One of the perks of working in the renovation industry is that I get to enjoy a longer than usual CNY break.
Most people will have 2 days off as per the MOM official public holiday dates for CNY, but those in the renovation industry get to have a whole week off cos all the sub-cons and their workers will usually take this time to go back to Malaysia, where majority of them are from, to take a well deserved break.
My boss arranged for everyone to have a meal together before the long CNY break yesterday at a restaurant near the office. I didn't get a bonus this time round like I had the last time because the business didn't do very well last year, but he still made sure to give a generous red packet to everyone, so I got $1000, a bit lesser than last year as well, but it's still a $1000, that's still crazy generous and I am very very grateful.
We were able to end work a bit earlier as well, so I left at 4.30pm. I haven't really had much to do at work recently as well, I actually spend Monday binge reading Solo Levelling for the entire 9 hours in the office, I felt really really bad about it but I literally had no work to do.
I think the market is getting better, it's just I really didn't have anything to do this week at work because most of the clients are either overseas or preparing to go overseas, so there wasn't really any chance for us to move forward with any of the projects.
Anyways...
I also got myself a new bedframe from IKEA.
This cost me $500, but I knew I wanted to get a new bedframe because my previous one from HipVan, which was a fabric bedframe, had started to become a bit gross, and one of the wooden slates broke so it was time.
The fabric had started to discolour because a portion of it was against the window, so the Sun had caused the colour to fade, and fabric bedframes in general are just harder to maintain because it is fabric, there was so much lint accumulating everywhere and I couldn't clean it properly with a wet wipe because the fabric it will just absorb all the moisture, and the loose fibers from the wet wipe will also get caught onto the bedframe itself and then it just ends up contributing to the lint count. I really liked it when I first got it because it had been my very first fabric bed frame, it looked so soft and was quite comfortable to lean back on if I wanted to sit upright on my bed, but the high maintenance, which in turn has led me to just not bother to maintain it all, has made me really dislike it. First and last time I will be getting a Fabric bedframe.
But back to this IKEA Bedframe.
I bought it last week online and it has been delivered today, but I made the big mistake of not opting for the on-site installation, thinking it would be easy to just set it up myself.
It wasn't!
I was working on it alone for like 90% of the setting up, my little sister helped me with the last 10% when she came back home, but holy crap, it took 5 freaking hours to set the whole thing up!
We don't have an electric drill at home, so I had to use a good ole screwdriver and there was a lot of screws I had to not just simply tighten, but had to actually use force so the screw will actually puncture into the wood.
This bedframe came with pre-drilled holes, but they were not threaded holes, that meant that I had to physically exert enough force for the screws to actually go through, using a manual screw driver.
The damn bed is extendable, which meant I had to pretty much set up 2 separate bedframes, and it also comes with 2 drawers, so this was a complicated process compared to a regular bedframe, I was naive in thinking that this was going to be a simple and quick activity that I could do on a Saturday afternoon, the mattress slats were a fucking bitch to install because I had to manually screw the screws into the pre-drilled, non-threaded holes for each individual slats for like half of the bed because thankfully, the other half didn't require me to drill as much.
I got a new bedframe and saved some money by installing it myself, but at the cost of my wrist because it is now extremely sore and so are the balls of my palms because I had been using that part to exert force to push the screws into the pre-drilled holes, now my grip also feels really weak because of it. It feels like carpel tunnel syndrome.
NOT WORTH THE TROUBLE!
I should have just paid the $100 fee and got their guys to install it for me. This self-installation should only be attempted if you have a power drill, otherwise, it is not worth the aches and sores.
My whole room now also smells like IKEA now because of the new bedframe. I don't mind the smell when I am at IKEA, but I am not in IKEA, and it is so strong, especially in such a small room. Usually when you smell something long enough, you will eventually get nose blind to it, but not the smell of the IKEA furniture, it's just constantly there, up in my nose. I wish some of my perfumes could have this type of longevity.
Anyways, random update on PopMart stuff...
I recently got a full set of blind box figurines from the PopMart TikTok Shop...
It's a 1 in 144 chance and I got it, well, my chances were higher since I actually got the full set, so my full set had a 1/12 chance of having a secret in it, and it did!
So happy when I saw taller than usual flame as I opened the box, this dopamine rush of getting a secret last a lot longer, so I am still feeling very happy when I think about this, also because I really like this collection, so to be able to get a secret is like chef's kiss.
Sadly, the figurine is too high and can't fit into the display case, this and the other one beside it, which sucks because the collection would have looked really nice in the case. Alas, I cannot accept the fact that 2 out of 12 of my figurines can't fit, so I took them all out of the case and migrated them to another one...
... this arrangement is not too bad, I can make the secret the center piece and actually still have space left for the remaining design on the bottom left, which I have gotten on Shopee for 170% of the original price because it was one of the more popular figurine in the series, but I really have no choice, I mean I have the freaking secret, I need the full set!
The duplicate that I ended up getting was the very last box I opened, so it was an exhilarating disappointment when I realize I was going to be missing 1 figurine from the collection. How lucky would I have been had the last box been the one I was missing, that would be crazy, I would have used up all my luck for the year if that had been the case.
So much for my New Years resolution of not wasting money on PopMart, but I had already broken that resolution during my Taiwan trip when I got those Skullpanda figurines, oh well. At least I actually like all this figurines from Chaka, and I got the Secret too, so it's worth it!
$200 worth of damage if I were to also include the missing one that I bought at a mark up. So happy to get a FULL collection!
Something else I have noticed when I tune in to the PopMart TikTok Livestream recently is that the Labubu craze is slowly but surely dying down. I have watched 2 different host, on 2 separate occasions, releasing the Labubu V1 as a surprise drop and it didn't get wiped out immediately by the viewers, in fact, it stayed available for like a minute, no one is snatching them anymore.
The resellers are finally gone... for the early versions of these Labubus at least.
As someone who is part reseller and part collector, but mainly a collector now, I think I will still continue getting the Limited Edition Labubus, just for my own personal collection, since I will be keeping them in the box, it will act as a nice display for my shelf.
I recently managed to get my hands on this one, it was finally released on the Livestream after so freaking long. I had originally planned to snatch it on the release day back in October, but the Livestream had some issue like 2 hours into the stream, so the stream just ended for the day, which was fucking irritating because the host was slowly releasing all the least popular items first and saving this one for last, but then everything crashed and everyone who was waiting for it ended up being unable to get their hands on it.
They didn't announce when they will re-do the Livestream for this release because they don't update their Social Media about it, so it just remained unavailable for the longest time until they finally released it on the official PopMart website, unfortunately, it was a "purchase with purchase" kind of deal...
..so I will have to first spend $31.90 before I was allowed to buy the Labubu.
To see myself spending a total of $70 in a single receipt for PopMart when I only want to get the $39.90 item? No thanks!
The PopMart website also has a much longer delivery time, the first and last time I got something from there, it took them 2 weeks before it finally arrived at my door, I have no idea why but it was stuck in a sorting center for a whole week, whereas with TikTok, it gets delivered within a week. So I am not going to be getting anything from the website unless I have no choice.
But anyways, I have gotten that Labubu from the stream, so if they are still working during CNY, hopefully I can get it by next week and add it to my collection.
The next Limited Edition one will also be released soon...
... I'm not sure how I feel about it though. I will probably still try and snatch it though because I am a sucker for following trends blindly.
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