Saving electric bill stickers

I found these in my post box this evening. Aren’t they cute reminders for one to save up on electric bill?

Healthy Supper

Sometime ago, I mentioned that I was attempting to lose weight. So far so bad. Though people had been telling me i looked the same as what I am years ago, but the weighing machine tells me a different story. I gained 4 kilos over 5 years. Damn!

Due to my weird stomach condition, having just 3 meals a day just wasn’t enough and i have to resort to taking supper. So before going to bed, i will take some snacks ranging from a piece of wheat biscuit to a packet of twisties.

*Oops*

Last night, i took a different route. I decided to change what i had for supper. I took this

Is this healthy enough?

Melaleuca Oil Shampoo

I finally finished using my personal shampoo. Last Saturday, i managed to get myself the new Melaleuca Oil shampoo.

During the wash, the melaleuca oil smell is really overwhelming, but my hair feel very refreshed after every wash. True to the description, the smell doesn’t linger for long after the bathe. In my own opinion, this shampoo is not suitable for those with very dry hair as it tend to make the hair felt “matt” after washing. It works great for those with super oily hair like mine.

I wasn’t really a true fan of the products but as time goes by, i begun to realise that my home products are gradually getting replaced by those from Melaleuca. As most of the products are highly concentrated yet gentle to the skin (surprisingly, the ingredients they used are quite ‘natural’), they can be used for a long time after appropriate dilution. So one will save more $ in the long run.

Bloodline

Recently, I’ve finished reading another book written by my favourite author F. Paul Wilson. This book is the latest sequel from the famous Repairman Jack series. The war of the Otherness and the Allies are still revolving around Jack’s life. And now, it seems that the unseen forces are starting to ‘disturb’ his family again.

The wonders of genes are being discussed in this book once again. In order to reproduce the same species, the ‘father’ was forced to grab a lady from the streets, imprison her while the son raped her. When the lady’s daughter becomes a teenager many years later, the same guy coax her into having sex with him, with the main agenda in mind - to produce the mighty ONE. Arghhs, it sounds awful right?

Jack had solved many mysteries in the past. Could he solve this as well?

Spongee cake

Had this sponge cake for breakfast for two days. The chocolatey smell and taste stays on in my mouth even after 15 mins of eating it. Yummy!

Maybe I will try making sponge cakes next time

Have Fun in Algarve!

The temperature in Singapore is getting way too high.

Recently, a friend of mine is contemplating to go to somewhere fun to enjoy the cool breeze and the sun in Europe. The first place that comes to her mind is Portugal. Why? Probably after hearing my stories in Portugal, she started to get a bit curious.

I haven’t been to anywhere sunny and near the coast in Portugal and this plan of hers has set off a curious alarm in me. I started to look around the web for nice coastal places to go in Portugal. This morning, my surfing time paid off and i found a place called Algarve.  The Algarve stretches across the whole of southern Portugal. Last year, Hubby and I went to the west of Portugal and we totally overlooked this place!

The Algarve is like a holiday heaven - sunshine, natural bays, dramatic cliffs and warm seas.

I doubt you can get to enjoy that much if you went on a tour group. This place is best to go with a group of friends! Should I go with this friend of mine? ..

The problem with going on free and easy tour is; you have to find good and beautiful accommodations. I am one who will spurge on holidays but real thrifty in other normal day needs.

I’ve found some private rentals in the Algarve which one can stay in while holidaying there. The properties looked so enduring and some are near the costal regions.

If you are on a tight budget, you can try looking for cheap Rocha Brava holiday apartments or cheap self catered apartment rentals in Guia

There are also a few things which you can do in Algarve. For example, you can do horse riding, historical tour, wine tasting and lots more.

I am glad i found Algarve. It is landing up in my hot list of places to go in the near future.

Half day leave

It’s been a great long time since hubby and myself went downtown for shopping. We took the opportunity to take a half day’s leave from our busy working schedule this afternoon.

