Wednesday, November 26, 2008

I suck at Economy 101

I still maintain that the economic crisis was due primarily because of the involuntary shrinking of everyone's belt because they were scared off by the economic failures they read about in the news and see on tv. There is no real actual crisis except everyone cutting down on everything, and some even jumping on the bandwagon to cut and save money as an excuse.

If you're a teacher, will you be affected by the economic crisis? MOE is just cutting salaries because they wanna save money and they wanna save money because they (as any company) are inherently trying to cut costs whenever they can. One might argue that the economy is global and even our town councils have investments that depreciate and cause them to lose money. But they are not supposed to invest more than a certain % of their funds in such investments. So what about the rest of it? Similarly, if MOE has such links to the economy, and they have ample funds left, why the excuse to cut salaries?

This economic crisis is a farce and the only ones benefitting from it are the companies (and organizations) that are crying foul. We need people to spend more so banks won't be so scared to lend more and that doesn't help if you cut salaries. You start doing that and you get MORE defaults in payments and don't even start on the layoffs. The whole vicious cycle goes on because of this.

It's just so ridiculous how things can escalate.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

It all started with the Barenaked Ladies!

Download Big Bang Theory mp3

Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait...
The Earth began to cool,
The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries,
That all started with the big bang!

"Since the dawn of man" is really not that long,
As every galaxy was formed in less time than it takes to sing this song.
A fraction of a second and the elements were made.
The bipeds stood up straight,
The dinosaurs all met their fate,
They tried to leap but they were late
And they all died (they froze their asses off)
The oceans and pangea
See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya
Set in motion by the same big bang!

It all started with the big BANG!

It's expanding ever outward but one day
It will cause the stars to go the other way,
Collapsing ever inward, we won't be here, it wont be hurt
Our best and brightest figure that it'll make an even bigger bang!

Australopithecus would really have been sick of us
Debating out while here they're catching deer (we're catching viruses)
Religion or astronomy, Encarta, Deuteronomy
It all started with the big bang!

Music and mythology, Einstein and astrology
It all started with the big bang!
It all started with the big BANG!

Monday, November 24, 2008

The 90s

Sometimes, I am still amazed that something from the 90s can still look so good. He actually doesn't look very out of place alongside the newly revamped Nolan Batman and Singer Superman.

When the invigilator @ the Bar Examination announced that...

"The color of the examination booklet for today's paper is BLUE"

I actually wondered why my examination booklet was green.

Dammit.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

KTV

ROCK PAPER SCISSORS SPOCK LIZARD

The latest episode of the Big Bang Theory introduced the majority of the world to the extension of the Rock-Paper-Scissors paradigm. Created wayyyy back in the 90s.

This game was invented because it seems like when you know someone well enough, 75-80% of any Rock-Paper-Scissors games you play with that person end up in a tie. Well, here is a slight variation that reduces that probability. (Note that for those of you who like to swing your fist back and forth and say, "Rock, Paper, Scissors, GO!", might want to continue to do that, replacing "Rock" with "One," "Paper" with "Two," and "Scissors" with "Three.") This version is also nice because it satisfies the Law of Fives.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The Postman Cometh!

... and brought me my early Christmas present :D



Now I'm just waiting for my China Postman to come...

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The Social Experiment

Months ago, a PRC in Shenzhen whom was working in his sister's office got bored and scribbled his QQ (sorta like MSN) contact number and his name on a piece of card which was shipped off to be attached to a pair of hairbands sold by Forever 21. Fast forward a few months later, and Miss Mao Cow was happily retrieving the said hairbands out of the shipping box delivered to us by Singapore Post. Because she was impatient, instead of removing the hairbands by sliding them out of the cardboard attachment, she tore it apart and we discovered the message.

It was essentially a greeting message with a request for the reader to add the said PRC to his QQ and be friends. I say "he" because the name was obviously a male's. Intrigued, and very coincidental too that I had QQ, we added him to my QQ and awaited his messages.

This little boy (18-19 according to the profile) kept asking why we were not replying as fast as him. The fact was that we were busy watching videos on my laptop and not all that concerned with his queries as we were trying to ask him 1) why he sent out the card - we later found out that it was out of boredom and 2) how many did he send out and how many replied him - many many but I was the only boliao one that replied. He was however more concerned with whether I could introduce him to Singapore girls AFTER he established that I was not a girl (as he DID scribble his message on a Forever 21 card, I would assume his target was a girl).

After many lame reasons like don't you have msn? (I'm lucky he doesn't have it actually) And my friends don't have QQ (in fact, I only have it myself due to commercial reasons), I decided to point him to a website where he could meet Singapore girls and make friends with them.

Enter facebook.

Rest assured that I am no longer in contact with him and he does not have my facebook name/email nor any chance to contact any of you girls that are my friends. But in the event you get a message from a 18-19 year old PRC from Shenzhen, do exercise your own discretion. You have been warned.

Monday, November 17, 2008

This is a joke

After my great haul at the MPH bookfair/warehouse sale/whatnot at the expo over the weekend (fri and sunday to be exact), the POPULAR bookfair at suntec was a complete waste of my 10 minutes.



Touted as the largest and most successful bookfair in Singapore, it certainly lets one down as there was a maximum of only 20% off "storewide" and heavily marked up chinese books on discount (after you calculate, the prices are about the same as their original retail prices). If I had wanted 20% off I'd have hit POPULAR/HARRIS' bookstores during their sales. Why they are wasting money renting the exhibition hall is beyond my imagination.

*Shakes head*

The only people enjoying the sale were probably aunties buying assessment books for their children. Then again, they always do that at neighborhood POPULAR stores anyway.

