Fifty five cents.

Today, I decided to go for a jog/brisk walk around the neighbourhood, instead of staying at home and doing the following: 

• Surfing Thai’s English online newspaper, The Nation
• Surfing Jaben forums and poisoning myself till my pockets run dry
• Surfing Trip Advisor/Zuji/Priceline/Pricebreakers and thinking of alternate locations to replace the cancelled Bangkok trip
• Surfing HWZ
• Playing Duels
• Watching old Christmas movies, and lamenting over the fact that there’s only one Christmas movie for this season – Four Christmases. I wonder why Marley & I is only released in January. I so want to catch that. 

It was a good break from the norm routine for the day, and I went jogging around the neighbourhood, bringing my Beyer out for the first time. The SX10 lived up to its expectations of being sufficiently open for me to be well aware of the surroundings, considering no cars honked at me, unlike the last time when I was nearly knocked down right outside school while listening to my Aurvanas. That was quite a while back. The SX10 also brought out the bass and the beats for the hard and fast songs, with songs like 我的麥克風 pumping in the background. I’m really happy with the purchase. Teehee. 

Along the way, I realised that there weren’t as many joggers as compared to the usual weekdays. Probably everyone is out with family doing something meaningful and fun on a weekend Sunday. Regretted not bringing 黑仔out for a photoshoot around the neighbourhood – there were so many things to shoot – of families walking along the roads together towards their destination, the traffic around the neighbourhood, the clear skies and birds flying back home to their nests. Plus the light was just right. Dang I really should have brought him out for the walk as well. 

Something interesting happened while I was on my way home. When I left the house, I only left with my zen on armband, Beyer and a $1 coin, just in case I wanted to buy a drink to quench my thirst. As expected, when I was on my way home, I stopped by one of the neighbourhood clusters to get a drink from 7-Eleven. Looking for just plain mineral water, I was expecting to be able to get it at 7-Eleven, since it was just plain mineral water.

I was severely disappointed. 

A bottle of plain water that was not cooled in the fridge costs $1.30 at 7-Eleven, way out of my budget of a small golden $1 coin. When I asked the service staff at the counter if they had any alternatives, she simply shrugged and said there wasn’t any. I was a little appalled, until her supervisor rebuked her and asked her to go to the back and check. When she came back, she came back with the same $1.30 option. 

Thirsty and irritated, I left the store and started hunting down the neighbourhood shops. Then I find a very lonely can of H20 sitting in the far corner, with a large price tag pasted on the freezer that said fifty-five cents. For that amount of money, I definitely could not buy anything from the convenience store that populates our small island, not even plain mineral water. 

Very thankful for the appearance of that lonely can, I grabbed it, paid it with forty five cents of change in my pocket, and finished it off while I slowly walked home. 

This says something about our reliance on our island wide convenience stores, doesn’t it. I’ll leave you to do your own conclusion. 

 

With audio salvation in mind, I contemplate getting a entry level pair of cans. It has always been a dream of mine to get a pair of headphones, and walk down the streets listening to them. Am eyeing the Audio Technica models, but more research has to be done, and more time has to be put between my recent 2 purchases of earphones within the span of 3 weeks. 

So many headphones, one pair of ears.

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Laptops

Time to get a new laptop for the new year, new purposes and new challenges. With that, I’m actually getting a headache over choosing of laptops, and having to decide if I want to get them in time at Sitex, or just get it at Funan and take my own sweet time, or get it next year in school. 

Ponders. 

Toshiba Portege R500

This looks sinfully delightful as it weighs a mere 1.03kg, has an optical drive and has enough juice to run the things I would love to run off, with videos, music and light gaming (like really light gaming). The price is the drawback to it, at $2539 w/o gst. 

Asus F6! 

The Asus F6 is something that caught my eye while I was doing some laptop research, it’s pretty, it’s an Asus laptop, and it’s below 2kg! Not too sure about the price though, but it should be below $2000, I think. Read on HWZ that the battery life stinks, so that’s the drawback to it too. 

Asus F8!

This looks pretty good, and its going for $1798 at Sitex, with a WD 160GB portable HDD thrown in as well! The only problem with this, is that it is 2.5kg heavy with battery. After my Thinkpad, I think I’m kinda done with lugging dead weight around. Notice there are 2 Asus laptops – I just have a thing for them. Enough of the Dells, the Lenovos and Fujitsus. Hurhur. 

Choices and decisions – they are just so tiring. 

Not to mention, now I need to crack my brain on alternate travel locations. 

What say you about the laptops above? 

Going at this rate, this blog might just end up as a tech blog instead of anything else about me. Eeeeeps. 

 

Irritated.

With the cancellation of Bangkok trip, the wireless keyboard screwing up on me, I’m irritated, grouchy, cranky and tired. 

Now the new logitech keyboard has to have its esc key not working. 

How smart.

 

Edit: And I contemplate on getting the Asus F8 for the new year – its pretty, and its darn good for potential gaming purposes [that, in effect, should be a side purpose]. Extremely tempted, especially when Sitex is throwing in a WD 250 portable HDD for free – that is going at $130SGD. They look decently pretty too. 

