Tue 18 Aug

It was a dreadfully long day in school. Other than the usual lessons, consultation and other work, I had to man the research centre till the school closed for the students to revise there. The year 2 tutors took turns to stay behind so as to look after the place as well as provide consultation to the students there. I was dead beat by the time it was over...but was re-energized when I see Jadon coming to the door to be carried when I reached my in-laws' place!

Wed 19 Aug

Today was a sad day in school. Other than remedials, administrative work, lessons and consultations, we still had a prelim exam meeting right smack during lunch. I was starving by the time it was over. Fortunately, my wife bought lunch for me, so I took a few minutes to gobble it all down, and went on for lessons.

I stayed back in school to finish some work, then met with Collin at Bugis area. We ate at the relocated hawker centre, and I had the Hock Hai curry noodles there, but by that time of the day, the curry was so thick and concentrated it became like gravy, so I didn't quite enjoy it. I hitched a ride from Collin to Touch Community Theatre where we had a Youthnet 144 meeting.

Thu 20 Aug

My wife was feeling curious about Claypot Fun, a shop at Big Splash which she saw featured on TV yesterday, so we drove there for lunch. We had to wait 20 minutes for the food to come, but it was well worth the wait. The sausages and chicken in the claypot were so tender and delicious. The rice had just the right tinge of burnt fragrance, and the salted vegetables and duck soup was absolutely addictive. It was, of course, more pricey than usual claypot rice, but I think the quality was worth the money. And there was free parking!

We went to the neighbouring soup to have dessert, and that was delicious too. A satisfying meal to last a long day ahead.

Fri 21 Aug

Today was another long day, but I hung in there because it was my very last revision lecture that I had to stay behind for. Actually it was quite a good time to lecture at LT4 because the students were all conscientious with their preparations, and they asked many questions. I like interactions in this form.

Sat 22 Aug

My wife and I woke up earlier to do housework so as to clear the room for Jadon to come home to tonight. We drove out to Downtown East, and ate lunch at Mr Chicken Rice. I ordered a large milk tea from the Chipshop, and we headed back to finish the chores before heading down to church for service.

Sun 23 Aug

My wife and I brought Jadon out to White Sands with us, and we ate breakfast at Superdog. It was a highly interrupted breakfast as I was carrying Jadon half the time. That was extremely filling, and it was important as shortly after, we went down to a colleague's house to celebrate the full month of her child. We stayed a while there, and surprisingly Jadon was very subdued, perhaps due to unfamiliarity of surroundings. I bumped into an old schoolmate, who happened to be a church mate of my colleague, so we chatted a while before we headed to my in-laws' place. For dinner, I had intended to get something from Botak Jones, but the queue was so ridiculously long that I ordered hor fun from the vegetarian stall for my wife and myself.

Mon 24 Aug

One colleague drove out for lunch, so we went out to 216 market. I ate the ban mian as usual, and I realized that lately we had been so busy that we did not drive out for lunch so often. In fact it was specifically attributed to remedials and consultation sessions, along with prelim exam discussion meetings. In the night, my wife and I needed a desperate break, so we went to grab supper at McDonalds.

Tue 25 Aug

I had a typical day doing some administrative work, and in the afternoon, I went down to Katong Plaza to sell some Magic cards in order to acquire some new ones. Now I had found one contract and one relief teacher who play Magic as well! Looks like the future prereleases should have some company.

Wed 26 Aug

It was a normal, long day today, and we spent the rest of the afternoon and night at my in-laws' place playing with Jadon.

Thu 27 Aug

Today my wife had less things on hand to rush, so we drove out to eat at Beach Rd Prawn Mee off Katong stretch. We had, of course, prawn noodles, and ordered the excellent ngoh hiang. Halfway through our lunch, the parking attendant (is that what they are called?) came by. All the shop staff were shouting warning to their customers, many of whom scrambled off to put parking coupons. Interesting service there.

In the evening after lessons, my wife and I went down to City Hall area. My wife's filling in the tooth cracked again, so she needed urgent attention. After that was settled, we went over to Marina Square to do some shopping. I bought a couple of pieces of apparel, and also two sets of tees and shorts for Jadon, and we went to Ministry of Food for dinner. I have found a new favourite bento to order: the salmon belly teriyaki sukiyaki set! It's quite a mouthful to say, but the salmon belly in teriyaki sauce is heavenly! The salmon belly fats literally ooze out in the mouth, and its fragrance is unspeakably invigorating. Of course, the sukiyaki soup was also rich in flavour, and certainly, the unagi hot stone rice upgrade can't go wrong possibly.

Jadon was not asleep yet by the time we were done, so we popped by to show him the new clothes I bought for him. As usual, he went to play with the tags.

Fri 28 Aug

After a long day in school, we went to my in-law's place to spend time with Jadon. Today bore a stamp-buying ordeal. I needed to mail something out urgently, so I needed stamps. I walked over to Fairprice first, but the counter lady said that they no longer sold any. I decided to go over to the SAM machine at the interchange. After queueing a short while and helping the clueless guy in front of me with his transactions, I realized that the machine couldn't print stamp labels! I decided to talk over to Cheers to see if they sold, and they did not. I walked all the way back to Fairprice to the Mr Bean stall next to it, as my wife wanted a pancake. In the square in front of the stall, there were many of those toy motor and car-rides for kids. I had this sickening feeling that my feet would get run over, since I was so unlucky with the stamps, so I steered clear of all the kids. When I was queueing at the Mr Bean stall, the woman in front of me was on the step before the counter, and she suddenly lost balance, stepped down, and it was right smack on my right foot. Hmmm. My gut feelings are quite accurate apparently, just that my foot suffered a slightly different fate. In the end, I walked to the Bedok Post Office to get the labels, so it was one big detour.

Sat 29 Aug

My wife and I wanted to clean up the house so that we could bring Jadon home, so we spent the whole day at home. We only went out during lunch to White Sands to eat, and in the evening to church service. For lunch, we ate at Coffee Club, and the food was fabulous! There were some new dishes out on promotion, so we decided to try them. After all, I received a SMS that entitled me to a free dessert if I ordered two pastas/baked rice from the new items menu. I had the Snapper Delight, and my wife had the Carbonara Moderna. The snapper delight was a penne dish with pan-fried snappers, served in lobster bisque sauce. It was so delicious I actually dipped whatever food I had into the sauce to finish every bit of it. My wife's carbonara was really good too, and it stands till now, after trying about 70% of their menu, existing items or new items, that we have not eaten anything even close to average. Everything so far has been excellent, with perhaps the spaghetti carbonara ranking at above average. Coffee Club for me has become a 'cannot-go-wrong' restaurant choice.

Sun 30 Aug

After Jadon woke up, we cleaned, fed and dressed him, and took him with us to Tampines where we had lunch at Ding Tai Fung. We bumped into church friends there, and my wife's uncle and family as well. We window-shopped for a while before heading over to my in-laws' place. We decided to come home earlier to do laundry, and when I reached home, I discovered that my third hamster had passed away. Actually he already showed signs of frailty much earlier. He was quite a chubby one, but had thinned significantly last month. Suddenly he seemed to have lost control of his lower body and once in a while as he scurried around, he fell, as if he couldn't control his hind legs. Considering all this, I think his life force was strong because he really hung in there, and despite his almost handicapped status, he was struggling around the cage. Maybe this was his punishment for killing my first hamster. Hmm. Anyway, it felt odd not having any hamster around to feed and play with.

Mon 31 Aug

It was Staff Day celebrations today. After a period long bonding session with my class, which bought a chocolate cake with 'Happy Teachers' Day' on it, we went to the hall to watch a series of performances. The skit by the new teachers was quite amusing, and when it was over, my wife and I went to grab some fish noodles and spent the afternoon with Jadon. We originally wanted to bring him to the Staff Day Dinner in the evening, but he just woke up when we had to go. Good thing we didn't, because no one else brought kids along. The whole dinner was marked by many teachers singing their hearts out, and ended close to 10 pm.

