"Kai Gong Da Ji"

Today is my first day of work in the lunar year... A kind colleague has brought her CNY cookies to office and offered them to me during lunch time. I accidentally dropped an entire bottle of tasty Gua Zhi cookies (Luo Di Kai Hua) while trying to cover the containers...so sad. She was really nice and insisted that it's ok. My new high heels are so painful to wear...I think I'm going to shelf it for a while. It rained halfway while I'm walking home. The only lucky thing is that I collected 4 red packets in office today - Thanks to my generous colleagues. :)

I would like to recommend this new restaurant at Jurong Point - Pioneer Wharf (Seafood Restaurant). Their seafood was really fresh and nice. My family and I went there for dinner on the first day of CNY, and we spend a total of $193.50 for the six of us! However, there were half a duck, a nonya red garoupa, cereal prawns, pork, tofu with chicken balls and veggie...price may be on the high side, but the taste is definitely worth it. Their service was also not bad, and they have a very friendly and elderly boss who walked around to wish each table happy CNY. Their staff has informed us that they were almost fully booked (only 1 table left). We were their first customer, maybe that was why the food was really tasty, haa.

Happy Chinese Niu Year!

May the year of Ox bring us luck and joy! According to various Fengshui masters' forecasts, those born in the year of pig will not be having much good luck this year and will be really busy and stressed by work. That means my job is saved from recession? Haa. We must think positively when we hear negative things...read or listen to only what you want, to avoid being over-stressed. Remember the commercial advertisement where the girl was driving so badly and her passenger was complaining, but she blocked out all those negative words?

Visit the below website to check out the 2009 forecast for your zodiac sign:
http://www.jmine.com/chinese_horoscope2009.htm

The reunion dinner makes me so full, but the home-cooked food was really delicious (my mum's chicken wings are the best!). Anyway, I am staying up late to Shou Sui.

I hope our newly-announced 2009 budget would improve Singapore economy. By allocating such a big sum of money to assist companies, I guess there would be lesser retrenchments (Don't wish anyone "Cai Yuan Gun Gun" ok?) and more job opportunities. They are expecting public transportation prices to drop too. Maybe I will become one of those who still takes public transport despite owning a car, as it will be cheaper especially when going to the town area where the parking fees are so expensive and ERPs are so common.

I will only be paying for my car insurance and first installment after the CNY public holidays. My C&C sales exec promised to give me 5 OPC coupons! Actually, I was asking him for further discount as Picanto auto's price has just dropped by $1000. I was just trying my luck, knowing that I would be "rejected" since I have already signed the sales agreement form. I think my car will only be ready for collection in Feb. I'm going to buy $1 4D i-bet on my car plate number when I get it...

Anyone wanting to buy a car? You may want to read this interesting article published in 2006 by SPH on "Confessions of a Car Salesman":
http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/printfriendly/0,4139,104091,00.html

Economy downturn...

It was announced today that the GDP this year would be -2% to -5%. Scary, isn't it? It was 1% to -2% just few weeks ago, and it seems that the situation has worsened. Crude oil price has been dropping, companies are cutting costs and retrenching...I really hope that my company would be safe and sound in this economy crisis. Let's work hard ok? It's really depressing to see so many companies having trouble with their finances...

In the past few years, I have always planned for a holiday to somewhere further than S'pore and M'sia. Now, with my new car coming and the economy cirsis, I don't think I could afford to do that. Times are really bad now, and I know it is not a good time to have an additional financial burden. I hope the assumptions made in my car expenses calculation are correct, or I may have trouble with the payment of my car expenses.

COE Bid accepted!

The COE bidding results are out today. To my dismay, the COE for cars of 1600cc & below has dropped to $2,693, which's not a good thing for someone who's trying to get OPC rebate for a low OMV car....I just learnt that the OPC rebate is not necessarily $17K, as it also depends on the car's OMV and the COE rate at the time of your successful bid. The OPC rebate will be the lower amount - either $17K (maximum) or the amount of COE + OMV. My Picanto has an OMV of around $8.5K and thus my OPC rebate is just $11,193! However, the car price is fixed at the moment I booked the car, so the cost of my Picanto is $31,888 - $11,193 = $20,695. So expensive! I thought that I could get my Picanto at around $18K.....so sad.

I have to pay for my insurance and first month installment this Friday, and apply for my season parking, which costs $90 a month. My hard earned savings...If only I don't like driving that much, then I could wait a year and save $1K plus on my insurance...and maybe by then I would have more savings to rely on and get a higher OPC rebate. However, knowing the type of person I am, I could never wait so long once I set my eyes on something. Please don't be like me, ok? I think the COE will drop further after CNY...not a good time to buy low-OMV OPC cars.

