Outback SteakHouse

I bought a 'good' deal from BigDeal.sg, a Singapore company specialised in getting good deals, for a set lunch at Outback Steakhouse at Millenia Walk for S$18.80, instead of S$38.80.  It sounds really like a good deal, as the discount is more than 50%.

We arrived there at around 12 o'clock noon, and there was hardly any customer there.  That explains why they specify that the deal is only valid for lunch.

Included in our deal is a set lunch, which is not in the menu.  If we top up S$5.00, then we can get Tuna, or Black Pepper Steak, or Salmon, and so we decided we would top up to get the black pepper steak.

Ok, now comes the fun part.  I looked at the menu, the Tuna is at S$22.xx, Black Pepper Steak at S$25.xx.  Then where is my 50% savings?  Ok, I guess the soup and salad were not free if you ordered the Black Pepper Steak only.

Somehow on that day, the chef probably has a preference of salty stuff.  The Caesar salad was a bit on the salty side, probably due to the cheese they used, and the black pepper steak (in bite sizes) was also on the salty side.

Overall, it is not really a good deal.

Price wise, we saved on the service charge + GST (which were included in the S$18.80 price), and the cost of the soup and salad.

Taste wise, our Singapore version of the Outback is quite a far standard away from its American peers.  Ok, the American standard also varies from my limited two time experiences with them.

Conclusion:  Probably I will not patron Outback anymore.  

Terracotta Warriors: The First Emperor and His Legacy

This is one exhibition on-going in the Asian Civilization Museum, with a normal admission fee of S$5.00.  Today is Singapore's National Day, so it is free!  Of course, I would take this opportunity to pay a visit to this exhibition.

The first impress:  The queue is really long!  There are sign boards outside the museum telling visitors the estimated wait time.  When I arrive at around 10:40am, the estimated wait time is 60 mins!  Ok, never mind, after my wait training at USA immigration and Malaysia immigration, 60 mins is now nothing.  We queue in line patiently, following the winding line in the waiting area.  There are actually three or four waiting stages, after you clear one, you proceed to the next stage to queue.  This is the longest wait I ever have in a Singapore museum.  Anyway, we are already lucky, as we arrive early.  By the time we leave, the queue is so long that many visitors have to waiting outside of the museum building, under the hot sun.

To be precise, this exhibition is not only about Qin Shihuang's terracotta, but all those funerary terracotta found in Qin & Western Han Dynasties.

I must say the terracotta are really beautiful.  They were made to such detail.  Look at this terracotta of an archer.  His facial expression is so vivid, just like a living person right in front of you.

And guess what, they even have the tracks under the shoes.  It is this kind of fine details we are talking about.

How about this soldier?

These terracotta is marvellous.  No wonder so many people flock to the museum to catch a glimpse of this magnificent piece of art.

In exhibition there are other interesting objects too.  Here is the tiger-shaped military tally.  We only see this in movies or TV dramas, but now it is there, right in front of your eyes.  Such a tiny object in the ancient days was the token to command thousands of troops, representing the command from the heavenly Emperor.

And this is the mold of the coins after Shi Huangdi united the whole China.

Another treasure on display is the bronze chariot from the Shi Huangdi's tomb.

The exhibition also includes archaeological discoveries from some Western Han Dynasty imperial tombs.  Some of the objects are just equally interesting and wonderful.

And Han Dynasty used pottery for the human body only, but cover them with real clothes.  Fabrics of the clothes rotted away over time, but the terracotta body was preserved.  That makes it also a bit amusing to look at.

These two are supposed to be two Han warriors.  The supposed wooden hands and their clothes are gone, only left with their clay bodies.  Notice their genitals?

Here are the horse-warriors.  The wooden horses are obviously long gone.  Their facial expressions are just, I must say, a bit exaggerating.

The most impressive one is the so-called Eunuch terracotta in the right of the picture below.  The male organ has been removed.  It is said to be a Eunuch terracotta by the experts, but I like to ask: How do you know whether he just lost his 'precious' over time?

Do you notice they use different color for male and female terracotta?  Brown for man, white for woman.

The exhibition is quite small, in the special exhibition gallery.  However, if you are interested in Chinese history and their achievements, it is a very worthwhile exhibition for you to pay a visit.  The benefit of a small exhibition is that you will not be overloaded by too much information being crammed into too short a time space.  You can take the time to read each single caption, spend some time standing right in front of the exhibit, walk around it, examining every single details of it, have a meaningful conversation with our ancestors thousands of years ago.  If you are looking for quantity, then it is not for you.  The total number of objects on display is not big.  You might get pretty disappointed.

Stop Loss

When I opened the financial page this morning, the first thing is Dow Jones Industry Average has gone down more than 600 points.  Before I went to bed last night, it was only down around 300 points, at some time, there was even some sign of recovering.

In such times, it shows how important it is to have a plan, know your stop-loss price and execute your trade according to the plan.  The purpose of a stop-loss price is there to protect you.  The stop-loss tells you that your original judgement had been a mistake under the current market condition.  It tells you maybe you are on the wrong side of the table, so better jump out quickly and join the right side.

There should be no hesitation whether to execute your sell order or not once your stop-loss is hit.  Use Nike's slogan, JUST DO IT!  Nobody will know for sure after you sell your shares, whether it will quickly rebound or fall further, but it is to prevent the worst case scenario.

Happy investing.

