Sleepless Night

School holidays in Tokyo are coming to the final month, that's where I am getting quite a lot of visitors to Singapore.

Lee Kian, arguably the best friend I made in Tokyo, decided to take a flight to Singapore and take a bus back to KL. I still can't believe that a flight from Narita to Singapore costs just over 20k yen, which translates to just under 300 bucks... she saves S$300 by just taking a flight to Singapore and an express bus to KL cos a flight from Narita to Sepang is like S$600...

From economics point of view, that can only mean price distortion. Consumer welfare is not optimised. (sorry for this technical distraction)

with my precious duty free alcohol, she stayed over at my place, and we spent the whole night talking, discussing life, her life in Tokyo, my life in Singapore, and before we knew it, it's 630am in the morning, and she was on her way to Beach road to catch a bus.

It's been a year since we saw each other, but it seems just like yesterday.... the 6 hours used to catch up for this year just didn't seem enough...

The Towkay seat

BMW 730Li

It's a huge car.... what else can i say...

730Li, 250+bhp, 300+ Nm of torque max... 0-100km/h in just under 9 seconds...
And it weighs a hefty 1.9 tonnes, and it's 5.1m long...

Steering is extremely nifty for a huge car.... feels like a car much smaller in size....
The towkay seat at the back is SUPER SHIOK... i raise my legs and i can't touch the seat in front... freaking hell... I know i am not that tall, but still.....
you've got rear blinds if u think u dont' want to look at the girls ogling at you...
And the leather just feels like real leather...
When you tap the accelerator... Power Flows with no obstruction... and the 1.9 ton mass just flies forward gracefully.... with no noise... 0 decibels of it...

Minuses...: Horrible body roll for a BMW chassis... Brake is too sensitive... 4-pot calipers on huge brake discs, jerks everytime u just tap on the brakes...
500km on a 88l full tank... means u are lucky to get 6km/l
The idrive system drives me crazy before i drive the car...
The electronics makes my house desktop look like a toy...
The reverse sensor lags... so some people keep hitting the cones
And yes parking is a huge bitch

Conclusion...: I still wanna test if it's really gonna hit 100km/h in 8.5 sec as claimed...
If some Tai tai gives me this car... i'll considering selling my backside

Bright mood

Things always happen in such a way that you would never expect, nor the way you want it to be.

First, I got dropped by the Japanese Embassy in Singapore as a candidate for the scholarship next year. it either means there are better people than me in there, or with 2 singaporeans in the panel of 3 interviewers, and with 15 people fighting for 3 spots... there could be more than meets the eye.
I got a bit pissed when I received the usual letter of saying thank you for trying, good luck for you future endeavours, which actualyl means "you sucked and we ain't gonna give you anything no matter how you beg". I sent a few emails out. My economics professor in Keio is considering letting me get there on a scholarship, and things will iron out when he comes to Singapore in September for the World Bank, IMF meeting

Talking about the meeting, I have been recruited as one of the 600 people to drive those high flyers around... and my dream of laying hands on a brand new BMW comes 1 step closer, though I might still end up with a SI Fei Lou (Cefiro) (Think in cantonese!)

with a couple pieces of good news, i managed to go to Penang with Alvin and Chishio in a peaceful state of mind, and feeling extremely happy to be able to see Wynn Way again....

Penang's boring but the company made it extreme fun....