Meidi-ya Shopping Spree!

Bought lunch/dinner for Shermy and her parents today at Din Tai Feng. It was great! Things really perking up on that side, we're both really happy abt it. After that, Shermy's dad brought us to Meidi-ya to use those vouchers that Shermy won frm her July Speech Competition. It was like RICH RICH RICH! haha! We were picking up sashimi, imported japanese food stuffs like it was nothing! Spent a total of $171, Shermy's dad paid the $21 difference so we have $100 more to go at another spree! hehehehe
THANK YOU FOR SASHIMI SHERMYPOO!

More on GST

Got this calculation off the Straits Times. oh the irony..

Who gets hit hardest by GST hike? Impact differs for tax-payers in different income brackets

Is this correct?

Example 1
In 2006, if after rebates etc. your net taxable income is $60,000, the income tax you need to pay is $2,700 (8.75%). If you spend $800 a month on goods and services, the GST paid at 5% will be $480. Total = $3,180 in tax paid.
In 2007, if after rebates etc. your net taxable income is $60,000, the income tax you need to pay is $2,600 (8.50%). If you spend $800 a month on goods and services, the GST paid at 7% will be $672. Total = $3,272 in tax paid.
From $3,180 to $3,272, the effective increase is 2.89%.

Example 2
In 2006, if after rebates etc. your net taxable income is $400,000, the income tax you need to pay is $61,650 (21%). If you spend $4,000 a month on goods and services, the GST paid at 5% will be $2,400. Total = $64,050 in tax paid.
In 2007, if after rebates etc. your net taxable income is $400,000, the income tax you need to pay is $58,700 (20%). If you spend $4,000 a month on goods and services, the GST paid at 7% will be $3,360. Total = $62,060 in tax paid.
From $64,050 to $62,060, the effective decrease is -3.11%.

Example 3
In 2006, if after rebates etc. your net taxable income is $25,000, the income tax you need to pay is $187.50 (3.75%). If you spend $800 a month on goods and services, the GST paid at 5% will be $480. Total = $667.50 in tax paid.
In 2007, if after rebates etc. your net taxable income is $25,000, the income tax you need to pay is $175 (3.5%). If you spend $800 a month on goods and services, the GST paid at 7% will be $672. Total = $847 in tax paid.
From $667.50 to $847, the effective increase is 26.89%.

Animal Rescue

There was drama this morning @ home. I had woken earlier to test my new bus route to work, came home n hopped into bed again. Was awoken by shouting in the house, turned out October, our sorta new big dog, most ill-disciplined one so far, had been run over by a van on one of his not-so-rare "escapes" from the house. Mom was cradling him and one of his hind legs was bleeding profusely. The house floor was polka dotted with blood. I made a tourniquet from cloth n rubberbands and we drove him to the ARVH @ Whampoa (an animal hospital, where Zen was treated).

Turned out there were no broken bones! Amazing. He had wat I term "major abrasions", where chunks of skin on his leg were abraded off, and a major artery in his paw was open (it was spurting blood). They cleaned up his wound and he'll be in surgery soon, should be discharged tonite too. So its not too bad, despite the amount of blood on my clothes, on the house floor, and all over the emergency room in the hospital. He'll just be alone for a while (something he's not used to too, being a little over 1 yr old).

October has always been very ill-disciplined, always stealing food, making use of his size to intimidate and steal, very dependent on the maid being near. His owner, my sis, Gayle, has always talked about wanting to send him to school, but never did. Whenever the gate is ajar, he will rush out, and put up a huge struggle and play catching before finally being herded home. Everyone hopes that this incident will teach him a lesson, and hopefully, he'll change for the better.

Just last night, sister's friends got me to trick her into coming home for her surprise party by saying October was sick and not eating his food. Today she didn't believe her friend when she called to tell her. Incidentally, Zen was put to sleep on 19 Nov 2005, one year to the date. Coincidences? Creepy..


Update: he's back home. Confined to kitchen. With a huge cone over his head to keep him frm biting his bandages.

funny.. I sign my contract with the new workplace, and suddenly I get 2 online replies.. Didn't realise it took them that long to process.. ah well.. WELCOME TO INFORMA GM! Starting on Monday!

Dky rabu Mky muchly!

Shermy is wonderful! First she's more excited than me over my new job. Second, she helped me out by scurrying around picking pants by colours, size and prices, back n forth a gazillion times in order to satiate my pickiness. Thirdly, she thinks of a filler to buy in replacement of the dessert we were supposed to bring to a surprise party tmr. Cos of her, its already in my fridge, no last minute panicking!
And all this just for a badge as reward. Banana badge! hehe

Awesome or what!?

New Job @ Informa GM!

I was job-searching for abt 3 weeks so far. The single envelope snail-mail that I sent out, I got a response for. Went for 2 interviews, everything was positive, going to sign contract tmr. =)

Technical Analyst: The successful technical analyst will provide live intraday technical analysis of the currency, fixed income and commodity markets during Asian time. Candidates must have experience and strong knowledge of technical analysis.

