of capacity. However, compare the retail price and show price, there is actually no difference.

Maybe people only throw in useless free gift. I may as well, get a discount better. Nevertheless, let's see, whether any price drop is possible.

Toto, 1 year 1 dream

It is time again, for the once a year, Toto 10 million Hong Bao draw. It is exactly at this time, every year that the Singapore Pools outlet would have a long queue. Everyone with a dream for a wind fall would gather to try his/her luck. This year draw is on Fri, 6 Feb.

It has become an unique culture here that everyone expect this to happen every year now. Some hot stations even have an eye popping queue.

We know gambling is bad, especially you lose 9 time out of 10. But for Toto, everyone seems to have hope for using a little to win a lot. Treating it as a dream, it is still alright. Only once a year, you can have this millionaire dream.

1 year 1 dream.

Happy Ox Year

Wish all the readers,
Happy Ox Year!

New year new aspiration, hope your new year would be smooth sailing and peaceful.

Economy news dominate the news headline nowadays. The economy might get worse before it gets better. The impact of inflation hasn't really recede, now we have to brace ourselves for recession.

I went to foodcourt or shopping mall. I found that the prices didn't really come down. People are still selling at the old price. The rent is also at high level. We are paying more but expect to earn less as company business reduces. How ironic it can be! We are the sandwich generation. Do spend when necessary and when you can. Say no to the unreasonable food price!

Forget about the economy and celebrate the new year

The economy news dominate the news headline these few months. The economy slump is inevitable now and more surprise might be coming our way. How should one behave in this environment? The Chinese New Year is around the corner, and everyone is busy buying new year stuff.

At this juncture, just focus on the new year celebration and forget about the economy. Economy good or bad, we really have no control. Just make sure you work hard enough so your boss does not have reason to retrench you. For the rest, just leave it to god.

If you have spare time, maybe take this opportunity to do some short courses or reading. You never go wrong in knowing more.

Money saving tips for recession

Looks like we are stuck in the recession already. Hopefully, it would be over soon. Although the inflation has receded, but the cost of goods did not really come down. Here are 7 tips that can help to save money.

1. Eat breakfast at home. 4 pieces of bread and 3 in 1 coffee would cost at most 1+. But, fried bee hoon with egg and cabbage plus a kopi would cost 2.90. Bread is less oily some more.

2. Eat at hawker centre rather than food court and restaurant. This is pretty obvious right? The food court and restaurant would definitely cost more. Pick those ulu hawker centre which still charge less.

3. Eat mixed vegetable rice. My office lunch gang frequent nearby food court. Mixed vegetable rice is the cheapest food that can be found among the stalls. Even a fish ball noodle also cost $4, compare to $3+ for a plate of rice. Furthermore, mixed vege rice would give you more nutrition.

4. Watch movie on Mon-Wed. The price is cheaper and the crowd is much lesser than weekend. So, if you really must watch, watch on Mon-Wed.

5. Exercise more. Instead of drinking, party going or karaoke, why don't get some friends to jog together. It is fun, and much more healthy this way. Other entertainment cost much more during weekend, but exercise does not cost more during weekend.

6. Avoid window shopping. People have tendency to go window shopping with nothing to buy in mind. More than often you bought things on impluse. So, if you didn't go, that won't happen at all. Have a shopping list and only follow it closely.

7. Utilise broadband internet connection more. You can chat with friend online to reduce traveling and meeting time. You can read news without buying physical newspaper. There are many ways your unlimited broadband connection can help you save some money.

Spend on what you need to, not what you want to.

Do you go SITEX this year?

SITEX is coming very soon. Next Thu it would start at Singapore Expo. There are four shows all year round in Singapore. 3 months one show. Amazingly people have endless appetite for IT products.

Do you go SITEX this year? My thought is go only if you have things to buy. IT product get outdated so fast, it is pointless of chasing it. Better focus on need rather than want.

3 Scenarios

1. You want to buy something. Go there to shop around, should be able to get a great bargain.

2. You have nothing to buy but just want to window shop there. Most probably you bought something you don't really need but is cheap. Later, you just throw it aside.

