Friday, September 30, 2005

Things I've never owned

Actually, more like "Things I've never owned and never will own".

i) Pager:

This was all the rage during my uni years (about 10 years back). OK, so technically, I am STILL in uni now, but that's besides the point. Anyway, back then, everyone, and I mean everyone, carries a pager. Indeed, the watchwords of that era was "Hello, si'an (say si mi lang quickly) kah pager?" and "Wah... seng lee zoh tua!". These days, pagers are like for SAF personnel only (I think).

I found carrying a pager a hassle. And I dislike getting disturbed when I am out and about. When I declared to my pals back then I will never get one, sceptism was all I got in return. But given that the pager era is long gone, it looks like I really will never ever own one.

ii) Handphone:

This took over from the pager as THE rage shortly after I graduated. Now, if I found the smallish pager a hassle back then, the handphone was (and still is) an even bigger bother to me. So the designs have gotten smaller and smaller over the years, but it is still one handphone too big.

My detest for handphones grew when the SMS came along. Here I am, a handphone-less pedestrian strolling along Orchard Road minding my own business, there is everyone moving in the opposite direction SMSing and threatening to steamroll me. So I have to act Mr. Crab and weave through the oncoming traffic. Irritating, to say the least.

OK, so I did mention "holding onto" a handphone before, but it technically doesn't count. One, it wasn't mine. Two, I never carried it out of my home with me.

An acquaintance once called the handphone tacky. I couldn't have found a better way to put it. She is the only friend I have without a handphone, incidentally.

So I've also declared to my pals that I will never ever own a handphone. More scepticism returned. Some, whom I have not contacted for some time will chide me "You mean you STILL have not gotten yourself a handphone?". A more recent one really takes the cake.

"Don't you realise you are causing US trouble?"

iii) Car:

Because I am a very green person. Because in Singapore, you don't really need a car. Because I would rather invest the money than spend it on a zero investment return (indeed negative!) and rapidly depreciating car. Because I don't really enjoy driving that much; It was only fun for maybe the first few driving lessons, then the novelty of it was lost pretty quickly for me. Incidentally, I got my driving licence over here and got it converted to the Singaporean one. Rumour has it that it is easier to pass here and that swayed my decision. My opinion is yes, it is easier to pass over here. BUT, the difference in testing standards is diminishing quickly.

iv) Camera:

Because I've never liked being photographed. Never had one during those analogue days and never had one when it went digital. But I have to admit in this list of "I don't wanna haves", the camera has the highest chance of being dropped from the list. Because taking pictures without me in it can be quite fun, as I've found out after starting this blog.

v) Jeans:

I have sensitive skin. The material available during my teens was pretty thick and in Singapore's weather, would cause my skin to react badly. So I've always gone for pants. When I got older and my skin condition better, it became a matter of personal preference.

vi) Sunglasses:

I never really saw a need for sunglasses until I came to Sydney. But even then, I didn't get myself a pair.

In Singapore, the sun is directly overhead at noon, so the glare is minimised. Over here, the sun is glaring at you at some acute angle all of the time. Not only that, I've realised it is often cloudy in Singapore, thus cutting out even more glare. Here, we regularly get cloudless days. End result, a tolerable amount of glare in Singapore vs an eyesore amount of glare in Sydney. So I never saw a need for a pair of sunglasses back home.

As mentioned, I refuse to get a pair here. It is my way of declaring to myself "You're not staying here any longer than you should.".

182 days to go.

Thursday, September 29, 2005

More Miyazaki to come

Oh, Porco Rosso was mesmerising! I had such great difficulty falling asleep last night because of it. And I thought the TV guide was wrong in calling it "The first of the Miyazaki films in the genre of Japanese anime, Porco Rosso..." since Miyazaki started making animation way before that. Now I know why! The TV station is actually lining up a whole series of Miyazaki animation to screen every Wednesday and Porco Rosso was the first of these! Next Wednesday, they are screening this (taken from the local TV guide again):

Movie
10pm - 12.10am : Laputa: Castle in the Sky
SBS
Animation (1986) (Japan/English)
The second of the Miyazaki anime films, this tells the story of Sheeta, an orphan and a descendant of the people who once lived in Laputa. She is taken by the secret service, her only connection with the past a stone inscribed with a strange emblem. Pirates attack the secret service's airship and in the commotion Sheeta falls. The the stone lights up and slows her descent and she floats down into the arms of Pazu, an orphan boy. He too has an interest in Laputa and so they set off together to find the legendary floating city.



Miyazaki films are almost certainly based in fantasy worlds. But Porco Rosso was based in the real world, Italy in the early 1930s. Therein lies part of the attraction of Porco Rosso for me. Indeed, the only part of this animation that is fantasy is the form of the main character; He is, literally, a pig. But the main attraction for me is the basis of the story, which is that of aviation in the era just before WWII. You see, I am very into WWII pilotage stuff.

Indeed, the film can be viewed superficially, just for pure entertainment, or in a more profound manner, as the story suggests more underlying themes. For example, I get the impression that Porco's pig form is self-inflicted and he himself is the one preventing the change back to human form. Or it could be another way of telling viewers how war can leave scars on everyone that participates in one. All in all, I actually like this film more than Spirited Away. This is even more impressive, considering Porco Rosso was done in 1993, about a decade before Spirited Away.

Now, I'm toying with the idea of getting the DVD for keeps. Can't wait for next Wednesday.

183 days to go.

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

<不要吵>

Scene 1: In my room (Singapore, not here) at around 10p.m., enter my mum and niece

“慧慧要不要睡覺?”

“不要!”

“這樣Ma Ma先睡,慧慧不要吵啊。”

That's actually my mum's ploy to get my niece to sleep, since it is already nearing her bedtime.

My niece turns around to play her Pingu toys. After a while, she gets bored. Part 1 of mum's ploy kicks into action!

“Ma Ma!Ma Ma!”

“Ma Ma睡覺,可不可以不要吵啊?”

My niece goes back to her toys instead of wanting to join my mum in sleeping. So unfortunately for my mum, part 2 of her ploy falls apart.


Scene 2: Still in my room at around 11p.m., my mum is dozing and my niece begins to feel sleepy

“Ma Ma!Ma Ma!慧慧要睡覺!”

“OK!xu xu 然後睡覺” as my mum feels relief from the long wait finally ending.

Lights out and my mum starts mumbling and complaining a little.

“慧慧坏坏哦。剛才叫妳睡覺不要睡。。。”

“Ma Ma!慧慧睡覺,可不可以不要吵啊?”

184 days to go.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

An attempt to gloat...

... or to make myself feel better whilst I am drowning in my work.

According to the local TV guide, I get to watch a Miyazaki double tomorrow night. Assuming I can tear myself away from work, that is. Who is Miyazaki, you ask? The guy who brought you Spirited Away a couple of years back.

First, I get to watch the following documentary:

10pm - 11pm : Ghibli - The Miyazaki Temple
SBS
Documentary (2005) (France/Japanese, French)
The documentary presents Japanese animated cinema through a journey into the universe of director Hayao Miyazaki and his Ghibli studio. Hayao Miyazaki is one of Japan's greatest animation directors whose entertaining plots, compelling characters and breathtaking animation have earned him international acclaim. Clips from Miyazaki's latest films, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away and The Grave of the Fireflies, shows influences on Japanese animation and what differentiates it from Western animation. Through interviews with fellow Ghibli filmmaker Isao Takahata, Ghibli President Toshio Suzuki and French comic artist Jean "Moebius" Giraud, we get to know the man who delivered some of the most inspiring visuals, landscapes and characters ever seen in animation.



Immediately following that, I get to watch his first animation, Porco Rosso:

Movie
11pm - 12.40am : Porco Rosso
SBS
Animation (1992) (Japan/English)
The first of the Miyazaki films in the genre of Japanese anime, Porco Rosso is set in Italy in the early 1930s where air pirates, bounty hunters and high-flyers of all sorts rule the skies. The most cunning and skilled of these pilots is Porco Rosso, a man cursed with the head of a pig after watching the spirits of the killed pilots rise to the heavens in the last air battle he fought. He now makes a living taking jobs such as rescuing those kidnapped by air pirates. Donald Curtis, Porco's rival in the air and in wooing women, constantly challenges the hero, culminating in a hilarious, action-packed finale.


