Buangkok Workout

Wah I think I might fail my IPPT this year.

Just had a quick workout downstairs. 

In 20min, I managed to:

- jog 1km

- do 4 pull-ups

- do 40 sit-ups

- do 18 1/2pull-ups

- do 10 push-ups

That's all.

So screwed.

Hanging On To The Thinnest Thread Of Hope

Haha no chance lah!

Extended Singtel MioTV

So its another 2yrs of EPL!

I got the notice that Singtel would raise my subscription prices finally, and was at odds over whether I should just cancel by subscription. In the end, after making abit of noice, the retention team at Singtel offered me a deal that was better than what I was willing to pay.

It will be a huge jump from my current subscription price, but its still less than what was offered previously for me to keep the football channels.

Now I will pay about $117/mth for cable, football and internet.

Not a bad deal!

Hit On Futsal

Now I'm not one to have much of an opinion regarding the whole LGBTQ thing, particularly lately with the hooha about the HPB's FAQ thingy.

But hitting on me on a Monday night futsal day is just not ON!

2014 Dividend Accumulator Has Moved

I have shifted this series to my Investment Blog, so please find it there!

Thanks, everybody, thanks! (Barbarella wave)

A New Blog

I've set up a new blog where I can house all my investment ideas neatly.

Hopefully it'll help better rationalize my investment strategies.

Find it here.

Short Gold Position Opened

After deliberating for some time, I was prompted to make my move thank's to Saxo Bank's Steen Jakobsen's short gold call.

Managed to go short at $1,320.

Let's see how this trade goes.

I noticed that I've called for a short on Gold several times already in the last few years.

This one was in 2012, and another in 2010.

HUAT AH!

When You Don't Do A House Warming For Your Best Pals

So this one time we were messing around...(hahaha).

And after a really rough night of drinking, one friend was completely pissed drunk and could hardly walk or go home. So three other guys bring him home.

Who would have thought that it would take a good half hour just dragging him from the entrance of his condo to his doorstep?!

The signs were ominous when he started getting physical with the taxi uncle. Upon alighting, we realized we were one condo away from his actual abode. Amidst the screaming and coaxing for him to walk to his condo entrance, he actually managed to do so and we argued that he should just be allowed to walk the less than 100m to lobby on his own.

Instead, he who argue that we should help him all the way back prevailed. How right he was, there was absolutely no way he could've made it back to his lobby and would have ended up sleeping inthe middle of the carpark or even worse, drown in his own (no barrier) pool.

So two of us followed him in first. But he struggled and kept trying to break free to walk himself, only to collapse after three steps alone. So we enlisted the help of the third guy. And then we couldn't get his house unit number out of him.

This is where it is a problem. Because none of us were invited to his housewarming party! So no one knew where he lived! 

So we dragged him to Lobby 3 primarily based on the fact that it was the nearest lobby to the entrance. Only to have the drunkard slur that it wasn't correct.

It didn't help that it was near the pool. So once near the pool he tried to push two of them into the pool. I mean we were on the boardwalk by the pool so all it took was a misstep and it would've been all wet for us.

Along the way he was throwing his phone and wallet all over the place. We're talking about flinging. How both items actually survive the next day I have no idea.

Then we struggled to Lobby 2 and realized that was wrong. For some reason we were misled to Lobby 3 again! And it was wrong obviously.

We couldn't find Lobby 1 and when we thought we did, it turned out to be the letterbox lobby! WTF?!

Then the drunkard suddenly back pounced on our smallest in the pack, bear hugging him from behind and executing an MMA-worthy takedown. The impact of the fall hurt the smallest's wrist. So bad that he cried. The drunkard was just lying on the floor semi asleep.

At this stage it was no longer funny. Someone was hurt and we were lost. Thankfully his wife finally called. She said she could hear us from the moment we came into the condo. And gave us proper directions.

We found our Lobby 1 and took the lift up to the right floor, and found the inviting hands of the drunkard's wifey. We were so glad to offload him. 

By the time we walked out of the condo, the taxi uncle had such a huge smile on his face as he had the meter running. We had taken a good half hour inside there struggling with the drunkard. The trip from Clarke Quay that dropped for pax ending up in Woodlands cost a whopping $60+. Enough to cover half his rental for an hour's work.

