DeepSeek | Born of China AI

The Chinese AI chatbot, DeepSeek had been rolled out and it has caused a storm. Not only NVIDIA had sinked down which also affected myself as a NVIDIA's Investor, it also affect Singapore stock market, particularly in Data Center REITS stock. I had not tried DeepSeek yet, but certainly love ChatGPT, but the problem is the cost. If DeepSeek, became much powerful and its free, i will review their security and personal data regulation before trying it out. This is only the beginning, let's see how NVIDIA and US's AI firms particularly OpenAI going to react from here.

Exclusive Ox 牛 General Forecast Lunar 2025

Of all the different readings, i like this the best from Suntec City SG haha. Its biased, but everyone love it when its goes into their favour. Well i hope its true, but this is just general readings for all the Ox out there. But it really depends on the respective born year and Bazi. Had not checked for this year Bazi Reading, but focusing on some lucky items instead. 2026 will be the year for me to do a career change, hence this year will focus more on deciding my job class and train towards it. It will flow down the training towards 2026, as i will be attaining my SGD$4000 SkillsFuture's credit. 😁

Happy Lunar New Year 2025 !

Happy Lunar New Year to all and wish everyone a good year ahead. It is the start of the lunar new year calendar where all the snake year readings will begin. So many fengshui masters giving different animal ranking, but i think as an Ox, it will be a normal year ahead. Need to learn to expect the current expectations. As long i go with the flow and remain quiet, this year will be a good year and have to focus more on my overall health well being and need to tolerate people better. 

Singapore Monetary Policy is easing

Happy Lunar New Year Eve to all. MAS is easing monetary policy for the first time in the past 5 years. This would bring down core inflation as forecasted. It will also potentially bring down inflation cost to rise, but the cons are increasing unemployment rates resulting to people spending less and taking up lesser loans. Good or bad, we still need to play the game as fellow citizens, but need to know whats the impact of these policies.

I'm BACK on Summoners' War | Summoners' War X Demon Slayer Collaboration

As the title goes, i had just downloaded back and started anew for Summoners' War. Somehow got attracted with the latest collab and this game had been a pain in terms of grinding and achieving the rarest runestones. Its a very old game, but certainly not an easy game to play. Not starting as a competitive playing, playing as a casual basis only. I think my old account had nowhere to be found, but i believed i had gone far beyond previously. Life is about gaming and revisiting again to enjoy while it lasts. Let's see long i will play this before i put a stop to it again. 😅

Sunshine Smart-Carb Low GI 37 Low Sugar Bread

Sunshine Smart-Carb Low GI 37 Low Sugar Bread is the healthier bread which almost everyone can eat because it is halal certified, HPB recommend it and in support of Singapore Heart Foundation. Today it costs $4.00 and typically can last 5 to 6 days which is easily available on the shelf at most Supermarkets. I think this is probably one of the best option for Diabetics. The strategy is probably longer lasting fullness and low in sugar and no Cholesterol at all if you don't add butter spread though. Lastly for Glycemic index value, anything is below 55 is considered good which is measured at 37. Taste wise, still can accept. Anything beneficial for your health, i have no complaint.

[BullionStar] Accumulating both gold bar and silver bar

This trip, had got myself another 1 gram of Gold Bar and the 2025 Lunar Collection Year of the Snake 1 Troy Oz of silver bar. Had bought it before Trump inauguration, but price of both gold and silver were high. But we never knew what is the highest, so i am still on the journey of accumulating both gold and silver in 2025. As Lunar Chinese New Year is around the corner, they gave two sets of Red packets. 😄

NTUC $8 Return Voucher [No need CDC Voucher]

Yeah no need CDC vouchers. Just need to spend $100 and make payment with any method at all FairPrice outlets, and you will get a $8 Return Voucher for use till 28 Feb 2025. But to take note that this offer only last till 26 Jan 2025. Well actually its CNY next week, so you can simply buy your stuffs these dates to have a "Cashback" bonus. Just grab my $8 voucher yesterday together with CHAS Card 6% discounts. Faster go BUY !

Minion Land is coming to USS on 14 Feb 2025 !

Illumination's Minion Land is coming to Universal Studio Singapore [USS] coming 14 February 2025. For Singaporeans, Adult fare is $74 and children above 3 years old is $59. They target Minion theme to launch on 14 Feb 2025 probably for teenagers and adults to celebrate Valentine's Day. Saw the sneak peek, actually it is quite nice and the shop carry many minions too. It will definitely have tons of visitors on the first day. Just be prepared and at this point of posting, there are still slots for 14 February 2025 tickets.

Tik Tok Service had been restored in the US

It was down on 19 January 2025 [Sunday] for US users for Tik Tok. On 20 January 2025 [Monday], services had been restored and many Tik Tok users were happy ! Well to date, although it is up, Tik Tok will still need to work with Trump Administration to make it work permanently. Looks like their solution is to have US owns 50% of tiktok which is crazy. But hope Tik Tok will find a better way to stay in the US as i personally used Tik Tok and it was not bad to be frank. It is still considered as the ultimate Portrait Social Media Platform !

