Reverie

It came up again after seeing ahLi and jonquil31 talking about exercising after CNY.

Wouldn’t if be better if one resisted those CNY goodies, so there is no need to exercise off those extras?

Then, the one would not have enjoyed the CNY season.

Life is about the same choices isn’t it? Do you strive in a way you hate to, then to savour the fruits later; or enjoy the process and be glad you did?

Would you prefer to later regret that you did not work hard; or regret you did not live life the way you think you should have?

How many people on the different sides have persuaded each other to switch?

Conclusion 1: Strike a balance.

Conclusion 2: I’m probably spending too much time at home.

Remember the Flu Season?

Yep the doc’s confirmed it — it’s the viral flu season and I’ve got it. Probably the doctor’s got it too, cos it a relief doctor on duty today.

But this relief doctor explains alot. Seems she’s either too passionate or she’s a freshie throwing out whatever she knows about doctor-ship. At least I learnt that its rather infectious, it’s quite easy to catch this flu as simply as walking into a crowded place. Which is what I do everyday when I travel to work or go to lunch. Also I met both phishie and windydays, who had some sort of flu as well.

She also advised me not to go out this weekend, attempt any strenuous exercise, especially swimming. She even commented that “the weather sucks” (the quotes means she said that literally) and I should stay home and rest. Cos “anyway the medicine I’m prescribing you will make you drowsy”. She gave sold me some panadol as well, which she said little people know it takes care of the type of pain as the one in my throat. Drink lots of water and fruits, and anything containing water, such as green tea or papaya and kiwi, which are rich in vitamin C. The rest will be left to my immune system to fight back.

So now I shall retreat early and heed my doc’s advice, get some serious rest and hope I’ll be up and kicking by Monday……

OpenID again

Managed to find a much better OpenID plugin than the one I was using. This one addresses the two main problems I had with the previous plugin. Previously it was necessary to modify theme files in order to work, so it means I’ll have difficulty upgrading, or even just using another theme. Also the previous plugin did not create WP users, so I couldn’t use the post-levels effectively.

Another secondary issue was that the previous plugin included an OpenID server, which conflicts with the one I had already setup. This new one is a pure consumer, so I am able to use back the original server, which allows me to login during the redirect instead of simply prompting ‘I must be logged in at WP to use my OpenID’.

However this plugin seems to be still in its early stages (v0.85), and I had problems activating it initially. I had to deactivate and activate it again before it installs successfully. There’s also a border around the OpenID logo if you use particular themes. Hopefully functionality-wise it’ll work just as fine as previously. Time will tell.

Note to existing OpenID users: To authenticate yourself now, you will need to enter your full OpenID URL. For LJ users that is “username.livejournal.com” without the quotes.

Week Update

Well, I must say I’m surprised there are PEOPLE reading what I’m writing… and secondly ENTERTAINING!? OK probably things that happened to me won’t be that interesting to me.

And I’m here doing a week update, just because I thought there were some miscellaneous stuff that I wanted to note but it wasn’t significant enough to take up an entire post. And no it’s not a weekLY update, it’s just a special edition for this week.

1st: I think I blundered on the Macdonalds price hike — I went Mac for breakfast today and it seems prices are still normal. I must have visited some city Mac that sells higher; I upsized some weird thing to up the price; I was cheated; or I’m just plain blur.

2nd: Reading jonquil31’s miserable post made me think about my week, which happen to be not so good too. 2 outings were canceled, 1 with Quinnies and 1 with Cherlyn and gang. Then I had the bad 2nd interview, bad offer and now a bad reject.

3rd: I’ve got my StandChart debit card, but the password and PIN hasn’t arrived. I’ve been anticipating it, with disappointment every evening I open the letterbox. Every day late means a day less interest for me, albeit the TEENY WEENY cents. (is that how you use albeit? vocab improve time again)

4th: It seems I’ve been actively going towards completing my resolutions for the year: I’ve made effort to go to the bank to open an account; when I borrowed the car (although initiated by stoopidger), I purposely keep re-parking on my own; I’ve even popped into Yamaha @ PlazaSing to note Guitar prices, which start from S$140. I guess I’ll be better off borrowing one from some gave-up-guitarist. All in, there’s a start to more than 50% of the tasks on the list! Good job! *pat pat*

Pre-GST hike’s GST hike

It means, raising prices due to GST hike, BEFORE the announcement of the GST hike. The businesses seem to be rather confident the government is going ahead with the hike, and many raised their prices at the start of 2007. Macdonald’s breakfast upped 30 cents from $5 and $5.30. A fish-filet meal now costs $5.30, and Big Breakfast $5.60. Ya Kun stuck a statement beside its cashier, added 20 cents to its menu, and pushed its Set A to $3.90. Even my Kosong Prata went from 50cent to 60cents, effectively a 20% increase.

I know its hard to sell prata at 51cents each; I just hope it won’t become 70 cents after the Budget Day.

Opened StandChart account

Went down to the bank to get my eSaver account open today… it offers the current highest savings account interest while I do not have enough savings funds to go for a better investment yet. Since I’ll be leaving my money in the bank account anyway, why not let it earn by itself? Though I know it’s still very very little interest, it’s still more than 7 times more than what I can get elsewhere. Also the daily calculated interest is paid monthly instead of annually, so there’s actually a bigger compound interest factor, making it worth even more than the “more than 7 times more”.

In the end I opened two accounts with them, the original eSaver I went for, and an additional bank account which links to my eSaver account. The “promoter” introduced me an accompanying account that comes with a debit card and cheque book, so I was able to withdraw eSaver funds from the ATM directly with the card, despite eSaver itself being unable to. This also granted me access to the atm5 network which I’ve been wanting to join. I’ve queued enough at those dreaded POSB/DBS atms!

Since the new account also had no minimum balance I just needed $1 in each account to get it open. The only catch which he reminded me is to cancel the new account after 3 years, cos that’s the time for the expiry for fee waiver! Hopefully I’ll be lucky enough to get an extended waiver from them!

Resolution ’07

Yeah I know I’m one day late in preparing my resolutions, but, well I still have 364 days in this year! And it’s this same attitude that makes all those unresolved resolutions.

Speaking of which, before I start to make the sacred list, I’m wondering why it’s called a RESOLUTION??? Like it’s something to resolve? or 1024×768??? Well someone should come tell me the origin and why it’s call a resolution. Also, I seldom make resolutions, at least not formally like writing it down this time. Why? Because I know I’ll default on the resolutions, so why make them? But then, rules were written to be broken. So… out of some fun, here’s MY list this year…

  • Brush up (as in relearn) my parking skills
  • Get a facelift = seek treatment probably
  • Play a guitar! — if I do get my hands on one within this year…
  • Transfer my savings to somewhere else where I get more than S$6 interest in a year :'(
  • And, make my dear angry less times than last year!

OK, I’ll probably skip the actual counting on the last wish, hopefully I’ll be able to FEEEL that it happened less times at the end of this year. More importantly, no IT stuff! It’s my life side of things!