Pissing Humour

 

Can you spot what's wrong with this picture?

Make a guess before you scroll down for the answer and the story that goes with it.

Ready?

Let's scroll down.

---

 

Realising that we weren't going to make it back in time for dinner with the rest of the tournament participants, we decided to pull over at one of the restaurants along the street to stop for dinner.

So while the rest of the party were settling down at the table, AP (the guy in the cap and bermudas) and I headed to the rest room to take a leak for we have been stuck in the car for close to 2 hours. Besides, we also needed to wash our hands prior to dinner too.

As I was washing my hands, AP started swearing and cursing all the Cantonese expletives, the natural reaction for me would be to quickly turned around to see what happened and I found myself bursting into hysterical laughter.

AP was pissing all over his shoes as the urinal was not connected to the pipe below! I could have sworn that his pair of burgundy New Balance sneakers was a shade more orange as a result of the "yellow dye".
What happened next was even funnier.

AP, still cursing and swearing non-stop, shifted to adjacent urinal while in midstream and pissing across the wall in the process. WTF??!!

I can only sketch what I saw here for :

1. by the time I whipped out my camera, it would have been all over anyway and,
2. AP would kill me if he caught me taking picture of him pissing.

The rest of the party who went in after us were complaining about the rest room, for there was piss everywhere.

AP and I kept really quiet throughout dinner. 

- Voxeros

1. Chocolate gal left...

Friday, 28 September 2007 1:42 pm

Muahhhaaa... use this to blackmail him :p

2. JayWalk left...

Friday, 28 September 2007 2:41 pm :: 

Chocolate: Don't want lah.... good friend mah.... shhhhh......

3. Chocolate gal left...

Friday, 28 September 2007 4:46 pm

ok ok... 偷偷的勒索啦... hehehe

4. JayWalk left...

Saturday, 29 September 2007 10:07 am :: 

Chocolate: Nah....

5. Winsor left...

Saturday, 29 September 2007 12:40 pm :: http://winsor.blogspot.com

hahaha! Damn! This is funny! Why can't your friend like hold his pee then make the move??

6. JayWalk left...

Saturday, 29 September 2007 12:57 pm :: 

Winsor: I believe that once pee is out, you can't stop it. Why don't you try it at home and then come back here with your findings?

7. nadnut left...

Sunday, 30 September 2007 2:45 am

aiyoh! tsk tsk. btw your sketch very nice!

8. JayWalk left...

Sunday, 30 September 2007 10:20 am :: 

nadnut: Definitely not my best work. I wanted to redo and improve on the "piss across the wall" but alas iLazy.

But hey, that's what you get for 2 minutes of effort. I always adopt the mantra. Mai Hiam Buay Pai.

9. Winsor left...

Wednesday, 3 October 2007 12:40 pm :: http://winsor.blogspot.com

jay, i always thought that it could be done. it's like a toilet palour trick, to urinal-hop, without spillage. haha!

10. Everton left...

Wednesday, 3 October 2007 1:11 pm

don't know how old your friend is. it could be an early sign of enlarging prostate gland :-(
should train him like our old dog bunny (ha ha)...pee at one spot!!!!

11. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 3 October 2007 2:51 pm :: 

Winsor: Won't work for me dude. When it's out, even a vice clamp won't stop it.

Everton: I doubt if he has a prostate problem. He is around my age. Btw, our old dog is Barney. Not bunny. Imagine a dog named after a rabbit. Oh the shame!

12. Rachel left...

Thursday, 11 October 2007 5:33 pm :: http://www.xtralicious.com

Wah lau!!! LOLOL damn gross can..

13. Winsor left...

Thursday, 11 October 2007 8:58 pm :: http://winsor.blogspot.com

vice clamp! hahahaha!
I LOL'd... i think i alarmed my mum.

14. JayWalk left...

Friday, 12 October 2007 2:44 am :: 

Rachel: What would you have done then? Either way, the pee is going to be all over the place.

Winsor: Well, there is an old hokkien saying that goes "Gin nah zhuar guei kuey. Lao lang di dio eh. 小孩洒过溪，老人滴到鞋."

Tree Roots

As I was writing about my visit to the tree root carving village, I spotted this place and some of the unique root formations.

These are 2 separate roots and they formed 2 Ch1nese word characters. Can you guessed what they are?
The smaller one on the left is the word 福 (happiness) and the bigger one on the right is the word 寿 (longevity). Did anyone managed to see it?

So I guess it is perfectly natural to put these two words together to form the phrase of blessing 福寿.

Question. What do you think this is? Divine message or merely a rare coincidence?

I choose to believe that it is the latter. A mere coincidence which brings me to the hoo-hah in Jurong West recently, where people found image of the Monkey God on the bark of a tree and another Hindu deity look-alike at the root of another tree.

With all due respect to the various religions, I think we are taking the Jesus-On-Toast fiasco a tad too far. It got so bad that the worshipping went deep into the night and causing traffic jams on that street, much to the displeasure of the local residents. So far, I think the person with the greatest blessing would the ice-cream man and his mobile refrigerator cart.

Qiaoyun has covered this on her blog. Click here to read all about it.

Here's the thing. People see what they want/hope/wish to see. Remember how we used to stare up at the clouds when we were kids and then starting to see familiar shapes form by the white gaseous fluff of water vapour?

Hey! Look up there! It's a bunny! It's a sheep! It's a KFC Crispy left side chicken breast with an upsized cup of rootbeer! 

Apologies if I appear to mock but isn't the Monkey God a fictional character? It would have been far more credible if you say you saw GuanYin (观音) or Ma Tsu (妈祖) but Monkey God Sun WuKong? That's a character from an old Ch1nese folklore! No?

Anyway, I shall quit my skeptic criticism here before people start pelting stones or issue a fatwa (or any other religious equivalent) on my life. It wasn't the main jist of this entry, anyway.

Instead, I saw something deeper in this and I don't like what I saw.

The massive throngs of devotees rushing to pray for blessing at such fervour is alarming. It tells of something wrong.

Don't bury your head and deny it for what I said is true. I was a regular church-going Chr1stian when I was living in Singapore and I can honestly tell you that church attendance is always fuller in times of recession and/or desperation and I am sure this is probably the same situation across all the religions.

Ahh... such is the nature of the human race.

So what can be wrong in the island that we call home? The stock index is shooting through the roof, our Gahmen are releasing positive numbers of the jobs that they have created and the impressive percentage number of our economic growth, quarter after quarter. What can be wrong?

Yet, judging from what I hear and see (from pictures), devotees are rushing to pray at a desperate fervour.

Is something wrong? Or is something going to be wrong?

Please. Go think about it.

- Voxeros

1. Chocolate gal left...

Thursday, 27 September 2007 2:47 pm

i think they just want to win toto or 4D....

2. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 27 September 2007 3:35 pm :: 

Jaschocolate: I doubt if the God(s) would grant wishes of greed.

3. barffie left...

