Here's My Story

Yes, it's the famous book, in a series called a Song of Ice and Fire, by George R.R. Martin and now made into a tv series too. No, I haven't been following the series. A friend is so keen on me watching and/or reading it that he bought the book for me to read. I faithfully read past halfway. On this rare occasion, I skipped ahead to unravel the suspense of a particular plot line and I didn't like it. Later, that friend, with my encouragement, told me more about the story and that further solidified my resolve to discontinue reading the series. Why? That's because there is frequent shifting of sand. Characters, and sometimes their entire families, assassinated so often that it would leave the assassin guild breathless and envious. This makes it hard to root for anyone. I don't mind this per se and I acknowledge that characters can die, even major ones, but I understand that this is a recurring theme throughout the series at the rate similar to how often my 2-year...

When women tell men problems they have, most of the time they are not asking men for solutions. They are usually seeking empathy and understanding. In fact, some may get offended if men offer solutions and some even go further in accusing men for not understanding them. For me, of course I agree that firstly, I hope that the listeners (men or women) understand my problems. However, I would definitely welcome and treat it as a bonus if they provide solutions. Seriously, why not? Why don't listen to their suggestions to solving your problems? Maybe they have great ideas. No harm in bouncing ideas with them, isn't it? If you are tired and just want to pour out your problems, then that, to me, is a separate issue. Just say, "Thanks for your suggestion but I'm tired and just need some understanding." There's no need to be grumpy about it. It's an unhelpful reaction. I gather that most of the time the frustration comes from listeners who jump straight to s...

I am a fan of chap fan because it's the cheapest balanced food I can get hold of. I have it every day for lunch, except for Sun, and would probably have it more often if I could buy it at other meal times. Unfortunately, it's difficult to do so for dinner. My favourite place is the one near Ban's place where I'm given regular customer's price. I usually will have 1 egg/tofu + 2 veg and be charged RM3.50, rather than RM3.80. Even at the normal price, it is cheaper than many places in PJ. In Butterworth, food is generally so much cheaper than PJ. For example, a bowl of noodle costs RM3 compared to RM4.50 in PJ. The only exception is chap fan. Generally, chap fan there is about the same price as PJ's and so that makes it looks expensive when compared to other food. Fortunately, my sister came across a place in Butterworth that sells cheap chap fan. In fact, for 1 tofu + 2 veg, I was charged only RM3.20. So cheap! Tasted good as well. A trivia: instead of st...

MTG is arguably the most successful trading card game alive today. It was introduced in 1993 and has outlasted many other card games both in terms of longevity and popularity. Amazing, isn't it? Naturally, it is a profitable business. Perhaps about a decade ago, I first heard of it from a friend. In fact, we both bought a pack (can't remember whether it was an intro or booster pack) each but we never got around to play it. I had only very vague memory of looking at some cards from the deck. Ban mentioned this game to me when I was playing Yugi-Oh! card game on my laptop (software obtained from his brother). He claimed that MTG was a better system than Yugi, which is not too difficult to believe since the latter has some balancing issues. It was only on my latest trip to Australia that I learned a little bit on how to play it by watching my brother-in-law playing the digital version ("MTG: Duel of the Planeswalkers"). Ban and I were aware of this version but we d...

The last two weeks were crazy chiefly because of my illness. That just blew up the tediousness of work. Hence, I'm looking forward to a more placid pace for the next 12 days when I'll be in Penang visiting my sister and her family. Oh wait a minute. It won't be entirely relaxing with a 2-year old toddler around. I have already experienced such phase with my other sister's 2 sons and so it won't be a walk in the park. It's definitely an interesting phase though and I wish everyone to experience it at least once (Ban, you hear this? :) ). What more, this nephew seems more talkative than the other two hahaha. Gosh, I hope my sorethroat's gone soon. Like his parents, I would also need to thicken my skin and keep blood from flushing my face whenever we go out to eat. My nephew is at an age where he wants to feed himself, no matter how clumsy he is. The result: a piece of art on the table, chair and floor after every meal, worthy of being auctioned off. Unfort...

