Urgh... I am sooo sooo full! Haha, to celebrate the last day of the month, went KTV this afternoon at Party World Orchard. Met up with Siew Li and Minghui. Minghui is pregnant with her second child! Congratz!
After KTV, I almost fainted from hunger. Siew Li suggested Korean food and I remembered there's one at Far East Plaza. Never ate there before so both of us went over to check it out. It looks like contemporary Korean restaurant with bright green color as its theme. The waitress seems to be foreign (maybe Korean?). We took the dinner set for 2 priced at $59+++.
The appetizers consists of 8 dishes. Got potato, kimchi, salad, vege, bean sprouts, french beans, steam eggs and one jelly like thingy (didn't like the last one). Got two plates of meat for BBQ; chicken and pork collar. One small plate of vege to wrap the BBQ (with garlic, carrots and zucchini). One bean paste sauce for the BBQ. One ginseng chicken and lastly one bibimbap.
The meat was well marinated and very tasty after BBQ'ing. They gave us the chicken thigh meat which was good 'coz I dun like chicken breast. The ginseng chicken portion was good enough to feed 3. The best part of the ginseng chicken that I liked, was the glutinous rice in the chicken. Very very nice! All the essence of the goodness went into the that I think! Haha!
The bibimbap was ok I guess. I won't know how does a good bibimbap taste like. It has lots of vege and beansprouts in it. The bibimbap was just enough for 2. After finishing it, we realized that we didn't taste any meat in it, although it was supposed to have pork somewhere in there. (It was supposed to be beef but Siew Li doesn't take beef).
The wait staffs are polite and helpful. They offered to mix the rice for us. Asked us whether we wanted them to help us portion the soup and the rice. So nice. Our task was just to eat, enjoy the food and later pay money. Very simple. Hahaha!
Oh, got fruits also when we asked for the bill. Some thin slices of watermelon and honeydew. Actually, I think the food was a little too much for 2 ladies. Even if I'm very hungry, just cannot finish all of it lor. In the end, most of the appetizers were still there (we tried our best!), ginseng chicken still have some of the chicken left (all the glutinous rice were polished off!).
I looked at the other tables, and saw this one with two ladies and one young boy (probably about 10 to 12 years old). They had one pancake dish, one soup dish, one hot plate dish, one fried 'nian gao' dish, and each had one bowl of rice. Actually saw a lot of tables had this fried 'nian gao'. Maybe should try it one day.
In the end, the total was $70 for dinner. Next time probably it'll be a better idea to have 3 people eating the set for 2.
The restaurant name is SU Korean Cuisine. Located at Far East Plaza #01-21.
31 May, 2007
waraku
Waraku at Marina Square. Had dinner with the whole gin gang except Florence who was in BKK and Yong Yew (who since 2007, is no where to be found!) and Melody. So this post is for their benefit (if they ever comes in...)
Seems like this Waraku is quite a happening place with so many diners wanting to eat there. Amazing! But I think all the wait staff looked very harrassed! Too many customers, too many dishes and too many orders that are not synchronized (meaning, customers from 1 table tend to order at different times... such as our table for example!)
Heng, Gerry made reservations so we could go in at 7+. I heard from someone in the queue that they had to wait for an hour. But then, we also waited for HC and Gerry for like close to one hour lor...
We got the private room since we have 10 of us (which could be not a good thing, as private room means you're usually out of their sight, so when you wanna order something, you gotta stand outside the room looking like an idiot (as Charles put it himself!) till they walk past and notice you. Haha! One thing impressive is that the wait staff (although could be better trained), they were quite polite and courteous. Well, anyone who helps to take the customers (sometimes stinking) shoes and place them in the cupboard deserves a compliment!
The menu is as what you see online. Here's what some of us ordered:
Luke ordered Hokkai Tororo, raw stuffs and cold soba infused with cooked egg white
Chirashi something something (the name too long to pronounce) - Adeline ate this
My Tonkatsu Ramen - very tasty but a little bit too salty but still nice!