Friday, 28 September 2007 2:34 pm

Monkey God is long seen as a diety lor.

4. JayWalk left...

Friday, 28 September 2007 2:51 pm :: 

Barffie: Which is ironic considering the fact that Sun WuKong was a character created and featured in the classical Ch1nese epic novels of 大闹天宫 and 西游记 i.e. fiction.

5. aurore left...

Sunday, 30 September 2007 8:39 am :: http://aurore.vefblog.net

c'est vraiment joli...sorry...it's wonderfull !! I like all wood kiss jaywalk

6. JayWalk left...

Sunday, 30 September 2007 10:24 am :: 

Aurore: Bon jour! Yes, I have always enjoyed the marvels of nature but are we destroying too many of nature's gift at too fast a rate in the name of "enjoyment"?

Frankly, I prefer to enjoy nature as it is i.e. a forest trail or a beach head etc.
 

Root Sculpting

(Click Picture To Enlarge)

Continuing from my earlier entry where I was in GuiLin, we stopped by a village en route back to the hotel. This was no ordinary village. This was a village that specialises in root sculpting i.e. carvings and sculptures of tree roots. The thing about some of these villages here is that you sometimes get the whole village involved in a single trade as a mean to make a living for all the families living inside. Remember my earlier entry about SiJiu (四九) Town? Same concept, different product.

As I opened my car door after being stuck in the car all air conditioned and stuffy, I was hit by the refreshing scent of Camphor wood (樟木). It very much reminded me of Grandpa's house in Ta!pei where camphor wood furniture was and still is very popular among the elder Ta!wanese generations.

For a moment, I thought I was back in Grandpa's home as I haven't had this pleasant bouquet flirting with my olfactory senses in a long time.

(Click Picture To Enlarge)

Just to show how big one of these roots can be, I took this picture with my buddy AP (white shirt and bermudas) standing next to it to give you an idea. If this was merely the root of the tree, can you imagine how big the tree was?

(Click Picture To Enlarge)

Perhaps this was the piéce de résistance where, again my lovely assistant, AP, has again kindly volunteered* to model for me. For this particular root, it was sawed in half due to its sheer size, which would explain the flat bottom. So in actual fact, this root was in reality, double in size of what you see here.

* Well, I kinda volunteered him without him knowing. =P

I was thinking to myself how many years it took for this tree to grow to such majestic magnitude and yet in the name of human consumption, it was felled in a matter of minutes.

I was also thinking how the heck did these tree loggers managed to get the tree out to this village? Think for a moment, for a tree to be this big, it has got to be very far from civilisation, probably smack in the middle of some deep forest somewhere. Away from civilisation means no roads for the heavy transport to get in to retrieve the tree and no roads for the tree to be transported out. So how did this tree managed to end up here.

My guess is possibly the sheer will power of the human labour. You have got to respect the Spitlanders for pulling this off, even though what they did is not exactly very eco-friendly but I digress.

(Click Each Picture To Enlarge)

Camphor is the wood of choice due to the beauty of its natural burl and scent but other woods like Spruce are also used by less popular.

Most of the sculptings are either dioramas or figure carvings of folklore figures (like the 18 LuoHans, laughing monk), animals (dragon, phoenix, tigers, eagles), religious deities (Buddha and Goddess of Mercy GuanYin) as well as a traditional Ch1nese tea (泡茶) table set.

The last shot at the bottom shows a diorama in the making and it stretched all the way from the foreground to the back where the windows was. Can you say L-A-R-G-E?

- Voxeros

1. aloe left...

Thursday, 27 September 2007 11:37 am

That's HUGE!! Are they commissioned to do it or they just do and see who comes along to buy it?

2. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 27 September 2007 12:55 pm :: 

Aloe: I think it's a combination of each but I would guess that it would mostly be "do first sell later" as they have to work according to each individual root.

Commissioned deals means that the client specifies what he wants in advance but given that you don't know what you are going to get (the shape and type of root), it is very difficult to promise anything to the customer.

3. hiaoauntie left...

Thursday, 27 September 2007 1:02 pm

i think the roots look pretty scary... what with the tentacles and all.... i wonder where the buyer will put it??? cannot be in the living room rite???? garden perhaps?

4. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 27 September 2007 1:46 pm :: 

hiaoauntie: Tentacles??!!? WTF?? Eh... I think it's time you cut down on your hentai liao....

These sculptures are definitely indoor types for the roots will not be able to withstand the elements of weathering after the sculpture is complete. Definitely, for display in the hall or lobby of some major building or some super duper rich man's mansion.

5. hiaoauntie left...

Friday, 28 September 2007 1:38 am

i think your imagination is more vivid than mine... seriously i am not thinking about hentai... in fact, i am thinking more about nightmares... ghost and spirit and stuff

6. JayWalk left...

Friday, 28 September 2007 9:45 am :: 

hiaoauntie: Horror hentai???!!! OMG, you are more hardcore than I imagined!

7. slurp! left...

Sunday, 7 October 2007 11:58 am

*speeches* i guess the profits must have been good. They will do ANYTHING for money! Even to the extend of destroying their own environment & feng shui. *sighz*

8. JayWalk left...

Monday, 8 October 2007 1:45 am :: 

slurp!: Let's face it, the entire, if not most, village population is probably illiterate and as such would be clueless to impact on environment and all that.

That reminds me of a book that I have and would recommend to you. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond

Mystery Trees and Pools

Before anyone read any further, try to answer the following question.

What you see is a pool of water sculpted into a pond using concrete. There are sticks above it forming what looks like the skeletal structure of a tent roof. Pardon the picture quality for it is taken in a moving car and I was sitting on the wrong side.

This was taken in a farm. Guess what's inside the pond?

Make a guess first and I shall reveal it as I trudge along with this entry.

---

As many were aware, I was in GuiLin over the weekend for a golf tournament but I decided to skip the first day of practice round to go visit a supplier there.

The factory was right at the outskirt of the city and you could tell almost immediately where the city ends and where the rural side starts. When we made a right turn off the main concrete road, we immediately found our car bouncing up and down the gravel path. Ah... the end of the city limits.

It was a small path with farm houses on one side of the path and farms on the other side, lining the entire length.

There were a few strange observations:

1. You don't see anyone around. It seemed as if nobody was working.
2. From what I can see, this is a orchard but unlike most orchards that I've seen, this one look very messy and unkempt. You know this is still an active orchard as it is still quite a long way away from abandonment. Very strange considering the trees are planted haphazardly when you would otherwise expect a neat layout for efficient harvesting and tight layout for maximum number of trees per square foot of land.
3. Then there were these artificial ponds which initially I thought was a water reservoir for irrigation purposes. However, I was told otherwise as it was a pond for rearing.

"Rearing what?" I asked. "Fish? Shrimp? Tortise?"

"Nothing." my host answered matter-of-factly. "They were built to rear nothing."

