Penny Wise, Pound Foolish.

I am not the wisest when it comes to managing finances, or making money. Yet, I am able to travel at least 3 times a year, sign up for classes, purchase pretty things and pamper loved ones occasionally. My friends ask me how do I do it?

Personally, I’m not a risk taker. I’m a saver and a hoarder, garang guni if you’d say so. Some of my friends are making money from buying shares, but I wouldn’t follow blindly yet too lazy to get educated. I park my funds in 1 life insurance, 1 fixed deposit 1 reit (something like a share but it gives quarterly dividends=cash) and 2 savings accounts. Very simple, nothing complicated. I’m not sure if it covers me completely though.
I discipline myself to save at least half of what I earn, and then dip into this savings when I reward myself with something expensive. With money, comes power. On average, a Singaporean owns 5 credit cards. The highest age group that defaults on credit card payments is the 21-29 year olds. Certainly a high roller by then, interests snow balling.
Credit cards are Evil.

Remove yourself from the temptation of over-spending. It’s a virtue to enjoy what you earn and not enjoy on credit. When I was in Tokyo, I went swiping-happy. Felt good at that time, queasy when I see the bill. Get a debit card then! It’s linked to your savings account so you only spend what you have! That’s even more dangerous, because you could very well spend your last cent.

How else can we then spend within our limits, purchase online (very important for Gen X who are not old enough for debit/ credit cards), and sign signatures (act rich) for purchases like our parents do?
DBS Visa prepaid Card. designed and issued exclusively because of the YOG, these cards can be pre-loaded up to $500 and can be used for retail, online, overseas or locally. Wherever Visa card is accepted, it also doubles as an Ez-link card. The easiest way to get them is at Singpost. You can activate and top up at one stop.

There’s another reason to be proud of Singapore. We’re the first Host City of the YOG.

Do you know that the Olympic Flame never dies (till the closing ceremony, which means months)? This flame has to make its way across the world to one city on a very special route. It takes as much planning as our NDP.

Keeping the flame alive is a tradition that began in Olympia in Greece, where the Ancient Olympic Games took place. Fire had divine associations because it was believed Prometheus had stolen it from the Gods. The flame symbolises the ideal of harmony amongst nations and should never ever be doused. If it extinguishes, it’s a bad omen. Maybe the world will be at war.

The recent torch relay happening in Singapore was lit in Greece. It has travelled to 5 continents before stopping here.
Singapore made history at the grounds of Ancient Olympia in Greece on Friday when its flag was flown there for the first time in a ceremony to light the flame for the inaugural YOG.

The YOG aims to nurture a young generation increasingly spending less time on sports and more time on the Internet and watching television.

Following tradition, the flame was lit in the Temple of Hera by reflecting sunlight with a mirror (wow, so it ACTUALLY works! I wonder how long do the people have to stand there and wait for the fire to HAPPEN). This was then used to light the YOG torch.

Greek dancer Ino Menegaki, who plays the High Priestess lights up the flame for the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games during the flame lighting ceremony in Ancient Olympia, Greece (YOPS photo)

Like a minister having body guards (usually 2, but LKY, PM and President will have about 5), the torch has 10 “flame attendants”. The torch, which is fuelled by propane, is used to carry the flame during each day's relays, when runners in the relay city carry it, mostly on foot. But there are several lanterns which are lit from the same source (the Olympic Cauldron in Greece) and they keep the flame alive at night or on aircraft when the torch is extinguished.
For air travel, where open flames are not allowed, the flame burns in the enclosed lanterns, which act like miner's lamps. The torch, the lanterns and the team of attendants, plus other security, fly in a specially-chartered plane bearing an Olympic flame design (the flame really 大牌).

The lanterns spend each night in a single hotel room with three guards - one of which must be awake at any time.

Interesting bit of fact, no? The Mascots Edition Prepaid Cards will be your trophy for supporting Singapore 2010 Youth Olympics Games.

It costs $23 (with $5 ready credit) but I’m sure it will be a collectible. Besides you don’t have to worry about credit card fraud!

Here're some funny moments of the Olympics in Beijing, i can't wait to see Singapore's!

I'm not quite sure if this is good or bad marketing for the swimming cap brand.

Potential for a horror flick. The Face beneath the Waters.

Never judge a book by its cover. She's not competing for wrestling or shotout. She's a graceful swimmer.

If the judges were males, did that earn her bonus points??

Americans earn a dollar, they spend two.
Europeans earn a dollar, they spend a dollar.
Singaporeans earn a dollar, we spend ten cents.

