An Alpine Symphony (10 Feb 2012)

Venue: Esplanade Concert Hall

Conductor: Lan Shui

Cellist: Qin Li-Wei

Programme:

Antonín Dvořák - Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104

Antonín Dvořák - Silent Woods

Richard Strauss - An Alpine Symphony, Op. 64

It has been a long time since I enjoyed a concert tremendously, and this was thanks to Qin Li-Wei's performance of Dvořák's cello concerto. Qin was totally immersed in the music, and drew me in with his virtuosity and interpretation of the concerto. If I were to compare him to Stephen Hough (in an earlier post) - Qin was lost in the music; Hough was just lost in himself. 

The level of respect that Qin accorded the conductor and the orchestra could be both seen and felt, and it was two-ways. There were times when Qin sped up slightly, especially during his cadenzas, but this was almost immediately held in check as he quickly slowed down to match the orchestra. Occasionally, he would even turn to his right and give the concertmaster Alexander Souptel eye contact, and it was clear that they were both enjoying making music, rather than just performing. The difficult solo portions were played with ease and precision, and Qin displayed a rich emotional musicality which was obviously appreciated by the audience; when the concert ended, they showered him with thunderous applause and cries of 'bravo!'. 

The sound that he coaxed out of the 1780 Joseph Guadagnini cello was both beautiful and soothing, and this was felt in Dvořák's Silent Woods as well. I have not heard this piece before, and it was a very short piece, around only 5 minutes long. Quite a drastic change compared to the powerful cello concerto previously, and this was a rather slow and soft piece, as suggested from its name.

Richard Strauss' An Alpine Symphony was a colossal symphony that demanded an orchestra of over 130 musicians. It took place after the intermission, so during the intermission I was rather surprised to see so many musicians coming into the concert hall.

This was exclusive(!) of the backstage continent. 

To be precise, the orchestra (excluding the string sections) was composed of:

4 x flutes

2 x piccolos

3 x oboes

1 x English horn

1 x bass oboe

1 x E-flat clarinet

2 x B-flat clarinets

1 x C clarinet

1 x bass clarinet

3 x bassoons

1 x contrabassoon

8 x horns

4 x Wagner tubas

4 x trumpets

4 x trombones

2 x bass tubas

2 x harps

1 x organ

1 x wind machine

1 x thunder machine

1 x glockenspiel

1 x cymbals

1 x bass drum

1 x snare drum

1 x triangle

1 x cowbells

1 x tam-tam

1 x celesta

1 x timpani

If this is not all, there is still a backstage contingent of 12 horns, 2 trumpets and 2 trombones used in the third section of the symphony. Such a combination made this performance an eye-opener for any audience, myself included.

This symphony was written to depict nature in sound, and covers the ascent and descent of an Alpine peak over twenty four hours. There were twenty-two episodes in this symphony, namely:

1) Night

2) Sunrise

3) The ascent

4) Entry into the wood

5) Wandering by the side of the brook

6) At the waterfall

7) Apparition

8) On flowering meadows

9) On the Alpine pasture

10) Lost in the thickets and undergrowth

11) On the glacier

12) Dangerous moments

13) On the summit

14) Vision

15) Mists rise

16) The sun gradually becomes obscured

17) Elegy

18) Calm before the storm

19) Thunder and tempest; descent

20) Sunset

21) Waning tones

22) Night

It was a considerate move to set up a small screen above the stage to inform the audience which episode they were listening to currently. While I am not really a fan of Richard Strauss' music, I must say that this is the best (and most interesting) that I have heard so far. 

Sushi Express @ Citylink Mall

I had a concert to catch at Esplanade this evening, and being a bit tired of My Humble House at Esplanade, my friends and I decided to try Sushi Express, which serves conveyor belt sushi. I was on leave so I reached just before 630pm, and got one of the last table seats for the 3 of us. A few minutes later, there was a long queue outside, so I guess I arrived at just the right time. Prior to this, I had no idea how popular this place was. 

The pricing is very simple - everything is $1.50, and there is a free flow of hot tea. Being priced so low (even lower than Sakae Sushi, and I already think Sakae Sushi's quality is at unacceptable levels) I had my reservations, but it turned out quite all right - if you know what to order. 

There's no point evaluating dish by dish, especially since the three of us had twenty nine plates of sushi together, but what I can do is to list down what to order and what not to order.

This was less than half of what we ordered

Should order:

- Salmon sashimi (choose carefully though, some are not fresh)

- Seared salmon belly (this was very good!)

Don't order:

- Uni sushi (the uni is too small and not fresh)

- Cheesecake (no taste of cheesecake at all)

- Mango pudding (low quality)

The rest were arguably decent, but for $1.50 per plate, you can't really complain.

Portfolio update

It has been a while since I blogged about my portfolios. Recently, markets have rallied quite a bit and my portfolios have finally made money! I am glad I topped up a bit when markets were down. 

Previously, I combined all my unit trusts into one portfolio regardless of whether they were bought using CPF or cash. But now I have decided to separate them as CPF monies could not be used in a cash portfolio and vice versa - this has rather big implications for rebalancing. Also, the list of unit trusts that one can access via CPF is rather limited. 

So here goes. 

CPFIS-OA

My CPFIS-OA portfolio is very heavily skewed towards equity. Okay, it's actually all in equity. This was because I just purchased a property recently, and I liquidated the fixed income funds I had for the downpayment. Also, since I will not be using my CPFIS-OA money in the near future, I can afford to invest all in equities due to the long time horizon.

