Laugh Monday Blues Away

A cheap costume idea: Sun Wu Kong with toothpicks!

Buy pets responsibly. Treat them like a kid.

LIke strumming the air guitar, he's probably not legal to drive yet.

WTF!

I'm so proud of Asia.

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www.gudanggrosiran.com Categories: funny

Ripping Your Face Off

This could soon be you

One of Tyler's favourite financial market memoirs is Frank Partnoy's FIASCO, his account of life as a Morgan Stanley derivatives salesman during the 1990s:

"The derivatives group received its marching orders from the firm's leader, John Mack. Following Mack's lead, my ingenious bosses became feral multimillionaires: half geek, half wolf. When they weren't performing complex computer calculations, they were screaming about how they were going to "rip someone's face off” or "blow someone up.” Outside of work they honed their killer instincts at private skeet-shooting clubs, on safaris and dove hunts in Africa and South America, and at the most important and appropriately named competitive event at Morgan Stanley: the Fixed Income Annual Sporting Clays Outing, F.I.A.S.C.O. for short. This annual skeet-shoot tournament set the mood for the firm's barbarous approach to its clients' increasing derivatives losses. After April 1994, when these losses began to increase, John Mack's instructions were clear: "there's blood in the water. Lets go kill someone.” We were prepared to kill someone, and we did. The battlefields of the derivatives world are littered with our victims." (and see here for a longer excerpt)

Marvellous. The raw beating heart of capitalism - the very thing that's driven economic progress for at least the last three centuries. And thank God for it (terms and conditions apply - like staying within the criminal law).

There's just one thing - don't ask me to pay for any losses these dove hunters incur when they accidentally blow their own heads off.

Which brings us back to the key question of HTF can we let busted banks go bust without destroying Mom and Pop's savings and wrecking the economy?

Because two years on from the Crash, and despite all the brave talk, our politicos and regulators have still not agreed how to do it. There's been no serious discussion of the obvious step - splitting the high street "utility" banks from the casino banks down on the Wharf (aka a new Glass-Steagall - eg see this blog). Instead, energy is wasted on chasing headlines over bankers' bonuses and bank levies.

This morning Liam Halligan has another excellent article on real bank reform, highlighting a speech made this week by Bank of England Governor King:

"King has now gone as far as he can in calling for the committee to recommend a radical bank split, without publicly ordering them to do so.

"In the end, clarity about the regulatory perimeter is both desirable and unavoidable," said the Governor of the Bank. "Radical solutions offer the hope of avoiding the seemingly inevitable drift to ever more complex and costly regulation."

According to King, City big-wigs are now making "dubious claims to resist reforms that might limit the public subsidies they have enjoyed in the past".

The Governor is taking on one of the world's most powerful lobbies. Among those at the top table, he is doing it almost alone. That's why the rest of us need to get squarely behind him."

Hear hear.

As we've blogged many times, we urgently need to break up the banks. They should not be allowed to exploit the unavoidable taxpayer guarantee on high street deposits in order to raise cheap funding for playing the tables. And as we saw all too clearly in the Crash, our regulators are simply not smart enough to manage institutions that cover both high street and casino activities. Splitting is the only serious option.

But among those City big-wigs, there's hardly an acknowledgement the issue even exists. Indeed, when at the recent Tory Conference Tyler put the question to a City panel chaired by FT editor Lionel Barber, Barber immediately moved on to the next question. Nobody on the panel (including Treasury minister Mark Hoban) was even prepared to acknowledge the question, let alone attempt an answer. Pathetic and worrying.

So let's remember precisely what's going on.

The losses of the banks have been passed on to us taxpayers. We are now holding the baby, courtesy of effective bank nationalisations and continuing blanket guarantees covering all banks. At the same time the printing press has been slammed into overdrive, driving interest rates for savers down close to zero, and well below the inflation rate. The banks are being encouraged to fund their losses and recapitalise themselves by ripping the face off savers.

And on the subject of inflation, we are all quite aware that UK inflation continues to run well above the supposed 2% target - RPI inflation is up at nearly 5% pa, and even the government's preferred (and sytematically lower) CPI measure is over 3%. But do we all understand how bad the international picture looks?

Commodity prices in dollar terms are up 50% from the post-Crash lows, and still increasing:

And things have got even worse since September (the last month shown in the IMF chart). According to the Economist Index, dollar prices have risen by a further 8%, taking the 12 month increase to 31%.

