Thursday, December 25, 2008

Christmas is all about...

Being with your loved ones and friends taking a break from your job or worries but here I am watching DVDs all alone by myself at home.. sob.. sob..

I really need to get to know more people here, and as soon as possible or I'll be spending my weekend nights with the TV and DVD player instead of friends and girls heh...

I did go out though for Christmas lunch with my parents to Pacific Place - some mall in the city. We had Japanese food at Rakuzen, yes the same restaurant that we
(YZ & JW) went in Millenia Walk and got butchered by the price. I had the same Gyu Tataki stuff again and it was much better done here. Overall the food served is better than Sushi Tei and the decoration and ambience of the restaurant was superb. Place to bring girls to, check :D

Nicely decorated ceiling
More seats downstairs
Awesome pillars and surroundings
This mall has all the shops that you will find in a posh shopping centre in Singapore. The LV store was HUGE! And with the current currency exchange rate, the price is competitive and comparable to Singapore. Even Pedro here is cheaper than in Singapore now, which was a perfect excuse to get myself a pair of slippers though.

I also managed to pick up a PC casing yesterday and proceeded to assemble it back the whole of yesterday night which explains the slight headache (from the lack of sleep) I have while typing this post.

The box
Everything assembled - Non Lit
Assembled - LitHuge 200mm silent cooling fan
The front view
My room and stuffs are slowly falling into place now !!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Ta da my really humble table that took me a full day to assemble, set up and move to my room. Now that it is all set up, i just need to get a new PC casing and reassemble my PC to get it running.

I'm also thinking of getting a rack and fit it just above my bed so that it can house my projector and turn the room into a mini theatre. Oh yah, need speakers as well...

Modem, Router, Network HDD, S10
Strange sight?? Not in toilets here

By the way, what are all these mineral water bottles doing in some toilets, do you guys know OR want to know? This my friend, is the flushing system for the toilets!!

Enough to scare you guys for one day, I will find more strange stuff here and take pictures of it.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

DIY = Die If You try...

I went shopping for furnitures few days back and tried to be clever by getting a DIY desk thinking it would be easy to assemble it like those from IKEA.

Unfortunately I was wrong... very wrong...

Uncovering the box
1 part labelled as part no 17
The same part labelled as no 25 at the back...

I will never ever (x100) get any DIY stuff here anymore. I'll rather get an assembled furniture then to spend just the whole day figuring out which part is which.

On the bright side, i got to taste this wonderful stuff. It's called murtabak (pancake) but not the type of murtabak you get from prata stalls in Singapore. It's a dessert here so it's sweet and goes very well with black coffee.

Mouth watering ain't it!

1 side chocolates and nuts
1 side lots of cheese

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Internet speed in Indonesia...

Is as turbulent as the stock market....


These are the times that i wished i was back in Singapore...

I also went out to check out the local PC stuffs at a local mall (something like Sim Lim Square) and found out that the prices are similar (YAY!!) but only that they are in USD and not SGD...

Monday, December 15, 2008

Wedding and a dinner

I never knew being a AV coordinator of a wedding reception was that fun till i tried it myself for my sis wedding few days back. Just a few presses of the button here and there and the lights and music are up in no time.

With the wedding, more pressure is on me as I'm the last one single =| Not like it's such a bad thing right.


View of the hall from the AV room

Another wedding next door

After which, we had a parting dinner with my bro-in-law family who came from Malacca for the wedding and the weekend at a restaurant near our house.

Sorry guys but this wins all Indonesian restaurant in Singapore and you guys aren't here to taste it.

We were seated at 3 tables and each had 10+ dishes!!! The pictures here really don't do the dishes any justice at all
Restaurant Signage
The Food
The ending damage

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Back in Indonesia

Negaraku yang tercinta, Indonesia.

Well i am back here, rebuilding my life in this country from now on. Surprisingly saying Indonesia is a much better country than the one 2 years back is an understatement.

For one, the internet infrastructure is a lot better now as i'm typing this post at a local mall 5 mins away from my house. The wi-fi here is much faster than wireless@sg as probably only a handful of people are utilising it. And with my S10 I can sit here up to 5 hours at a cafe without lugging along my charger.

More about this mall, it has a splendid cinema, an arcade with games at half price than those in Singapore (including WCCF, no Sanguo sadly). There is also a billiard parlour rivalling those in Japan and to top it off, someone will help you to arrange the balls. It's like malls in Indonesia is a totally different world to the one outside it and i'm liking it... a lot!