As it turned out, the land that we were on was earmarked to be taken back by the Gahmen as the city continues to expand. The fact that we were on the immediate outskirts means that acquisition of the land is just round the corner.

Farmers are compensated according to the type of farm that they own. According to the compensation guidelines, fish farms and fruit orchards are entitled to a higher rate of compensation as compared to say, a piece of land for farming of certain crops e.g. lettuce or radish or yam.

As such, these farmers rushed to plant fruits trees and built ponds without really intending to genuinely farm it. These fruit trees and fish ponds were just symbolic representation of fruit orchards and fish farms respectively, which would translate into more moolah during the acquisition compensation.

- Voxeros

1. hitomi left...

Tuesday, 25 September 2007 8:23 pm

last time my uncles oso did similar things before we were made to move from our kampong. plant fruit trees, do up concrete ground etc... to get more compensation from gahmen. it's in the chinese blood lah.

2. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 26 September 2007 2:08 am :: 

hitomi: Frankly, I don't know enough to make a judgment call here. On one hand, it appears that the farmers are cheating the Gahmen, but on the other hand, it could mean that the farmers are trying to get back at the Gahmen in view of the less-than-fair compensation.

3. Sly left...

Wednesday, 26 September 2007 9:33 am :: http://www.myveryownslyblog.blogspot.com

Yup, my family also did that when we were make to move from our kampong house to HDB a long time ago. We had planted lots of fruit trees, especially papayas.

4. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 26 September 2007 9:50 am :: 

Sly: Hmm.... sounds to me this is common practice for everyone.

5. Pam left...

Wednesday, 26 September 2007 4:15 pm

Clearly...we know less than we think with regards to what 'the rest of the world' does..!
I realised this yesterday when friends came over and we were talking about the usual benefit frauders out there... and the mindset these people have (generations of people not working, therefore growing up on govt handouts and not thinking anything wrong with having holidays and plasma tvs courtesy of the govt and the rest of us).. v different from ours. I'd just found out yesterday that if one was a single mother and unemployed, the govt just gives you £500 cash (to help pay for baby expenses). not bad huh, given that there are people out there who work damn hard as supermarket check out people etc, ALSO to earn £500 after tax.
but I digress......

6. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 27 September 2007 10:10 am :: 

Pam: Again the never ending debate between the merits of a republican (conservative) vs a democrat (labour).

The ideal democrat is a better option IMHO where everyone is being taken care off i.e. no one left behind. However, the problem is that we have too many people taken unfair advantage of this and milking the system for all it's worth, at the expense of others.

Hence the republican's theory of meritocracy stipulates that you get what you work for i.e. the good old "a day's wages for a day's work" in the aim to leave behind those who chose not to keep up. However, in a world where nothing is perfect, it may mean leaving behind those who are geniunely unable to keep up.

7. slurp! left...

Sunday, 7 October 2007 11:33 am

Brilliant! Yes, milk the gahmen while they still can :D IMHO, compensate from gahmen are mostly not fair one lah.

8. JayWalk left...

Monday, 8 October 2007 1:38 am :: 

slurp!: I guess when both sides cancel out each other with their respective cheating, the deal even out nicely at the end of the day.

Yellow W&W

I was at the ShenZhen airport heading to my boarding gate as I was leaving for the GuiLin tournament when I spotted this en route.

It's the Yellow M&M's long lost evil twin!!!

It's the Yellow W&W!!!!

Welcome to Spitland where we have fakes and imitations all over the place. While they say that imitation is the best form of flattery, l say lousy forgeries with the lamest of efforts is definitely hands-down the best form of insult.

Really bad job here as I cringed while taking a photo of it.

This reminded me of one of those "dumb blonde" jokes.

Q: Why was the dumb blonde fired from the M&M factory?
A: She rejected all the candies with the "W"s printed on it.

Hmm.... maybe it wasn't a joke after all.... hmm....

- Voxeros

Chelsea + Balestier = Chelestiar

Yes, it's a guy's name and yes, that was how the name came about.

I rolled my eyes when I heard that initiall but I felt guilty after that. I will explain it later.

I saw the second half of this clip on Youtube last year and I only just realised that there was an earlier segment prior to the BandungVader-YellowTrunk "blind date" (man are they are going to have so many beautiful children together or what? ... *sniff*).

Anyway, we were having our usual banter on the CowboyBar when TK brought this clip to my attention via YoungJedi's blog.

So anyway, we have this guy whose name is strange enough to make you sit up and watch the clip closer and whoa! He is an author of a self-help book in dating! A love guru! Well, this guy, whom by now should have graduated med school (wah... doctor leh!), was picked to be the candidate to go on a blind date with the show's co-host.

My burning question is if Chelestiar knew that the program was out to make him a fool? I have a feeling that the poor chap didn't know how the episode would turn out after all the post-production editing. He was portrayed as some big super loser trying to date some TV personality and perhaps a cruel prank at his expense? And perhaps a weird way of poetic justice to take him to task for writing a dating self-help book and undertaking the role of the Love Doctor?

If you ask me, whoever behind this idea of getting Chelestiar humiliated on national TV ought to be shot and burn in hell.

Ok, so his looks is nowhere near Brad Pitt nor his charm within George Clooney's radar range. But for heaven's sake, he is a person with feelings and self-esteem too. Can these bigots be anymore insensitive?

Wait. Am I the only person to feel that Chelestiar has been undeservingly slighted. Have we become a world of insensitive bigots whose only source of joy comes from humiliating a fellow human being?

Come on. That was definitely not a "laughing with you" kind of situation. It was blatantly a "laughing at you" episode. Does MediaCorp need to stoop so low to score ratings?


There is no hope for local TV. God bless cable.
 
Yes, I admit when I cringed and rolled my eyes when I heard the name initially but you know what? All rolled eyeballs will roll back to the front at the end of the day and if this person wants to be known as Chelestiar Kong, then so be it. I will respect that decision. Eyeballs only rolled back once. That's the rule. Accept the person for who he is. I believe he is a good person at heart and I think that counts for more than a caked-up face.

Then there is the YellowTrunked one. I believe he knows what he was getting himself into during filming and I would not comment any further. Besides, he is a veteran at bizarre publicity and I think he is old bird enough to hold his own.

I do not disapprove of the YellowTrunked's antics. If those were what he wanted to do then so be it. I am probably of the type where I would say "Hey you. This is the line with you on that side and me on this. As long as you do whatever the hell you want to do on your side, that is fine by me. I will not be interested and neither do I want to get involved but it doesn't mean that I disapprove cause I am in not position to  judge."

To each his/her own, I would say.

- Voxeros

1. Everton left...

Wednesday, 19 September 2007 11:18 am

Maybe I lack a sense of humor, I did not find the show funny at all. The show is a copycat of some cheap low budget American dating shows. Chelestair is an innovative name, but my name Everton sounds 10 times better :-)

I can't stand Asians bleach/dye their hair blond because it looks very weird and unnatural. I am surrounded by ang moh colleagues and students everyday. My black hair makes me stand out and I am proud of Asian heritage!

2. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 19 September 2007 11:51 am :: 

Everton: This is the sad state of local TV these days.

Anyway, this weird and unnatural blonde that you speak of is X1axue aka XX aka Xia Suay or Wendy Cheng or as I would call her the Bandung Vader due to her "everything also pink" website.

She like the village bigot in the local blogging community whose unfortunate popularity scored her a gig on TV. We are all so happy for her.

3. Ed, Edd & Eddy left...

Wednesday, 19 September 2007 1:15 pm :: http://eddyteo.blogspot.com/

Exactly the reason I don't watch local TV. I watch drama series like 24, Heroes for my entertainment needs. The locally produced variety shows are just two boring.

4. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 19 September 2007 2:23 pm :: 

Ed: Sad state of Singapore TV. In Spitland, their programs may be downright boring but at least they are not dumb.

5. Ruok left...

Monday, 24 September 2007 10:22 am

I, also sad. They more femes than me. >.<

6. JayWalk left...

Monday, 24 September 2007 11:16 am :: 

rouk: If yellow trunks can get you so far, you need to beat that by taking it all off on youtube liao!

7. Pam left...

Tuesday, 25 September 2007 8:31 pm

OMG - I've only had time to see this now....... this is so cringe-worthy.... are Singaporean men really that hopeless?!?!?! Tihs can't be real...can it??

8. Pam left...

Tuesday, 25 September 2007 8:38 pm

I've just seen the '2nd part'.... OMG... why the heck does she have 'blonde' hair???? I mean, there are highlights, lowlights, but this?!?!?!? this must be a spoof...it can't be real... or rather, these characters can't be for real!!! OMG OMG.... and on a related note, I just saw a student today, quite obviously asian... with blonde hair. it looked so fake (esp next to my secretary who is a REAL blonde)... it was ridiculous.

9. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 26 September 2007 2:05 am :: 

Pam: I believe that while the guy is for real, it is somewhat an exaggerated candidate for the sake of boosting ratings. The level MediaCorp is willing to stoop to is most disappointing.

I supposed to them, Blonde is fun and given the general conservative nature of Asians, perhaps they trying to make a statement. Actually there is also a Youtube clip of her getting a tattoo on her wrist. Her moniker in English translate to Snowfall and so she got herself a real tattoo of a snowflake. One of those symbols you find in the air-conditioning's "Cool" mode.

Sigh.... there is no hope for this girl.
 

Big Fish

(Click Picture To Enlarge)

Got an sms from the Towkay-neo of a nearby Teochew restaurant telling us to come down as they have a 200 斤 Grouper for the weekend.

Initially, I misheard it as 公斤(kilogram) and was thinking holy mackerel! (grouper in this case), that is more than 3 of me!

Anyway, as it turned out, the sms said 200 斤 which worked out to be 100kgs. Still a heck of a big fish by my count.

We got to the restaurant the following evening with the fish proudly on display. The official weigh-in stood at 134kgs (268 斤).

How to eat this fish? Well, we didn't have a choice on account of the fact that this was a Teochew steamboat restaurant that specialises in Grouper. So what other way then to eat it steamboat style?

Before, anyone gasped how we were able to eat up the fish, we can't. The fish was meant for the restaurant's weekend business. We were told that the fish was originally planned for Friday, Saturday and Sunday but given that business was so good. The fish won't make it past Saturday's dinner crowd.

The fish was fresh and very juicy. The skin itself is about 1/2 inch thick and chewy. Alas the highlight of the night was the last course where everything inside the steamboat was scooped up and in their place, white rice, ginger, and lotsa pepper to make porridge.

Very sweet.

---

Something about Grouper or in Ch1nese 石斑鱼 here. Some people spell it as Garoupa or Groper but essentially, they all point to the same fish sans the sub-species variations.

One may ask that a grouper of this size would have been rare and wouldn't it risk extinction, given our idiotic tendency to over fish? Fortunately, big groupers are common and this particular sub-species of the grouper family is not on the endangered list. Furthermore, now that their natural enemy's, the shark, population is fast being decimated as a result of an over active sharks' fin trade, this grouper sub-species population is set to boom.

Unfortunately, this can't be said for their cousin, the Goliath Grouper, which is currently classified as Critically Endangered. These GCs can go all the way up to 700+kgs and the good news is that the population numbers are starting to look good, albeit slow. Let's keep our fingers' crossed.

- Voxeros

1. aloe left...

Monday, 17 September 2007 9:52 am

imagine... a 200kg Garouper will be abt 1.5 times the size of this one.... waaahhhh!!! *slurps*
But urm.... I wouldn't like to eat the skin. =P

2. JayWalk left...

Monday, 17 September 2007 11:42 am :: 

aloe: The skin supposed got some dunno what they call it which is supposedly good for the joints. Also the fats in there is high in Omega-3.

3. JayWalk left...

Monday, 17 September 2007 11:57 am :: 

aloe: Ok, I found out the "dunno what they call it". I was refering to Collagen which is supposedly very good for a person's joint mobility.

4. Ed, Edd & Eddy left...

Monday, 17 September 2007 12:58 pm :: http://eddyteo.blogspot.com/

Wow, that'a really huge fish! I didn't know that Grouper can grow to this size. What does it eat to get to this size man...
And 700+ Goliath Grouper?! That's like a monster. Or a small whale.

5. Kelly left...

Monday, 17 September 2007 1:11 pm :: http://www.kellchan.blogspot.com/

I like soupy fish porridge... plus lots of Chilli Padi.
Yum Yum...

6. JayWalk left...

Monday, 17 September 2007 1:58 pm :: 

Ed: Well, we don't see a lot of them here in SG coz restaurants usually don't have big enough fish tanks to keep them. The restaurant probably bought the fish already frozen and cut up.

7. JayWalk left...

Monday, 17 September 2007 2:01 pm :: 

Kell: Yeah.... chilli padi is a must!!!

Btw, that reminds me of this joke.

Q: Who is beehoon's biggest enemy?
A: The Fish because 鱼骗米粉.

8. Bellatrix Lestrange left...

Monday, 17 September 2007 11:17 pm

Kauz.. Damn COLD lei your joke....

9. aloe left...

Tuesday, 18 September 2007 9:25 am

yah, collagen and omega 3. I prefer to take those in tablet or pill form though cos I really dun like to eat "skins" =S =P Er.. that joke hor... dun know how long ago le... =P

10. JayWalk left...

Tuesday, 18 September 2007 9:56 am :: 

Bellatrix: Aiyah. The joke also I read from somewhere one lah. So serious for what?

Q: 哪一个动物常常跌倒？
A: 狐狸. 因为很脚滑.

Aloe: I don't really like the skin either coz many a times there are fishy smelly than tasty. Fortunately, this one was quite good and fresh.

Speaking of fish, I don't eat fresh water fish coz they have this muddy taste. I supposed sea water fish taste better. Cleaner water?