Contemplates on going down to Sitex again – and if I do go down, I’ll change my silly keyboard with its esc key spoilt. But the person directed me to either SLS or Paya Lebar. Hums.

Bangkok.

Pleasepleasepleaseplease open up the airport by Friday pretty please. 

I spent the entire day reading and re-reading news reports on the current situation in Bangkok, and hoping really hard that everything would resume back to normal, like all other travellers who are going to Bangkok within this week. 

Hell I’m leaving on Saturday and I was looking forward to it! Can they pleasepleaseplease be nice to me? Urgh. 

I do really want to go shopping – and Roo is already there! 

Hums. 

Oh yes, people have been reading today and I wonder who. Readership had an increased spike, but I haven’t exactly released this place for full public access – unless of course, you stumbled here through my tags. 

 

On a side note – I spy myself in the picture trying on the Westone 3! Though this wasn’t exactly the picture I was looking for. 

See me? I spy Brandon too! 

I spent the entire night yesterday shifting songs into my player, so that I can test out the really boomy and bassy ones. Now, 精舞門 sounds absolutely perfect. Though sometimes some songs got a little muddy, but I might need to drive my earphones bit more. 

 

Please, let the military press meeting work a miracle out, and appease the protestors. 

I hate to sound bimbotic, but I want my shopping – if not the next thing you’d know, I’d be splurging at Sitex. I’m trying to not entice myself by going there, but the Sennheisers IE8 is supposed to be good, some forumers even said they preferred it to the W3! 

Help. 

Fiio E3!

Presenting the Fiio E3! 

Remember I mentioned yesterday about stealing the E3 from Brandon (or rather, he insists he gave it to me), I finally had a go at it with my rig consisting of my classic baby and Westone Um1, and it significantly improved the bass, giving it more body to the music as a whole, and making it more dynamic. Alot of things jumped out, without you having to listen to it closely when you feel like disecting the music. 

Metallica and Linkin Park sounds so much better with the Fiio, and even my jazz pieces feel more alive, with songs from Buble and Frank Sinatra. Hard thumping pop music by Nsync sounds so much more right as well! Previously with the unamped UM1, and the basic Aurvanas, the clarity was present, but the bass was lacking. You don’t know it until you listen to it. 

It’s like rediscovering your music library once again – I am so tempted to get a line out amplifier now, say the .22 or the Martini. Holy cow, this is a very expensive hobby, even more so when I spend alot of time reading the forums and trying to school myself in the new world of earphones, drivers, amplifiers and the likes of all. 

For now, I can’t bear to take out my UM1s, I’m still soaking in the bassy alive feel brought about by Fiio E3. I would honestly recommend readers to get it, to give your source some boost and make listening a very guilty pleasure. The E3 is pretty cheap – so why not just give it a try? 

On a side note, it is said that the E5 is coming out before Christmas, it is supposedly able to drive earphones that are harder to drive – I might consider one if the price is right, and return the E3 to Brandon, the basshead. 

Hell I’m more of a basshead than I knew myself to be! 

Westone 3!

It is finally here! 

By a stroke of luck, I got to audition this babelicious item when I dropped by Jaben with Brandon today, partly because he wanted to get a pair of earphones and I wanted to get my running earphones. Bought myself a pair of Beyer SX10 because the bass sounded decent, and it was behind the head, so it will stay in the ears properly as I attempt to convince the body to leave the bed and make a run, or two. 

Good quality music always act as decent motivation to go exercise, be it the gym or on the roads. It sounds terribly wrong eh, using music as a source of motivation to go work out. 

The focal point of this entry, is actually the Westone 3. 

I actually went to Jaben today, not because of the Westone 3, even though I had some inkling that it was coming in this week, or last week. I would have killed myself over and over had I left Jaben without auditioning the triple driver, whose arrival has cooked up a storm in the Jaben forums. 

Uncle actually reminded me, if I wanted to audition this godly pair, and the boys of Jaben had to surrender one precious pair for me to get poisoned, infinite times over. I’m serious, the music signature of this pair of earphones, unamped, was lush and warm. The bass was significantly better than my UM1s, which can sound flat occasionally, you can hear the punchier feel of the music, which is sorely lacking in my UM1, but I can live with that. The vocals are clear, smooth and they simply draw you towards your music, so the mids are awesomeeee – it helps a hell lot especially if you are listening to jazz pieces, like Buble and Olstead. The highs, are typically clear, my UM1 is real good with that too, and it feels just so good listening to the Westone 3! 

To be really frank and honest, if I had the budget, I would have gotten the Westone 3 on the spot – place my reservation and deposit and all. However, I don’t – and I just spent money on my UM1! My hands have been terribly itchy ever since I introduced myself to Jaben and the likes of earphones. Managed to steal Brandon’s Fiio amp because he didn’t want extra stuff hanging all around his player, and I wanted to try and increase the bass on my UM1, even though I’ve read that the UM1 doesn’t respond much to amping. I want to try a basic rig before I contemplate buying the .22 or the Martini. Teach my ears to distinguish the difference before I invest heavily into the world of earphones and the likes. 