Gerry had this as side dish and her main is same as Luke's (didn't post what Han Chuan ate, 'coz it didn't look nice.. two noodles (cold) and one rice dish)
Charles had this, I think.. the beef wazen (oops Charles, from the pictures seems like you can pour the egg onto the burning plate. Haha, sorry la.. even Wang Ying said dun pour in mah... cannot blame us for our ignorance :P )
Gina also brought her puffs for us to try. You can view the pics and recipe here.
Aaron (the happy baby) was manhandled by alot of people. Nicholas, Charles, Hong Wee, Adeline, Gina all took turns to hold the baby (all practicing for future ha?) He seemed to like Hong Wee the most! Well, after being forced to pose for picture so many times, Aaron was slightly agitated and complained to Han Chuan (that is he made these cute cute sounds that only Han Chuan and Gerry can understand and pacify him). Haha!
Special thanks to Han Chuan for organizing the event, Gerry for making the reservations and Gina for the tasty (but not enough filling inside the puff) puffs.
Seems like this Waraku is quite a happening place with so many diners wanting to eat there. Amazing! But I think all the wait staff looked very harrassed! Too many customers, too many dishes and too many orders that are not synchronized (meaning, customers from 1 table tend to order at different times... such as our table for example!)
Heng, Gerry made reservations so we could go in at 7+. I heard from someone in the queue that they had to wait for an hour. But then, we also waited for HC and Gerry for like close to one hour lor...
We got the private room since we have 10 of us (which could be not a good thing, as private room means you're usually out of their sight, so when you wanna order something, you gotta stand outside the room looking like an idiot (as Charles put it himself!) till they walk past and notice you. Haha! One thing impressive is that the wait staff (although could be better trained), they were quite polite and courteous. Well, anyone who helps to take the customers (sometimes stinking) shoes and place them in the cupboard deserves a compliment!
The menu is as what you see online. Here's what some of us ordered:
Luke ordered Hokkai Tororo, raw stuffs and cold soba infused with cooked egg white
Chirashi something something (the name too long to pronounce) - Adeline ate this
My Tonkatsu Ramen - very tasty but a little bit too salty but still nice!
Gerry had this as side dish and her main is same as Luke's (didn't post what Han Chuan ate, 'coz it didn't look nice.. two noodles (cold) and one rice dish)
Charles had this, I think.. the beef wazen (oops Charles, from the pictures seems like you can pour the egg onto the burning plate. Haha, sorry la.. even Wang Ying said dun pour in mah... cannot blame us for our ignorance :P )
Gina also brought her puffs for us to try. You can view the pics and recipe here.
Aaron (the happy baby) was manhandled by alot of people. Nicholas, Charles, Hong Wee, Adeline, Gina all took turns to hold the baby (all practicing for future ha?) He seemed to like Hong Wee the most! Well, after being forced to pose for picture so many times, Aaron was slightly agitated and complained to Han Chuan (that is he made these cute cute sounds that only Han Chuan and Gerry can understand and pacify him). Haha!
Special thanks to Han Chuan for organizing the event, Gerry for making the reservations and Gina for the tasty (but not enough filling inside the puff) puffs.
30 May, 2007
riyo mori
riyo mori - ms universe 2007
Hmm... thought her photo after her crowning looks the nicest, the other shots (found in the miss universe website) of her was like nothing outstanding. In fact, the swimwear photo of her looked very 'hiao', the evening gown one was ok, while the one wearing national costume was the worse of the lot! Bad photographer!
Read more about Riyo Mori here.
kurana chibana - 1st runner up ms universe 2006
There's quite a number of supporters for kurana (Luke, are u one of them?)
Closer to home, here are our contestants this year:
Ms Singapore - Jessica Tan
Ms M'sia - Adelaine Chin
Don't they all look the same after a while?
29 May, 2007
japanese dining sun
Had dinner with Wendy at Japanese Dining Sun (Chijmes). Wanted to go to Sun with Moon at Wheelock but decided to try the original one at Chijmes (nearer to my workplace but then I was still late... -_-''') Well, I could've been there like 10 minutes earlier but somehow, I kind of forgotten where Chijmes was... went one big round before finding it. To tell the truth, haven't been there since... since 3-4 years ago?
