Won The Lotto

I said maybe I should buy lotto since it seems to be the only way we can potentially have the money needed to get our own place. That's exactly what we did. After all the bank hopping yesterday, I told hubs on a whim to try our luck. I picked the cheapest on the chart which is $8.50 for slikpik 12 for the Saturday lotto.

I'm sure everyone knows the rules. The money must be down to the last cent when splitting a ticket. So I gave him $5 for my share & watched as he scrambled to pay me back 75 cents.

Hubs just checked the results online & confirmed that we won the lotto. Now, before anyone gets excited, we won $21.95. We got back the price of the ticket plus extra. So thank you for the little joys in life.

Practicality Has My Vote

1st of all, some good news (to me) that I successfully lost 1 kg. It's slow going but I truly feel slow & steady will get me there this time. Every other time, I've been impatient, wanting rapid results but failing becoz I restricted myself so much that I just couldn't carry on. So hopefully, this will be the 1st of many kilos to go.

Naturally, our subject of conversation today revolves around houses. Hubs is worried that I'll be swayed by friends' negative opinions. He said that most Singaporeans have this problem that they want a big house & it's not becoz they need it but becoz they want to feel superior (feed the ego). He's very sure that people will tell us that this house we so love is too small & start pointing out reasons why we shouldn't get it. Here's my view on it.

I can't say this frequently enough. I'm a practical person. If I don't need it, then I don't want it. Since we're not having kids, 2x1 is plenty big for us. Even if by accident we do have 1 (which is not likely), we've got another bedroom. This house have no lawn & it's great since I don't need to spend time, effort & money caring for it. It has sufficient garden beds for me to grow whatever herbs I want. Flowers? No thank you. I can't do anything with it. At least with herbs, I can use them in my cooking. House work will be a breeze in a house of this size. If I'm working 5 days a week already, the last thing I want is to spend time "working" at home on the weekends. I very much rather enjoy myself on a day out or just chilling at home. Even if we miss out this time, I'll still be looking for something exactly the same in the future when our finances permit.

Yes, I know a big lot & a 4x2 will fetch a good price when you sell it in the future. But we're not looking to sell. We're looking for something we'll stay in permanently. I don't care that I won't make much profit out of it becoz I want it to be forever home. I use the word home becoz if you're always thinking of it in monetary terms, it'll forever be just a house.

A small place with a smaller price tag means smaller monthly repayments. Why must we stretch ourselves to the limit just so we can stoke our ego? At the end of it, I'm much more likely to have saved up a huge sum of money & can retire comfortably instead of just depending on my super. We're not young. A 30 year loan means I'll be in my 60s & hubs nearing 70s. Do we really want to still be working beyond that age becoz we've got no money?

Perhaps it's becoz we grew up with little. So financial freedom means so much to us. We're not asking for the sky. We're contented with just a small place. What is perfect for you may not be perfect for us. The reverse holds true too. So nobody can change my mind on what I envision to be a "perfect" home. I firmly believe that if I set my mind to it with a strong ichinen, my prayers will be answered without a doubt.

Failed Otah

I received a bag of chilli from P&J's garden. As you know, I don't eat chilli in their original form. So the only way is to make chilli paste from them. I spent quite a while last evening working on it, staining my fingers orange from the tumeric. I made 2 batches, 1 from the fresh chilli & 1 from dried chilli. 

This is the fresh chilli version. It turned out yellow so I added smoked paprika powder to enhance the colour.

This is made with dried chilli & the colour is more reddish. But I think I added too much dried chilli & it was too spicy.

The otah on the left is made with the dried chilli paste & the 1 on the right is made with fresh chilli paste. But alas, the dried chilli paste was too spicy. While I love my spicy fix, some food are best spicy in moderation. The chilli had overpowered the taste of all other ingredients. It gave me gastric pain as well. 

I remember the only time I ordered a level 10 Bepu raman in Tiong Bahru Plaza. While I managed to finish it, I suffered severe gastric pain for several hours after that. Not a pleasant feeling at all. I walked bent over the entire time, hugging my tummy, unable to straighten my back. I won't have a chance to do it again coz they closed down & was replaced by MOF. Not that I'll want to experience that kind of discomfort again. I had a level 10 buffalo wing at Sunset Grill (if I didn't remember the name wrongly) in an ulu airbase. Just 1 bite (I haven't even started chewing) & I felt the heat spread up my face & down my neck. I couldn't talk for a few minutes & it was a miracle I finished the whole wing. Needless to say, that was the only piece I tried. Subsequent pieces I ate were level 6s. The buffalo wings didn't give me gastric pain. I can never work out why some spicy stuff gives me gastric pain & some doesn't.