11. aloe left...

Tuesday, 18 September 2007 1:59 pm

Yah loh!! How come har!? Seawater fish taste better than fresh water fish... And fresh water fish got more bones... hmmm...

12. JayWalk left...

Tuesday, 18 September 2007 2:36 pm :: 

Aloe: You got me there for I have no answer to that. I am guessing it has a lot to do with the mud in fresh water?

13. Chocolate gal left...

Wednesday, 19 September 2007 9:54 pm

i dont like to eat fish at all..... unless it is xue yu cooked by my mom and fish and chips....

14. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 20 September 2007 12:15 am :: 

chocolategal: Then you might as well ask your mom to cook Bird's Eye Fish Fingers liao. That's cod (xue yu) for you.

The Sushi Girl II

I have decided to declassify my earlier post "The Sushi Girl" and removed the password protection. So there. Knock yourselves out.

---

 

The Guy

It's been 2 months since Frank returned to Ta1wan and we haven't heard from him since. Not even a phone call or sms. We don't even see him on MSN either. To think we treated him like one of us and it is just weird that he vanished into thin air.

I can't help but feel that he has severed all ties with us and to think we threw him a farewell bbq the night before and making him promise to return after his national service stint (yes, he passed out again after 2 beers and no, we didn't invite The Sushi Girl this time).

Had it been any other person, I wouldn't have bothered with a second thought but here we had was a super nice guy who was warm, friendly and sweet until your toilet bowl gets infested with ants. This behavior from warm to Zero Kelvin cold has certainly taken us aback.

I asked the rest of the gang this question.

Was Frank a phony act from day 1?
 
Granted he was the only one not related to any of us and worked for one of our family businesses, we never did make that distinction (as in you employee, us employer) and treated him as part of the family. Heck, we even thought of pairing off with one of the sisters!

Anyway, I applaud him for the great pretense for he certainly had me fooled for 1+ year.

I don't think this guy will return to our lives any time soon, if ever.

---

The Girl

Hong disappeared shortly after as we found out that she left the sushi shop. It wasn't all that big a deal as restaurant staff turnovers are very common anyway and it is not like we are friends. Frank and her. Yes. She and us? Er.... not really.

Well, as fate would have it, we bumped into her again 2 weeks ago at another sushi restaurant and as we found out later, she left the old shop to come to the new one where the boss of the new restaurant poached her over with a managerial post and a better package.

Well, the new restaurant was so-so and not much different from the old one as far as food is concerned. Granted that the place is bigger and the decor is nicer, those external factors can only hold your interest for so long. Hong was kind enough to give us 40% discount (opening week promotion) that evening but even so, the bill was higher than if we were to dine at the old restaurant (20% discount over there for regulars customers).
So I guess if we are not going to return to this new restaurant anytime soon, I can take her off my book for now.

---

Hence, my decision to release The Sushi Girl into the open as I don't feel a need to protect their identities anymore since (a) nobody in my Spitland vicinity reads this and able to link it back to them and (b) I don't care since they no longer exist in my book?

Anyway, carrying on from that fateful night, nothing happened, much to the disappointment of everybody. Frank really really passed out that night. Wimp.

Nothing much was said about the morning after but I can only imagine the awkward conversation consisting of "Good morning.", "Bye, I'll see you around." and "I'll call you." in no particular order.

Oh well, like a bad chart-topping song like Macarena, Lambada or Lemon Tree. It came. It stayed. It left. It forgotten.

Image Credit: http://telstarlogistics.typepad.com

- Voxeros

1. hiaoauntie left...

Tuesday, 11 September 2007 11:29 pm

Err... may i know what is the point of this post?

2. JayWalk left...

Tuesday, 11 September 2007 11:51 pm :: 

Hiaoauntie: This is just a follow up to my earlier entry. Sort of an after-thought of sorts. The earlier entry was merely a journal entry of what happened that day. If you are looking for some sort of a "Moral of the Story" here, I'm afraid you are going to be sorely disappointed.

3. OLLie left...

Thursday, 13 September 2007 1:42 am

Oooh. Your sushi pic looks kinda good. Makes me feel like eating jap food. hahaha..

4. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 13 September 2007 9:45 am :: 

Ollie: Which one? The photo or the chalkboard?

5. OLLie left...

Thursday, 13 September 2007 8:20 pm :: http://ooohlah.lah.cc

Chalkboard!!

6. JayWalk left...

Friday, 14 September 2007 12:33 am :: 

Ollie: Oh .. thanks thanks.

7. akk left...

Friday, 14 September 2007 10:48 am

would be nice if something happened.....he needs to learn how to hold his drink. in any case, maybe he feel awkward around you guys, dunno where put his face, that's why din contact you all. or perhaps he decided he doesnt want to drink anymore and seeing you guys, being so fun, will tempt him into it again... so many reasons!

8. JayWalk left...

Friday, 14 September 2007 1:30 pm :: 

Akk: He finally called earlier this week like 2 months later. He is slated to enter NS next month. He said he was busy with stuff back home which is why he never called to stay in touch.

Whatever....

9. JF left...

Friday, 14 September 2007 4:15 pm

IMHPOV...well.. frenz come and go... like bus stations and buses... you dun get the same drivers on every route...
anyways.. u aso not on my msn.. jin cham leh

10. JayWalk left...

Friday, 14 September 2007 6:05 pm :: 

JF: True lah. We are aware of this. It's just that we expected him not to be one of these people which probably explained out disappointment lor.

For MSN, add me at voxeroshotmailcom

Sian XMM Episode XI

I was having dinner the other night with Jean , Joyce, Lex and Gary at Marina South for steamboat.

We ate rather heartily until Jean complained that she better stop cause she felt that she was getting fat.  Joyce disagreed as she felt that Jean was nowhere near fat and sought me to side with on this opinion.
To which the following conversation ensued...

Joyce: Eh. *pointing at Jean*, she not fat right?

Jay: Aiyah.... one thing I learn is all girls think that they are fat one. Regardless. Even the anorexic and bulimic ones.

... then I went further with "exagerration mode" +ON to full power...

Jay: Even those African refugee women nothing to eat for days, weak until collapse on the floor liao....
Jay: *pause for effect* .... they will still ask "Am I fat?" *

Joyce: REALLY HAR?

It was an awkward silence for like half a second as Jean and I rolled eyes at each other.

* WIN *

Aiyoh... this girl har.... sibeh cute.....

* Ok ok.... I know it's very mean to be making fun of the refugees' plight. To that I am sorry. I take back all the Ethopian jokes as well. 

- Voxeros

1. Chocolate gal left...

Friday, 7 September 2007 1:50 pm

Every gal is fat... only difference is no weight fat or really fat or ok fat... as what u have said loh...

2. JayWalk left...

Friday, 7 September 2007 3:18 pm :: 

ChocGal: Exactly. Personally, I think a girl all skin and bones is rather off-putting.

