Got myself a little red Bike

Meine Eltern have been nagging at me to bring over my nice bike which has several gears. Told me it was gathering dust because I didn't cycle it (it was tied to and behind Vater's bike, so it was such a pain to take it out). However I didn't dare to even though there is a nice railing to tie my bike to, just next to my apartment. This is because of all those stupid juvenile delinquents and riff raff who like to go there. Bicycle theft proliferates where I live, so I don't want to take chances. I bought my bike at the same time as Bobo, and his was stolen within one day. He tied it to the railing behind the staircase (next to his parents' apartment) and it was gone the next day. Scary right? 

So the best option is a foldable bike which I can keep in the house. I accompanied Bruder to Giant when he was thinking of buying one for my SIL. In the end he didn't buy, but when I recalled, I popped by the Giant and decided to check out the foldable bikes. I was thinking that they would cost minimally S$100+ so I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw a series being sold at S$79.90. Their wheels looked kind of small so I asked the uncle if they were for kiddies.

After being reassured that they were adult-friendly, I had the uncle fold up a cute red one and I carried it onto the bus back. It was deadly heavy though and it only had one gear "pedal hard". 

I cycled to the market on Saturday. Not bad, but I will need to learn the new paths seeing that I am more familiar with the cycling paths at my old place.

I like cycling though I picked it up fairly late (when I turned 13). Vater felt that it was time for me to learn, so he bought me a 2 wheeler. Mutter was mollified and asked him why not buy a 4 wheeler first. He said it was faster to learn immediately on a 2 wheeler. After falling a few times and crashing into a tree (mercifully a small one), I learnt within 2 weeks after school.

Sewed a new lining for my Smelly Cat bag

I bought the smelly cat bag in Hanoi for S$6, which I once bitched that my S$350 Coach sunglasses fell out of it, while I was fighting my way out of the train during peak hour traffic.

And now its lining (cheap thin cloth) has torn. So I cut some green cotton and made a new lining. Unfortunately the first time I attempted it, I was very lazy and didn't hem my cloth. So naturally since I love to abuse the bag and carry lots of heavy books inside it, the weight torn the cloth from the stitches. 

In the end I spent last Sunday, sadly undoing all my stitches (which didn't tear, hmmph!) so that I can loosen the rest of the cloth. I then hemmed the cloth using the sewing machine and stitched the lining back into the bag.

Ignore the dirty floor, I was going to sweep the floor later. I am a filthy creature :P

Those eyebrows - There was really nothing good on TV

The American fall season is winding down, a lot of the shows are on their 21st week or have ended already. There hasn't been any nice new shows, and some of the older ones are losing steam. My perennial favorite How I met your Mother is also going to end next season. So zzz.

So I am back on my ration of mindnumbing reality shows.

This season of Fashion Star is really not bad, at least this time some of the designers actually can design. My favorite is Silvia Arguello. She actually has a label called Rosa Clandestino, which has been recognized by Vogue Italia and other publications. Not sure why she decided to go mass market when it's pretty clear she is quite high-end. I thought her design this week of the leather jacket and mini skirt were quite boring.

My favorite was her draped mini dress.

Eva Longoria at least attempted to divert attention from her disastrous love life by bombing three eligible bachelors' on a new show called "Ready for Love". Think Bachelor but even more demeaning to women. One of them was Silvia's brother, Ernesto, who at least had an exotic accent, and looked pretty manly, versus the other two, Ben Patton and Tim Lopez. Tim Lopez's idea of a first date was to ask the women to watch him play a song with his band.

Then there is Ben Patton. I know he is a CEO of a hospital and must be very intelligent and all, but look at them eyebrows.

I cannot stand those eyebrows seriously. Everytime they show him, my eyes go straight to those black caterpillars, which look very well-maintained and metrosexual-like. Ew.