I haven't got my triangles yet...I'll get pandan leaves to prevent small cockroaches from living in my car. I can't imagine what I would do if a cockroach stick onto me while I'm driving....I hate insects. I hope I will get a good car plate number...I really don't like the number "4".

Attended a wake...

It was the first wake I have ever attended in my whole 25 years and I hope I do not have to attend any wake in the near future. I don't know why, but I felt so sad at the wake even though I do not know the person personally. Death is a sad thing as all come to an end. I attended the wake of my ex-boss's mother last night and she has died at home due to old age. People said it's a peaceful way to leave and she had lived a good life with many grand children. I understand that people have to die someday, but I think it's tough to get over a death of someone dear. Thinking back, I have killed so many ants...will their families feel sad for them too? I could never stand insects roaming around my personal areas, so I will definitely get rid of them if they appear in front of me while I'm working or at home. I admit I am not a saint, but if I'm walking on the public area, I will definitely try to avoid killing them, unless they try to stick onto me or suck my blood. I hope my grand father didn't mind me not attending his funeral, which was held in M'sia years ago...

I brought home a red pack of coin from the wake and have kept it in my office drawer today. I heard it's for good luck. Some told me that I have to spend the money wrapped inside the red paper and one told me to keep it. I tried to search online to answer the question on whether to keep or to spend, but couldn't find anything related to it. Do anyone know what I should do with it?

I added in my name to CDAC ad-hoc volunteer base today and I managed to get three kind colleagues to add in their names too. I heard that doing good deeds would bring good luck. I do not have much money to donate to charities, as I have too many things on my wish list and too many bills to pay monthly, but I could contribute some of my time to help others. However, I realized that I could be really fussy - no cleaning chores as I hate insects. I hope I still could help in other ways beside money and that.

Sharing on my driving/car related stuffs...

Today I received a cheque from BBDC refunding me the balance from my account. In total I have spend $2,489 at BBDC, excluding my PDL fee and Driving License fee. Is that consider expensive? It could have been higher if I have failed my first TP. I have spend about 7 months at BBDC for both my theory and practical. It has been a really interesting and fruitful experience, although it's definitely more expensive than learning from a private driving instructor. I think I'll miss the learning days...I had wanted to signup for the Driver Orientation course, but I forgot to signup on the spot after my TP and was too lazy to go back to the centre to enrol for it. Nevermind, it's time to save money...and I don't think my favourite instructor would be teaching that course anyway.

My C&C sales exec said that he will be putting up my first COE bid and results shall be out by 21st Jan. My insurance is going to cost me $3140! So expensive right? I have to pay for the insurance and first installment when the bid is successful...I asked him for more freebies as he has only given me free reverse sensor and alarm, which my colleagues said are common standard car accessories. He told me that I have to share the cost of any additional items as it would eat into his commission, so I asked him to give me some OPC coupons instead for my car collection and servicing. I heard that some sales execs giveaway the OPC coupons even though their customers didn't request for them. Chevrolet has ever quoted me freebies such as free leather seats, sport rims, reverse sensor and window film for their Spark (which is so much cheaper than before), and I was so tempted to do a test drive as I was really attracted to its golden cross logo. It is too late now since I have already signed the booking form with C&C. I really hope that I won't regret my purchase. I'm glad that at least my sales exec responds to me when I told him about the freebies other people get, as I heard that there are sales execs who totally ignore their customers since the booking forms are already signed. I hope he will agree to my request for the free OPC coupons...

Recently I have been reading up a lot on car related stuffs and I used to ignore all those stuffs in the past. I am so excited to have my first car...I hope no one would do anything bad to it and I hope I'll not have any trouble with the car...Everyone please drive safely and I will try to do that too...hehe, it's still too early to talk about that right?