Friday, November 14, 2008

The Gaiman Twilight Saga



All these hardcovers for $48. Plus additional 10% off. Plus $2 MPH Voucher for next purchase. You do the math~

Buying and the Economy

When the economy gets tough, the smart people spend. These are times where you get that extra mile for your dollar. Smart companies are thinking of ways to slash prices to make you, the average consumer part with your hard earned monies ESPECIALLY during hard times. Who can blame them? They just want to stay afloat. This is the time to spend spend spend!

(note: HDB as mentioned in my previous post is doing the entire opposite. Raising flat prices instead of slashing them. But then again that only works if you've got a monopoly. Even Mediacorp is advertising lower ad rates even though they are also a monopoly just that they are in denial)

Just flip through today's Straits Times and you will find sales galore. Forget the 20% off storewide stuff. They're not much of a help. Forget up to 70% off at boutiques. I asked Hush Puppies which items were at 70% off and there were none. The max was 30%. Places to score great deals are warehouse sales, baskets and periodical mega sales at trusty places like 1) carrefour, 2) departmental stores and 3) expo sales.

Before you buy, create a budget. In tough times, it’s important to limit your spending on unnecessary extras and zero in on what are truly important. So if you're looking for a 8GB thumb drive, don't be distracted by that groovy portable speaker. Chances are you don't need it. If the stuff is out of your REASONABLE price range, forget it. If you notice a trend in electronics, prices are going DOWN DOWN DOWN (my 42" LCD TV was bought for $2,899 and about a year later it's dropped to less than 1K!). Even when you're encountering a MEGA SALE and have the possibility of overspending, make sure you budget yourself. Say I am only going to spend $80 at this book fair. And I will not pay more than $x per book. It usually helps you take out the stuff that you've grabbed on impulse like "the life of Mao Zhedong" and "Applied Modern Philosophy". You probably won't read it. Not even "Barack Obama". And if you've never read the Davinci Code before you saw the movie, chances are you probably won't. So put that back.

(note: this aunty woman queuing up in front of me was approached by a PRC to help her purchase the Da vinci Code. It was a pretty good hardcover for $8 with big font and even I had a copy of it bought a few months back for $6 at a similar fair. After agreeing to help the PRC woman purchase the book, she started flipping through the book and conversed with her equally aunty friend that "this book is not very good" and "alot of it is not real". After which she beckoned to the PRC waiting by the line to come over, and told her "this book is not a good book. Alot of it is not real". I mean C'MON. It's FICTION. OF COURSE IT'S NOT REAL. So does that make "CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS" that's in your box to purchase a BAD BOOK as well because it is NOT REAL?)

That said, one should hit mega sales at expos and warehouse sales more frequently. BUT limit yourself to stuff that you are actually buying. Hence if you are looking for bedroom sets, wait for warehouse sales for bedroom sets. If you are looking for shoes, look for warehouse sales of shoes. If you are looking for books, look for warehouse sales of books. This cannot be stressed enough because general warehouse sales by establishments such as METRO, JOHN LITTLE and ROBINSONS are a dime a dozen and simply don't have a good deal for people knowing what they want. They are structured to make you pick up things that you don't actually need! (As if you didn't know that already...)

I used to scout Amazon for the best deals in books because I simply do not like to pay retail for books. But even nowadays, Amazon is faltering to the local bookstore chains that offer you 30% + 10% every other month. Although having said that, I sincerely regret buying my MICROECONOMICS and FREAKONOMICS from Borders at 30% + 10% off because now I see the same book sitting on the shelf in CARREFOUR for $6. Books will never go out of print. So if you're into books, wait a few months for the distributor to dump his excess stock via expo/warehouse sales and you can find the books sitting high on Kinokuniya's top 10 books for the week in the bargain bin for $6 - $8 depending on whether it's a softcover or hardcover.

Of course the above is just my perspective and is only in relation to stuff I like, like toys, electronics and books etc. Nerdy stuff. But that said, I also do buy clothes and look out for stuff like the Club21 sale amongst others and pick up good deals from Isetan and TANGS baskets. Yes, there are cheap and affordable clothes at TANGS.

But even now, I have actually shopped LESS in Singapore and have chosen to spend MORE overseas. Without leaving my chair of course. That brings me to shopping online, the next best thing to being there. Yes I know, women like to "physically shop" but shopping online is tiring too okay! :) Although I have given up Amazon for books, I still trough online websites for good deals and there are many to be had. For instance her latest buy for me online was a $5 pair of men's shorts from Heritage. And it was better than anything I could find in Singapore for say $30. Also, I can pick up something that's available in Singapore at $300 for about $220 shipped to my doorstep. These savings all count IF you MUST buy the item. Also, before purchasing, use your search engine to identify manufacturers of items you regularly buy and see if you can get on their e-mail list for special coupons online. Major retail chains also e-mail coupons and news of special sales to customers online as well. If you don’t have something to type in that “discount code” box when you’re buying something online, stop. It’s wise to pull up another search window and type in the name of the product, the retailer’s name and the words “discount code” and see if anything comes up that fits the product you’re buying. These can give you 20% off plus free shipping on ALREADY heavily discounted items! (and if you ship by vpost, they have 20% off using UOB PLUS a lucky draw which I won a pair of $39 speakers!)

And I don't even need to tell you how good prices are when you import your essentials directly from China. A fraction of the price. Of course, my essentials aren't the same as yours and it would be wise to steer clear of all foodstuffs.

Yes. That means at the end of the day, I have a smaller bank account. But if you consider that you're not gonna spend that money anyway even if you hang onto it and wait to spend it in better times, and the CRAPPY PUI PUI PUI bank interest POSB is giving you (it's an insult I tell you), you might as well spend more NOW and get MORE, then to spend MUCH MORE next time, and get LESS.

Unless of course you are buying a HDB flat. (Shame on you HDB!)