1) Netbook or Laptop & Desktop
2) New handphone
3) New backpack
4) New clothes
I need money. T_T
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Lessons from Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares
1) Know the F&B industry before jumping in
Just having a dream about starting your own restaurant or café isn’t going to make it successful when you’ve never had any experience in the industry. Take this for example, would you start a printing company if you knew nothing about printing? It’s the same for the F&B industry. Go read up on restaurant management and go work in the industry for a few years to learn the ropes. Don’t be impatient as it is hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line if your restaurant fails.
2) Start small, then work your way up
It’s better to start small and then work your way up from there. Start with an ice cream / hot dog stand instead of putting your life savings into fine dining restaurant. Remember, the more elaborate the restaurant, the higher the running costs and the amount of logistics required to run it.
3) Know your target market
This one is pretty much common sense. It doesn’t make sense to setup a fine dining French restaurant in a lower-income part of town. Neither does it make sense to start a Japanese restaurant in a small conservative American town. It’s a safer bet to go with a cuisine the local folk are already comfortable with.
4) Be firm! You’re the boss!
Remember, it’s your restaurant and you are PAYING your employees. You have to show them that you’re the boss and not let them walk all over you as poor management will lead to the downfall of your restaurant. Ensure that the general manager does his job in keeping the kitchen and the service staff in check.
5) Get rid of incompetent / excess employees
Lazy and under performing employees are a drain on the finances. If they still don’t perform after repeated reminders, get rid of them. No hard feelings, it’s just business. The same applies if you feel that you are over staffed as just one excess employee could mean a loss of hundreds of dollars of profit a month.
6) Get a good general manager
General managers can’t be push overs, they have to be leaders. When there is no strong leadership, people start doing what they want, food orders get backed up, food quality drops and chaos reins.
7) There can be only ONE Indian chief.
Too many cooks spoil the broth. If you set up the restaurant with a few partners, choose a leader and ensure the other partners listen to him. If you have too many leaders you would just confuse your staff and they might stop listening to you altogether. If the leader doesn’t prove to be effective, choose someone else to take the helm instead before he runs the restaurant into ruin.
8) Fresh food
There is a big difference between food cooked yesterday and reheated and food made fresh to order. As much as you’re not willing to pay for a reheated steak from yesterday, neither are your customers. Go for fresh food and throw out the days leftovers. Your customers will appreciate it by coming back to your restaurant. If money is tight, stinge on other areas but never the quality of the food.
9) Listen to feedback
Don’t live in denial. If your customers keep saying your food is bad, then it has to be!
10) Cleanliness
A dirty kitchen would be the end of your restaurant if your customers get a bad case of food poisoning. Ensure the manager and head chef work together to keep the kitchen in tip top condition.
11) Listen to the head chef
Ensure that your kitchen staff listens to your head chef and ensure your head chef communicates effectively with the other kitchen staff. Lack of communication or poor leadership could lead to backed up orders and lower quality food.
12) Food taste
Having a wonderfully decorated restaurant and beautifully presented food is one thing, but at the end of the day it is still the taste of the food which brings customers back. Ever heard of how people keep going back to the run down looking diner on the corner of the street because it serves the best tasting food?
13) Have fewer choices but do them well
It’s better to have 10 items on the menu that you can cook really well than have 80 items on the menu that all taste horrible. More doesn’t always mean better and it’d take a load off the chefs back as they can concentrate more on perfecting their dishes.
14) Keep your food simple
Don’t kill the taste of the food by adding 3 different sauces and condiments. If your food is fresh, let it speak for itself. Simple food always get the Michelin stars.
15) The customer is king
Even if your customer is being extremely unreasonable it is still better to concede to their demands than have a huge argument with them in front of your other customers. An angry customer would spread the word and you might lose future customers.
16) Don’t wait too long for help
If your restaurant is losing sales, don’t wait too long to find out what the problems are. Get a consultant or sell it off before you get too deep in debt to do anything.
Just having a dream about starting your own restaurant or café isn’t going to make it successful when you’ve never had any experience in the industry. Take this for example, would you start a printing company if you knew nothing about printing? It’s the same for the F&B industry. Go read up on restaurant management and go work in the industry for a few years to learn the ropes. Don’t be impatient as it is hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line if your restaurant fails.
2) Start small, then work your way up
It’s better to start small and then work your way up from there. Start with an ice cream / hot dog stand instead of putting your life savings into fine dining restaurant. Remember, the more elaborate the restaurant, the higher the running costs and the amount of logistics required to run it.
3) Know your target market
This one is pretty much common sense. It doesn’t make sense to setup a fine dining French restaurant in a lower-income part of town. Neither does it make sense to start a Japanese restaurant in a small conservative American town. It’s a safer bet to go with a cuisine the local folk are already comfortable with.
4) Be firm! You’re the boss!
Remember, it’s your restaurant and you are PAYING your employees. You have to show them that you’re the boss and not let them walk all over you as poor management will lead to the downfall of your restaurant. Ensure that the general manager does his job in keeping the kitchen and the service staff in check.
5) Get rid of incompetent / excess employees
Lazy and under performing employees are a drain on the finances. If they still don’t perform after repeated reminders, get rid of them. No hard feelings, it’s just business. The same applies if you feel that you are over staffed as just one excess employee could mean a loss of hundreds of dollars of profit a month.
6) Get a good general manager
General managers can’t be push overs, they have to be leaders. When there is no strong leadership, people start doing what they want, food orders get backed up, food quality drops and chaos reins.
7) There can be only ONE Indian chief.