I was quite apprehensive about dining there as its a fine-dining restaurant. Never dine at any fine-dining restaurants before. Hmm.. that one at Prego does it count? Probably not... What they reviewed in 2005 was right... kind of hard to find the entrance to the restaurant! However, along the way, noticed that there's this cafe/pub that has the pretty waitresses dressed in Japanese maid outfit. Hmm.. but that's nothing to do with this story.
Ok, anyway, the pictures in the menu were interesting. They have lots of stuffs on the menu. Prices range from $3 (dessert) to $120 (something like a grand set for one person). So we ordered chicken wings and caesar salad for starters, and unagi and clams kamameshi (japanese rice pot dish). The place was kind of deserted on weekdays. We were the only few there at around 7+ and probably about 5-8 tables were taken by 830pm.
So, they served us the salad and wings pretty fast. The salad was interesting, as the bowl, was made out of fried cheese (and some fish perhaps? Not sure but that was what we thought it tasted like... some fishy cheese or... cheesy fish? Hmmm...) And I thought the vege looked alot like 'dou miao'... Wings were ok, as you can't go wrong with fried stuffs.. and since its chicken wings(my favourite chicken part), I have no compaints! But they gave us the wrong rice pot, so it was confisticated back after one minute. Then after some time, they gave us the right one.
The kamameshi was nice. It had chunks of unagi, bits of chestnut, clams, some beans and soya flavoured rice. It may looked small, but it was enough to feed two of us. For desserts, we ordered the tofu cheesecake and sesame ice-cream. Was kind of hard to pretend that we're doing something japanese when the waitress repeated our order and said, "Oh, taufooo cheesecake ah?" Pengz!
Anyway, the tofu cheesecake was really, really small for $5. Same for the ice-cream as 1 scoop is already $4. But ok la, fine-dining mah... so need to charge accordingly. But it was nice. I liked both. Then Wendy ordered something exotic. Grape vinegar with soda. Drinking vinegar is suppose to be good for health. Luckily, it tasted alright. More soda than vinegar.
Total bill was less than $55 for 2 person, which was pretty good as one reviewer once said, "A budget of $50 per person can get you a decent meal even if you order a la carte. " We ordered ala-carte, and ate until we pengz.. and all within budget. Woohoo!
Good experience (and i thought i saw june chua.. but then maybe not...) and shows that fine-dining restaurants as Japanese Dining Sun should not be that intimidating. There are somethings in the menu that are still within budget. But of course, a very big THANK YOU to Wendy for sponsoring tonights dinner! *muaks*
I was quite apprehensive about dining there as its a fine-dining restaurant. Never dine at any fine-dining restaurants before. Hmm.. that one at Prego does it count? Probably not... What they reviewed in 2005 was right... kind of hard to find the entrance to the restaurant! However, along the way, noticed that there's this cafe/pub that has the pretty waitresses dressed in Japanese maid outfit. Hmm.. but that's nothing to do with this story.
Ok, anyway, the pictures in the menu were interesting. They have lots of stuffs on the menu. Prices range from $3 (dessert) to $120 (something like a grand set for one person). So we ordered chicken wings and caesar salad for starters, and unagi and clams kamameshi (japanese rice pot dish). The place was kind of deserted on weekdays. We were the only few there at around 7+ and probably about 5-8 tables were taken by 830pm.
So, they served us the salad and wings pretty fast. The salad was interesting, as the bowl, was made out of fried cheese (and some fish perhaps? Not sure but that was what we thought it tasted like... some fishy cheese or... cheesy fish? Hmmm...) And I thought the vege looked alot like 'dou miao'... Wings were ok, as you can't go wrong with fried stuffs.. and since its chicken wings(my favourite chicken part), I have no compaints! But they gave us the wrong rice pot, so it was confisticated back after one minute. Then after some time, they gave us the right one.
The kamameshi was nice. It had chunks of unagi, bits of chestnut, clams, some beans and soya flavoured rice. It may looked small, but it was enough to feed two of us. For desserts, we ordered the tofu cheesecake and sesame ice-cream. Was kind of hard to pretend that we're doing something japanese when the waitress repeated our order and said, "Oh, taufooo cheesecake ah?" Pengz!