Deflation it ain't, and in sterling terms the picture is even more alarming. The Economist says sterling commodity prices have risen by 35% just in the last year.

Against that background, the US Treasury was last week able to sell a bunch of its index-linked bonds (TIPS) for an extraordinarily high price. For the first time ever, it was able to issue these bonds on terms that guarantee their holders will lose money in real inflation adjusted terms.

Why would anyone buy such things? Because they're scared stiff about future inflation and would rather lock in a known modest loss now than take a chance on a much bigger inflation loss later on bonds that are not index-linked. Yes, my friends, out there across the Atlantic the inflation storm clouds are gathering.

So what to do? How can you make sure it's not your own sweet face that gets ripped off in the coming hurricane?

To be frank, there's not necessarily a lot you can do. One way or another we in Britain have to accept a permanent cut in our consumption to work off all that debt we've built up. In the process - whether through higher inflation, higher taxes, or job losses - an awful lot of faces are going to get ripped.

The one thing we can do is make sure we don't allow our politicos to wriggle out of the difficult decisions needed to stop the same problem arising again somewhere down the road. Which is why we should do what Liam H suggests - back Merv as he pushes to break up our dangerous too-big-to-fail megabanks.

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www.gudanggrosiran.com Categories: bank bailouts

Still Paying For The EU

Following Mr Cam's, ahem, "triumph" in holding the EU budget increase to a mere 2.9% next year, we thought we'd remind ourselves just how much we've paid in since we joined in 1973.

Because the numbers can get very confusing. All kinds of different definitions of gross and net - pre and post-rebate - get chucked around, often in a deliberate attempt to confuse us.

So let's remember the key points.

Our gross contribution to the EU budget comprises a number of different elements, including revenue from tariffs imposed on goods imported from outside the EU, and a share of VAT receipts. The most important element by far is a pro rata charge based on our share of EU gross "national" income. Currently the overall total is running in the range £12-14bn pa.

Fortunately, up until now we have not had to pay the full amount implied by those rules. And that's because of the rebate negotiated for us by the blessed St Mags back in the 80s.

So what we need to look at is our gross contribution net of those rebates, and that's what's shown in the chart above (the data sources are here and here).

As we can see, in the latest completed year, 2009, we handed over £7.8bn, around £300 for every British family. In real inflation adjusted terms, that compares to a cost of £1.6bn in our first year of membership. So in real terms the costs have increased almost fivefold since we first joined.

And over the entire period of our membership, we have paid total membership fees of £170bn, which is £257bn at 2009 prices. And that is a little over £10 grand per family.

Now it is true that some of this cash comes back again in the form of EU spending in the UK. For example, around £4bn goes on subsidising our old friends the farmers (or "the preservation and management of natural resources" as the EU now prefers to call it - see here). But in terms of the burden on UK taxpayers, that is immaterial - we are paying taxes to fund programmes of the EU's choosing, not ours (farming subsidies would not be high on Tyler's list of worthy spending projects).

Moreover, the cost of our EU budget contributions is only one element of the overall cost of EU membership. In particular, we also need to add in the £5bn+ pa it costs us through paying food prices much higher than the world market. And here's Jamie Oliveoil to remind us just how that works (and see this blog):



Like Jamie says, enjoy.

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www.gudanggrosiran.com Categories: eu

Debit Cards- A Wise Acquisition

If you’re a sort of a person who struggles to control your credit card debt every month, then a debit card could be, just perfect for you. Debit cards have all the functionality of credit cards, you can buy anything online or over the phone, but it only allows you to use money, you really have.

The advantages of holding a debit card cannot be denied. Not only are you, not inviting unsecured debt, as you are spending your individual money, but moreover, you do not even have to carry around cash, which also adds to customer security.

There is a range of visa cards and MasterCard, debit cards offered by financial institutions, along with St George debit card, Anz debit card, Suncorp debit card etc. Most of these cards are devoid of any potential high fees, interest rates and debt.

There are varied amount of debit cards available in Australia offering various features.

Some debit card accounts permit you to set up a line of credit, where you can overdraw your financial credit up to a precise maximum value. This makes the card effectively like a credit card, though the overdraw charges can be extremely high.

