My Second Dream Car

My first dream car would still be the Mini Cooper. Can totally imagine sending my son to school in a jeep though. How cool would that be? And I suddenly have the spark to call my future son "Lance". Like the dragon trainer of the Elite Four in Pokemon.

Just returned from a family trip to Bandung, Indonesia. Either I am too stealthy or something because when I tweeted that I'm heading to the airport soon, people started asking me whether I was going overseas when the fact is that I'm already on my way back! Overall, I must say the trip was rather enjoyable. Partly due to the currency exchange rate. The rate of S$1 to IDR7,250  made us instant millionaires upon receipt of their currency. Previously, I haven't even heard of this place before. But this place is really filled with factory outlets! But it takes a keen eye to spot a gem of a clothing. It was easy to buy clothes for my brother because we wear the same size. So I just took it as though I was buying for myself. Anyway, we just take clothes from each other's wardrobes nowadays. 

However, it was a real headache choosing clothes for my dad. Let me tell you how difficult is it. Firstly, it must be white as he only wears white. Secondly, it must fit his frame. If it's too loose, he won't wear it. ( He steals clothes from my wardrobe too, even with that tummy of his. Hahaha sorry dad. ) Thirdly, he has a knack of not wearing clothes that have a certain coloured threading on the shoulders. Fourthly, the collar must not be loose-fitting. Fifth, the design must fit his age. Totally like a small kid right!

Alright shall go through my itinerary for the three-odd days. My hotel is designed along a rather kinky theme, although it is a family boutique hotel. The bathroom and bedroom are separated by just a transparent glass panel. No joke. 

Luckily there was a blind or my cousin and I would have to bathe at the lobby.

Soaking our feet in the sulphur spring made our feet really smooth. What for?!

The crater of the extinct volcano.

The tour guide told us to fit ourselves into the hollow tree trunk.

Picking strawberries at the farm. Just IDR70,000 for 1 kilogram!

  

Slacking at the airport on the return route.

The only blemish on this trip was that our plane flight was delayed for 4 hours. And we are stuck at the airport with just IDR9,000, which amounts to about S$1.20 because we spent almost everything else. Although AirAsia took the initiative to provide a complimentary lunch as compensation, I must say that their customer service was largely insufficient as their announcements were mostly made in the malay language, rendering us illiterate at that moment. All updates regarding the delayed flight could not get across to us, due to the language barrier so I felt that there is room for improvement there. Furthermore, the state of their plane is simply outrageous, with trash left behind by the last passenger in the seat pockets. I understand that it is a low cost carrier but a certain standard or expectation still has to be met right? 

I foresee a future of LEGO-like body parts.
So that we can remove the parts that hurt and replace them when they heal.
Can you see the countless possibilities in this?

Work yesterday was totally a drag. The managers are venting their pent-up frustrations at the impacters due to the low staff count. Like they would criticise us for not doing our job properly, and keep saying how much it irks them to see the rooms so messy. For the record, our current job scope involves running, prepping and maintaining, not to mention backstock and the occasional size-checking. And if you expect the store to be perfectly tidy on a Sunday with only 3 or 4 staff running the show on each level, you must be crazy. And so, one of the managers even called all of us to the back for a "meeting" where she unleashed her fury, even using profanities. At least through this episode, we made new acquaintances via supper at macs. The thing is that everytime we work, there will always be new faces. The system has made it so difficult for us to get shifts, much less work with someone we know.

Slept at 4am this morning due to two incidents. Firstly, a flying beetle circling the lights was making so much noise with its wings and irritating me to the point that I took a badminton racquet and attempted to smash it like a professional badminton player. To my dismay, I smashed the light bulb instead and it exploded with a loud bang, enveloping the room in total darkness. And the thing is, I'm sure the beetle is still out there somewhere. After this heart-pounding ordeal, I suddenly felt the "Ultimate Hunger Pangs". Seriously, I felt extremely ravenous that I rummaged the kitchen and started gobbling up biscuits, buns, barbeques pork and finished half a litre of chocolate milk.