Tue 1 Sep

It's Teachers' Day, but just like any other holiday, it automatically becomes Jadon day. Jadon woke us up from time to time, but he finally decided to get out of bed at around 9.30 am. After settling his feed, changing his diapers (and he gave us shit...literally), we made our way down to my wife's grandma's place where my mother-in-law had gone. We left Jadon in the hands of many relatives, and we headed down to Niwa Sushi for a good lunch. At that price, I think the food there was very good. The chawanmushi was great, and I had two servings of salmon belly on top of a hana maki. And a main beef yakiniku. Together with my wife's teriyaki chicken, the whole thing was a low $25.50. High perhaps for expenditure at this shop, but cheap enough for me to satisfy my hunger.

In the afternoon, I went to get a haircut, and brought Jadon along for his. I think he recognized the salon, and he looked panicky once we stepped in. The moment we started, he cried and cried whenever the shaver touched his head. Till now he has been very consistent. He doesn't like his head to be touched.

Wed 2 Sep

I had a long day in school, with many consultation sessions and meetings. I had so little time left at the end of the day that I took a cab at peak hour to my in-laws' place for just a brief half an hour with Jadon before making my way down to Marine Parade. I met Collin for dinner at the hawker centre, and then we went to our cell meeting. Today was special because Ps Eugene, the head of the Youthnet came down to talk to us and to answer our queries and address our concerns regarding the recent massive reshuffling of people. The whole session ended fairly late, but I think it was a productive time.

When my wife and I reached home, we couldn't find anything to watch and ended up watching The Moment of Truth. I think this should be the scariest show (for the contestant) even compared to Fear Factor! At least from my Asian perspective, the prospect of losing face could be more feared than eating worms and cockroaches. I went to check out the internet and here how it works. The contestant who comes on stage had previously answered a huge series of questions while attached to a polygraph (lie detector), and whether he or she was telling the truth was already recorded. During the game show, the contestant is asked questions from that long list, and each tier of questions become more and more personal. In today's show, as the contest was moving up beyond $100000, she had basically revealed on national TV, with her husband, parents, and siblings in front of the camera, that she had stolen money while working, thought she should have been married to her ex, and had sexual relations with someone else after marriage. The biggest punch was the question: "Are you a good person?", to which she answered yes, and the machine said it was false! I guess that meant she had always been lying to herself that she was a good person while some part of her felt otherwise.

To me, this is an interesting premise for a show, which takes reality TV to a different dimension. Reality TV to me was originally meant to be realistic and honest, but the Hawthorne effect would suggest that it was impossible to do so when you know you are being filmed. This one had to deal with absolute honesty, and the most perverse fact of the show was that the audience loves gossip. The question to ask is this: why are we possibly engrossed with the dirty linen of someone we don't know? When I say 'don't know', I don't mean acquainted with, because I think many people are engrossed with knowing tabloid trash about celebrities and all, even though we don't personally know any of them, but we know of them. In this case, we are looking at an ordinary person. The other interesting things was that the audience boo-ed each time the contestant answered honestly to a question, admitting her failings. I immediately recalled the instance in the bible when the people were about to stone a prostitute, and Jesus challenged them that the person without sin can cast the first stone, and none did. In all honesty, I'm not sure how many people I know, including myself, can put myself on stage to scrutiny, including every misdeed in the past. In some weird aspect, I think the show is almost Christian, in that it forces introspection, and brings to point that everyone is, in their own way, a sinner to begin with. The only thing missing from the show is perhaps the idea of divine forgiveness and grace.

Here's the second installment. I finally caught up with my blogging once more. Life had been way too hectic for my taste.

Mon 27 Jul

This week I have no driving lesson scheduled, so I stayed in school to do work and wait for my wife. For lunch, we went out to Bedok interchange to eat, but the hawker centre was closed for washing. We popped over to the coffee shop opposite the old Princess cinema where my colleague said had good western food, but it was closed. In the end, we had lunch at the NTUC coffee shop, and the place was jam-packed, likely for the same reason why we ended there in the first place.

Tue 28 Jul

This is the week of solace. First there was no driving yesterday. Today, there was no RT scheduled! Apparently it was blocked off, and I can't remember for what reason, but I was glad that I have a day's break. Going down on two weekdays a week was really exhausting, and not just for myself, but for my wife as well, since I wouldn't be there to help chase after Jadon as he crawls all over the house.

Wed 29 Jul

It was a typical long Wednesday in school, complete with remedial, and a lot of administrative work to clear. Cell meeting was shifted to Friday, so I had an evening free to spend with Jadon. Lunch was at 216 market again, and I had the beef steak with spaghetti for 7 bucks. The option of replacing the sides for spaghetti was cheaper (at no additional cost), but without the bacon chunks (i.e. the carbonara) the cream sauce taste did not suffice.

Thu 30 Jul


Another long day in college, but I managed to clear a great deal of work. I was due to lecture for the revision lectures soon, and also the deadline for setting the prelim questions was approaching, so I spent some time to clear those out of the way. In the evening, I went for RT, and I think the instructors decided to whack us a little harder than usual since Tuesday we had a break. My arms were aching when I went back, but of course, I would always have enough strength to lift Jadon up to 'fly'.

Fri 31 Jul

After my lessons and other administrative work, I went over to my in-laws' place to play with Jadon a while. In the evening, I ate an early dinner, and then made my way down to Marine Parade. I stopped by Parkway Parade for a short while to do some window-shopping, and also grabbed an ice-cream cone from Scoops, before I headed off to cell meeting at Touch Centre Chapel.

There has been a recent major upheaval in church due to some movements of the pastors. My own network pastor had decided to move up into the Adult Network instead of remaining in the Youth Network. I wanted to follow him originally, but after he consulted his own leader who was the head of the Youth Network, I was asked to remain in Youth Network since I had kids under me, and also I was still in contact with youths (in school). Hence, after some arrangements, I was moved into Ps Lawrence's network. Fortunately, I already know some people there, so I wasn't a total stranger, but I guess it will still take some time to adapt. Ps Lawrence's youths were staging a play the next day, so we were there to have cell meeting, as well as to pray for them. This was a formal introduction of us 'refugees' who went to join his network I suppose, so that we get to know the rest of the leaders.

Anyway, my friends Steph and Weiling were there, and after the session, they wanted dinner, so I got a drink and joined them. I ate about a third of their hor fun because they couldn't finish it, and bought one packet back for my wife. Alvin came by to pick Steph and the rest of us up, and gave me a ride to my in-laws' place, and he planted the idea of mahjong on National Day in me. Anyway, my wife couldn't finish her packet of hor fun, so I helped her finish. In the end, I think I ate close to one full packet overall. Haha.

Sat 1 Aug

I spent almost the whole day at my in-laws' place. For lunch, my wife wanted pasta from Il Piccolo (I still can't get the name right...the over-artistic signboard doesn't help), which I got for her, and for myself, I decided to try the Massive Sunrise burger from Botak Jones.

It was really massive. Bigger than a Carls Jr burger for sure.

It had 2 huge beef patties, 2 pieces of cheese, 4 fried eggs, amongst the other ingredients of tomato, onions, mushrooms and etc. I think the scary thing was that I finished the whole thing, along with the sides of coleslaw and baked cheese potato. Ouch. I think this meal alone has put back whatever fat I could have lost during RT.

Sun 2 Aug

My wife and I were running late for service, so we grabbed a breakfast to go from Mr Bean and Old Chang Kee. After service, we went to NTUC food court for lunch. My wife's girls went to get my wife a birthday cake to celebrate her birthday (two days early), so we adjourned to Hans (where they bought the cake) to eat the cake and have a brief cell group. After that, my wife wanted to buy some stuff, but along the way I spotted a nice cheap shirt from IP Zone, and I bought it. Heh.

Mon 3 Aug

The Hup Lee opposite school was odd today. The man told me my breakfast costed $3.50, so I gave him $5. He returned me $2.50, which was obviously too much, so I told him. He insisted that it was $2.50, so I took the change. I bought two packets of fried bee hoon, and it included chicken wing. So odd.

