Let the Lay-Offs begin...

Just had a sit down with my boss for lunch earlier this afternoon to discuss the future plans he has with the company and based on the conversation we had, things aren't looking well.

My boss has decided to trim down the current team of 7 down to a team of 4, one of those 4 includes me, but it doesn't include my friend Yan, whom I had introduced to the company to join as a Project Manager earlier this year. Our company's financial hasn't been fantastic for the past few months, we have been losing quite a few jobs, so what is coming in simply cannot sustain what is going out, which is the monthly overhead. 

When my boss told me of his decision to let Yan go, I was shocked because her termination wasn't due to her performance, but because the company simply needed to cut cost. Aside from the company losing Yan, he was also letting the other designer on the team go, we only have 2 designers on board at the moment, that means her (the designer) termination will result in me handling all the design related work.

I didn't really have too much of an appetite after I learnt about the future plans.

A part of me immediately thought of quitting, if the company is in such a bad state that half the team needs to get terminated just for it to survive, do I really want to stay on? Is there any point for me from a career perspective to stay on? Am I wasting my time here when I could be at a bigger firm and climbing the corporate ladder instead?

No, there isn't, the smart thing would be to look for a new job right now and leave when I can, but my boss is a good boss and to leave the company when it is struggling so much would honestly make me a piece of shit, especially when my boss and accountant decided that they would take a pay cut, to ensure my salary stays the same during this period. 

My conscience simply won't let me quit just like that and looking for a similar job in the industry that doesn't require me to do Sales and Project Management is going to be extremely tough.  

I felt so guilty because I felt a bit underserving of the sacrifice that my boss and accountant are doing on my account. We barely finished our lunch because I guess the both of us didn't really have a lot of appetite after that.

Yan also decided to drop by the office to chat with me about her future plans moving forward. 

She had been informed about this the yesterday, so when she came to the office, she just looked really dejected. She had a lot of future plans that she had to put on hold because of this sudden termination and I felt really bad for her because she honestly didn't deserve it. When I say plans, I don't mean plans to buy a new bag or the latest iPhone, by plans, I mean actual adulting plans like getting a house within the next 6 months. 

We spoke for a while about what we could do, my boss joined us a while later and then I decided to sacrifice 30% of my current salary for the company to retain Yan, this 30% will act as her basic salary and she will be introduced a profit sharing scheme that will hopefully cover the rest of her pay.

Both my Boss and Yan were quite shock at my offer, and at that moment in time, I just wanted the company to try and retain Yan, because she is a good Project Manager. My boss was agreeable to this arrangement, but he told me to really think about what I am offering, and the amount I am comfortable letting go, and then counter offered that if I get such a huge pay cut, I can consider coming in lesser days, so instead of working a 5 day work week, I can just come in for  3.5 day, which I thought sounded fair.

It is a painful sacrifice to be earning $1,200 lesser every month, tentatively for the next 4 months, but I guess we all have to make some sacrifices here and there when the company is not in a good situation. This is why it is so important to be a good boss because what you get in return is loyalty from your employees. I am also able to accept the pay reduction because it is meant to be temporary (I told Yan I will take a reduced pay for 4 months), and more importantly, I have worked so much harder for so much less back when I was working as a Sales Designer at ID4, so I am just thankful that I can still be drawing a decent salary every month despite what is going on right now.

Anyways, my boss goes off after a while and Yan and I continued to discuss about how she can benefit from the commission scheme without the company having to feel the pinch, we played around with the numbers to find the best way for her to sustain with the commission system and I think we came up with a pretty good win/win situation for her and the company, so we will be sharing that with my boss tomorrow to see if he is able to accept it, my accountant is also trying her best to retain Yan as well, she claims that the company is still financially able to to retain 1 Project Manager, so hopefully, my pay cut that I offered won't be as severe, maybe from $1,200 down to $600. 

I told Yan I will only be willing to accept the reduced salary for 4 months because we are hoping for the situation to improve after the CNY period, and if the situation doesn't improve after 4 months, then for the sake of our career, we will honestly have no choice but to look for a different company.

Side Gate etiquette rant.

I was making my way home from work today, and after dropping off from the bus, I was walking towards my condo's side gate to enter the apartment complex.

I was walking behind this girl who also happened to be staying at the same condo as me,  since she was in front of me, she reached the side gate first, tapped her access card on the little card reader and the gate unlocks. 

