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Showing posts from May, 2014

Ideal Salary is $6000 in Singapore?

Source So $6000 is before or after CPF? $6000 is monthly wage or annual wage divided by 12 i.e. include bonus, allowance and etc? $6000 is individual or household income? This survey is so vague, and automobile is considered basic necessities? For salesperson yeah, but for workers like me, no. If everybody wants to own a car, then of course $6000 is the ideal salary.

Painting My House Later

Just came back from my morning run, ran about 2.4KM, today feels great, maybe because going to new house later but today not moving in, just painting and cleaning. Not sure when my father's friend can come and take a look at the flooring work to be done, he still haven't come, no assessment, no idea how much it will, don't know when can finish, I am thinking maybe just scrap the idea, just paint, clean up, buy stuff and move in, easier and can save a lot of money, father estimate flooring will cost below $2000, so if don't do, can save $2000, anyway the existing flooring also not that bad, I actually like it, only thing is the built-in stove and sink support, but we can do with it, no big deal.

The Virgin Killer

Source This guy said his life was not fair, at first I thought he was a victim of school bullying and finally he can no longer tolerate it anymore so he went on a killing spree, but wow, look at the link, his father is Peter Rodger, assistant director for The Hunger Games, the 9th highest grossing movie in 2012 , and he drove luxury cars, flew first class and attended a private Katy Perry concert, now how was his life unfair? I think he might be the most spoilt brat ever, and he had to bring 6 innocent souls with him, what a big fucking loser, he could have spent his time doing something meaningful instead, like help the less-privileged?

Starhub Waived My Data Charge!

Previous post. Got a good surprise just now, the friendly Starhub customer service staff called me, he told me that since my line is PowerValue 100 and that I have barred the data and the data usage was little ($64.37 for 6437KB!), he can waive it for me and it will take effect in the next 1 to 2 billing cycle, great, no need to pay for nothing, my wife probably accidentally switched it on while playing with her phone, I tried and there's no confirmation prompt, once you touch the button it will switch on the data, really dangerous. Now I feel even more bad for yelling at the Starhub girl (see my previous post), sigh, so next time I really should talk to them nicely, no point venting my frustration on anyone, they are just doing their job, so whoever you are, I am so sorry.

When to Update Address

I have been pondering over this question since my completion date because as at that day, I am a home owner, but I was not sure whether I should update my address now or after I move because my new house is not ready yet. So I called ICA yesterday, the guy on the line confirmed that I can update after I move, that sounds right because I am still staying at my parents place so doesn't make any sense if I update now.

Sold Lippo Malls at $0.405

Probably will start shopping for household stuff soon so I will need the money, also for renovation and such, don't know how much it will eventually cost though, father's friend still haven't give me a figure yet, overall the funds I have is about $9000 for renovation and buying aircon, fridge and washing machine, don't know enough or not. Anyway Lippo Malls price seems to have been stagnant for quite a long time, by selling the profit is $123.90, not bad la, better than nothing. Now let's see, every time after I sell, the price will go up, if really go up the shareholders can thank me haha, basket imagine tomorrow shoot up.

I am Now a HDB Resale Flat Owner!

Me and wife reached HDB Hub at around 2pm, our appointment was at 3.30pm so we went over to the Courts to take a look, nothing interesting though, we'll probably buy our stuff and Gain City. So 3.25pm, I met my agent friend, he accompanied us to register, the officer called our number at 3.30pm, went in and signed twice, then spent 25 minutes waiting for the seller's representative to bring the keys to us, basket, he said he got stuck at the gantry or something, anyway excluding that I think the process would take no longer than 5 minutes, very fast, that HDB officer damn efficient. I thought I was going to get a certificate or something, they only gave me 4 pages of paper saying I'm now the owner of XXX address and some rules and regulations and bla bla bla, and to sign up for SP Services account or make payment to town council, I need to provide the letter. Anyway, feels great to have our own place, FINALLY!

Our Big Day Tomorrow!

Just one more night and tomorrow afternoon I'll be signing to take over the resale flat officially, feels good to be a homeowner soon, having a house is like one of the big things a guy should have, let me list it down. 1. Job 2. Wife 3. House 4. Children So far I have or am going to have the first 3, I really hope we can have a child soon, just one is enough. And tomorrow I will need to pay the agent fees, $2675! Actually it's $2500 but they need to charge GST. Also my father bought a huge bucket of white emulsion paint for $40+, he said he will paint for me when he is free at night, that really helps to save me a lot of money, he said one bucket is enough and if I get a professional to do it for me it would cost at least $800, so I think after the whole thing I will give him a huge red packet, can't expect him to work for free right haha.