What a night that was, really.

Crystal Palace 0 Manchester United 2

I'm writing this without having watched the match and relying solely on the stuff I've read. This might be the new normal if I really cancel my MioTV subscription.

1) Glad We Won

I'll take a 2-0 win against a relegation-threatened club these days. Going by how poorly we've been playing in 2014, I admit that I wasn't sure if we'd even get a draw last night. Such was the horrendous tactics I've been made to suffer with.

2) Glad I Didn't Watch The Match

Honestly, it wasn't about the match being screened at 1.30am in our parts of the globe. There just comes a time when enough is enough and it just isn't so worthwhile staying up to watch your favourite team any longer. Until the tactics really become aesthetically more pleasing, or we at least begin to play more towards our potential, this will be the new normal. Once again we hardly threatened even if we dominated possession, state of play until the first goal was largely subdued, and generally we did little to suggest that we would dominate smaller teams. In fact, if I really do cancel my MioTV subscription, I will obviously be watching far fewer matches.

3) Some New Things

That being said, as far as I've read, last night the boys played a more passing game with only 15 crosses in all! Aside from that Fellaini also had a surprisingly good game. Even Mata got to play in his favorite position. These are positive developments. And if Moyes is to stay at the club past this season, he'd better start improving his tactical nous. I'm still of the view that a more tactically astute manager should be in place though.

4) The Slow Climb Up The Table

With tonight's win, we leapfrog Everton, who were so unfortunate to lose to Chelsea in the final minute, to 6th. With 5pts separating us and 5th-placed Spurs, and 8pts from the 4th UCL spot, both with a game in hand, it seems like a foregone conclusion that our UCL dreams next season are over. At least if Man City beats Sunderland in the League Cup Final, we will have Europa League I play. Assuming we stay 6th of course. En again we could win the Champions League this season too. Haha.

5) Trying To Be Positive

Obviously everyone knows David Moyes will not be sacked this season. Maybe not even next season. With the team so healthy now, we can only look towards a good run again lousier opposition (even if they're away games), a good run in the UCL, and appreciating alot of the old guard for one last season. Players like Rio, Vidic, Evra and Giggs will not be around next season anymore. And so while we look forward to new superstars joining and hopefully have more commitment towards Moyes, we need to celebrate another generation of greats tht won everything there was to win under SAF (except the FA Cup!).

GGMU!!!

True Fitness Session XV This Season

First session this year!

Hardly been exercising due to the CNY festivities plus I hurt my knee so it's good to get back doing this slowly.

Tried out the new HBF outlet which was really nice. New gyms are always the best because they are new and don't have the icky sweat smells and torn rest pads on the exercise machines.

Anyway I clocked 10km of cycling in 24min on Level 8 normal. This works out to 25.00km/h for my third cycling training session.

Quite a step back from the last time I was on the bike.

Hopefully can do a few more before OCBC Cycling comes about at the end of March!

Cocktail Trail Alcohol Intake Recap

Wow. What a night.

I'm still nursing a splitting headache from last night's Cocktail Trail and shortly you will read why.

I will do a separate post for some of the cocktail bar reviews later on when I get my head right. Here, I will try my best to recap the full night program.

So right after work we began our trail starting off by heading straight to The Library, and had a cocktail called Top Secret. It had apple brandy and aperol.

Afterthat we had zi cha for dinner at this zi cha restaurant along Keong Seik. It was really good, simple fare.

Then it was off to The Cufflink Club where I had a cocktail called YOLO. It had pisco, some kind of grape brandy.

Thereafter we decided to skip the next 3 joints as they were quite out of the way, and cabbed straight to Boat Quay and started off with Mad Men Attic Bar. Just before that we dropped by the Sultans of Shave to say hi. At Mad Men we had 3 shots of Stoli, which was sour plum vodka. Kexin was singing when we were there too!

We then had a problem finding the next location, Ah Sam Cold Drink Stall. When we finally found it, we met Sam the man himself, and I had an old fashioned bourbon whisky with a peel of orange. We even snacked on a kong ba pao that was their speciality.