Some debit cards put forward a charge back element similar to credit cards, where if commodities are not delivered, or are of an inferior quality, you can legitimately charge that back in opposition to the seller and get the repayment.

Likewise, a number of debit cards offer a guarantee for internet transactions, where you aren’t charged for unauthorized or false transactions if you inform about it to the bank in time.

There are various rewards programs also offered with debit cards. The best rewards plan is the one which is associated to the product or service that you utilize frequently. A debit rewards card can offer you, a wide array of products and services to save on. For instance, a well-liked service for rewards programs is air travel. As we all know that air travel can be really costly. Consequently, there are several frequent flyer programs offered by various banks. These cards can be a grand way to bring together miles and bank money in the future.

The intensification in the recognition of debit cards is possibly because of surcharges on credit card dealings, which are occasionally 3% or more.

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www.gudanggrosiran.com Categories: Anz debit card and Suncorp debit card, St george debit card

The Preferred Debit Cards In Australia

Debit cards are issued by banks and these cards usually appear, as well as, exercise, exactly like a credit card. The single dissimilarity is that the debit card does not advance you any credit. Any amount you pay out is most of the time deducted straightforwardly from your account. There is no bill to disburse at the conclusion of the month, no added interest charges and no membership costs.

A debit card requires a savings account or a checking account to get started. Nearly all debit cards stand with a Visa or MasterCard logo. In stores or online it can be exercised just like a credit card.

Some of the well-liked debit cards offered in Australia are:

St. George Debit Card: The St.George Visa Debit Card associates your bank account next to, St.George Bank with a standard Visa debit card, intensifying the ways by which you can make use of, your personal money and provides you various services; you have come to look forward to, from an international card company, like Visa. This card does carry a $5 monthly charge. However, in addition it offers the benefit of, no minimum monthly balance requirement. St. George Visa Debit Card is accessible to all entitled customers, and can be exploited at, more than 2,700 ATMs in Australia, exclusive of additional fee assessments.

ANZ Debit Card: The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) also offers Visa credit and debit cards. ANZ Visa Debit Card is a good bet for those, who are looking for an ease of a debit card, exclusive of a compulsory credit check, as most established banks require. Straight deposit choices are offered to this card, and limitless ANZ ATM and over-the-counter branch transactions are incorporated in the card's $5 monthly charges. Moreover, the customer can select one of three color choices, which are as follows: black, blue, and pink. The card performs just like a debit Visa product connected to a checking account, however no checks are issued.

Suncorp Debit Card: Suncorp is one more Australian bank that offers, no charges for their debit cards, and utterly no fees for transactions. All you have to do is to make certain that you keep in mind to press credit when making any acquisitions.

A Suncorp Visa debit card offers its cardholders, a savings account that gives away high interest, but the card is also offered on the daily Options, daily Basics, Cash Management and 55 plus accounts, so the option is always there for you, if you want any.

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www.gudanggrosiran.com Categories: Anz debit card and Suncorp debit card, St george debit card

Best To Be Bold

Daft - but not quite as reported*

Nobody said welfare reform was going to be easy. There were always going to be losers, and the welfare lobby was always going to scream very loudly.

But if we are ever going to grip our ballooning £200bn pa welfare bill and provide real work incentives, serious reform is absolutely essential. And to do it right, we must be bold. Nibbling away at the margins is very likely to leave us with the worst of both worlds - plenty of losers and screaming, combined with a welfare system that still isn't fit for purpose.

Take the row over Child Benefit. This morning we got the latest instalment, in which the Treasury is vowing to impose fines on any higher rate tax payer who fails to declare his or her partner is in receipt of CB.

Which is fine, except that the partner may not want to say. After all, a couple's tax affairs are separate these days, and CB is paid direct to the female partner specifically so she can keep it away from the nasty beer swilling brute she's forced to live with (well, that's what Pol says anyway). And what happens if the man/woman doesn't realise he's a top rate tax payer, perhaps because of an unexpected bonus?

The basic problem is that we currently have no way of taxing couples as a unit. Tax is levied on individuals, so HMRC doesn't automatically know the overall household income.

And that is a key reason why our own cuts package last year included the complete abolition of universal Child Benefit (see this blog). In its place, following an existing plan put forward by Reform, we proposed beefed up payments to poor families under the Child Tax Credit, which is means tested on household income. True, in an ideal world none us wants more means testing, but since this is the real world with an increasingly limited budget, that's something we just have to put up with.