Shall end this post with a song on my playlist on repeat:

And so the holidays have been badly anticipated but horribly boring. What was meant to be a period of serious saving of cash for university education has backfired to excessive overspending day by day. After seeing how much Ryan needs to pay for his university education is crazy. $30,000 for tuition fees plus $14,400 for living expenses. These do not even include transport expenses or hostel accommodation yet. No wonder he seldom goes out nowadays. And witnessing his current predicament is a constant reminder that my time will come in 3 years. Regardless of whether I want to further my education, I think it's better to make it an option rather than having no choice at all. And I'm sick of hearing stories about other children demanding money from their parents for education, or parents wanting this money back from their children after they start work. I mean, isn't a family supposed to stand united and be transparent in terms of monetary financing? Tens of thousands is no small sum, so it's not a given that parents must sponsor their children's education. There comes a time when their kids must gradually grow up and become more mature in their thinking. Although my parents have said they would sponsor my education to the best of their abilities and do not expect me to return this sum of money nor provide them with living expenses even after I have established my career, I still find it imperative that we still possess the motive and mindset that we must provide for them in future. And this just means that I have to start saving up immediately. Not being scheduled for work for extended periods of time is not helping at all.

Yesterday was an impromptu gathering of the usual secondary class. We went cycling at Pasir Ris Park, dinner at jusacia and finally basketball at night. I returned home aching all over, with a cramp in my left calf and a sprain in my right ankle. But overall, it was still worth it. Especially the coconut episode.

Time to do some cooking of my own before I set out for work afterwards. Finally.

Due to my abundance of free time nowadays, another 50 days of slacking and lazing around to be exact, I shall update more often. Firstly, my plans to run/swim/gym/ball were ruined this morning due to the rain. In the first place I didn't have the determination to proceed with these plans anyway. I think I'm a level 100 master procrastinator by now. 

Celebrated Zhiqi's birthday for the second time yesterday. The first time was not really a celebration, more of a meet-up only. So we surprised her under her block, proceeded to MOF at Nex for dinner and watched "This Means War". The movie was really epic. Till now, there has been no movie that has been deemed "5-star" from me, but I would grade it 4 stars.

Tuesday was a milestone not because it signifies the end of us being labelled as "juniors", but also as a personal achievement marking the end of Accounting in my life! I cannot describe the utter abhorrence I have for this subject, but I should at least be relieved that I have had awesome tutors to guide me along. Kudos to my secondary 4 POA teacher whose name I have regretfully forgotten, Ms Tan of semester 2.1 and Ms Teo of 2.2. Even Mr Leong, although many people say he can't teach. The one that really can't teach is the lecturer Mr Chiang lor please. 

I will always remember the epic decision I made to give up on accounting in secondary 4, leaving my textbook under the table ever since the mid-year examination because firstly, I thought HTM wouldn't have to do accounting and secondly, I'm not gonna use POA for my L1B4. It was no surprise that I garnered a grade of D7, the only blemish and failure in my O level certificate. Imagine my utter horror when I discovered we had to take not one, but two accounting modules in HTM.

So I was like totally unprepared for tuesday's paper, but luckily it had mercy on me. But I still hate Hubbart. Went home after lunch at mensa because everyone was so tired. Met at Raffles Place in the evening as we had a reservation at Timbre at The Arts House. Had the highly-acclaimed duck pizza that everone was craving for. The buffalo wings were delicious too. Nothing much to do at Raffles anyway, so we all just headed home.

We spent Wednesday at Siloso Beach Sentosa. It was meant to be a surprise for Jane and Tuna so we are glad they "appeared" surprised. Although the rain was slightly a dampener, we still enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. The captain's ball on the beach was really fun!

And down to today. No plans for the day. ANF has not scheduled me for the past week and the next two weeks already. How to save money like that? I have a feeling this holiday is going to be boring since I don't really have much plans to go by. Shall stone in front of the computer for 10 hours a day then.