Too many cooks spoil the broth. If you set up the restaurant with a few partners, choose a leader and ensure the other partners listen to him. If you have too many leaders you would just confuse your staff and they might stop listening to you altogether. If the leader doesn’t prove to be effective, choose someone else to take the helm instead before he runs the restaurant into ruin.
8) Fresh food
There is a big difference between food cooked yesterday and reheated and food made fresh to order. As much as you’re not willing to pay for a reheated steak from yesterday, neither are your customers. Go for fresh food and throw out the days leftovers. Your customers will appreciate it by coming back to your restaurant. If money is tight, stinge on other areas but never the quality of the food.
9) Listen to feedback
Don’t live in denial. If your customers keep saying your food is bad, then it has to be!
10) Cleanliness
A dirty kitchen would be the end of your restaurant if your customers get a bad case of food poisoning. Ensure the manager and head chef work together to keep the kitchen in tip top condition.
11) Listen to the head chef
Ensure that your kitchen staff listens to your head chef and ensure your head chef communicates effectively with the other kitchen staff. Lack of communication or poor leadership could lead to backed up orders and lower quality food.
12) Food taste
Having a wonderfully decorated restaurant and beautifully presented food is one thing, but at the end of the day it is still the taste of the food which brings customers back. Ever heard of how people keep going back to the run down looking diner on the corner of the street because it serves the best tasting food?
13) Have fewer choices but do them well
It’s better to have 10 items on the menu that you can cook really well than have 80 items on the menu that all taste horrible. More doesn’t always mean better and it’d take a load off the chefs back as they can concentrate more on perfecting their dishes.
14) Keep your food simple
Don’t kill the taste of the food by adding 3 different sauces and condiments. If your food is fresh, let it speak for itself. Simple food always get the Michelin stars.
15) The customer is king
Even if your customer is being extremely unreasonable it is still better to concede to their demands than have a huge argument with them in front of your other customers. An angry customer would spread the word and you might lose future customers.
16) Don’t wait too long for help
If your restaurant is losing sales, don’t wait too long to find out what the problems are. Get a consultant or sell it off before you get too deep in debt to do anything.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Review - Hanakimi (J-Drama)
Hanazakari no Kimitachi e: Ikemen Paradise
Introduction
Translated, it would read as "For you in full blossom: Hot Men Paradise." Alright, as weird as the title might sound it is also known as Hanakimi in short and is based on an insanely popular girl manga. I've personally never read the manga and don't intend to because the artwork is too shojo (girly) style for me so I guess I won't know how accurate the drama portrays the manga.
The Taiwanese have already made a drama out of the same manga starring the tomboyish Ella from the SHE girl group. Let's just say that I tried watching the first episode of the Taiwanese version and couldn't even get through half an hour of it because somehow something just wasn't right. Perhaps the Taiwanese version didn't do the manga justice so the Japanese got fed up and decided to make their own version. And thank goodness they did.
The Story
The show starts with the introduction of the protagonist, Ashiya Mizuki. Played by the oh-so-adorably-cute 20 year old Maki Horikita, she's obviously the only reason why I decided to watch the show in the first place. Apparently she seems to be infatuated by Sano Izumi, a record holding high jumper who sustained an injury and dropped out of the scene altogether. Unable to accept this, she literally cuts her hair short, packs her bags and flies from California to Japan to seek out her idol. Unfortunately, Sano studies and stays in an all boys school (Osaka High School) thus she disguises herself as a boy and enrolls in the school. Will she be able to make Sano jump again and make him her true love?
*Spoilers start here*
Extremely early in the show, the first person to find out Ashiya's true gender is none other than the school doctor. She sustains an injury during a marathon, passes out and is brought to his office where he finds out that she's not a boy. But after finding out her reason for being crazy enough to enroll in an all boys school he decides to keep everything a secret and let her stay.
Later on in the show we find out that Ashiya is actually the cause of Sano's injury. Apparently while Sano was doing a training stint in the US he gets his leg injured when trying to save Ashiya from a bunch of thugs. Thus, Ashiya feels that considering she's the cause of his downfall, she should be responsible in convincing him to jump again.
While at the school she meets Nakatsu, one of her classmates who starts having a crush on her. Not knowing that she's actually a female, he starts thinking that he's gay and tries to come to terms with himself. Sano on the otherhand learns about Ashiya's true gender really early in the show but keeps it to himself anyhow as he's moved by the fact that Ashiya was prepared to go through so much to get him to jump again.
The Review
Before the start of the first episode, there's a "warning" that reads, "This story is entirely fictional, please excuse the foolishness." Now the common problem when a manga is ported to live-action is that what might've been funny in a manga can come out horribly daft if re-enacted in real life. Unfortunately Hanakimi suffers from this quite badly, half of each episode is dedicated to the relationship between Ashiya, Sano and Nakatsu while the other half is dedicated to the supporting characters which consist of the 3 Dorm heads and the student extras. They are usually preparing for one school activity after another (Best Looking Student, Spring Festival, Beach Outing etc...) and try hard to make you laugh with a lot of Jim Carrie style slapstick humor. Perhaps high school girls find such humor funny but it doesn't really work for me. There were times I was tempted to fast forward to the serious parts because the humor was getting so cringe-inducing. Sometimes I think that the only sane people in the school are Sano, Ashiya and Nakatsu.