Had George followed that line, he'd have avoided all these complexities with fines and the indefensible disparity between one and two earner families. He'd have had a clean workable solution - at least pending the more radical universal benefit reforms promised by IDS.

So why didn't he do it?

You know why. Universal Child Benefit is a totem - the very embodiment of the welfare state. Also, he didn't fancy explaining to those Ordinary Hard Working Families (OHWFs) on £30-40k that they are to lose a couple of grand a year - even though at some stage they could look forward to commensurately lower taxes.

So we've ended up with a dog's breakfast. Failure to be bold and go for a workable long-term solution has landed us in a mess.

Let's hope there's no backsliding on the the other great welfare change - cutting Housing Benefit. The much bolder reforms there find themselves firmly back under the spotlight, courtesy Boris's most unfortunate remarks yesterday about "Kosovo-style social cleansing"*. Here's the TPA's Matt Sinclair arguing the case last night against the Bishop:



We've blogged Housing Benefits many times, and we took a good look at the current situation here. We showed how under Labour, spending soared by 35% in real terms, although the number of recipients barely changed - in other words almost all the money went on pushing up rent levels:

We also showed how in some areas, Housing Benefit dependency has reached 30% of all households, and more. The record is held by Hackney, where an astonishing 43% of all households are on HB:

We noted how many landlords have done very well out of HB, driving returns on their equity as high as 50%.

And we pointed out that the serious economic research in this area shows that it is the landlords who will suffer the biggest hit from cuts. The evidence says that between half and all of the cut in rental subsidy ends up falling on the landlord not the tenant. In other words, rents fall pretty much in line with the cut in subsidy.

But according to the BBC and the rest of the left, the poor are about to be sent back to the workhouse. Indeed, the preposterous Labour MP Tristram Hunt reckons they'll soon be gnawing on bones and putrid horse flesh to stay alive. Tristram is the son of Lord Hunt and was schooled at University College School Cambridge followed by Trinity - we should probably assume he's never sampled bones, putrid horseflesh, or even KFC, and knows as much about life on low income as the Duchess of Buccleuch.

Admittedly George is from a similar background to Trist, but on HB reform he is a lot closer to reality. His bold HB reforms are a vital step in the right direction and he must not allow himself to be intimidated.

Everyone out here agrees that HB recipients should not be funded to live in houses the average taxpayer can't afford, and that may well lead to some relocation. But that's simply too bad - the money has run out.

Nobody's being sent back to the workhouse. And if the reforms lead to anything like the grim Dickensian world Trist describes, Tyler will personally gnaw on the first bone he can find lying in the gutter.

*Footnote  Boris was obviously daft to have referred to Kosovan cleansing. But when you hear the actual interview - as opposed to the hyped up reports of the interview - it's pretty clear he was actually just saying that he wanted to see good transition arrangements for the new system. He wasn't opposing the whole deal, as was reported subsequently. Well, that's what Tyler thinks anyway.

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www.gudanggrosiran.com Categories: housing, welfare

Taking the train down to Nha Trang

I unabashedly took the liberty to lie down flat on the empty 3 seats. Very unlady-like but at least i wake up fresh and relaxed. I always buy 8 Days before departure because a) its cheap b) its a rather entertaining read c) its thin and light d) i can throw away after reading, won't heart pain!

but oh, how i resisted grabbing the Archie comics though. Why ARE THEY SO EXPENSIVE yet some content is repeated!!

                                                  
I pointed at the card and asked the Tiger stewardess if i understood correctly (that it says NO SEX TONITE). Initially, she took a glance and said "oh, they're asking for your sex. Male or Female." I was like "DUH! Do i look stupid?" I asked her to look closer, then she smiled, apologised and gave me a new blank one. I swear someone was trying to pick me up with the arrival card!
                                               

It's the first time i travelled with ONLY a backpack. I relieved my school days again, and it wasn't cumbersome pulling a trolley. Did the whole usual routine of massage + dinner after touch down. Then i hopped on a dirty dingy old train travelling South!

It was my first time in a train and it was an experience! Narrow corridors, pretty cold, old with cracked windscreens with bullet holes (or so i'd like to think)!