185 days to go.

Monday, September 26, 2005

Oncoming train

It is supposed to be the break week this week. But I don’t feel any let up in work. The light at the end of the tunnel is turning out to be that of an oncoming train.

Better news from the home front. 慧 has just learnt to operate the mouse (!) and can support her own weight hanging from a metal bar (!!). All that, at just three years of age.

186 days to go.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Housemates

My latest housemate has just gone home. As in back to his home country. I've had so many housemates that I've lost count. So here's an attempt to put a number to it:

The apartment initially had three rooms (to be elaborated upon), with the largest room a double room (but sometimes rented out as a single) and the other two singles. When I first moved in, there was two other people staying in the apartment.

i) The first was a guy from Shanghai (not Dan) whom I never really got to know. Within a week or so of my moving in, I flew back for my winter break. Upon returning, he was already within a week of moving out.

ii) The other was a Taiwanese gal who kept to herself a lot. Actually, I thought she was quite a paranoid person. She seemed to be fearing for her own safety a lot, from US, her housemates. So after a while, to lay her mind at rest, I stopped trying to talk to her and stayed in my room whenever she is out of hers. As a result, I didn't really get to know her well, if at all. All I knew was she was doing some course here and seemed to have quite a lot of free time on her hands.

iii) After the Shanghai guy moved out, a Singaporean couple moved in. Students in the same uni as I am. I was initially really happy to have more Singaporeans in the same apartment, but my optimism seemed misplaced. They too preferred to keep to themselves and after a while, I stopped trying to talk to them as well.

iv) Then the Taiwanese girl moved out and in came a Sri Lankan guy. He was the first housemate I got to know rather well. He had studied and graduated here and was working. We still meet up now occasionally, for yum cha. And I still receive and keep his mail on his behalf. Funny how his mail still gets directed here after moving out for more than a year now.

v) Then the Singaporean couple moved out. They had found another place. I suppose they wanted more privacy. In came another Singaporean guy, Mo. Not only is he a Singaporean, he is a Man Utd fan as well! He was doing his honours year in the same uni as I but seemed busy most of the time. But whenever we had the time, we would talk football and Man Utd. Later, I found out that his home in Singapore was rather near to mine! Small world, this. Now, I help keep his mail as well, in addition to the Sri Lankan's. I will then pass it back to him whenever I fly back. We still shoot some pool together occasionally.

vi) After the Sri Lankan moved out, in came Dan from Shanghai. Yes, that Dan. At that time (which should be middle to late of last year), Stef wasn't here yet. In fact, they weren't married yet. Dan later moved out to fly back to Shanghai to get married. They then returned to Sydney together and rented their own apartment near to where I stay.

vii) Then Mo graduated and went home. He has since found a job. In came a German guy. Jim was initially reluctant to rent it out to him, because he much preferred Asians. But it was the slow season (summer), so he relented. I thought the German guy was ok and that Jim had over-reacted. But I was soon to be proved wrong...

viii) In the meantime, Dan flew home and Jim rented his vacated room to an Australian girl. But I didn't have the chance to get to know her because I flew home a week before she moved in. It was my summer break. When I came back, she was within a week of moving out.

ix) A friend of mine had come over to study and needed a room, so I played "matchmaker" between Jim and her. This is the same friend I mentioned in a previous post about her intolerance of being alone and silence.

Now this is when things took a real weird turn. The German guy, who had been respectful to his housemates before, seemed like a changed person after I came back from my summer break (over 2 months). He started bringing friends overnight. Female friends. DIFFERENT ones. This, despite Jim having explicitly stated to all of us, no outsiders allowed overnight, before renting us the rooms. Indeed, the German did not even bother informing both of us when he had those "friends" stay over. It was also rather disconcerting and shocking when we would wake up in the morning to bump into strangers in the apartment. Both my friend and I tried to be tolerant but after a few times of this, we threw in the towel and informed Jim.

Jim was incensed and gave him immediate notice to move out. Then shortly after he moved out, my friend decided to drop out from her course and flew home. To top it all off, the town council ordered Jim to tear down a room (he had converted the living room to another room by putting up wood-based walls) because it was deemed illegal. All these happened within a month (May) I think.

Shortly after all this, I flew home for my winter break.

x) Whilst I was back in Singapore, Jim found a Chinese couple for the other remaining room. But they moved out within that same month. So I had two housemates whom I've never even met. Jim later told me he suspected those two were having an affair and needed a love nest. Fwah... so happening, and I wasn't around to er... witness it. :P

xi) Finally, just before my coming back, Jim found another tenant for the room. He is from China, hometown near to Beijing, and was a visiting professor to the same uni that I'm at. He was that "latest housemate" I mentioned at the start of this post. When I came back, his wife and son was here as well. They stayed for a couple of weeks before flying back. He flew back last Thursday after completing his work here. Now the room is empty and Jim is advertising again.

Wow, I didn't realise I have had SO MANY housemates in the two and a half years I've been staying here. All in, the housemates count is 15, including the two I've never met, including the Shanghai guy and Australian girl whom I knew for less than two weeks and including the family of the visiting professor.

I have to admit getting to know and adjusting to new housemates is quite tiring after a while. Fortunately, the end of my stay here is near.

187 days to go.

Saturday, September 24, 2005

Un-tetris-ed

It's amazing how slow my mind and reactions become after the exam.

Suddenly, Tetris becomes a more difficult game to play. Suddenly, I hesitate more, take a longer time to decide. Suddenly, I lose interest in it.

This never fails to happen. Indeed, it is one of the rituals of exams that I go through. The increased interest in the game before the exam, daily play, realising how good I am getting at it which increases interest further, break some records, becomes second nature by the time the exams come around, sudden sluggishness after the exam, not liking the increased effort to play a decent game, loss of interest, and finally stopping almost totally (unless I am that bored with my work at times).

Till the next exams then, Tetris.

188 days to go.

Friday, September 23, 2005

Arrowed

所謂暗箭難防。“明”箭威力也不小。Mass“明”箭刹傷力卻是銳不可擋呀!

Head of department announces,"As you guys know, this year's symposium will be on 11th November."

Me thinking,"Ha! Last year I present liao. This year's will be none of my business."

HOD looks at all of us and continues,"I'm assuming all of you students are presenting."

All students, especially me,"..."

*Big Sigh*

189 days to go.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Refuge Island

I borrowed Dan's digital camera to bring you this post. *Grin*

The following pic shows a road sign near where I stay: The first time I saw it, I was both tickled and quizzed. I bet many a non-Australian driver must have scratched their heads upon seeing this road sign. Indeed, I once witnessed a driver, should be a non-local, who slowed down to a crawl upon approaching the sign and then later the refuge island, not knowing what to do. He gana sworn at by an Aussie beng tailgating him.

So what is it? Further up the road, I find this. Yes, those two slabs of elevated concrete is the refuge island (got two, so shouldn't it be islands?). It is for pedestrians to well... take refuge (?) when crossing the road.

Now, what's more interesting is that "Keep Left" sign. That is the third version put up.


The first version is an "N" shaped structure painted orange with black arrows pointing left, roughly half the height of that "Keep Left" sign. And there were two such structures, one at where the red arrows are pointing to (call it no. 1), the other at where the white arrows are pointing to (call it no. 2). When I first moved here, the no. 1 sign had already been run over (!!!) and the no. 2 sign was slightly bent. Run over as in the whole sign lies flat on the ground after suffering from a direct impact from a car, but its two "legs" remain cemented to the ground. Within one month of my moving in, no. 2 sign also got run over. Speaks volumes about the drivers here, or the poor lighting. Or both.