My first test drive session

On Wed evening, I went to C&C to test drive the 1.1 litre manual and auto Picanto at Alexandra road. The first test drive road has many U-turns and I don't feel very confident driving the manual Picanto. The gear was quite "sticky" and the steering wheel was so much harder to control than the Honda City at BBDC. The car rolled back for some distance when I tried to drive up the steep slope of C&C's carpark, even though I was at first gear. My second test drive was so much smoother with the auto transmission Picanto. It went a bit too fast when I drove down the carpark's slope, so braking has to be harder. The path out of C&C was pretty narrow, as there were many vehicles parked beside the kerb. All my turns seem to miss an object by just few cm, which may be a bit scary for my passengers (my sis and the salesperson)...I requested for a test drive route that has fewer U-turns, as the traffic seems a bit heavy. It was so much easier to drive an auto Picanto, even though the steering wasn't as easy as a Honda's. However, it will definitely have a higher fuel consumption than a manual Picanto...no choice, since I would rather enjoy the drive and pay a bit more on fuel than put up with stiff gears and paying a little lesser. Since it is an off peak car, I guess the difference will be minimal with the low usage. I will get a normal plate Japan car when I can afford it, which I guess will be around 3 to 5 years later...hopefully.

After the test drive session, I booked an off-peak auto Silver Picanto with the salesperson. I were given a free reverse sensor and alarm (after browsing several online forum threads, I realized that these were common freebies for a Picanto), and some cash off (CNY promo). I hope I will get a good COE rebate that will lower my monthly installment. The bank loan interest rate has gone up to 3.18%, which is so much higher than last year's rate. As I'm getting the car under my name, I'll have to pay a hefty sum of insurance premium for being a new driver. It was not possible to have it under my Dad's name (to get savings on insurance), as I doubt the loan will be approved with his low salary. Haiz, I'm broke. I must really watch what I spend this year.

My driving TP experience on 5th Jan...

I'm so glad that I passed my TP on my first attempt! I was so nervous that cold sweat broke out and I trembled a bit during the test... It was untrue that all testers are fierce. My tester was a really nice person who smiled at me and told me about my mistakes nicely. I was so nervous that I received 14 points in the circuit alone! I was penalized 2 points for not glancing to my left when I turned right into the middle of the circuit. My vertical parking was a bit too much to my right, so I tried to drive out slowly and turn earlier to avoid hitting the kerb. I didn't want to do adjustment as 2 points would be penalized. I hit the kerb (10 points!) when I came out from the directional change area, as it was a sharp turning and I had to proceed to the crank course right after turning out. I did not realize about it until the tester asked me "Do you know that you hit kerb just now?" I was so nervous that I softly asked "Is that so? Ok." and then I quickly completed the right turn without turning my head to check my left side (another 2 points).

I was lucky to get Bukit Batok route 2 for my test route, which is one that I'm really familiar with (most of my practical lessons on the road were in that area). I only made 1 mistake (wide turning) on the road and no points were given as it was my first wide turning. According to the marking scheme, there were some bonuses for certain first-time mistakes. My lane changing and U-turn were really smooth as traffic was really light at 4pm plus on a Monday. I encountered many amber lights and I only went through one, which changed too fast for me to slow down safely.

In total, I received 14 points (passing mark was to get lesser than 20 demerit points). You could imagine how relieved I was. I was trembling when I waited for the results as I did not do well in the circuit. There were a total of 13 students waiting to be tested at my test slot time and only 5 of us passed, with me being the only one who passed on my first attempt. I promised myself that I would become a vegetarian for one day if I passed (No vegetables and no meat. I only ate noodles with fake Char Siew and kaya toast for that entire day).

I'm really grateful to my regular group of instructors G6003, especially Mr Lim who was formerly in that group. As promised, I have left them a compliment on BBDC's website and I hope they would get better bonus this year. Haa. A tip for those who would be taking TP in future - attend more revision lessons nearer to your test date.

Tomorrow, I'm going to Cycle & Carriage to test drive the auto and manual Picanto. I think I'll get an off-peak silver Picanto...(According to Fengshui, my lucky car colours were white, gold, silver and yellow. I think I like silver the most out of these colours)

My 1st blog entry in 2009!

Time to pen down my 1st blog entry for the year! Today, I attended my 3rd driving revision class and to-date, I still made many mistakes like not moving off at 1st gear, not giving signal when turning, wide turning, not checking blind spot etc. I'm so nervous about my coming practical test on 5th Jan now...I really don't want to spend more money to retake my practical test. To make myself feel better, I went shopping at JP after my class and spend $78 on more new clothes. I think my closet is going to burst, haa.

On 1st Jan, I went to try out JP's new Dian Xiao Er with my family. The food was a bit expensive (our total bill came up to $126...), but the service was excellent. The servers were very polite and efficient. I like the roast duck sauce; it was really tasty. I managed to finish two and a half bowls of rice after soaking my rice with plenty of the yummy sauce. That night, I couldn't really sleep well as I was too full...next time, I must remind myself to take lesser rice.