In the evening, I decided to take my wife and her family out to dinner to celebrate my wife's birthday. So my mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and Jadon came along with us to Sakura Restaurant at Safra Tampines. I think the food was below expectations, even though it was supposed to be Japanese season now. The only good thing was the slipper lobster that was available. Jadon was incredibly cute. He was laughing a lot when we took him out to see the Foosball table. He was very amused whenever we rolled the soccer figures. I whacked a lot of sashimi, but overall, I think I was the only one who ate enough to cover the cost of the buffet. Sigh.

Tue 4 Aug

Today was my wife's actual birthday, but I couldn't celebrate with her because of a mismatch in timetable (for this whole year actually) and we don't have a common timeslot for lunch. I went out with my colleagues to 216 market and had western food, and bought back food for my wife as usual. By the time my wife's lessons were over, we zipped over to my in-laws' place where I spent a short while with Jadon before I had to make my way to remedial training. Today's session was a bit more lax, because there was IPPT on Thursday, the very last session!

Wed 5 Aug

I had a long day as usual, and hung around for PDP time, after which my wife and I spent the rest of the day with Jadon. We had been teaching him new things, so now he could shake his head when he don't want something, and he can move his hands accordingly when we say 'gong xi'.

Thu 6 Aug

After a typical long day in school, including a short lunch in school, I headed over to take my IPPT. Just like the previous tries, I managed to clear the static stations with relative ease while most of my fellow sufferers already failed at either chin-up or standing broad jump stations. I ran according to my self-set timing for the first four rounds, and once more, my body gave up at the fifth round, and in the end, I failed the running by slightly over a minute. Sigh. I was hoping to clear this so that I don't have to come back for RT next year. Now I guess I'd have to sign up for IPPT Preparatory Training in September so that I can clear this year's window.

Fri 7 Aug

Today was an expensive day of food. There was a short day in school because of National Day celebrations, but I think this year's celebrations was somewhat lacklustre without any performances. The whole thing was more or less a big sing-along session. However, the students were extremely high, and I think it was because we gave out small Singapore flags for them to wave.

For lunch, some of us headed down to this ulu place in Hougang area to this restaurant called Yakiniku Nagomiya. It's a restaurant with this charcoal grill thing that you get to barbecue your own ordered food. We ordered a huge range of meats and mushrooms, and the most amazing thing was that the meat was extremely well-marinated, so the meat all turned out delicious after grilling. Especially the squid, which did not turn rubbery after grilling for a while. We were quite impressed with the food, and it worked out to be about $19 per person, but I wasn't full enough. After the lunch, we went to this nearby place Highland Centre (I think) to eat durian at 707. The durian was spectacularly good! But whopping expensive at $12 a kilogram. My estimation was that a single seed of durian costed about $2!

We spent the rest of the afternoon at home, doing chores and cleaning up the house. For dinner, we headed over to Elias Mall and ate at Hi Sshou, and we decided to splurge and ordered two ala carte buffets. We ate till we were bloated, and the food was still of good quality, especially the handrolls.

Hmm. One day after RT ended, and I was feasting. Ah well.

Sat 8 Aug

My wife and I went over to my in-laws' place to spend the day there with Jadon. For lunch, we went to eat at Il Piccolo, which was having a National Day promotion and the pastas were going at $4.40 for dine in. I eventually chose baked rice though because I was dead hungry.

In the evening, my wife, her sister, and I made our way down to Bukit Merah for dinner. We were attending the new English service that opened today. This was to make the whole Sunday free so that the kids could have a full day to devote to mugging. For us, we have one full day to spend with Jadon, so it was a win-win situation. I had my favourite fishball noodles for dinner, and we had cell group at the hawker centre.

Sun 9 Aug

My wife and I headed over to my in-laws' place in the morning, and had breakfast at 216 market. We spent some time there, and my mother-in-law went to see a doctor to treat her sprained hand. Yep, Jadon is that active. My mother-in-law then went to her mother's place, and we joined her there later. I went along to help take care of Jadon in the car, and when we got there, we left Jadon with my mother-in-law, and my wife and I went to grab a really late lunch at Niwa Sushi off Eunos. The bento sets were surprisingly good, and I think the food was more enjoyable than what I typically eat at Sakae Sushi...at half the price! I ordered some salmon belly sashimi, which was full of delicious fats, to go with my bento, so it was a satisfying meal.

I then made my own way back to Pasir Ris, and headed over to Alvin's place. The idea that he floated some time ago about mahjong on National Day came to fruition, so we played. Shups' luck was amazing today, and she won all of us. I managed to win enough to minimize my loss to 2 bucks only, while the other two lost about $13 and $30 respectively. I wonder if Shups was that lucky or she had improved...hmm...nah, think it is more of the former. After grabbing some pizza for dinner, I made my way back to my in-laws' place, and we picked Jadon up to come home to spend the National Day holiday. He was so excited he was playing with us all the way till about midnight before he concussed after a bottle of milk.

Mon 10 Aug

We brought Jadon out with us to walk around at White Sands, and we stopped to have breakfast at Coffee Club. My wife ordered American breakfast, and it was delicious. I had some mushroom thing which was absolutely amazing in taste. I think so far we had tried almost half of the main course menu, and even for the specials that were introduced seasonally, we had not eaten anything worse than above average, and that was just once - carbonara. Everything else was at least good.

In the afternoon, we brought Jadon back to my mother-in-law, and my wife and I went for a late lunch (after such a deliciously heavy breakfast) at the 416 coffee shop. The first few times I had the sliced fish noodles there I wasn't particularly impressed. But lately, the quality had been getting higher, and had moved into a good choice for food. However, I really couldn't stand the ventilation in that coffee shop, and it was unbearably hot in the afternoon.

Tue 11 Aug

It was back to school, and the highlight of the day was lunch at 216 market. After a weekend of heavy food, I opted for a lighter choice of just ban mian. I spent the rest of the afternoon settling SPA (Schoolbased Practical Assessment) to key in marks and countercheck the scripts.

Wed 12 Aug

Not to my surprise, I ended up having lunch at 216 market once more. Again, I did not want to eat anything too heavy, so I went for Ipoh hor fun. After a long day in school, we went over to spend time with Jadon. My mother-in-law did not cook dinner today, so my wife and I went to Pizza Hut for dinner, since my wife had a desire to eat pizza. The food today was surprisingly good, down to the Hut's Platter fried stuff. The drink we ordered (some strawberry tea thing) was pretty good too. The most important thing was that the service was good. Usually Pizza Hut was crawling with waiters and waitresses who had no initiative and were not very attentive. Today, there was only one waiter and one manager running all over, but I was dead sure they were way more efficient than the previous crew of about five persons.

Thu 13 Aug

After a dreadfully long day of lessons and administration, I went for driving lesson in the late afternoon. When I was done, I detoured over to Tampines One and did some window-shopping, but more importantly, it was to buy this water filter system called Gurgle by Hyflux to install on the taps for my place and my in-laws' place. Basically, it was for getting pure filtered water to make milk for Jadon. It didn't come cheap, but at least now there is a promotion that threw in a spare filter cartridge (that costs $40+).

Fri 14 Aug

I went to school only to conduct temperature-taking exercise for my civics class, and after that, I caught a ride from my HOD to VJC where we attended a pedagogy conference. The two speakers in the morning were really good, but I think the whole thing dragged too long before tea break, and that wore the patience of more than just myself. The second speaker was amusing, and he outright criticized the local education system and tore it to bits, in front of an audience of teachers. But the most amazing part was that his topic was on the current context that the students were graduating into, so he was talking about the economic situation now, and he analyzed the past and the present, and he managed to throw in a ton of facts, figures, charts, graphs and economic theories and theorists, and yet was engaging and made us understand. Now that was a feat in itself.

