EVACOMICS BLOG

You might have read about the Japanese culture of giving gifts, especially to people who would be helping you. So I was advised to buy some local gifts as well. I recall bringing my pack of merlion bookmarks to USA which ended up never given away because nobody was exchanging souvenirs/gifts! They eventually landed in my roommate's hands, an unwilling party, and remarked that the bookmarks were rather useless, but what the heck... 你可能讀過關於日本人喜愛送禮物的文化，特別是給那些特別會關照自己的人。 所以在前輩的建議下，我也去買了一些新加坡特產和紀念品當禮物。 雖然這讓我想起以前去美國唸書時也帶了一堆魚尾獅書籤... 但是因為美國沒有這種文化，所以最後我都沒有機會把它們送出去！ 結果回國時，室友無奈地接受我的“禮物”，還嘮叨怎麼會送那麼沒用的東西...呵呵... 因為以下是關於那裡可以買到便宜的新加坡紀念品，所以我就偷懶不翻譯嘍～ XD Mustafa Centre --------------------- It's located at Little India but the closest MRT is Farrer Park. Just locate exit A and cross the street to Serangoon Plaza with a linkway to Mustafa at level 3. Serangoon Plaza sells souvenirs at the same level with the link-way. However there were little customers and lots of seemingly skiv...

Apologies for the lack of comics and photos as my room and mind is in a bizarre state of packing up for my studies. Anyway, yes, JUGAS (Japanese University Graduates Association of Singapore) was very kind to invite me for lunch with the MEXT (Monbukagakusho aka Monbusho) Scholars who are also leaving in April this year. Seniors and JUGAS committee members shared their valuable experiences in Japan and encouraged us to network with each other and join the association when we return. It was a nice orientation and I found out that there were quite a lot of MEXT scholars for undergraduate, probably 7-9 of them, and around 3 for postgraduate. From what I heard, the MEXT undergraduate scholars have to study Japanese for a year in respective universities then pursue their 4-years studies. A total of 5 years fully paid for! Too bad I failed my MEXT Japanese paper last year so if you're interested in this scholarship, you do need at least JLPT2 to be safe. For postgraduate applicants...

So I'd been watching the exchange rate recently and the Yen seems to be getting stronger ( SGD/JPY forex chart ). So I rushed down to change my money before I lose more. The exchange rate was: AMK Hub $15.7 Mustafa $15.51 Suntec City $15.48 As you can see, the heartland mall exchange rate is not very good. After checking the forex rates at  Mustafa 's website, I dashed down to do my exchange. But when I went to Suntec City to cut my hair, I found out that their rate was slightly better. I also heard that The Arcade's rate at Raffles Place area was the best. So now you know where to change your money! Update 2011: People's Park Centre offers a better rate than Suntec! 看到日益強勁的日幣後，我趕緊查詢哪裡換錢。結果社區的購物中心果然匯率不好-_-。所以特地去小印度的Mustafa換日幣。之後去新達城剪頭髮時，才發現原來那裡的兌換率更好！不過還好不是虧很多，下次知道要去哪裡換是最好的！

I'm proud to say that I'd been living on a P4 machine with only 36GB hard disk and 512mb ram for 2 years of my civil service. I did request for a faster PC but I was always rejected by the same reason that there's no more machines around!? Anyway it's a Windows XP and runs faster than my Dad's Windows Vista! I can run Photoshop and do small paintings but opening a 3D software(Maya) is like waiting for the tadpoles to become frogs.

Hi everybody! Sorry for the slow updates. I'm busy preparing my visa, luggage, insurance, university information, dental and health matters to Japan. Since many of you had asked me the same questions, I thought I'd just compile everything here :P 大家好！ 一直沒更新，實在很抱歉。我正在準備出國的手續，行李，保險，大學資料，等。因為同事和學生們都問我很多同一個問題，所以我想就在這裡全部回答吧！

So today me and my friends went to visit a design exhibition held at JCC. We've never been there so we took a long time to figure that the entrance was NOT along Nassim Road. In fact, it's right next to Delphi Orchard across the road -_- 今天我和幾位朋友到位於Nassim Road的日本創意中心。原本以為是在Nassim Road，結果找了5分鐘後，發現入口原來就在Orchard Delphi的對面 -_-

Lotus Notes is an email program by IBM. Something like Microsoft Outlook which lets you send and receive email. It is essential for civil servants to login to our email everyday, in fact, it is our daily routine. So when the email system is down, it is like NO WORK TODAY! YIPPEE!!!!!! (ya right...)