3. Bellatrix Lestrange left...

Saturday, 8 September 2007 10:42 am

Your disclaimer put so small.. let Ant see ah ... well its true, women will never be satisfied with how skinny they are.... but i have like lotsa feed back from my guy friends that they prefer dunlopillo to boney bag of bones...

4. JayWalk left...

Saturday, 8 September 2007 3:46 pm :: 

RedQueen: Mai arh nee kuan kong. Text smaller is to differentiate from actual text of the entry mah.

I agree lah. You go langah Ms Boney-M hor, your downstair the front pelvic bone there next morning sure tio internal injury one lor.....

5. j0yz left...

Friday, 14 September 2007 12:37 am

that sotong does not look like me at all! it really looks very obscene!
=|

6. JayWalk left...

Friday, 14 September 2007 9:38 am :: 

Joyz: Ahh... welcome to the blog. It is only obscene only if you are thinking dirty. Oops....

Anyway, you are right. That sotong caricature doesn't look like you. I got a puffer fish (Fugu) drawn up liao.

You can go ask Lex what is a Fugu.

Who Is My MP Ah?

The Sunday morning that I was back in Singapore, we drove down to Ghim Moh market for breakfast. I was soooo looking to eating all the home food from Nasi Lemak to Otak to Prata to Kopi-O Gao.

As I was driving, my wife pointed to the banner on the lamp post.

Wife: Eh. I think I know who our MP is liao. *pointing at the banners*

Me: Who? (At this point, I haven't noticed the banners yet... my mind was preoccupied with all the food I was about to stuff myself with.)

Wife: Naaiiiirrrrr.... the Indian guy on the banner lor. That Tharman guy.

Me: Orh. Really har?

Wife: Yah. Yah. I think our constituency is Ulu Pandan. See the banner there say "Ulu Pandan". I think today is "MP Visit Ghim Moh" residents day or something.

Me: Ok, I learned something new today. All these days of walkovers and election boundaries anyhow draw here draw there, GRC anyhow sukah sukah zone here zone there. It is good to finally know who our MP is. I thought we last time is Ayer Rajah GRC one? Now back to Ulu Pandan har?

As it turned out, Mr Tharman Shamugaratnam was the VIP of the day and not our MP.

In other words, we still don't know who our MP is and one more thing....

..... we also don't know where we are as there is no such constituency named Ulu Pandan anymore.

- Voxeros

1. OLLie left...

Friday, 7 September 2007 12:31 am :: http://ooohlah.lah.cc

Wah lau. hahahahhahaa.. I know how to pronounce his full name sia. Tharman Sharmugaratnam (spelling correct or not I don't know). He came over to my school's opening ceremony and we had to listen to his name a zillion times.
Anyhow, I don't even know who's my MPs la. And I live in Singapore the whole time. But but but.. I know which constituency I'm from! Better than nothing la hor? =)))

2. JayWalk left...

Friday, 7 September 2007 9:17 am :: 

Ollie: His name isn't that difficult as long as you are able to break it down. It's quite a mouthful though, but it is still relatively easy for me.

I wanted to go find out what my constituency is but gave up the idea after like 1.3 seconds, thinking that they are going to rezone and rename it anyway. So why bother?

3. Old Beng left...

Friday, 7 September 2007 10:37 am

Ghim Moh, stayed there for 10 over years before moving out and still visit the hawker centre with my cha-bo-lang as it is only few minutes drive away from my current place.
Will buy you kopi-O gao if lim peh happen to bump into you

4. JayWalk left...

Friday, 7 September 2007 11:58 am :: 

Old Beng: On lah.... Christmas we go la kopi.

5. Old Beng left...

Friday, 7 September 2007 2:00 pm

Sure, we can la kopi, eat prata, sing carols.

6. JayWalk left...

Friday, 7 September 2007 4:10 pm :: 

Old Beng: Day time, Ghim Moh market sing carols, people think we siao. Speaking of siao, last time, there is this crazy woman roaming the market everyday, you know what I talking about?

7. Zhe Bin left...

Friday, 7 September 2007 7:08 pm

Eh... Your place should be under Holland-Bt Timah right?

8. JayWalk left...

Saturday, 8 September 2007 1:08 am :: 

ZheBin: After checking. Yeah. You are right. I am Bukit Timah/Holland.

9. Old Beng left...

Saturday, 8 September 2007 10:06 am

The woman who roamed around singing, yes I remembered her but are you referring to the mother or the daugther? Apparently, 2 also a little not so normal and I believe they are still there. They may be a little "xiao" but totally harmless :)

10. JayWalk left...

Saturday, 8 September 2007 10:34 am :: 

Old Beng: Wah kaoz.... there is 2 of them? I didn't know that! I supposed I refer to both of them bah...... have you ever seen two of them appearing together at the same time?

I moved to Ghim Moh side in 1980. I supposed it the mother that I have seen. She has a daughter? Who the hell is the father???

11. Old Beng left...

Saturday, 8 September 2007 6:40 pm

Yes, I have seen both of them together. The last time I saw them was like 1 year plus ago and usually it is the daughter who sings. My guess is that the mum is about 50+ and the daughter 30 +/-, me no good in guessing women's ages.

Who is the father? Not me!!!!!!! (Must faster clarify) Just joking la, I really don't know.
They are quite harmless except once I saw the mother scolding the daughter.

12. JayWalk left...

Sunday, 9 September 2007 2:26 am ::

Old Beng: Seriously if you ask me, I haven't the faintest idea if the one that I saw is mother or daugther.

13. Chocolate gal left...

Monday, 10 September 2007 11:07 pm

Sorry, the indian guy is my MP. jurong area one... hahha... But i never see him around one..

14. JayWalk left...

Tuesday, 11 September 2007 7:44 am :: 

Chocolate Gal: Since when you Jurong? I thought you Bukit Batok one?

15. Everton left...

Tuesday, 11 September 2007 10:00 am

Was the first photo taken near Ghim Moh Sec School? I liked eating at the hawker centers.

16. JayWalk left...

Tuesday, 11 September 2007 10:43 am :: 

Everton: If you look at the second picture, you will see a building with a blue roof in the background. That's Ghim Moh Secondary School. They have since built a multi-storey carpark in between.

Aeroplane Chess

Anyone remembered this when we were kids? Yes, it's the aeroplane chess. The rest of the world has a similar game called Ludo but I tell you, our Ch1nese version one is much more fun.

Anyway, spotted this at the children play area at the Hong Kong Chap Lap Kok International Airport.
Seeing it brought back a lot of my childhood memories. Even I got pretty excited to see such a big aeroplane chess board.

Couldn't help but brought a smile to my face.

Wanted to have a go with the game and teaching Faith along the way but alas, no dice. >.<

- Voxeros

1. spinnee left...

Thursday, 6 September 2007 9:47 am

wheeee.......where to buy one i wonder..hahahahahaha!

2. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 6 September 2007 9:59 am :: 

Spinnee: That is going to be difficult on account of the fact that what you see in the picture isn't exactly a single piece of carpet that you can simply roll up and cart away.

It is part of the airport's carpeting which I think buying the CLK airport is a tad over your budget?

3. Bellatrix Lestrange left...

Thursday, 6 September 2007 1:40 pm

Wah laus this one damn old school leh... Anyway no dice can always tear paper and put inside cup and shake and draw the no mah.. Thats what we did in school when we had no dice...

4. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 6 September 2007 5:03 pm :: 

RedQueen: Acherly come to think of it, this game is played with a single die. Granted there are many ways to improvise, I think I was just to lazy to go through an art and craft session in the middle of an airport.
 

Quiet Return

In case you guys are wondering about my sudden disappearance from the internet, that's because I was back in Singapore.

I deliberately made it a low-key affair as the trip was extremely short and I hate to have to say "Sorry, I can't meet you."

So hence the lack of fanfare and notice. No disappointment if there isn't anticipation.

Still, I did managed to meet a few folks and missed a few too owing to the short notice.

I think those Mobilisation Exercise Notification also not as secret secret as this trip.

Anyway, this trip is to send the kids back. Spitland is no place to raise children. It breaks your heart to see them go in and out of the hospital like clockwork. They get fevers like a teenager gets pimples. Yes, it is THAT bad.

Then, there is the education. Local standard is really CMI type while international schools though less CMI, are a blatant rip-off. They are aware that expat parents do not have a choice. Hence, the ease of getting the parents to just obediently cough up the dough to send their children to a place where you can't really guarantee if they would actually learn something at the end of the day.

Perhaps, it takes a Singaporean to live outside of the country and look back in before we can fully appreciate our education system. Sure, there are the hiccups from time to time but put it side-by-side with the other countries' respective systems, I am proud to say that we are way ahead of them.

However, I can only say this up to Junior College level for I think the US & UK university standards are still a long distance ahead of our current NTU, NUS, etc.

Coming back, apologies for keeping so quiet and not meeting up. I will try to make it up when I return for Christmas.

- Voxeros

1. Gary left...

Wednesday, 5 September 2007 9:38 pm

eh.. at least your so-call mobilisation exercise was a success.. wahahaha..

2. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 6 September 2007 9:13 am :: 

Gary: Not exactly, I did have a couple of people whom I've called but couldn't make it.

3. Chocolate gal left...

Friday, 7 September 2007 1:54 pm

Muahaha.. i think with ur popularity, u are easily forgiven...

4. JayWalk left...

Friday, 7 September 2007 4:11 pm :: 

Chocgal: Thanks for the compliment. I hope I am not easily forgotten for that matter too.

5. Chocolate gal left...

Saturday, 8 September 2007 4:02 pm

Not to worry on that point.. Handsome daddy sure wont be forgotten.. So is the wife staying with the kids or had gone back china with you?

6. JayWalk left...

Sunday, 9 September 2007 2:56 am :: 

ChocoGal: Wife and kids returning to Singapore for good liao. I am bachelor again. :P

7. Chocolate gal left...

Monday, 10 September 2007 11:08 pm

okay.. be good over there hor... dont want stepmom :p

8. JayWalk left...

Tuesday, 11 September 2007 7:46 am :: 

Chocolate Gal: Neither do I, coz stepmom means only one. Where got enough? kekekekeke......
 

Low Limit Credit Cards

I was writing about blog banner ads when I got distracted and went on a roll writing and writing. Before I realised it, I was 1 page deep already. Amazing what you can do when you let your heart take over.

Anyway, I decided to extract this and post it as a separate entry as it was a great digress from what I wanted to say in my previous entry and a topic like this deserves its own place in the blog.

However, the following is on a AFAIK (as far as I know) basis and may be grossly inaccurate. Still, this is the way I see it and so I ask if you read it with an open mind. I welcome all comments be it agreement or disagreement.

---

There is a reason why the Monetary Authority of Singapore had imposed (or merely a guideline?), as far back as the 80s, a minimum SGD 30,000 p.a. income before a bank is allowed to approve an application and to cap the applicant's credit limit to twice the applicant's monthly salary. Looks like the MAS is loosening the grip on this rule and hence the new low-limit credit card.

1) One argument was that we have to evolve with the times and with internet transactions getting more and more common, it does make sense to have a tool for you to make payment. Yes, I agree to a certain extend. Yes, you do need a card to make purchases on the web but No, it does not necessarily mean a credit card. A debit card, in my opinion, will do nicely.

2) Then there is mention whereby there is little risk as the credit limit is SGD 500.00 and that once you hit the limit, this credit facilities is suspended to prevent you from falling further behind. Yes. 500 bucks may not be a lot of money for quite a lot of people but has anyone stop and think about the interest rate on the roll-overs? We are most familiar with the "2% per month" tactic as a disguise that the real number is 2% x 12 = 24% per annum in regular credit cards. This particular card, due to the unsecured nature, is 5%* per month i.e. 5% x 12 = 60%!!

* can someone verify this?

Granted that you are capped at $500 but it doesn't mean that the clock on the interest accrual will stop with it. No. It will keep counting. Imagine, an outstanding balance of $500 for an entire year. The interest would be $300 i.e. you will then owe $800 in total! Oh and did I mention that there is legal costs involve if the bank were to haul you up to court?

Then again, court proceedings for a mere $800 is probably not going to happen but most of the time, there would be some kind of repayment arrangement settled out of court. Question is, why are we letting the banks earn this type of money?

The next question is why are the banks even lending money to people with no means of repaying? I am directing this to students who's only source of income (if you can even call it that) comes from their parents in the form of allowance. I have no qualms with people who are working (and that includes those who work and study part time) to apply for the card. At least they have the means to repay. For these students who are in the majority i.e. given allowance by the family, perhaps a supplementary card would be more apt?

3) The third "justification" is that this would provide a tool for the kid to learn how to manage money. Er... exactly what are we trying to teach the young by giving them a card and say "here, take the card and spend whatever money you have on you and $500, then later figure out how to pay back the $500 that you do not have in the first place and no means to repay it".

If you want to teach the young to learn the value of money, giving them a credit card doesn't make sense. I think teaching them how to earn far outweigh teaching them how to spend.

A friend said, better to let them suffer a $500 burn then a $5000 burn in future. My question is, why the need to be burnt? Can't we just teach them early about the pitfalls so as to avoid falling into this trap? Is there no other way to learn but the hard way?

A debit card or atm card, if you ask me is better for them. You spend only what you have.
Perhaps it is my own principle not to spend money that you do not have.
Am I making sense?

- Voxeros

1. Chocolate gal left...

Monday, 3 September 2007 8:08 am

i think best way to teach kids how to manage money is from young, ask them save lots lots in piggy banks.... sorry, my method very traditional... :p

2. JayWalk left...

Monday, 3 September 2007 8:25 am :: 

Chocolate Gal: I remember when we want something we used to save for it. These days in the age of "I want everything now!" culture, the credit card with its buy now, pay later scheme is very very tempting.