Anyhow here's more background about the school. You see, Sano's school supposedly chooses their students primarily based on looks than grades, thus the "Ikemen Paradise" in the title. As ridiculous as it sounds that's how it goes as this drama caters more so to girls than guys. So you've got a lot of bishie looking guys walking around with their shirts off, carrying weights, running on the track, doing drag (no kidding) and what not which serves as eye candy for the girls (Urgh). Thankfully all is not lost as there's a girl group from St. Blossom's High (The Sister School of Osaka High) called the Hibari 4 which consists of the leader, Hibari Hanayashiki, and 4 other girls which pop in every now and then to add some gender balance. I liked the character of the leader because she's type cast as a Britney Spears bimbo kind of girl, is shorter than her followers and is ironically worse off in getting a date than her followers which makes her a funny character to watch.
About the other supporting characters I'll just make it brief. There are 3 Dorms in Osaka High School. One is run by some martial arts nut, Sano's dorm is run by some Casanova girl magnet while the other is run by an arts freak who goes around in a cape reciting Shakespeare. Other characters include some guy who takes after Death Note's "L" by being all mysterious and creepy, a gay guy and some other guy who is some silly inventor. They all try to inject humor into the show but I didn't really find any of them very funny at all. In my opinion, it'd probably have been better if they didn't try so hard to make the audience laugh.
Now for a detailed review of the main characters
Ashiya Mizuki (Played by Maki Horikita)
First up, it's not easy playing Ashiya, you gotta act like a boy and you're basically the character that all the girls want to be. Though she has to act as a boy in this drama, she still looks very feminine even in a male school uniform and her actions are still very female like (not that I mind). Also, she's rather short so almost everybody towers over here which makes things rather comedic. In reality she definitely can't pass off as a boy but it's a drama anyway so it's alright. (If she did look so much like a boy I won't be watching the show in the first place.)
Otherwise she portrays Ashiya as a very happy, positive, lovable character whom everybody would wanna make friends with. Her chemistry between Sano and Nakatsu are very natural and she doesn't seem to be holding back in her acting. She looks very natural when she's fooling around with Nakatsu or having a serious talk with Sano and her heart really looks like she is all for Sano.
As I watched the show I felt that I was on a journey with Ashiya, a journey that would sadly have to end when Ashiya finally manages to convince Sano to jump again. The last episode of the show is perhaps the most moving as Ashiya, having completed what she has to do, bids farewell to everyone and returns to the US. Certainly a very good performance by Maki during the last episode as you can't help but shed a few tears at that scene unless you're heartless.
Definitely two thumbs up for Maki and I'm not suprized that she snagged the Best Actress award for the 54th Television Academy Awards for her role in Hanakimi.
Sano Izumi (Played by Shun Oguri)
Sano comes to me as a very aloof, brooding character who doesn't really say much most of the time. After being injured in the US he drops out of the high jump scene as he thinks that he'll never reach his personal best again. And later on we learn that he's also not on talking terms with his brother and father and is pretty much an angsty, depressed kid. Think of him as the emo character of the show.
As Ashiya works at trying to make him jump again you somehow don't seem to connect with him because he doesn't really say much and when he does it is just a few lines here and there. Later on when he declares to Ashiya that he's willing to train again to beat his high jump record just for her you just don't seem to know whether he likes Ashiya as much as she likes him. Even at the last episode he doesn't openly declare that he likes her but says that he will go visit her in the US soon. He seems too controlled as a character and plays hard-to-get and you just don't feel that he has any feelings towards Ashiya. As a main character he doesn't make a very big impact in my opinion.
Nakatsu Shuichi (Played by Ikuta Toma)
As a soccer player, Nakatsu seems to be a girl's dream boyfriend, possessing a positive personality has cool dyed hair and a sense of humour, Nakatsu always tries to be jolly even when he's hurting inside. Unlike Sano who finds out that Ashiya is actually a girl early in the show, he only finds out about Ashiya's true gender much much later so it's funny seeing him getting attracted to Ashiya while trying to stop himself at the same time. It's just hilarious when he tries to sneak close to Ashiya all the time and he gets reminded that he's "too close" and has to back away.
According to wikipedia, in real life he and Maki are actually very good friends so it shows very well on screen when they're together fooling around or what not. You can just feel real chemistry between the two characters and everything comes out very naturally. For the final episode of the drama when everybody is wishing Ashiya farewell he makes a very moving, emotion filled speech to Ashiya which will bring tears to your eyes.
Not surprisingly he won the best supporting actor award for his role in Hanakimi. He certainly comes out as the better actor as compared to Shun and I think he did a good job.
Conclusion
The Good
- It's something different from the normal, run-of-the-mill romance dramas
- Maki is cute and lovable and does a good job in acting as Ashiya. Gotta love her in the uniform
- The comedy between Ashiya and Nakatsu is hilarious
- The Hibari 4 is funny
- A very good final episode. I'm a sucker for happy endings.
- Drama doesn't drag unnecessarily
- Nice BGM, opening & ending themes.
- Nice scenery and filming locations
The Bad
- Slapstick humor is lame
- Some lesser characters seem redundant
- For guys, if you don't like Maki then there's no reason to watch this drama at all
Overall conclusion
If you're able to ignore the lame slapstick humor and purely focus on the relationship between Ashiya, Sano and Nakatsu, Hanakimi makes a nice romance drama with a twist. Oh yes, did I mention that Maki is cute?
Rating: 8/10
Introduction
Translated, it would read as "For you in full blossom: Hot Men Paradise." Alright, as weird as the title might sound it is also known as Hanakimi in short and is based on an insanely popular girl manga. I've personally never read the manga and don't intend to because the artwork is too shojo (girly) style for me so I guess I won't know how accurate the drama portrays the manga.
The Taiwanese have already made a drama out of the same manga starring the tomboyish Ella from the SHE girl group. Let's just say that I tried watching the first episode of the Taiwanese version and couldn't even get through half an hour of it because somehow something just wasn't right. Perhaps the Taiwanese version didn't do the manga justice so the Japanese got fed up and decided to make their own version. And thank goodness they did.