Starhub Fibre Down Since 8am!

No actually it's up right now, see I'm posting now! Anyway this morning at 8am when I tried to surf the net the connection kept dropping, so annoying, I ping to google.com.sg and sometimes it's okay but mostly it times out. Then after lunch I tried again and still same problem, really frustrating, I called the technical line but they can't help much, they can only escalate to the network team, by the time their specialist call me the problem has already been resolved and indeed, now the connection is back to normal, I don't know what time it started working but last I tried was at about 3.30pm, that time not working.

Roy Ngerng Apologized to Mr. Lee

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Source Good, I think it takes more courage to apologize than to write whatever he wrote previously, I always believe a person should be able to humble himself when necessary because how far can pride bring a person? I always repeat this Chinese saying to myself, 能屈能伸, meaning be able to endure when necessary and go the extra mile if need be. But some comments on his blog are really bad, I don't know why some people like to attack him, can't they just post something constructive instead? See. Stupid Comments Calling him faggot, coward, what the hell, at least he dare to show his face and talk about public issues openly, I read he even applied to be a NMP, so what have those people done, posting rubbish anonymously is very courageous?

Charged $64.37 by Starhub for Mobile Data!

Damn bloody shocked, today received my bill I saw this extra charge, total used 6437KB of mobile data, so it's $0.01 per KB, damn expensive, then I called up Starhub billing hotline and yelled at that customer rep demanding to know why the heck they charged me this amount, then the lady on the line told me she's just answering on behalf of billing hotline, basket then I thinking she answer for what since she cannot help me with my bill query, then she said she will arrange for billing to call me back within 2 days, that really pissed me off even more, but no choice I said okay, and she hung up real fast. After that my wife told me she may have accidentally turned on the data on her phone, what the fish, after I yelled at the Starhub girl then she told me this, sigh, that Starhub girl really innocent, anyway I shouldn't have yelled at her, sigh, reach home after work so tired and see this kind of bill can be really frustrating, and just to prevent this from happening agai

Why People Like to Put Bag on The Seat?

Just now when I took a bus home, it was a double-decked bus, bottom was packed so I moved upstairs, first thing I saw when I went up, I saw this uncle sitting and he placed his bag on the empty seat beside him, never mind so I turned and looked to other seats, then I saw one office woman also doing the same, so I looked elsewhere, at least 2 or 3 more person also doing that, alamak, why like that, they just looked elsewhere and ignored my existence, damn it, like that also can, then I felt so disgusted and I just went downstairs, give me I also don't feel like sitting with them. Then as I stood downstairs, I thought of the ugly things that people here do, chopping tables with packets of tissue or umbrella, really, I see that all the time at food centres, I know it's easier because everybody can go buy food, but does that feel right to you? I think the worst are litterbugs, just look at my void deck, tissues, candy wrappings, empty soda cans, empty food packing, empty instan

Thinking of Selling My Lippo Malls

These few days I have been looking around and roughly came up with a list of things to buy, with my current cash I don't think will be enough so definitely have to sell my shares. Item Cost Remarks Aircon $2,500.00 Mitubishi Starmex Fridge $500.00 Washing machine $500.00 Mattress $500.00 Painting $100.00 Father buy and do for me. Flooring $2,000.00 Just a rough amount, father's friend will do for me. Kitchen cabinet $500.00 Father buy and do for me. Stove and sink $750.00 Total $7,350.00 My current cash is about $4400, if I sell my 10 lots of Lippo malls, can get about $4021 so should be enough, now Lippo is $0.405, I see the buy volume today is higher than usual, the trading volume also so much higher at 3582 lots, how come today so much activitiy, maybe next few days will go up? I wait a bit, no hurry to sell now, I think I can wait one or two weeks.

Visited SGH Orthopaedic Surgery Department

So today I went to see the specialist, appointment was at 10.10am, reached there at around 10.04am, registered and waited for about 1 hour and 30 minutes before my turn, can see the clinic is quite packed, so many elderly, especially female, wonder why so many female waiting to see the specialist. Anyway me and wife went in, it was a young doctor, I think about my age, he is very fast, asked a few questions regarding my back and then he did a physical examination for me, some sort of testing to see whether I still feel any pain, actually I have mostly recovered, I don't feel pain anywhere, that's the thing about lower back pain, it comes and goes, maybe the Zheng Zhong Ping medicine worked, I don't know. So seeing that I am feeling okay, he discharged me and prescribed some plasters for me in case I feel pain again but most importantly, I asked him whether I can resume doing sit-up and he said okay, well, I shall try but I think should be okay, just now he told me to b

What Bed Size to Get?

