A day when things just go wrong

Incident 1

I paid $2.40 for a plain and egg prata. I didn't realize it until the next day, where I paid for the same thing again, and the stall operator told me it was $3.20. I had a brain fart and thought prices had increased. But he said it was the correct price all along. I paid him the difference for yesterday's meal as well.

Incident 2

I was driving and I signalled to change lane from 2 to 3 (slowest lane) cos I wanted to make a left turn in front. There was a car slightly ahead in lane 3, so I slowed down and signalled. The moment I did so, the car behind sped up to close the gap. However, he was way far behind and there was a lot of space for me to cut in. He was not happy and gave a long horn. The car in front braked slightly cos he was confused. If I did not brake slightly, I could have hit him.

The car behind continued to horn, sped up and overtook me on the right. I thought he would cut back in front, but it turned out he was going straight.

At first I thought it was a PHV car, but it was not.

Incident 3

My go-to TaoBao seller still had not list MS-05 (Onslaught). Finally, someone commented on TFW that it was out in China. I finally ask them. Their answer: they may not list it after all.

Argh, I scrambled to find other sellers. Some already listed it at full price of 880 yuan (S$162.27). They were in Shanghai and Beijing. I found one seller with preorder listing and he was based in Guangzhou. I had the idea preorder is cheaper than in-stock listing and Guangzhou is nearer to the warehouse.

So I ordered from him. His preorder price was 50 yuan, but it included 30 yuan shipping? Hmm, maybe the deposit was 80 yuan?

After I ordered, I realized his full price was already out and it was 888 yuan. Argh! Nevermind, it was only 8 yuan more.

The figure arrived the next day and I was asked to pay 838 yuan. Shouldn't it be 808 yuan? (808 + 80 = 888 yuan)

Nope, need to pay for shipping. :-O The seller told me it was written very clearly in the product listing.

Everyone else is selling at 880 yuan including shipping and this seller is selling at 888 yuan + shipping? Only careless people will buy from him. :blush:

So I ended up paying 38 yuan (S$7) more. I can only say I tripped over myself for being too clever. :-(

Incident 4

I was at a shared desk with two power points. One was already in use. I used the other one.

After a while, someone came and said he needed to use the plug. His bag was already on the table, so he could argue he was there first.

Anyway, I was using a travel adapter with USB ports, so he could just plug his power cable into my adapter. No problem.

When it was time for me to leave, I switched off the plug, removed my adapter and put his adapter into the power point.

And I was promptly scolded by him. He asked why I didn't give him any notice? He needed to power off his notebook first, else it would spoil.

At first I thought he was not running on battery, so he lost power. But his notebook was still on.

Must power off notebook to disconnect from power point? That's news to me.

Anyway, I apologized profusely to him and told him I didn't know how computers work, so I made this mistake.

Adjustable bookstand

Choice of medium (34 x 24 cm, 1.35 kg) and big (39 x 28 cm, 1.5 kg), normal or thick (加厚).

Price in yuan:

Size	Normal	Thick
Medium	59.50	79.20
Big	78	84.96

The seller does not know the difference between normal and thick. He said better material? (Looks like he is a dropshipper.)

I believe the normal one is suitable for books only. The thick one can even hold a notebook computer.

I bought two medium "thick". The package was heavy, 3.6 kg, so I shipped it by sea. It took "forever" to arrive — I checked again and it was 12 days, which was within delivery estimate (7 to 12 days).

I was surprised by the size and, for a moment, I thought I ordered big size.

The acrylic glass is 5 mm thick. The joints are ultra tight, making height and angle adjustments super difficult. I guess that is what "thickened" means. It swivels easily though.

The comedian who has no cards

So this Z guy went to Washington and quarrelled with Trump on live camera. He seems to think that USA has an obligation to help Ukraine.

In the past, USA did help without asking for anything in return. Now Trump wants a rare-mineral deal.

Why? It's simple. Everyone has their cut in the massive aid, or the aid went to their arms supply backers. Very little direct aid went to Ukraine. Z has complained about this in the past — apparently he could not benefit too much from it.

Trump is different. He does not benefit from it, so he can openly ask for something "for America". Why should USA be involved if there is no benefit?

Wouldn't the arms suppliers complain if they lose their business? Well, there is Gaza conflict and that is an even bigger gravy train. One conflict is enough. Sorry, Ukraine.

First of all, why is USA involved and not Europe?

Europe is a true two-headed snake. They claim to support Ukraine, but not militarily. Then, they buy oil from Russia. Winter survival is more important than Ukraine, I guess. Now, they talk about financing Ukraine with frozen Russia assets. How about using their own money?

In all these, do you know who does not want the war to end? Yes, it is Mr Z.

As the person who send his countrymen to die in a proxy war, and incur massive foreign goodwill debt (translation: expensive post-war reconstruction projects), his good days will come to an end once the war ends.