Uncle Law's Pocket Money Fund

Yeap, I'm trying to build up my Pocket Money Fund (aka online shop). This "fund" serves the following purposes :

1. Help the needy (basically myself)

2. Create and promote entrepreneurship

3. Create a community of like-minded group

4. Promote and advocate online shopping

5. *more to be added as we go along*

Here's the webby.... http://swiftdeals.blogspot.com/

Hope to have your support :)

PS : More products will be available as we run along. Do check back often....

English Translation of 黄昏's Lyrics

Was trying to self-translate the lyrics of 黄昏 from Mandarin to English but gave up due to my regretfully poor grasp of the language.... the former language. Luckily, I managed to find something online which pretty much fits the bill....So here it is... the English translated lyrics of 黄昏, Dusk.....

Dusk

过    完    整    个    夏    天 (Mandarin)

guò    wán    zhěng    gè    xià   tiān (hanyu pinyin)

After the whole summer,

忧    伤    并    没    有    好    一    些

yōu    shāng    bìng    méi    yǒu    hǎo    yī    xiē

my sadness still did not improve.

开    车    行    驶    在    公    路    无    际    无    边

kāi    chē    xíng    shǐ    zài    gōng    lù    wú    jì    wú    biān

Driving my car on the vast, boundless roads,

有    离    开    自    己    的    感    觉

yǒu    lí    kāi    zì    jǐ    de    gǎn    jué

I feel that I’m getting out of touch with myself.

唱    不    完    一    首    歌

chàng    bù    wán    yī    shǒu    gē

The song that I could not finish singing,

疲    倦    还    剩    下    黑    眼    圈

pí    juàn    huán    shèng    xià    hēi    yǎn    quān

Left me so tired that there are rings around my eyes.

感    情    的    世    界    伤    害    在    所    难    免

gǎn    qíng    de    shì    jiè    shāng    hài    zài    suǒ    nán    miǎn

It is inevitable to get hurt in the realm of love,

黄    昏    再    美    终    要    黑    夜

huáng    hūn    zài    měi    zhōng    yào    hēi    yè

No matter how beautiful the dusk is, the dark night must follow.

依    然    记    得    从    你    口    中    说    出    再    现    坚    决    如    铁

yī    rán    jì    de    cóng    nǐ    kǒu    zhōng    shuō    chū    zài    xiàn    jiān    jué    rú    tiě

I recall that you said, “Goodbye” with a tone of steel,

昏    暗    中    有    种    烈    日    灼    身    的    错    觉

hūn    àn    zhōng    yǒu    zhòng    liè    rì    zhuó    shēn    de    cuò    jué

I had a delusion of being burnt by the sun in the darkening dusk.

黄    昏    的    地    平    线

huáng    hūn    de    dì    píng    xiàn

The horizon at dusk,

划    出    一    句    离    别

huá    chū    yī    jù    lí    bié 

Drew out your line of, “Farewell.”

爱    情    进    入    永    夜

ài    qíng    jìn    rù    yǒng    yè 

Love plunges into eternal night.

依    然    记    得    从    你    眼    中    滑    落    的    泪    伤    心    欲    绝

yī    rán    jì    de    cóng    nǐ    yǎn    zhōng    huá    luò    de    lèi    shāng    xīn    yù    jué

I still remember the tears falling from your desolated eyes.

混    乱    中    有    种    热    泪    烧    伤    的    错    觉

hùn    luàn    zhōng    yǒu    zhòng    rè    lèi    shāo    shāng    de    cuò    jué

In the confusion, there is an illusion of being burnt by the hot tears.

黄    昏    的    地    平    线

huáng    hūn    de    dì    píng    xiàn

The horizon at dusk,

割    断    幸    福    喜    悦

gē    duàn    xìng    fú    xǐ    yuè

Severed happiness and joy.

相    爱    已    经    幻    灭

xiāng    ài    yǐ    jīng    huàn    miè

Love has already been destroyed.

Photos from Land Of A Thousand Smiles

Here's the long awaited pictures snapped while SO and I were in Bangkok recently....

PS : My apologies for the masking of our faces as we're both shy folks.... :)

 On the way to Baiyoke Sky from the Airport. Able to spot which is my hand and SO's?