The Story
The show starts with the introduction of the protagonist, Ashiya Mizuki. Played by the oh-so-adorably-cute 20 year old Maki Horikita, she's obviously the only reason why I decided to watch the show in the first place. Apparently she seems to be infatuated by Sano Izumi, a record holding high jumper who sustained an injury and dropped out of the scene altogether. Unable to accept this, she literally cuts her hair short, packs her bags and flies from California to Japan to seek out her idol. Unfortunately, Sano studies and stays in an all boys school (Osaka High School) thus she disguises herself as a boy and enrolls in the school. Will she be able to make Sano jump again and make him her true love?
*Spoilers start here*
Extremely early in the show, the first person to find out Ashiya's true gender is none other than the school doctor. She sustains an injury during a marathon, passes out and is brought to his office where he finds out that she's not a boy. But after finding out her reason for being crazy enough to enroll in an all boys school he decides to keep everything a secret and let her stay.
Later on in the show we find out that Ashiya is actually the cause of Sano's injury. Apparently while Sano was doing a training stint in the US he gets his leg injured when trying to save Ashiya from a bunch of thugs. Thus, Ashiya feels that considering she's the cause of his downfall, she should be responsible in convincing him to jump again.
While at the school she meets Nakatsu, one of her classmates who starts having a crush on her. Not knowing that she's actually a female, he starts thinking that he's gay and tries to come to terms with himself. Sano on the otherhand learns about Ashiya's true gender really early in the show but keeps it to himself anyhow as he's moved by the fact that Ashiya was prepared to go through so much to get him to jump again.
The Review
Before the start of the first episode, there's a "warning" that reads, "This story is entirely fictional, please excuse the foolishness." Now the common problem when a manga is ported to live-action is that what might've been funny in a manga can come out horribly daft if re-enacted in real life. Unfortunately Hanakimi suffers from this quite badly, half of each episode is dedicated to the relationship between Ashiya, Sano and Nakatsu while the other half is dedicated to the supporting characters which consist of the 3 Dorm heads and the student extras. They are usually preparing for one school activity after another (Best Looking Student, Spring Festival, Beach Outing etc...) and try hard to make you laugh with a lot of Jim Carrie style slapstick humor. Perhaps high school girls find such humor funny but it doesn't really work for me. There were times I was tempted to fast forward to the serious parts because the humor was getting so cringe-inducing. Sometimes I think that the only sane people in the school are Sano, Ashiya and Nakatsu.
Anyhow here's more background about the school. You see, Sano's school supposedly chooses their students primarily based on looks than grades, thus the "Ikemen Paradise" in the title. As ridiculous as it sounds that's how it goes as this drama caters more so to girls than guys. So you've got a lot of bishie looking guys walking around with their shirts off, carrying weights, running on the track, doing drag (no kidding) and what not which serves as eye candy for the girls (Urgh). Thankfully all is not lost as there's a girl group from St. Blossom's High (The Sister School of Osaka High) called the Hibari 4 which consists of the leader, Hibari Hanayashiki, and 4 other girls which pop in every now and then to add some gender balance. I liked the character of the leader because she's type cast as a Britney Spears bimbo kind of girl, is shorter than her followers and is ironically worse off in getting a date than her followers which makes her a funny character to watch.
About the other supporting characters I'll just make it brief. There are 3 Dorms in Osaka High School. One is run by some martial arts nut, Sano's dorm is run by some Casanova girl magnet while the other is run by an arts freak who goes around in a cape reciting Shakespeare. Other characters include some guy who takes after Death Note's "L" by being all mysterious and creepy, a gay guy and some other guy who is some silly inventor. They all try to inject humor into the show but I didn't really find any of them very funny at all. In my opinion, it'd probably have been better if they didn't try so hard to make the audience laugh.
Now for a detailed review of the main characters
Ashiya Mizuki (Played by Maki Horikita)
First up, it's not easy playing Ashiya, you gotta act like a boy and you're basically the character that all the girls want to be. Though she has to act as a boy in this drama, she still looks very feminine even in a male school uniform and her actions are still very female like (not that I mind). Also, she's rather short so almost everybody towers over here which makes things rather comedic. In reality she definitely can't pass off as a boy but it's a drama anyway so it's alright. (If she did look so much like a boy I won't be watching the show in the first place.)
Otherwise she portrays Ashiya as a very happy, positive, lovable character whom everybody would wanna make friends with. Her chemistry between Sano and Nakatsu are very natural and she doesn't seem to be holding back in her acting. She looks very natural when she's fooling around with Nakatsu or having a serious talk with Sano and her heart really looks like she is all for Sano.
As I watched the show I felt that I was on a journey with Ashiya, a journey that would sadly have to end when Ashiya finally manages to convince Sano to jump again. The last episode of the show is perhaps the most moving as Ashiya, having completed what she has to do, bids farewell to everyone and returns to the US. Certainly a very good performance by Maki during the last episode as you can't help but shed a few tears at that scene unless you're heartless.
Definitely two thumbs up for Maki and I'm not suprized that she snagged the Best Actress award for the 54th Television Academy Awards for her role in Hanakimi.
Sano Izumi (Played by Shun Oguri)
Sano comes to me as a very aloof, brooding character who doesn't really say much most of the time. After being injured in the US he drops out of the high jump scene as he thinks that he'll never reach his personal best again. And later on we learn that he's also not on talking terms with his brother and father and is pretty much an angsty, depressed kid. Think of him as the emo character of the show.