I have too many un-girl things on my wishlist, I’m starting to feel like a guy. 

The shopping trip to Bangkok over this weekend should do me some good – give me back a little balance and remind me that excess clothes, bags and shoes in the wardrobe will do me good. Now I have 2 pairs of earphones, one for daily use and one for exercise use. Would loveeee to have a pair of over-the-head cans for home usage as well! I think my mum would kill me if she knew that I went to buy another pair of earphones today. Urgh. 

I want my picture with THE Westone 3! But I have no idea who took the picture, because I don’t know his name. Now I’ll just have to watch out for my picture popping out on the forums, if he puts it there. Plus, I got to take a picture with uncle Wilson! Now I would loveee to have that picture. BEAMS. 

Will somebody please get me a pair of Westone 3 for christmas? 

 

Today’s time out with Brandon was good fun, talking about his love life over the lack of mine, and just simple pure catching up! Checking out earphones, introducing him and getting him poisoned, making him make decisions over small things today – I’d say it was nice quality time spent! He had better enjoy his Bijou 3 – we definitely spent a while for him to get the right pair of earphones for himself. I took a faster time than he did, I just had to decide between the iGrados and the Beyer SX10. The wires for the SX10 looks a little flimsy – I sure hope it lasts! 

If it doesn’t, that just gives me more reason to pop by Jaben anyway! hahahah! 

 

Fine – I know I’m rather mad, please don’t remind me. 

Text

…. A growing bambi-eyed zombie like you needs her protein!

Next time I bring you out to eat k? Honeyed brains =D

Hilarious! Friggin hilarious. I nearly fell off my chair when I saw the first one. 

NB: Insider joke.

Pillowtalk

A: I got carried away buying new pillows! Bought a new pillow to resolve the neckache problem. Hee.
B: Hahahaha got a new pillow then? 
A: Yeaps! Nice big bouncy pillow. Cuz I told the person I wanted hotel pillow hahaha! 
B: =D What brand?
A: Haha I have no idea.. But we bought it at Tom&Stephanie..
B: Big and fluffy pillow, made of? =)
A: Good question, I have no onions! I just told her I wanted hotel pillow. Hee.
B: Ooh. I bet mine’s more comfortable than yours. =D 
A: Why?!? Mine is hotel pillow!
B: Mine you can sink sleep.. =D
A: But mine can bounce!
B: But mine’s softer… And it doesn’t trap heat
A: Mine also can! Mine is also soft! I’m sinking into it now! 
B: LOL we’re bickering over a pillow… But mine guarantee won’t trap heat =D 

 

Why were they comparing their pillows? One only wonders. ^^

Gabon

tonight has been hilarious! 

It must be the funniest, and most fantastic episode in this season thus far. I rewatched two scenes twice, and the first time I watched both scenes, my jaw simply dropped and I started laughing like mad, to myself, in my own room. 

How delightful. Too bad WH isn’t online to indulge in these hilarious moments with me. Hums. 

Firstly, we had Randy offering a plate of cookies which he bidded for the tribe, to the whole tribe during the auction challenge. There was obvious animosity between Sugar and Randy, so when Randy offered the plate of cookies to Sugar, Sugar declined. After going one round, and only having one cookie left, Randy offered it to Sugar again, which he said in his words later at Tribal, “was to test Sugar”, Sugar took the very last remaining cookie and gave it to Matty. Thus leaving Randy with none. None, yes none. You read me absolutely right.

When I watched that scene, I was pointing at the screen madly and saying, “You ROCK, Bitch!” 

If I had plates of food, I would have offered them to Sugar via the screen there and then. I know I’m quite mad. 

We fast forward to the next scene. Randy knew he was going out tonight because everyone hated him to the core. So he (or rather, Corrinne) assumed that Bob had the HII, and asked him for it. Bob gave him his fake HII instead, because Sugar asked him to! We all know Sugar has the HII, in fact, half the tribe knows that the HII is with Sugar, so that simply pointed us in the direction of a hilarious night at Tribal. 

During Tribal, when Jeff asked his weekly question of If anyone has the HII, it’s time to show it now, a very smug Randy took out the made-by-Bob fake HII and passed it to Jeff. Corrinne was so proud of herself, she winked at Charlie and Marcus on the Jury, whilst the old Fong + Suzie were trying SO BAD to control/mute their laughter, except for Sugar of course who laughed out loud. 

He, Randy, who thought he had the power to master a blindslide, got blindslided himself. He became the clown for the night instead, and was fodder for entertainment. 

 

OMG FREAKING FUNNY. Seriously. 

This season started off really slow, but tonight just reminded me of the classic episodes of Survivor that I’ve watched, like how Yau-man took on the 4 Horsemen and they were all picked off one by one, and many others. 

Give me my full fleged bitchified Survivor back! WHeee!