blood sucker insurers

i am furious about myself. i never realised what kind of crap i got myself into all these years until i received the policy coupon payout from aia.

i got this savings policy 5 years ago and it gave me so called the "flexibility" to draw down on the 5th and 10th year. draw down they call it. DON'T EVER draw down. and by the way, please note that policy 'bonus' is on face amount of the policy, not whatever you have put in. they will tell you the bonus is accumulated, but it is accumulated on a FIXED face value + accumulated bonus (at 1.85% p.a).

They are giving me a 'coupon' payment. excuse me, what coupon payment. this is face value drawdown.

Ok, next they say projected value at maturity date. no matter how i compute, i am not getting the value there. i called the customer service and they tell me system is down, they can't generate the illustration. i don't need an illustration. i want to know how in the world this projected value is computed. $12k projected return? where is it? i am still seeing 1.85% bonus on face value. i don't see a change in my face value, still that pathetic $5k.

i am going back to study the GE one tonight.

I hate myself for being so ignorant. for not knowing how to do my sums.

Please be very careful how insurance companies pump up their returns to attract you to buy in with them. nothing is guaranteed in this world. and what is worse about non-guaranteed things is i am tied to it for 2 decades. i rather park my money with equities. at least i have liquidity. i can sell it off in an open market any moment.

I am not paying insurance companies to take my money and use it for their own benefit. i am such a fool. but a fool no more. from this day onwards, insurance agents better back off from me.

scrooge with pork

i am such a scrooge. i scoured 5 locations within yew tee just to find discounted hair conditioner. conclusion: ntuc still offers the best buys within yew tee vicinity.

i am such a weird scrooge. i am looking at that $10 note in my wallet and wondering if i should spend it on lunch. i have only $0.50 loose change and i am hoping to keep my $10 around, as long as possible. hence, i made myself a mug of milo+instant cereal+sugar to keep my hunger away. pretty filling though. good change from the oily meals i've been having.

i just finished reading my fundamental analysis book. yayy! now onto the next! at least i am making progress now.

to end off the entry, just to share a cold joke between dearie and i. no offence to all world cup fans. or to prk and por fans in particular.

while watching the world cup match between portugal and north korea, i made a mindless joke. Portugal was abbreviated by 'POR' while north korea was abbreviated by 'PRK' (short for People's Republic of Korea).

me: "Waa bb, it's a match between PORK! we have PORK without the K (POR) against PORK without the O (PRK)."

dearie: "not funny.."

me: "orh.." (sulk)

quote of the day 22/06/10

" The desire of knowledge, like the thirst of riches, increases with the acquisition of it" - Lawrence Sterne, 1760

i like this quote. it can't be more apt to what was on the top of my mind yesterday. we need to constantly thirst for more knowledge. the acquiring of new knowledge should fuel that thirst like a never ending cycle. =)

effective habits

All the best to dearie for his interview today. Hope it goes well..and hopefully this job will be something suitable. =)

3 more weeks to shm. That’s fast. Another 2 weekend of MR perhaps. Another 3 track workout. Race day.

I just remembered I am still holding on to alicia’s harry potter series and I’m stuck on the 4th book for a long long time. Oh man! How do I find discipline to do my reading? I still have 3.5more investment books plus 1 financial modeling book. I need to schedule my time so I find discipline to go through portions of them daily.

I am inspired by those who are making a lot of sense in the equity market. I need that hunger for more knowledge.

Felt abit out of the zone last few weeks. Was still looking at the board but didn’t know where to place our chips. Today the market is up. Our counters are faring pretty decent till now. Another hour to closing. Hope they hold up.

meantime, i need to remind myself.

1. read more. learn more.
2. save more.(save for investing. save for holiday!)
3. invest wisely.
4. work smart.
5. run hard.
6. eat healthy.
7. rest well.

thinklist

on the top of my head

1. i should develop my own fashion sense. right now it's all over the place. no character. boring.

2. i should not be eating so much. i am wolfing down alot of food these days. pretty clothes only look pretty on svelte bodies. but how to lose weight but not lose boobs?

3. holiday. i need a holiday in 2011.

4. need to save more. i should not be going to so many flea markets.

5. my reading has been slowing down. lazy lazy. 5 books on wait list. i need some discipline here.

6. should i start playing my piano again?