As Ashiya works at trying to make him jump again you somehow don't seem to connect with him because he doesn't really say much and when he does it is just a few lines here and there. Later on when he declares to Ashiya that he's willing to train again to beat his high jump record just for her you just don't seem to know whether he likes Ashiya as much as she likes him. Even at the last episode he doesn't openly declare that he likes her but says that he will go visit her in the US soon. He seems too controlled as a character and plays hard-to-get and you just don't feel that he has any feelings towards Ashiya. As a main character he doesn't make a very big impact in my opinion.
Nakatsu Shuichi (Played by Ikuta Toma)
As a soccer player, Nakatsu seems to be a girl's dream boyfriend, possessing a positive personality has cool dyed hair and a sense of humour, Nakatsu always tries to be jolly even when he's hurting inside. Unlike Sano who finds out that Ashiya is actually a girl early in the show, he only finds out about Ashiya's true gender much much later so it's funny seeing him getting attracted to Ashiya while trying to stop himself at the same time. It's just hilarious when he tries to sneak close to Ashiya all the time and he gets reminded that he's "too close" and has to back away.
According to wikipedia, in real life he and Maki are actually very good friends so it shows very well on screen when they're together fooling around or what not. You can just feel real chemistry between the two characters and everything comes out very naturally. For the final episode of the drama when everybody is wishing Ashiya farewell he makes a very moving, emotion filled speech to Ashiya which will bring tears to your eyes.
Not surprisingly he won the best supporting actor award for his role in Hanakimi. He certainly comes out as the better actor as compared to Shun and I think he did a good job.
Conclusion
The Good
- It's something different from the normal, run-of-the-mill romance dramas
- Maki is cute and lovable and does a good job in acting as Ashiya. Gotta love her in the uniform
- The comedy between Ashiya and Nakatsu is hilarious
- The Hibari 4 is funny
- A very good final episode. I'm a sucker for happy endings.
- Drama doesn't drag unnecessarily
- Nice BGM, opening & ending themes.
- Nice scenery and filming locations
The Bad
- Slapstick humor is lame
- Some lesser characters seem redundant
- For guys, if you don't like Maki then there's no reason to watch this drama at all
Overall conclusion
If you're able to ignore the lame slapstick humor and purely focus on the relationship between Ashiya, Sano and Nakatsu, Hanakimi makes a nice romance drama with a twist. Oh yes, did I mention that Maki is cute?
Rating: 8/10
Monday, June 05, 2006
PC Show 2006 Report
Went to the PC Show at Suntec and as usual it was crowded as heck at 1.30pm
Anyways, just some random observations on why HALF of Singapore decides to make their quarterly pilgrimage to Suntec to squeeze into a room with a whole bunch of sweaty and grumpy people.
1) Media Hype - About a week before the show, the newspapers hype up the whole event by telling everybody about all the great bargains you can get at the show etc... So before the first day, everybody is near death with anticipation.
2) The Great Singapore Sale - Fantastic timing, the PC Show is held just when everybody is in the "MUST BUY BECAUSE IT'S THE GSS!!!" mood.
3) Crowds Attract Crowds - It's pretty strange but I find that crowds attract crowds. I'm sure some people went to Suntec not with the intention of buying anything but just followed the crowd to the PC Show to "check it out."
4) Clever Advertising - Not everything at the PC Show is being sold at discounts. They just MAKE you think you're getting a good deal by printing prices on huge neon banners to make you think that you're getting what you're buying at a discount.
5) Girls - What's a skimply clad girl got to do with Epson printers? Don't ask me... I swear some people head to the PC Show just for the girls.
6) Family Outing - Some parents think that pushing their kids in a stroller amongst thousands of people makes a good family outing. For goodness sake, leave your kids at home.
7) Everything Under One Roof - One good thing about such shows is that it's easier to compare pricing / specs of products. Just walk over to another brand's booth to find out more (Providing you manage to actually walk through the crowds though).
8) Brand Competition - As the days wear on, prices start getting slashed and more freebies get thrown in to attract buyers. If you want, you can hang around till one hour before closing to experience the chaos first hand.
9) The Buying Frenzy - When everybody around you is buying something you're somehow urged to buy something as well. Pretty strange.
-----
Tips for surviving similar PC Shows
1) Take leave on a weekday and wait at the door before it opens. Then rush in, do your shopping and get the heck out before the lunch crowd surges in.
2) Leave your kids in strollers at home for goodness sake.
3) Computer accessories (Keyboard, mouse etc...) are probably selling at the same price elsewhere. Not much of a point squeezing in the crowd for small ticket items.
-----
Don't ask me why I wanted to type this all out. I guess I was bored...
Anyways, just some random observations on why HALF of Singapore decides to make their quarterly pilgrimage to Suntec to squeeze into a room with a whole bunch of sweaty and grumpy people.
1) Media Hype - About a week before the show, the newspapers hype up the whole event by telling everybody about all the great bargains you can get at the show etc... So before the first day, everybody is near death with anticipation.
2) The Great Singapore Sale - Fantastic timing, the PC Show is held just when everybody is in the "MUST BUY BECAUSE IT'S THE GSS!!!" mood.
3) Crowds Attract Crowds - It's pretty strange but I find that crowds attract crowds. I'm sure some people went to Suntec not with the intention of buying anything but just followed the crowd to the PC Show to "check it out."
4) Clever Advertising - Not everything at the PC Show is being sold at discounts. They just MAKE you think you're getting a good deal by printing prices on huge neon banners to make you think that you're getting what you're buying at a discount.