GV Demolition Party

My Australian friend Kara loves durians AND Phua Chu Kang. God knows how she knows about him, but she actually has this stored in her Ipod. She actually knew the lyrics to it! I didn't even know PCK had this song because i was away from Singapore at that time.

If only she could be with me at yesterday's party. I wasn't around in Singapore when PCK spoke good English just because the Gah-men was hoping he'd set a good example. It flopped, and it wasn't funny anymore. So the Gah-men gave up and reverted back to Singlish for the recent Good Train Manners video. I'm glad his new movie has huge doses of Singlish, a language we Singaporeans embrace. I adore PCK, its the best sitcom Singapore has ever produced. You Tube has many episodes uploaded for those who wants to reminisce. For those who never had a chance to go into Crazy Horse, here's an episode where you get a glimpse of its.......toilet.

The GV party was awesome! Any party is awesome if good food is provided. I skipped lunch for this! A little birdie told me the food is from Orange Clove. I had 3 servings...

Do you remember seeing this GV uniform at all?? It's in 1992, when i was old enough to visit cinemas but i had no recollection AT ALL! It looks like a dress for pregnant women anyway.

This, i remember. The vests were kinda apt. In Hollywood movies, ticketing roles always wear vests. Now, the GV staff wear black polo tee and pants. Cathay usher's wear bow ties! Cute.

Very appropriately screened, PCK's new movie was scheduled to be THE LAST SCREENING at GV Yishun before demolition starts exactly at 12 midnight.

                                                

Well, the movie was really nothing to rave about. But it was 90 mins of mindless heartland laughs. Seeing PCK on big screen was surreal though, never would have imagined that to happen. New episodes of PCK no longer telecast on Singapore's channels, but across the waters! So the movie has a Malaysian setting.

                                               

                                                   

Irene is really slim in person, but on screen everything is magnified, including nostrils. I think her head is too big, the hair-do doesn't help.

                                               

I was looking forward to entering the demolition hall. A hall set aside for us to take a peice of GV Yishun home. It's been around for 18 years, and now going through a face-lift. With expectations, comes great disappointments. I was already plotting to take an entire arm chair back home or perhaps a popcorn machine!

Alas, what's found inside were tiny plates of seat numbers, peices of carpet mounted on frames, ALOT of movie posters and standees (but not the cut-out shape ones).

                                                

Maybe the arm rest complete with cup holder will fit in your own chair.

                                                 

I took Ip Man's poster as well as Angelina Jolie's new movie, SALT. Any bidders?

                                                 

GV Yishun re-opens in Nov. I'm curious as to what it'll look like. Wendy's, the much talked about American fast food is downstairs (is it good?).

A Red and White Affair

Singapore is the only country in the world (correct me if I’m wrong), that has a lot of fan fare for National Day. We have performances of glittery song and dance (where thousands of students, national service men etc. sacrifice hundreds of hours rehearsing for), much coveted for goodie bags, and parade tickets are sold in the black market. Unlucky souls who weren’t successful in balloting for a free ticket, they bring out their picnic mats and gather at spots nearby to catch the spectacular fireworks display.

The long weekend started for me with a coastal clean-up first. Heading to Lim Chu Kang mangrove, it was a very educational experience. We did not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Trash is regularly deposited on Lim Chu Kang mangrove from the straits (and I bet Malaysia will probably have the same to say about thrash coming from Singapore), so various interest groups often organize clean-up events. All these thrash, if left on its own will poison the water, which poisons the plants, which poisons the creatures who eat it, which poison the predators, which ultimately leads to poisoning us humans (mercury in fishes for example) because of the spoilt biodiversity. If you think you aren’t that noble to sacrifice time, effort and money to do something for the environment, then see it from the self centered angle. You will be affected. It’s like how some people don’t see the point in helping ex-offenders. They believe ex-offenders sought their own ending. So if you’re really that self-centered, then think it this way: Helping ex-offenders reduces your risk of being a victim of crime.

At 8am, we begin picking up thrash. It was a group of university students as well as scientists who studies about the environment. There were helmets, TV, and lots of plastics. The spooky part was this voodoo bag. Inside seemed to be a wooden cross with something hung on it, we didn’t dare look, and we didn’t dare touch.
                                       
I think someone else braver picked it up in the end and threw it. Must be one of the scientists, after all, they believe in science and not the paranormal right? Secluded places like these are often a place for human trafficking, illegal immigrants, make-out places as well as cult activities.

The spookiest, however, was this toilet seat cover that looked like the last person who sat on it had diarrhea.

I particularly enjoyed what comes after cleaning up. The kind scientists educated us on the characteristics of the mangrove, and even showed us some specimens including this dogface snake which really freaked me out. They say it doesn’t bite, but I was so afraid that after so many hands has handled it, the snake will be pissed when it finally reaches me and decides to bite right.at.this.moment.