Fund	Sector/Region	Asset Class	% of portfolio
Aberdeen Global Emerging Markets	Global Emerging Markets	Equity	16.43%
Fidelity America USD	US	Equity	22.55%
First State Dividend Advantage	Asia Pacific ex Japan	Equity	11.76%
First State Global Resources	Global Resources	Equity	7.52%
First State Regional China	Greater China	Equity	10.43%
Henderson Global Technology	Global Technology	Equity	11.07%
LionGlobal Japan Growth Fund	Japan	Equity	7.11%
PRU Pan European Fund	Europe	Equity	13.13%

Asset allocation: 100% equities

The worst performing fund in this portfolio is First State Global Resources, which is currently still down by 16.75%. This was because I bought it at a bad timing - March 2011. Right after that, the Japan earthquake happened, and it dropped. Then came the stock market plunge during August 2011, and it went down even more.


CPFIS-SA

CPFIS-SA portfolios are almost always boring. Because the restrictions under CPFIS-SA is much more stringent than CPFIS-OA, so there are very little choices. In fact, you don't even get to choose any equity funds; the highest risk you can get are balanced funds. And of course, the CPFIS-SA cap is currently S$40,000, which means that you can only invest anything in excess of this amount. Which also means that most people wouldn't have much CPFIS-SA to use to invest.

Fund	Sector/Region	Asset Class	% of portfolio
First State Bridge	Asia Pacific ex Japan	Balanced	72.50%
DWS Premier Select Trust	Global	Balanced	27.50%

Asset allocation: 100% balanced


While DWS Premier Select Trust is categorised as a global balanced fund, the majority of it is invested in Singapore (around 67%) and Luxembourg (around 27%).


Cash

Cash portfolios are obviously more exciting, because you get to invest in any unit trust you want. I chose to diversify more into fixed income as there's no telling when I may need to use the money here, and also to reduce my portfolio volatility.

Fund	Sector/Region	Asset Class	% of portfolio
Aberdeen Global Opportunities	Global	Equity	1.00%
Aberdeen Pacific Equity	Asia Pacific ex Japan	Equity	27.38%
Aviva Inv Glb HY Bd Axh SGD	High Yield	Fixed income	9.50%
BNPPL1 Eq Russia EUR	Russia	Equity	2.98%
DWS SGP small/midCap A SGD	Singapore	Equity	23.03%
FTIF-Templeton Glb bond A(mdis) SGD-H1	Global	Fixed income	5.24%
Fidelity Taiwan USD	Taiwan	Equity	8.66%
LionGlobal Spore Fixed Inc-A	Singapore	Fixed income	11.39%
United Asian Bond Fund	Asia ex Japan	Fixed income	5.89%
United Emerging Markets Bond Fund	Emerging Markets	Fixed income	4.92%

Asset allocation: 63% equities, 37% fixed income


Fidelity Taiwan USD was the biggest culprit for my losses here, as I bought it on March 2008 - just before the Global Financial Crisis. It has been almost 4 years and I am still nowhere near breakeven, at -29.63%. Another bad move was BNPPL1 Eq Russia EUR - right after I bought it on May 2011, oil prices fell and Russia was badly hit. Currently it is still down by 13.40%, but fortunately I only bought a small amount of it.

Having fingered the culprit for my losses, I should mention that the biggest contributors to my gains are Aberdeen Pacific Equity and DWS SGP small/midCap A SGD, which are up by 20.88% and 20.44% respectively. The returns could actually be higher, but I just rebalanced my portfolio recently when markets went up by selling a portion of these two funds and buying into fixed income.

Interestingly, both are RSP (regular savings plan) contributions which I have been adhering to religiously since 2007, and in hindsight, it was a good move. To put things into perspective, my first RSP contribution into Aberdeen Pacific Equity was at a purchase price of S$4.3388 on 9th Nov 2007. Now, after the crisis and the recent rally, the price is at S$4.3143. Which means that if I had invested lump sum then, I would still be sitting on a paper loss right now.

The same goes for DWS SGP small/midCap A SGD - I entered at a price of S$1.7534 on 9th Nov 2007 too, and the price now is S$1.4503. This difference is even more stark compared to Aberdeen Pacific Equity.

FTIF-Templeton Glb Bond A(mdis) SGD-H1 was another good investment choice. After it was hammered in August 2011, dropping by 8.6% in around 2 months (which was a huge drop considering that is a global bond fund), I went in at December 2011. Now, in barely two months, it has gone up by 6.48%.

Aberdeen Global Opportunities only makes up 1% of my cash portfolio currently, because it was a RSP which I only started in January this year. 

More costs or less revenue?

According to our Minister of Transport Lui Tuck Yew, transport operators will need to incur S$28 million of costs if they were to give polytechnic students full student travel concessions. The exact wording is:

"On the estimated additional cost to the operators if polytechnic students are given full student travel concessions, it will cost the operators about $28 million per year based on today's fares."

(Sourced from the Ministry of Transport webpage)

Let's not debate over whether polytechnic students should be given full student travel concessions or not. What I wish to highlight is his choice of words, mainly, "it will cost the operators". 

Earning less revenue is different from incurring more costs. Do the operators need to fork out more money to give polytechnic students concessions? No. They simply earn less. So LTY's statement is wrong. The additional cost should only refer to the costs in administering the concession for polytechnic students, for example, manpower costs, IT costs for modifying the system to allow the concession, and so on. 

Thus, a more correct way of putting it would be: 

"If polytechnic students are given full student travel concessions, operators will earn about S$28 million less per year based on today's fares." 

Obviously he could not put it this way, because it would seem like he is more concerned with the operators' profits. If one were to assume that the student travel concession is a right for polytechnic students, one could even rephrase the sentence to:

"If polytechnic students are not given full student travel concessions, operators will earn about S$28 million more per year based on today's fares."

Poop pee pee poop

I woke up this morning to find my room full of shit, literally. My dog had pooped, stepped on it, and wandered around the whole room. So I hurriedly carried him to the bathroom and cleared the mess, most of which had already hardened. After that, I went to wash his feet and bottom, wiped him dry, then left him at the balcony for his paws to be totally dry, while I went to wash clothes.

