I'm a xiao qi gui!

I hate studying :(

Took a break, read some One Piece and Naruto.

OP is so action packed in the recent chapters that I don't really know what's going on.. o.O Wish the crew would reassemble itself soon. And I think Ace will be saved! :)

Naruto (the series, not the character) is getting better. Sakura is all grown up now. Makes the series really much more enjoyable to read. No more whiny female damsels in distress! But Kakashi as Hokage seems kinda weird. And of courseee, Gaanaru is love :))

Wish Naruto would snap out of it already. C'mon -.-

SASUKE DOESN'T EVEN SEE YOU, HE LONGS ONLY FOR HIS OWN DARKNESS!

And now it's back to my own darkness, International business -________-

Today is Hari Raya Haji, a public holiday in Singapore.

I went to hougang mall with my mum and siblings for some stuff. My sis then went off to settle some of her own things, and it started raining heavily we wanted to head home. 3 of us left then had 1 umbrella between us. As I was previously contemplating if I should go get my hair cut, and my mum told me to go ahead, so that I can wait for the rain to stop in the meantime. She gave me $10 (didn't bring my wallet) to get my hair cut at Snip Avenue ($3.80) and I went ahead.

When I reached there, the receptionist told me there were 10+ people waiting in front of me and only 1 hairstylist was cutting hair, the rest doing treatments/rebonding/perming and the like. I said ok, and proceeded to leave, as the rain had began to let up.

On the way back I bought something for $2.50. And as luck (or the lack thereof) would have it, it started pouring. I walked around the area and could not find somewhere that would cut my hair for $7.50 (the next cheapest was $8) So I returned to Snip Avenue to wait, and play Pokemon. In hindsight I should have asked someone to bring down an umbrella for me.

After 45 minutes/hatching 10+ Pokemon eggs, I asked how many more people are in front of me. The receptionist told me 10+, and said some of those waiting had been there for over 4 hours.

4 hours???

4 HOURS????

Normally companies pay overtime (x2, or at least 1.5) for working on a public holiday. Assuming that the employer pays $5(low) per hour, OT would be at least $7.50. Now, not many people would work OT on a public holiday for $7.50.

Why would these same people wait 4 hours for a haircut that costs $4.20 less? In essence, 1 hour of their time would be worth $4.20/4=$1.05!!

Now of course many of these people went to walk around and then came back later. But the number of people waiting inside and outside of the shop for a haircut was definitely more than 6. Only 2 of them were young girls, around 14 by my estimates. Even if they are 14, they can work at a fast food place for $3 up. The rest were middle aged people; there was a couple in their early thirties.

Do you think I can hire any of them for $1.05/hour, on a public holiday?

Ok, granted it is just to sit around and message/read magazines/stone. But calafares are paid more than $1.05, aren't they?

Snip Avenue definitely has a winning business model here. Attract a crowd of low paying customers for an essential service (you have to get your hair cut somewhere, why not here? Only $3.80!). Then, assign minimal manpower to low paying customers (1 hairstylist for 10+++ people queueing). Finally, upsell augmented services to customers.

They had a rebond/treatment/cut/wash/blow package for only $38. A girl came in to ask about it, but the receptionist implied to the girl the inferior chemicals used would "spoil her hair", and recommended a $68 or $98 (Shiseido) package instead. She did it, not sure which one, but definitely not the $38 one.

Thumbs up!

Moral of the story: Bring your wallet and umbrella out with you everywhere you go.

Food for thought: Would the Snip Avenue model work elsewhere in the world?

PS: Anyone plays Pokemon on DS? Let's trade!

I've been swept into the blissful sea of GaaNaru (Yea GaaNaru! for now.. :P) for the past few days, just because of a simple statement made by Gaara in Chapter 467 - I won't let you take Uzumaki Naruto! For more details refer to previous post. I know, it's sort of taken out of context but it made me go SQUEE nevertheless! Fangirling is still my favorite recreational online activity afterall. I've been lost but now I am home.

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4028133/1/Calligraphy <- This is so funny!

Dear Sasuke,

This is a formal invitation to my wedding to the Godaime Kazekage. You aren’t actually invited since you’ll be KOS, but I thought you might want to at least see what the invitations look like.

Love,
Naruto

(KOS - Killed on Sight)

Read it if you have time alright people? Even though I know none of you actually do.. haha :P

Anyway today, there were MASSIVE jams on the roads because of the $1/litre promo that Shell was having. Zomg. It's really no joke, it's like the queues at the checkpoints! We were stuck in the traffic for sooo long!! SIGH.

Iluma is really very big. (Hahhaha no link but I had to mention it somewhere)

Random photos:


WTH is wrong with Bae Yong Jun?? The first time I saw this ad I was like whaaaatt? And the second, and the third. His pose and hairstyle perpetually shocks me speechless. Even now -> ???????????

Maybe that photo isn't clear enough cos of the reflections, just look at this!