5) Girls - What's a skimply clad girl got to do with Epson printers? Don't ask me... I swear some people head to the PC Show just for the girls.
6) Family Outing - Some parents think that pushing their kids in a stroller amongst thousands of people makes a good family outing. For goodness sake, leave your kids at home.
7) Everything Under One Roof - One good thing about such shows is that it's easier to compare pricing / specs of products. Just walk over to another brand's booth to find out more (Providing you manage to actually walk through the crowds though).
8) Brand Competition - As the days wear on, prices start getting slashed and more freebies get thrown in to attract buyers. If you want, you can hang around till one hour before closing to experience the chaos first hand.
9) The Buying Frenzy - When everybody around you is buying something you're somehow urged to buy something as well. Pretty strange.
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Tips for surviving similar PC Shows
1) Take leave on a weekday and wait at the door before it opens. Then rush in, do your shopping and get the heck out before the lunch crowd surges in.
2) Leave your kids in strollers at home for goodness sake.
3) Computer accessories (Keyboard, mouse etc...) are probably selling at the same price elsewhere. Not much of a point squeezing in the crowd for small ticket items.
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Don't ask me why I wanted to type this all out. I guess I was bored...
Saturday, June 03, 2006
JJ's Birthday
Well, yesterday was JJ's 21st birthday! Hooray for the birthday guy, he can finally watch R21 movies LEGALLY now. But I think he's seen a whole lot more than R21 films during the Tokyo trip... hehehe... *wink*
Yeah, so met up with the JCISD folk including Mdm Janis, Mdm Chris & Jia Hui for a buffet dinner to celebrate his birthday and also for Mdm Chris's farewell. (Finally managed to pass Jia Hui her possibly mouldy Hello Kitty sweets we got for her from Japan) It's nice meeting them again, it seemed like I ORD'd so long ago even though it has only been less than 1 month. Imagine I can even forget the current HJCIS name... I must've really did a reformat of my brain or something.
Alright, on to the exciting (nauseating) part, after the dinner, Mdm Janis, Mdm Chris and Zhi Xuan and Jia Hui went home while the rest of us went to have drinks. It was a small pub at Novena Square and the guys ordered jugs of beer. Well, yeah we had a few drinking games and stuff and since I don't like the bitter taste of beer, I thought to myself, "Hey! Why don't I just gulp it down faster so I don't have to taste the darn thing!" Unfortunately, unknown to non-drinkers like me, if you gulp down beer too quick the after effects hit ya like a brick later on. So, 3 glasses of beer later the world starts spinning, I'm feeling sick, I can't stop grinning and I can't walk straight. (Jia Hui I KNOW you're laughing ok!!!) I feel like puking at the Novena Square toilet but somehow I can't. I can remember JJ puking and downing a vodca shot. I half expected him to faint in the MRT train or something... But heck, you only turn 21 ONCE in your life man. I can't remember what I did for my 21st birthday, it must've been something uneventful because I can't remember it in the first place!
Yeah, so everybody heads back home or to club or something and I stagger to the main road to get a cab. Mr Mak accompanies me in the cab back to my place (thanks Mr Mak) and I stagger up to my room past my mum who's up late watching Korean dramas again and collapse onto my bed.
Fast forward to about 2am. I wake up with a throbbing headache and a generally sick feeling. I toss and turn on my bed and all of a sudden I get the urge to puke and rush to the toilet. Thinking that the worst is over I take two penadols and try to sleep, puking round 2 comes. That's it, I don't dare to take anymore penadols and try to ease my headache with ice cubes. I think I must've knocked out again because it's 9am when I next came to. What a night eh? Ahahah... well I guess everybody's gotta experience getting wasted. Well, I guess Jia Hui would say that my experience was nothing though... hehe...
So after that night, note to self: Don't drink too fast!!!
Note: I'm not blaming anybody in this post. I had fun hanging out with you guys... I just drank too much that's all. Peace!
Yeah, so met up with the JCISD folk including Mdm Janis, Mdm Chris & Jia Hui for a buffet dinner to celebrate his birthday and also for Mdm Chris's farewell. (Finally managed to pass Jia Hui her possibly mouldy Hello Kitty sweets we got for her from Japan) It's nice meeting them again, it seemed like I ORD'd so long ago even though it has only been less than 1 month. Imagine I can even forget the current HJCIS name... I must've really did a reformat of my brain or something.
Alright, on to the exciting (nauseating) part, after the dinner, Mdm Janis, Mdm Chris and Zhi Xuan and Jia Hui went home while the rest of us went to have drinks. It was a small pub at Novena Square and the guys ordered jugs of beer. Well, yeah we had a few drinking games and stuff and since I don't like the bitter taste of beer, I thought to myself, "Hey! Why don't I just gulp it down faster so I don't have to taste the darn thing!" Unfortunately, unknown to non-drinkers like me, if you gulp down beer too quick the after effects hit ya like a brick later on. So, 3 glasses of beer later the world starts spinning, I'm feeling sick, I can't stop grinning and I can't walk straight. (Jia Hui I KNOW you're laughing ok!!!) I feel like puking at the Novena Square toilet but somehow I can't. I can remember JJ puking and downing a vodca shot. I half expected him to faint in the MRT train or something... But heck, you only turn 21 ONCE in your life man. I can't remember what I did for my 21st birthday, it must've been something uneventful because I can't remember it in the first place!
Yeah, so everybody heads back home or to club or something and I stagger to the main road to get a cab. Mr Mak accompanies me in the cab back to my place (thanks Mr Mak) and I stagger up to my room past my mum who's up late watching Korean dramas again and collapse onto my bed.