3. You have nothing to buy and just wonder around for a whole afternoon. Then, what is the point going there? As a pass time?

So, the answer is quite simple.

Crocs sales at Expo, don't know what you want to call it

I saw the news on the web, Crocs is having their sales at Expo with a big discount. I never own a pair of Crocs and I am just curious why so many people like it. So, I went to check it out and possibly buy a pair to try it out.

When I reached Expo, I met a friend. He queued for 1 hour to get into the hall and 3 hours to pay for it!!



This is the main entrance, people are queuing to go into the hall. You might want to start queue up, but not until you see the next picture.



The queue went before the toilet and go into another hall.

After looking at this, I decided not to go in at all. No point, wasting my time queue for few hours to save 10 dollars only.

I think they really underestimate the response. There are simply not enough cashier to clear the backlog. Another interesting point is why so many people like it?

Causeway jam, afraid not?

Just came back from JB. The jam was quite amazing.

Yesterday 6pm plus, the cars were queuing to reach Singapore custom. I guess they need an hour to clear it. Today, the cars were queuing at the opposite direction. That means on the causeway to Singapore. Seriously I don't know what are the additional measures that they have put in to cause these. But, I think the people do get pretty frustrated.

So, driving to JB for cheap food and petrol might not worth the waiting time. In a way, it is good for environment also. Since people would cut down driving. Just a random thought, public transport in Singapore is as good as driving. But in JB, you don't have an option, but to drive. If public transport can be cheaper and faster, there is no reason people would want to drive.

吃，回忆的一部分

小时候,对吃并没有什么要求。家里煮得都往肚子里塞，也不会嫌家里的饭不好吃。长大了之后，一个人出来生活。三餐都是在外，不是太油就是不好吃。会常想念家里母亲所煮的家常菜。平实的味道，健康的煮法，一种平凡的幸福。反观在家里的小妹却老是嫌东嫌西。没经历过的人往往无法理解曾经拥有过的简单幸福。

在外，时不时会吃到一些小贩所制作的糕点、小吃。一种家里的记忆就会浮上心头。小时候外婆拿手的潮州饭果，在外面怎么样就是无法买到那样的味道。那时，想吃几个就几个。现在想要都已经很难了。

If it is too good to be true, then it most probably is

Earning a 5% to 10% monthly on your investment amount. Real or scam? 100% scam. Imagine, if you can do that, basically you would become millionaire very soon. If become millionaire is not easy, so is earning a 5% monthly return.

It was in the news that about 100 people has been cheated by this investment company who promise such return. Of course at the initial period, you can get the return. Most likely the company would disappear after a few months of operation.

Greedy, beware.

Expensive driving, would you cut it down?

It strike me that US petrol price is only 1.44 SGD per liter. Compare to Singapore market price, it is cheap. I am not able to find the answer. Is that because of economy of scale? bulk discount? subsidy? Ok, never mind, don't bother.

Does driving do you good in the high oil price era? I know you always have the dream to drive around. Money can't buy dream, but dream cost money.

The cost of driving

• COE, insurance, maintenance fee
  
• Monthly installment
• Carpark fee
• Petrol
• ERP

What else? Sorry I don't drive. So, I don't really know the full list. But, driving in Singapore is really a losing game for me. My monthly transport cost won't go beyond $100. But the car installment is most likely way above this amount.

This really make no sense in financial sense to drive, except it is a choice of lifestyle.

Touch screen phone frenzy

There seems to be a rush for the phone manufacturer to launch the touch screen phone, judging by the new model launch in the last 6 months. Probably inspired by the Apple iPhone, they are out to capture the touch screen phone market and it is gonna be the next in-thing. Having saw so many advertisements, review and did a little hands on. I would say it is all hype.

The key draw to iPhone is the user friendliness and revolution interface, provided the touch screen interface is not that difficult to use. However, the touch screen phones by other manufacturer are still using the old generation technology and concept. I tried the one model, the user interface response was very disappointing. The buttons were bigger, but in terms of intuitiveness and the responsiveness of button are still big question mark.

Therefore, I don't fancy getting a touch screen version. That's only personal preference. You might think otherwise.