It took the town council about one school semester, roughly 4 months, to get them replaced. Within one month of being replaced, BOTH signs got run over again! This time, it took the town council about half a year to get them replaced. Speaks volumes about their er... efficiency.
Speaks volumes about the drivers here, or the poor lighting. Or both. Or all three.

Then, they decided to change the design of the sign. Maybe drivers can't see it at night. So the next sign, the second version, put up had those light reflecting material pasted on the "N" shaped structure. The new structure was also made taller. This time, the sign lasted a little longer. For about 8 months I think. It got run over (just a question of time, I suppose) about a month ago. But at least it lasted more than a month.

It took the town council only a month or so to get somebody down to replace it. They're improving! That white "Keep Left" sign is what has been put up. Third version liao. Much taller than the "N"s. You can still see the stumps left behind by the predecessor signs, i.e. where the four arrows are pointing to.

Given that this sign is NOT light reflecting, I am not so optimistic about its mortality rate. All bets are off on how long it will last.

And given the high rate of mortality of these poor signs, I can't help but feel vulnerable when crossing that particular road. Standing on that slab of concrete always gives me the creeps.

Whilst I am still at it, I also took a pic of a U-shaped tree I mentioned some time back. There is a whole stretch of them along this road. They send people down to prune them from time to time to make sure they remain U-shaped. Power cables vs trees? Power cables win.

Akan Datang: Cantona

190 days to go.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Studying in Sydney

Gosh, I wanted to put together this post for over a week liao. The exam, work, and day to day stuff has kept me busy. Anyway here it is.

This post is for those of you who are preparing to come over to Sydney for studies. What to prepare, what to bring, what not to bring, what to watch out for... etc. I'm putting down whatever I can recall, given that it took place like over two years ago.

i) You need to get that student visa, of course. The Australian High Commission in Singapore only allows for people to queue for visa application in the morning, i.e. before 12p.m.. For my first visit there, I reached there in the afternoon and was turned back. So I had to go again the next day. Duh.

ii) Be prepared for a long wait at the Australian High Commission. Like 2-3 counters for over a hundred people in the queue. I waited for like 2 hours for my turn.

iii) Make sure you have all the required documents ready. If not you have to come back with them the next day and queue up again!

iv) Make sure you have COPIES of the required documents ready. Because they do not allow people to make copies there, even if you have the money for it! And if you really need to make copies, you can get them done at the British Council next door (5 minutes walk). So save yourself the trouble and just get everything ready beforehand.

v) Do not bring any form of food into Australia. They are very strict on this.

vi) Temporary accommodation here is rather easy to find via the internet. You should be able to get a room for around AU$200 a week.

vii) The cost of living in Sydney is roughly double that of Singapore, WITHOUT taking the exchange rate into account. Food, transport, internet and rent costs are at least double of what we are used to in Singapore.

viii) Renting a whole apartment usually means it is totally unfurnished. But it also means you can pick and choose your housemates. Renting a room usually means it is furnished. But you can't choose your housemates.

ix) Staying in school halls is an alternative. But they tend to be noisy. Similar to the NUS and NTU hostels lah.

x) The bank charges here border on the obscene, e.g. my landlord once gana an AU$2.20 charge for withdrawing AU$20 from an ATM of another bank. That really pissed him off when the bank statement came. His most frequently made bank-related comment is "You have to pay AU$3 for farting on the bank's premises.". However, student bank accounts, e.g. this account, are available where all these charges are waived. The catch is you get near zero interest.

xi) You can get around this by opening a student bank account and link it to an internet bank account. The internet bank is quite popular in Australia although it has only taken off in Singapore recently. The grandfather of all internet accounts here should be this. But now others like this, this and this have appeared. I'm sure there are many more. Internet accounts' interest rates are typically above 5%. So put just enough for daily usage in your student bank account and throw the rest into the internet bank. 5% in Sydney vs 0.125% in Singapore! What I get in interest for one month here far exceeds what I get in one year in Singapore. *Grin*

xii) Get your AU$ changed in Singapore and not in Sydney. Over here, you will gana 10% GST. I think the Arcade, near Raffles Place MRT, offers really competitive rates.

xiii) The winter here is described as "mild". Around 10 degrees in the day and maybe 5 at night is about the worst it can get. Without a wind blowing, it is actually tolerable. But there is often a breeze blowing during winter and it can get really cold. So get yourself a windbreaker. Oh, and don't forget the seasons here are opposite of that in the northern hemisphere.

xiv) Try not to go out alone at night. Actually, just try not to go out at night. I know of many friends or friends of friends who have been robbed or mugged and offices that have been broken into. So much so that I try not to step out of the apartment once it gets dark. Actually, there was even once when my office (shared with a few others) was broken into at night when I was still in the said office! It is relatively safe in the city area at night where you can see people here and there but in the suburbs, it is absolutely deserted. And dark. You can never tell who or what is hiding behind the next corner or tree.

xv) Air tickets are cheaper in Singapore. Even for the same airline. Get return tickets from Singapore so that you never have to buy any tickets from here. Partially because of the exchange rates that currently favour the AU$. Partially because things in Sydney are just expensive.

Akan Datang: Refuge island

191 days to go.

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Remembering Gump

Last Friday night, I caught a re-run of Forrest Gump.

I didn't realise it had been so long since I watched this movie. 1994. More than a decade ago.

I had watched Gump with my first ex, at the old and dinky (was so even then, so I suppose it is even more so now) Empress theatre. During my NS. I must have watched many movies with her, but strangely, I can only remember watching Forrest Gump together. It was during the first three months of my BMT and morale was generally low. She was probably the only spark in a very bleak period of time.

As it turned out, both of us entered the same university course (I started two years later, of course) without prior knowledge of what the other had signed up for. Last heard, she is still in the actuarial line. And she has completed the exams and qualified recently. Heartiest congrats, 霞. Hope all is well for you.

OK, back to 1994/5.

I was also reminded of a non-uniformed female officer. I had been posted to another camp as it neared my ROD and got to know her at the new camp. All of us NSFs call her Ms. Tan instead of M'dm because she was non-uniformed. She turned out to be quite a sporting person. On both counts.

There was once when the group of us NSFs were trudging out of camp at the end of the working day. We heard some harried footsteps, turned around and saw Ms. Tan in T-shirt and shorts, running at her best speed whilst lugging some tennis gear and struggling a little to maintain balance.

"Ms. Tan late liao!" someone shouted.

"Yeah!" she replied as she zipped by.

As I watched her receding silhouette, inspiration hit me.

"Run, Forrest, RUN!!!" I yelled.

Spontaneous laughter broke out from everyone. Including those from other offices. Including Ms. Tan herself. She had to slow down to regain her composure, shoot a half disapproving look at me, before taking off full speed again.

I've met quite a few friendly and sporting non-uniformed officers during my NS. Sometimes, I wonder how they are now. Especially Ms. Tan. Earlier this year during my December/January break, I thought I had caught a glimpse of Ms. Tan in the MRT on the opposite platform. But before I could react, the train was gone. I hope all is well for you too, Ms. Tan.

192 days to go.

Monday, September 19, 2005

Belated pics

I finally got my hands on those pics taken at the kite festival from the previous weekend.
This is the lawn I mentioned in my previous post. Lots of stalls selling kites and such, and lots of people trying their hand at kite flying. The beach where the professionals are doing their work, is on the right, separated by the car park.
Some of the smaller kites we saw.
At one point, it seemed like it might rain. But it didn't. Blue skies prevailed again. More kites!
One of the really huge kites. I think it is supposed to be a centipede, but looked more like some character from Spirited Away.
Later on, when the camera batteries were its last legs, another biggie kite came up! A fish! No battery to zoom, only time to snap. It's the one in the middle. Similar in size to the centipede.

193 days to go.

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Therapeutic

Blogging is therapeutic for me.

A single e-mail from last night sent my well-shored defences into disarray. Perhaps I am slightly more vulnerable after the emotions of an exam. Yeah, I know it sounds downright silly, but an actuarial exam is quite an emotional experience for me. Perhaps the chains I had so tightly put in place got loosened a little by the Port I had during yesterday's Mid-Autumn party at Dan and Stef's place. Or perhaps I am just looking for something to put the blame on. It doesn't matter.