Currently using a queen size mattress at parents house, wondering what size I should buy for new house. I think queen size is just nice, king is too big, but my wife says she wants king size, I think should be able to fit because the bedroom in the new house is bigger than my current one, maybe we'll get the king size, and get a cheap one ;)

Roy Ngerng Received a Lawyer's Letter from Mr. Lee

Source The problem stems from implying that Mr. Lee, Mdm Ho and Mr. Tharman are dishonest in the use of our CPF monies, furthermore making a comparison to the City Harvest case, not good, when you make such an allegation, you are giving them a chance to shoot you back, most important question is, can you prove any wrongdoing? If the answer is no, then be ready to apologize. So far only Mr. Lee sent Roy a lawyer's letter, at least the other two person didn't take action, I say Roy should just apologize and move on, no point being headstrong. Sometimes it's good to keep a lower profile, if someone who isn't as famous as Roy wrote that, I think Mr. Lee won't bother, the thing is Roy's blog is one of the top blogs in Singapore, its global rank is also respectable, that means what he wrote can reach a large audience, of course Mr. Lee will take action, one of them must take action but not all of them, if all of them take action then it would seem like excessive b

Opened My SP Services Account

I signed up online and they sms me a while after saying they will go check the meters but I don't have to be present, I think these few days the transfer should be completed. They also charged $60 for the initial deposit to my account. I wonder when the town council will open an account for me, if can open soon I will sign up both for the POSB Everyday card recurring bill payment, there is 1% rebate for SP and 0.3% for town council.

Brought My Father to My New House

This morning he drove us there, he wanted to take measurements for the kitchen cabinet and flooring, he said because the house is small so should be easy to do and won't cost that much as we mostly have to pay for material, whatever he can do he will do for us, if he can't, he has friends who can help, he's trying to help me save money. So tonight I will give him one set of keys and let him do whatever he needs, if need money I tell him to just let me know. I also asked him to source for aircon, he is in the carpentry line so he has friends who install aircon too, they can also find supplier, I'll leave it to him. He will also do the painting for us, change the power sockets and light switches. Anyway the house is empty now, just now forgot to take pictures.

$13.43 Savings with POSB Everyday Card!

I charged $352.10 to my card last month and they awarded me with 13.43 Daily$ which I can use it to offset my bills, that's about 3.81% savings, good!

Collected My Keys!

The owners are very willing to hand us the keys, in fact the male owner saw me last week and he wanted to give me the keys, but I think I walked too fast and he couldn't catch me, by the way he is living in the same estate as my parents, just a few blocks away. They are also okay with us moving in early, or do whatever works that we need to do, very nice and friendly couple. We have not taken over the SP account yet, but the owners say we can feel free to use the water and electricity because they still have unused rebates, about $50 or $60+, really helpful, where to find such nice sellers. So just now me and wife went to Courts to take a look, we went to the aircon section, the nice salesperson explained some stuff to us, and he recommended me to buy this Midea brand aircon, it's made in China, $2299 for system 2, very cheap compared to other brands. Then I told him I also plan to buy a fridge, washing machine and mattress, and I asked him if there's a discount if I buy

Never Too Late to Study

Source I find that his story is very similar to mine, he dropped out at secondary 3, I dropped out at secondary 2, both of us realized that without paper qualification, the road will be very rough, I know there are people who succeeded without any paper but how many are there in every 10 who tried? Anyone know the statistics? Worse are those who keep telling you stories of this guy who became rich without PSLE, or that guy who made it with only N-levels, or that ITE graduate who is earning $5000 a month, it's like saying one should buy TOTO because there are people who won first group, but do you know how low the probability of winning is? Doesn't mean you shouldn't try but also doesn't mean you should fully depend on it, get what I mean. But I really respect this guy, he went through a challenging path, 2 years of ITE night classes and then 3 years of polytechnic, I think he studied full-time in polytechnic and that's probably why it took him 3 years, I remembe

Thai Social Network in Singapore

Singtip.com Just to share this site with you guys, they have a forum on jobs and housing, it's all in Thai though so I think you can get your Thai partner to check it out, maybe he/she will find something useful there. But actually if you want to find a job for Thai, good place to start is Golden Mile, I know that place is more famous for the nightspots but it's quite lively in the day, they have a supermarket, department stores, restaurant and some other businesses running, there's also translation services there at level 2 so it's not all that bad.