Sat 15 Aug

In the morning, my wife and I headed down to Geylang area to the clinic of my wife's gynaecologist. After waiting for nearly one and a half hours (of course, we grabbed a big breakfast from Ho Kee nearby), we finally got to our turn. My wife was supposed to do a blood test for Down's syndrome likelihood in the child, but the gynae did an ultrasound anyway. After some detailed scanning, we saw something between the legs...the second one was going to be a boy! Yay! Two sons to inherit my toys/anime/movies/comics/Xbox 360/Wii/Magic the Gathering cards. When they grow older, we can start a mahjong table on our own - my wife, myself and our two sons. I must start them young. Mahjong is intellectual enough to polish their cognitive prowess. Magic as well. Bwahaha.

After that we headed over to Tampines One to pick up the Gurgle system that I ordered on Thursday. However, along the way, my wife went in G2000 to find a loose top for herself, and I spotted the big, big sale. The short-sleeved shirts were going for $23, the long-sleeved shirts and pants for going for $29!!! And if you buy 3 items or more, there was a further 20% discount! I went berserk just like the other time at Club Marc, and after some time of trying, I ended up buying 5 short-sleeved shirts, 2 long-sleeved shirts and 1 pair of pants. I could have bought more, but my wife wanted to check out some other shops. All in all, it worked out to be an average of $20 per piece.

That is dirt cheap for working clothes. Bwahahahaha.

Sun 16 Aug

I brought my mum out with me and my wife to White Sands where we ate at Wan Chai. After that, we went around to do a bit of shopping. I blew almost a hundred bucks on clothes - but this time it was for Jadon! His one year birthday was coming up soon anyway, so that is cause for splurging. Incidentally, I also bought a t-shirt for myself, and another one for my wife.

Because we didn't bring Jadon home this weekend, I brought my mum with us to see Jadon. He was extremely excited and happy today (then again, he's happily laughing and playing every day). My mother-in-law didn't cook, so for dinner, my mum, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, my wife and I, together with Jadon in a baby chair, had dinner at Hiang Suar Restaurant nearby.

Mon 17 Aug

I had a bad start to the day when I bought breakfast from Seng Ban Choon. I had no choice because all the usual stalls were closed, so that left them as the only stall with decent bee hoon for breakfast. I asked for red chilli (sauce) and green chilli for one packet, and the guy at the stall (nicknamed 'sexy uncle' by most because of his super-short shorts) forgot the red chilli. I reminded him and he gave me this black face. Which was typical, because he was perpetually grouchy. Then after I paid him, I asked for chopsticks, and he gave me a scowl. Yep, this guy actually gets pissed off when you ask him for chopsticks or other disposable utensils when you takeaway. How else are you supposed to eat, you wonder? Nope, this natural point does not occur to this grouch. When he threw the chopsticks hard into my bag of food, he also shoved the change into my hand. At that point, I really felt like throwing the coins to his face and said that it was to pay for the chopsticks, but I thought that was giving him too much benefits.

Why do I torture myself every once in a while buying from him? I also wonder.

After a relatively short day at school, I headed down to Eunos for my driving lesson. Today I learnt parallel parking, and as usual, my instructor just sprang the surprise on me without telling me in advance what he was teaching me. In the evening, my wife and I headed down to Tampines to do some shopping. I bought a few pairs of toe socks for myself to replace my torn ones. Oh yeah, I finally thought of a plausible reason why students walk so disgustingly slow - it was to preserve their socks! I walk so darn fast that it burns and tears holes in my socks very quickly. Yeah, that must be the reason why they crawl from place to place.

My wife and I decided to have dinner at Sushi Teh. Now, I had been there before several times to eat sushi, and I already knew that their food was much better than Sakae for just a bit more in price. Today, I tried the ramen while my wife tried the udon, and the food was spectacular. I now hold it in the same high regard (almost) as Ministry of Food. The dragon roll sushi we ordered was delicious! Then we ordered yuzu sorbet and watermelon sorbet for dessert. The yuzu sorbet was so fragrant that we couldn't stop harping on how good it was all the way through.

Eventually, we ended up at Angies the Choice, which was the very reason why we went to Tampines actually, to order a birthday cake for Jadon. After looking through all the cutesy designs, we decided to go for something simple which really represents him - a cheeky smiley that formed the whole cake.

Wow, it's been more than a month since I have blogged. The reason is that I have been really busy. The remedial training takes up plenty of time and exhausts my energy. Here's the first installment of the missing blog posts.

Mon 6 Jul

I went to school almost as usual today - almost, because I was dressed in army uniform. I was due to return to camp for a mobilization briefing. Fortunately, I have been moved to top up my colleague's unit, so he gave me a ride to Sungei Gedong camp. We spent a morning there, but were out by lunchtime. The same colleague gave me a ride back to Bedok where he stayed, and we had lunch there before I went home to change out of the uniform, and returned to spend time with Jadon.

In the evening, I went to takeaway some food from Kallang Barbecue at Bedok Central's hawker centre. I couldn't remember the quality of the food, because I think the last time I had eaten there should be when I was still a student of TJC. Some friends told me the food was good so I went to try the mixed grill. I didn't like it. Other than it being oily, which was to be expected, there was too much garlic in the gravy.

Tue 7 Jul

After my morning lessons, I went out with some colleagues to the Ming Kee down the road and had excellent roast pork, char siew and roasted duck for lunch. Nothing like a good meal to boost morale for work. In the afternoon, I happened to pass by Eastwood Terrace (can't quite remember the name of the small mall). I wanted to snack on a donut, and the person gave me one more donut, for free! Apparently, it was a one day promotion in celebration of the birthday of Donut Empire. I finished off with some ice cream from Ice Cream Gallery there, but I think I prefer Scoops at Parkway Parade still. Somehow I think the ice cream from Ice Cream Gallery tastes of too much milk.

Wed 8 Jul

During lunchtime, it was pouring. I suggested going somewhere where the carpark is sheltered and within the same building as wherever we were eating at. Once again, I ended up at Eastwood, but this time at the Hong Kong Street Family Restaurant. We feasted on some dishes and the staple san lo hor fun before heading back to school for our lessons.

Thu 9 Jul

It was a long day in school. In fact, I was buried in work till I had to just grab a quick lunch at the canteen. I did get a bite later from Good News Cafe so that I won't be hungry in the evening. After lessons were over and clearing some further work, I made my way down to Bedok camp for remedial training. Today's session was the first IPPT test, and a chance to end it there. I managed to clear all my static stations, but I couldn't pass the running. Somehow the fifth round is the one that I just couldn't keep the timing I set for myself. Ah well, now RT will be thrice a week. Sigh.

Fri 10 Jul

I went out with some colleagues to 216 market for lunch, and we did a delivery service for many colleagues. After my lessons were over, I made my way to my in-laws' place to spend time with Jadon. For dinner, my wife and I went to eat at Pilcolo, but didn't quite like the pasta. The taste is highly inconsistent, and most of the time it tastes mediocre for the price. The pudding dessert they had was not bad, but the taste had a peculair smell to it.

Sat 11 Jul

My wife and I woke up fairly early to clear some laundry, and we made our way to 216 market for breakfast. I didn't want to eat something too heavy, so I ordered kaya toast from one of the coffee stalls. The stall sells this Ye Ye Kaya, which had received some awards, so I had to give it a try. In all honesty, the toast is much better than Ya Kun's. The toast was very well done, and was of the right thickness. The butter was generous, but more importantly, the kaya was really, really fragrant and good.

We went to my in-laws' place to help take care of Jadon, and in the evening, we went back to 216 market again, and went to try the western food from a relatively new stall Blue Lagoon. I ordered carbonara, and my wife ordered chicken chop. When the food came, I was initially disapppointed because the carbonara looked bad. It looked like cheap spaghetti and the sauce looked like it was made from some Campbell soup stock or something. However, appearances were extremely deceiving, because the pasta tasted really good. It wasn't the most fantastic carbonara I have eaten, and I still don't like the fact that it wasn't served with a yolk on top, but for $4.50, the bacon was generously thrown in, and the taste of the sauce was good. The actual texture and taste of the spaghetti was also much better than it looked. My wif'e's chicken chop was delicious! The chicken was very well grilled. It was tender inside, and the skin was grilled to a nice crisp but not burnt at all. The fries were the wedge kind, like Mos Burger, which was what my wife liked. The salad that came with it was fresh and tasty, so this stall, despite a lack of awards, was a sleeper hit for me.