Fast forward to about 2am. I wake up with a throbbing headache and a generally sick feeling. I toss and turn on my bed and all of a sudden I get the urge to puke and rush to the toilet. Thinking that the worst is over I take two penadols and try to sleep, puking round 2 comes. That's it, I don't dare to take anymore penadols and try to ease my headache with ice cubes. I think I must've knocked out again because it's 9am when I next came to. What a night eh? Ahahah... well I guess everybody's gotta experience getting wasted. Well, I guess Jia Hui would say that my experience was nothing though... hehe...
So after that night, note to self: Don't drink too fast!!!
Note: I'm not blaming anybody in this post. I had fun hanging out with you guys... I just drank too much that's all. Peace!
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Tokyo Trip Photos Uploaded!
My Tokyo Trip photos have finally been uploaded! Check it out at the link below!
Uploaded the pics to a new website as the old one kept shutting down due to bandwidth overload issues
http://p7m13.xoompages.com/tokyo.htm
Uploaded the pics to a new website as the old one kept shutting down due to bandwidth overload issues
http://p7m13.xoompages.com/tokyo.htm
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Japan Observations
Hmmm... since JJ (www.chenjj.blogspot.com) is already doing a detailed rundown of our Tokyo trip, I'll proceed to blog about interesting things I noticed when I was there.
1) Schoolkids - They seem to be everywhere at any time of the day. In shops, game arcades (nobody stops them)... everywhere! Even on weekends! It makes me wonder whether they ever attend school in the first place. On weekends, they probably wear their school uniforms for the fun of it! Can't blame them though, they have really nice uniforms... and yes, their skirts can get dangerously short too. Some even sport dyed long hair and painted nails. Perhaps they have much lax school rules than here?
2) Vending Machines - They have drink vending machines all over the place so you'll never get thristy. Unfortunately, drink prices start at about S$1.70. Expensive! They also have vending machines for beer and cigarettes. Talk about easy access.
3) UFO Catcher Machines - Unlike the Singapore ones where they make sure that you never ever get any of the prizes, the ones in Japan are much easier to win stuff. I even saw some people ask the arcade attendants to place the prizes nearer the prize deposit "hole." Naturally, they make the smaller prizes easier to get than the large ones. I have no idea how people get the large prizes but it IS possible.
4) People flood - People are just everywhere in Tokyo, during lunch or dinner time there's an almost neverending stream of people entering the various eateries. Streets are still crowded at 9pm and department stores and shops are somehow always crowded even on weekdays.
5) Expensive Japan - Things in Japan are generally expensive. A cheap meal would cost about 500 YEN which is about S$7.00 But after awhile your brain starts telling you that 500 YEN is pretty cheap for a meal and 120 YEN is a reasonable price for a Coke. I have a feeling that to the Japanese, 100 YEN is equivalent to $1... I saw someone at a store piling 1000 YEN t-shirts into his shopping basket. I guess that's cheap considering the average t-shirt goes for about 3000 YEN.
6) Kinky Cosplay - Nobody bats an eyelid at flier distributers dressed in French Maid outfits. Pachinko (The Japanese gambling game which is kind of the equivalent of pinball) parlor attendants sometimes wear French Maid outfits or School Uniforms and it's perfectly OK. It's time Singapore should stop being so conservative...
7) Adult Products - Adult stores can consist of 7 floors stocking adult DVDs of any genre you can imagine. If you're not looking for adult products they'd find you... they're everywhere!
8) Carrefour Japan - The Japanese equivalent of Carrefour sells French Maid outfits, school uniforms, adult DVDs and adult products. Way cool! :D
9) Anime Attack - Anime is really really really big in Japan... Akihabara is full of stores selling nothing but anime related products and comics.
10) The More Workers The Merrier - It takes two eldery traffic cops with light sticks and loud hailers to guide pedestrain traffic across a one lane street! And they were really enthusiastic about their job too!
What takes the cake was when I saw 6 traffic cops put in charge of directing cars out of a car park. 1 would wave the car out of the carpark, 4 would stop pedestrains from walking into the path of the car (there weren't any pedestrains around at that time!) and 1 would make sure the coast would be clear before allowing the car to join the main road.
I guess when they've got nothing to do... they find something to do!
11) Teach Your Kids Gambling - Arcades have certain sections dedicated to pachinko, slot machines and black jack machines. The only catch is that you can only use game tokens to play and there's no way of exchanging any tokens you've won into cash or prizes. So what's the point of playing? I have no idea... Parents are welcome to bring their kids in to play though.
12) Remove Your Shoes Please - You have to remove your shoes before entering a fitting room. We also had to remove our shoes before entering our hotel. Perhaps this is only practised in more traditional Japanese hotels?
13) Cutesy Is In - Japanese are the king of cute, go into a Japanese toy store and they'll have all these extremely cute and cuddly soft toys begging you to buy them. You can't help but feel all mushy inside when you stare at them too much.
Japanese girls almost always have cutesy voices. Is it their natural voice or are they speaking like that on purpose? Cute is nice....
14) Birds of a Feather Flock Together - People of the same fashion style hang out together. The hip-hoppers hang out with similarly dressed people. The hippies hang out with the hippies and so on and so forth...
15) Forever Silent Mode - Come to think of it, I have not heard a single handphone ringtone in Japan. People are always glued to their phones but I've never heard them ring. Perhaps it's because the announcer over the train is constantly reminding people to keep their phones on silent and to refrain from talking on their phones.
