5 Mullets

Finally, I managed to catch 5 mullets!  Larger size mullets.  One is fairly good size.  This time I will try eating them.

When I first cast the net, I thought I caught only one as the rest disappeared.  When I pulled up the net, I noticed the rest.  It is nice to finally catch something that I can cook.

Hot Weather Last 3 Days

It was extremely hot and I was out fishing at noon as that was the high tide time.  There are still people cycling and running along the PCN.  What is more surprising is that women are running in the hot sun!

I have not caught any big fishes yet.  So will have to keep trying my luck!

Sunburned!!

Since my arowana lost its appetite, I do not need to catch small fishes anymore.  So I go to the jetty during high tide and wait for school of fishes to swim by.  But my skills are no good and the fishes always managed to escape.  

High tide is at noon these few days.  I wait in the hot sun and is totally sunburned at the back of my neck, my hands and legs.  I wore a long sleeve t-shirt and shorts.  So my thighs and feet are totally toasted.

No Skill

I bought a new cast net as my old one was destroyed by fishermen on the night shift when it go caught by the bolt that hold the long rectangular bumper.  The bumper was loose.  Once it was catches my net, there was no way until low tide.

With my new net, I was hoping to catch bigger fishes.  During high tide, I can see the school of fishes.  However, every time I throw they escape.  My aim was not good enough, the net did not open wide enough.  So it is very disappointing.  I need plenty of luck to catch the fishes.

Start of A New Week

Monday!  B1 has gone off to work.  B3 will go to school later.  School starts later on Monday.  Really makes sense as the students and teachers need to recover from the weekend activities.

I had to send my car for repairs later as a Private Hire Driver hit me from behind.  It is start of a busy week!

NS Registration

B3 went for his NS registration this morning.  Now it is quite inconvenient.  The carpark policy has changed.  No visitor cars are allowed.  We have to park outside and walk to the main entrance and change pass.

CMPB used to be by itself.  Now it has a number of new huge building housing the different defence organisation.  It is like a huge monster.  All probably to support our defence systems and maybe also sell weapons to other countries.

B3 is Up Early

I was up at 5am and shortly thereafter, B3 was up.  However, he cooked his breakfast and take his time to eat and watch his Youtube.  He has plans to study for his exams.  It takes him some time to get in the mood.  He also take breaks to watch more Youtube.  With the internet, it is really easy to get distracted.

During my school days, all I can do is take a nap or read some fiction or totally unrelated non-fiction.  Today, I am watching Youtube the moment I get up in the morning.  The technology advances has dumb me down.

KFC

Ci Yuan hawker centre has a new Korean Fried Chicken stall.  It must be a franchise as there are several branches.  Waker Chicken has a number of reviews on the internet.  I have not tried other menu.  Half a chicken cost $14 and one chicken $27.  It is very addictive.  I have become a regular.  The chicken is crispy and sauce is not overpowering.  My boys like it especially B3. 

The chicken does not come with any side dish.  Just chicken!  So no fries or veg.  It is quite unhealthy but I keep going back.  B3 will always eat some even though he has had his regular meal.

Soy Sauce is our favorite.  The sweet and spicy or buttermilk is not bad too.  The owner is a Korean.

Good Day

I have a very productive day!  I sat at my home office for long time.  I am glad also that practising Python is not so frustrating as before. 

Early in the morning, I clear up some old plants and re-potted two plants.  At night, I collected some coffee grind and tea leaves for fertilising my plants.

I did not exercise as my back is not so good shape yesterday.  Today is a huge improvement.

What a wonderful day to be pain-free and gets lot of work done!

Crazy Rich Asians

Youtube has lots of videos on Crazy Rich Asians.  I just finished reading the book.  It is hard to put down the book once I started reading it!  I was reading it even while driving at traffic stops where the lights take a long time to change to my favour.

I was talking to B2 about it and he told me he watched the movie the day after he landed in Toronto.  The prologue is captivating is an understatement.  In the dialogues, there are lots of our local lingos.  Alamak! Kan nee nah! making it very easy to identify.  It is funny and also heart tugging at times.

I just started book 2 last night.  The hook is very good.  It makes me wants to continue to read it.

Perpetual Crowd

Every time I go out, there are lots of people no matter what time of the day.  It is stressful to walk as there is a constant need to watch out to avoid knocking in other pedestrians.  Only early in the morning like 7 to 8 it is more manageable.  By 10am there are just a sea of people at all time.  The food is quite expensive.  However, unlike our hawker food, it comes with real meat rather than processed MSG laden flavored flour like our fishballs, fishcakes, ngoh hiang, that garnished our carbo.