Anyway, I declared both otahs as failed. The texture & taste is wrong. Edible but not good enough to give away. I was going to give some to P&J but sorry, I guess next time. The shallots here are much bigger than the ones we get in Sg & they cost $10 per kg. Tumeric costs $25 per kg but I only need a little. The only thing I couldn't get was blue ginger & banana leaves. I tried looking up otah recipes online but they basically use the same ingredients as I do. Hubs suggested adding 1 more egg. I'll just keep experimenting until I get it right. Or if anyone has a recipe that you've tried & deemed pass, please share with me.

Home Loans - The Very Basics

I found the perfect home for us. It's a very new (1.5 year old) 2x1 with double garage. No lawn, the back of the house is paved. The owner is selling as they're migrating & asking for $339k to $349k. I've done the calculations before & any loan above $350k is beyond our means. Becoz it's a small place, the water rates & council rates are lower than the other houses in the same suburb. To build a house of the same size in the same suburb now is $379k. Established houses of the same size in the same suburb (further up north in fact) are asking more than $349k. It's only becoz they're in a hurry to sell that they reduced the price. So you can see why I think this is a good deal.

I've gone to the banks & none of them are willing to drop the required deposit to 5% for us. So it doesn't matter how much we're eligible to loan. If we don't have 10%, everything else is moot. If I have another 6 months, I would have made the 10%. But the house isn't going to wait 6 months. I even called Keystart as they require only a 3% deposit & you don't even have to pay for mortgage insurance. Unfortunately, becoz I have a property in Sg, I'm not eligible. I have 1 more bank to go to as my appointment is at 3.30 pm. But I'm not hopeful coz I'm sure all banks work pretty much the same way. Nevertheless, we'll still go for the home open tomorrow even though I'm sure it'll tug at our heartstrings to view something we know we don't have a chance with. Unless of course, we somehow win the lottery & I don't even buy. Maybe I should, huh?

So here's what I've learnt. 

1. When working out the loan amount, the banks will consider casual employment. But you must have worked in that position for a minimum of 2 years. 

2. For permanent employment, be it full time or part time, you need to have worked in the same company for 6 months to be eligible for a loan.

3. Anything below the minimum of 20% deposit will incur a mortgage insurance, which in my opinion isn't a bad thing as your mortgage will be paid for should you lose your income due to loss of job or death or disability. Based on $350k loan, minus $35k deposit, my mortgage insurance with ANZ comes to $6627. My fortnightly repayments will be $877 which is basically the same amount I'm paying for rent now ($860).

4. Even if you don't qualify, you can still try your luck & put in an application subjected to approval. But if you get rejected, it affects your credit rating & decreases subsequent chances of getting a loan approved. Bottom line I get from the bankers: don't try unless you meet all their criteria.

5. If you have a credit card or loan & make regular repayments, the bank will consider loaning you 95% of the purchase price. According to D&J, it will have a big effect on your loan amount as well. D & his colleague in the same job, with the same pay went to the same bank for assessment. D was allowed to loan $100k more becoz he had taken up loans before & didn't miss the payments.

Weekly Check In

I gradually began to notice the delay in breaking of dawn over the course of 1 week. For the past few days, I would wake up at 5 am & have to switch on the lights in the bathroom. At it's peak early last month, it was already quite bright by 4.30 am. Realisation of the fact that we're at the end of January & summer is 2/3 over hit me then. Though not a full year yet, we've experienced all seasons in Perth already. How time flies. I'm ever craning my neck for the return of cool autumn.

It's been a happening week. I was on my way home on Wednesday, just about 100m away from my turn when I notice an ambulance in my rear mirror. They didn't switch on the siren but their lights were flashing. So I pulled as far left as I could (single lane) & slowed down for them to go ahead. They overtook me from the oncoming lane & turned in. I made the turn after them & saw that they went straight while I had to turn left. My immediate thoughts were that maybe someone's suffering from a heart attack. I read later on FB that it was a hit & run. Apparently,  the driver hit a motorcyclist so hard that his bull bar fell off. The motorcyclist didn't make it. In a residential area, to have hit someone so hard your bull bar came off, you've got to be driving way too fast isn't it?