Just five minutes later, I came out of the kitchen to find the balcony full of pee - and paw prints (made from pee). Evidently, the same thing had happened. So I had to carry him to the bathroom again while I got a bucket of water to the balcony to wash up. Following that, it was paw-washing time again, and I was quite exhausted even though barely half an hour had passed. What a nice way to start the day.

But the story hasn't ended. At night, in the living room, he peed and stepped on it again. After washing up and quarantining him at the balcony again, he pooped there. The only fortunate thing was that I managed to grab him before he stepped on his poop.

Now I know why today is an auspicious day to go to work (for those born in the year of the rooster). It would have been a good way to avoid all this shit.

Stair-climbing

After a conversation with my colleague, I decided to take up stair-climbing again. But this time, to do it seriously. Previously, climbing the stairs was just a supplement to swimming, where I would climb to the 20th floor where I stay after a swim. But now, I decided to make it a primary activity. 

So yesterday, I took the lift down to the 1st floor and started the climb. What I did was, I would climb all the way to the 24th floor, then take the lift down to the 1st floor again, then repeat. On the way down, I would take the opportunity to stretch my legs. In total, I managed to hit 100 floors in 35 minutes.

My legs weren't that sore after that, so I expected the pain to come the next morning. But strangely, I didn't feel any aches today at all. I should do this regularly! I went to read up on the benefits of stair-climbing, and here are some important points:

- It's free!

- It supposedly burns about twice as many calories than any other sport or activity.

- It is an intense exercise that can increase our heart rate quickly, so it helps in our cardiovascular fitness.

- It can help to build bone strength as it is weight bearing.

- It is low impact and safe for the knees. Just remember to take the lift down after a climb.

- It leverages on gravity, so the heavier we are, the harder it is and the more calories we burn.

CFA Level I - June or December?

One of my friends has decided to take up CFA, but she hasn't decided whether to take the June or December paper for Level I. Time wasn't the main issue - she was more concerned about the historical passing rate for each paper, and wanted to sit for the one with a higher passing rate. 

CFA Institute actually publishes their exam results all the way from 1963, so there is no lack of historical data to do a proper analysis. However, CFA Institute only started offering two seatings for Level I from 2003, so our sample size is limited to eight years (2011 December results not out yet). 

We can use statistics to determine whether there is any significant difference between the June and December passing rates for Level I. Here's the relevant extract of our data, in the format Year: June passing rate / December passing rate.

2003: 42% / 40%

2004: 34% / 36%

2005: 36% / 34%

2006: 40% / 39%

2007: 40% / 39%

2008: 35% / 35%

2009: 46% / 34%

2010: 42% / 36%

The full report can be found here. 

For this, the statistical distribution to use would be the Student's t-distribution for paired samples, with the following hypothesis:

H₀ : There is no difference between the passing rates.

H₁: There is a difference between the passing rates.

The formula to be used is:

where X_D refers to the average of the differences, s_D is the standard deviation of the differences, n is the sample size, and μ₀ refers to the amount of difference to be tested. Since we are testing whether there is any difference or not, μ₀ would be zero. Our sample size n is 8, as given below. The degree of freedom should be n - 1.

So we start by calculating the differences between the passing rates (June subtract December), which would give us:

2003: 2%

2004: -2%

2005: 2%

2006: 1%

2007: 1%

2008: 0%

2009: 12%

2010: 6%

The average of the differences, X_D, is 2.75, and their standard deviation, s_D, is 4.367085. Calculating t  using the above formula would give us 1.781. Since we are trying to find out whether there is a difference (as opposed to one being larger than the other), this is a two tailed test. Assuming a 5% level of significance with a degree of freedom of 7, the t statistic is 2.365 (refer to the t-distribution table here). This means that our test statistic must be bigger than this figure in order for us to reject the null hypothesis H₀.

Since 1.781 < 2.365, there is insufficient evidence to reject the null hypothesis and we can conclude that there is no significant difference between the CFA Level I passing rates for June and December. Of course, for 2009 and 2010 the difference seems to be bigger, so if one were to rely on these two years, they would be more compelled to take the June paper. Will update this entry when the results for 2011 December are announced.

Update as of 29th Jan 2012:
The December 2011 results for Level I were just out, and the passing rate was 38% as compared to 39% for June 2011. Redoing the test would give us the following updated values:


X_D = 2.555
s_D = 4.126473
n = 9
test statistic t = 1.858
t statistic (from table) = 2.306
degrees of freedom = 8


Since 1.858 < 2.306, the original results remain the same. This can actually be figured out without even redoing the test, as the additional data of 1% difference is obviously not significant.

Misunderstood Foods

Came across an article on Savour (a magazine by Cold Storage) on commonly misunderstood foods. The article is written by nutritionist Sheeba Majmudar, and I have focused on three of the eight foods that she wrote about.

Eggs

Eggs are commonly believed to be high in cholesterol, and the egg yolk is not good for our health. However, respected medical journals like the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition have proved that eating eggs does not increase blood serum cholesterol levels at all. Eggs are actually high in proteins and nutrients, and it is perfectly all right to eat one every day.

Salt

It's true that table salt is not beneficial, but rock salt or sea salt (unrefined) is actually good for us. According to the article, they contain over 72 different trace minerals that are vital for all of our body's metabolic functions. It is highly recommended that we use rock salt or sea salt in cooking as a replacement for table salt.

Butter

Unlike vegetable oils, butter doesn't oxidise even under high temperatures. It also doesn't contain trans fat, which is commonly found in margarine. However, we should still eat it in moderation because of its high saturated fat contents.

Beefy mispricing

Recently, I visited Culina at NTUC Fairprice Finest. They were having a Lunar New Year shabu shabu promotion, but one glance at the brochure and I could tell that something was wrong.