We got the sleeper cabins which is about 40SGD two way for a 6 hour ride. The train leaves and arrives punctually. I slept like a baby on the train, despite boarding prepared with ear plugs and blind folds. Didn't need them. Bring a shawl to lay on the bed in case you have a thing about cleanliness. In general, i didn't see any cockroaches, but imagine the millions who've slept on this dingy bed. The sleeper cabins are considered first class, the economy class are rows and rows of cramped chairs. I would have taken a picture of the inventive ways the passengers slept,but i thought it would be rude.

 The brochures of Vinpearl were enticing and beautiful.

I was excited, but then i wondered how they maintained all the amusement rides when visitors only pay $20 for an all play ticket.Are the rides safe? I am quite a worry wart.

Arriving on the island, it was deserted (which is good, no queues!).It reminds me of Genting, a very very old amusement park. Except Genting has more thrilling rides but Vinpearl has a water park! There're in total 14 slides, one wave pool and one lazy river (complete with 'scary' tunnel, which has lame styrofoam statues but it still spooked me out a little because it looked like it could house REAL bats!)

My adrenaline tolerance is rather high because of all the extreme stuff i've done, so out of the 14 slides, only 1 really shrunked my balls (if i have them).

It looks harmless, but the moment you let go, it's a SHARP DROP. I saw girls who climbed all 5 storeys on hard metal steps, only to make it back down again without taking the leap.

 

Do eat before you go because the food there is crap. All around the island, its the SAME tasteless fast food around. They do have restaurants, but i never did see them. The cafes only serve Vietnamese deserts which you should try (starchy and sweet).

 

They have an indoor park which is AWESOME because you get to play EVERYTHING for free. Except they're all  video games. Old school ones, i don't remember Batman ever looking like that. Must be either VERY old school, or VERY fake. Like a little kid, i was overwhelmed with UNLIMITED credits on all the video games, but you get bored after awhile when you can simply hit the Continue button countless times. Where is the challenge?!?

There is a private beach as well, but it was cloudy so it wasn't quite inviting. The island is pretty big, so we strolled around and discovered this giant mermaid. A sign says EROTIC SHOW but nothing seemed to be going on. I was disappointed.

Nha Trang seem to love hosting Miss Earth. Vinpearl was the host for Miss Earth 2009, Diamond Resort also in Nha Trang also hosted couple of years. Can't imagine the pictures i see on the web to be the place i visited. I did see the trees they planted in 2008 in Vinpearl though (Singapore was missing!). It's a little amusing, because the trees they planted actually covered up these insect statues that were obviously there before. I guess Vinpearl never expected Miss Earth to come plant trees!

 

They also have an aquarium and it was quite an eye opener seeing fishes i've never seen before, though they looked sick. The most interesting were the catfish embryos. They have some rides in the land park, but the girl sitting opposite me on the Viking ship seriously looked like she was going to puke anytime. Vinpearl is not a must-do for Nha Trang, but then again there isn't alot to do in Nha Trang. So take a day trip, you might still be pleasantly surprised.

Nha Trang is a bustling town (not as busy as Saigon) by the sea. They have many good cheap Italian restaurants around. The 5-star ones are undeniably The Sailing Club and Louisana. Plenty of tourists there.

Louisana brews their own beer, and nothing beats a refreshing ice cold beer with wind swept hair.

                                            

Diving is cheap in Nha Trang. The cheapest i've done so far in Asia. Costing USD 40 for 2 boat dives, Scuba Dive provides lunch as well as free flow of cake and fruits during the trip. That helps when you set off at 8am.

                                                 
The water is warm, the visibility is poor at this time but i liked it! I got to see alot more coral fishes than anywhere else.
                                  

We chased a squid.

                                      

We found Nemo who is very curious and played with the human hand!

I felt bad picking up the sea cucumber the instructor handed me. I was afraid i am hurting it! But i think with my gloves, the creature probably feels nothing. No human oil can reach its glands.

Eating in Vietnam is always a challenge! When you read local menus that don't quite make sense. Swimming bladder and shark's finger soup?

Sucking calfs too.

                               

If only i had a GPS smart phone (something that is encashed so no expensive roaming charges), we would be able to reach our destination in 20 mins, instead of 2 hours. Relying on an inaccurate local map, we set off in search of the heard-about most beautiful Cam Rahn beach.