3. r3gular left...

Tuesday, 4 September 2007 3:08 am :: http://r3gular.wordpress.com/

I think I'm gonna apply for one.
I think it's generally on the applicant and his/her value on money. Some may argue that it's a form of cash flow for student who don't want to ask for more allowance from parents ( eg, pay with card, then pay back with next month's allowance ).
I think if you have control over your finances and spend wisely, why not?

4. JayWalk left...

Wednesday, 5 September 2007 12:54 pm :: 

r3gular: Well, the keyword here is "IF". If you have control over your finances. Ask all of those who had lost control. I'd bet you they all thought that they had control when they signed the dotted line on the application form.

I am not saying that you will lose control but I just merely say there once you apply for one, the risk starts.

5. Bellatrix Lestrange left...

Wednesday, 5 September 2007 10:20 pm

Credit Cards are all risky when you do not manage your finances well. Even for me, although I am earning a decent living with the ability to get a normal credit card, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany, Aigner and That CD Shop which are all a stone's throw away are very much of a temptation for me. However, I will choose to pay for purchases in cash, if I have exceeded 20% of my pay on credit cards for the month. That is the rule of thumb. Nothing more than 20% of my pay.

6. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 6 September 2007 9:15 am :: 

RedQueen: In the Murphy scenario, at least you still have the means of recovering the debt, albeit via a long and not to mention high interest path.

What recourse does the non-income student have?

7. Bellatrix Lestrange left...

Thursday, 6 September 2007 11:06 am

Well, people learn through 3 Ways, 1) Through Advise from Friends and Elders 2) From being the onlooker of the experiences of others and 3) Personal Painful experience. Most of the time, people learn from No 3 due to ego and what nots. Learning from personal painful experience makes you grow up faster... Its a phase in life everyone has to go through..

8. JayWalk left...

Thursday, 6 September 2007 5:05 pm :: 

RedQueen: Yeah, in a way, we have this lemming tendency to want to run smack into the wall but still it is no reason to stop us from trying to educate others.

9. Zhe Bin left...

Friday, 7 September 2007 7:17 pm

Yes you are, cos I also think debit card is the best. It eases transaction as easy as a credit, and for people who are not confident of repaying every cent of their expense monthly, do not use a credit, because you will be paying more. Simple enough logic. However, I must also say that if you can pay the loan, why not? Credit has its rewards and perks.
I also agree that it's not necessary for your child to "help you spend" $500 to get him to learn the value of money. Quite funny.

10. JayWalk left...

Saturday, 8 September 2007 1:10 am :: 

ZheBin: Yes, credit card should be a tool of payment and not to be used as a form of loan. I am not saying that borrowing money from the bank is wrong but at their exorbitant rates that they charge for credit cards, you have plenty better alternative out there like an overdraft facility where the interest rate is more sensible.

11. Winsor left...

Monday, 10 September 2007 12:22 am :: http://winsor.blogspot.com

I'm a teen too, an outgrowing one actually. I've thought of getting one of the youth credit card, it might seem little initially, $500. But I recalled when I had my debit card and how my account went spinning down like a landslide. haha! (now I've a separate savings bank account and another expenditure account with the debit card attached)
It is really a risky thing, having a credit card. Imagine me, spinning off control with even my debit card, have a credit card. It'll be $500 monthly, scary.
haha!
I only realised the impact of % interest has on my loans only after this read. 500 - 800 is scary enough. haha! no credit card for me at the moment. haha!

12. JayWalk left...

Monday, 10 September 2007 8:59 am :: 

Winsor: Welcome to the blog, Winsor! Glad to have you here.

First off, you were lucky to be holding the debit card when the landslide occurred for when the account reaches zero. You are able to close the chapter on it. Had it been the credit card, then my friend, your nightmare has only just began.

Anyway, my example of paying $300 interest on a $500 loan is an extrapolation to give you a better perspective when in actual fact, the banks would never let you drag the loan for such a long period of time.

They should be all over you by the second month and it would be them dragging you and not you dragging them.

Or yes and one last thing. When you drag, you are merely dragging your feet. When they drag, it's your entire body they are dragging....


.... across the asphalt, rocks, broken glass, snake pit, molten lava.... ok.. you get the idea.

13. Winsor left...

Tuesday, 11 September 2007 12:08 am :: http://winsor.blogspot.com

yea man, it's scary. they're even less compassionate than the loansharks.
And you've quite an illustrated description of the pains and sufferings of being on a loan. haha!

14. JayWalk left...

Tuesday, 11 September 2007 7:53 am :: 

Winsor: The banks are able to bully you coz they have the law behind them to do whatever they want with you.

Q: What is the difference between a loan shark and a credit card company?
A: One of them is a blood sucking, bottom feeding scum, that when you are not careful, will inflict a fate far worse than if you were burning in hell.

15. merryfeet left...

Monday, 17 September 2007 12:32 am

I agree. (: I read about this clear card thingum from citibank, I was really tempted to get it. But then, having worked at a bank and knowing how %interest works against the interest of the customer (it's damn scary, i heard of the stories from a custormer), i decided that I wouldnt even try asking for permission to apply for that card. Like Windsor, I'm an outgrowing teen too. Hha. Fully responsible for my own expenditure.
With my current debit card, I'm managing my finances rather well, using it 95% of the time as an atm card i.e., withdrawing certain amount of cash each time and use it like scrooge. :P It is true, that no one is as ready to spend cash on hand. That's why coupons for funoramas come about, aint it? (=

16. JayWalk left...

Monday, 17 September 2007 11:35 am :: 

Merryfeet: It is obvious that this card is targeting young at the age where we all want to act like adults.

Again, I say for young working people, this card is fine. I am against marketing this to students without the means of generating income.

Credit card should be a tool and not a loan facility.

17. merryfeet left...

Monday, 17 September 2007 12:59 pm

Actually it depends. Marketing it to students is one way of making sure that they earn their revenue by interest on overdrafts, since, hypothetically, students can either not have enough income to pay for all that they covet after, or they have loaded parents who pay for all their whims and fancies, even exceeding $500. In the latter case, these kind of students wouldn't even bother applying for this card. They woul have gotten their sup-cards. (((:
Guess they would learn their lessons if they are tempted and then burn fingers. :P

18. JayWalk left...

Monday, 17 September 2007 3:08 pm :: 

Merryfeet: Ahh... Smart girl in da house!! The person most likely to be unable to pay his/her credit card bill is one without a steady source of income. The reason why this card is launched is to target those who are young, cannot control spending AND their parents refused to give them a supplementary card simple because of the earlier 2 reasons.

By lowering the age limit, the bank is saying "Hey come and apply, no need to tell parents and ask for permission anymore! Bypass them altogether!" <-- referring to those who are students and above 21 years of age.