My first thoughts after writing out a lengthy reply to her e-mail was to climb into bed and try to sleep away that 澀澀 feeling. And I did. But it didn't work.

So I blog again.

Once I started peppering away at the keyboard, the sand bags started their rebuilding process and new locks for the chains were found.

Blogging is therapeutic for me.

194 days to go

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Unthreatening

A few weeks ago, I happened to catch an interview with local singer, Joi Chua 蔡淳佳, on UFM100.3. It was during the 8p.m.-12a.m. slot and the DJ was 于玲. Now, I admit to not knowing much about Joi, having only heard some of her songs on radio. But what caught my attention during the interview was a certain streak of girlishness well-camouflaged under a elegant ladylike manner and how frank she was throughout the interview. Even the DJ seemed to be enjoying herself immensely. Towards the end, Joi announced the URL to her blog, which of course I proceeded to check out. There were some pics of herself on it. What struck me was how unthreateningly beautiful she is (the second thought was strangely one of pride, that such an exquisite lady actually exists in my homeland).

I tried to recall which other artiste of recent times had left such a similar impression on me. I only came up with one name.
劉若英.

Nonetheless, their voices and songs did not impress me enough for me to want to buy their albums. Listening to them on the radio is good enough for me. I am the sort of person who will buy up ALL the albums of the artiste once I get impressed enough to pick up a first. But I wish Joi well. Oh, and she later put up a short post on her interview with UFM100.3.

So who do I feel is er... "threateningly" beautiful? 藍潔瑛, a Hong Kong actress from the 80s and 90s and 許慧欣, a recent Taiwanese singer. Indeed, I might even go beyond that and say they are both stunning.

195 days to go.

Friday, September 16, 2005

Anchors

Leading the lifestyle that I do for the past 2-3 years, I frequently get the days of the month confused. Remembering which day of week is slightly easier, but sometimes, it still slips by me. Perhaps it is fortunate that I am not a girl. :P

But there are certain times in the year when I will remember exactly which day of the month and week it is. They are like anchor points in time. Two weeks before and after these anchor points, I will know my days very clearly. Move away from them, and I will go back to my mired frame of mind, when whatever day it is doesn't really matter anymore.

So what days in the year possess such "magic" or power? The days I fly home. The days I fly back to Sydney. My niece's birthday, also our National Day which makes it even easier for it to stick to my mind. The days of my actuarial exams (known one year in advance!). The days of the release of my actuarial exam results (also known one year in advance!). Strangely (for you maybe, but not for me), my own birthday does not fall into this list. I've never really celebrated it and many a birthday has passed me by without my notice.

I suppose you realise the motivation behind this post now. Yesterday was an anchor point. So I am 100% sure that today is a Friday, and it is the 16th of September. My next anchor point is 2nd December.

196 days to go.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Check

Pens... check.

Mechanical pencil (I currently only use the Papermate Silhouette mechanical pencil. It is no longer in production. I found it on Ebay and bought a few at one go so that they might last me a decade or so! I used to use the Papermate Pacer Cassette but that is also no longer in production and not available anywhere.)... check.
Eraser... check.

Liquid Paper (yeah, I very old fashioned one, still using liquid paper)... check.

Calculator... (doubt I will need it for a communications paper but what the heck...) check.

Exam entry pass... check.

Water bottle... check.

Mints... check.

Bus ticket (Travel Ten)... check.

Planning of itinery... done.

Map to exam hall... check.

Red underwear... (just kidding!)



OK, all set. Let's go!

197 days to go.

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Measuring Amazon

I received this following e-mail from Amazon.com recently:

Amazon.com has new recommendations for you based on XXX (censored by yours truly in case eyes pop out reading how many books I own or bought :P) items you purchased or told us you own.

We recommend Luftwaffe Aces: German Combat Pilots of World War II (Stackpole Military History Series)
http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0811731774/ref=pe_arr_d_0811731774_1_txt

List Price : $19.95
Price : $13.57
You Save : $6.38 (32%)

Because you purchased or rated:

* Messerschmitts over Sicily: Diary of a Luftwaffe Fighter Commander (Stackpole Military History Series)

You are 28,017 times more likely (my own bold) to purchase this item than other customers.

We recommend Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0439784549/ref=pe_arr_d_0439784549_2_txt

List Price : $29.99
Price : $16.99
You Save : $13.00 (43%)

Because you purchased or rated:

* The Complete Peanuts 1955-1956
* The Complete Peanuts 1953-1954

You are 7.1 times more likely (again, my own bold) to purchase this item than other customers.



I'm just so so curious on how they measured or estimated that I am 28,017 and 7.1 (got point one some more) times more likely to buy those two recommended books. Got statistical proof or not? Perhaps even more pertinently, why tell it to the customer? More convincing? Hmm...

Actually, I enjoy buying books from Amazon.com. Great range of books. Prices are cheap, even cheaper than that of Singapore stores. However, once you add on the per order and per book shipping costs, the total becomes prohibitive. So I only buy from them when I really can't find the book anywhere else. And even then, I make sure I have a list of wanted books before ordering, to spread out that hefty per order cost.

198 days to go.

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Cricket

Got a little lazy last night and watched some TV. My TV is almost never switched on, so last night was a rarity. I ended up watching a little "live" cricket that happened to be on...

I discovered I was watching the last day of a 5-day match. My word, play 5 days and that is only ONE match! Then I discovered they play 5 matches; It is actually a series of 5 matches. That's a grand total of 25 days of play! Siao, right? I happened to be watching the last day of the last match. Then I found out it was called the Ashes series (weird name... why not Dust?). They also called it a test series (the commentator gave some poor explanation of why it was called a test, so why not examination leh?). After recalling what my landlord explained to me quite some time ago, and following what the commentators said, I sort of caught on with the scoring.

There was this poor British chap who got bowled out on the very first ball he faced after just coming on. Meaning, he got "kicked out" from the game by the Australian bowler. One moment he was walking slowly onto the field, then warming up, limbering and stretching. Then the Aussie bowler came up and bowled. The next moment, the English player was out and walking slowly OFF the field. I found the whole episode rather amusing, especially since 20-30,000 of his own statesmen was packing the stadium to the rafters and watching him.

I guess I still much prefer the cut and thrust of football (hands not allowed type). It's all over in 90 minutes, not 25 days. Oh and by the way, England won the Ashes series 2-1 (two matches ended in draws), their first victory in 18 years.

199 days to go. (Yay, broke 200 mark liao)

Monday, September 12, 2005

Kite festival

Yesterday, I went to Sydney's annual kite festival. I didn't know that Sydney had such a festival until Dan and Stef rang me yesterday morning! Given it will be my last September here, it would have been my last chance to catch it. So it was fortunate that Dan and Stef asked me if I was interested. Of course I was. Dan's car developed a leak in the morning, so we took public transport to the beach.

It certainly was crowded at Bondi Beach with kites going up everywhere. But Bondi Beach was large enough to accommodate the crowds that came. Part of the beach was cordoned off for the experts to put up their specially designed and very exquisite kites. We chose to sit on the sloping lawns leading up to the beach. This was where all the amateurs were flying their kites. Kids running everywhere trying their hand at kite flying. Sea gulls roaming the beach and slopes. Small tents selling kites and such, a little similar to our pasar malams. Occasionally, huge colourful kites, e.g. centipedes, fishes, go up from the experts' pit. And all this time, a timely sea breeze welcoming the kites into the skies with open arms.

Incidentally, I read somewhere that Bondi Beach is one of the top ten beaches of the world. I actually prefer Bronte and Coogee Beaches to Bondi.

After a while, my thoughts ran to my niece, 慧, who was very into kites for some time. That should be around a year ago. The pic you see above is from then. My sister and bro-in-law had brought her to the newly opened West Coast Park and there was some kite flying going on then. That pic shows how totally enthralled she was upon seeing kites for the first time. She would be even more thrilled had she been here to see the kites I've seen yesterday.