And this horseshoe crab that is estimated to be at least 300 million years old! Dinos are 200. It’s really amazing to be able to catch a sight of such an old creature; it might go extinct any time now because of pollution. The dead ones will stink, but you can choose to keep the empty shells! It’s a fossil, that’s your incentive to do coastal clean-ups.

The scientists also found the complete skeleton of a wild dog. Dogs hide out in mangroves because the agencies put any stray dogs to sleep in the city. That’s so sad; I played with such an adorable black puppy a distance away from the mangrove.

The amount of thrash we accumulated, not dumped hor.

On Sunday, I checked out the National Art Museum where 99 life sized wolves reside temporarily in the basement.

                                  
This one exhibit is for free, so drop by the museum if you’re around Dohby Guat.

On Monday, I had the privilege to watch NDP from the Presidential Suite in Marina Bay Sands.

                                     

32 inch flat screen TVs were placed everywhere in the suite. We could play pool and watch TV!

                                       

We saw the fighter jets soar and roar from our balconies, with the main highlight of course, was to see the fireworks in full view from the 54th floor in our own private space (ceiling to floor wide windows) with a friend playing appropriate dramatic notes on the grand piano as background music.

                                      

                                        

                                       

The living room is 3 times of a 3 room HDB flat. The Suite also has its own gym, massage, kitchen and karaoke room.

                                         

                                       

                                 

Needless to say the bathroom is 2 times my HDB bedroom. It costs $5000 a night here, but high rollers (gamblers who win AND lose millions) can get the suites for free sometimes.

Lotsa bubbles, chips and Cold Storage’s roasted chicken, it was such a good night with old and new friends.

Special thanks to KS who invited me to crash and LC who took the pictures and took me home.

Dreams

Just as all that hype about Inception dies down, I want to say I LOVE DREAMING!! Scientists say dreams don’t happen when you’re in deep sleep, which means if you’re dreaming, you aren’t fully resting! I have no problems with that, because I love dreaming and I like remembering dreams. I don’t feel awfully tired after a night of dreams though, in fact most of the time I wake up with a silly smile plastered on my face. And yes, girls do get wet dreams too..

I’m a very intuitive person, I have dreamt of events that gave an ominous sign. There was a period when I kept dreaming of a lover cheating on me, and for a long while I kept getting that same message in different dream scenarios. It could be because of a previous experience that subconsciously caused a kind of fear. But the dreams stopped coming after found some discriminating evidence months later! That was one dream I didn’t want to come true. Some people claim that because you keep thinking of a lover cheating, which causes distrust, jealously and possessive which all the more propels him to act on what you expect. That wasn’t the case. I didn’t act on my dreams and I’m not such an insecure person. Still, instead of getting all depressed over the evidence, I was reeling in how powerful my dreams were!

So powerful that I can “attack my attacker” too. I bit someone in my sleep before. Because this someone likes to play rough with me in conscious state which I told this someone to “stop doing that” countless times. Having a dreamer bite the sleeper beside certainly gives anyone a rude shock!


So powerful that I tear in real life while dreaming, as well as pee in real life while dreaming. Yes, you heard me. I am a bed wetter. When I was 9, that is. I remember my mum was so pissed (pardon the pun), she made me sleep beside the toilet. Damn that dream that made me dream I was in the toilet, needing to go. Despite the fact that dream content is often impossible or improbable, we experience dreams as if they are real because there is a complete suspension of self-reflection (we are not aware that we are dreaming) and logic (impossible experiences of time, places, people, and actions) during dreaming.
Here is a good image to understand the sleep cycle.

Dream sleep is viewed by leading sleep researchers as the brain's system for processing emotions, discharging emotional stress, consolidating memories, and regularly suspending daily self-consciousness. Dr. Allan Hobson, a leading dream researcher at Harvard Medical School, has characterized dream sleep as being similar to psychopathological conditions such psychoses.

Let’s see…what emotional stress do I secretly have from my dream symbols?

Urinal -A need to unleash or eliminate store up emotions.

Urinating


(1) Dreams of urinating may be caused by a full bladder and usually has little or no psychological significance.
(2) Urinating may be a symbol for sexual desire, representing sexual emissions.

I think at 9 years old, it should be (1).