16) Irrashaimase and Arigato Gozaimasu - Enter any shop (Even and adult shop) and the shop attendants will greet you with a loud "IRRASHAIMASE" (Welcome!) I felt pretty strange at first but somehow got used to it. In fact, once we went to someplace for dinner and we weren't greeted it felt strange. I don't think it was just us as the cooks didn't greet anybody else that came in after us either.
Make a purchase from anyplace and you're thanked with a small nod and "Arigato Gozaimasu!" (Thank You).
17) Valet Parking - Valet parking means that you leave your car in an elevator and it'd somehow park your car for you.
18) It's Raining - We were at Harajuku when it started raining and people started buying 500 YEN (S$7) umbrellas from this store as fast as the store attendant could restock the shelves. Madness...
Hmmmm that's all I can think of for now... will upload the pictures later...
1) Schoolkids - They seem to be everywhere at any time of the day. In shops, game arcades (nobody stops them)... everywhere! Even on weekends! It makes me wonder whether they ever attend school in the first place. On weekends, they probably wear their school uniforms for the fun of it! Can't blame them though, they have really nice uniforms... and yes, their skirts can get dangerously short too. Some even sport dyed long hair and painted nails. Perhaps they have much lax school rules than here?
2) Vending Machines - They have drink vending machines all over the place so you'll never get thristy. Unfortunately, drink prices start at about S$1.70. Expensive! They also have vending machines for beer and cigarettes. Talk about easy access.
3) UFO Catcher Machines - Unlike the Singapore ones where they make sure that you never ever get any of the prizes, the ones in Japan are much easier to win stuff. I even saw some people ask the arcade attendants to place the prizes nearer the prize deposit "hole." Naturally, they make the smaller prizes easier to get than the large ones. I have no idea how people get the large prizes but it IS possible.
4) People flood - People are just everywhere in Tokyo, during lunch or dinner time there's an almost neverending stream of people entering the various eateries. Streets are still crowded at 9pm and department stores and shops are somehow always crowded even on weekdays.
5) Expensive Japan - Things in Japan are generally expensive. A cheap meal would cost about 500 YEN which is about S$7.00 But after awhile your brain starts telling you that 500 YEN is pretty cheap for a meal and 120 YEN is a reasonable price for a Coke. I have a feeling that to the Japanese, 100 YEN is equivalent to $1... I saw someone at a store piling 1000 YEN t-shirts into his shopping basket. I guess that's cheap considering the average t-shirt goes for about 3000 YEN.
6) Kinky Cosplay - Nobody bats an eyelid at flier distributers dressed in French Maid outfits. Pachinko (The Japanese gambling game which is kind of the equivalent of pinball) parlor attendants sometimes wear French Maid outfits or School Uniforms and it's perfectly OK. It's time Singapore should stop being so conservative...
7) Adult Products - Adult stores can consist of 7 floors stocking adult DVDs of any genre you can imagine. If you're not looking for adult products they'd find you... they're everywhere!
8) Carrefour Japan - The Japanese equivalent of Carrefour sells French Maid outfits, school uniforms, adult DVDs and adult products. Way cool! :D
9) Anime Attack - Anime is really really really big in Japan... Akihabara is full of stores selling nothing but anime related products and comics.
10) The More Workers The Merrier - It takes two eldery traffic cops with light sticks and loud hailers to guide pedestrain traffic across a one lane street! And they were really enthusiastic about their job too!
What takes the cake was when I saw 6 traffic cops put in charge of directing cars out of a car park. 1 would wave the car out of the carpark, 4 would stop pedestrains from walking into the path of the car (there weren't any pedestrains around at that time!) and 1 would make sure the coast would be clear before allowing the car to join the main road.
I guess when they've got nothing to do... they find something to do!
11) Teach Your Kids Gambling - Arcades have certain sections dedicated to pachinko, slot machines and black jack machines. The only catch is that you can only use game tokens to play and there's no way of exchanging any tokens you've won into cash or prizes. So what's the point of playing? I have no idea... Parents are welcome to bring their kids in to play though.
12) Remove Your Shoes Please - You have to remove your shoes before entering a fitting room. We also had to remove our shoes before entering our hotel. Perhaps this is only practised in more traditional Japanese hotels?
13) Cutesy Is In - Japanese are the king of cute, go into a Japanese toy store and they'll have all these extremely cute and cuddly soft toys begging you to buy them. You can't help but feel all mushy inside when you stare at them too much.
Japanese girls almost always have cutesy voices. Is it their natural voice or are they speaking like that on purpose? Cute is nice....
14) Birds of a Feather Flock Together - People of the same fashion style hang out together. The hip-hoppers hang out with similarly dressed people. The hippies hang out with the hippies and so on and so forth...
15) Forever Silent Mode - Come to think of it, I have not heard a single handphone ringtone in Japan. People are always glued to their phones but I've never heard them ring. Perhaps it's because the announcer over the train is constantly reminding people to keep their phones on silent and to refrain from talking on their phones.
16) Irrashaimase and Arigato Gozaimasu - Enter any shop (Even and adult shop) and the shop attendants will greet you with a loud "IRRASHAIMASE" (Welcome!) I felt pretty strange at first but somehow got used to it. In fact, once we went to someplace for dinner and we weren't greeted it felt strange. I don't think it was just us as the cooks didn't greet anybody else that came in after us either.
Make a purchase from anyplace and you're thanked with a small nod and "Arigato Gozaimasu!" (Thank You).
17) Valet Parking - Valet parking means that you leave your car in an elevator and it'd somehow park your car for you.
18) It's Raining - We were at Harajuku when it started raining and people started buying 500 YEN (S$7) umbrellas from this store as fast as the store attendant could restock the shelves. Madness...
Hmmmm that's all I can think of for now... will upload the pictures later...
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