Anyway, the tofu cheesecake was really, really small for $5. Same for the ice-cream as 1 scoop is already $4. But ok la, fine-dining mah... so need to charge accordingly. But it was nice. I liked both. Then Wendy ordered something exotic. Grape vinegar with soda. Drinking vinegar is suppose to be good for health. Luckily, it tasted alright. More soda than vinegar.
Total bill was less than $55 for 2 person, which was pretty good as one reviewer once said, "A budget of $50 per person can get you a decent meal even if you order a la carte. " We ordered ala-carte, and ate until we pengz.. and all within budget. Woohoo!
Good experience (and i thought i saw june chua.. but then maybe not...) and shows that fine-dining restaurants as Japanese Dining Sun should not be that intimidating. There are somethings in the menu that are still within budget. But of course, a very big THANK YOU to Wendy for sponsoring tonights dinner! *muaks*
26 May, 2007
pasar malam
Pasar malams in S'pore runs for very long. It's almost like a funfair... only most of the times, without the fun? hahaha! I think usually, it runs for 2-3 weeks for a stretch! The biggest I've ever seen is in Woodlands ('coz land is abundance over there, I suppose) where they built this huge contraption that shoots ppl to the sky! Ahh, perhaps exaggerated abit but yeah, got such thing you know, honestly!
Anyway, there's one over at my place now. I've bought the yummiest nasi lemak ($1.50 only) from a malay stall and couple with a deep fried drumstick ($1.50... yalar.. expensive.. but cheaper than KFC!), and you'll have a satisfying meal for $3 in total. There's also this stall selling the fried chicken chop Taiwan style, but I've yet to try it. Tried the okonomiyaki (squares of flour with crabstick and cabbage) from another malay stall, but it was like.. yucks... $2.50 somemore.. I want my money back! Also, there's this uncle that sells small little cute young coconuts for $1. Very sweet! (the coconut... not the uncle -_-''')
The keropok lekor here also very expensive... 4 pieces for $1. I think Malaysia cheaper. The pasar malams here and M'sia are different. There's a pasar malam at my hometown (opposite my house) every Tuesday. But to tell the truth, I think I've only been there like once. Dun fancy crossing the road in the middle of the night... very dangerous coz my house is facing the main road and lots of accidents happened at that junction before.
I've been to the pasar malam at Seri Petaling (courtesy of the KL office trip previously). Very fascinating.... I even saw one van selling smelly tofu caught fire. Very drama... Also, you can find beggars (not those healthy kind that just sits there... these are really no hand no leg kind that sprawled on the road... ) Also lots of happening food can be found at the pasar malam. Char kway teow, zhu chang fen (M'sian style with yong tau fu sides), fried carrot cake, chong you bing (onion pancakes), laksa etc. Also got stalls selling fish (although I suspect not that fresh), vegetables, dried goods, fruits, cakes and breads.
ps: today saw the coconut uncle raised the price to $1.20... walao, just because demand is higher, then can suka suka raise the price? (ed: of course can la..) boycott boycott!
Anyway, there's one over at my place now. I've bought the yummiest nasi lemak ($1.50 only) from a malay stall and couple with a deep fried drumstick ($1.50... yalar.. expensive.. but cheaper than KFC!), and you'll have a satisfying meal for $3 in total. There's also this stall selling the fried chicken chop Taiwan style, but I've yet to try it. Tried the okonomiyaki (squares of flour with crabstick and cabbage) from another malay stall, but it was like.. yucks... $2.50 somemore.. I want my money back! Also, there's this uncle that sells small little cute young coconuts for $1. Very sweet! (the coconut... not the uncle -_-''')
The keropok lekor here also very expensive... 4 pieces for $1. I think Malaysia cheaper. The pasar malams here and M'sia are different. There's a pasar malam at my hometown (opposite my house) every Tuesday. But to tell the truth, I think I've only been there like once. Dun fancy crossing the road in the middle of the night... very dangerous coz my house is facing the main road and lots of accidents happened at that junction before.
