While I was surfing cars yesterday on sgcarmart.com, I saw 4 pages of cars being auctioned by GE Money, which is a personal loan provider. Last year they were aggressively promoting this campaign, something about I Love James. God knows who or what James is and what it has to do with loans.
Anyway, it's yet another reminder that one should never spend beyond one's means. Never borrow to buy a non-necessity, in this case a car. It's all too easy to lose a job and be stuck with what is essentially a depreciating asset that one cannot afford.
I believe that this is only the beginning. Next year and 2010, many buyers of high end condos in Singapore who were hoping to flip the condo at a profit are going to get caught out, especially those who bought the condos on a deferred payment scheme. Banks are going to be very cautious giving out new loans on falling house prices -- I've heard of a couple (two lawyers) who could not get the full 80% loanThe coming recession and economic downturn presents good opportunities to buy for their house -- and if they, holding stable jobs, can't get the full loans? A housing crash seems inevitable.
So the recession is going to present very good opportunities to swoop in on some distressed assets. It's time to take a closer look at auction apartments and cars. We just have to wait for the mass auctions to begin.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Mind Your Language
One of my favourite shows from young is this series called "Mind Your Language", which, if produced nowadays, would be wholly offensive. But if you just take the stereotype with a pinch of salt, it really is quite hilarious.
The whole series is about a bunch of foreign students learning English as a foreign language. All the usual stereotypes are played up. The chinese girl who does nothing but preach about Chairman Mao's teachings. The Sikh and the Muslim who are forever on the verge of waging holy war upon each other. The flirtatious French girl.
I always thought it was a show from the 80s, but found out today that it was first produced in the 70s - wow, it's older than me!
You can watch this series on Youtube.
I've been watching it on my newest tech toy, an Acer Aspire One netbook. It's great! Small (1 kg), handy, and has all the basic functions one would need in a basic computer - surf, basic word processing, playing movies. And it only cost S$499. Talk about a steal. It'll be what I bring on holidays from now. The batt life is a bit shite, but that's ok. Oh, and it runs on Linux.
The whole series is about a bunch of foreign students learning English as a foreign language. All the usual stereotypes are played up. The chinese girl who does nothing but preach about Chairman Mao's teachings. The Sikh and the Muslim who are forever on the verge of waging holy war upon each other. The flirtatious French girl.
I always thought it was a show from the 80s, but found out today that it was first produced in the 70s - wow, it's older than me!
You can watch this series on Youtube.
I've been watching it on my newest tech toy, an Acer Aspire One netbook. It's great! Small (1 kg), handy, and has all the basic functions one would need in a basic computer - surf, basic word processing, playing movies. And it only cost S$499. Talk about a steal. It'll be what I bring on holidays from now. The batt life is a bit shite, but that's ok. Oh, and it runs on Linux.
Happy Herb Pizza
It's been a while hasn't it? It's tough to keep writing about hedonistic adventures when in truth my life is really far from hedonistic.
I've been told it's a pre-30's syndrome - a last ditch attempt to do young things before I turn 30.
I realise as one gets older that expectations as to proper behaviour and decorum are higher. People judge you based on what they expect people of your age and position to behave. You are expected to behave your age. Fortunately I don't look old, so it's perfectly ok for me to get myself completely smashed and misbehave for the moment. Until I become a representative of the company of course. Then it's all about the image projected.
It's my aim to do as many young things as possible before turning 30. There isn't much time left.
Anyhow I shall share a story about Happy Herb Pizzas. If you've ever been to Siem Reap or Phnom Penh, Cambodia, there's a shop in each place called Happy Herb Pizzas. Their specialty is serving marijuana laced pizzas. You can order your pizza Happy, Extra Happy or Extremely Happy. Needless to say, my friends and I (when we visited Cambodia many years ago) ordered Extremely Happy.
The pizza comes in personal pan sizes, at about USD4 each, as at that time. By itself I have to say the pizzas were excellent. Toppings are variable, and there is a dusting on top of what looks like oregano or pepper, but which really is weed. By way of a condiment you are also given a small sauce dish of what looks like ground black pepper (snigger).
Weed itself is tasteless, which was rather disappointing. I was told by my friend that it takes about 20 mins for the effect to kick in. I wasn't sure what to expect, but 20 mins later, nothing had happened. No hallucinations, no feeling, nothing. Since we were only going to do this once I thought we should just go all out in the name of experimentation, and so I smothered my pizza with all the weed there was. The pizza was really encrusted with a thick layer of black happy herbs.