CNY Platter 1: Beef Shabu Shabu (1kg) = $48

CNY Platter 2: Beef Shabu Shabu (600g) + Wagyu Beef Shabu Shabu (400g) = $68

CNY Platter 3: Wagyu Beef Shabu Shabu (500g) = $88

Let's work out the unit pricing.

From CNY Platter 1, beef shabu shabu costs $48/kg. Using this unit price for CNY Platter 2, it means that wagyu beef shabu shabu costs $98/kg. But CNY Platter 3's wagyu beef shabu shabu costs a staggering $176/kg! 

So CNY Platter 3 doesn't make sense at all. Because even if I buy CNY Platter 2 and discard the beef shabu shabu, I will effectively be paying $68 for 400g of wagyu beef shabu shabu. This works out to be $170/kg, which is still cheaper than CNY Platter 3.

They either made a mistake, or they did it on purpose just to make Platter 2 more attractive and get people to buy. I wonder which is more likely.

Forming bingo words for Words with Friends

'Bingo' words, in the context of Words with Friends, actually refers to 7-letter words. Putting such words give you a nice 35 point bonus, so naturally, people expect such words to be very difficult to put. However, it is actually easier than it looks.

1) Look out for 'DE', 'RE', and 'UN' in your tiles. With a 'S', it is even easier.

Such tiles provide a shortcut in forming bingo words. DE can be put in front of a word easily, for example, DESERVE, DERIVES, DECLARE, DEFLATE. Or putting them behind a word (ED) as a past tense, like ENACTED, DRAINED, FAVORED, FANCIED, DRAGGED, HANDLED. 

As for RE, it can also be put in front (RE) or behind a word (ER). Just some quick examples - REFLECT, REFRACT, REGAINS, REALIGNS, FOGGIER, NASTIER, BOUNCER.

UN is used mainly in front of a word, like UNNAMED, UNEARTH, UNEATEN.

So if you have these tiles, put them in front first, then experiment to see if you can form a bingo word. If not, put them behind and try again. In a way, you just need to come out with a 5-letter word and then try adding UN, RE or DE in front, or ER and ED behind. Chances are that you will get some bingo words soon enough. 

Having a 'S' just makes things better, because you can put the 'S' at the end of the word. This is particularly good with UN, RE and DE in front, because effectively you just need to form a 4-letter word.

2) Stuck? Look out for 'connecting letters'.

I don't know the proper name for these letters, but they can be used easily as the second letter of the word. Such letters are R, H, and L. For example, CRANK, DRANK, CHILD, SHIELD, FLOAT, BLUR. Put these letters as the second letter and try.

'S' is rather special, because it can also be put in front of a word and can combine easily with letters (in the second position) which people generally do not think of. For example, SCHOOL, SHOUT, SKATE, SLUR, SMEAR, SNEER, SPEED, SQUAWK, STOUT, SWEAR. 

3) A quick 'one glance' to determine whether to try forming a bingo word.

Some of the best letters to form bingo words are ADEINRS. Having 3 vowels is a good start, and its best if they are AEI. Then if you also have tiles such as S, R, N, or D, it's even better. 

Generally, if you have power tiles like Z or Q in your hand, it is more difficult to form bingo words.

Hua Ting @ Orchard Hotel

My family came here for dinner to celebrate my mother's birthday. Hua Ting is located at Orchard Hotel and serves Cantonese cuisine. It is helmed by Chef Chan Kwok, a rather well-known culinary master who has been with the restaurant since 1997. 

Roast duck, $70

Hua Ting is well known for its roast duck, but I have been here several times and there have been hits and misses. Tonight's was definitely a hit, and was the best I have tried so far. The skin was delightfully crispy, but not to the point of being too dry. And the meat was tender and succulent. Definitely one of the best roast ducks in Singapore! Now, if only they can maintain this standard consistently...

Braised homemade emerald beancurd with local spinach,
topped with fresh crab meat and roe, $10 per serving

My mother liked this because it was quite light, but that was the reason why I didn't really like it. The crab sauce looked rich, but it was too bland and the distinct sweetness of crab was definitely lacking. The beancurd was still quite good, though.

Baked pork ribs with lemon grass, $9

Somehow, I don't think that this dish is special just because they inserted one piece of lemon grass into the pork. It was pan-fried quite well and rather tender, but... something was missing from the dish, and I just couldn't put my finger on it.

Stir fried dou miao with bamboo and prawn roe

The dou miao was fantastic. Unfortunately, that was all. The bamboo chunks had a sour tinge to them, and the prawn roe... wait, what prawn roe? I totally couldn't taste the prawn roe at all.

Braised minced venison with fish belly and egg white soup, $12 per bowl

This was quite disappointing. There was nothing special about it, and the minced venison did not really taste good. The soup could use a bit more salt, and the taste should be richer as well.

Seafood hor fun

After the roast duck, this was the best dish tonight. The hor fun had just the right amount of 'smoky' taste, and the ingredients (scallops, fish, prawns) were all very fresh.

Chilled aloe vera with fresh fruits in whole young coconut, $12

This was a wonderfully refreshing dessert that was deceptively filling. Dragonfruit and mangoes were cut into small cubes and added into a small young coconut, along with aloe vera. The coconut was delightfully tender and delicious, but as I mentioned earlier, it was extremely filling. 

Salmon fillets with leek and cherry tomatoes

Salmon fillets with leek and cherry tomatoes (serves 3)

This is an excellent dish in terms of taste/impression per unit effort. It is easy, delicious, and healthy.