On that same night, hubs told me that he was in the carport between our 2 cars, about to wheel the bin out (today's bin day) when he notice a man walk up the drive way. He initially wanted to stay in the shadows & see what the guy was up to. But the spotlight with motion sensor was triggered & his cover was blown. So he attempted to approach the man. Immediately, he turned & quickly walked away. It was a man with a bald spot on his head, wearing a light coloured short sleeved shirt & berms. I suspected that he might have wanted to try his luck robbing our cars coz we don't keep the lights on outside & the carport is completely in the dark. Anyway, I don't have any valuable items in the car so he would have been wasting his efforts had he tried. 

Hub's been giving a lot of thought about buying our own place. I feel that it's not impossible, just that we'll be quite stretched. Based on the mortgage calculator, a $400k loan will require a repayment of $2.1k per month. Add the $1k I have to send back to Sg every month, add the bills, water rates (about $200+ bi-monthly), home insurance & putting aside some for property tax, we're looking at a potential of $3k per month. Some months I don't even bring home $4k. So I told him to speak to his boss about the possibility of granting him a permenent position. This way, not only will it help us secure a higher loan amount, there's the security of guaranteed income. Let's see how it goes.

Baked Aubergine With Lemon Infused Couscous

Blog has taken on a depressive tone & what better way to add some cheer than everybody's favourite? Food. I've recently ordered from Book Depository a vegan cookbook, Keep It Vegan by Aine Carlin. I've got lots of cookbook in Sg & hubs always complain that I buy them but never cook from them. Over the years, I've learnt how to choose cookbooks that I know I'll cook from. Most importantly, an ingredients list that isn't super long & many of which you'll only need a little & never use again. Since I ordered this book online, I didn't know what it is like inside, whether it fulfills my requirement. Thankfully, when I flipped through it when it finally came in the mail, I noted the repeated ingredients in multiple recipes, which means I can safely buy them & not having to worry about wastage. She uses a lot of smoked paprika powder, agave nectar, maple syrup, Dijon mustard & balsamic vinegar (which I already have).

I chose baked aubergine with lemon infused couscous as I had 2 boxes of couscous which I bought when they were on half price at Coles 2 or 3 months back & it's about time for clearance. While the aubergine will probably be cheaper in the asian supermarket than Coles, it seemed unwise to drive 18 km to Altone Park when Coles is just 1 km away. The nearest to parsley would have been coriander which unfortunately due to my un-green thumb, didn't survive. So I substituted the parsley for basil & oregano from my pots. The most expensive ingredient has got to be the pine nuts ($12+ for 200g), followed by the aubergine which was going for $3 per piece. The recipe called for 1 aubergine to be split in half but I thought, "Sure won't be full lah!" so I bought 2 instead. Boy, was I wrong. After eating half an aubergine, I was so stuffed that the remaining 2 halves went into the fridge to be served at dinner.

So here's what I've whipped up for lunch today. Oh yeah, not forgetting that this is it for dinner too. I'm looking forward to trying out other recipes from my new cookbook.

上火

I feel this picture most accurately depicts ying & yang. Ying is associated with the moon, cold & traditionally women while yang is the sun, heat & men. There's a bit of ying in the yang & a bit of yang in the ying. Together, they represent the balance of the body. Well, I was educated with the knowledge of western medicine but brought up with the knowledge of chinese medicine. There're some things I don't believe. For example, the heaty cough & the cold cough, supposedly represented by yellow phlegm & green phlegm respectively. I still believe what I was taught, that URTI is brought about by a virus & can be infected secondarily by bacteria. But what I do believe is that when your body is out of balance, it makes you susceptible to falling sick.

From young, I know I have a yang body constituency. I can take lots of "cooling" stuff without ever falling sick. I tolerate cold much better than anybody else I know. Supposedly, people with ying constituency frequently suffers from cold hands & feet & do poorly in cold weather. But people with yang body constituency are more susceptible to getting hypertension.

Since last evening, I began to develop a pounding headache. My mouth & eyes were constantly dry & I guzzled at least 2L of water today (I can hardly finish a 500 ml bottle of water on a normal day). I hated taking medicine & prefer the natural way so I didn't take anything for my headache. I slept quite a fair bit throughout the day too. These are just symptoms but I know I 上火了 mostly due to the way I feel. I can feel that I'm on the mend. But ask anyone with a weak body constituency like my mom & they'll tell you falling sick is unavoidably imminent.