At the dawn of May, I decided to cook these two dishes - a combination of the last two dishes I cooked - for dinner. I marinated the chicken (and left it overnight in the fridge) with light and dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, white pepper powder, garlic and parsley powder, cornflour and olive oil. Grilled it over medium heat for about half an hour (I think!). Ban and I liked it although I don't think it's as good as previously . I suspect this was due to lesser dark soy sauce and olive oil. I boiled this soup the same way as previously except that at the beginning, I poured in boiling water on the cut-up chicken meat and threw it away after boiling it for a few minutes. It was a method that my sister used and gotten from my dad to get rid of the scum. It worked beautifully as I didn't need to continuously scoop out the scum later like previously; and I added wolfberries, which changed the taste a little bit. Sweeter. Ban and I liked the soup too and there was...

Since the onset of my current sickness , I tried to let my body heal itself by just eating right and getting lots of rest. With respect to the latter, I had to take some medicine so that phlegm/cough wouldn't prevent me from having a good sleep. However, it wasn't working well because I had work to do, both actuarial projects and tuition. The past week I felt dull. I couldn't get myself interested in the usual things, found it hard to concentrate, had less patience, etc. I had to cut down some of the usual activities from my daily routine. No exercise. Very little reading of investment news. Read no actuarial news. I could barely work. I don't know how some people could tough it out without seeing doctor and taking medication. There was definitely improvement in the illness but it wasn't fast enough because I had work to do. So after tuition on Friday, I caved in and saw a doctor nearby. I feel better now and more importantly I feel my usual self coming b...

Gosh, this illness is still going on after 1 week. Look at how it has changed so far: Sorethroat Sorethroat worsened, phlegm accumulation, backdrip, cough Sorethroat, phlegm accumulation, backdrip, cough worsened Sorethroat lessened, phlegm lessen, backdrip lessen, cough, runny nose Sorethroat, phlegm lessen but thicker, backdrip lessen Sorethroat, thick yellowish phelgm, backdrip lessened, cough less frequent but "deeper" Sorethroat, thick yellowish/greenish phlegm, cough On top of this, I had work to do to meet a deadline next week. Due to illness and lethargy, I couldn't put in solid number of hours each day to work. As a result, I had to cut down the usual stuff I do each day e.g. I stopped reading the daily news e-mailed by IAAust, I rarely read investment news, no daily walks, no computer/board games. I also realised that normally I can visit my sister in Australia after school term ends for the year and before the following year's school term start...

I was supposed to go back to Seremban on Friday to vote on Sunday . On Thursday morning, I woke up with a very painful sorethroat. I had to tutor my student that morning too but luckily he was quite cooperative that day. Come to think of it, he seems to be more cooperative this year compared to previous years. My illness worsened that night as phlegm started to accumulate non-stop throughout the night. This resulted in coughing. Decent sleep was elusive. When Friday morning dawned, it was a forgone conclusion that there was no way that I could drive back home and get well in time to vote on Sunday. Even now, my cough is still there albeit a drier one. I now have runny nose whenever the effect of medicine runs out. Gah. I really need to get well soon as I have some errands to run and also work to do. The election was fraught with phantom voters, extra ballot boxes magically appearing towards the end of counting process, dubious foreign voters gangsterism and indelible ink that was...

( continue from Part 1 ) Here's my current portfolio, according to invested amount: Average purchase price and closing price as at 26 April 2013: Historical dividend yield: The annualised dividend yield for a counter was calculated as sum of the actual dividend yields (actual dividend yield = amount of dividend paid divided by invested amount) pro-rated to a year. This was done sensibly by taking account of the frequency and timing of the dividend payment. Shares with dividend history of less than a year were excluded.