Kwong Cheong Thye Chicken Rice Chilli Sauce

Went to the exact Kwong Cheong Thye factory at Senoko. Bought a few products and this is one of them. Well, its not to my liking though, but my wife said that it is ok since this is Singapore style. I preferred it to be more acidity and lime taste to it. But i think hard to get those kind of flavour in Off the Shelf in can form, might need to diy those types of chilli. So i think overall is quite ok, but not to my preference.

Nintendo Switch 2 Announcement is disappointing !

Well, Nintendo just released their teaser on 16 Jan 2025 recently. Its just so disappointing. As you know that Nintendo Switch 1 released on 2017, it had been 8 long years. With this kind of overdue upgrade, Switch 2 teaser is just showing minor upgrade which is not truly an upgrade at all. Yeah, they are not revealing any software upgrades or application features. So as per analyst mentioned, its really lack of surprise. But then i'll will upgrade due to the fact that i had not upgraded my first gen Switch launch from the "Gen 1+" and OLED edition. So it made more sense for me to upgrade.

Simba performed best against Starhub

I can understand this report very much, as i am both a Starhub investor and subscriber. The signal in the MRT is really very bad for Starhub being used its services for more than 15 years. Today Simba is providing really lot of perks and very affordable value for all consumers. In the past, simba used to be bad for its signal strength, but today it had improve drastically so much. Best of all, they recently provide like 700GB local data and it can be utilised over at Malaysia as well ! That is the ultimate plus point since many Singaporeans and Malaysians travelled around these places everyday. It had ended the day where one have to hold on to Singapore Sim card and Malaysia Sim Card.

Ang Mo SuperMarket X Gardenia

Normally for the past few years before Gardenia raised price, i am still getting 10 cents discount from Ang Mo Supermarket. Recently the same white bread had raised to $2.50. My downstairs Ang Mo Supermarket did it again by reducing 15 cents every purchase. This is what you called real cashback !

[Clash Royale] Royal Chef + Mirror Boost is insane !

Fighting in a ranked battle with both Tower 14. With the new addition of Royal Chef Tower Build + my usual Mirror Card, I'm able to upgrade my Valkyrie to Level 17 in a Level 14 battle. This is really insane. Of course it takes certain condition to make this happen, and probably 1 out of 20 matches to be able to fight with a Level 17 troop. Clash Royale is really awesome no matter how i see it, but the recent balancing patch really made my Queen less effective, but still able to function well. 

Mister Donut X Pokemon | NorthPoint

Mister Donut had opened in Northpoint for quite some time. Nowadays, not much people queue up for this and the limits of certain donuts had been lifted. Recently there is collabration with Pokemon, so try to support them again. But well, still prefer the traditional donuts than these modern donuts. I remembered something like Donut Factory was good, but closed for good. Sigh.. i felt its a hype for these stores and to be frank, donuts cost so much. Bought it because they looks nice and is limited. Bought the Special Pokemon Bundle at SGD$16.

To perfect my "Self-Discipline" to meet my goals

Kinokuniya just brought this book on their shelves and bought it during lunch time. To better sharpen my "Self-Discipline" skills with this book and also learn to eliminate distractions to achieve my goals with purpose. Life is short, its better to always plan and think ahead. Anyone can have all the knowledge in the world, but in the end, you still need to have the "GUTS" to carry out anything. I can say that things are progressing, but require more guts and knowledge to speed out the process. No matter what, i am currently enjoying the process. 😊

Maggi Aglio Olio

Bought this from NTUC Finest, 2 packets for SGD$7.35. So there will be total of 10 little packets, costing SGD0.74 per packet. But for my lunch, i cook 2 packets for myself, so its like $1.48 per meal. With no further add ons of extra ingredients, in it is the noodle + Oil + chilli taste flakes. I will give it 5/10. Still can eat but not that fantastic. So at its cost, able to fill up just right. Probably need some add ons like eggs or meat to boost up the ratings further.

Using LED Da San Yuan Mahjong as my Ezlink in 2025

After i lost my old White standard Ezlink card on a bus coinbox when my daughter threw it into the coin deposit box, i order this Mahjong Charm Simplygo Ezlink Card to use it as my daily public transport travel. As i compared many platform, Carousell and Shopee is selling so expensive. I only wanted the 發 mahjong tile, but its selling at around $35++. To order the set of three, shopee costs $88, averaging at $29.30 a piece. So decided to get the set from Lazada with an online discount at $61.80, averaging at $20.60 a piece. So will be using this from now on. 😁

Singpass ID can be change ! 2025

Seriously... I didn't know that the Singpass ID can be changed to some other ID other than NRIC. From what i know, in the very beginning, NRIC is the default and i really didn't know until this whole saga spilled out to the public. Like that i will just change to some nickname already. SIGH ! I think in the beginning, this entire Singpass thingy wasn't made very clearly. But the ACRA saga, i really don't have comments about it. But i do support the public as a whole.