My 1st dinner in Indonesia after 1 yr ++

Indonesia's own 茶餐厅

Christmas decoration in the mall

WCCF machine lol


As for the moment, I will still continue to use my Singapore no but should be replaced by my local no soon. Will update in on my MSN and here. *Updated, my local line is 0878-8393-3698

As for internet at my house, i've applied and it should be active from end of the week onwards, hopefully...

Pictures should be up soon, forgot to bring my sd card converter out -_-;


Monday, July 28, 2008

また復活するか・・・おいおい

What's past is past...

And i did recall your name Bernard :)

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

My new room !!

I moved in to my sis room as it has been renovated and no one is using it :D

Overall view
Compartments below the wooden platform
Wardrobe
Lao-Ya Bed
Work table




Sunday, May 11, 2008

EPL 07/08 CHAMPION

EPL 07/08 Champions

We shall repeat this on and on and on till i say so (*゚∀゚)アハハ八八ノヽノヽノヽノ \ / \/\


How befitting this match went. Scholes to bring us to the finals of the champions league and Giggs to deliver us our 17th championship trophy. Did i just hear the gods whispering to his angels to give Gary Neville the gift of flight to send us to the peak of competitive football - Champions League?

pictures courtesy of espnsoccernet

Friday, May 9, 2008

終わらない宴会はない

I have always thought that i was strong in the affairs of the heart, immune to break ups and seperations regardless of whether it was between friends or families. After all throughout 23 years of my life, i have been spent most of them away from my siblings, parents and friends at some point of the time. Never did i know, i was never that strong... that i have just been briefly tested all this while.

Some may know that my eldest sister has finally flown off to Lyon, France as my brother-in-law received a good job offer there. My niece has gone over as well and suddenly the house looks and sounds so empty. Strangely this time, i really felt a part of my life was lost when they left.

Recently our company's representatives from our sites in Philippines, Taiwan, China and Japan met up for the semicon show that ended last wednesday. When it came to the final dinner on wednesday to celebrate for the success of the show, i felt the same strange tingle in my heart again this time. I was so reluctant for them to return to the hotel knowing this may be my last year i am going to work for this company.

And still i know that seperations are not an ending to relationships, they are but just a beginning to another chapter of my life. I will still be able to see them again at some point of time, somewhere in this rapidly shrinking world. But for now, till the inevitable return to Indonesia at the end of the year, i know my heart will be aching for company from friends and families.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

MOSKAU! MOSKAU!

After 10 long years, we are finally back in contention for the finals of the Champions League. Ten long years we have waited for the legendary Paul Scholes to bring us to the brink of greatness once more !!


It has been a long time for us Manchester Utd fans who last tasted Champions League glory 10 year back in '99. I could still remember waking up early in the morning, to find Man Utd down by a goal and it was already the 73rd Minute. I immediately sat down on the sofa and cheered for them in my heart, begging them to fight back 1 solitary goal to bring the game into extra time and hopefully scoring a goal or winning the penalty.

Alas it was not to be... Because we did even better by scoring 2 goals in the injury time to bring the Champions League trophy (ノ゚Д゚)八(゚Д゚ )ノイエーイ

How fast has times passed by since i was still a secondary school student, awestrucked by that game and couldn't help but gush about the game the whole day that fateful day. I hope to relive that feeling again, this time in magnificient Moscow!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Deja Vu

So once again... I am back to blogging again after almost 2 months of no news or update from me. The reason is because i am so bored here in the office today, bleh.

To start off with maybe I'll show off what i bought in these 2 months of inactivity online. NEW home audio setup !! (●⌒∇⌒●) わーい


You are looking at the setup of FubarII (DAC) <-> LD MK II (AMP) <-> K701 (Headphone). Now i can listen to my music at home in peace and comfort though i have a 1 yr old niece that loves to play in my room and.

Seriously the headphone produces such a sweet sound that it leaves you in awe when listening to orchestra/instruments songs. Of course it still does a decent job playing my J-Pop collection but admittedly bass is not its strength. The tube amp on the other hand is so mesmerising to look at night but it does get too hot after a while that you can't touch it without scalding your hand.


Sunday, February 3, 2008

Shattered...