Regardless, I spent 1.5 hours outside raking the ground so I can sow grass seeds. It had been a hot day & by the time I went out at 6.30 pm, the entire lawn was crispy. Note the crunchy sound as I stepped on it. So contrary to what my landlords says, watering only on reticulation days, even if it is for 30 mins is not enough. Raking the soil took quite a lot of effort & in some areas, the soil comes off in an entire piece, evident of beetle infestation. So I had to resort to stabbing these areas to loosen the soil instead.

By the time I was done racking the front & back, sowing the seeds & watering the lawn, it was already 8 pm. I swear if I'm paid by my hourly rates, I'll be super rich since I only have time to work on the lawn on weekends & holidays & penalty rates apply. The pulpy flesh directly opposite my knuckles on my right hand was swollen & red from the work. Haha. 没有做过苦工的人就是这样的啦。Hopefully my effort will pay off & the grass will grow. 

I'm just making an entry of what I'm doing for the lawn, just in case, like my friend who had to go to court, I'll have evidence proving that the state of the lawn is not due to my neglect & that I'll be given a fair trial. Not that I hope it'll come to that. Just preparing for the worst.

Bouncing Back

Having talked to a few friends, I'm feeling much better already. I know what's to come. I know hubs will not be amicable to me for a few days to come. But that's alright. I've painted a rosy picture of us but like every relationship, only the 2 involved will know exactly what's going on. What's liberating is that I know in my heart that I'm not with him becoz I NEED to but becoz I want to. Not that I'm looking to end the marriage but I know regardless what happens, I'll survive. I need to live up to my aspirations of being a rolly polly.

Ton woke me up early morning at 6 am, wanting to go pee. My eyes were still sore from all that crying last night. I still felt wronged. I found that I couldn't go back to sleep after letting Ton out. So I decided to go to Bunnings since they open at 7 am.

I was 1 of the 1st few customers. I was quick coz I already know what to get. The NPK granulated fertiliser recommended by the pest control guy & Urea recommended by D&J to green up the lawn. 1 of the sprinklers outside was broken & I managed to get the coupler required to fix it. Thank goodness I had the mind to bring the loose piece of sprinkler with me.

When I got home, I wore my sunscreen, bun up my hair & got to work. The granules have to be watered in well so I spent quite some time doing just that. While I was doing that, something happened. If there were doubts about having kids, my doubts were cleared. I will not have kids with hubs. I'm absolutely certain of it.

Ton being Ton, I think he scratched the bedroom door wanting to be let in. I had left him in the living room as he had a tendency to scratch his head, or cuddle up to you. Knowing hubs, in the mood he's in, Ton will really get it from him if he was woken up. Suddenly, the door flew opened & hubs started shouting at Ton. (I was outside sprinkling granules at this point.) So I know if we were to have kids, the kids will only suffer. Kids like dogs won't know how to see 脸色. They won't know they should avoid somebody when that person is in a bad mood. To get yelled at or punished for an innocent request for attention is not fair.

Up to that point, I was still feeling really down. I came into the house at 8.40 am & I felt in my heart the self-pitying starting to dissipate. My conscience is clear regardless of what my landlord accuses me of or whether they believe me or not. I really did everything I could but it was the work of nature that killed the lawn.

We're the master of our life. We're not animals surviving solely on instincts. I can choose to be free.

Grumblings Rumblings

A post for me to vent. And rant. And did I say rant?

It's just as well that the pest control came on Monday to spray the lawn for beetles. Late Wednesday night, landlord informed me that they'll be coming today. Need I say more? You know what's coming right?

Let me 1st present to you a picture taken in late September or early October. This was 5 months after we moved in. The lawn became like that becoz of insufficient water. The reticulation had to be turned off as it was winter & we were instructed to water once a week. It was during 2nd week of spring that they told us we could turn the reticulation back on. The landlord claimed it was becoz we didn't pull out the weeds that caused the lawn to turn brown (die).