We went down to City Hall for lunch and ended up shopping around Suntec City@SIngapore. The place has changed quite a lot, and recently; they had completed the underpass walkway which links the city link to Suntec directly.

Suntec City felt like an alien to both of us today. Though we resides in Singapore, we seldom had the chance to go shopping ever since we got married. Gone are the dating days where we spend our weekends cuddling lovingly in cinemas and eating sweet desserts all over the restaurants in Singapore. Perhaps it’s also due to our current wu-lu (deserted) place of residence.

So we did shop around today. I’ve checked out new shops, new food and new bus stops. I didn’t buy anything dramatic though, I just pampered myself by buying a cheap watch today. Yes, it is in my favourite color too! I can bring it around with me when i dress-down in office or when i travel oversees.

Goodbye old fan, welcome my new fren

My old fan took its last breathe at 7am today. Blame it on the bad weather?

We had this little fan in the bedroom for many years (passed down from my in-laws) and it had served us its life term quite well until recently. I found that it has struck some ‘disease’. When i brought it with me to the ironing room 2 weeks ago, it had displayed signs of ‘difficulty’ in breathing out the cold wind even when it was running at medium speed. I couldn’t feel it’s ‘breathe’ much under the heat.

Last night, I couldnt take the heat any longer and I decided to turn to the ‘high’ mode. The poor fan put in all its life’s worth of energy into the 6 to 7 hours of my sleep — keeping me cool until 7am this morning, before burning from inside out. OVERHEATED.

Goodbye my old fan, you had served me well. Will always remember u!

Here’s my new fan (taken from my mum’s place). Hope it will perform its best too.

AsiaSoft: Richman Online

Image via Wikipedia

There’s a new online game by Asiasoft - Richman Online. I can’t wait to play this. I’ve subscribed to its email notification and hope that the company will invite me to the beta trial soon.

I am really hopeless. i am practically attracted to anything that’s cute and pleasing to the eyes. I’ve tried Audition, Pangya and Maple Story under AsiaSoft. Of all these games, i love Pangya the most. Unfortunately, they are closing down the Pangya’s server in a few months time

Hope this game won’t disappoint me when I did get to play it in the future.

How public speaking relates to blogging

Image via Wikipedia

I attended a free talk this afternoon on ‘How to be a better public speaker‘. I noticed several useful points which could also be applied to blogging publicly.

Some of the topics discussed today are:

• How to capture audiences’ attention
• How to ‘connect’ to your audience
• How to make your presentation more interesting

I didn’t really have time to try out the following so far due to my tight work schedule. Blah.. i know.. my *excuses again*

Question 1: How to capture audiences’ attention

• You can use eye capturing images in your blog entries. As many bloggers out there should know by now, a picture speaks a thousand words. How true. People remember visual images better than a slide/entry full of words.
• Create competition/lucky draws. Yes, this should work if the prize is fantastic, perhaps an iPod or iPhone?
• Incorporate music into your blog. Hmm… it depends on how fast the server loads. The last thing you want a visitor to do is to wait for your music script to load fully.

Question 2: How to connect to audience

• Make your blog interactive. Maybe play some ‘how much you know about me’ games.
• Begin with a story closer to the readers’ heart. For example, begin your post with something like ‘Have you ever feel that life is unfair?’ If they feel the same thing as you, you’ve got the connection, and they will read on…

Question 3: How to write interesting blog entries

• Get a life, explore around the island for things nice to share in your blog. Example, If you like food, go hunt around Singapore for cheap and good food. Write reviews about them.
• Surf and surf. A good place to surf for topics and content is to read forums. Research on the hottest topic in town and write a good blog article about that.

Of course it will be nice if i could do all the above. Sometime it could be real difficult and it requires lots of hard work from the blogger themselves. Sad to say, for me, i am personally very lazy.

At the end of the day, you would have to try to stick with a personalized niche for your own blog.

I hate to read blogs which have no specific direction, i.e. just post entries for the sake of earning money. It’s too commercialized. It’s really hard to find really nice personal blogs nowadays. I need a role model!