I've been to the pasar malam at Seri Petaling (courtesy of the KL office trip previously). Very fascinating.... I even saw one van selling smelly tofu caught fire. Very drama... Also, you can find beggars (not those healthy kind that just sits there... these are really no hand no leg kind that sprawled on the road... ) Also lots of happening food can be found at the pasar malam. Char kway teow, zhu chang fen (M'sian style with yong tau fu sides), fried carrot cake, chong you bing (onion pancakes), laksa etc. Also got stalls selling fish (although I suspect not that fresh), vegetables, dried goods, fruits, cakes and breads.
ps: today saw the coconut uncle raised the price to $1.20... walao, just because demand is higher, then can suka suka raise the price? (ed: of course can la..) boycott boycott!
19 May, 2007
botak jones
Went for dinner at Botak Jones (Clementi branch), 'coz my brother's treating. So we reached around 6.50pm, and it was already long queue ('coz its a hawker centre, so you have to queue to order first). Think my brother was at position #12 or so. Managed to place order at around 7.18pm ('coz the time was indicated in the receipt.. else you think I so accurate meh...)
The eta for the food is around 30-45 minutes later, so to pass time, I counted the people still inside the queue.. it was constantly at around 16 people or so. Meaning when one person finish ordering, another one joined the queue.. so that's why constant. My NZ ribeye steak ($14) came first (after 30 minutes wait...) I wanted it done medium but came to be a tad too dry (not so much pink as they claimed), more to medium well. And although the online menu stated that the steak comes with black pepper sauce, I was given their special brown sauce instead. Which tasted like cheesy mushroom sauce with black pepper. So after I ate for 15 minutes, my brother's Cajun chicken ($7) came. He commented that it tasted much drier than he expected. So, all in all, the food was a little disappointing after all the hype. However, if you minus the big serving of fries that came with the mains, the meal should be quite healthy as the meat used are quite lean.
cajun chicken
ribeye steak
One of the staff actually goes around the coffee shop to enquire whether you like the food, to check whether everything has arrived etc. It was observed that they're rather proud and confident of their food.
Almost 85% of the customers in the coffee shop ordered from Botak Jones, so I guess publicity, affordable price and generous portion does help. Taste wise.. acceptable but nothing to shout about. Maybe the rosemary lamb and fish & chips will taste better?
The eta for the food is around 30-45 minutes later, so to pass time, I counted the people still inside the queue.. it was constantly at around 16 people or so. Meaning when one person finish ordering, another one joined the queue.. so that's why constant. My NZ ribeye steak ($14) came first (after 30 minutes wait...) I wanted it done medium but came to be a tad too dry (not so much pink as they claimed), more to medium well. And although the online menu stated that the steak comes with black pepper sauce, I was given their special brown sauce instead. Which tasted like cheesy mushroom sauce with black pepper. So after I ate for 15 minutes, my brother's Cajun chicken ($7) came. He commented that it tasted much drier than he expected. So, all in all, the food was a little disappointing after all the hype. However, if you minus the big serving of fries that came with the mains, the meal should be quite healthy as the meat used are quite lean.
cajun chicken
ribeye steak
One of the staff actually goes around the coffee shop to enquire whether you like the food, to check whether everything has arrived etc. It was observed that they're rather proud and confident of their food.
Almost 85% of the customers in the coffee shop ordered from Botak Jones, so I guess publicity, affordable price and generous portion does help. Taste wise.. acceptable but nothing to shout about. Maybe the rosemary lamb and fish & chips will taste better?
18 May, 2007
S.H.E Play
Songs List:
01. 中國話
02. 謝謝你的溫柔
03. 聽袁惟仁彈吉他
04. 五月天
05. 藉口
06. BOOM
07. 再別康橋
08. 倫敦大橋垮下來
09. 說你愛我
10. 好心情Just be yourself (達芙妮年度廣告歌曲)
11. 老婆
Everything inside is considered lightweight, easy on the ears. No drama nor anything that requires extensive effort, so probably that's why its called "Play"? Haha.11. 老婆
You'll find track #2 very familiar because the chorus is from an old 五月天's song "温柔" but in this version, it wasn't sampled from them (Mayday) but sung by the boyband 飞轮海.
