Job Application and the Waiting Game

So the waiting game is here.... just waiting for replies from potential employers and waiting for interview results.

Such a passive waiting game which I can't really stand. I wish there was a more active stance I could take.

Tick, tock, tick, tock..

How should I bide my time as I wait for the results?

Time to go off for a short trip and to escape the low self-esteem syndrome that comes along with rejections?

Sakuraya - Best Jap Food in Singapore?

I like Japanese food. Perhaps its due to the fact that I did not eat much Japanese food when I was young.

But with my budget tightening, I have cut down on my Jap food intake quite a lot as I tend to be pretty fussy about Jap food and only like to eat them at restaurants.

The one place that I like is Sushi tei. I find that their food is fresh and yummy. Consistency is however sometimes a problem as I went to the one at west coast when it just opened and I found it to be disappointing and not up to standard.

However, I went to Sakuraya yesterday (@ Anchorpoint Level 1 Beside 7-11) and I must say that their sashimi and sushi are of a superb standard too.

The reason why we went there was because we had already collected 20 stamps and this entitled us to a $50 discount voucher that we could redeem.

The wife ordered a sashimi set while I ordered a saba set. We also ordered maguro, salmon and tamago sushi. The bill added up to $51.79 and with the discount voucher, we only had to foot $1.80 for the bill!

It was a wonderful meal. The sashimi and sushi looked so fresh and tasted so good. What's more, it only cost me $1.80 for an unbelievable good meal. I have come to realised that Sakuraya has perhaps better Jap food than Sushi Tei. After being a loyal supporter of Sushi Tei for more than 4 years, I must say that Sakuraya has won my heart yesterday and now takes over the No.1 spot in my heart when it comes to Jap food.

Too bad I don't have any pictures taken from yesterday...

If you had a free $50 voucher to eat at any place you would like, where would it be?

P.S. Answering the above question won't win you a free $50 voucher

Income for January 2010

Checked my bank account yesterday and realised I got some special "bonus" from the government.

The 1st is a sum of $750 for baby bonus. This will come in handy.

The 2nd is a sum of $100 for GST credits. This will also come in handy.

With Chinese new year coming and the need to give hongbaos soon, the total sum of $850 will go nicely to tide us through this season.

I have also expanded on my passive income sources and hope to bring my passive income UP UP and UP for this year. January is over and it is no use crying over spilt milk. February is here and I hope that it will be a roaring good year for all my passive income sources.

I heard the story about apple trees recently and it got me thinking... how can I increase the number of apple trees I have? Everytime I see a tree, it gets me thinking.. Have I planted seeds for another apple tree today? Or am I relying solely on 1 apple tree alone?

Never Owned a Laptop in My Life

Do I spend a lot? I do not think so.

For one, I consider myself a pretty frugal person. The only thing that I am willing to spend on is food. I consider myself a "okay" spender when it comes to food. I don't mind eating at Sushi Tei, Marche, etc. That is the highest level of spending on food that I allow myself. I feel uncomfortable eating at higher society establishments as I don't like dressing up =)

Okay, now back to the topic...I have never owned a laptop in my life. GUSH!!!!!

Yes yes, I can hear you gasping for air. This is unbelievable right? A person who has gone through university and never owned a laptop in his entire life?? It is true!

I was too "broke" to afford one so I just did not buy it even though laptops were being offered real cheap in NUS. Who says you need a laptop to survive? I did not have a laptop and I survived. And I am very proud of it =)

Even my FYP presentation was done using my girlfriend's laptop which I borrowed. Hahaha. I don't know why people say you need laptops to do presentations. All the group presentations, everyone surely has a laptop. Just use other people's laptop!

Besides, desktops have much better computing power. So whenever I needed to use a laptop (which is rarely), I simply borrowed from the many people all around. A desktop was what I used as it was CHEAPER and BETTER (in terms of specs).

So don't let social norms bite you. Bite them back and then blog about it a few years later.

That was how I survived university days... Cool right?

What is one thing that you always wanted but realised that you can actually live without?

Review of January 2010

January has been a challenging month for me.