Want to Buy Daikin Aircon for My Resale Flat

Daikin is a bit more expensive but I think it's worth it, best of all they have their own servicing team, better to let the real experts handle my aircon but problem is they don't sell directly so I can only buy from dealers, so now I'm not sure which dealer is good, if you have experience please share with me. Currently my parents are using Sharp, it's not bad but the compressor seems to be getting noisier, my wall mounted unit used to be noisy, I think the guys who cleaned my aircon didn't put it back properly, I took out the casing and put it back and now it's quiet. Another thing with Sharp is they don't have their own servicing team, I really prefer people from the manufacturing company to service my aircon, who else knows their system better.

Maybe Can Get The Keys this Weekend

My agent just informed me that the sellers may be ready to let us do the inspection this weekend, previously he also mentioned that they are willing to give the keys early for us to do our renovation so I'm guessing we might also be able to get the keys.

Today is My Credit Card Payment Due Date

And they are supposed to deduct the outstanding amount from my bank account because I have already setup the GIRO payment ever since I received my card but until now, I still don't see the amount being deducted. Actually this morning I called up POSB customer service and the lady from the credit card department told me that the GIRO deduction will happen on the payment due date and at night, as to what time at night she didn't mention and I didn't ask, damn I should have asked but then again, I think she also won't know that, but I guess they will probably deduct at midnight. Anyway the lady assured me several times that she will personally monitor my case and also that I will not be charged anything, and even if they do charge me for late payment or whatsoever, she will waive it for me, and also she will give me a call tomorrow morning to update me on the deduction status, I'm counting on that. I think after this payment I will cancel the GIRO, might as well I ma

A Chinese girl passenger was beaten up by Philippine airport personnel 华...

Seems like the guy dragged her and she was not happy about it and started attacking him with a black object, I think it was a shoe or a pouch and then the guy slapped and shoved her a few times, I wonder what happened before that, but what I know so far is that she was being deported, well, since she was being deported she should have cooperated, how will yelling like that help, and the guy should have been nicer to her, why hit and shove her? Couldn't they get a female officer to deal with her instead?

This Guy is Everywhere!

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I see him all the time, at the supermarket in my neighbourhood, at Sheng Siong, seems like he is everywhere staring at people! SHOP THEFT IS A CRIME And that day when it was very windy and he kept falling down, my wife picked him twice and he still fell down, I laughed at him and then my wife finally picked him up for the third time and positioned him so that he won't fall down again. But seriously, I think this is a good idea, when people see his face I think they will think twice about doing something unusual, and I don't think a cardboard like that cost too much so this should be cost-effective.

Five 17 Year Old Arrested for Toa Payoh Graffiti

Source I thought the culprit would be some middle aged man who is suffering from hardship due to the fast pace of Singapore, probably due to job loss and long-term unemployment, or family member having to pay hefty healthcare bills, that I can understand, when a person becomes depressed, who knows what he will do, I think that can be forgiven and appropriate help should be granted to such a person, but five 17 year old did that? Why? How have they suffered under the rule of PAP? What motivated them to do such a thing? One thing for certain is if they get fined, their parents will pay for it, I don't think they have the money to pay for it themselves, if they actually have savings that will mean they were working, and if they were working they should have been more sensible and should not have gone down such a path. And they don't look that depressed to me, if you look at the photo gallery, you will see that in some photos, some of them were smiling, looks to me like they

When Can Your Foreign Girlfriend/Boyfriend Apply for PR?

Recently I got a few mails asking about this so I thought I might as well make a post to share the information. First of all, who can apply for PR? Apply for Permanent Residence (a) Spouse and unmarried children (below 21 years old) of a Singapore Citizen (SC)/Singapore Permanent Resident (SPR) (b) Aged Parents of a SC (c) Employment Pass/ S Pass holders (d) Investors/Entrepreneurs You can look at (a), the key word is spouse i.e. your husband or your wife, which means both of you must be legally married, doesn't matter whether you marry in Singapore or other country as long as the marriage certificate is issued by the country's authority, in Singapore, the authority for marriages is Registry of Marriage or more commonly known as ROM, in Thailand, they have district offices to register marriage. So there you go, as long as you are a Singaporean or Singapore Permanent Resident, and you have a marriage certificate issued by the authority, your spouse can apply for PR.