So far, my favourite track is #3 because I find the tune quite cool. Also because there's a part where Selina said, "喂喂 test test 不好意思由于key定的太高 我们的副歌部分呢就由当家花旦 hebe and selina 帮忙唱一下..." Hahaha!
Track #5 consist of all 周董's signature tunes or lyrics. Like that he no need write new song, just rehash the old ones and pass to his friends to sing(and earn a bit of money as well?). Save time bah...
#8 is basically a chirpy "London Bridge is Falling Down". Hmm.. with a title like that, how can you be chirpy? Tsk tsk...
The new things in the album is that Hebe and Selina tried their hands on writing lyrics (說你愛我 and 老婆, respectively). And Ella tried her hands in composing (老婆).
I usually buy from Sembawang but that day when I went, there was no stock, so don't know what's the price they're selling. In Popular its $20.95 and Laser Fair selling for $20.90. Likely will be selling for less than $9.90~$12, if its a parallel import.
For fans who do not own "Forever" album, you can get this album instead 'coz the songs from the previous albums are all included here as well.
14 May, 2007
13 May, 2007
lay-man's planning
I've always been an advocate of some insurance protection, so this issue is to share with you some of the things that I've learnt. Some may scoff or baulk at the mere mention of insurance, but from the way I see it, it is actually a necessity. When I was younger and whenever I wanted something, my mom would always ask, "Is it a necessity? Without it, would your life be any different?" As opposed to luxury, a necessity is something that you need and without it, yes.. one will suffer. Heh, this trick is what some parents could use as well, 'coz ended up, we children didn't get to buy any nintendo's, atari's or what not ('coz can't win that argument!)
As the cost of healthcare will continue to rise, I don't think anyone can be prepared to foot all the bills just by their own bank savings. Unless you're an orphan, then you'd only have to plan for yourself. Most of the time, planning also means, it is for your family members as well.
In the past, most of us may think, diseases will not befall any of us or it won't happen to any of our family members. Yes, no one wants bad things to happen to them. But in reality, it may.
As soon as one is financially able, one should:
1. Get a life insurance. If death occurs, at least the surviving family will get a sum of money prepare for the funeral. Sad la.. but true mah, right?
2. Get a good hospitalization plan. First and simple step, upgrade Medisave to Medishield (it only cost about SGD$96 per year and payable via CPF medisave, so no need touch your cash!) However, take note that there is something called 'co-insurance'. Meaning that, you will likely have to pay some amount of money even after claims. Here is a calculator provided by CPF for you to estimate. If you have extra cash, do consider some other product outside there that offer a more comprehensive medical and hospitalization plan.
So with step #1, and #2 of the above, you can start to make other plans. For example, what happens if life is good but you wanna make more money?
If you're a fresh grad, then can consider:
1. Savings plan (usually this will run quite long, for example 21 or 25 years). This is to force you to put money into somewhere. Like savings to bank but with penalty for default! Haha. Of course, with higher interest rates than banks. I've heard the minimum amount offered by Prudential is SGD$70 per month. So even if the paycheck is small, say, SGD$1500, $70 is just 4.7% of the amount! As it is advisable to save at least 30% of your salary, then please place the 26% into a real bank so that you have some cash on hand. Some of these plan offer cashback annually, or every 3 years. Of course, in doing so, you still can take some of your money out but will reduce the final lump sum at the end of the term.
2. Investment linked policies. Good for when you do not have much money to invest, and can wait for the portfolio to grow slowly.
Retirement planning
As mentioned above, what will happen when we're retired and thus no more income. For lucky ones, of course they would've have some cash generating business running somewhere without them having to lift a finger. For normal ppl like myself, probably having a sum set aside for this purpose, also makes sense.
How much is enough for retirement? Depends on how much you want to spend, it seems. So if you intend to spend $2000 per month for the rest of your life (+30 years after 55) after retirement, you'll need roughly $620,000. If we can save $800 per mth from age 26 onwards till 55, we would've saved about $300,000. So, without some form of investment, likely money will never be enough when we retire.
Luckily, government has some form of planning for us already, which is the CPF and Medisave plans. So something is better than nothing. However, with much factors beyond our control, for example, healthcare cost, living cost (as natural resources are being depleted, its substitute could cost more as money were pumped into the R&D etc).