Common Courtesy when you see someone else behind you is to at least push open the gate a bit further, that way the gate will take a longer time to close and the person behind can also come in, and if there is someone behind that person, then we just do the same until everyone comes in for the sake of everyone's convenience,  that way, no one else will need to fish out their own access card from their wallets or bags to tap the card reader. 

Basic courtesy.

So this girl pushed the gate just slightly, so it was wide enough to fit herself through it, and once she was through, she extended her arms backward while her body was still facing the front, she grabs the gate, and at this point, I thought she was going to pull it towards her and open it for me to also go through.

She doesn't.

This moderately fat cunt turns her head ever so slightly, makes eye contact with me for just a split second, and decided to push the gate towards me in my face in an attempt to lock me out. 

I was actually shocked

She didn't manage to actually shut the gate in my face, so I was able to push it open before it could lock itself, and I let myself in. 

I know this girl didn't attempt to close the gate in my face to protect the condo residents from the horrible dangers of a non-resident entering their sacred space, I think she did what she did because she is just a fucking cunt.

I hope someone closes the gate in her face next time, see how she feels to be treated like a non-resident despite being a resident.

Or she could just get Covid and become really sick for a few days, that works for me too Karma.

PopMart and Labubu stuff...

 So I have recently starting getting into Pop Mart and got myself 3 blind boxes from the SkullPanda series.

They are now nestled in my CPU because it's lighted and there is space to house them there. 

Am I tempted to get more? Yes.

Will I actually get more? Probably not. Hopefully I won't get tempted to, I mean I did visit Pop Mart another 2 more times since I got my last Skull Panda blindbox and I was able to leave the place empty handed, so my willpower is still not wavering.

The problem with blind boxes is you never know what you will get, which means the more I get, the higher chances are of getting repeats, which is something I do not want because each figurine cost $15. I should have just gotten the full set for this Skull Panda series because all the designs are actually really nice, but the full collection is around $200, not a very financially responsible decision to be making. 

The one series from Pop Mart that has been getting sold out like crazy is Labubu. 

I didn't really get the hype at first because I didn't think it was particularly cute., but the more I look at it, the more it starts to grow on me. 

A huge reason why this series got so popular is because Lisa from Blackpink really likes it, so she was the one who made is super popular. This popularity resulted in stocks constantly getting wiped out at all the Pop Mart stores, so getting my hands on them officially was not gonna happen.

I then started seeing a lot of resellers putting them up for sales on Shopee and TikTok with ridiculous mark up prices. The Labubu Macaron retails for about $24.90 at Pop Mart, resellers are selling it at an average of about $60, the lowest I saw was $39, and anything lower than that is probably fakes.

I got one from a Livestreamer yesterday who was selling it at $39 per box because I FOMO, and she was doing live unboxing to see which colour her buyers would get. 

She had boxes upon boxes of this and when it came my turn, the box that she was currently opening only had one left, I knew I didn't want the green Labubu because I don't like green, and I knew someone else had already gotten it from that box of six, so I told her I will just take the last box since it will definitely not be something I didn't want.

I was going to be happy with anything except green, so the livestreamer took my box, got my permission to open the box and as she peered into the box to look for the little tag that will indicate the colour of the Labubu once she had cut it open, she started screaming out in excitement, the chat was going crazy as well...

... I ended up pulling the secret. The girl who had picked her box before me must have felt really shitty because she literally had a 50/50 chance of getting a secret, but I think she got the Soy coloured one, which was also one of my top colour choices. 

The Livestreamer was so excited she ask if she could open the plastic packaging to look at the actual Labubu doll, I told to tell her I didn't want it open, but I could definitely feel her excitement from actually seeing the tag.

The rarity for the secret colour is 1:72, compared to 1:6 for the rest of the colours, so I was actually really lucky to have gotten the secret colour for my very first Labubu. Not sure when I will actually receive the package since the Livestreamer is based in China, but that's exciting... and that's how you get addicted to Pop Mart. The more practical side of won't be getting single blind boxes for this Labubu series anymore, since I already have the secret, if I wanted the full collection, I will just a full box of 6 to properly complete it, but again, because of the insane mark up this product has been getting, it's going to be around $350 for a full box and I don't like the Labubu series enough to want to spend that much money on it.

One is enough... for now.

Speaking of Livestreamer, I feel like this Livestreamer that I got my Labubu from is one of the more ethical ones, even though she is still making around a $15 profit for each doll she sold, and she was selling a lot, I have come across streams of some local livestreamers actually doing a roulette system and essentially letting their viewers pay for a slot to get a chance to get a Labubu blind box.