Please get over the 太王四神記 image already!!


Negitoro sushi from Sakae at Causeway Point. It looks disgusting due to the lack of chopped spring onions on top, but fortunately still tastes good :)))

Going to work at expo tomorrow, with Van, giving out balloons, and at a seconday school next Monday to Wednesday facilitating a personal finance course.

Jiayou everyone! Let's work hard together!

(But I still feel so lazy... sigh)

hee hee hee XD



naruto really has to get over it, stop crying, stop emoing! c'mon! geez!

I dont know, I don't have many motivations nowadays to post things here. Too lazy most of the time. But sometimes I really need a place to vent my frustrations.

Nowadays I'm getting more and more pissed off at my maid. I know, you're thinking somewhere along the lines of unreasonable employer and abused maid, right? Times have changed. Now I feel like an abused employer with an unreasonable maid. (Hello she's not overworked lah okay. She was asleep at 10PM and I bet she takes afternoon naps) Okok even though I'm not her direct employer, I'm still directly impacted by her work, and lack thereof. And it's getting more and more unbearable!!!

Ever since my grandparents moved to my aunt's place many months ago, my maid wholly took over the cooking responsibilites from my grandmother. Breakfast, lunch and dinner sounds like alot to you? Breakfast: Milo/Tea/Milk and toast, or ready-made chee cheong fun or whatever is in the fridge. Who can't handle this? Lunch: Only my bro eats lunch at home most of the time. He has instant noodles 85% of the time and 10% of the time she cooks spaghetti, 5% of the time she reheats something ready-made.

Dinner, which is my main grouse, is really really making my blood boil when I think about it. It's not that her food is inedible. But try eating the same things cooked the same way again and again. Rotate 10 dishes and 5 soups every day for 6 months. Tell me if you can ever eat your favourite food again after eating it every day. You like chicken right? Can you eat fried chicken with oyster sauce for 6 months; when it's chicken, its always fried chicken with oyster sauce. Always. Can you still eat it? Can you???

So I've tried to remedy the situation. I borrowed recipe books from the library. Actually we do have a STACK (Its height is probably about the length of my forearm) of recipe books at home, and we have picked out dishes for her to cook from them. A whole list of them. But only 1 or 2 made it to the dining table. And OMG I can't eat another brocolli&cauliflower&mushroom stirfry!!!

Ok excuse the outburst.

So now I've written a list of dishes I want to eat from the recipe books I got from the library. I passed them to her last monday, and today is already tuesday. 8 days have passed and I don't see a single new dish. Why?? I asked her about this last friday, and she said that she wanted to finish the ingredients in the fridge before getting my mum to buy new stuff. But the problem is that the stuff she uses for dinner can be used for the new dishes instead. She gave my mother one LONG LIST of 36 or so ingredients, including ginger, spring onion, lemon, sweet chilli sauce and beef stock (cubes). Hello we have all of these things!! She also required many other things like broccoli and bai cai and shiitake mushroom and cod fish, but these things are either in the fridge or have been used for dinner in the past 8 days.

Just looking at the list makes me so pissed off.

And another thing is that some of my clothes smell bad. Not every shirt, but some of my home shirts. I complained about this to my sis and my mum yesterday, and they said it doesn't smell nice, but its not that smelly either. Sis still asked if it's the detergent smell. I told her no, it's the smell of clothes you never let dry properly.

Then after she showered, she told me that she has the smelliest shirt. And really, the smell of that shirt was really overwhelmingly bad. She changed out of the shirt immediately.

My maid used to use bleach on my coloured shirts too, at least 2 or 3 of my threadless tees have bleachmarks on them. And my favourite TRUST ME I'M A NINJA shirt's prints are ironed off at some parts.

And my house is so dirty. Especially the kitchen, there's this alarm clock on the ledge which is always so sticky and oily! And the food covers, the plastic things you set over unfinished food, are so sticky and oily too.

I know, it's like, just fire her right?

The best thing is that my mum just re-contracted her for another 2 years. And she paid for her return ticket to Philippines this December. I asked her why? She said then how?

Gotta learn how to say no. No to disgusting food, no to smelly shirts, no to bleached and spoilt shirts, no to oily things, no to a dirty house, no to underperformance, no no NO!!!

We went there because of the hype.

http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/watami_ion_orchard/

7.9/10, best in ION and people raving even though they queued for 1 hr plus! Wow!

So we went to try it.

The hotplate hotate was good.



The beef sukiyaki came and and it looked quite promising.





But there was very very little soup. The waiter switched the fire to the max for us. I should have noticed something. But being the non-cooker I am, I failed to until it was too late.

Anyway, we requested for more soup and they gave us this sauce thing. Which they said is the sukiyaki stock. But huh? Its so thick, almost like teriyaki sauce. How can it be soup? All the beef we cooked turned out to be really sweet and salty. (I requested for extra udon with the original order)






In the end, I asked the waiter to add hot water for us. That made the soup like soup. I'm not sure if the dish was supposed to be this dry, but how would I cook udon in it otherwise? Am I supposed to stir fry it?