Salmon fillets with leek and cherry tomatoes

Ingredients:

One whole leek, finely sliced
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of mustard
2 tablespoons of honey
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
200g of cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
3 slabs of salmon fillets
Chicken stock
Salt
Black pepper

Instructions:

1) Place the leeks into a large microwave dish and add some chicken stock, until the leeks are around half-immersed in chicken stock. Add a little bit of salt over the leeks.
2) Place the dish into the microwave and cook on high for around 3 minutes, then let it stand for a minute or two.
3) Mix the olive oil, mustard, honey, and lemon juice in a small bowl, then season with a bit of salt and pepper.
4) Place the cherry tomatoes on top of the leeks, then drizzle around half the sauce over it.
5) Place the salmon fillets on top of the leeks and cherry tomatoes, and add more chicken stock in. The amount to add depends on how soupy you want this dish to be.
6) Pour the remaining sauce over the salmon fillets, then put the dish back into the microwave and cook on high for around 9 minutes.
7) Let it stand for a while before serving.

Ramen Keisuke Dining @ Millenia Walk

Another popular place for ramen. It belongs to the same chain of ramen restaurants as Tonkotsu King, and is located opposite Nantsuttei, at Millenia Walk #03-02. 

Their ramen choices were pretty standard - Tonkotsu ramen, Tokyo shoyu ramen, Tokyo shio ramen, and Tokyo miso ramen. Wanting to try something different, I ordered the Watarikani ramen, which actually stands for crab stock ramen. Just like Tonkotsu King, customers can choose to customise their ramen in the following ways:

Oil = No oil, less oil, normal, more oil

Noodles = Soft, normal, hard, harder

Soup = Light, normal, rich

* Choices in bold are those that were unavailable in Tonkotsu King during my previous visit.

Watarikani ramen with flavoured egg, $15.80

I have actually eaten this before, and I remember it tasted better in the past. Today's crab stock soup was a tad disappointing - it tasted a bit diluted, even though I selected 'rich' for my soup. However, the egg was still the best, just like Tonkotsu King - perfectly cooked in the sense that the egg white was just cooked, while the egg yolk was semi-runny and you could taste the seasoning they used. 

I ordered 'normal' for my noodles, but it still came out harder than I expected. Not sure if this is normal; maybe I will order 'soft' next time.

And there's also a free flow of marinated beansprouts!

Free flow of marinated beansprouts. I think I ate a third of this bottle.

So far, I have only tried their crab stock ramen. Maybe its time to order their tonkotsu ramen for my next visit. 

Poor Advertising

Today's deal at Groupon had the following offer - $22 for four or $45 for eight 45 min music lessons at Asia Music School in 2 locations (worth up to $620).

I have nothing against the deal. But what irked me was their advertising pictures. 

A perfect example of how NOT to place your hands when playing the piano.

This hand position is wrong. The fingers are supposed to be more firm and curved. And why is the thumb slouching below the piano key level?

Her violin position is almost painful to look at.

This is even more laughable. While I am not a violinist, I do play the cello and I have played in an orchestra many times, so I do have a certain degree of familiarity with string instruments. Firstly, she is holding the bow wrongly. Her fingers look as if she is about to cut a piece of steak with a knife. Secondly, what is the bow doing at around 45 degrees across the violin? The bow should be almost perpendicular to the violin. And thirdly, what's with that chicken-wing-like thrust-up elbow?

Dear Asia Music School, with this kind of advertising, I would never recommend anyone to sign up with your school. I doubt your teaching capabilities if you don't even know that these positions are wrong. Or could it be due to ignorance from your marketing department? Either way, you fail. 

Dawn of Magic

Dawn of Magic, on iPhone. Don't let this picture deceive you - the actual game graphics are pretty horrible.
Source: www.iphone-screenshots.com

I have been a fan of RPG (role playing games) since young, so naturally, I do look out quite a bit for RPGs on the iPhone. A few months ago, a colleague recommended Dawn of Magic to me. It was free, so I downloaded it and started playing it without much thought.

After a while, I started to wonder why I was even playing this game. The plot is mediocre, the graphics are poor. The translations need a lot of improvement, the controls are clumsy, and the game mechanics suck. They have an experience cap on enemies, so if you fight enemies that are too low level, you get only 1 experience point... and no gold. If you run out of gold and your main characters reach the level cap (which is pretty low), too bad - there's no way you can earn money. Except by paying real cash for it. And the experience you get depends on the lowest level character you have in your party, which makes it pretty unbalanced. All these show a lack of effort in designing the game mechanics.

But I haven't mentioned the worst yet - it's the music. They obviously didn't pay much attention and resources to music, because it was of low quality (sounded like some 16-bit midi music. Hey, this is 2011, not the 1980s!) and poorly composed. After a while, I switched off the music because it was definitely doing more harm than good to the enjoyment of the game.

The best word of advice for RPG fans - stay clear away from Dawn of Magic. There are definitely much better alternatives out there.

Batam (Dec 2011)

Had my first trip to Batam last week with my gf. It was a 3D2N trip, which, according to my friends, is already a tad long for Batam. I found it all right though, because I have been feeling rather burnt out from work prior to the trip, so it was a good chance just to relax and do nothing. 

We purchased our trip via Groupon, so it was just $130 for 3D2N, inclusive of ferry, hotel, daily buffet breakfast, one seafood lunch, one massage, city & shopping tour, and the relevant fees (passenger departure fee, fuel surcharge, Batam terminal fee). Including the amount we spent there for shopping for food, the total bill came up to only $230 per pax.

Day 1

We had chosen the 740am ferry, and only realised that we had to collect our boarding pass 90 minutes prior to the trip, which means 610am. Since 90 minutes is probably a conservative buffer, we decided to reach Harbourfront Ferry Terminal by around 630am instead. After we collected the boarding pass, we had a quick breakfast at McDonald's before boarding the ferry.