I think we ate too early, because at night when we were heading home, my wife complained of hunger. We ended up going to Elias Mall to have supper at Hi Sshou. Today, the manager was around, and he was a nice, friendly guy who came to chat with us. I had my usual char siew ramen, and I have always rated the ramen here second to Ministry of Food by virtue of creaminess. The good thing about Hi Sshou is that on weekends, it is opened till late in the night, so for me, it was a good (though a bit more expensive) supper hangout. Especially since we were the only customers at that time. Heh.

Sun 12 Jul

My wife and I had a hearty Burger King breakfast, but we didn't expect that our church kids wanted BK for lunch after service, so we went there again. After the cell group, I made my way down to Bedok Camp for remedial training once more. The only nice thing about RT is that I always manage to make friends, which seriously helps to make it less painful and torturous.

Mon 13 Jul

I had porridge for breakfast in the morning, and for lunch, I went with some colleagues to Bedok Central to eat my staple curry noodles. After lessons were over, I made my way down to Eunos for driving. I was early, so I went to buy a drink at the coffee shop and waited.

And waited.

I called my instructor but no one picked up. I waited a good 45 minutes, and made several phone calls to him, to no avail. I know the man to be punctual, but he was fairly old, and I was worried for his safety. In the end, I dropped him a message and asked about his health, and told him I left after waiting close to an hour. In the evening, he called me back, and apparently, he missed out my lesson in his records, and his student was having a driving test at the time.

So I was worried for nothing. Haha.

Tue 14 Jul

It was a typical day, only busier. My colleagues and I found time to go to 216 market to have lunch (yep, it's our favourite haunt right now), and in the evening, I went to remedial training again. In case you don't understand why I haven't been blogging, this is the scenario. On days when I have RT, I end at almost 9, sometimes a bit earlier. By the time I leave the camp, it's almost always 9 pm, and I wouldn't have had dinner yet. By the time I finish dinner and wait for bus number 14, which always takes forever (i.e. at least 15 minutes) to come, I will reach my in-laws' place around ten or later. I take a shower, and since my wife will be watching the 10 pm show on Channel U, I will watch with her till 11 pm, and help wash up the milk bottles before leaving. By the time we get home, it's around 11.30 pm at least. After resting a while and due to the physical exhaustion, I wouldn't have the energy to blog. Or watch anime or play XBox 360. Sigh. So guys, please pass your IPPT.

Wed 15 Jul

Today was a terrible day. Other than the usual lessons, my level head called for a meeting, which dragged through our lunch period. In the end, I only had ten minutes left for lunch, and even the instant noodles that I was preparing didn't have enough time to soften, so I was practically chewing rubber for lunch.

In the evening, I escorted my wife to the doctor because she was not feeling well. Although she suspected that her fever was due to an infection in the tooth or gum, the doctor gave her two days of MC anyway.

Thu 16 Jul

After having a car, it feels very different to take public transport. Speed wasn't a big factor nor was the waiting time. But at my speed of walking from place to place, I perspired a lot. It was again a long day in school. I went out with my colleagues to 216 market, and I introduced them to Blue Lagoon. I decided to try their sirloin steak, and to my surprise, the cook asked for the level of done-ness that I wanted, which was rare for a hawker stall.

The most amazing thing was that the steak was prepared to the right level of medium rare that I asked for! Even many restaurants either get it too rare or overcooked, but he got it perfect. I was wondering if the guy might have worked at some restaurant originally. Hmm.

In the evening, it was RT as usual, and nowadays I'm a patron of the hawker centre off Bedok Camp thrice a week. Sigh.

Fri 17 Jul

A typical busy day, and some of us made time to go to have lunch at 216 market. This market is our current favourite because there are many choices for good food, and it was very near to the school, so we could be there and back in under an hour usually. Our timetables have been reshuffled to the point that we no longer have such a long lunchtime that we could comfortably go to Old Airport Road as before.

Sat 18 Jul

We spent the earlier part of the day at White Sands, eating at Manhattan Fish Market, which still served pretty good food, and doing some shopping. I wanted to buy a cheap sports watch with a stopwatch function, so we saw a sale at City Chain. I bought a watch for myself and an Everlast watch for my wife since she saw something nice.

Sun 19 Jul

It was another day at church and cell group, and RT in the afternoon. Again, my wife was hungry at night, so we went out to have supper, but this time at McDonald's. Hmm...I think I'm not losing that much fat due to supper even with that much intense exercise that often.

Mon 20 Jul

I had been boycotting Seng Ban Choon stall in the hawker centre opposite school for quite a while, but today, unfortunately, all my usual breakfast stalls were closed. So once again, I went to antagonize him (and be antagonized by his black face) by asking him for chopsticks. I seriously don't understand what his problem is. Who in the world sells takeaway food without providing utensils? And gives the customers attitude when they ask for chopsticks/fork/spoon?

In the afternoon, I went to get a haircut, and spent the rest of the day with Jadon. My Mondays are suddenly more free for a while because my instructor's schedule was so packed that he couldn't fit me in for driving. I don't quite believe it, but anyway, I didn't want so many lessons either since it is, after all, an additional cost.

Tue 21 Jul

I spent the usual day in school, and stayed behind to finish a ton of work until it was time for remedial training once again. RT is getting more and more wearying. After that, I went for dinner with some RT fellow sufferers. I tried the ayam penyet at the hawker centre from the stall Saimah, and it was not bad, but wasn't as fantastic as my friend raved about. The good things out of the RT, I guess, were that I did get slimmer, and made some new friends. One guy in particular had a really peculiar background, and it was fascinating to converse with him. Other than that, I was trying to find out from them more about the current life in university and private sector job market, and what it was like in the universities so that I have a better picture, and I can provide more accurate advice to my current students on their future course and career choices.

Wed 22 Jul

I had a light breakfast in school and a light brunch from the Good News Cafe in school. However, I think the management has a problem. Now, my wife, being pregnant, has certain specific food requests. Hers is not so intense to be called a craving, but sometimes she wants certain things to eat. Good News Cafe offers baked potatoes on the menu, but the tuna baked potato doesn't come with butter while my wife wants butter with the tuna. So I asked the manager if I could add butter to the baked potato. I was turned down! The lady said that the taste does not go together. While I appreciate the good intentions, still, I would have thought it is the customer's perogative to choose. So I insisted, and said that I would pay for the butter. She still declined. I told her that my wife is pregnant, and she specifically requests for the butter. Her response was, non-verbatim, "You have butter at home what. You can eat that." And still would not add the butter! Whatever happened to 'the customer is always right'? My offer of paying 50 cents for that little dollop of butter was good profit to them, in fact. I don't know whether to call the manageress principled, or inflexible. Either way, I don't like the fact that I can't customize my order.

My wife, when she heard this, decided to boycott the establishment altogether. Her response, if she was the one talking to the manageress would have been, "I also have potato and an oven at home. Then buy from you for what?"

For lunch, we coughed up enough time to make a quick trip to Old Airport Road, and had the delicious sliced fish noodles, some dessert and a nice honey lemon drink before heading back to school.

Thu 23 Jul

We decided to have something different for breakfast today, and tried the lor mee from opposite school. It was nowhere near the quality of that at Old Airport Road, but it was decent enough. We needed some variation in the breakfast choices. My colleagues and I were all too busy to drive out to eat, so we went opposite school to grab a quick bite for lunch, and in the evening, I went for RT as usual.

Fri 24 Jul

I had school as usual, and in the afternoon, I went down to City Hall area for my dental appointment. Apparently, my dentist had broken partnership with the original establishment White on Whites, and now has downsized his clinic to half the size and calls it Chris Dental. I was having a toothache for a week because my dentist went on leave, but thankfully, despite not having visited the dentist for more than a year, I only had one cavity. And I know it is certainly not due to good dental hygiene. Heh.