That is insane!

When you get a blind box, you are already sort of gambling because you don't know what color or desuign you are getting, but what some of this livestreamers are doing are adding another element of gambling to that gamble, and it's not cheap! 

For every single box of Labubu, they will allow 6 viewers to partake in the roulette system, and what is so scummy about this whole thing is that you have to pay the livestreamer $15 to take part in this roulette, this $15 is not refundable, if you win, then great, you are able to get the Labubu for lower than the retail selling price, but if you don't, then that's $15 gone, just like that, and you don't get anything out of it, there is no consolation price, you are just $15 poorer. 

$15! That is fucking expensive for 5/6 of the participants to be getting nothing in return!

This means the livestreamer is essentially selling each blind box for $90 and what is so baffling is people are actually willingly participating in gamble.

If you are a Livestreamer who is doing this, you may be a smart business person, but you are not a good person.

"As if scalping isn't bad enough, let's introduce this roulette gamble as well and let paying folks have a 16.6% chance of getting a Labubu."

.. it's so scummy. You are already scalping by hoarding all the Labubu from Pop Mart to sell, but then to introduce another element of gambling on top of that scalping.

I remember coming across this one livestream that had 2 male host and one of the host had the very "generous" idea of letting all the losers take part in a final roulette of a few dozen people at the end of their livestream, so at least they will still have 1 last chance of getting a Labubu. I didn't stay long enough to see how many people ended up being in that final round, but it was definitely a smart way to ensure your viewers don't leave the stream because they have no choice but to wait to the end unless they decide to forefeit their chance.

iPad Air arrived!

My new iPad Air has arrived and it happened to coincided with the delivery of the cover and screen protector from Shopee, so I was able to set everything up yesterday.

Decided to go for a glossy screen protector this time round instead of a matt one like my pro and the screen just looks so much sharper and crisp, the fact that it is a 13" iPad also makes the whole screen experience so much better.

Setting up the new iPad was honestly such a breeze since everything from my iPad Pro had already been backed up to iCloud, so all I really had to do was key in my Apple account and then just let the iPad Air do it's thing, all the apps and the layout of those apps were as they had been on my iPad Pro once it was done. The only thing I had to do was to re-login into Netflix and Amazon Prime. 

Compared to my 11" iPad Pro, the 13" iPad Air definitely felt a little too big for comfort. When I see my iPad Pro, I just feel a bit sad that it died such a quickly and prematurely because of my Owala water bottle.

Had I not bend down to pet the dog, the iPad would have still been alive and I could still be considering upgrading my iPhone 14 Pro to the new iPhone 16 Pro. (I might still do that, so I shall see how impulsive I am)

Such a waste, and the fact that the Apple Pencil Gen 2 does not work with the new iPad Air is such a scummy move from Apple. Even though I did technically get the Apple Pencil Pro for free thanks to the education discount promotion, to actually physically own a functioning Apple Pencil but not be able to use it is just such a waste.

My iPad Pro has also officially breathed it's last breath, the water has done it's job and completely short circuited the entire tablet, now I can't even turn it on anymore. 

The fact that my powerbank, that was actually completely submerged in the spilled liquid from my Owala water bottle, and that I had to literally shake water out from its port, is still completely functioning, but the iPad Pro isn't is surprising.

Rest In Peace my very first iPad, you did not live very long and I blame Owala and my family dog for it.

New iPad Air cos I'm stupid.

This morning, my Zenyum electric toothbrush decided to stop working and the thought of having to shell out $80 to get a new one was really upsetting because it barely lasted a year.

Not really sure what caused it to go haywire, but it wouldn't charge and the charging indicator on the toothbrush is just permanently lighted up, but at maybe 20% brightness, which is weird. Now I'm wondering it if it will suddenly explode in the middle of the night. 

Shitty longevity aside, it is a decent electric toothbrush and I still have 2 brush head replacements that I have yet to use, they were going for $10 per replacement when I got them, so I am probably gonna just bite the bullet and order another toothbrush because my dumbass didn't go apply for the 1 year warranty for this damaged one when I first got it. Could have gotten a 1 to 1 replacement if I had done that. Stupid. 

Talking about stupid....

