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While in Singapore Telephone Fault in Singapore25 Dec 2007This happened today on Christmas Eve (Dec 24th 2007), well, it's yesterday now since it's after midnight. I got a call on the cell. (Cell Phone Ring. Caller Number: "Unknown") "Hello." I answered. "May I speak to Bill Hung?" A guy said. "This is Bill Hung." "This is from StarHub." (note: StarHub is the local Internet and Phone provider) "Hello StarHub." "This is a reminder for your StarHub payment." "My StarHub? What about it?" "Well, you have 2 months overdues." "Really? How come I didn't get any bills?" "Well. Let me check your address. Can I have your IC?" (note: IC = Singaporean ID card) "Er... I am not sure I should give that out on the phone." "Oh..." "You have a StarHub shop or something, right?" "Yeah, we have it at Tampines, VivoCity ... " "What floor was it on, I mean the StarHub shop, at Tampines... Tampines Mall." "It's on the ground floor." "Ok, I will go to the StarHub shop and settle this." "Can you pay by the 27th?" "I will get it settled today." "Ok. Thanks." Then we hung up. When I went to the StarHub shop at Tampines Mall on the SECOND floor around 1pm. I showed the staff my Employment Pass, and asked, Bill"How much remaining balance do I have?" StarHub Staff: (typed on the computer, and answered) "You don't have any remaining balance." Bill:"Wow. Then what was the phone call I got this morning? Do you call customers if I didn't pay for 2 months?" StarHub Staff: "We will send you letters, we won't call you." Well, I guess I am learning more about Singapore than I ever wanted to know. The Tenth Christmas Gift Exchange25 Dec 2007There was a Christmas gift exchange at my company. There were 41 people. My gifts kept being snatched by others, and I was lucky enough to pick 9 presents, and they were:
And I was only supposed to pick a present one time.
Everyone was laughing. At the end of the day, I ended up with a USB-powered Laptop Cooling Pad, without the USB cable. Later, one of my colleagues gave me the original receipt, and told me I could exchange my gift (minus the cable) with a local electronic chain store called Court. The gift was bought from the Court at Woodland (North of Singapore), but I chose to go to the Court at Tampines (East of Singapore) that was closer to my house. My original plan was: Get a Voucher from Court, then give the gift voucher to some random kids. However, when I was at Court, the staff told me they don't have the Laptop Cooling Pad in stock, and I could get my refund. I felt strange. "So~ you don't have like gift vouchers or somthing?" I asked. "Well, not really." The staff answered. I suddenly realize, unlike Yodobashi Camera in Japan, Court in Singapore doesn't have a sophiticated voucher system. And unlike Fry's Electronics in the US, Court's staff wouldn't let me stand in line for my refund. Instead, the Court staff lined up for my refund while I walked around. So, all of a sudden, I ended up with Cash. I started with S$14.95 and bought a Hello Kitty Candy Box for the Christmas exchange, and after my tenth "Gift Exchanges" with Court, I ended up with $16.90. Sound like a good deal. S$14.95=>S$16.90, what a arbitrage opportunity. Now, what do I want to use the money for? At the end of the day, every person who was selling charity stickers near the Tampines MRT got more coins in their cans. (Bill walked up to a girl who was selling charity stickers) Bill: "Hi!" Girl: "Hello." (Bill put coins into the can) Girl (With a Great Smile on her face and stickers on her can): "Thanks, just take one ..." (Girl saw the other 4 stickers on Bill) Girl: "Er... do you still want another sticker?" Bill: "Of Course!" (Bill snatched another sticker from the girl and walked away) So using the S$16.90 I got from the Tenth Gift Exchange, I got what I really wanted: Genuine Smiles and Laughters from innocent souls (Pirated?) DVD Industries in Malaysia/Singapore25 Dec 2007I bought 100 DVD at Johor Bahru in Malaysia. They deliver 100 DVDs for 7 Ringgit each (1 