Biting

(1) an unconscious expression of anger or resentment that is difficult to express. The difficulty in expressing the anger may come from a feeling of powerlessness. For example, biting a supervisor in a dream may point to feelings of anger at the supervisor herself, or may represent general feelings of anger about the job - feelings that can't be expressed for fear of losing the job.
(2) Fear is another reason for biting. Many animal bites occur when an animal feels threatened or cornered and attacks out of fear. Therefore, biting in a dream may symbolize similar fearful feelings.
(3) Protection or territoriality is something else that is expressed when biting another. Is there something in your life that you feel is under attack; something you feel is in need of protection?
I suppose I felt like I needed to protect myself from this someone who kept manhandling me.

Dream sleep is, like psychoses, characterized by illogical thinking, lack of self-awareness, and hallucinations (that is, we believe something is real during a dream even though it is imaginary). Why the brain insures that we experience such non-rational states on a daily basis is unclear. Nevertheless, the fact that this occurs every night during sleep suggest that loss of self-awareness is in some way beneficial to the brain. Don’t you think how amazing how the body works? How dumbfounding creation is?

Facts above extracted from Talk About Sleep.
Photos: All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2010 Elwin Goh. http://www.elwingoh.com/

Food for Thought: Racial Harmony

Racial harmony is a very serious issue in Singapore. Something we cannot take for granted, I love the peace we have, I love my multi racial friends. Indians are the funniest (they laugh and joke about themselves as compared to the Chinese where face value aka pride is very important) ; Malays are the most generous and helpful. Chinese….I’m not quite sure how to define the Chinese. While they're definitely good Chinese people around, just like how you'll speak of other races, the known traits of Chinese are kiasu (afraid of losing) and kiasee (afraid of dying). This may sound negative descriptions but they equates to ambition and conscientious.

I can’t quite remember what adults scare me with when I’m young. I know for a fact, things like “Police come catch you” or “Kah Kah (cockroach) bite you ah.” or “Apunehneh come catch you.” are always on the lips of grandmothers to children. It usually falls upon death ears (children are not dumb), and the last one in particular sounds racist. I doubt the ignorant Chinese grandmother really wants to incite a racial riot, however I find it really amusing and I wonder how it all came about.

Apunehneh is not an English word. Someone created the term, probably making fun of how similar it sounds to the Tamil language. Young kids are naturally afraid of the dark, and Indians are dark, so are cockroaches.

Out of curiosity, I asked my Indian colleague if the Chinese scare their children with Apunehneh, what do the Indians scare their children with? The Yellow one with Funny eyes maybe?

She told me “The Garang Guni Man”.

Coincidentally or not, Garang Gunis are Chinese.

In our modern educated era, we do not use scare tactics on naughty children. Racism can kill lives, we need to demonstrate tolerance, take remarks in stride, have a open heart and mind to live in harmony.

Sing,Sing A Song

Thanks to HTC, we got tickets to Singfest along with a meet-and-greet pass. It's my first time going to an outdoor concert, here're some tips to remember.

1) Bring a picnic mat! We forgot, so we had to sit on grass that smelt like puke. Alcohol is served at Singfest, we were there on the second day. Go figure.

2) Bring a quirky fan, it keeps you cool and it's a magnet for making new friends!

3) Wear comfortable flats and not 4 inch heels.

4) High waisted pants, tucked in shirt, with dress shoes and red cap is NOT COOL for a rock concert.

5) Even though it's an outdoor event that makes you perspire, wear something comfortable yet fashionable. I like the lady in pink.

6) Wear deodorant and shave (very important) as you'll be raising your armpits ALOT.

The meet-and-greet was quite literally meet-and-greet. This sheet of paper stuck back stage states the bands's line-up and when is flash photography allowed, when not.

Clamouring up on stage in the holding area, we just meet the singer, pose for a group picture then exit. Then again, we haven't got much to chat with the singer anyway. I told Diane Birch her skirt is translucent! Dumb pick-up line ;p Except one member of Kool and The Gang who came to chat my friend up.

Here with Diane Birch.

Legendary disco band, Kool and The Gang.

People might get jaded after hearing Do it for Charity so often. But seriously, think how fortunate you are as compared to the people who need help. Furthermore, it really doesn't take much of you when you can afford a brand new phone! HTC is auctioning an autographed Wildfire!

Submit your bids for the autographed phone of your choice to htcsingfest@gmail.com with the following detials.

Name, IC, address, contact, code* and bid amt (min. $500)

Katy Perry: WILD-KP

Kanye West: WILD-KW

Tokio Hotel: WILD-TH

Proceeds go to the Society for the Physically Disabled. Bidding ends next Friday 13th Aug, 11.59pm!

You know, every Tom Dick Harry has an Iphone. I am actually on the hunt for a new phone. Very tempted to get an Iphone, but how timely…maybe I ought to consider HTC! Do charity, and be different. Double whammy! Quietly brillant.