Oh how was i obliged to write this review on a movie titled "shattered". At first glance the cast of the show featured Pierce Brosnan (007) and Gerard Butler (300) - ironic eh, numbers - so i was actually looking forward to the show as i love these guys. The show started out at a nice pace actually, setting up the settings of Neal's (Gerard Butler) family and the relationships of people involved. Then the plot kicks in where Neal and his wife was hijacked (by Pierce Brosnan) on his car and ordered to do lots of mind boggling stuff. At the end it was revealed that he was having an affair with the wife of Pierce Brosnan and that was why he hijacked them.

How i wish the movie just ended at that point because the ending really made me DU LAN! I won't spoil it for you guys but it was perplexing enough to make wanna go up to the screen and tear it with my bear hands and demand my $8 and 1.5 hours of my life back. I have watched many bad movies with bad acting or bad story lines but this movie's ending is really so bad that it leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, tongue, jaws, eyes, ears, whole BODY !!!!!

Oh yah, i watched it at AMK Cathay and i had the time to go over to 3 Guo machines and watch some people play. It was bad.. i don't even know why these people still play.

Friday, February 1, 2008

My Precious ~LW

YAY!!

I'm getting back my livewires today from Jaben.

Will post the remolded earphones pictures later :D

Off i go to pick up my baby.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

CNY countdown in 8 DAYS!!!

新年要到了,新衣服买了吗?

Unfortunately XD no new clothes for me this year. Just can't be bothered anymore as i'm fine wearing my current batch of clothes. Anyway this year, i'll be spending CNY with my parents and one of my aunts in Singapore. We have no relatives here, just one family friends who live very near us so no need to spend time to 拜年. Instead as usual we will have a big steamboat dinner for our 团圆饭, with big crabs, prawns and fish yummy (●⌒∇⌒●) わーい

On the other hand, i'm beginning to plunge into the world of headphone and i just got one Grado SR80 online. Thank you buy.com for your ever cheap prices and support キタ(゚∀゚)ッ!! Will do a review on it when it reaches next week. Now i will have to worry about Amps, USB DACs for my headphone.. oh headphone stand $$$$

8 more days !!!


Thursday, January 17, 2008

CNY 2008 Horoscope

Wah according to next year's chinese horoscope, mine is quite hong kan 工エェェェ━━━Σ(о・Д・о)━━━ェェェエエエ工

Taken from http://www.jmine.com/ if you want to see an outlook of next year.

-------------------------------
Piggies

General

For those who are born in the year of the Pig, though you have moved away from the unstable year of 2007, this year is not going to be easy for you too. Your health will be one of your top concerns this year. You are more prone to falling ill. It is more important to conserve your energy. Though you may have very outstanding performances in your career, you need to be very selective in who your allies are because there tends to be more power struggles this year. You will find that there are not many people who can help you. It is important to keep positive thoughts and surround yourself with positive people.

Career

On the career front, there are many power struggles. Office politics and unhealthy competition does not help matters. You need to be careful in who you choose to be your allies and also be careful of not getting involved in unnecessary matters. You will need to put your foot down where necessary. Do not let others push you into a corner. This is the time that you need to revise and implement your political skills. Focus your energy on doing your work well and you will find that you are able to produce excellent results. If you are in business, you will be able to stabilize your business this year. However, do not act aggressively. Go slow and steady and you will be able to achieve more in the long run.

Office politics orz _| ̄|○

Never mind, slow and steady win the race

Wealth

Money matters could be quite tight this year. Avoid investments.

Does this means no more singapore pools outing? orz _| ̄|○

Relationship

If you are in a relationship, you will have a loving year. You will get the support from your spouse or partner through these unstable days. If you are single, you will have a high chance of finding the love of your life this year.

This year is the chance !! And the only good point for piggies this year

Health

Not good. You will be more prone to fall ill because your immune system is especially low this year. Due to a lack of rest and spreading yourself too thin, you will increase your risk of being accident-prone. Please pay extra attention to your health in terms of having a healthy diet, keep your stress levels in check and do exercises regularly.

must.... live.... thru.... this.... year

People

People could be quite nasty to you this year. You need to focus on what you want to accomplish and keep your eyes focused on your goals. Do not get distracted by gossip and power struggles. Remember to be calm and adopt your diplomatic skills.

maybe people from the 3 guo community?