I love the beef, roast goose and the egg tarts.  The standard and quality are much higher.  The HK milk tea is good too, better than our teh si.

Although it is only one week, I am glad to be back home as the crowd at all times can be exhausting.

B2 Going Back to Toronto

B2 is going back to Toronto tomorrow.  He has been back for a couple of months now and school will be starting soon.

We will send him partway tomorrow and then have a short holiday in Hong Kong.  Looking forward to Cantonese food!  The beef is good and the Roast Duck.  Yummy!  Here I come!

Yishun Chong Pang

This morning, we have to go to Khoo Teck Puat to get my invoice.  So, we ate at Chong Pang hawker center.  The bak chor mee is still quite good.  Same owner and cook.  There is a new plant shop.  The Indian guy there is quite enterprising and do good business.  We bought a Fu Kwei plant from him for $28.  He asked for $38 and we wanted $25 but finally settle for $28.  We also bought two plants from an old lady.  She called it Fa Chai flower.  Anyway, she is so old and still doing business there everyday.

It is nice to visit the old town.  A lot of the hawkers had changed since I first lived there 20 years ago. 

Python

The heat is on!  So I have to water my plants a few times a day.  I am not fishing as often.  When I go, I bring along two water bottles instead of one usually.  Even the water in my fish pond dries up.  I feel lethargic in the afternoon.  Nap is welcoming instead of cycling for exercise.

I am now practising more programming using the free Python programs and free books or tutorial on Youtube.  I am still a novice and need to put in more time to get more conversant.  I am glad finally I am making progress compared to when I first started out.  I had blogged about the difficulty when I first start out. 

It is more than a year.  I am not conscientious in practicing.  Hence I did not progress as quickly.  However, now I am getting the hang of it and it is becoming more fun than frustration.

National Day Fireworks Rehearsal

I was working at my office when I hear explosions.  At first, I thought it sounds like gunshots.  Then the flood of popping sounds continue and I realised it is the fireworks.  This is the first time I heard it.  Usually there were rehearsal on Saturdays but this time I don't think the fireworks were used until this evening.

Good Sunday Morning

I have not been writing much even though I am at my desk. My favorite book site is gone.  So I am lucky I managed to download some books that I liked.  It is a very good site and easy to use.  Unfortunately, some authors complained and the site has to be shutdown.  I was having trouble and then googled to find out why.  Then I saw the disappointments of others who had known the shutdown earlier.  It is also known as the Napster of books.

Anyway, I am glad to bring my books around and read while queuing instead of surfing the net.  There are so many interesting reads.  I find that it is harder to finish the books as my mind is trained to read small bits of information by the web.

I do not like the PDF format in Kobo.  It is hard to navigate as the screen become touchy.  So the size keeps changing and when it does that the page just changed a few times in size and if it is big, it is hard to move the page so that I can read continuously. 

EPUB is a better format for Kobo.  The other thing is it is in eInk and therefore no color.  So all the colour pictures do not look good especially the pixels are quite big compared to a tablet.  The weight of ebook is so light and easy to hold for long time.  It get tiring to hold a tablet for long.

Overall, Kobo is very convenient to bring around and make reading convenient!

Rain is not Heavy This Morning

My prediction of the heavy rain causing flash floods is totally out to lunch!!  Rain did come but it was quite light even though the clouds look menacing.  I also noticed no lightning or thunder.  Just rain and then it is over.My plants are well watered and they are happy.

Looked likes it going to POUR!

Very heavy rain cloud gathering  The clouds are dark and low.  So we may get flash floods on this Monday morning. 

The climate change formerly known as global warming is giving us heavier rain.  However, we are still better than in Japan where record temperature and record rain cause death and destruction.

Our floods caused inconvenience.  It is also because our buildings are made of concrete.  They can withstand more stress.  We are also flat and no landslides.  However, we can get sinkholes as I saw one at Punggol construction site.

Busy Day

I am going about town today.  Mostly waiting for my Mrs to do her stuff.  We went to Bugis Junction and she went to her meeting while I waited for her.  Then she decided to go to People's Park with her baby sister.  I was waiting there for her as well.  Finally, we went to pick up B3 from his tuition.  Even then, we have to detour to buy dinner home.

The weather is very hot and humid.  I am glad to be home where I can laze at the poolside and cool off.

Boh Tong's 2nd Life Blocked

My dear friend's popular blog is blocked again.  Maybe he is updating from Japan and the Google analytics and algorithms is finding it funny as it is from a different location.

I always had problem whenever I travel even though I used the same computer.  Sometimes, Google sends security questions to enable access, sometimes it is the great wall of China.  If it is the great wall, nothing can be done unless you use VPN.

So BT, please take note.