Ringgit is S$2.3, S$1.5=US$1). If you don't need delivery to Singapore, the DVDs are 5 Ringgits each. But you risk being fined when you cross the Malaysian/Singapore boarder. The quality of the (pirated?) DVDs from Johor Bahru was very good, compared to the ones from Mumbai, India or from Hong Kong. They were also selling some "more interesting" DVDs for 12 ringgits each. They even have some pocket size DVDs for easy-carry to Singapore. After some discounts, altogether I paid 732 ringgits for 100 DVDs with delivery to Singapore. I paid 332 ringgits for the DVDs on Dec 15th, 2007, and the delivery was at a place between Tampines Mall and the Tampines MRT on Dec 20th 2007 at 4:40pm from a Motorbike (or motorcycle). The whole thing took 5 days for the delivery, and they promised the delivery was within one week. Most of the DVDs were very good, but I had a couple DVDs didn't play at all. Those "more interesting" korean films were nightmares. The korean DVD movie covers were not matching the contents of the DVDs. But the "more interesting" Japanese DVDs were fine. The regular DVDs were also okay. Go-Kart Injuries Brief LogDec 1st, 2007 I went to JB (Johor Bahru), Malaysia for the Go-Kart. JB is in Malaysia, and it is the nearest city to Singapore. This Go-Kart trip with a group called KartingEdge cost S$88.8, including lunch, snacks, magazines, and transportation. I was one of the fastest Kart that day with the best time at 57.85s, with Kart number 17. Less than 1 second away from the fastest kart. My picture was taken for the magazine advertisement. Everything could went wrong, went wrong. In the first couple warm up laps, I experienced spinning 180 degrees, spun off to the grass, crashed into someone who was spinning and my bumper fell off, and overheat the engine. When the engine overheat, something from the engine flew off and hit my right forearm. I was left with 2 major cuts on my forearm and I was bleeding for a while. My wound was covered with kerosene. It was Kart number 3. At the actual timed laps, it got worst. I was making a turn at maximum speed, someone came and hit me sideways. I was thrown off my kart and hit the tires next to the track, more than 10 tires fell off. The only thing I remember was my head hit the tires. I bounced back to the ground. "Are you Okay? Are you Okay?" the staff asked me. I couldn't speak a word. My chest hurt, my jeans were torn at my butt, and my shoes were gone. Later, I found my shoes couple meters away from me, and I walked back to the resting area. At the end of the day, I was told the wheel of my kart fell off, and I need to pay 80 ringgit (1 Malaysian Ringgit is US$0.2975) for the damage. My injuries can be summaried like this: P.S. I crashed kart #17, one wheel fell off.
Stupid SMS Brief Log (Email)28 Nov 2007(The bottom email is the earliest) From: Bill Hung Sent: Wed 2007/11/28 6:33 To: Lennie Lee; Suet Yee Tan; Eu Gene Goh; Peter Floyd Salinas; Choy Wah Chan; Tho La Subject: RE: Stupid SMS Brief Log Short Story =========== Good News. Seems like there's still hope for Zouk Out with JC girls. Long Story =========== I am trying to write myself a blog again. All these articles will appear on billhung.net after this year. So this is what happened. I tried to send this SMS to "miss November" (a girl I met at a pub called Balaclava), but I sent the SMS to the wrong person. I sent it to Danni, a girl I have been dating, instead. Jia Lat!("severe to a great extent" according to singlishdictionary.com) The SMS message went, "Hey, miss November. This is the Bill u met at balaclava. Going anywere this Friday?" I thought this stupid SMS is the end of Danni and me. (sad) But hours later, I got this SMS from Danni: "I sat got exam.so fRiday at home be gd gal.haha.everything is aft my exam." Nice, she didn't realize I was asking another girl out. So I went along: "Ok. Good luck with your exam then. See u in the christmas month, miss December." And later I got a pleasant reply, "Heh.sure.diz few days rainin heavily pls take care hor=)" Thank God I didn't have to