After a long rest and chat + phototaking at Ah Sam's, we walked towards Clarke Quay looking for that absinthe joint. We could only find an absinthe restaurant, but gave any drinking a miss. At this point we were quite high already and absinthe would probably kill us.

At last we hit the final joint on the trail, 28 Hong Kong Street. Really cool. Anyway I had this drink which had the word 'Whore' in its name. Can't remember what it was but there was a lime base to it. Could take any pictures with flash in there.

Then we were off to Clarke Quay to take the reverse bungee! Except we chose to do the extreme swing instead as we felt it scarier. What a rush!

When that was over we went to The Pumproom and had a Jagerbomb each.

Then to Highlander for 6 shots of Sex On The Beach.

Our last and final stop was AquaNova for one last bottle of Chivas.

But the key highlight was sending one drunk buddy home. We spent almost half an hour in his condo compound just dragging his body to his home. He tried to push us into the pool, threw his wallet and phone into the bushes, and then MMA-ed another friend, all before finally managing to get back.

AND that is why I have a splitting headache right now!!!

Cocktail Trail 2014

Another not-for-the-faint-hearted event!

This time looks to be even more crazy than ever.

The bars were reviewwed from a few quickly-Googled sites and handpicked by yours truly. That's why the reviews are linked.

Here's our destinations of destruction:

The Library
Cufflink Club
House of Dandy
Jekyll & Hyde
Jagger & Pony
Ah Sam Cold Drink Stall
Mad Men Attic Bar
Absinthe Artisan
28 Hong Kong Street

And better yet, our power route of destruction!

Hopefully I can give a review soon.

Riverbank @ Fernvale & RiverTree Residences Review

No we're not talking about swamp life here.

I was at both the show-flats that were side by side. The first was by UOL and the second was by FEO/Fraser. Both touted riverside-living since they were on the bank of Sungei Punggol Reservoir. The nearest LRT was Layar Station, which was three stops to Sengkang MRT. And in the following order of distance, H2O, RiverTree, Riverbank (furthest), away from the LRT station.

Here are my usual five observations.

1) RiverTree Is More Premium

And rightly so. With the chunk of real riverbank space, RiverTree should have swapped names. As with most FEO properties it is priced at a higher premium of around 1,100psf. The higher price (Riverbank was around 900-1,000psf) seems justified given that 90% of units had a river view compared to I think less than 20% for Riverbank. Aesthetically the RiverTrees was also better designed with the fan-in-palm theme where the fan was the pool facing the river and the five blocks represented five fingers (a la Suntec City). All I could remember of Riverbank was back-to-back stacks, the type where you can see your neighbour shower or smelling his toenails.

2) H2O Is The Big Winner

I remember that this project ran into cash flow problems some time ago but they seem to be doing fine now with construction midway through. Their project had the river view, was the nearest to the main road (Sengkang East Ave) in Sengkang leading to either CTE or KPE, AND right at the doorstep of Layar LRT Station. This proximity cannot be underestimated. It is so near that basically, their residents only need to come out of the side gate and the station steps were there! Residents of RiverTrees would take a good 7min to walk to the station and those from Riverbank will take even longer around 12min, assuming that the projected park connector is built by the real riverbank! Walking the other direction is far worse. 

3) Extreme Choke

Both projects have around 500 units. This works out to at least 500 cars or a total of 1,000 cars that will choke Fernvale Link, the main artery towards Sengkang East Ave and onwards to CTE or KPE. Fernvale Link is double laned and then there is a single two-way lane into each condo. I haven't added H2O or the HDB cluster on the otherside of Fernvale Link yet. If you still cannot foresee this will in time become a mega choke point, or have no car then perhaps the three condos suit you.

4) View? What View?

Of course the main gist of both launches was riverside living and what can be more important than the beautiful expansive view of the river and it's beyond? Well considering that the river isn't very wide (50-60m?), surely the opposite bank would provide for a sight for sore eyes? Highly unlikely. With a huge chunk already boarded up for HDB BTO projects and the rest of the plot designated for Residential use, you will have a river view alright. Only the river. Thereafter you see other people in their pigeon-holes smelling their toenails.