---------------------------------------

Monday, January 14, 2008

Ultimate Ears and Etymotics Earphones

Hi People, currently i am selling these earphones in my free time. If anyone of you know any friends who are looking for earphones from these 2 brands can refer them to me. It is definetely much cheaper than local retail price XD

Ultimate Ears

Super.fi3 Studio (White, Clear, Black, Red) For SGD115

Super.fi4 vi (for iPhone users) For SGD240

Super.fi5 Extended Bass (Black) For SGD250

Super.fi5 Extended Bass (White) For SGD250

Super.fi5 Pro (Black) For SGD300

Super.fi5 Pro (White) For SGD300

Super.fi5 Pro (Clear) For SGD300

Etymotics

Etymotics ER6i For SGD145

Etymotics ER4P For SGD305

Etymotics ER4S For SGD 325

Grado

SR60 Headphones For SGD125

SR80 Headphones For SGD170

SR125 Headphones For SGD275

Pelican Cases

1010 size pelican boxes with foam set for SGD50

Different sizes and colours available

Pelican boxes are watertight, auto pressure adjustment storage compartments. You can store your electronic equipments in them to prevent moisture from damaging them during travelling. It can also withstand knocks very well as it has a crush proof, poly carbonate body. I'm personally using it to store my ipods, earphones, handphones during travelling.

Sunday, January 13, 2008

WANTED !!

Need Help!!

Searching for the below arcade game that has been getting scarcer by the day in Singapore.

To be precise, i'm looking for the first 3 games listed there, KOV, KOV plus and KOV Super Heroes. If anyone knows which arcade has them, please tell me okay !

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

IEM Reviews

I started paying interests to In Ear Monitors (IEMs, read definition below) when i chanced upon one that my friend wore in 2005. It was a Shure e4c andmy first impression was that it looked cool because of the design and the way you wear it over your ears unlike ordinary earphones. I was unimpressed though with the amount of money i need to spend to get it as i felt it was unnecessary. I mean how different could the sound be coming out from a SGD20 earphones and a SGD200 earphones.


Few years down the road, i am now an owner of 6 IEMs and they all have a special place in my "ear". Since i have the time to do it now, i will give some reviews about the IEMs that i own. Will start slowly from the basic IEMs to those outrageously priced ones for easy reference to noobs.

Panasonic RP-HJE50 (SGD50)


This was my first ever IEMs and earphones that costed me more than SGD50 and i remember buying it at the Best Denki store in Takashimaya in December 2005. I didn't really pay attention to the different types of earphone and just took this and payed for it. The sound is decent as you get a good seal by pushing it deep into your ears, as such bass was present but standard. However there was always a problem of tangled wires when i chucked it into my bag as the cable is very long if you use the extension. Eventually one side of the driver spoilt due to constant tugs and unfortunately it embarked me on an expensive hobby.

Ultimate Ears Super.Fi3 Studio (SGD159)


I bought this online just because it had a super big discount off the retail price even after factoring in the shipping cost from US. Honestly, i've never been a fan of UE's IEMs as it just doesn't fit as well as the rest available in the market. Rather than placing it inside the ear canal, the UE's were designed (i presumed) to just block off the entrance of the ear canal. Therefore you still can hear external sounds even when the music is playing. But this also meant that if you can get it to fit, it should be more comfortable if wearing for long hours as it does not irritate the ear canal. Ultimate i sold this off after a few weeks because i didn't really like the way it fits in my ear, though the sound is great for the price. It had enough bass, mids and highs and for the built of the earphones and superb customer service of UE, this has to be the earphone to beat for the price.

Westone UM 1 (SGD179)


The westone UM1 was the IEM that i bought right after my HJE-50 died on me in 2006. It was after long hours of reading threads in audiophiles forum that i decided this is what i needed. And i wasn't far off, the Westone shines in the way it reproduces out machine recorded voices back as how it would be when you have the singer singing directly infront of you. Their sound IMHO is the most non-mechanical i've heard from each company's IEMs. To top it off, the fit was excellent and comfortable with the soft comply tips. I could hear with it all day and not complain of tiredness in the canals. Till now i'm still occasionally listening with the UM1s, definetely a classic to me.

Ultimate Ears Super.Fi5 Extra Bass (SGD250)


I was actually deciding between the SF5 EB and SF5 Pro until Amazon decided it for me by reducing the price of the EBs by almost half. From there it was easy to decide as quality per dollar definetely sided with the former. AND i'm glad i picked the EBs as the bass was mind blowing. All along i've really loved the Westone's sound signature for its great clarity but the EBs introduced bass like i've never listened to before. Genres that are especially great with the EBs are acoustic, jazz and musicals as they have a lot of hidden bass that only the EBs bring out. But on the other hand, it can be quite noisy for already bassy rock songs. Also since it is louder, we have to take care of the level of the volume as you may get a headache if listening to songs at high volume. The EBs is like a best supporting actor(ress) and therefore is great only as a 2nd pair of IEMs if you want to listen to your music with a different sound.