Oh well. But its price point is about that of Sakae's, maybe slightly higher depending on what you order.

Might visit in the future if there's no queue :|

finally reading one piece again after a very long time.

i feel so happy!

hahaha :D

I know they wanna come and separate us
But they can't do us nothin'
You're the one I want and I'ma continue lovin'
'Cause you're considered wifey and I'm considered husband
And I'ma always be there for you

我不管你用任何眼光看我我都不会选择放弃
我要坚持到底忽略那些冷言冷语
而爱是如此珍贵值得我们彼此相信
两颗心才越靠越近

and no one knows why i'm into you
cause you'll never know what its like to walk in our shoes

没人会懂是我们的梦
当再多困难只要牵手就变得不同


happy first year cute :)))

We had some food at Hip Diner by Billy Bombers and I hate to say this, but the food was as bad as that in Nihon Mura. We were cheapskates and went for their 1-for-1 promotion for main courses, ordering meatloaf and sausages. The sausages were edible. But the meatloaf...



Looks okay on first sight, the sunny side up egg looks happy and delicious, even..

BUT!!



IT WAS BURNT ON THE BOTTOM! The meat was stuck to the hotplate.. and it was impossible to separate the burnt parts from the edible parts without losing more than 50% of it.

We requested to change, and the nice waitress kindly obliged.

Then it was done okay, but the food is really nothing to wow about.

But we were lucky, the table beside us waited like 45 mins for WATER!! What the hell. They asked for their water at least, and the waitress asked them to repeat their orders. Like, huh??? If it was me I would have left straightaway. Actually, I won't even wait more than 5 mins for water. We kept signalling them to serve us water, and they did. Haha. But I went to refill the second time myself, and the overworked waitresses laughed. Not really their fault, it was a full house and there were only 4 of them.

Anyway, the unlucky table beside us had their food served while we were finishing. Their chicken was some parts uncooked and they sent it back. We left after stuffing cash into the file-thingy and giving it back to the waitress.

On our way out, the cashier asked us to pay. I told her the money was in the file. Which is not her fault really, she was vigilant for asking us to pay before leaving. But Eileen was angry angry very angry!!

Oh well... bad client base project :(

Today we went to eat dinner at Nihon Mura at the Cathay after our interview. Luckily for her, Serkee couldn't join us cos of her bridging. Nihon Mura was unbelievably BAD. We had green tea which tasted weirdly strong strongly weird; maguro sushi which had a sticky and soft feeling to it; beef stonebowl which was like leftovers (see below); and hokkaido grape wine, the saving grace of the meal.



Looking for something edible. The beef was like the MOS burger type. The sauce too. So it was like eating MOS burger at 3x the price, but 0.5x the quality.



The wine was good, though. It was quite acidic.

Anyway, the food scored 1.5 because the rice was normal (wow, they didn't mess the rice up!!), and the bonus 0.5 is for the wine :)

Anyway, http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/nihon_mura_the_cathay/

Can't believe they actually scored 5.2. Sigh.



We had to eat at Saybons afterwards. Saybons = 2 thumbz up! :D

At NTUC


At KFC

When we entered the library, Luo went to look for Scooby-Doo books for about 3 minutes, couldn't find any, and then went upstairs to the arcade. So after selecting my own books, I went to choose English books for him in the kids section.

And OMG OMG I found the sixth book of Artemis Fowl there!!!



YES!! Been getting my past supply from the SP library, now that I'm no longer a student, I was thinking of buying the book from Popular or somewhere else when the price dropped to $9.99 or 3 for $10 or $1. Yes I'm childish and a cheapskate :p

Muahahahaha :D

I resumed my driving lessons in late April after around 10 months of hiatus. The first time I was in front of the wheel again, I almost forgot which pedal was the clutch/accelerator/brake and my instructor told me to drive. It was quite a scary experience. Then it was okay for a while, until I had to switch on the signal lights and the windshield wipers started to wipe. Hahaha :(

Anyway, to my suprise, lessons have been fine. Initially I was sceptical about resuming lessons because of the instructor's inflexible timing (in case I get a job). When we were at the airport eating at Popeyes, Sheryl said her instructor's timings were very flexible.

Me: How flexible is he?
Sheryl: He's Michael Gymnast.

Hahah. Ok I know this isn't really funny here but it was really funny then :p And anyway my final has been booked under my instructor so I guess I can't really change anyway..

Still don't really know why I signed up for manual but oh well. I'll pass my final in September! :D

Bought a laptop from a seller from the vrzone forums. Looks very new for a 5 month old laptop :)

Other than network problems sometimes (which I've tried to solve by putting in a static ip address) very happy with it. Not used to the keyboard but its fun typing on it :)

Yay! Thanks Daddy :)