That was all. No degree requirement, no years of experience, nothing. I applied, got called for the interview, had a great chat, din do so well on the first test, but was called back and given guidelines and tadah!

ok, I've a confession to make. Trading was not all I had expected. I had expected money to come easier than it did. It wasn't. I had thought after making increasing returns for a couple of months that it would keep increasing, that I would never lose. I lost. Yes, its unstable. And after 2 years of trying hard, I guess I finally got tired. That's probably part of the reason why I've not been catching up with old friends too. something to do with loss of face I think. Sigh.

So, about the new job.. I'm still gonna be studying charts at Informa Global Markets, I'll be hammering out report after report for each market tht I'm assigned - they said 15. And I'll be working at a pretty good time too - 630am-330pm - I can still go for kendo, and there's no OT, apart from working some public hols. Looking forward to it.

Microsoft has bought over Firefox!

Nah, its a hoax. Check out the FAQ and download instructions =)
Here, Misfire fox.

This information provided by Shermy, reader of Sensible Erection dot com.

Pasta Manna!!

I RECOMMEND THIS TOO!! I came across the Pasta Manna review on ieatishootipost, a food review blog, and suddenly recalled that I'm supposed to go there since... June I think. I was frequenting this cheap and great pasta place when I was based at Joo Chiat, for over 1 year. I rate Pasta Manna over Pastamania still, despite Shermy and my recent encounter with the Woodlands outlet which is not bad too. If u go to Old Airport Rd, or are in the area, DO drop by and get some creamy pasta!

GST to rise to 7%

Read all about it. Thanks to Prit. I say.. Singaporeans had it coming. Who is there to oppose this bill? Only one or two insignificant voices in a sea of white.

It is a whole set of measures which we are taking in order to tilt the playing field in favour of the lower income group, which is what we have to add and tally in the balance, and my purpose is to help the lower income group.

Truly, the government is magnanimous. They only want to increase tax so that the rich pay more for wat they purchase, since they have more $ to spend and so they spend more. The question is, why do we need to increase the tax for? Are our government coffers not already reputated to be quite significant? Why the need to raise tax? Oh because our economy is doing well, we can now afford to tax the people more? ya, we earn more just so we can give more. Thanks a lot. All the sweat I put in for that raise, just so I can offer it in thanksgiving to the Almighty Lee.

New Term!

This I got from Wiki:

Practitioners of kendo are called kendoka (one who practices kendo) or kenshi (swordsman). The latter may also be applied to practitioners of other traditional Japanese sword arts.

Apparently there's a new word - "Kendra". Supposed to mean the above. I think. Guess who's starting it in his recent spate of emails?

The Dinner

So you would think a dinner meeting with Shermaine's parents would turn out something like Meet the Parents.. Well, it went well. I feel SO relieved after 2 years of non-communication. What happened was that there was some misunderstanding resulting in me being a bad hat to the parents. Sherm and I decided to leave it aside and let time heal it over, especially since that time everything was so volatile, where the very mention of my name would make the household explode in argument. Poor Shermy.

Well, Mr Ow spoke to Sherm abt how he's been waiting for me to do something for too long, and that I should have initiative. We set the apptmt, we met, and.. it was all good. =) He's really smart. I've a new role model - believe it! At the end of the evening, we stopped by Shop n Save, Mr Ow secretly bought a pair of Shingo Pears (HUGE Korean pears), and handed it off to me for me to bring home. yay! Sherm noted also that he patted me on the back, haha!

That's a lot of stress off our minds. Poor Shermy had to endure everything alone at home for over a year. She's the strong one here. Proud of Shermaine =)

Hello, I've made the arrangement as planned. See you then. =)

I never thought this was bad. Mebbe its not as polite as it can be, but that it is rude?? Gee.. what happened man..

All cos I missed out the "Hello Mr Who" bit? and used Hello? Hello.. A simple hello now brings rude connotations if not attached to a title of the addressee. "Hello Sir" sounds like mockery. "Hello Uncle Who" is too familiar. "Hello Mr Who" might be good, but considering that I addressed him differently before, he MIGHT pick on that difference. So a simple "Hello" might suffice.

So you think.. you forgot to treat him like a potential boss.

Too late, all hell has broken loose.

like.. duh..

Climate Change - is used to refer to changes in the Earth's climate

This really happened:
News reporter asks interviewee about the topic above.

Reporter: What do you know about climate change?

Interviewee: err... are you talking about like, what happened in the ice age?

Oh man, what a ditz.



That was me.

For Sale, Renault Kangoo

Less than 3 years old, going for about $20.5k. Fully paid-up, low mileage. Private owner. Pls call 96578793 for more information, or click this link.

Renewed!

Today, I visited a great dentist, recommended by Shermy. I got my "defective" tooth fixed, so now I have a new small tooth! YAY! I can smile confidently again. hehe

Familiar?

Pasta ala Duck! Photos strategically and beautifully taken by Shermaine!

Offer! Only during the winter months will you get a fresh pun with every date you make! Cheap! So whip out your black book now, and start calling for fresh puns!

hiki

a hiki, on the other hand, is to evade (from here), or an attack performed while moving away from an opponent. No, we're not talking about hickie here. We've clarified that hickie and tsuki differ in intention. Likewise, hiki and hickie differ too. They're NOTHING alike.