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Our room @ Baiyoke Sky Hotel, Level 42. Pretty spacious for a Standard Room. And it costs only 80SGD Per Nite!!

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It even has a small little side room for things like an open wardrobe, drawers and a safe... We use that space to 'dump' our things :p

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My 1st Phai Thai in Bangkok, @ a simple eatery in a side alley. The half-eaten spring roll was purchased from another street hawker... and it's pretty good!

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SO's Thai Fried Rice, not very fantastic but decent enough to eat.

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A makeshift changing room. I requested to try on a bottom and the shop-assistant promptly put up a screen and asked me to try it on THERE AND THEN. I was initially quite amused while SO thought its damn funny....

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Should we go left or right? Which BTS Station is nearer? Both looks equally 'near', so we decided to head for Chitlom Station, a good 5mins walk away :s

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Posing with the ticketing machine. No, she didn't purchase it, I did....

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We're heading to Chatuchak Weekend Market @ Mo Chit Station.

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It was a damn hot and humid day @ the Weekend Market and the Bandung lookalike drink is a welcomed relief!

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My 2nd Phai Thai.... this time, it's from the MBK Foodcourt.

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Fried 'Dumplings' according to the menu but it looks nowhere like dumplings. Looks more like those Singapore-styled Fried Carrot Cake. The sauce in the picture, it's a plum sauce taste-alike sauce which we're not sure what it really is.

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The entire Central World shopping mall was closed for renovation due to the damaged suffered during the recently-ended protests.

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Look at the damage! I was so shocked by the damaged when I first saw it before me that I'm speechless!!

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One of the Bangkok streets during approximately 4pm.

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Lazing around, taking a break in the Amari Watergate Hotel. We're actually there to tailor-made some clothings. There's this tailor on the 3rd Floor called Paul's Fashion. Service is good, price is reasonable and the staffs are very friendly. Most importantly, they speak very decent English!!

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At the Ground Floor Bell-Hop Counter of the hotel we're staying in. The main lobby is @ Level 18.

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Been telling SO that I'm itching to eat some Thai Papaya Salad since our arrival in Bangkok. Ironically, it wasn't until the Day 3 before I get to eat it.

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My 3rd Phai Thai... :p

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Some Vietnamese Spring-Rolls. We don't really like it. There's this weird taste which I suspected to be due to the inclusion of Basil Leaves within the rolls. On a side note, the accompanying sauce is pretty good shit!

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A shot from the Observation Deck atop Baiyoke Sky Hotel.

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This expressway interchange had somewhat become a 'Postcard' picture of Bangkok...

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My 4th Phai Thai... I remembered posting on Facebook on the same day, "A Phai Thai a day, keeps the hungry away" :p

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Some "Fried Oysters" from a food court. It looks somewhat like the Singapore version and that's where the similarity ends. It tastes NOTHING like the Singapore version. This one is crispy, with plenty of bean sprouts and comes with that weird plum sauce (again).

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Our favourite drink in Bangkok. The Thai Iced Milk Tea. Its not exactly an infatuation with the pictured brand but with the drink in general. It's got a unique taste to it, not too sure how to describe it. But it's distinctly different and very nice as compared to the Singapore version (again).

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@ the airport's Departure Hall. We arrived with 2 half-filled bags, the Yellow Adidas and the Red Backpack. You go figure it out yourself how much stuff we bought.

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I bought 40kg worth of luggage space but utilised only slightly over 50%. The lady checking us in even commented that we had over-purchased....

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That's all I've got here.... :)

My upcoming trip... Malacca, during the National Day weekend :)

Mando-Jazz

I've recently bought a CD of Mandarin songs remixed in Jazz by the High Society label. 2 CDs for 40SGD, not too expensive for me. The only thing is that I've not bought a CD for the longest of time...

The music inside the 2 CDs inside is pretty decent, with CD 1 containing more of my preferred tracks. One particular track really caught me, CD 1 Track 2, 黄昏 by 周传雄. This is a pretty sad song, and as pointed out by SO, a sad song remixed in Jazz, simply makes it even sadder... At least she thinks so, I don't.