*Sigh* Wish you were here to see the kites with gu gu, 慧.

I have no pics yet to post here. They're still in Dan's digital camera. Will post once they e-mail them to me. In the meantime, enjoy these (from past festivals).

200 days to go.

Sunday, September 11, 2005

Health Insurance II - My Opinions

For a short glossary of some of the terms and acronyms I use frequently in this post, please refer to Life Insurance I, II and Health Insurance I.

A recent newspaper article commented that Singaporeans are generally well insured. According to a survey by AIA, 70% of Singaporeans have death cover and 65% have accidental death and disability cover. I believe the disability mentioned here is PERMANENT disability. And as I've previously mentioned, CI policies are very popular in Singapore. The survey reported that 57% of Singaporeans have CI cover. All these figures compare favourably with our neighbours, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong.

All very nice, wouldn't you say?

But I beg to differ. On some parts.

Yes, I do agree that on the whole, Singaporeans are pretty well-covered, life insurance-wise. Meaning, we're pretty well protected from the contingency of death. It is the health insurance part that I find rather lacking for the average Singaporean. And that's a pretty worrying trend.

The above survey results mentioned nothing about IPs, PMIs or LTCs. PMI coverage is mainly provided for via Medishield. With the recent revamp of Medishield, I feel it is now sufficient for the average Singaporean (I'm not talking about those who wants Class A wards and top class treatments). But IP and LTC cover is not even mentioned in the survey results. Because it is not developed in Asia in general? *Shrug* From my own working experience, very few Singaporean have IP and LTC cover. And very few insurers sell such products in Singapore!

So my first point is, health insurance coverage is lacking for the average Singaporean. Particularly IP and LTC cover.

Now, now, surely CI cover can make up for the lack of IP cover? No, in my opinion, not really. IP cover zooms in specifically on the income loss due to illness or accident during useful working life. It will guarantee one an income flow for as long as one is unable to work (until retirement). This does not happen for CI. One, there are certain diseases or injuries that can render one unable to carry out your own occupation, e.g. hand injury to musical instrument player, that are NOT covered by CI policies. Two, even if it is covered and a payout is made, the payout may not be sufficient if the recuperation period takes longer than expected.

These two reasons also apply for the case of LTC cover. LTC covers for the need for nursing care. This usually results from chronic conditions, i.e. not life threatening, non-recoverable but long-drawn diseases. These are definitely not in the list of critical illnesses. LTC cover again zooms in specifically on this need and meets them.

If you think about it, CI cover is sort of neither here nor there. If you gana a critical illness during your working life, and suppose you have adequate PMI and IP cover, then your medical expenses are met by your PMI policy and your IP policy ensures your dependents continue to have a stable income for daily expenses. If you gana a critical illness during your retirement years, and suppose you have adequate PMI and LTC cover, medical expenses are met by PMI and nursing care expenses are met by LTC.

CI doesn't really come in at all. Indeed, perhaps the only instance the CI comes in useful is for meeting the deductible part of PMI cover. Even that is a little weak. What if you've been warded for treatment for something NOT in the list of the critical illnesses?

And so, my second point is CI cover is not required, as long as you have adequate IP, PMI and LTC cover.

So why are CI policies so popular then, you may ask. The media. And this is a global thing, not just in Singapore. The media keeps harping on the serious illnesses like cancer, e.g. research shows that eating this or doing that raises the chances of catching such and such cancer by XX%. How many times have you read such reports? This creates and builds up a fear in all of us in catching these diseases, at the expense of those "in between" illnesses, i.e. those that can still put you off work for a sustained period of time. So all the attention goes to the CI and the IP gets ignored.

As for LTC cover, well, we rationalise this by thinking it is a long way off (to our retirement) and put off planning for it. But we CAN and should plan for LTC needs now. Assuming regular premium paying variants of LTC policies are available (they are in USA), one can get a LTC policy now. And since we get them at younger ages, the annual premiums required will be cheaper. A good reason to start early.

Actually, health insurance products are generally shunned in Singapore for another reason. It is that fixation on returns symptom again. Health insurance products are all protection type policies and do not give returns. Singaporeans hate it when they pay and get nothing back in return. I've mentioned this symptom before so go read it if you haven't already.

So my last point is the media causes unwarranted attention to be put on the CI. And fixation on returns causes people to ignore health insurance products in general.

The recent revamp of Medishield is a very positive move taken by our government. I applaud it. Indeed, I've gone further and queried the Ministry of Health if they intend to carry out future adjustments, especially to the lifetime and annual maximum claim amounts, to accommodate for inflation. The reply given to me was yes, they intend to do so and indeed, have already been doing so for some time. Very heartening news, this.

Looking ahead, I hope more can be done to educate the general public about the need for IP and LTC cover. With our aging population, each member of the working class will be supporting more from the golden generation. This puts greater importance on BOTH IP and LTC coverage. The financial strain on the working class will get greater during times of incapacity to work. And the needs for and costs of nursing care will only increase. Who will pay for all this?

We need each person to be self-sufficient as far as possible. Education is the starting point for making this happen.

Akan Datang: Preparations before coming over

201 days to go.

Saturday, September 10, 2005

Right on cue

Just 4 hours after posting that houseflies piece, it has happened. The first housefly of this Spring to fly into my room. I am in good mood today, so I just chased it out and shut my room door. I am sure it is still buzzing around in the house.

Housefly hunting season will begin after Thursday (my exam).

Still 202 days to go.

Idiosyncrasies of Spring

Ah, I saw my first Spring housefly yesterday. Yes, Spring is here again. With it comes the houseflies and moths. With it comes the lengthening days until eventually, we move into daylight savings (move forward one hour so that daylight lasts till 8p.m. or so).

The houseflies here are much bigger than those in Singapore. And they are everywhere. Yes, I mean EVERYWHERE. It is hard to imagine there being so many houseflies in the city area but there are! The species here are also of lower intelligence compared to their Singaporean cousins. The Singaporean ones are smart enough to fly AWAY from you (and towards food) but the Aussie ones actually fly TOWARDS you. Going especially for your ears, nose and mouth.

Eewwww!!! Try not to imagine.

One of my Australian lecturers explained how the Aussie accent or drawl came about. In the outback where the houseflies are really swarming (and still flying towards you), the people try to speak without opening their mouth. Try speaking English that way and you have the Aussie accent, he said.

And the houseflies here seem to operate only between certain temperature ranges. My rough gauge is 24-28 degrees. Outside of this range, they disappear. I have no idea where to. During Spring, the temperature can vary quite a lot from day to day, so it is not unusual to have a fly-free day today and flies-out-for-picnic day the next.

Oh, and houseflies are the reason for the "Australian wave". For the next six months or so, if you see some Australian minister getting interviewed outdoors on TV, watch out for it. *Grin*

The most irritating thing about houseflies is when they find their way into the house but can't find their way out. So there is a constant buzzing sound and from time to time, they will do that flying towards me stunt again. I usually get so irritated that I end up killing them.

I employ the physical method.

Try not to imagine.

The other funny thing about the houseflies here is they don't appear during Autumn, even during their optimal operating temperature range. Indeed, my favourite time of the year in Sydney is the end of February to maybe the beginning of April. Temperature range is agreeable. The days are still reasonably long. And NO houseflies.

The moths are pretty OK in comparison on the irritation scale. Some of the moths I've seen here are HUGE. I was told the moths migrate (south I think) and will pass through Sydney during this time period.

And other insects will make their appearance soon too. The cockroaches, especially in the evenings, are all over the place. Again, not very intelligent type compared to their Singaporean cousins. Some crawl lazily across your path as if asking to be flattened.

So I usually do carry out the coup-de-grace.

Again, try not to imagine.


But this is not a complaint post. I am just SO glad my final winter in Sydney is over. Now to get my final Spring here over and done with.

202 days to go.