Livewires - LW (SGD450)


*WINNER*

I've got nothing bad to say
about these babies as they are right now, the best IEMs i've ever owned or listened to. 1 big reason is because the LW is a custom IEM done according to each and everyone's ear impression. The result you should get is super comfort, isolation and detailed music because it fits perfect. You can wear it to sleep even, as you wear it flushed so there is nothing jutting out. You can even use it as an ear blocker (or whatever it is called) to block almost faint external noise even without music on it. The bass though is not as thumping as what users expected but i felt it was good enough to complement most songs. And i've got myself a SF5eb anyway if i suddenly feel like a bass head.

Oh i had the mylars X3 as well but uh... let's not review it, its just not my type.

* IEM (In Ear Monitor) is different from normal earphones in a way that its driver tip is usually protruded to allow the tip to enter the ear canal and create a seal to block out external noise. This way you can actually hear more details in a song and experience a new way of how your music sound. On top of that, since it extends into the ear canal, you are now able to reduce the volume thus protecting your ears and at the same time less annoying to people around you.

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Competition... Does it exist in Singapore?

Competition means 2 or more parties (companies) acting INDEPENDENTLY to secure the business of a third party (customers) by offering the most favorable terms.

So by definition companies should actually try their best, offering their best prepositions for us (customers) to choose but is this what is happening in Singapore. Their decisions to price their offers should not be affected by other companies offer BUT should be in the best interest of the customers. Or at least i personally think it does not happen the way it should be. So are we getting the best offer for what we are paying for or what we elected for?


We see a lot of examples, for example the telecommunication industry. It used to be only Singtel in the past (10?15? years back) offering customers telephony and internet service. Then few years back, the government decides to deregulate the industry to "increase" competition and up sprang M1 and Starhub to challenge Singtel. At the start it was good, we had more services (incoming call free??) offered to us and different way of charging (per second billing) that made our bill lower. Therefore Singtel had no choice but to come up with better offers and that is what competition does.

But after a few years, the competition suddenly became stagnant. Companies started to offer the same price plans and service and price them at almost exactly the same price as their competitors. YES we occasionally get "upgrades" but actually those are just paper upgrades as we still get the same shitty service.

Let me offer another example that has been making quite a lot of hoo-haa recently. Taxis used to be provided by Comfort and Yellow Top Cab only in the past. Only until a few years back then we see Premier, SMRT, etc coming in to "increase" the competition. But in view of the current raise in taxi charges, we once again see that competition does not exist.

When comfort adjusted taxi charges to "solve" taxis supply and demand, instead of taking this opportunity to show us that they will offer us something better, the other companies decided to follow with the adjustment and left us the customers to fend for ourselves.
They gave us quite a few reasons such as increasing cost, the need to reduce subsidies etc. This even after they continue to post healthy profits year after year. This is definetely wrong.

It is sad to point out that these companies behave more like a cartel instead, signing a peace treaty to control market prices and thus limiting the need for competition among each other.

I don't even understand why many singapore brands/services are labelled as world class when they have a lack of competition domestically to even prove they are one. The only

Monday, January 7, 2008

あけまして、おめでとうございます!

Phew... Time really pass by so quickly, i didn't even realise that this is my first entry for 2008.

Looking back, 2007 has been really good to me in terms of wealth, health and relationships (with friends and families that is...) ☆☆ For 2008, I'm really looking forward to this year as this may be the last full year i'll be spending in Singapore. As some of you may know, I should be leaving Singapore for good at the end of the year, back to my home country. I really hope to spend more time with friends, especially those who have been with me from Secondary or Polytechnic till now. They are the only reason why i have not returned much earler.

2008 will also be the year that my 2nd sis will be getting married. Talks will be held during CNY 2008 between the parents to set an auspicious date. This also means that i will be spending CNY here !! WAI !! (●⌒∇⌒●) わーい Anyway i won't be getting Ang Pao anymore at this age so, no reason for me to spend money on air ticket to travel back just for 3(?) days.

As for myself, i'm not in a rush to look for the special one although i don't mind meeting one anytime soon. Would be great if she was Japanese nom nom Zzz(´ー`)ヾ(・・` < ......... WHAT !! Can't i dream?