5) Sengkang The Most Populated Singapore Town

It takes one to live here to be able to tell how crowded Sengkang already is, and it will get even worse. I'll leave this subject for another post, but it will not take a rocket scientist to figure out that Sengkang will be one of the most congested towns in Singapore five years from now. And it is unlikely to have all that infrastructure to handle this boom. All those sexy projects like the new hospital, sports hub, malls, schools and parks mask a greater root problem in Sengkang. All it's arterial roads are simply too narrow to accommodate SO MANY residential projects.

In summary, IMHO buying a condo in for investment is like smelling your cut toenails - only you yourself think it is a good idea. However, if you're choosing to live here, then you just need to get used to bad traffic thats all! 

Time to plot my escape from Sengkang!

Dividend Dilemma

Well let me try to verbalize this.

At what stage of a dividend stock price rise should I consider offloading the stock I own?

Assuming that a stock were paying a consistent yield of 5% based on my entry price, and it's price went up by 20%. Would it then make more sense at that stage offloading the stock and cash in the capital gain, or continue holding the stock for a projected 4 years to attain that same return, and stay open to the risk that it's price might fluctuate between a capital gain or loss?

It is easy to look back at history and look at the winners where holding the stock for a few years would net the investor huge capital gains AND rising dividends. But how many stocks actually make it that far and can produce such outcomes? Not many. Even if you think a certain company could survive 10-20yrs, with how mich certainty can anyone say that its profits/revenue/dividends would increase? We are so exposed to macro conditions that these things are very difficult to predict (unless you are the Sage of Omaha himself) Wouldn't it be better to cash in all that gain now?

On the flip side, one could also argue not only about the opportunity cost of the above where the stock does continue to over deliver. What about the follow-up deployment of funds? What if, in pursuing a passive income strategy, one were to use those proceeds to invest in a lousy stock an diminishing returns? Wouldn't all that gain be squandered?

Furthermore, if divestment is considered, then at what price would it make it worthwhile to consider so? At this stage, I am leaning towards a 20% capital gain to begin considering a divestment. Alternatively, pegging at 4X the original yield may be more sensible since it means saving on 4 years of waiting on the passive dividends to be doled out. Or would 3X be sufficient?

I'm still having a headache deliberating about this. 

But I have a feeling I will be divesting one of my power stocks soon. Because I can't seem to bear seeing all that paper gain lost in a rising interest rate environment!

Be safe.

Growing Fat

Wow.

It's dawned on me that I have quite abit of a tummy.

Blame it on the Chinese New Year goodies.

Blame it on the lack of exercise.

Blame it on work.

Blame it on my sore knee.

Enough is enough. 

Time to work out.

诚信勇忠

Managed to catch up with my old secondary school friends over last weekend. It was a really good catch up and in line with one of my resolutions to touch base with my old friends.

It's always nostalgic when hanging around these guys and even after more than 20years on, we all feel as though everyone looks more or less the same, only older. Most of us have gotten married, some have kids, some are even divorced, but we haven't changed much.

Hopefully we can continue to meet like this at least annually for years to come.

爱护我德明 永志乎五中
光大我德明 永志乎五中

Go Wide. Cross. Hope.

Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope. Go wide - cross - hope.

Yup. 81 times last night. Against Fulham at home.

Final score: 2-2

#moyesout

GGMU!!!

Manchester United 2 Fulham 2

Well the last minute goal sucked, but it could not take away the poor performance and poor tactics up on display at OT for all to see.

1) New Record For Bad Crossing

With almost a cross per minute, we must've set some new record last night. Too bad they were all aimless, lousy crosses that went nowhere. Everyone was getting in on the crossing display in fact. Pathetic.

2) Fulham Knows Our Only Strategy

As with the rest of the league, our sole strategy of GO WIDE - CROSS - HOPE was plain for all to see. And so every team plans their tactics against this single  successful plan we have up our sleeve.

3) The Players Look Resigned

It's pointless pinpointing anyone for a poor performance anymore. With poor tactics and knowing you need to obey them to get your next paycheck, the players themselves either just try their best or go through the motions. It's not like their starting spots are threatened anyway. In fact, I think most players hope NOT to get picked to start anymore. Even if we bought the best an most expensive, they would have played the same.