Rice crisis

The news of rice hog the limelight for past 1 or 2 months. We have seen the rice price escalated, especially in Singapore, who import all the rice. Malaysia wise, seems like the impact is not so great.

Different parties have their own side story to offer. Some said the food production has been able to keep up with demand. Some said because of the bio-fuel frenzy. Some claimed that the supply should be enough, it is only kiasuism.

What ever it is, we are glad to see that Thailand is releasing more rice to calm the situation. Malaysia vowed to open more land in Sarawak to improve the rice production and other countries thinking of rising food production. Late is better than never. So, after sometime, when the situation stablised, we shall see a more reasonable price.

However, if you remember the usual inflation story. Once the price gone up, it would never come down again. Expect a little increase and fasten your belt.

Bullet train plan from KL to Singapore is scrapped

It is an unfortunate news that the bullet train plan from KL to Singapore has been scrapped as the Malaysia government said the cost is too high.

In the original plan, the train would shorten the travel time to just 90 minutes from 5 hours. Just imagine how the train can change live? All the impossible would become possible. Although now the dream is dashed.

I dreamed to take early train to KL, just in time to join friend for breakfast. Have two days of good time in KL and come back to Singapore on Sunday night, in time to sleep early.

But, frankly, those who is familiar with Malaysia style won't find it too surprised. Since we have encountered it numerous time before. Talk is easier than do.

The rice led inflation

It is getting real now, very real. We have been suffering from the inflation since last year. But, this has been getting a little bit out of hand now.

Here is the sequence if I recall correctly

1. High mid end property speculation. Suddenly the property market is so hot, everybody wants to get a piece of it. Of course the HDB rent also went up. More foreign influx contributed by the red hot economy. But I don't really think my salary increment is so significant or I got so much bonus that this is worthwhile.

2. Oil price and transport cost. This is hardly surprising as we witness the big surge of oil price. The transport cost went up significantly and unknowingly all goods price also quietly goes up.

3. Food prices increased. We have flour, corn, soya, what ever things that you could eat all went up. If you go one round in the hawker centre, you could notice many prices change.

Up to this point, I am already worried. Because I don't think my salary could catch up so fast with all these prices. Then, the KO hit comes, the price of rice also going up!

Actually, it is not difficult to predict the day may come where everything goes up. But, of course, we pray that it never comes. In very simple economics, demand outstrip supply. Where does the extra demand comes from?

1. Extra population and the getting rich Asia generation. They consume more goods.
2. More investment fund or hedge fund are getting into the commodity business. I would think they are the main culprit who push up the price so significantly.

There are two parts to this demand = (1)real demand + (2)speculation.

Where does the supply goes?

1. As the developing country advances, more farm land converted to industrialised land
2. The crazy oil price causing crazy people to turn food crop into bio fuel

I feel we can still walk without oil, but we cannot survive without food.

What do you say? More points to add to this demand + supply equation?

Beijing Olympic ticket, can you get it?

We know the Beijing Olympic is coming very soon. China has been very busy in preparing for this event of the year. All the hardware construction is almost done and some are under testing now. Security is beefed up and the city is dressed up for game. Zhang Yimou (张艺谋), the show director still keeping mouth shut on the opening and closing ceremony.

If you are so inspired to join the competition so near home this year, can you still get the ticket? Went to the official ticketing website, only the local resident is allowed to buy from there. For Singapore, you have to go to www.singaporeolympics.com to buy the ticket according to the information. But when I tried in the browser, it only return a blank page. So funny.

I don't know who's responsibility is this? So disappointing.

Causeway jam not going to get better anytime soon

Looking at the current traffic jam situation, the causeway traffic condition is not going to improve anytime soon. As the main culprit is still on the run and people still believe he is in the country, the massive search won't stop.

Before 27-Feb-08, Singapore was rather peaceful. The traffic at causeway might be heavy, but still manageable. On the particular afternoon, the guy escaped and the life has never been the same at causeway already.

Massive jam is very common at the Singapore custom now, as they still search for the you know who. I hope either he get caught or other can prove that he is out of the country already. To save us, the people who still need to use the causeway.