Season of Red

It has been a couple of days we saw a bloodshed in the stock markets across the world.  The world is so burdened with all the problems, from the US debt deal crisis, to European debt crisis, to the downgrading of US treasury debt.  So many problems, yet no solution in sight.  It seems really bad, but is it?  The US debt deal crisis between the two parties seemed urgent and critical, but did it really matter?  As expected, a deal was made just before the so-called 2 Aug deadline.  Then came the downgrading of US debt by S&P.  So what?  Did we already know that US debt is not sustainable, and the downgrading is long overdue.  There is really no surprise.  Then why the bloodshed in the markets?  Well, the crocodiles are ready to attack, that's all.

If you can't fight them, join them.  Somebody told me about this.  Comparing with the way I handled the financial crisis back in 2008/9, this time round I must say I handle it better.  In the last financial crisis, and the one before, I was afraid, I was scared, and I followed the media, I didn't have a plan, I didn't know what to do, and I was restless, I was impatient.  This time, I am getting more patient and calm, as finally, I have a plan.  I stopped putting any money in the stock market since March.  I deemed the prices are too high, valuations are unattractive, coupled with high inflation, high housing prices, high oil prices, it is a perfect environment for an impending financial crisis.  Together with falling BDI, low VIX, all the conditions are right.

Now the storm has come.  I cut my losing counters short.  Money lost is money lost, just go out to get it back somewhere.  There is no point mourning about money lost, just like no point mourning about spilled milk.  Learnt the lesson, admit mistakes were made, then move on.

This is a season of red, a season of hope and fear.  Have a plan, and follow your plan.  Happy investing.

What is your dream?

I just watched Alibaba.com's founder - Ma Yun's speed on life.  One interesting point for me.  Some people don't like their job, complain about their job, but they don't leave that job.  They still go on life day after day the same way.  That sounds very much like me.  I don't like my current job, I want to do something new, I want to have a change of career, but I have never done anything concrete to move in that direction.  That's precisely the cause of my current terrible situation, and stagnant in career advancement.

Beautiful Sunday

Woke up at 8am, watched the repeat telecast of Japan Hour.  They stopped airing Japan Hour since the March 11 earthquake, but now they have resumed the program, but mostly old episodes.  I enjoyed watching it even though I had watched it before, just to pick up one or two new phrases, or how the real Japanese talk.  Language learning should be a joy, not a chore.

Then went for a morning swimming in a SSC pool.  Singapore is a great place for her citizens.  There are many public facilities that you can use at a nominal fee.  Swimming pool is one of them.  S$1.30 entrance fee, I don't think that's enough for the upkeep of the swimming pool.

In the afternoon, I was at the Esplanade for its once-a-month free concert at the concert hall.  It is my very first time stepping into the Esplanade concert hall ever since it was built.  It is beautiful.  I like it.  The free concert was by some school bands, you can't expect world class type of performances, but they are good by their standard.

Life is all about personal experiences.  You can be a millionaire, but if you don't spend your money to experience life, to fulfill your own wishes, money to you is just a pile of junk.  Life is not about living in the misery of the past, or the fearful of the future, it is all about living at this very moment.  Are you happy at this very moment?  If not, what has to happen to make you feel happy?  Is it something that is out of your control?   If yes, why bother?

Life is beautiful, if you make it beautiful.  The beauty of life has nothing to do with money, neither does happiness.

Comparing Prices

People will compare prices when they go shopping, but usually I don't :)  To me, the prices are almost the same and it is not worth the time to shop around, until one day I met DZ.   He taught me the art of negotiation and how much price difference you can extract from different merchants.  It is never a good idea to buy on spur.

Yesterday, as I walked past a major watch chain store, I was attracted by their Citizen Eco-Drive watches.  I had always wanted to get one for myself, but still not yet.  They were offering 10% discount store wide and another 10% discount if you pay with a certain bank's credit/debit card.

The watch I was looking at was Citizen CA0030-52E, Gents Chronograph Titanium sports watch.  It is fancy, it is light, and with precious metal Titanium as the bracelet and case.  The price before discount is S$728, after discount is S$589.  It sounds like not a bad deal, you shave off 100 over bucks.  However, I decided to do some research first before I made the purchase.  I thanked the sale lady, and left, with her face black black, didn't even say good bye to me.

As I searched in the internet, the same watch is going for ~S$369!  There is a price difference of S$220!  My gosh, I almost generously donated to somebody else's wealth with my wealth.

This really teaches me a lesson:  Must compare prices when shopping, no matter how unfriendly the sales person's face turns.

Transformer - Dark of the Moon

This is the very first time I watch a Transformer movie in cinema, and in 3D!  When I watched the last Transformer movie at my colleague's place, the scenes are confusing, objects flying around and making me feel dizzy.  I was a bit hesitant whether I should watch the 3D version, which might even worse!

Well, I was happy when the movie started.  The 3D scenes are there make the scene more vivid and realistic, but not to make you feel dizzy.  You get more sense of 'involvement'.

The story is plain and predictable, and as usual, a lot of scenes are totally unbelieveable.  For example, when one key character is about to die, there is always someone there to save him/her.  Ok, that's movie.  You can't compare that with real life stories :)

The female lead, Roise Huntington-Whiteley, is beautiful and a feast to the eyes.  I have read reviews criticizing her for lousy acting and does not fit with Sam well.  They are just jealous.  PERIOD.

If you are looking for some entertainment, to escape for a while from reality, it is a pretty good movie to watch.  If you are looking for complicated plots, thought-provoking philosophy, then please choose another one.