After I was done with the filling, I headed off to Raffles Shopping Centre, then Citilink, then Marina Square for some window shopping. Or so I thought. When I reached Club Marc, I realized that they were still having the $15 promotion! I went in to try a lot more clothes, but in the end, only settled for a pair of three-quarts and a pair of light gray work pants. Passing by G2000, I spotted a sale, and the short-sleeved shirts were going for $23. I bought one, as well as a polo-tee. Then when I passed by Domanchi, my sharp eyes noticed this sign that says "2 for $39"! Usually Domanchi shirts do not come cheap, so I went in to check the clothes. Surprisingly there were still two nice shirts that were my size! I think the bigger sizes were sold out apparently.

Yay! Time to slowly change my wardrobe. Bwahaha!

Sat 25 Jul

I also spent money on clothes today, but not on myself. My wife wanted more maternity clothes, so we went to Suntec and Marina Square. We ended up buying stuff from Spring Maternity and Perfect Mum, and I paid for the one at Perfect Mum as a gift for my wife. In case I do not have time to go buy a gift for her birthday. I was looking for a new pair of black shoes, since the one from Club Marc has the 'tongue' from the right shoe drop off. Ah well, 15 bucks only.

I ended up buying a nice pair of shoes from Hush Puppies, but it needed seasoning because it was a little tight at the toes. We ended up in Crocs because I wanted to replace my old pair of Crocs slippers whose threading was already totally worn off at the heel. My wife spotted something nice, so I bought her a pair on top of my own.

For dinner we headed to Ministry of Food. Today's quality was good, and comparable to the Bugis branch, which we always regarded to have better quality control. The dessert was generous in portion, so dinner was delicious!

Sun 27 Jul

We decided to try something different for a change, so we headed down to Elias Mall to buy breakfast, and munched along the way to service. We had service and cell group as usual, and headed for my in-laws' place to spend time with Jadon. In the afternoon, I went for RT, but made it back in time for dinner.

Mon 29 Jun

I managed to settle some work that came with the start of the term, and left relatively early for driving lessons at 3.30 pm. Today was my first time at the circuit, and I found it quite fun. Of course, it wasn't as stressful for me since I was learning auto, as my wife was quick to point out the agonizing control of gear and clutch in the S-curve and Z-curve and whatever else.

My wife and I were somewhat unhealthy today, and we ordered a late night supper from Mcdelivery. The oddest thing was that the delivery boy got the order wrong. I didn't realize it because he got the drink (iced milo) right, and that was the one in the transparent bag. The rest of the order, which was the food, was wrong. I had ordered a Fillet O-Fish upsized, added with an apple pie and cinnamon melts, and what was in the paper bag was a McChicken meal and a McSpicy meal, with two apple pies. Technically I got more than I paid for, but seriously, neither my wife nor me wanted either burger, so it was a filling but agonizing supper.

Tue 30 Jun

I was in school doing some work and preparations for next week. For lunch, a bunch of us headed down to Old Airport Rd for lunch. I had the staple Whitley Rd Prawn Noodles, and a durian goreng. I wanted dessert originally, but my favourite Blanco Court one was closed for the day. My wife and I left school in the mid-afternoon and went to spend some time with Jadon before going home to do a bucketload of chores.

Wed 1 Jul

This was one heck of a long day. I had visual screening duty in the morning, so I was in school at 6 am. I did the duty till about 7.45 am before I went back to the staff room to do some work. For lunch, we headed out to 216 market. I went with one group of colleagues, and ate a bowl of you mian and a bowl of laksa. Another group of colleagues came later, but because one of them had to rush back, I swapped places with her, and went back later with the other group.

By right I was supposed to invigilate my own Year 2 chemistry paper, but I was assigned to be on one of the panels for the interviews of next year's potential TA students. That took up my time from 2.30 (one hour for pre-discussions) till 7.30 pm! Some of my colleagues wanted dinner, so we went down to Siglap to grab some nice chicken rice with zi char dishes. The colleague who drove, my Magic the Gathering kaki, gave me a ride down to Bukit Merah, so I was able to join my pastor for cell meeting when worship was almost over, and the whole thing took till 10.30. My pastor graciously drove me back to Bedok, so I ended my day at 11 pm. I was barely awake by then, especially considering the sleep debt owed.

Thu 2 Jul

I have been supporting the Good News Cafe which newly opened on college campus by buying the ice-blended drinks, which at $2.20 were pretty decent. Lunch was a treat by some colleagues who were promoted earlier this year, and they brought in Rite Pizza, which served decent pizza (I found the ingredients too little on the pizza though), and interesting sides like samosas, prawn rolls, spring rolls and chicken wings. They also bought shepherd's pie from one shop from Sempang (is that how you spell it?) Bedok, which was delicious!

In the evening, I headed down to Bedok Camp for remedial training, and again we ran a total of 2.8 km in addition of many other exercises. I wonder if I'm losing weight through all this. Hmm.

Fri 3 Jul

It was good that I finished marking yesterday, so I spent the time sorting out some administration, and for lunch, my colleague felt like going somewhere different, so I brought them down to Downtown East to eat at Mr Chicken Rice. After that, we bought the creamy ice-tea from the basement Chipshop which was still fabulously rich, before heading back to college for invigilation of the Year 1 chemistry paper. The TA 1 chemistry papers ran concurrently, so I wanted to start marking after I was done with invigilation, but I decided to bring the scripts back to mark. In case I didn't have time to mark over the weekend, I marked the scripts till about 1 am in the morning.

Sat 4 Jul

My wife and I went over to my in-laws' place quite early to spend time with Jadon. For dinner, we went to the newly renovated Kopitiam next to Bedok library to eat at Astons Express. My wife had the grilled fish with herbs and I had a prime ribeye xtra cut. The food was good, but the drinks at the coffee shop suck. Big time. I ordered barley, which looked like murky water. It was awfully translucent to the point of almost being clear, and it tasted extremely diluted. To give the drinks stall a second chance, I ordered iced milo, and it was about two-thirds ice, and one-third not even thick milo. If I ever eat there again, I will order a canned drink and nothing else.

Sun 5 Jul

My wife was still sick, so I made my own way down to Simei. I ate my favourite fishball noodles at the NTUC foodcourt for breakfast and took the shuttle bus to church for service. After service, I rushed off with my cell, and we headed down to Bedok interchange for lunch. One of my boys, Junhui, was having a magic performance, and he asked for us to go and support him, so we did. He told me the show was at 1.30 pm, so since I thought we'd be late, I took a cab there.

When we got to the address, I was confused, because we could only find some big Malay-styled event setup at the void deck. I verified with Junhui's friend, and we were indeed at the right place. So we hung around, not knowing where we were. Someone came to us and asked us to take a seat and help ourselves to the food, but we already ate. In the end, the show started at 2.50! Inbetween it felt like racial harmony day, and we listened to the Quran scriptural reading, the traditional Malay singing (don't know how to describe it otherwise...), and a Silat performance. We felt extremely out of place. The feeling was only mitigated by the fact that there were many other Chinese people around, and it looked like they were there for the free food. Only later I found out that the event was actually a celebration of the birthday of the prophet. Anyway, after catching Junhui's performance, which had some minor glitches but otherwise went well and was well-received, I took a cab down to Bedok Camp for another round of Remedial Training.

Once in a while, I get this nagging inspiration to write a certain thing. So this one is for all my students/friends who have just or yet to acquire a credit card.

Make Credit Cards Work For You!
A layman’s guide to credit cards by Low Kian Seh.

Despite reports of soaring bank debts and bankruptcy due to credit card debts, in all seriousness I have to say that credit cards are wonderful and only benefit the consumer – if you know how to make them work for you.

1. BENEFITS OF CREDIT CARDS

So why apply for credit cards? First thing you should know is that the banks want you more than you want them. If you get a credit card from them and you spend, they earn, and the best thing is that they don’t actually earn from you, unless you are unwise. I’ll talk about that later. Then what is in it for you?