When we reached there and got onto the bus, we were ferried to Polo Ralph Lauren shop. They were not really cheap (in absolute terms), in the general range of 450,000 to 650,000 rupiah (S$64.01 to S$92.46), so the whole tour group left in just five minutes. The next stop was to Diana Layer Cakes, a shop rather well known for their handmade kueh lapis. It was freshly made to order, so the tour guide helped to consolidate the orders, which would then be delivered to our hotel later. We weren't that interested in kueh lapis, so we didn't order any.

Diana Layer Cakes, well known for their handmade kueh lapis

Our group of mostly Singaporeans trying out samples of kueh lapis

The next stop was at Batam 1st Factory Outlet, which sells a decent variety of clothing like Armani Exchange, Hard Rock Cafe, Esprit, etc. We were given vouchers of 50,000 rupiah (S$7.11) which was only valid with a minimum spending of 200,000 rupiah (S$28.45). The clothes there were cheap, around 140,000 rupiah each (S$19.91), but they were not cheap to the extent that we would buy a lot. So we ended up buying just two t-shirts, which cost us around 115,000 rupiah (S$16.36) each after using the voucher.

Our package also included a 60-minute massage, so the guide brought us to Sawadika Refleksi Massage. We were given the option to upgrade our massage, but we didn't take it. The place was dimly lit, the floor was oily (from massage oils) and the thin mattress didn't look too clean. I hope it just looks old...

After the massage, we were brought to a local produce shop, which was selling lots of Indonesian prawn and fish crackers, and other snacks. We bought quite a lot of snacks to bring back to Singapore, and some of them, especially the fish crackers, were really good.

Lunch was at Golden Prawn 933 Restaurant, which was part of our package. I was initially quite skeptical of the "sumptuous 7-course fresh seafood lunch" that was written in our itinerary, but it turned out better than expected, albeit not fantastic. The lunch consisted of deep fried squid, sweet and sour fish, fried prawns, tofu vegetable soup, chilli crab, steamed sea snails, and vegetables. But what intrigued me more was the size of the restaurant - it was really huge. I think it can seat more than 1,000 people comfortably!

The restaurant stretches as far as the eye can see... well, almost.

We were looking forward to checking into the hotel after lunch, but apparently there were still some other events on the itinerary. There was a cultural dance, but thankfully no one was interested so the guide skipped it. There was also a visit to the Golden Go-Kart Centre and the Maha Vihara Duta Maitreya Temple, but by that time we were so hot and tired (only managed to get 4+ hours of sleep the night before) that we just remained in the bus.

The final stop before the hotel was Batam City Square, a big, relatively new and fully air-conditioned shopping mall. Had a bite at KFC, did a bit of shopping, then proceeded to the hotel, Mercure Batam Hotel.

When we checked in, we were quite surprised by how big the room was.

Our room at Mercure Batam Hotel

As seen from the picture, it was extremely spacious. The design, however, was rather old fashioned. The room was also a bit too dimly lit for my liking.

The bathroom. The shower head was a bit too low for my liking,
since I had to lower my head slightly while using it

It's a pity there was no wifi connection in the hotel room; wifi was only available at the lobby and restaurant. 

Day 2

Since we had the whole day to ourselves, we decided to take it easy. Had a late buffet breakfast at the hotel, before taking a cab to Nagoya Hill Shopping Mall. It's advisable to ask the hotel receptionist for a rough estimate of the fare so that you don't get ripped off by the taxi drivers. The hotel told us that it should cost around 30,000 rupiah (S$4.27). We were quoted 35,000 rupiah (S$4.98) which wasn't a big difference, so we took it.

Nagoya Hill Shopping Mall

They have A&W, which is already extinct in Singapore, so we had our lunch there. Love their curly fries and root beer float!

There was a cinema on the top floor, and it was showing just four movies - Trespass, Machine Gun Preacher, one local movie, and I can't remember the last one. Each ticket costs only 25,000 rupiah (S$3.56) so we bought two tickets for Trespass, since it was the only movie with recognisable actors (Nicholas Cage and Nicole Kidman). There was still around 1.5 hours to the movie, so we went to the several massage parlours just outside the shopping mall for a quick massage. Unfortunately, they were all full so we went to Godiva Coffee for coffee and wifi.

At first I was a bit worried about the cinema seats - this was Indonesia, not Singapore, so I thought the seats would be old and filthy. To our surprise, the seats were new, comfortable, and were high enough to provide a good headrest. I find the seats even better than Golden Village's in Singapore!

Trespass sucked, by the way. I am glad we only paid around S$7 for two tickets.

Had dinner at Grand Duck Restaurant, which serves Chinese food. Their specialty roast duck didn't look enticing at all but actually tasted pretty good.

Day 3

We departed for Batam Centre Ferry Terminal shortly after breakfast. Mega Mall, a big shopping mall, was conveniently located just opposite the ferry terminal (connected via an overhead bridge), so we went there for a quick lunch at Grand Canyon Coffee. I was feeling a little apprehensive though, because during our last trip to Bali, we also had lunch at Grand Canyon Coffee just before our flight back to Singapore. And I had a horrible bout of diarrhea immediately after I reached Singapore.

There was also a Baskin Robbins nearby and it was having a 1-for-1 offer, so we bought two double scoops of ice cream at 52,000 rupiah (S$7.40). Their strawberry ice cream was fantastic; it had big chunks of strawberries inside!

Reached Singapore at around 430pm, this time thankfully without the diarrhea.

To sum up, I wouldn't mind going to Batam again. But if I do so, it will at most be a 2D1N trip. In fact, a day trip would also suffice since Batam Centre is right beside the ferry terminal; we could just travel there in the morning, eat (A&W!), shop, get a massage, watch a movie (if there are shows worth watching), and return to Singapore in the evening.

Pork pozole

Pork pozole (serves 3)

Pozole is actually a kind of Mexican stew.