7. what about biking too? tag along with yenling?

how come i am so busy ah..so many things i want to do. or maybe i am just thinking too much.

vintage me?

i've been ogling at 'granny's day out' website. i love the vintage style i am seeing. but it seems to suit waif-like ladies better. i am short and chunky. i wonder how i would look in one of those flowy dresses.

i am dreaming of a whole wardrobe of vintage clothes. wowee. i think vintage has character. it is different and unique. and of course, it comes with pricier than those korean/taiwanese fashion.

been to the flea on sat at odeon. i am somewhat disappointed. apart from the necklace and earrings i bought for mum..i think i was hoping to find more..but not many things caught my attention. i only walked out with a $5 top and a pair of pretty earrings.

perhaps i should save my money up for my holiday in 2011. i think it will be more interesting to buy clothes from overseas.

birthday celebration for mum and dad was alot of eating. a-la-carte buffet at hosin jap restaurant and cake from emicakes. i am still bloated. it's a 1-meal day for us. -rubs her big rummy tum tum-

did 2 loops at macrit, with timing unexpectedly better than last week's. i think the finisher medal is slightly closer to reach now. i'm not expecting to do a sub-2. i will be happy to do a 2.12? (considering 6min pace).

i'm glad we are a part of safra running community. we have moved out of 2 other running groups and to train alone can be really boring at times. at least we now have a group to run with..and we are given adination cards to fill up. it's some reward scheme by adidas, which rewards runners that turn out for safra runs. collect x number of chops and u can collect freebies like shoe bags, water bottles. feel very aunty-ish..but it's another incentive to turn up for the runs regularly. i think we have a few friends at safra we can count upon. =)

work week starts tomorrow, again. we are getting closer to shm! can't wait to eat my hakka mee and lou su fen. haehaheea..how am i going to lose weight if i am going to eat like that. see la, how to go vintage, if i am looking like michelin mascot?

flea me

i am starting to enjoy flea markets. =) time to get some good and interesting buys!

this is happening on saturday. i already booked dearie's time to go down for it! yay! flea me!!

accomplished & growing

Feeling accomplished. I've completed the tax computation for mummy and all I need is for her to sign off and we can mail it in to iras. I enjoy doing tax computation, though it is really simple for mum's company in this case. Compiling the tax schedules, computing wear & tear, going through deductible and non-deductible expenses and income. My school days ambition was to become a tax consultant. The closest I've come to this ambition is now - filing tax for mummy. I still try to read the tax updates, look at budget tax concessions; keeping myself abreast to tax changes. I'm not hoping to become a tax consultant anytime soon, but I think tax is one important component in any business.


I've also set up the spreadsheet for mummy to keep her ledger on. It is linked to a tb, p&l and bs so that makes things alot easier. The only manual thing is to type the ledger and journal entries in. I actually tapped into the template amy has set up for one of our subsidiaries, of which books were not maintained within navision. I think it will make things alot easier for mummy, as she won't have to tediously handwrite the entries on ledger cards. It will make referencing a whole lot easier. Will need to go through the template with her this weekend. =)

I managed to close May's accounts pretty smoothly. I got the conso report out in 2 half-days. I also compiled the Jun costing forecast for review. Next up is to do a study on some significant expenses and also to compile the SOP. Want to get these out of the way before quarter reporting next month.

I am 3 days shy to my 5th month with the company. Looking in retrospect, i think i have grown and developed over these months. I am thankful for all the encouragement family and friends have given me during the first few difficult months. Family members who have listened to my endless rants, friends who have left comments to cheer me on. Though i cannot celebrate that I have 'graduated' in this position, but I think i give thanks that i made some progress at least. Each step I take brings me one step closer to that finishing point.

I used to think why am i given so much more to do; often things beyond my scope. I realised it is my honour that the management trusts me enough to hand those tasks to me. These are opportunities I can prove that I am capable to do over and beyond what an accountant is required to do. It's just a matter of perspective, isn't it? I can't help lamenting at times, but i am learning to take things into stride. Like Friedrich Nietzsche said, "If it doesn't kill you, it makes you stronger".

pain, movie, birthday wishes

We went to the tcm located at paya lebar road on Saturday. The treatment, which lasted less than 15mins, was excruciatingly painful. First the old lady doctor jabbed needles into my wrist. She made at least 7-8 needle holes with needles. My injured wrist jolted in pain, and that was just the start to it. She then used a suction cup, linked to a motor operated pipe. She placed the cup over the jabbed wrist and started sucking blood out. I could see my flesh popping up with the vacuum and blood oozed out of those needle holes. She did that for almost 10times and even left one to suck for a couple of minutes, while she talked to her assistant. I almost wanted to call out to her and asked if she forgot I was still lying there in pain.

After the sucking, my wrist swelled into one big blue-black lump. =( all that hit my pain threshold on a 7 out of 10. guess what she did next? She used her 2 thumbs and rubbed the swell down! Damn??! That was on the pain threshold of almost 9. I was in so much pain and agony. Pain. Pain. Pain. She then wrapped my wrist in gauze and that was the treatment. She then went on to tell me patients with similar injury usually recover after this. I think they won’t dare to come back even if they haven’t recovered. Haha. But I do hope it works..then the pain will be worth it. it’s Monday now and my bruised wrist is still painful to lateral movement.

Dearie gave mummy, dad and I a lift to my grandma’s place. I haven’t seen her in a long while. It was really good to pay her a visit. It made my heart ached a little, because I saw her getting up to see us off..and there was so much reluctance on her face. She just wanted a little of our time. Our presence made her very happy. She ate all the food we brought her. i hope we can make time to visit her more often. Sometimes with the busy-ness in our daily lives, we forget these important people around us.