Friday, September 09, 2005

Health Insurance I - Main Product Types

This is the continuation from my earlier soliloquy on Life Insurance (Parts I, II and III). Since I've talked about Life Insurance, I thought I should complete the picture and talk about Health Insurance too. And since I've also passed the Health actuarial paper liao... *Phew*... I suppose I am *ahem* qualified to talk about it.

For a short glossary of some of the terms and acronyms I use frequently in this post, please refer to Life Insurance I (the first bits).

Health Insurance products are all protection-type policies. So they are all of non-participating design in Singapore, although technically speaking, they could be designed as participating or unit-linked. Keeping them as non-participating helps to lower the expenses of administering them and this keeps premiums low.


Description of main product types:

Income Protection (IP): This covers the contingency of temporary (keyword) disability to work due to illness or accident. Note that permanent disability is usually covered by Life Insurance policies, under something known as total and permanent disability benefit (TPDB). So the IP is usually bought during the working life of an adult or offered as part of employees' benefits by the employer. IPs available in Singapore (and I suspect globally) are all of the regular premium paying type. Can't remember seeing a single premium paying type before.

Permanent Medical Insurance (PMI): This covers the contingency of hefty medical expenses. There are usually a lot of conditions in the PMI controlling how much and what is covered. For example, there is usually a deductible that has to be applied. This is an amount you have to pay out from your own pocket first before the PMI coverage kicks in. There is also usually a maximum amount one can claim in a year and another maximum one can claim in his/her lifetime. The Singapore equivalent of the PMI would be our Medishield. Insurers in Singapore sell policies that builds on the Medishield, something like a booster. This is mainly for people who feel the coverage provided by Medishield is inadequate or a need for better coverage (in the form of better medical services, better hospital beds etc.). Strictly speaking, the PMI is single premium paying since next year's coverage is NOT guaranteed. The insurer will send an offer to renew at the end of the year. But since renewal is almost certainly given, it is like a regular premium paying type of policy.

Long Term Care (LTC): This covers the contingency for the need of nursing care upon reaching old age. So the benefit comes in the form of regular payments of cash which can be used to pay for nursing care OR meeting of nursing care costs directly with the care provider. There are typically a few levels of care available depending on the condition of the person needing care. Therefore, LTC policies are designed with a few levels of benefit payments. Qualification for each level of benefit payment will depend on some objective tests on the person's inability to carry out certain functions such as feeding and dressing. LTCs are still quite rare in Singapore. LTCs can exist in regular premium paying (starting the policy during working life) or single premium paying forms (starting the policy only when need for long term care transpires).

Critical Illness (CI): It is arguable as to what contingency the CI actually covers. It pays out a lump sum upon diagnosis of an illness (known as critical illness) in a pre-determined list. It doesn't really exactly cover the medical expenses required nor does it cover the loss of income. These two needs are better met via the PMI and IP respectively. It could be used to pay for the deductible portion of the PMI, i.e. the portion of medical bills you have to pay from your own pocket before the PMI coverage kicks in. CIs in Singapore is VERY popular. They are often tagged onto Life Insurance policies, i.e. the Life Insurance policy pays out upon death OR diagnosis of a critical illness. Almost certainly of regular premium paying type.

Akan Datang: Health Insurance II

203 days to go.

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Gan jiong

I am normally not gan jiong about my actuarial exam(s) as it draws near. In fact, the nearer it gets to the examinations date, the calmer and more Zen I feel. I am usually a picture of peace in the final week leading to my paper.

But this time, I can actually feel a niggling gan jiong feeling starting to bite on my subconscious. So I started asking myself why. It finally struck me a few days ago.

By the way, the paper I am taking this time round is a communications paper, i.e. how to put across actuarial concepts to a certain target audience. So it does not test my technical skills, but my communications skills.

OK, so here are the reasons.

Firstly, there is LUCK involved in the paper I am taking. Despite what the syllabus might say. Despite what the examinations council has to say. After practising on quite a number of questions over the past two months, I realise there are some type of questions I have a natural affinity for and some that I really suck at. So if I gana the latter type of questions, siao liao lor!

Then there is this feeling of inadequacy because I haven't "studied" for this paper as I've done for past papers. But of course, this is due to the nature of this paper. Nonetheless, having prepared for each actuarial paper by studying actively for them (as opposed to practising) over the years, I still am not used to this changed routine of pure practising only.

After each set of exams, I will normally lose that Zen feeling. Must face up to reality and get back to (other) work mah... However, I do rather enjoy the whole cycle. Minus the getting back to work part, of course.

Akan Datang: Health Insurance I

204 days to go.

Wednesday, September 07, 2005

One of those days

Today is one of those days. Well, almost. It would be if I had chosen to eat in. I said a grand total of six words today.

"One piece fish meal."

"Thank you."

Still 205 days to go.

Love-hate relationship with the Red Devils

I'm a Red Devils fan. I had briefly mentioned this before. Fan since 1985. So it has been 20 years now. For the majority of those 20 years, Fergie has been the manager of the club. Big Ron had been the previous manager from 1981 to 1986.

Man Utd in the 80s was like Liverpool in the 90s, a big club that was perpetually underachieving. Indeed in the 89/90 season, they finished only a couple of places above the relegation positions (13th to be exact). I seem to remember there was at least once in that season when the club was actually 17th, just one position above relegation! Nail-biting, to say the least. This was all in the old English League, not the current English Premier League.

There are certain eras when being a Man Utd fan had certain stigmas associated with it.

In the 80s, it was that of being the perpetual bridesmaid in the English League. To Liverpool. That the club was the best supported in England, with the biggest stadium, added to the embarrassment. The few domestic cups won did little to lift the spirits of the fans for we knew we were still a step below Liverpool then. It is the exact same position that Liverpool is in right now. They've won quite a number of domestic cups, even the Champion's League last season, but its fans know they are still a step below the current big 3 in the EPL.

In the 90s, it was that of being a "bandwagon" fan. After winning the EPL for several seasons, Man Utd fans suddenly popped up everywhere in Singapore. These fans are either those girls who are just hankering after the suave looking players, e.g. Giggsy and Becks, and not after the football or those guys who just pick the team of the moment to support. In addition, the club and its fans became targets that people love to hate. We were accused of being arrogant and such. I suppose when the club is successful, there will always be so called "black sheep" fans who gloat about it a lot. 樹大招風. I remember feeling quite pai seh about admitting to being a Red Devils fan then. I just might get mugged. And in a strange way, Chelsea and its fans is going through this experience now, but at a much faster rate. Not surprising, given its haolian manager.

Currently, the stigma associated with a Man Utd fan is that of being suay. Firstly, the club lost the league for two seasons running. Then Man Utd lost last year's FA Cup to Arsenal despite dominating the entire match. Some more it was on penalties. But the real whammy came when this happened. The details of the sale are well-documented elsewhere so I won't bother repeating them here.

But I do want to say my piece.

It felt like selling one's soul. I felt BOTH suay and incensed then. How can such a thing happen to the club I hold close to my heart? When I admit to being a Man Utd fan now, I can almost sense the pity in other people's eyes.

I have been in a dilemma since the sale. On one hand, if I continue to support the club, I am indirectly saying I support the sale, and lining the pockets of the new owner. No way! On the other hand, I still would like to see the club enjoy success and prosper. I find myself sometimes hoping the club will do badly for one or two seasons so that sales will plummet, the new owner will be forced to sell the club and the fans can then get it back. But seeing our club do badly would be really painful to watch. Catch 22 situation.

In the end, I settled for supporting the club in my heart and NOT buying any more Man Utd merchandise. Upon qualifying as Fellow of the IOA, I will have to fly to UK to collect my scroll. I had planned all along to attend a home match at Old Trafford whilst I am still in UK. But I've since called it off. That is my way of protesting the sale.

I hope the latest stigma of being suay will pass soon.

Akan Datang: a bit the gan jiong

205 days to go.