lie and didn't hurt anyone. Maybe I should start calling all girls "sunshine" or "sweetie". And I should send enough SMS to danni so her phone run out of memory and erase my first stupid SMS. Bill Hung -----Original Message----- From: Lennie Lee Sent: Tue 2007/11/27 20:11 To: Bill Hung; Suet Yee Tan; Eu Gene Goh; Peter Floyd Salinas; Choy Wah Chan; Tho La Subject: RE: Stupid SMS I only heard of the saying.the truth hurts.. Little lies won't kill anyone..haha well seriously depends on what u msg Ms Nov Best regards, Lennie Lee Xilinx Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. Office No.:(+65)6407-3219 XAP Internal .: (861) 3219 ______________________________ From: Bill Hung Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 12:01 PM To: Lennie Lee; Suet Yee Tan; Eu Gene Goh; Peter Floyd Salinas; Choy Wah Chan; Tho La Subject: RE: Stupid SMS Would Danni be happier if I lie? Well, I have been SMSing Danni quite often lately, so sending out an SMS only requires my cerebellum. Didn't pay enough attention. Bill ______________________________ From: Lennie Lee Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 11:58 AM To: Bill Hung; Suet Yee Tan; Eu Gene Goh; Peter Floyd Salinas; Choy Wah Chan; Tho La Subject: RE: Stupid SMS Haha Bill.u kill me.how can u make such mistakes? Did Danni reply? Surely with your charms..u can figure a way out to lying and btw what did u email to Ms Nov which could have been so drastic? Best regards, Lennie Lee Xilinx Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. Office No.:(+65)6407-3219 XAP Internal .: (861) 3219 ______________________________ From: Bill Hung Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 11:05 AM To: Lennie Lee; Suet Yee Tan; Eu Gene Goh; Peter Floyd Salinas; Choy Wah Chan; Tho La Subject: Stupid SMS Bad News. I was trying to send a SMS to Miss November (some girl I met last weekend), but I sent the SMS to Danni instead. This is the most stupid thing I have done. Looks like there will be no more JC girls for our Zouk Out trip. Bill Bowling and Balaclava Brief Log (Drugs in Singapore)24 Nov 2007
Zouk Out and Danni22 Nov 2007From: Bill Hung Sent: Thursday, November 22, 2007 11:14 PM To: Shane Campbell; Lennie Lee; Suet Yee Tan; Choy Wah Chan; Peter Floyd Salinas Subject: Zouk Out and Danni Hi Gents, Good News. My "friend", Danni, agreed to ask her friends to go to Zouk Out with us. She will get back to us sometime next week. Notice this would be a all-or-nothing situation, because she doesn't want to hang out with all the strangers if all her friends are not coming. Hi Ladies, Here's a brief log about my first date at Orchard. (Stop reading now if you are not interested) It's kind of embarrassing. I showed up with a shirt full of wrinkles (because I don't have an iron at home), and Danni was wearing one of those "provocative" sleeveless T-shirt. The worst part was: all I did all night was saying how her hair looked messy, and I let her carry her heavy helmet (she drove a motorbike) around for an hour. I should have offered to carry her helmet. When it was time for her to meet up with her mom, she pointed to a movie poster and said, "I want to watch this movie," then she turned to me and continued, "maybe next time?" I just stood there and said, "Sure." She was so efficient, she just did it before I could come up with any excuse for another date. She reminded me a saying about how "Singaporean girls know what they want." She left me wonder: what does she see in me? I am not handsome, not funny, no money, and not mature. And I am such a bad date. Is there a way can I be a better lover? Any ideas? Hmm... Maybe I should go buy myself an iron for my shirts. The second round would be movie this Saturday. Bill Hung Facial in Singapore Brief Log (Emails)17 Nov 2007 - 19 Nov 2007Backgrounds: a facial at Orchard Singaore is either S$85 or S$55 for different masks. I paid S$65 for the S$85 facial. I was referred to Elieen (the beautician) by Tho La, and Tho was referred by Suet Yee. 1.
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