After work today when I got home, my Sister's dog greeted me at the door, so I did what I usually would do, bend down and started giving him rubs because cuteness aggression is real, I was still carrying my back bag at this point and I started feeling something cold spreading downwards on my lower back, my socks were also getting wet and that was when I realized my Owala water bottle that was in my bag was slowly flooding the interior of my bag.

I had no idea how the bottle cap came loose in my bag, but it did and all the water in that bottle just came pouring out into my bag, the bag which did a pretty decent job at retaining the liquid even though it isn't really marketed as a waterproof bag, but unfortunately for me, majority of the items in my bag aren't waterproof and that included my iPad Pro.

Initially, I thought everything was still fine, I thought for a $1000 device, there has to be some sort of water resistance, like an IP rating, so I checked the iPad and it had no issue, there was water coming out from the charging port and speakers but it could still turn on and everything seemed fine, I quickly took it out from the it's case, placed in on a flat plate and then proceeded to scatter some rice along the edges where the charging port and speaker crevices were in hopes that it could absorb any remaining moisture that I wasn't able to shake out.

I then proceeded to empty my bag, everything was wet, my fisherman's friend was just soaked through even though it was sealed in it's own sealable bag, my power bank was dripping with water, my 3-in-1 charging cables were all wet and I just went to hang whatever I could hang dry. Took a mop to clean up the floor and then went to take a shower.

When I was done with my shower, I headed out to the dining area where my iPad had been resting it it's blanket of rice, tapped the screen to see if it was still working, the screen lit up, and decided that since it was functioning with no issue, there isn't really any point leaving it in the blanket of rice any longer.

I shook the rice off, took the iPad out from the plate and the screen lit up no issue, I rotated it and the lock screen also rotated as it normally would, but then  I noticed that there was this patch across the screen which I had thought was part of the wallpaper....

....but as I rotated the iPad around, I noticed that the patch didn't rotate along with it. That lighter triangular patch on the bottom left of the screen isn't a "ray of sun light" that I had assumed it was, that is just straight up water damage.

My screen got fucked... I didn't get Apple Care with my iPad, so I am fucked as well.

I went online to check the estimate cost to have the iPad repaired if it , with Apple Care, it's about $60, without Apple Care, it's a whopping $800. 

What the actual fuck.

I was actually using my iPad to check the apple website for the repair cost and it was just kept flickering every once in a while to remind me that it's fucked.

I blamed the dog and then did the nest most logical thing....

......got myself a new 13" iPad Air. 

.... with the new Apple Pencil Pro because my Apple Pencil 2 is not compatible with the latest iPad Air. It's actually ridiculous how the previous generation is not compatible at all with the current iPad Air, but that is just Apple being Apple I guess.

Good thing is I managed to use my Sister's Education account to get a slight discount plus a free Apple Pencil, this time I also made sure to add in Apple Care and the total damage came up to around $1,200. 

The original price is actually $1,400, so I did manage to save $200. 

I was initially still contemplating between travelling overseas for another short solo trip this year or getting the new iPhone 16, but this new unnecessary iPad purchase has made that decision for me.

Fuck.

To be fair, I was having trouble looking for a SEA country to visit, my initial choice was either Ho Chin Minh or Hanoi in Vietnam, but then nothing really interest me there, so I considered somewhere in Bali, but again, it's not metropolitan enough like Taipei or Bangkok, so I eventually gave up on the idea.

With the iPhone 16, I'm just not very sure, I have seen the leaks and it seems the only thing they are adding is an additional camera action button on the phone, there really isn't going to be any significant upgrade that validates an upgrading from my current 14 Pro. It's as stupid as me getting the iPad Air, but with this purchase, at least I have a valid reason....

Anyways, to make this iPad purchase less painful, I have decided to just withdraw all my investment from my Endowus app. Been using that app for a few months now and I have only made like $20 with my $1200 investment, I am getting more from my UOB One Account interest rate per month so there really isn't any point to continue.

The next punch to the gut for my bank account will be my upcoming insurance investment, that annual $3000 deduction is always such a humbling experience for my savings. I know I will eventually get that money back one day, years down the road, but seeing my savings take that huge dip. I also have an upcoming dental visit, not sure what kind of financial damages that will incur as well.

Shits and Pukes.

The long weekend ended with a round of food poisoning, which extended my long weekend to an even longer one.

No idea what caused it, I did a Google search to check how long it can take for the effects of food poisoning to kick in, and apparently it can take up to as long as 10 days based on the first website I saw,  so my guess is that it could be from the Poke Bowl I had at Tanglin Mall on Wednesday, the salmon was really mushy and reminded me of the texture of the Prawn Nigiri I had during my Taipei trip which also gave me food poisoning.