Sign-Up Perks / Recommendation Perks

This is the most immediate and visible benefit. As I stated earlier, the banks want you as clients. Hence, many banks dangle a carrot before you in the form of cash, vouchers, free gifts such as watches, bags and accessories. Some companies offer rewards for recommending others, so you can always rope in people to get more good deals. However, this should not be a main consideration for the usage of the credit card, as many people sign up, get the freebies, and when the annual fee is next charged, they terminate the card (if they don’t use it). Of course, take note that the banks do keep track of your records, so they may have terms and conditions if you were to sign up for a new card with them at a later time.

Discounts and Promotions

This is the most prominent benefit that a credit card brings. Many retail merchants and F & B (food & beverage) establishments have discounts with certain credit cards or banks, and have promotions from time to time. There are two kinds of discounts and promotions: seasonal and permanent.

Seasonal discounts happen for a short time, which can range from days to weeks to a couple of months, especially the Great Singapore Sale (GSS). Permanent discounts and promotions are usually for merchants which have long-term cooperation with the banks, such as petrol companies, or if the credit card is launched in collaboration with some particular company. Some examples are Tangs, Robinsons, Ikea, Singtel, SMRT, and etc.

Discounts can range from 5% upwards, and can be quite attractive. Promotions can come in the form of lucky draws, vouchers awarded for a certain amount of spending, redeeming movie tickets, and etc. As a general rule of thumb, if you are in doubt, just ask the cashier or waiter if there are any credit card promotions, and you can check if you have the right card for the purchase or payment.

Points and Rebates

This is a big bonus for credit card holders. Aside from discounts and promotions, most credit cards either have a point-system or rebate-system to manage rewards for your spending. The more you spend, the more points or rebates you earn. Now this is the part where mathematics come into picture. Now most credit cards use the point-system. They can name it any other name, but as long as you earn points with your spending, and you can use the points to redeem gifts or vouchers, that is essentially a point-system.

In general, the points are earned at a rate of 1 point per $5 of spending. There are some variations on this, but that seems to be the ‘market rate’. Sometimes, there are promotions during certain periods of time that you can earn more points with your spending, but that depends on the banks. Anyway, the usually redemption rate seems to be pegged at $10 voucher per 500 to 750 points across banks. So after crunching the calculators, essentially, you get $10 back for every $2500 to $3750 of spending. That works out to be a return of 0.27% to 0.40% of what you spend.

Now the other system is a rebate-system, and the credit cards that offer this are fewer in number. Usually the rebates are tiered and tied to the kind of expenditure. So you may have a different percentage rebate for petrol as compared to dining for instance. Generally, the rebate is 1% onwards for participating merchants, and can reach as high as 5%, and at the lowest, it is about 0.5% for all other expenditure. If you compare that with my number crunch earlier, it is quite obvious that in general, the rebates are worth more than the points.

Use this as an evaluating criterion, and soon you can figure out what cards are more worth using when you pay for stuff in the long run. Of course, do take into account the earlier part about discounts and promotions, and you will become a wise spender.

Interest-free Installments

This is a lesser-known benefit, but it is deserving of mention. Typically, the installment plans stretch for 6, 12, 18, 24 or even 36 months. One thing to note is that the term ‘interest-free’ is misleading. If you calculate what you pay for the instalments, it is true that there is no additional charge of interest. However, if you work backwards, you will realize that the merchants would have worked the interest that would otherwise be charged into the retail prices.

However, do recognize this: even if you don’t take installments, you are also paying extra, so why not? The usual drawback is this though: when you pay for something by installments, usually you do not earn points or rebates with the purchase. Why do I consider this a benefit? Well, there are times when you may be cash-strapped and this becomes important. Of course, the price is probably higher than another shop that does not offer installments, but only you will know how much liquidity you need to have. I think the most common use of this will be taking of facial/slimming packages, electrical appliances and other costly purchases.

Special and Specific Benefits

This is a more recent thing as Platinum cards are being pushed across banks. Special benefits would be travel perks, which can range from airline, travel package or hotel stay discounts, and membership to certain establishments. Common ones include golf courses and fitness centres. Some cards offer unlimited access, while others have a restriction on the number of times you can access these places for free each month.

2. THEN HOW DO BANKS MAKE MONEY FROM CREDIT CARDS?

This should be the burning question, since it seems to cost you nothing but you get a bucket-load of benefits. This is an important question, because once you understand this part, you will learn how to make the credit cards work for you.

Bank Charge on Merchants

This is the part that most people are unaware of, and is the main source of income for the banks. Every single transaction that a merchant makes via credit card is charged a certain percentage of the purchase by the bank. The value of that percentage may vary, but it is, I think, in the vicinity of 5%. So the larger the purchase, the more the bank earns from it.

Now, similar to the interest-free installment section, the merchants would have incorporated this hidden cost into the retail price as long as the merchant accepts credit card usage. Hence, the prices are already adjusted higher to account for this extra cost. This is an important point: if I phrase it in another way, this means that if you pay by cash when credit cards can be used, you are paying extra and giving the shop more profit! Not to mention that you lose out on the points or rebates that you could have earned. Therefore, use your credit cards whenever possible!

The only exception is this: when the shop accepts credit card usage, but charges an extra percentage on the sale if a credit card is used. The best example of this system is in Sim Lim Square. Most of the merchants there can offer lower prices than other places because they do not adjust the pricing to incorporate this charge. Therefore, if you pay by cash, it is a lower cost than if you pay by credit. So unless you can get a 5% rebate with the purchase, it is safe to assume that it’s better to not pay by credit in this case.

Interest Rate and Late Charges

Interest rate is charged on the remaining amount whenever a credit bill is not fully paid. Usual interest rate for credit cards is 24% per annum, but that does not work out to be 2% per month apparently, and the interest charge is quite hefty if you have an unpaid balance in thousands.

Late charge is the penalty fee if you missed the deadline. With every month’s bill (usually on a fixed day for each bank), there is a date to make payment by. If you miss the payment, there will be a fee charged, and it can range from roughly $40 to $60, depending on the bank.

Annual Fee

This is an annual subscription charge for the credit card, and can range from a low of $50 thereabouts to above $200 depending on the prestige and benefits of the card. Some cards come with lifetime fee waiver provided you exceed a certain amount of annual expenditure, and some cards come with free annual fee waiver for the first few (1 to 5, depending on the credit card) years.

3. HOW DO WE MAKE THE CARDS WORK FOR US?

The benefits listed in the first section are there for the taking, and does not cost us anything at all. The second section lists the way the banks make money. Now the bank charges on the merchants have no effect on us except for the specific cases I’ve mentioned, so how do we circumvent the charges that do affect us?

Use your Credit Card as Often as Possible

Whenever you are going to pay for something, check if the merchant accepts credit card payments with no extra charges. If a credit card can be used, check if there are specific credit cards with discounts or promotions and use those. If not then use the one that benefits you the most, be it in terms of points or rebates. Getting some money or vouchers back from all that you spend is a satisfying thing.

Don’t Spend Beyond your Means

This is the most important point, which many people miss and thus abuse their credit cards. Now after mentioning all the benefits in the first section and the previous point, I need to clarify this: I am not advocating wild heedless expenditure to chalk up points, rebates or get freebies. I am advocating that you maintain your lifestyle and spending, but just ensure that you use your credit card to make payments whenever possible. If you do this, you shouldn’t end up in a case when your bill is beyond what you can pay and you are bound to incur interest. If you end up needing to make a big purchase, then consider taking interest-free installments to split the cost over several months so that you can manage.

One common option for people who spend beyond their means is to do a balance transfer. While this option is good if you are already in credit card debt, the best thing you can do for yourself is to follow what I advised earlier and don’t put yourself in such a position. Balance transfer is a facility that most banks offer. Essentially, it takes over your debt to another bank. For instance, if you owe bank A $5000 this month, bank B may offer you a balance transfer. If you do the balance transfer, what happens is that bank B pays the $5000 on your behalf, and you no longer owe bank A, but now you owe bank B the same amount. What banks do to make this option more pleasant is to offer a lower interest rate than what you would have paid. The hidden ‘benefit’ for the consumer is that you end up delaying your debt repayment by a month (the month that you do the balance transfer). This only helps if you actually can make repayment the following month, and if you can’t, there are only so many banks around that you can transfer the debt around. The people that you commonly read about going bankrupt due to credit card debt usually use balance transfer to shift the debt around, but still continue to rack up expenditure rather than save to pay the debt off.