This 2nd picture was taken in late November or early December after I painstakingly watered the lawn manually everyday with fortnightly fertilisation for 2 months. (Dried sprigs are the uprooted winter grass.) Surely it was a vast improvement, no? By then, we knew some things about lawn care. Like reticulation alone is not enough. Like reticulation can miss big areas which you have to water manually. Like fertiliser is super important. Photos speak for themselves. You be the judge.











I don't need to take a picture of the current state of the lawn. Coz it's worse than the 1st picture. How long did it take for the beetles to kill off half the back lawn & 80% of the front lawn? Not very long at all. By the time I called the pest control company who did my wasps nest after the Christmas & Boxing Day holidays, it was already in this state.

I listed the things I did for the lawn. Namely the daily watering & fertiliser. Also, I told them I set the reticulation for the back lawn to come on every day. When the lawn is in a bad shape, it needs frequent watering you see. So I'll only have to water the dry areas manually that the reticulation missed. I also told them about the beetle problem & that it has been taken care of. I warned her that there're lots of dead beetles on the lawn. I sent her (I communicate with the wife only) both pictures showing the difference 2 months of care made. I told her it'll probably take me 2 months to green up the lawn again.

Knowing that they're coming, I went to trim the grass around the sprinklers after work yesterday. This tip I got from J who told me that when she was renting, the grass grew over the sprinklers & the landlord couldn't locate them & they had to forfeit part of their bond. The lawn had been mowed during the Christmas period in preparation for the pest control to come over.

The only comment she made was that I forgot to put her letters in the mailbox for her. I thought they accepted my explanation for the state of the lawn. I should have known. In the evening, the messages came. It was like everything I did was not appreciated. Not that I'm looking for appreciation. Just understanding that I'm doing the best I can. But not even that.

They'll be coming back in 2 weeks to check on the lawn. They wanted us to mow the lawn every 3 days so that instead of growing long, the grass will spread. Then they wanted us to trim the grass around the sprinklers (remember I already did yesterday which obviously wasn't good enough for them). Then said the plants in the garden bed outside the kitchen are not doing well coz "somebody" switched them off (which we've not even touched since we moved in). She wants the lawn to be watered by the reticulation only on watering days of Tuesdays & Saturdays. I can only turn on the reticulation on for the back an extra day on Thursday. If the lawn still isn't doing well, we are to increase the watering duration to 30 mins. Do you seriously think watering 30 mins on Tues & Thurs will keep the lawn alive? What happens when the temperature is consistently high on all other days? Again, it's their way or the highway just like it had been previously.

I'm trying my best to keep cool. But how can works of nature be our fault? It's not as though I neglected it & let it die. I get so stressed everytime they come (& they always give super short notice) that I can't sleep at night. Everytime after the comments they make to us, it strains us & our relationship. Every single time, we ended up in a shouting match where I'm the 1 getting shouted at.

I'm so tired. I don't want to think about it but that won't solve the problem. I really don't know what else to do. I did everything I could but the lawn refuses to survive. Many people suggested that I not do anything since they're being overly unreasonable. I just want to do whatever I can & if by the time we move it's still not green, then I can truly say I did my best. If I leave it alone now, I can't say that isn't it? Coz the lawn did green up with my efforts the 1st time round.

We thought of breaking lease but that will only benefit them at the expanse of our hard earned money & savings. Then came the news of a friend going to court becoz of their lawn problem with their previous rental. It's such a bad experience. I'm gonna say I'm definitely steering clear of lawns & gardens if I possibly can.

Being Human

Growing up, I was a sensitive child. As much as it is a blessing, it is a curse at the same time. It means I read other people's emotion quite easily but also, I overthink it & become greatly affected. I was the subject of bullying from upper primary all the way through secondary school. As an adult, I know it to be very common place. In fact, I believe it is much worse now than before. Teenagers are committing suicide over online bullying which never happened during my days (coz there wasn't such a thing as internet).

Whether it's bullying or nasty comments, it all stems from the need to feel superior to the other person. People make scathing remarks to validate their need to be better. It's said that people who does this are insecure & has low self esteem.

Negativity has adverse effects on lives & relationships. It's subtle & often times you don't even notice it. For the person on the receiving end, there's no need to burrow yourself in the negativity. I used to get really upset over something that's been said to me or about me. But in the end, I'm the 1 suffering, constantly dwelling on it. It warps the way you view the world. In FB recently, a woman insisted that people are condemning her (it is true in her mind) but I couldn't see where the condemning is. There's no way to get through to them coz they're so deep in that they can't see it any other way.

