stable/boring

Recently, the idea of inspiring children to do better in their studies came back to me as I gave Math tuition to my students. The content just didn't seem as important as the attitude towards the subject... Coming to think of it, I would prefer to be able to inspire my kids with the proper attitude towards studying, so that they will want to do better, on their own.

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I just signed up for 2 credit cards yesterday from citibank. And these weren't the cards that I wanted to sign up with :s My friend had done some research and found out that Citibank Dividend card is the best, compared to the other citibank cards. As I was within the area of a citibank branch, I went in, with the idea of signing up for that card. In the end, I applied for the SMRT and rewards cards, after some persuasion from the promoter. I also went to sign up for the dividend card just now, with the idea in mind that, I can terminate the other cards after some more research.


... After I did some research on my own yesterday and just now, I decide to keep the smrt and rewards card too. I know that I will be confused by the number of cards, but i think each card really has its benefits.

Anyway, I also decide to sign up for the posb everyday card. :s

POSB everyday card:
Rebates (from where I may shop/spend): Cash rebates can be redeemed from Watsons (3%), SP Services (1%), Starhub bills or purchases made at Starhub (1%), ez-reload (2%), Carrefour (5% but capped at $400 per month).
Citibank Dividend Card:

A cash cheque should/will be sent to you every quarter. There's 2% cash back for dining, excluding food and dining spent within hotels, and wedding banquets held in hotels. 2% for groceries, pharmaceuticals and 0.5% for everything else. Actually there's 5% for petrol but I do not drive :/

Citibank SMRT card:
For this card, the rebates come in the form of SMRT$. It's 5% for groceries if the monthly statement exceeds $600, if not, it's 4.7%. This is the same for coffee.. not at kopitiams :o okay, nothing else on the list for me. Maybe i will keep this card because the rebates can be used to claim for $10 vouchers (10 SMRT$ for 1 $10 voucher). The vouchers that I will most likely get, are the cold storage vouchers, POPULAR bookshop vouchers, sheng siong vouchers, or citibank SMRT vouchers which can be used to top up the card's ez-link card function, or watson's vouchers :o


Citibank Rewards Card:
The only reason why I'm keeping this card, is for shopping purposes.

"Under this Promotion, Cardmembers are entitled to earn X10 Citi Dollars (every S$ 1 charged = 10 Citi Dollars) when they make transactions with their Citi Rewards Visa Signature / WORLD MasterCard card at any department store worldwide or any retail store worldwide that sells clothes, shoes and bag as its main business activity."

Let's say that you spend $100 on shopping, you will get 1000 Citi Dollars. 5000 or 6000 Citi dollars can actually be exchanged for $20 voucher at isetan, robinsons, OG or paragon... It is like a 4% rebate. But, hmmm... After writing this out, I think there isn't a point for me to keep this card, because I don't shop much at these places!!


I am going to keep/get these three credit cards, POSB everyday card, Citibank Dividend Card and the Citibank SMRT card (-spend at least $600 for citibank SMRT to reap maximum rebates).

Summary of the cards to use for different places..
- Carrefour [POSB everyday card]
- Watsons [POSB everyday card]
- SP services (need to enrol for recurring payment) [POSB everyday card]
- ez-reload [POSB everyday card]
- starhub bills [POSB everyday card]

- Giant, Cold Storage, Market Place, Sheng Siong, Selected NTUC outlets, Singapore MEIDI-YA Supermarket [Citibank SMRT card]
- Starbucks Coffee, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Coffee Club, Dome Café, the connoisseur concerto (tcc), Gloria Jean's Coffees [Citibank SMRT card]

- dining [Citibank Dividend Card]
- everything else [Citibank Dividend Card]

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okay, enough of this credit card nonsense :s here are some photo updates of the places and food that i went/ate..

Thought I looked good in the photo below.. :p


At the ayam penyet shop at the basement of Jurong point..






At Trattoria at 313..



At Izakaya Nijumaru at Cuppage Plaza..




I don't really know how to take photos of this curry cause it just seems the same from all angles :s

On hindsight, I think I need to learn new/better skills of food photography..

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Will my life get more exciting when I enter NIE in July? ... :8

i'm loving it~

Just finished with the praying parts for my dad's death anniversary.. Really appreciate my brother for always helping out with home stuff, especially for the praying aspect. None of us in the family are as knowledgeable in this area, and none of us would prefer to spend so much time doing these things :s

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I've always felt comfortable with my pace, the speed at which i learn new things, and the different type of things i expose myself to. But when i met my sec sch best friend yesterday, I remembered/realized again that there are a lot of things that my peers or people around my age care about, that I don't. Making money, success in careers, worldly-wise, intellectual chats... My friend was very nice because he didn't mean to say what's the right way to think or behave, just that I'm or we're different from people that he would like to hang out with. He wants to step out of this laid-back attitude, and we both agree that he should hang out more with people who think that way...

Looking around me... I feel that the people that I know, or at least what I know of them, are not the kind of people mentioned in the previous paragraph. Just imagining that I'm hanging out with them, :s, I should be super pressured. I guess I have to know someone nice and patient enough to bring me to have a glimpse of such kind of people ( hope I am not talking about them as though they are aliens.. :/ )

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Looking at now... I still feel happy, although not as excited as I was at the start. :p
Having a one-month holiday because of the June school holidays, entering a blog entry at around ten in the morning at home.. :p , NIE school term starting at the end of July, and will have been to three/four countries in the hols :o I went to malacca at the start, then china/hong kong last week ( thanks to my friend who allowed me to help him with a bit of his work, so accommodation, travel and food was free.), then will be going to batam at the end of this hols :) Maybe the next sucky thing would only be my reservist (high-key), which is between my holidays and the start of my NIE term :/ I am still not close to the people over there and I have to spend 3 weeks with them. I don't like the feeling where others have to treat you good just because you have to spend time together, then after that, *pfffff* it's back to the normal life again. It just looks very fake to me, and what I dislike the most, is having to hide my real feelings, or seeing other people not being their normal selves... ... Maybe I am just thinking too much.

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I guess it has been a super duper long time ever since I blogged. I know I have said it before, but I am used to tweeting to express and to share what I see or feel, so by the time I reach home, I have nothing else to share :s

Anyway, here are some photo updates..

On our way to china/dongguan from hk :o






I love breakfast buffets :o



Went with my friend to this warehouse for his shooting...




There was this highly interactive information counter at this harbour city mall..












Although there were a lot of shops on the main street, I chose to go into the small "alley" to buy amulets.









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Went to clarke quay to collect a free portable speaker...


The water looks quite dirty... :s

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Met up with zhu liang, ming jian, can dice, estelle and jolyn for a small bday gathering this weds...













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This is my secondary school best friend and me :o When we were taking this photo, he was like "so gay..." haha...