It marked the start of the new year 2010 and the deep realisation that I was nowhere closer to any of my goals that I have set out in life. A look at my resolutions which I have made earlier was also sorrowful as I did not accomplish much.

Beginning the New Year With Resolutions

I thus started out to mark down an entire set of financial resolutions which I hoped to achieve in this year. After watching the Millionaire Mind Intensive, I decided to add a zero behind each financial goal I had. You can view my financial resolutions for 2010 right here. Some people called me CRAZY and DREAMER. But hey, it is always good to have some dreams =)

I Gave Out Some Tips With Respect to Blogging

I gave out my very own personal tips on some aspects of blogging. It has worked for me to a certain extent and I hope that it works for you too. If I could summarize it in MusicWhiz's words: Add Value to Your Readers

1. Blogging Tips: What I Learnt From A trip to Holland Village

2. Blogging To Financial Freedom

And I Shared some Hot Stock Picks and Bubbles.....

Some people feel that the STI will hit 3,500 by end of 2010. IF I knew, I would be rich. January has also been a bad trading month as I got into Capitaland at a high of $4.43. It is now trading close to $4.00

The conclusion of the matter was that the easy money had already been made and we should be very selective in our stock pickings for 2010 as we will not see a broad based rally. What worried me was that Singaporeans were keen to invest again. Uncles, Aunties, newspapers were all giving Buy, Buy, Buy calls. Perhaps its time to say Bye Bye Bye to the stock market this year.

1. Hot Stock Picks for 2010 (Smoking Hot indeed! Compiled from the best analysts)

2. 3 Bubbles to Watch Out For

I still Need Advice

Yes, at the end of January 2010, I am still as clueless as ever about my job hunt and my trading skills which are close to non-functional.

My job hunt still revolves around me thinking whether I should grab any job that comes along or whether there is such a thing as a dream job (blogging perhaps?)

My trades for the month of January 2010 was also quite forgettable. Perhaps I am trying to purge all the bad memories. I am quite bad at timing Mr Market it seems.

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It's just a cute bear sitting on the road in Russia when I was travelling.

Time to get drunk in Russia Again?

Pre-Nursery in Singapore

I went down to a kindergarden today to do some recce for my child's education.

I found that the facilities were not bad and has vastly improved since my childhood days. There were music rooms, computer rooms and even playgrounds.

However, I realised that the waiting list was very long as there were only a few vacancies.

The cost is also around $700++ for 10 weeks. That would easily add up to $3000 in a single year just for attending a 3 hr per day pre nursery.

I am not sure what to make out of all this. Is it too expensive?

Wouldn't there be economies of scale if the government did some central planning and provide education for pre-nursery students onwards? This would make the education system much fairer.

I compared a few kindergardens and I must say that the quality of the teachers and facilities vary greatly. This means that different kids are exposed to very different environments from a very young age. Surely this will have a great impact on them and their future formal education which starts at Primary 1?

Saving for My Child's Education

As most of you know by now, I have started a POSB Kids Savings account for my child.

The main purpose of this account is to save for his university education. This account also allows me to deposit all my spare coins at no charges.

The figure that I am aiming for is S$100,000. Yes, it might not be enough for an overseas education in 20 years time but I guess it is better than nothing.

Having been deprived of the chance to study overseas because of the lack of money (alas, and also the lack of good grades to get a scholarship), I always felt that I was "disadvantaged" in a certain sense because I did not get to study abroad.

My SAT score then was 1390. Not very high but sufficient to get me a place into universities like Brown University and University College of London (I can't remember what were the other universities that I applied to). However, the lack of funding made me decide to pursue a local university education instead.

This is something that I do not wish my child to face. I hope to be able to have the financial capacity to put him through his studies overseas if he is able to make it into any university there.

I have seen so many people who have gotten worse grades than me but have been able to pursue an overseas education at quite reputable universities because they have the financial means. Is this fair? Nope. But this is life, and life isn't fair sometimes. It also won't be fair when I become a millionaire faster than them even though I don't have the same qualifications as them =)

My child, if you read this someday...know that Daddy is saving up hard for your education. I am doing my best yah?

$1375 and counting...everyday, I drop all my spare change into a little container which I will then deposit into his university fund. I wish I had started saving for it earlier.