P.S. My favourite player from the 80s is Mark Hughes (currently Blackburn's manager after a good stint as Wales manager). From the 90s, I really like Ryan Giggs and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer a lot. Who can ever forget Giggs' slalom goal in the FA Cup semis replay win over Arsenal in 1999? And who can ever forget Solskjaer's injury time winner in the 1999 Champion's League final against Bayern Munich? Sadly, Solskjaer has been injured for almost 2 years running now.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Uzbekistan and Bahrain

I so gotta blog this. This is bordering on ridiculous.

The World Cup 2006 qualifiers are ongoing. The qualifiers for Asia are just about done. Uzbekistan and Bahrain are playing each other for the right to meet another team from Concacaf (North and Central America). The winner of that will qualify for the World Cup.

The match between Uzbekistan and Bahrain just took place recently. It ended 1-0 in favour of Uzbekistan. However, the referee made an error by awarding a freekick to Bahrain instead of retaking the penalty originally awarded to Uzbekistan. In other words, Uzbekistan had the chance to go 2-0 up at that point in time.

After the match ended 1-0, FIFA declared the result void because of the wrong decision. The match will be replayed (restart from 0-0)! Wah lau eh... super kelong man! The Uzbeks must be fuming now.

You can read it here.

Slightly over 206 days to go.

So I blog

I feel maligned.

I don't wish to explain myself to her. And I didn't. She wouldn't believe me anyway regardless of what I have to say. Classic case of 越描越黑.

But I want to get it out of my system. I don't wish to burden Le Tis or 秋, and no one else knows.

So I blog.

This is the first real instance when my original intention of needing an alternative outlet is SPONTANEOUSLY put into use.

I am not angry. I do not want to get angry. I just need to get it out of my system before it has a chance to morph into anger.

206 days to go.

Monday, September 05, 2005

My landlord, Jim

I've known my landlord, Jim, for over two years now. Yes, that means I've been renting a room from him since 2003. June 2003 to be exact. He is quite forward looking in that this apartment is an investment property. The apartment he is currently staying in with his family is rented. He plans to move here when he retires eventually. In the meantime, our rent pays for his mortgage. This is not a virtue I find in the average Aussie.

Indeed, he also tells me that most Aussies live hand to mouth and do not have much in savings. And given the relatively high inflation rate here, I foresee a savings crunch for the younger generation of Australians. One, they don't save much. Two, there are fewer of them to support an ever growing older generation. Yes, Australia also has a birth rate problem. They just announced a similar to our baby bonus thing last year. Apparently, it is working, but I suspect it will be a knee jerk thing and things will settle down after a while.


Jim is Caucasian, in his fifties and his wife is Indonesian Chinese. He's pretty passionate about all things Asians and prefers to rent the apartment to Asians. That's how I got the room, I suppose. *Shrug* As they married rather late, they did not have any children of their own. But he does have stepchildren from his wife's earlier marriage. Indeed, his stepdaughter just became a mum, so Jim has just become a stepgranddad. And boy is he excited! Once I ask him something about the baby, he'll start blabbering in great length and minute detail about him. Heh, a little like me about my niece. To see such love for a STEPgrandchild is really something to behold and admire.

He's also pretty obsessed with cleanliness, so he comes around once every week to clean up the apartment. That's the main reason why I've chosen to stay here all this while. It is comforting to know how much your landlord cares about the apartment you've rented from him. Most landlords I've heard of don't bother about the apartment and come round only to collect the rent.

Jim has become my main source of information on all things Australian. I've switched off from Australian TV (other than some brilliant foreign movies they show here occasionally) after a while. So whilst I am physically in Australia, I'm still emotionally very much plugged into Singapore. Most Australian news just slide off me. Jim fills me in every week he drops by to clean the place on the main news of the week.

In a way, Jim has become like half a father to me. We talk a lot when he is around. We discuss politics, a little sports (he half taught me the rules for cricket but I still find it a boring game), family (my niece, his stepgrandson) and occasionally work. Our most recent topic was on finding the Significant Other in our lives. He is a firm believer that humans are not made to be alone and sooner or later, we will all find the Significant Other, as long as we look hard enough (I don't really agree but that's another story). Indeed, he said this to me…

"I'm worried about you."

"Me? Why?"

"You haven't found your Significant Other yet. I'm not saying you should go out and just grab some girl off the streets, but I do hope you will find her soon. Your parents don't say it, but I am sure they are worried for you too. I hope one day to be able to fly to Singapore to attend your wedding."

Coming off the back of my recent breakup (which only my mum and he knew about) and current uncertainties about 綺 (which nobody knows about), I was flabbergasted. Momentarily lost for words.


I'm lucky to have a landlord like him.

Akan Datang: Red devils


207 days to go.

Sunday, September 04, 2005

The guy behind Jit Pa Ban

OK, so I got real curious about the singer and composer of the song, Jit Pa Ban, which has been making its rounds in the local blogosphere over the past month and did some research. For the uninitiated, I suppose it started from here and then really took off when the site got tomorrowed. Recently, it has hit a second wave because of this er... remix.

Anyway, here's what I found out. The name is 黃一飛 and he is Malaysian. Not only is he a singer, but he writes and composes songs too. Yes, he wrote and composed Jit Pa Ban. Apparently, the song won him a prize (2002娛協獎"最佳方言創作金曲") and was used as the title track for a TV serial (民電"親戚不計較"片頭曲). Impressive.

He has two Hokkien albums. Jit Pa Ban is the title track of his first album, also named Jit Pa Ban, released in 2001.So this is one talented guy! I suppose some of you have already found the lyrics but here they are again (I found them here) :

作詞:黃一飛 作曲:黃一飛 編曲:謝繼麟

若是我有一百萬 一百萬 我有一百萬 一世人就輕鬆

無講無人知 講到真歹勢 吃甲彼呢大漢 擱不曾坐飛機
打拼彼多年 無車無厝擱無愛人 看人娶某擱做生意 有錢擱有勢

若是我有一百萬 我要坐飛機 我要游世界Hawaii曬太陽 日本吃壽司
若是我有一百萬 我要買車買厝山珍甲海味 啥人卡福氣來乎我做某

若是我有一百萬 一百萬 若是你有欠用錢 開嘴免客氣

無講無人知 講到真歹勢 吃甲彼呢大漢 擱不曾坐飛機
打拼彼多年 無車無厝擱無愛人 看人娶某擱做生意 有錢擱有勢

若是我有一百萬 我要坐飛機 我要游世界 義大利飲咖啡 路邊吃Spaghetti
若是我有一百萬 我要買車買厝買店來收租 閒閒免做工 帶狗去散步

若是我有一百萬 一百萬 若是你有欠用錢 開嘴免客氣
若是我有一百萬 一百萬 十千八千拿去用 免還嘛無問題 (換錢不是問題)
若是我有一百萬 一百萬

口白:喂!朋友啊,你想一百萬真多啊!

208 days to go.

Saturday, September 03, 2005

<"你不是我的不要來"鴨鴨>

As previously mentioned, my niece is a fan of all ducks. She has ducks at both her home and mine. Big or small, furry or rubber or plastic, those that can swim or float or make noises. When she takes her bath, she has a special bathing rubber duckie (like Ernie of Sesame Street does). When she draws, she inevitably begins by drawing a duck. The pic below was taken about 5 months back, she is much better at her duck drawings now.
When she goes for kiddy rides, she'll zero in on the ducks first, if any. And of course, most recently, when asked what type of birthday cake she wanted, she replied,"要鴨鴨的!". Although she has found a new 偶像 in Pingu, her craze over ducks remain undiminished.

I think the craze started because a Disney short movie (those 5-10 minutes type), The Ugly Duckling. She was still quite little when she first saw it. So we watched it (actually, all cartoons if we can) with her so as to explain to her what is happening in the cartoon. There was this scene when the mother duck chased away the ugly duckling (actually a baby swan of course). So my mum explained to her,"mee mee 鴨鴨跟 baby 鴨鴨說你不是我的不要來,baby 鴨鴨就哭哭了。"

That must've really made an impression on her because she started to refer to things that are the odd one out as "你不是我的不要來". There was once when I was back home, she started arranging all her ducks on the floor in a line. Then she started pointing to each and naming them. "這個是 pa pa 鴨鴨。。。這個是 mee mee 鴨鴨。。。" So I played along and started asking for the names of the other ducks. Heh, it wasn't long before she ran out of "relations" for names...

