The Garden of Forking Paths

313@Somerset, Centrepoint, Orchard Central, Illuma, Central, Square 2, Mandarin Gallery

2009-12-05T11:36:00.006+08:00

I was at 313@Somerset yesterday. The layout was not dissimilar to that of Centrepoint, conservative with shops ringing a narrow atrium. However, it worked, unlike the labyrinthine Orchard Central, Central at Eu Tong Sen, Illuma, Square 2 with escalators flying all over, dead ends, dead spaces and more. Mandarin Gallery was small and simple and I thought that would work too.

313@Somerset, like the rest of the malls, had the usual chains. Nothing too unusual. The usual bland mix. However, unlike Orchard Central, Central and Illuma, 313 had big anchors like Zara, Brotzeit, HMV, Uniqlo, Marché. Illuma had a cineplex however.

I think it would not be difficult to see which new malls would be the losers.

The redeemer

2009-12-05T09:34:00.002+08:00

Mr X of Store X is going to bring in Product X after all. Hmm... Perhaps, I am mistaken.

Am I too sardonic these days? Too cynical of the nature of my fellows?

2010 World Cup draw

2009-12-05T09:31:00.002+08:00

The World Cup draw for 2010 is out!

Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France

Group B: Argentina, South Korea, Nigeria, Greece

Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia

Group D: Germany, Australia, Ghana, Serbia

Group E: Netherlands, Japan, Cameroon, Denmark

Group F: Italy, New Zealand, Paraguay, Slovakia

Group G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Cost, Portugal

Group H: Spain, Honduras, Chile, Switzerland

WOW! Group G! Scary. Group C and E look to be the easiest.

Observed

2009-12-05T09:22:00.003+08:00

Observed last night at Harris bookstore at 313 @ Somerset: 'Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters' placed in the classics section.

Observed some time ago at Prologue at ION Orchard: Cyril Wong's volume placed in Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Hilarious!

Harris and Prologue belong to Popular. I think they do need to give their shelving staff more training.

Next game

2009-12-02T22:24:00.000+08:00

I am looking at Dragon Age: Origins next.

Finishing Torchlight

2009-12-02T22:23:00.000+08:00

Before I knew it, I have finished 'Torchlight'. Heh. It wasn't difficult at all on 'Normal'. Heh.

Fax photocopiers

2009-12-02T10:38:00.001+08:00

Despite explaining my requirements to the sales people from Fuji-Xerox, Canon and Ricoh, they persisted in introducing models that cost between $2600 to $12,000.

Fuji-Xerox introduced two models that were $9,000 and $12,000 exclusive of GST. Canon presented two that were $8,000 and $10,000. And Ricoh, $2,600 and $4,950.

They deliberately did not present their lower product lines despite my constant reminders that my requirements were basic and that I was cost-sensitive. Oh well. They concentrated on their hard-sell, ignoring everything else and had probably their commissions in mind.

Ultimately, I picked up a KX-MB772CX based on B.'s recommendation from Harvey Norman's for $299.00. I set it up this morning and the machine has been satisfactory. $300 versus $12,000.

Forest trail

2009-11-30T10:26:00.001+08:00

Pigment ink sketch. 21.5 cm x 15cm.

Forest trail

2009-11-29T10:18:00.002+08:00

Pigment ink sketch. 21.5 cm x 15cm.

National Museum

2009-11-28T12:23:00.001+08:00

Perankan Museum

2009-11-27T12:20:00.000+08:00

The long afternoon of Singapore

2009-11-26T18:16:00.000+08:00

Dinner at Fiesta Basilia

2009-11-26T09:33:00.007+08:00

I met an old friend, Eugene, for dinner at Fiesta Basilia at United Square last night. The food was the usual Brazilian style meats that had become popular with the advent of that place at Sixth Avenue and Carnivore at Vivocity.

I would suppose if you were a carnivore, this place would be ideal for you.

As usual, we talked about the pop music of the eighties which was Eugene's passion.

Torchlight

2009-11-26T00:11:00.000+08:00

I have been playing quite a bit of 'Torchlight' for the last few weeks. It is amazingly addictive. It's exactly like the old Diablo I and II and Rage of Mages I and II.

Photocopiers

2009-11-25T13:27:00.002+08:00

I heard that Selex was bought by Canon. When did that take place? I don't know. Hmm..

Here are the surviving photocopier brands that are left:

Dell
Canon
Hewlett Packard
Konica Minolta
Kyocera Mita, including its Copystar brand
Océ. including its Océ Imagistics brand
Oki Electric Industry, OKI Printing Solutions brand
Panasonic
Ricoh
Samsung
Sharp
Toshiba
Xerox / Fuji Xerox

Kallang Leisurepark

2009-11-25T12:13:00.000+08:00

National Stadium IV

2009-11-24T12:03:00.000+08:00

Honesty, service and sales

2009-11-23T12:18:00.001+08:00

One night, I was at a store which I would not be naming.* I would call it Store X. I asked Mr X, the storekeeper if they had product X available. He thought a little and he told me that Store X would definitely be bringing it in. Then, Mr X realised that he was caught in a lie as he was not really bringing it in and I would certainly be coming back. He switched his tune. All of a sudden, he told me that he would have to make a special order. In any case, I did not care for the way he took me for a fool. His shifty eyes, his mannerisms and his body language told me a bit. If people doing sales had some integrity, it would be really nice. As it was, I was turned off by his replies. I thanked him and told him that I would be ordering product X from aboard.

*If you want to know which store, you can ask me, I will tell you in private.

National Stadium III

2009-11-23T11:59:00.000+08:00

Ostia, Atlantic Star and Traumfabrik

2009-11-22T20:35:00.000+08:00

We had a good session today. June Hwang, Terence, James, Chew Ming and I played 'Traumfabrik', 'Atlantic Star' and 'Ostia'. June Hwang won in 'Ostia', a very clever game of auctioning and resource allocation, June Hwang managed the most points in 'Atlantic Star' and finally, Chew Ming managed his contracts well and scored the most points for 'Traumfabrik'.

Cityscape

2009-11-22T12:06:00.000+08:00

Ordering German games

2009-11-22T10:37:00.004+08:00

If anyone would like to combine for an order of German games from aboard, I would be interested. It's simply too expensive to get it locally. There is one or two sources at home. Not much real competition, hence the exorbitant prices.

German games session

2009-11-22T09:55:00.002+08:00

German games session this afternoon. Since we are going to have five players, 'Goa', 'Verrater' and other four player games are out. Heh.

I should compile a listing of possible games for different number of players in future. An inventory of German games.

Expensive games

2009-11-21T16:13:00.000+08:00

If games in Singapore weren't so expensive, I would be a regular purchaser. As it is, I hardly buy boardgames and card games these days. I am thinking of making an order from a German company some day.

I am also thinking of a trip to Essen next year.

National Stadium II

2009-11-21T11:58:00.000+08:00