I keep telling myself not to give value to negative exchanges or events. For what doesn't have value, doesn't matter. Of course, I'm far from competent in it. It'll take a life time I think. You know what's harder? It's not only to learn not to be offended but to send a heartfelt prayer to that person in response?

I remember 1 of my earlier posts where we were feeling down about being unemployed & I was shouted at by an ang moh with vulgarities. It affected me, yes. But I was already "practising" not giving it value. It doesn't cost you to have kind words for others. But to someone who's going through a rough time, it could be the difference between life & death. Let us all give words of encouragement & hope instead.

Curse Of The Lawn Beetle

So there. The culprit of my dead lawn. They successfully killed half the lawn in half the time I took to green it up. It started with patches of dead grass which slowly expended till they merged into 1 big dead patch. It's hard to come to a diagnosis as I've not seen them prior to this. I've read that you can pour soapy water (lots of it) on the lawn & they'll emerge from underground. It'll not kill them but merely confirms their existence. In another article, it says that lawn beetles & grubs help to aerate the soil & stimulate root growth. Regardless, they destroyed half of my back lawn &  80% of my front lawn. So they need to be gone before the grass can have a chance to grow back. 

I used the same local business that got rid of my wasp's nest. He came on Monday & explained that he sprayed a wetting agent, insecticide & liquid fertiliser on the lawn. By yesterday evening, I saw some dead beetles on the lawn. By this afternoon, there were lots more. While I could have done it by myself, it would have been time consuming for me & worse still, may not be a perfect job. So I feel that this $110 is well spent. Hopefully with this underlying problem gotten rid of, I'll be able to restore the lawn to an acceptable condition.

Buying A Car From A Private Seller

"Gumtree is your friend.", everyone says. Who doesn't want a shiny new car or 1 that's relatively new? In Singapore, with the additional cost of COE, a car can easily cost above 100k. So to fork out 10-20k for something pretty new or brand new is considered a steal for Singaporeans migrating to Australia. But for piss poor people like us, that amount is equivalent to asking for the sky. Heck, anything more than 3k is an astronomical sum. You won't be able to get anything decent from the dealers at this price. The only option left is to go to private sellers. 

The 1st decision you have to make is the exact car you're after. It definitely narrows down the search & make it more conducive. When we 1st got here, hubs couldn't decide what he wants & we would get hundreds and hundreds of hits on gumtree. There's no way you can go through every single ad. Even when he finally decided on a Mit Lancer (somehow all guys I know like this car), we're still getting lots of hits. 

2nd thing is to determine your budget. Under Nix's influence (we haven't met up with him then but through reading his blog, we knew getting a car around 2k is possible), we made the cut off point at 3k. There won't be that many cars in an acceptable condition at that price. So now is the time to go through all the ads, read the specs & decide if you can accept the mileage, exterior, interior condition etc. If you can, it's time to contact the seller. You can check if the rego has lapsed here.

It'll be wise to consolidate a list of all "acceptable" cars & contact all the sellers at the same time. You'll encounter people who refuses to reply (coz they've sold the car but didn't take the ad down & don't have the decency to tell you so) or who are not available for you to view the car until a later date. It's not uncommon to only be able to view & test drive only 1 car out of a list of 10 on the day itself. There're only 2 days to the weekend & most people have to work during weekdays. You don't want to view the car in the night. So squeeze in as many viewings as you can to increase your chances of finding 1 that you can actually buy.

If you have someone who knows cars, bring him/her along. We're very fortunate to have D checking the cars with us every single time. This is what D always check though I don't know the rational. Always test the car with a cold engine, preferably not having been driven at all that day. If there're problems, it usually shows up with a cold engine. Pop the bonnet & start the engine. It should not have a "click click click" sound when the engine is running. Open up the radiator cap (this is why the engine has to be cold coz you can't open it with a hot engine) & you'll see the coolant. Trigger the catch to rev the engine. Some overflow of the coolant is acceptable but it should not shoot up into the air. Repeat several times. Check around the engine for oil leaks. There're other basic stuff like check the engine oil & ATF. Get down on your hands & knees & look under the car to make sure that there's no oil leak. Go to the back & have a look at the exhaust pipe. It should not be emitting water or smoke. Make sure the tire threads are not worn off. 