As the saying goes, "Best to prepare an umbrella in case of rainy days". But the question is, have you shopped for one?
As the cost of healthcare will continue to rise, I don't think anyone can be prepared to foot all the bills just by their own bank savings. Unless you're an orphan, then you'd only have to plan for yourself. Most of the time, planning also means, it is for your family members as well.
In the past, most of us may think, diseases will not befall any of us or it won't happen to any of our family members. Yes, no one wants bad things to happen to them. But in reality, it may.
As soon as one is financially able, one should:
1. Get a life insurance. If death occurs, at least the surviving family will get a sum of money prepare for the funeral. Sad la.. but true mah, right?
2. Get a good hospitalization plan. First and simple step, upgrade Medisave to Medishield (it only cost about SGD$96 per year and payable via CPF medisave, so no need touch your cash!) However, take note that there is something called 'co-insurance'. Meaning that, you will likely have to pay some amount of money even after claims. Here is a calculator provided by CPF for you to estimate. If you have extra cash, do consider some other product outside there that offer a more comprehensive medical and hospitalization plan.
So with step #1, and #2 of the above, you can start to make other plans. For example, what happens if life is good but you wanna make more money?
If you're a fresh grad, then can consider:
1. Savings plan (usually this will run quite long, for example 21 or 25 years). This is to force you to put money into somewhere. Like savings to bank but with penalty for default! Haha. Of course, with higher interest rates than banks. I've heard the minimum amount offered by Prudential is SGD$70 per month. So even if the paycheck is small, say, SGD$1500, $70 is just 4.7% of the amount! As it is advisable to save at least 30% of your salary, then please place the 26% into a real bank so that you have some cash on hand. Some of these plan offer cashback annually, or every 3 years. Of course, in doing so, you still can take some of your money out but will reduce the final lump sum at the end of the term.
2. Investment linked policies. Good for when you do not have much money to invest, and can wait for the portfolio to grow slowly.
Retirement planning
As mentioned above, what will happen when we're retired and thus no more income. For lucky ones, of course they would've have some cash generating business running somewhere without them having to lift a finger. For normal ppl like myself, probably having a sum set aside for this purpose, also makes sense.
How much is enough for retirement? Depends on how much you want to spend, it seems. So if you intend to spend $2000 per month for the rest of your life (+30 years after 55) after retirement, you'll need roughly $620,000. If we can save $800 per mth from age 26 onwards till 55, we would've saved about $300,000. So, without some form of investment, likely money will never be enough when we retire.
Luckily, government has some form of planning for us already, which is the CPF and Medisave plans. So something is better than nothing. However, with much factors beyond our control, for example, healthcare cost, living cost (as natural resources are being depleted, its substitute could cost more as money were pumped into the R&D etc).
As the saying goes, "Best to prepare an umbrella in case of rainy days". But the question is, have you shopped for one?
08 May, 2007
Meng Choo is famous!
Yup Yup Yup! Meng Choo was featured in Digital Life today as one of the mums who blogs! Yippee!
Click here to view the featured picture! Or here to view her blog. Cheers!
I wonder if I can ever get one of her famous cupcakes or not? Heh heh heh... Meng Choo ah, can I (one of your many fans... also Megan n Macy's as well!) get one of your fabulous cupcake for free? Pretty please?
Click here to view the featured picture! Or here to view her blog. Cheers!
I wonder if I can ever get one of her famous cupcakes or not? Heh heh heh... Meng Choo ah, can I (one of your many fans... also Megan n Macy's as well!) get one of your fabulous cupcake for free? Pretty please?
06 May, 2007
spiderman 3
The truth is out! I'm smitten with the smiling James Franco (Goblin Junior). He's so... so cute!
see... handsome, right?
tobey with his not-so nerdie but not quite the baddie look...
tobey in his baddie look (much more attractive, don't you think?)
see... handsome, right?WARNING: Before you proceed, please be aware that there may be spoilers below. So its your choice...