So the point is: don’t spend beyond your means, else no benefit that the credit card can offer can make up for the extra charges incurred.

Be Punctual with your Payments

This sounds obvious and simple, but can be a tricky thing if you are hanging on to several credit cards. An easy way is to set monthly reminders for bill payments, since there is a fixed recurring date each month for each bank. A better option is to fix payment by GIRO. Every bank should have a GIRO application form, and the credit card amount you owe will be deducted directly from your designated bank account. Note however that you must ensure sufficient funds in the account, because if you don’t and the payment fails, you will be charged a late fee, interest, and also an administrative fee for the failed GIRO deduction. And if you follow the previous point and spend within your means, you shouldn’t find yourself with a failed GIRO deduction.

If you always pay on time, you will not be slapped with extra cost. However, if by some chance you fail to make payment punctually, do not worry. Most banks want your business, and you can just make a call to the bank, speak to the customer service, explain your situation of why you missed the payment, and if you usually have good payment habits and records, generally they will waive the charges if you ask nicely.

Annual Fee Waivers

Other than the annual fee waivers that come with certain cards or promotions, you can always request for a fee waiver anyway. As I stated, most banks want your business, and if you call in and ask nicely for a fee waiver when you see it charged to your bill, generally the banks oblige, depending on how badly they want your business. The rule of thumb is: if you are spending regularly with that card, most probably they will grant you the waiver (and they continue to earn from the merchants you spend at). If you don’t use that card often or at all, then it depends on the bank. Some will not offer a waiver, and others may offer a conditional waiver, i.e. they request that you spend a certain amount or hit a certain number of uses, and they will remove the waiver.

Do take note that some banks have a practice of deducting the annual fee from your points (if you chalked up enough) by default. The easy way to circumvent this, of course, would be to redeem what you want with your points before the renewal month so that the points would be too low to deduct from, or if the bank has deducted already, once again call in and ask for a fee waiver and request that they return you the points, but this request often doesn’t get entertained.

Tue 23 Jun

I had a heavy breakfast at MacDonalds', and spent the rest of the day with Jadon.

Sometimes I have weird ideas - conspiracy theories to be precise. I was just wondering: what if SARS and H1N1 are experimental biological weapons? Maybe there is some terrorist organization, or pharmaceutical company (which developed a vaccine), or some military organization out there that developed this virus, and sent it out for testing? SARS was a deadly virus, but because it killed the carriers fairly effectively, the virus couldn't travel very far and very wide. H1N1 was the next incarnation to test how far a pandemic can reach, so it is a less deadly, more easily spread version. In that case, in subsequent years, we should see a fairly lethal (but maybe take longer to kill) strain that could spread fast, far and wide. Hmmm. I think I love the storyline of 20th Century Boys too much. Haha.

Wed 24 Jun

I had driving at 8 am in the morning, and I was so barely awake that I feared being a road hazard. Fortunately my instructor today was very chatty, so talking kept me sufficiently awake. He made me practise turning again and again so that I could get my hand movements right and become more nimble. He made me do many 3-point turns, which although not tested, he said would help me be more nimble. After that, I had lunch at the Botak Jones coffeeshop and my wife had Pilcolo pasta, and we spent the rest of the day at my in-laws' place.

Thu 25 Jun

It was a long day today. There was a meeting in the morning in school involving all the staff, which stretched till almost noon. I grabbed lunch with my wife, and then headed back for a series of consultations till almost 4 pm. After that, I stayed in the staff room to finish some work, and in the evening, I made my way to Bedok Camp for Remedial Training.

Today's session was quite amusing. Because of the incident at Maju Camp, there was temperature taking outside the camp. We also needed to fill a travel declaration form, and because there was an IPPT test for the Phase II trainees, it was one long messy queue. I was there punctually, so I was done quickly, and I went to the warmup area to wait.

And waited I did. The warmup session was due to start at 6.30 pm originally, but the whole thing was delayed to 7.30 pm! When the PTI (Physical Training Instructor) came, he actually said that it was quite late, and that it was no point having training! He offered to train those who wanted it, and the rest could just sit back and relax. I couldn't quite believe it. But the most amazing thing was that everyone of us went forward, so he had no choice but to conduct training with the remaining time. I think after waiting one hour, we all thought it would be quite pathetic to stay and wait some more and tell people we did absolutely nothing.

At night, my wife felt hungry, so we went to MacDonald's for supper. We tried this new cinnamon melts thing, and it was delicious, but very sweet. I will definitely order it again another time.

Fri 26 Jun

I was at my in-laws' place as usual. For lunch, I was with my wife at 216 market, and I had nasi lemak from Hon Ni Kitchen, and the favourite ice lemon tea. We went shopping for stuff, namely a water pipe to replace a leaking one for my shower system. On the way, I spotted bags being sold at Song & Song. Since my current bag was old, and now the strap was soaked with sweat every Remedial Training, I bought a new Adidas bag for $30.

Sat 27 Jun

I spent the whole day in my in-laws' place to spend time with Jadon.

Sun 28 Jun

I went to Simei to have a heavy breakfast at the NTUC foodfare and ate my staple fishball noodles before heading off to church service. I spent most of the time ministering to one of my boys, so I guess I'd better hear the sermon online to make up for it. I left slightly earlier with my wife and Collin, because today there was a special event. Collin is my financial advisor from Finexis, and his company was having a movie treat for the clients, at least those who were interested.

We rushed down to The Cathay, and the parking was so full that Collin dropped us off first and he went hunting for lots himself. We watched Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen! The best thing was that the movie treat included a bag of popcorn and a can of coke for each person. I had read mixed reviews on the movie, and the ones that rated it poorly talked about it being oversexed, over-crude and indecision on its genre. Well, I think I was just interested in the cgi, so the movie delivered brilliantly. I like how the current transformers franchise had made the robots more detailed and organic looking than the original cartoon counterparts. There was plenty of action, but my personal gripe was that there were too many robots. In fact, I would describe it as too many calefare robots. There were some that appeared without ever being named, introduced or referred to, and they were there just to get shot down or blown up. Especially the Decepticons' side, many of which were indistinguishable from one another. I think the Devastator looked spectacular. I used to have a set of Constructicons (I think that's the name, I vaguely remember) so that was nostalgic, but the current one in the movie looked way more bestial. The other gripe was the female robot (possible spoiler, be forewarned). I think the movie crossed bad territory here. In the old series, I don't recall there being any robot that can fully become an ordinary-looking human. The closest toy would probably be an armoured humanoid form. When that pretender showed up in the movie, for a while, I thought I was watching Terminator series of something.

After the movie, I booked a cab to rush down to Bedok Camp for Remedial Training. Today's training was a bit more intense, and we ran a total of 2.8 km. My legs were aching after that, and still had to chase after Jadon here and there. He has adorable actions these days. When we ask him to help us look for something, he will bend down very low and look under the couch, chair or other places.

I went back to school today for consultation with a student, and to finish up some administrative work. After I was done, I went to meet my wife for lunch at Spaghedies. The dory I had was quite good, especially the mushroom sauce. I liked my wife's lasagne too, but she actually preferred Pizza Hut's one, which I find too much of a mash of everything. The lasagne here was well-textured, and you can taste each layer distinctly, which I feel took better skill to prepare.

I spent the rest of the day at my in-laws' place with Jadon, who was now much better. He had regained much of his appetite, and at least would laugh when I played with him. I think no one but a parent can empathize with the pain felt when a child is sick.

Anyway, it turned out that I was wrong about The Ultimatum. Felicia Chin was just physically abused, and no rape was involved. Sexuality was exchanged for sadism, so I must had been mistaken about the scriptwriters.