It was a disappointment, but at least we found it! The journey there was romantic and somewhat scenic.

How blessed we are to be able to soar to the skies. Caught this beautiful moment, and marvel at Creation.

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www.gudanggrosiran.com Categories: nha trang, vietnam

The Deal about Birthdays

Do birthdays actually mean more to girls than boys? It could possibly be.

On my birthdays as a young child, my dad would ask if I preferred Pizza Hut or Macdonald on this special day. Sometimes I’d pick Pizza Hut, but most times I’d choose Macdonald. I’ll dress in my Sunday best, and skip into the Palace of the Golden Arcs and ask for a Happy Meal.        

                                   

 A cheeseburger, a small coke, a small fries and a TOY for a small me. 

I remember this toy that I kept dearly and took a long while to pack it to the Salvation Army. It was Mama Bear from the fairytale Goldilocks. It was special, because it was from my dad on my 10^thbirthday, the first birthday when I actually start remembering them.

On my 12^th, I had my first birthday party. It was a family friend’s function room and they hired a magician for me. I was never the most popular in school, in fact I befriend the ones who always get bullied (like that girl my mum is trying to shove away for my personal poloraid). 

With that MAGICIAN AT MY BIRTHDAY PARTY, I became the COOLEST kid in school. Today, that won’t raise any eyebrows, I just witnessed a ONE YEAR OLD having her birthday party thrown at the Hard Rock Hotel in Sentosa. They cordoned the entire hotel pool for it.

My brother is SO cute then.

I was quite a planner since young, so at 12, I planned party games that included bananas. The games were innocent, seriously. I gave out prizes of $5 Macdonald vouchers and go to Blanco Court for goodie bags of candy treats.

Then at 14, I had my second birthday party. This time, just a very casual BBQ. I learnt that BBQs are never good, especially when your different groups of friends don’t gel. And at 14, they’re not into party games. However, I remember being pretty stoked about my crush attending. Except he came with his girlfriend, who was my best friend (they just got together MINUTES BEFORE COMING TO MY PARTY).

At 16, birthday parties in clubs were all the rage. Some popular girls from school were booking clubs and making friends buy tickets to their “birthday party”. Many obliged, because at 16 we weren’t legal to enter one yet. My dignity held me back from making money off my friends yet I could no longer ask my parents to hold me one…so I did nothing. Only to have my dearest girlfriend, XC threw me one on the sly. If only I could be intimate with a girl, the female species are SO MUCH more sensitive romantic and everything else than a man. They just wouldn’t crush cockroaches.

She invited my best friends from childhood, summoned the gang and brought a picnic onto Sentosa.

My birthdays have never been one filled with fireworks, especially not one that is overflowing with gifts. That is why I throw birthday parties, in the hope of getting some. To put it blatantly, it was like buying love.

The excitement over birthdays dwindles (or so I thought) as I grew older, I told myself that birthdays are not about the child but about the mother who went through labour. I brainwashed myself just so to not feel sorry and disappointed if nothing happens, but deep down inside like a forlorn Cinderella, I still wish to be a princess and that the special day will be all about me.

I’d say birthdays meant more to girls than boys because up till then, my brothers never had one birthday party. Nadda, in fact I don’t even know what they did on their birthdays (likely to be out drinking with friends) because my family don’t typically celebrate birthdays! Unless we ask for it (i.e. me), otherwise my dad just takes us on a one-to-one birthday dinner. It’s more like, Ok-now-that-you’re-a-year-older, let’s-reassess-your-life-goals sort. Oh, but my dad would give us each a $50 ang pow with some of his famous words at the back of the packet. This stopped since I started working.

Then I went Australia, and I didn’t have many friends. In my first year, I was pleasantly surprised to find a bouquet delivered all the way from Singapore. With another delivered from the UK.

I was greasing it out serving hot plate tou fus (oh, how I HATE those hot plate dishes) at Chin’s on my birthday and I was SO touched to come home with the lights off and my house mates presenting a birthday cake complete with out-of-tune song! I nearly teared, because I never thought they would do so because I wasn’t close to them. I was most of the time holed up in my tiny room, sleeping by 11pm and waking at 7am while they did the opposite.

Then at 21, I moved out but those old housemates still remembered birthdays and we celebrated together. They even pooled money and presented me with a spa voucher! How luxurious it is to get a spa in Australia, AS A STUDENT! Friends away from home, they meant so much. 