The Poke Bowl I had at Tanglin was probably the worst Poke Bowl I ever had, mushy salmon aside, it was $15 a bowl and I think the server forgot to add the sauce that was supposed to be served with it, so it was also extra fucking dry. And downing that dry bowl with a sugar free fizzy drink did not make it any better. I hadn't realized that it was drier than normal because it had been a while since I had a Poke Bowl, it was only after I went to check out the ingredients on their website when I got home did I realize it was suppose to come with a "Signature Umami Sauce" that I did not see the server drizzle into the bowl as I was watching him prepare the bowl.

Service also wasn't good, and the fact that they are very likely the reason for my food poisoning. 0/10.

Back to the food poisoning experience.

The effects kicked in on Monday at around 1 am, my chest suddenly felt really bloated and the stomach did not feel too good, this led to multiple liquid diarrhea sessions that pretty much lasted the whole night, I could not fall asleep because of how uncomfortable that bloat in my chest felt, so even though I was laying on my bed, I wasn't actually sleeping, and when I am not on my bed trying to sleep, I was just busy taking a piss from my ass because that's what it literally feels like when I was shitting. I didn't know how liquid diarrhea could get can be until I had those sessions. 

Then the worst part came during the vomiting sessions at 6am. I knew the bloating will feel better once I actually vomited, but what I did not expect was for the vomiting to actually physically hurt. When I felt the first one come, a part of me felt glad that I could finally get some relief from the bloating, but as it made it's way up, the pain I felt in my chest was intense, it's the same type of pain I get in my chest when I am laughing way too hard, it's very uncomfortable. With the laughing, normally the pain will make me stop laughing, but with the vomiting, if it needs to come out, it's gonna come out....

... it came out another 4 more times within the span of 1 minute.

The bloating was better, but I felt like shit. For the rest of the day, I was just tired and had no appetite, so all I had yesterday was a bowl of soup and that was it, I didn't dare to eat anything else because I was so afraid it would trigger the vomiting.

This round of food poisoning felt worst than the one I had in Taipei, but I was able to get better so much faster than when I was in Taipei, so the medication I was given me here was definitely much more effective than the ones I had in there, I guess the vomiting also played a huge role in the relief that I was able to get.

Note to self : If the raw seafood has a slimy texture , it's probably a good idea to stop eating it.

Indecisive Fucks strikes again!

The indecisive customers that I blogged about previously are getting from bad to worst and I feel like I am already at my wits end dealing with them and all their last minute request and changes.

This morning, the daughter messaged in the group chat requesting to add LEDs for one of the wardrobe, the plans for LEDs in this wardrobe were originally discussed to be implemented during the early stages, but then the clients decided to take it out, we did not discuss about adding this back in for the next few months leading up to the renovation, not a single word about it, so during the electrical works, we did not prepare any LED points for this carpentry, during the carpentry fabrication phase, we did not ask the carpenter to cater any LED channel in the wardrobe carcass for it.

But out of all the times they could have requested to add the fucking LEDs, they have to request it when the carpentry had already been fabricated and about to be installed. 

Fucking shitheads

I am actually so fucking irritated at all their last minute request, if they had requested for us to add it in 2 weeks ago, it would have been fine, 1 week ago, we could have tried to make it work, but NOW, WHEN THE CARPENTRY HAS BEEN FABRICATED! Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME! 

This isn't the first time they pulled this shit, they have been pulling this shit multiple times after the renovation started and it's the constant flip flop between ideas, the last minute request to add shit that should have been requested long ago. Or requesting to add something at the inconvenience of EVERYONE, but themselves, and then suddenly deciding they no longer need it, AFTER the alteration had been made.

When I joined this company and decided to become an In-House Designer and not do any Project Management work was because I wanted to avoid getting stressed out over situations like this, but I have no choice but to take on a more active role because I know Yan, who is the Project Manager for this site, will get extremely overwhelmed dealing with all this on her own, my boss is sadly taking a backseat and not really chiming in much to assist, so I have to deal with all this ridiculous request from the customers.

This family is the most indecisive, last minute homeowners that I have ever worked with. They do not know the level of inconvenience all their last minute request is causing EVERYONE and they are just so shamelessly requesting for them every other day. 

THEY REALLY SHOULD JUST GO FUCK THEMSELVES.

FUCK