But, spidey-gone-bad Tobey was also quite funny when he hammed it up as a baddie. It's bad when he's Peter Parker the nerd... but it was even worse when he became a jerk. So guys, remember... a nerdie jerk is a NO-NO combo! Tobey (the bad boy look) became much more attractive (though I suspect it's his hair that made the difference!)
DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU!
(Last chance! You can still click on the 'X' and close browser...)
Eh... still around.. well, oki doki.... it's your choice!
(Last chance! You can still click on the 'X' and close browser...)
Eh... still around.. well, oki doki.... it's your choice!
But, spidey-gone-bad Tobey was also quite funny when he hammed it up as a baddie. It's bad when he's Peter Parker the nerd... but it was even worse when he became a jerk. So guys, remember... a nerdie jerk is a NO-NO combo! Tobey (the bad boy look) became much more attractive (though I suspect it's his hair that made the difference!)
tobey with his not-so nerdie but not quite the baddie look...
tobey in his baddie look (much more attractive, don't you think?)In Spidey 3, there's also another 2 characters involved... Venom and Sandman. I think in Spidey 3, a lot of things were being squeezed in (to keep us viewers entertained, and also to have a storyline somewhere in there...) Venom didn't quite appear till quite the end (the spidey black suit doesn't count...) and Sandman.. well, he's just a sad character...
topher grace as eddie brock.. basically a much better looking reporter than peter parker
however, he ended up as this ugly thing (just because he lost his job, kanna humiliated.. so he wants to kill peter parker... haiyo, people nowadays.. tsk tsk)
sandman doing his thing...
topher grace as eddie brock.. basically a much better looking reporter than peter parker
however, he ended up as this ugly thing (just because he lost his job, kanna humiliated.. so he wants to kill peter parker... haiyo, people nowadays.. tsk tsk)
sandman doing his thing...I was thinking all the while.. Sandman doesn't need much costume... he's just wearing the same t-shirt in the 2 hour and 20 minutes long movie (not counting the prison overalls).
Sandman... in his one and only one tshirt... so poor thing...
Overall, its a sad ending... yeah, a lot of people in the cinema were wiping their tears during the last 5 minutes of the show. It's very sad when people turn over a new leaf and they had to die after that...
ps: i ate up all 5 cough drops during the show.. yah.. still coughing...
Disclaimer: please note that all pictures belong to their rightful owners... i just grabbed them via google search to illustrate to you, that's all. Absolutely no malice whatsoever intended...
Sandman... in his one and only one tshirt... so poor thing...Overall, its a sad ending... yeah, a lot of people in the cinema were wiping their tears during the last 5 minutes of the show. It's very sad when people turn over a new leaf and they had to die after that...
ps: i ate up all 5 cough drops during the show.. yah.. still coughing...
Disclaimer: please note that all pictures belong to their rightful owners... i just grabbed them via google search to illustrate to you, that's all. Absolutely no malice whatsoever intended...
05 May, 2007
les miserables...
been sick since last week.. very sianz you know...
cough cough cough... morning afternoon night.... cough cough cough
sianz!
haha, i think my brother also sianz.. 'coz when i coughed, usually its quite loud.. then night time.. more loud lor.. so, how to sleep? probably they can la, but sometimes also buay song me i suppose? heh heh!
well, spidey 3 is out now. should be watching it tomorrow.. so, spiderman.. wait for me *cough cough cough!*
ps: picture taken from allposters.com, so please go there and buy.
pps: inside suntec there's this shop called popcorn ( i think so la..) and eva said her cousin is the boss but he's at esplanade... so can get discount... (these posters not cheap bah, i suppose)
cough cough cough... morning afternoon night.... cough cough cough
sianz!
haha, i think my brother also sianz.. 'coz when i coughed, usually its quite loud.. then night time.. more loud lor.. so, how to sleep? probably they can la, but sometimes also buay song me i suppose? heh heh!
well, spidey 3 is out now. should be watching it tomorrow.. so, spiderman.. wait for me *cough cough cough!*
ps: picture taken from allposters.com, so please go there and buy.pps: inside suntec there's this shop called popcorn ( i think so la..) and eva said her cousin is the boss but he's at esplanade... so can get discount... (these posters not cheap bah, i suppose)
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