We did our 2 loops at MR on Sunday. My legs were aching after 1 loop but I knew these 2 loops were important to the training. It can be so easy to just stop and give up, but it is persistence that requires more strength. I reminded myself that dearie has already started running his 2nd and I would definitely feel sore if he completed his 2 loops while I succumbed to laziness and stopped at 1. That pushed me on. Timing was not impressive but the completion was more important. With 4 more weeks to shm, these 2 loops made me feel more prepared. Now that I know I can finish the distance, it’s down to how fast I can finish. My target is to get 1 of the 30 medals. Shm will only be giving finisher medals to the first 30 lady runners who come in. i am aiming to get one of it.

We watched an interesting movie called “the Japanese wife” on Sunday. Bitter sweet story. somewhat impossible to happen..but life is about impossibles sometimes, isn’t it?

I am enjoying my weekends more these days..that I find them too short at times. A good weekend to me consist of:
- it has to be spent with dearie
- we spend time with my mummy. Have dinner with parents.
- we go for our runs, be it on our own or with safra
- we spend time resting. After the long run, we take a nice nap.
- we catch 1-2 home movies.

Oh yes, today is ma’s birthday. Wishing her a happy and blessed birthday! =D

easiest-hardest

I kept thinking about this phrase dearie said this morning.

“sometimes the easiest things become the hardest to do.”

He was commenting in relation to my attempts to achieve decent half-boiled eggs. So far they have come out either too cooked or too raw.

Getting the egg thawed at room temperature. Getting the right amount of heat with the right amount of time. Ensuring it has time to cool down and set into nice gooey form. Half boiled eggs should be easy to make..but for me, it is turning out to be a challenge instead.

I relate some parallelism with human relationships. They say the people who are closest to us are often more easily taken for granted.

I never missed my mum so much after I moved out to my own place. On the first night we stayed in our new flat, I cried because I missed seeing my mum. I called her to listen to her voice that night. Having stayed with my mum for 26 years I never thought too much about her presence. It was only when I moved away from seeing her, my heart ached. Somehow there is a space mum always filled, oblivious till she disappeared.

They say we tend to say the most hurtful words to those who are closest to us. I think it’s because we take it for granted that those loved ones will not mind what we said and that they will stick around no matter what. We don’t fear losing them, hence we don’t think twice about how our words or actions will impact them. That’s selfish. Because I don’t think you will outrightly criticize your boyfriend/girlfriend/potential date. So why should you do so to your own family/loved ones?

We remember to wish our friends the best and tell them how they will be missed. How about our own family? Have you stopped to tell your mother how much you appreciated all that she has done? Or just to remember how she gave us life? Or just for that simple yet delicious meal she took time to make for us?

Well, sometimes the easiest things become the hardest to do.

lazy bug go away

I hit a new high post-tokyo weekly mileage. 59kms. It could have been close to 70km if not for our MR run which was cut short due to the heavy rain.

Haven’t ran at MR for a long while since the hamstring injury and being back at it again feels refreshing. The air was good. The slopes were challenging as ever. We will be back to complete the 2 loops this Sunday.

Things at work have slowed down somewhat. The required reports are getting more complicated, which requires a lot of input from operational staff. Getting them to respond and do up forecast is daunting. I sent out the request for figures last week and requested the replies to be in by Friday. I’m more than half way through Monday and I have only received one respond. How am I going to get things moving when others are not contributing the required? I’ve been waiting for the manpower figures for 2 weeks and I am still not hearing anything from hr.

I feel frustrated because I am not able to make people move, even when it’s by orders from the director. I am just a small time accountant. So what can I do?

I thought the weekend was pretty rested. We spent a lot of time sleeping and I lazed so much that I didn’t get around doing work I planned to. i do have to get around quite a few things pretty soon.

Got to kick that lazy buggy. Get things going!!!!

I've got to do the tax filing for mummy. Read my books. Do some analysis of counters we're eyeing. (Ok..of all things i need to do..at least our training programme towards SHM is making some progress =D)

running wild

Dearie left early for KL this morning. It felt weird lying in bed without him around. His perfume lingered in the room; I shut the windows so I can keep the scent in. it made me smile.

The long weekend was full of pigging out and it made me feel almost like a..pig. food galore, I just stuffed myself full. I felt a lot heavier trying to run yesterday. Time to burn those fats off.

We’ve sent out the entry forms for seremban in july. That’s something to train towards. Though I am not aiming to do as well as last year, I hope I can prepare myself better for it. hence it will be a lot of macrit for us in the coming 6 weeks.

I received an additional allowance on top of the pay increment. I am thankful for it as having more around means I get to save more. I overspent last month as i spent all my pay increment on an early birthday present for mum. I am aiming to get dearie a good present so I hope my equities will rise in time for me to cash in on it. alternatively, I’m going to save enough this month for it.

Work is getting more challenging, with the director asking for more complex reports. today I am feeling better than yesterday. I am going to work on the reports required today. Start early, work swiftly and then leave on time to get to safra for my run.

That’s something to look forward to. =) time to start work now!