CPF Minimum Sum Raised to $155,000

Sometimes I feel that CPF is bad, but then again, for people who don't know how to manage their money, actually it's a good thing, my father for example, he is the generous type of person, you can say he is very steady, when he has money, he will go around giving treats to friends, or give money to his siblings and my sister (wonder why he didn't give me), and when he goes broke, he will go slog at work from morning till late night and live from paycheck to paycheck. He is getting old, he is now 57 years old, I really don't think he can or should continue with this kind of lifestyle, but luckily he owns a fully paid 3-room HDB flat in a mature estate, and he bought it at $40K+ in early 1980s, if I remember correctly I think it was $48,000, and according to the X-Value Calculator from srx.com.sg, the unit is worth $341,000. Now that I am moving out soon, finally he has the chance to unlock the value of his flat, after slogging so hard for so many years, I'm glad t

Graffiti at Toa Payoh

Source Wasting residents money, vandalize it so who will clean it up? Town council. Who pay the town council? Residents. So isn't that wasting Toa Payoh residents' money? And what's the point of doing that, what will it achieve? Nothing, it will probably be cleaned in a few days, or maybe they already cleaned it up. The text are as follow: FUCK the PAP WAKE UP SG WE had enough! SG Government can't give US FREE DOM. MikecooL This led me thinking, what's the point of getting angry at the party, I agree some policies are really screwed up but going to the extent of vandalizing and fucking the party is really stupid and childish, why not step out and doing something about it instead, join the opposition party and come up with something useful like give suggestions or feedback. And this idiot thinks he is speaking for everyone else, he should say "I had enough" instead, and what freedom does he want? Government tie him up and restrict his movement? Th

Appointment at SGH Orthopaedic

I'm going to see the specialist for my lower back pain, seems like getting worse, wonder what's happening to my lower back, sit too long pain, do sit up also pain, after running also pain, sigh, last weekend bought some medicine from Zheng Zhong Ping, one packet $38, the lady say can help to straighten my back, sounds amazing right, I actually believed her, she told me to buy 2 packets to try for one month, one packet can last for 1/2 month so ended up I bought only one packet to try, ate 3 times already but doesn't seem to get better, I do feel a little bit better but not sure if it is because of the medicine, I'll finish the packet and see how, but better still is to go to the specialist and have do a checkup. Now I'm wondering how I'm going to clear my IPPT in my current condition, I scared after I do sit up and then my back starts to hurt then how, later fail then kena RT, jia lat, I hope the specialist can downgrade me so I don't have to take IPPT, no

Any Drug Allergy?

So what happen when the pharmacist or doctor or nurse ask you this question, how do you answer? You must be thinking how would you know, you didn't try every drug in the world, well an easy answer is "none so far", there you go.

How to Make Money in Singapore without Starting a Business

1. Get a full-time job. This is the traditional way and perhaps the most reliable way, find a good paying job and stick to it, if there is a better opportunity you can choose to jump for higher salary, big companies usually recognize paper qualifications and pay you more so if you have a degree or some specialized certifications, usually it will work well. So if a company doesn't recognize your paper, you may want to start looking for a company that knows how to appreciate you. 2. Get a sideline. While you are holding onto a full-time job, most people will have rest days on Saturdays and Sundays, you can find some part-time jobs to do during your rest days. Some people provide tuition, some people work as insurance or property agent, some people even drive a taxi, it's up to you to manage. 3. Start a blog. Like me and many others who are blogging during their free time, this may take a while unless you look like Bae Yong-joon or Hyuna, try posting useful content, peop

Preparing to Move House

Not sure exactly when I will move but one thing for sure is I will collect keys on 26 May, so that day I will go to the SP Services branch at HDB Hub with the sellers and do a transfer of account, and just now I called SP and they mentioned that as long as sellers did not terminate their account, the water and electricity will not be disrupted. Now I'm trying to confirm exactly what items I will move. Let's list it down! Computer desk. Desktop computer. Printer. A small and flat wooden cabinet. A multicolored plastic cabinet. A bicycle and a air pump. All our clothing. My army crap. Bedsheets. Iron board and iron. Pillows. Several small items already packed. Now I'm wondering how much it will cost, I did a search and seems like it should be between $150 to $300, but the exact amount will need to be confirmed by the mover as they will need to come down to assess and then give a quote.

CPF Board Approved My Application to Use My CPF Savings for Housing

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I received a letter dated 25 Apr 2014, it stated that the maximum amount of CPF that I can use for the flat is $127,500, which is 51% of the resale price of $250,000, by the way the valuation for my flat is $260,000 so they use the lower which is the resale price. It also say that my application to use my CPF savings for the purchase of the flat has been approved, doesn't that sound a bit strange, I need approval to use my savings, but well, you live in Singapore you play by it's rules, no choice. I also called up CPF board for two questions, one is whether I need to apply for Home Protection Scheme (HPS) because the letter mentioned that I need to apply, the other is to confirm the exact number of months that I can pay by CPF. So for the HPS, CPF say I don't need to apply because I already applied for it during my HDB first appointment, and that I should have signed something to apply but I can't remember what I signed, anyway in my CPF statement, I noticed that an a

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