Replace my TV with LG 65 inch TV !

I had replaced the newer 65 inch LG TV again. This time is a very good deal. From the original price of $890. After all the 12.12 vouchers deduction, it became $590. Combined with the signing of Singsaver Citibank credit card sign up and charge $500 to this card, singsaver will give me $400 cash via Paynow. That brings down to $190 spent on this TV. As long it can last 7 years and beyond, i think it cost so much lesser than even my phone or tablet. Its still a very good quality TV and was able to mount up using my existing mounting brackets and TV console. Consider it done !

My LG TV became faulty after almost 8 years

As above, my LG TV first bought and mounted at my new flat's TV Console feature wall in January 2017. Bought this 65 inch TV when 65 inch TV are one of the largest in 2016/2017 for almost SGD$2000, except that i totally redeemed using my renovation package $2000 electronics voucher to offset it. This TV had served me probably 5000+ hours of entertainment especially in many weekends and definitely during covid 19 lockdown. During covid 19 lockdown, its just 12 hours of good kdrama almost everyday. In terms of value, i think 7 to 8 years is decent. Repair quote is $300, when sourcing for third party repair, but unable to guaranteed that it will last a few more years.

Really nice to plan that long weekend with minimum amount of AL

Yeah the public holiday placement is good for 2025. But normally it works best for singles or married couples with no children. With children, your usual CCL + AL eats up most of their activities already. But still a good guide to follow. Secondly, yeah can go many trips, but must really budget. Nowadays places that were cheap to travel, are no longer that cheap anymore. So one still need to budget to maximize your spending and enjoyment. 😉

[Retired] Legend of Mushroom

Decided to retire another daily mobile game as to clear more time for my 2025 target. Also will be getting more time off from work for my personal development upgrade. I guess its time to change role soon. As for Legend of Mushroom, its a very grindly game but i had my fun for several months now. 

NTUC Fairprice giving $6 vouchers till 12 Jan 2025

Together with your chas card power, need to make good use of your CDC vouchers to get the $6 vouchers probably only two times. Because for Supermarket, its only $150 each household. So can only use $60 x 2 = $120. At least to get back $12 to use and offset more groceries in the coming months. Few more days to 12 January 2025.

Pre-Booking required to exchange new or fit to use notes for CNY

Remember to look out tomorrow for your respective banks to pre-book the new CNY notes for your HongBao needs. Personally i preferred the physical notes rather than digital currencies, both also can accept lah, because it is still money. Think i will try to prebook as i need tons of $2 notes. 😊

Blue and Orange Chas Cardholders have 6% discount for first 2 months in 2025 !

As i had gotten my Blue CHAS Card recently, i had been enjoying my groceries shopping at 3% discount every Thursdays. But at least now till end of February 2025, FairPrice Group is doubling the discounts for these card holders. So now instead of 3%, i will be able to enjoy 6% discounts every thursday. Time to plan my groceries strategy and probably do the final stock up end of February 2025.

"Most" "Workers" "in Singapore" "Received Wages increases that outpace inflation"

Well, he is not "wrong", as he is PM Wong. Singapore year on year average is 2.7% for the past 10 years. End of 2024, Singapore Economy grew 4%. But it still does not mean that majority of the citizens are living well. Most are still having low wages, doing more but not enough to provide or cope with living cost. Hence people had to be hardworking to do several incomes to have better lives. But this is definitely not good lah. How much can old people do?

Happy Birthday to myself !

Still at level 3X, but what i really need today is to strike the big numbers ! Really needed the money to change the whole life. Money in this time and space is very important. Without these funding, you will not be able to do something big or even carry out your perfect plans. So i hope today will be the time to achieve this important pot of gold !

Stocking up Bak Kwa time is coming !

To reinforce your understanding where i took several grab rides in JB, Malaysia. Several of them said can bring in small amount of bak kwa into Singapore from JB. Well that is only someday or you are just lucky if ICA personnel closed one eye. It is still not allowed to bring in bak kwa from JB into Singapore. So please take note. We usually consume small pieces of bak kwa before we go back Singapore or when visiting relatives in Malaysia. 

Happy New Year 2025 to All !

Happy New Year to all ! Thank you for reading my contents at AmateurCraft so far. It had been almost 4 years since August 2021 when AmateurCraft first started. Apparently, i am doing this as a part time basis and probaby will full force once i retired. [IF I ever be able to retire] Basically, the objective of this website is to provide my personal input on news, food, travel and personal events in my family. Let's hope 2025 will be an insightful year ahead and hope i can fork out some time for more travel and food contents. Wish everyone a fruitful and smooth 2025 !