Still. Nothing. What a disappointment.
After an hour or so, we decided to get a drink elsewhere - beer was going for a special price of USD0.60 per pint for "Angkor Beer".
It was 30 mins into the beer (I later found out it was a very bad idea to mix) that I discovered, for the first time in my life, why "getting high" is named as such. The feeling is exactly that - I felt as if I was removed from my surroundings - on a higher plane of existence, looking down at my body and its surroundings in a very surreal fashion. It's like getting very drunk, but without the feeling of wanting to puke, because weed is not an irritant substance like alcohol (nor, I am told, is it additive).
We got back to the hotel shortly after, and as I staggered back to my bed and stared at the ceiling, the whole ceiling was spinning - vertigo - and I simply could not get up again.
We made the mistake of not buying sufficient drinking water. As a result, all the happy herbs remained in the body overnight and wasn't peed out. It is extremely dehydrating, and I felt as if no amount of water could ever quench the thirst.
Of the next day I remember very little. I woke up feeling slightly better, but believe that the body started to digest the weed from the day before all over again. I remember stoning out at breakfast, feeling sleepy. I remmeber stumbling out of the hotel, and then back to bed that night. I don't remember what we did that day except that I was trailing my friends. They told me that I just spaced out the whole day haha.
An experience not to be repeated.
I've been told it's a pre-30's syndrome - a last ditch attempt to do young things before I turn 30.
I realise as one gets older that expectations as to proper behaviour and decorum are higher. People judge you based on what they expect people of your age and position to behave. You are expected to behave your age. Fortunately I don't look old, so it's perfectly ok for me to get myself completely smashed and misbehave for the moment. Until I become a representative of the company of course. Then it's all about the image projected.
It's my aim to do as many young things as possible before turning 30. There isn't much time left.
Anyhow I shall share a story about Happy Herb Pizzas. If you've ever been to Siem Reap or Phnom Penh, Cambodia, there's a shop in each place called Happy Herb Pizzas. Their specialty is serving marijuana laced pizzas. You can order your pizza Happy, Extra Happy or Extremely Happy. Needless to say, my friends and I (when we visited Cambodia many years ago) ordered Extremely Happy.
The pizza comes in personal pan sizes, at about USD4 each, as at that time. By itself I have to say the pizzas were excellent. Toppings are variable, and there is a dusting on top of what looks like oregano or pepper, but which really is weed. By way of a condiment you are also given a small sauce dish of what looks like ground black pepper (snigger).
Weed itself is tasteless, which was rather disappointing. I was told by my friend that it takes about 20 mins for the effect to kick in. I wasn't sure what to expect, but 20 mins later, nothing had happened. No hallucinations, no feeling, nothing. Since we were only going to do this once I thought we should just go all out in the name of experimentation, and so I smothered my pizza with all the weed there was. The pizza was really encrusted with a thick layer of black happy herbs.
Still. Nothing. What a disappointment.
After an hour or so, we decided to get a drink elsewhere - beer was going for a special price of USD0.60 per pint for "Angkor Beer".
It was 30 mins into the beer (I later found out it was a very bad idea to mix) that I discovered, for the first time in my life, why "getting high" is named as such. The feeling is exactly that - I felt as if I was removed from my surroundings - on a higher plane of existence, looking down at my body and its surroundings in a very surreal fashion. It's like getting very drunk, but without the feeling of wanting to puke, because weed is not an irritant substance like alcohol (nor, I am told, is it additive).
We got back to the hotel shortly after, and as I staggered back to my bed and stared at the ceiling, the whole ceiling was spinning - vertigo - and I simply could not get up again.
We made the mistake of not buying sufficient drinking water. As a result, all the happy herbs remained in the body overnight and wasn't peed out. It is extremely dehydrating, and I felt as if no amount of water could ever quench the thirst.
Of the next day I remember very little. I woke up feeling slightly better, but believe that the body started to digest the weed from the day before all over again. I remember stoning out at breakfast, feeling sleepy. I remmeber stumbling out of the hotel, and then back to bed that night. I don't remember what we did that day except that I was trailing my friends. They told me that I just spaced out the whole day haha.
An experience not to be repeated.