I organised a steamboat dinner at home in my second year in Australia. I bought my own birthday cake because I didn’t want to face disappointment, only to have my housemate buy me one too (bless her!). On the actual birth day, i was greasing it out this time at Dome. My colleague felt sorry for me and took me out for a drink. My FIRST sex-on-the-beach.

I continue telling myself that birthdays don’t matter so much, because I am afraid of disappointment on my own birthday. I knew how it feels and so I try to make them special for close friends on their birthdays.

Making it special for special friends.

Once I woke up crying, feeling like nobody remembered. My mother knew and gave me a red packet. Then I cheered up and went to watch Harry Potter with my brother.

At 22, I watched Saw 4. At 23, I threw another party to celebrate my hospital discharge as well. 

So why do birthdays mean so much again? I think birthdays mean more to girls than boys. My brothers don’t get upset when their birthdays are forgotten (or so I think), my dad won’t too (he don’t even remember his own birth date), but my mum…when we neglected her birthday last year ( I did give her a present though!), it was a HUGE DRAMA.

I remember birthdays whereby I just went out and shopped. And I used the “it’s my birthday today!” excuse to haggle, and some shops in Far East Plaza really gave me a discount! It was liberating, to know I did not need to buy love but I could love myself.

This birthday, it's Koh Samui. I found a nice hotel on a cliff

where I get a candlelight dinner in between two mountains (part of the package deal)

and the hotel will surprise me with a FREE birthday cake (and i know when). Was pretty impressed there's such an option when i made the reservation.


A girl’s got to do what a girl’s got to do. If birthdays mean so much to you, then see to it that it happens.

If you feel sorry for me, feel free to still send me a gift from my wish list:

1) Samurai Umbrella from Amazon.com ($35 w/o shipping)

Because i want to be the coolest kid in the neighbourhood when it rains.

2) Why Men Marry Bitches (last i checked 2 months ago, sold out at Borders. Not sure about Kino. $28)   PURCHASED.

My GF swears by this book although she is NOT married yet. Ha ha ha.

3) Tokyo Vice (last i checked at Borders, it's also sold out. Maybe Kino. $18)

I hope it covers more than the usual drugs and gangs,namely i want sex!

4) Strip Aerobics ($10 from Poh Kim)

I missed out when i saw it at Poh Kim, went to Borders and felt abit embarrassed asking the dude for a Strip-xercise DVD. He looked at me blankly.

5) A Retro Passport Cover ($20 w/o shipping)

If you really want to, click here.

6) Card Holder

Preferbly an expandable soft leather one, because i have ALOT of discount cards.

 7) G-Shock Crazy Colour ($60 at Bencoolen Plaza)

 

I love watches, and i need one to be titled My Travel Buddy. One that can go diving with me, one that can keep me on track, one that can rough it out. I was contemplating over a G-shock and a Adidas calculator watch (very useful when i go shopping you know! All the currency conversions).

8) Charm Bracelet

Wouldn't hurt to have another charm bracelet since my fake Juicy one from Hong Kong is scratched.

9) How to Make Money Like a Porn Star from Amazon.com ($40) PURCHASED.

By my fav author Neil Strauss, this is banned in SG. It's a graphic novel and i SO WANT IT! 

Don't we all want to make more money?

10) A Diamond Layered Bracelet

The diamonds don't have to be real.

11) Camera Pouch from Shinnpark.com ($20)

 

 12) Lugguage ($200 Illuma, small shop near the linkway to Bugis Junction)

I don't care if it makes me look like a kid. I want to spot my lugguage from afar!

13) All things Electrical

Time i get a smart phone to go mobile literally. Also, a laptop to really do some serious work. 

Need an external portable hard disk (520GB) for serious storage too. ($80)

 14) Ticket to Universal Studios ($74)

Transformers is slated to open in 2011 in Singapore. If they can even get the Cyclone ready for riding first.

15) Dance Course from Groove Studio ($120)

I want to start like this bitch.

And end like this bitch.

No wait, and end like this dude.

I think i will be home on 16th November, in front of a computer like a geek and swipping my credit card like a freak.

But otherwise, thank you ma ma for giving birth to me. I can now stand on my two own feet.

Gudang grosir baju anak murah - harga pabrik !!
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