Now all her ducks are of the "yellow body orange beak" species except for one that I had bought for her from Sydney. It is one of those "white breast green/grey back and yellow beak" species. So I deliberately picked this duck and asked her what is its name.

"這個是。。。這個是。。。這個是"你不是我的不要來"鴨鴨!"

These names remain in use today.

Akan Datang: My landlord, Jim

209 days to go.

Friday, September 02, 2005

Life Insurance III - My Opinions

For a short glossary of some of the terms and acronyms I use frequently in this post, please refer to Life Insurance I and Life Insurance II.

If you've heard of the saying "buy term and invest the rest", actually know what it is referring to and WHY it is so, then you can basically skip the main part of this post and just read the last bit on annuities. If not, "enjoy".

Many Singaporeans (not sure if it is a global phenomenon) are fixated about earning a return on their premiums paid. So EAs and to some extent, WLAs, are very popular products. Not only that, the unit-linked variants of them are particularly hot-sellers as they give higher expected (keyword) returns.

There is another reason why EAs are so popular. The commission that insurance agents get is a percentage (keyword) of the premiums received by the insurer. Since premiums of EAs are the highest (not considering the AN), it is small wonder that agents will push to sell EAs more than the other products. And of course, they will tend to neglect the TA since its premiums are the lowest. The TA in Singapore is like some poor and lost cousin, few people bat an eyelid at it.

Now, let's go back to my previous point on the fixation on getting returns. Take a step back and ask yourself, what is the purpose of buying insurance? Is it to earn a return or is it to protect yourself/your family against some contingency? Many people start the process of buying insurance with the right frame of mind but some way done the line, they get sidetracked, attracted, mesmerised by the possibility of getting something back in return for their premiums paid. That is so wrong. Insurance is about getting protection, not making money. Indeed, the very idea of insurance was invented as a means of spreading risks amongst a large group of people so that the financial blow from any loss, when it happens, is softened for those unfortunate enough to be afflicted.

So my first point is, you're buying insurance primarily for the protection, earning returns is secondary.

Now if you want to earn decent returns on your monies, there are many much more effective means of doing so than via insurance. Why and how?

If you're getting a non-participating or participating EA, then your returns will certainly not be spectacular. The insurer has to invest somewhat prudently to be able to meet your guaranteed benefits, and remember, payout of these benefits is imminent for the EA. By "prudent", I mean they invest a large percentage of your premiums in safer, less risky assets like cash.

Another point, a much more important one, is the commissions that your premiums get hit with. This happens regardless of the policy design and premium paying types. As a guide, consider a unit-linked single premium EA. At the minimum (keyword), your premium will gana the bid-offer spread of 5%. There may be other initial costs, such as a reduced allocation. You can easily invest in a similar unit trust with similar fund objectives that attract half that initial cost. Or less. You might say only 2.5% difference mah. Well, let's see its impact with an example.

Let's say you invest S$20,000 in a fund for 20 years and it managed to earn an annual return of 6%. I ignore all other costs (I'm referring to those annual ones). For initial cost of 5%, you will get 19,000 * 1.06^20 = $60,936. if the initial cost is just 2.5%, you will get 19,500 * 1.06^20 = S$62,539. That's a difference of over S$1,600 in 20 years time.

Similar costs occur for participating and non-participating products. It is just "hidden" from you. "Hidden" in the sense that the insurer do not need to report to you how many units you have with them unlike the unit-linked products. "Hidden" in the sense that the amount you get back at the end of the day is already net of these costs.

Or an even better alternative, provided you have the expertise and large sums of money, enter the equities (stocks and shares) market on your own. Or other asset markets like bonds. The initial transaction cost will be even lower (less than 1% for the stock broker). BUT (big big keyword), do so with your eyes WIDE OPEN and do your research beforehand. If not, just stick to unit trusts.

So my second point is, if earning returns is your primary objective, you're looking for it at the wrong place.

All this discussion thus far brings us back to that saying I quoted right as the beginning, "buy term and invest the rest". Get it now?

OK, so what life insurance do I need then?

If you are asking me this question after reading the above, it means you haven't read Life Insurance I and Life Insurance II. Or you haven't paid attention whilst reading them. But I'll still spell out the answer here. You need protection type policies. That's mainly the TA and AN, and to a certain extent, the WLA. The extent of how much of each you need, is another story altogether and one I cannot answer without knowing more about your circumstances (this is not an invitation for you to e-mail me your details and ask for a specific recommendation).

The TA provides protection for your dependents from the loss of your income should you pass away during your productive working life. Unless you have no dependents, this should really be a basic component of your portfolio BEFORE you even think about investments.

Now it would be ideal if the sum assured could increase and keep pace with inflation but the TAs in Singapore are all non-participating, i.e sum assured is fixed. However, there is also an opposite effect to sort of balance that off. The potential loss of income, and hence the need for coverage decreases with age as your effective working life decreases. Actually, this latter effect overwhelms that of the former, so an average person would actually have a smaller need for death coverage as one ages.

There is actually a variant of the TA to cater for this need for decreasing coverage. It is called the Decreasing Term Assurance (DTA). The sum assured for the DTA decreases from an initial amount to zero over the policy term. Needless to say, the premiums for the DTA is even cheaper than the TA.

One strategy I've seen is to couple the TA with the DTA so that you are guaranteed a certain minimum level of coverage throughout the policy term but the overall coverage still decreases as one ages.

The other possibility is to just get a participating (keyword) WLA. This is quite a common product in Singapore. The participating part affords an increase in sum assured that broadly mirrors inflation. The WLA is still largely a protection policy, so premiums are still not too expensive (but are still more than that of the TA). During the younger ages of the policyholder, it protects the dependents in the same way as the TA. During retirement ages, it can help pay for estate duties when one passes away or even leave behind a legacy for your children.

Now, I've been neglecting something else that is very important for protecting yourself at old age. The AN. Most Singaporeans do not buy ANs upon reaching retirement age, although it provides for the most important type of coverage needed at that point in time. No, not death (go read Life Insurance I again!) but longevity. Indeed, this neglect of the AN is a global phenonmenon. Other than the USA, most other countries see little volume in AN sales. Perhaps it is because of the feeling that this is being selfish. That "I am not leaving any legacy for my children" feeling.

Indeed, it is the act of NOT getting an annuity upon retirement that should be deemed as selfish. Without the AN, you will be creating fear and pressure for both yourself and your children that your own savings will not be enough to sustain yourself for the remainder of your life. By getting that AN, you will remove this fear altogether. If you still feel the need to leave behind some form of legacy for your next generation, you can always choose to not spend all your savings upon retirement on the AN. By all means, set aside part of it as your legacy.

Oh and by the way, participating ANs do exist in Singapore. So the income stream you receive during your golden years will be protected against the forces of inflation.

So my third and final point is, the TA, the WLA to some extent, and the AN, this upon retirement, are the main product types we can all do with in our portfolio. After getting these, invest the rest of the savings elsewhere but NOT in an EA. As to where to invest, this is not the objective of this post.

Take note that we've been discussing Life Insurance all this while. I have not mentioned something equally vital yet. Health Insurance. With Life Insurance policies, we've protected our dependents from the unfortunate event of our premature death and the not so unfortunate event of our longer than expected longevity. Health Insurance is for circumstances when we fall ill. Loss of income? Medical fees? Nursing home expenses? I'll cover these in future posts once I find the time to do so.

In closing, I note a recent positive development in the sales of insurance products. There are now many agents who are licensed to sell not just insurance products but unit trusts as well. So they don't just represent the insurer, but some investment houses as well. This is a good development as the sales agents will now have a wider repertoire of investment and insurance instruments to pick from. They can then recommend to the client a cheaper way to constructing a suitable investment portfolio.

Akan Datang: 鴨鴨

210 days to go.