Pork pozole

Ingredients:

Olive oil

1 whole white onion

4 garlic cloves, chopped into small pieces

400g of lean pork, chopped into cubes

6 brown mushrooms, chopped into pieces

0.5 cup of canned corn

1 green capsicum, chopped into pieces

3 teaspoons of cumin seeds

3 teaspoons of chilli powder

1 litre of chicken stock

1.5 teaspoon of coriander powder

Salt

Black pepper

Parsley

Instructions:

1) Heat some olive oil over medium heat in a skillet, then add garlic and white onions and fry until the garlic is slightly brown.

2) Add the pork cubes and stir fry continuously for around 8 minutes. If the mixture starts to dry up, feel free to add more olive oil.

3) Add the canned corn, mushrooms, cumin seeds, chilli powder, chicken stock, and coriander powder. Season with black pepper and just a bit of salt.

4) Cover the skillet and let the mixture simmer at low heat for around 45 minutes. 

5) Sprinkle some parsley on top, and serve with either rice or bread.

Note: Feel free to substitute the cumin seeds with cumin powder, or the green capsicum with red or yellow capsicum. Remember to take it easy on the salt, because after simmering, a significant portion of the stock would have evaporated, so the remaining stock would be much more concentrated.

Train delay galore, Episode 03

I can't believe it. SMRT broke down again this morning, making it the third train delay in four days. What is wrong with them?

I heard the news from 938 Live, and the delay seemed like a contagious illness which affected Marina Bay to Newton MRT stations first. It then started spreading to the other stations followed by several 'false recoveries'. Here's the condition of the 'patient', from SMRT website (yes, they finally bothered to update it in a more timely manner):

755am: No train services between Marina Bay and Newton

818am: No train services between Marina Bay and Toa Payoh (condition worsened)

825am: Northbound train services from Raffles Place to Jurong East have been restored, but still no northbound train from Marina Bay to Raffles Place (moderate recovery)

850am: Northbound train services from Raffles Place to Ang Mo Kio are down again, and southbound train services from Ang Mo Kio to Marina Bay are now unavailable (condition deteriorated sharply)

900am: Northbound train services from Raffles Place to Jurong East are available again (moderate recovery)
1000am: Southbound train services from Ang Mo Kio to Toa Payoh have been restored
1055am: Southbound train services from Toa Payoh to Newton have been restored
118pm: Southbound train services from Toa Payoh to Raffles Place have been restored
148pm: All services have been fully restored, but expect delays. (fully recovered but relapses are expected)

I hope there isn't an episode 04 to this.

Signs of getting old

I just reached 30 this month. I am getting old, and the signs are plentiful.

1) I used to insist on drinking iced water. Now I ask for warm water more often.
2) One mahjong or drinking session makes me tired for the next 2 days.
3) I try to go to bed earlier, preferably before 1130pm. In the past I would only start using my computer at 1130pm and sleep at 2am.
4) Even during weekends, I wake up at around 8am because I don't want to waste the morning sleeping.
5) I used to eat and drink without worrying about my health. Now... I eat and drink as usual but with a lot of worry and guilt.
6) My appetite is only half of what it used to be.
7) Reading newspapers is now a must. If I were to go overseas and miss out on several days of news, I would catch up on every day once I am back.
8) When I read newspapers, I used to read only the Life section. Now I read every section other than Life.
9) Vegetables are now a necessity in every meal.
10) I am actually aware of who our ministers are.
11) I used to be able to survive on 5 hours of sleep daily. Now I can barely survive with 7.
12) Dinner at home is (usually) much more desirable than dinner with friends outside.
13) Staying at home is a luxury.
14) I used to scoff at supplements. Now I take them daily.
15) In the past, friends > family. Now, family > friends.
16) 3 days without exercising makes me feel uncomfortable. 1 week without exercise is unbearable.
17) Coffee (with less or no sugar) has replaced soft drinks entirely.
18) I used to think that people who need to drink coffee after lunch are very 'uncle'. Now I do the same.
19) I need to think aloud in order to remember what I am thinking.

This list is definitely not exhaustive, so I think I will be adding on to it regularly.

Train delays galore

Dear SMRT, what is your problem recently? After the Circle Line train delay yesterday during the morning peak hours, you pull another train delay on the North South Line today during the evening peak hours?

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will probably investigate these incidences and fine SMRT. But how much will it be? Considering that SMRT made a net profit (before tax) of S$191.7m in FY2010, how much should the fine be in order to be significant? For the recent security lapse at Bishan MRT depot in August, they were fined S$200,000. In absolute terms, S$200,000 may seem like a lot. But this is just 0.02% of their gross revenue, or 0.10% of their net profit. As further evidence, with regards to this event, their CEO Saw Phaik Hwa said in a seemingly flippant manner, "If LTA fines us, so be it." 

Maybe I should buy  some SMRT shares to make myself feel better whenever I get stuck in a train delay or when I feel irritated that they were fined just a nominal amount.

Now, I wonder what would Saw Phaik Hwa say this time? Last month she still had the audacity to comment that "I don't see anything significant" in the number of train disruptions and delays.

Additionally, according to the Straits Times, SMRT claimed to have issued travel advisories on signs at stations to inform passengers of the reduced frequencies. Well, I took the train yesterday morning from Lorong Chuan and there were absolutely no such signs. If there were, I could have walked just 3 minutes to the nearby bus stop to take a bus to Toa Payoh MRT, instead of being stuck at the train station for 20 minutes.

For the train delay just now, I went to their website for more information during the delay. There was nothing. For such a major train delay, SMRT did not even bother to update their website or Facebook page.

Update as of 928pm:

SMRT finally bothered to post something on their website at 835pm and 856pm. Hello, the delay started before 7pm! What took you so long?

Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee @ Hong Lim Food Centre

By now, it should be obvious that Hong Lim Food Centre is one of my favourite food haunts. That place alone has many choices for good and cheap food, like curry chicken noodles, prawn noodles, crayfish hor fun, laksa yong tau fu, bak kut teh, and braised pig trotters. 