My apologies for folks out there who are unable to read Mandarin. Basically, the name of the song is "Dusk", sang by a Taiwanese Singer....

Lyrics as follows :

黄昏 (Name of the Song)

词 (Lyrics) : 陈信荣

曲 (Music) : 周传雄

过完整个夏天

忧伤并没有好一些

开车行驶在公路无际无边

有离开自己的感觉

唱不完一首歌

疲倦还剩下黑眼圈

感情的世界伤害在所难免

黄昏再美终要黑夜

依然记得从你口中说出再现坚决如铁

昏暗中有种烈日灼身的错觉

黄昏的地平线

划出一句离别

爱情进入永夜

依然记得从你眼中滑落的泪伤心欲绝

混乱中有种热泪烧伤的错觉

黄昏的地平线

割断幸福喜悦

相爱已经幻灭

Here's a version of the original song..... 

THIS IS ABSURB!!!

Residents may end up paying more in S&C charges if highrise littering worsens
By Satish Cheney | Posted: 11 July 2010 1949 hrs

SINGAPORE : Residents may end up paying more in service and conservancy charges if the problem of highrise littering gets worse.

This possibility was raised by Parliamentary Secretary for National Development Dr Maliki Osman when he launched an anti-litter initiative in Admiralty on Sunday.

Grassroots organisations will be using community pressure, like roping in residents to keep a lookout for those who litter from their flats.

The number of complaints against highrise littering island-wide has been increasing over the last few years.

In 2008, there were 2,499 complaints.

This jumped to 3,474 complaints last year.

In the first half of this year, there have been 1,965 complaints.

Dr Maliki said: "When we have littering problem, and we have a cleanliness problem; the conservancy costs will go up because the workers will have to come in more regularly.

"That would increase the cost because from a normal cleaning situation where you just clean the common corridors and the lift lobbies, now you have to go into the individual households to try and clean it. This is unnecessary for the residents because the higher the cost, it will be transferred to the residents. We do not want that to happen.

"We want them to try and minimise the need for them to pay extra just because of irresponsible behaviour. At this point in time, we have not raised the conservancy charges at all because we have been able to manage, but I think we can continue to contain it even better if residents take responsibility.

"The chances of increasing costs will be there if we do not contain this, because the idea is to look at the natural situation where previously you will not need workers to go into individual households. Now, if one HDB block, you have an average of 100 units. Just imagine if half of that required cleaning. The costs will tremendously increase.

"If we do not need that, then we can actually reduce the cost and maintain the cleanliness at the common corridors spaces and common area, and we really do not need to increase costs if everybody is responsible." - CNA/ms

Source : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1068808/1/.html

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To tell the truth, I'm most disturbed by this news. Reason being NOT because of the potential increase in the S&C charges, but more from the implied message that "its ok to throw killer litter from high rise building, the workers will just come by more often to clean it up."

I really wonder if that Parlimentary Secretary even knows what he is talking about. The kind of message he is sending out is dangerous and may give everyone the wrong impression! I thought the best way to deal with such issues is to send in the police to patrol the area more often? Of course, resident education plays a part too. But to simply send in more workers more often to clean up the mess is clearly NOT THE SOLUTION!

Please, fellow Singaporeans, you've now seen how those who have our "mandate" is running the show. Come the next oppotunity to cast your mandate, CHOOSE CAREFULLY....

20 Things You Should Never Buy Used

The earlier post talks about some of the things that we can consider buying used, this post will be talking about some of the things which you should NEVER buy used.... For me, I'd never buy used items which are going to come into contact with my body such as clothes, shoes, gloves, etc. I'd also think twice, thrice and end up still not buying Laptops, Phones, Beddings/Mattresses and most other electronic stuffs....

Read on if you are keen to know what are the 20 Things You Should Never Buy Used......

21 Things You Should Never Buy New

What are some of the things that you'd never buy new? I think the answer should be zero. I mean, who DOESN'T like new things? I, for one, would love to get new things whenever possible.... However, I wouldn't mind getting used CDs, Books, certain furnitures and car....

Read on to see what are the 21 Things You Should Never Buy New...