4) Bye Bye UCL

With this draw at home, it is almost certain that we will miss the Champions League next season. Not that it's unexpected, given our level of play. I wonder how the Glazers will react to this when it finally dawns upon them the actual revenue loss.

5) This Is The New Normal This Season

Get used to it. Every game will be a scrap and we'll definitely end up midtable. I hope Moyes gets the sack immediately but he won't. In all likelihood, he will be given at least till half of next season. Better buckle down. I am intending to cancel my Singtel MioTV end of this month.

GGMU!!!

2014 Dividend Accumulator II

As a continuation of jotting my dividends for the year...here it is:

01 Jan $155.23
10 Jan $1.22
05 Feb $5.88

Total Dividends for 2014: $162.33
Average per Month: $13.53

Jeremy Lin In Houston

Since Jeremy Lin's move to Houston last season, the whole Linsanity saga has died down somewhat.

But what alot of people do not know is that he is still doing pretty well for himself in Houston, albeit not posting the same highlights or numbers as he was during that fateful spell in New York. Heck, he's even a bench player now! Nonetheless there is still alot going for him as can be read here...

Hopefully he'll go from strength to strength and improve. The Houston Rockets are a very young team but they're already doing very well currently.

Candy Crush Saga Completed II

...Or so I thought previously...

It looks like it will NEVER be complete!

Must Learn To Laugh At Ourselves II

Continuing the MLTLAO series...

Moyes Out? Or Give Him More Time?

Somehow, THAT loss to Stoke City really bothered me. I've never seen so bad a performance before. Poor performance by the players, mixed with even poorer tactics from the manager makes for one very poisonous concoction. It really ruined my days after the match. Even right up till now.

So what now?

I've been trolling all my regular Man Utd news sources for something sane to digest and maybe to comfort myself that there are millions other fans out there feeling as miserable as me.

Here are the two best pieces of contrasting opinions I have found. And I realise, all Man Utd fans are either on one camp or the other. Go read both for a balanced view!

Moyes out!
Give Moyes more time!

I, for one, hope that Moyes gets the sack. He's been given enough time and the whole Juan Mata incredible buy example shows that he cannot tactically keep up with EPL strugglers, much less the best.

I doubt its gonna happen, but let's see it performances improve.

Heck, the performance was so bad I've 70% decided to cut off my Singtel MioTV contract. No point watching crap on TV right?

GGMU!!!

Stoke City 2 Manchester United 1

Is this the final straw? How many records are going to be broken before somebody gets the sack?

1) Full Blame On Moyes

Now that Mata is on board, you can't blame the team for lacking in quality. Simply put, David Moyes' tactics are seriously inept and predictable. Last night even with holy trinity of Rooney, Mata and RVP, we were still toothless.

2) Luck Can Be Made

What's the use of Moyes blaming everything on luck all the time? If its always down to luck that we are not winning games, then perhaps the tactics are simply not good enough that luck is so easily always a determining factor all too often this season. I think Moyes has blamed Lady Luck more this season than SAF has in the 26yrs he was at the helm.

3) Unlucky Injuries

Of course ironically we were a tad unlucky with Evans having to be subbed out in the 9th min and Jones being stretchered out. But with the full eleven players at our disposal, our defending could have been less horrendous an calamitous.

4) Alot Of Players Need To Go

Evra and Cleverly were most guilty of not worthy of wearing the shirt. Evra, maybe is too old and thinks he's on the way out anyway. Cleverly is just a headless chicken and is just a poor choice to start any game. There are alot more, but those two really stood out last night.

5) We Are Still A Quality Side

All said, we've got so much quality about us that it is astounding we couldn't win a game like last night's. At this stage, I can only blame the manager and his lousy, inexperienced backroom staff. As Moyes said last night, "What more do we have to do to win games?", with the answer being very simple, just change the manager. A quick look at Everton under Roberto Martinez shows the difference good, astute tactics can make.

Till then, I think I will finally cancel my Singtel MioTV subscription for now.

Nonetheless, I hope the good times come back soon.

GGMU!!!

Happy Chinese New Year 2014

Happy CNY to everyone!

Once again here's wishing all good health, wealth and prosperity!

And hopefully this year will be even better than the last.

HUAT AH!