Fried kway teow, $4 for a large plate

The noodles were moist and extremely tasty, and came with just enough hum. Today's portion, however, came with an over-generous serving of crispy pork lard which tasted so delicious that I ate several pieces in the first few mouthfuls. After that, guilt took over and I started to extract the pork lard from the noodles and put them aside.

They used to deliver your order to your table, but this year they changed it to self-service (sigh). Gone were the days where I could wait for my char kway teow at the comfort of my table instead of queueing.

As I mentioned before, Outram Park Fried Kway Teow Mee is my favourite char kway teow, and is a must-try if you do visit Hong Lim Food Centre. I still haven't tried Bedok South's Hillstreet Char Kway Teow though, which ieat gave the highest score so far for his char kway teow reviews.

Old Stall Famous Hokkien St Prawn Noodles @ Hong Lim Food Centre

Finally found a place selling decent prawn noodles that is of a reasonable distance from my office! Before this, if I had a craving for prawn noodles, I only had two choices - 大路虾面 from China Square Central, and another one from Circular Road (I forgot its exact name). The former tasted horrible, while the latter was still arguably acceptable but comes with atrocious service (they spilled soup on me and did not even bother to apologise). Unsurprisingly, I boycotted both. So it was a pleasant surprise that I found out about Old Stall Famous Hokkien St Prawn Noodles from Hong Lim Food Centre.

Prawn soup (without noodles) with prawns and pork ribs, $5

It's easy to rate this bowl of soup based on three things - simply, the soup, pork ribs, and prawns. Let's start from the soup first. 

The soup was not bad, but definitely nowhere as good as Hoe Nam Prawn Noodles or Penang Road Cafe, which I have blogged about previously here. However, what gave the soup a big boost was its chilli powder. The stall owner kept on asking me to be generous with the chilli powder, which I did gladly. And yes, it really made a difference. I wouldn't say that the soup tasted fantastic after that, but it was good enough to satisfy my prawn mee craving. 

The pork ribs were surprisingly good. The meat was tender and fresh, which was a big difference over Penang Road Cafe's. The prawns were shelled, to my relief; I detest eating shelled big prawns with just chopsticks and a spoon. They tasted decent; nothing really special about them.

If you happen to work near Raffles Place, this is arguably the best place you can go for prawn noodles. The stall is on the 2nd floor of Hong Lim Food Centre, and if you do order from here, remember to add more chilli powder into the soup. And order it with pork ribs!

The Liszt Legacy (2 Dec 2011)

Venue: Esplanade Concert Hall

Conductor: Alexandar Shelley

Pianist: Stephen Hough

Programme:

Franz Liszt - Prometheus

Richard Strauss - Don Juan, Op. 20

Franz Liszt - Hamlet

Sergei Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No.3 in D minor, Op. 30

I bought tickets to this concert especially for Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto, so I shall just comment on it. 

One word to describe it - disappointing. 

It was obvious that Hough was totally not serious about this piece at all. After the simple opening (which I already found to be a little too fast), he suddenly decided to leave the orchestra and conductor behind by sprinting forward in a mad rush and clash of notes. The orchestra, caught offguard, was around one beat off until they scrambled to catch up. This happened practically everytime there was a cadenza by Hough. It is all right to be fast, but rushing is a different thing entirely. There was no time to bring out each note; they were simply glossed over, as if they were insignificant individually.

After five minutes into the first movement, I was starting to feel very sorry for Shelley, who was struggling just to keep in line with Hough.

There were also many wrong notes played. This was actually understandable and forgivable, because this piano concerto is an extremely difficult piece. But rushing off on your own and ignoring the conductor and orchestra consistently shows a very disrespectful and selfish attitude. 

This torture lasted throughout all three movements. For the third movement, Alla breve, as the piece approached its climax, I thought this was a chance for Hough to at least end this concerto on a good note. But no, he didn't take it. The supposedly impassioned and dazzling climax was, unsurprisingly, rushed over again (with several wrong notes). 

I am not going to give him any applause, I told myself. He doesn't deserve any. But when the concerto ended, there was thunderous applause from the audience. What? Why are you all rewarding this crappy performance? 

I looked around at the audience more closely, and realised that there was a disproportionately large number of ang mohs tonight. And those that were giving him a standing ovation were all ang mohs. 

Hmm. Interesting. I wonder what this says about their tastes in music.

Update as of 3rd Dec, 2011:
The Straits Times gave the performance a good review, to my absolute disgust. The reviewer, Marc Rochester, depicted Hough's performance as "brilliant, exciting and super-charged", and even claimed that the SSO "relished every moment" (which they obviously didn't).


Marc, my respect for you just went down several levels. Don't worry, you are not on the same level as Hough yet.

The 13th Month Bonus is a Right?

Many people have been sharing this blog post on 'The Coveted 13th Month 'Bonus' in Singapore'. It seems that many agree with him, considering the number of shares on Facebook. His arguments are interesting, I must admit. I have never thought about our wages in this way. But then again, I don't think that is the intent of employers - to shortchange employees by one month. 

The employer can always justify the monthly pay by determining how much you should be paid annually, then divide it by 12. For example, they may offer you an annual salary of $36,000. To make it simple, they pay you $3,000 a month. This smoothens out the irregularities in monthly pay due to the number of days in that particular month. To put it in perspective, this is similar to offering you $692.31 a week. 

So in his case, he will complain about being paid $3,000 a month and argue that he should be paid an extra $3,000 a year (let's ignore the extra one day for simplicity). This makes his annual pay $39,000. But as I just mentioned, maybe his employers only intended to pay him $36,000 a year. So if he makes noise about being paid monthly, they can just pay him $692.31 a week to shut him up.