Time for a test drive. I've never gone with them for a test drive before so I don't know what to look out for. But I do know on a manual, clutch pads need replacing if the car jerks when changing gears (exclude insufficient revs) & CV joint needs replacing if there's a "cluck cluck cluck" sound with full turn of the steering wheels (early wear) or when moving off from a stop position (advance wear). You also get to check the brakes & whether the car is giving out excessive smoke while driving.

If you're satisfied with the condition of the car, make an offer, citing various required repairs to push the price down. If the deal falls through, both seller & buyer have to fill up the transfer forms. You can mail the buyer form to the licensing centre & wait for the letter asking you to make payment of the transfer fees. We usually just head down to the centre & get it done on the spot. That's all there is to buying a car from a private seller.

热死我了!

It hit 43°c yesterday by 1 pm & remained so for the next few hours. It was made slightly bearable by the evaporative plus the fan that I had blowing at me the entire day. The temperature remained at 35°c even at 8 pm. But I had the evaporative running for more than 12 hours already so we switched it off at 9+ pm.

Seeing hubs sweat while trying to sleep, I turned the fan towards him entirely. (It was blowing half at him & half at me.) He had to work while I don't resume till Thursday. Even if I couldn't sleep, I can still take a nap in the day. Then I flipped myself in the opposite direction so my neck will get some wind while hoping hubs won't kick me in the face as he slept. It was my 1st sleepless night from the heat. Beside me, Ton Ton lay panting away.

3.30 am. It was 23°c outside but I still felt hot & sticky. Hubs had covered himself with the comforter. Who's the freak here? Probably me. Back in Poly days, by the time I was feeling cold, my mates were already freezing to death. The opposite holds true too even till now. When people around me are feeling just nice, I'm already sweating buckets.

2 more months to go before the arrival of autumn. But I suspect the temperature won't start to dip till late March. What marks the true arrival of summer is the summer solstice when the sun is at its highest. That was 21st December. Similarly, true autumn arrives on autumn equinox when the 2 halves of earth have 12 hours of daylight & 12 hours of night time which is on the 20th March.

I just have to keep telling myself to tolerate for 3 months each year. Since I'm wide awake & hubs had left for work, I guess I shall just cook myself some oat porridge for breakfast then.

Not For The Faint Hearted

Let me introduce you to the spiciest instant noodles I have ever eaten, just as my colleague from my previous workplace introduced it to me in between sucking air through her swollen red lips. This is an absolute no go for the unseasoned palate. Even for 1 as seasoned as mine, it packs enough power to reduce me to 一把眼泪一把鼻涕。

I started my chilli journey in Primary 5. It was a trend in my school tuckshop (gosh, how long have I not heard this word being used?) that those who ordered noodles soup will add the chilli sauce (meant for dry noodled) into the soup. I was curious, very much like the guys being curious about cigarettes but rapidly became addicted to it. I started off with 1 scoop of the chilli sauce & worked my way up to 4. But for my love of all things spicy, I dislike normal raw chilli. You'll never see me eating cut chilli with hor fun.

Just a little background as an illustration of the level of spiciness I can tolerate. When everyone around me says something is very spicy, I'm like, "Erm... just a little." Whenever we go for steamboat, I'll drink the mala (麻辣) soup directly from the pot. 

This instant noodles is a product of Korea. I could only find it in the Korean specialty shops initially. But I think it gained such popularity that NTUC started selling it as well. This is 1 instant noodle that hubs refuses to touch. I found this for sale at the asian supermarket in Altone. $5.99 for a pack of 5. If I didn't remember wrongly,  it's the same price in Sg.

The chilli sauce is so red that it appears black when you 1st empty the sachet into a bowl. It only becomes apparent that it is indeed red when you're stirring the noodles in. Just a whiff of the sauce sends my salivary glands into overdrive. 1st mouthful wasn't too bad. But with each subsequent mouthfuls of noodles, it added to the layer of heat storm in the mouth, until you're reduced to tears & mucous. Some people asked, "Why torture yourself?" But speak to any chilli lover & they'll tell you it's not torture. The spicier it is, the more shiok it is.

It took only 5 mins of sucking air through the mouth for the heat to dissipate. But it could possibly be the longest 5 mins of your life. Whatever you do, don't drink cold stuff to quench the fire. Within seconds, you'll experience a worse afterburn. Just suck it (air) up & it'll soon be over. Enjoy!