I pointed it out to The Salmon who said they looked fucked up. See? Even a guy thinks so. I am no beauty myself, but I cannot help but be distracted by distinctive features/ eyesores, e.g. protruding nose hairs, weird eyebrows...Thank god the show is cancelled seems to be moved to E! instead?

Lastly there is "one night stand" Lochte. His mother bombed while trying to picture her boy as someone who is dedicated to his sport, by saying "He goes out on one-night stands. He's not able to give fully to a relationship because he's always on the go" while he did not help matters either by clarifying his mother's comment as "She definitely was like, 'Why would they do that?' She is so oblivious to everything."

Makes you wonder whether his mother was speaking the truth in the first place.

So now he is totally playing up the dumb douchebag image by having his own reality tv show called "What would Ryan Lochte do?". He brings all the girls on the first dates to the same sushi place because "all girls like sushi". He points out that he likes his date because of her upper body. He dominates his younger brother and when he loses a bet and has to clean his brother's car with a toothbrush, he made sure it was his brother's toothbrush he used....

Then again, he very obligingly strips off to white skivvies and swimsuits everytime instead of wearing those irritating Fastskins. And there is a lot of swimming, which I like. Think of it as Jersey Shore but real tans and less violence?

What can I say, he is dumb and I am shallow. Then again he might not be so dumb, because if you act dumb, people don't expect you to be role models and be an example to younger fans. You can get away with doing dumb things and get loads of $$$, while still concentrating on your sport.

The con about the show is that I am now worried about the long term effects of chlorine in the swimming pool. Hahahaha.

Play Company of Heroes 2 Beta for free!

Onkel H told me about this via email last Friday. One of our other CoH friends told him this; anyone can play Company of Heroes 2 Beta for free by "liking" the game on the Company of Heroes facebook page.

Then you will be given a steam code which you use to activate the Company of Heroes 2 game by going to Steam and activating the code.

Procedure

1.  Download and install Steam
2. Copy your unique Steam code. Do not lose this key.
3. Open your Steam library
4. At the top of the window, click on Games > Activate a Product on Steam.
5. Follow the steps to insert your key and download the closed beta!
6. Cya there (actually no,  i need my zzz. :D)

German books at Kinokuniya

Just now I popped by Kinokuniya after going to Art Friend to buy a canvas, and am somewhat pissed to find out that the German books seemed to have dropped in price across the board. Unfortunately the DVDs have gone up in price. Sh*t.

There is also a 20% sale for all Kinokuniya card members from now till 23rd April, because of World Book Day (there is such a thing?)

I am hunting for DVDs that have German sprache und untertitel. Best way to understand. Otherwise they talk too fast for me!

回味

When I reminsced about my Deutschland trip, meine Kollegin remarked that it had already been six months (at that time), and I was still savoring the memory (回味). "You must have really enjoyed it very much."

I did. It was everything I expected and more. Like I wrote Onkel und Tante H, >>ich wünsche dass ich mit euch noch einmal an der Pension Gerlinde bleiben kann<< (I wish I can stay at Pension Gerlinde with you again). It was really fun because for once, Bobo and I devoted ourselves to simpler pastimes like playing monopoly cards with Onkel and Tante H at Pension Gerlinde's restaurant till late at night, instead of squabbling with each other like spoilt brats. 

If we ever visit Germany (Bobo can be persuaded with the promise of bier) again, we will probably go in Springtime when the air tickets are cheaper. The air tickets were an eye watering S$1700+ per person the other time (at the height of summer). I hadn't planned on going then, but rather in Spring this year (when tickets are cheaper). I am awfully glad I did, because we were able to catch Onkel and Tante H at their holiday time, and it turns out that I am even more busy during this period. If we hadn't gone then, we would never have been able to go now either.

Apfel Strudel in a wine sauce (I can't remember what wine, shit sorry!)

What my Kollegin got me from her Japan trip

Bet you never saw this before. Instant fried rice...add water, zap and nomnomnomnomnom...

She also got me some potato sticks (a different brand from the Calbee's that we usually munch on here), a Suzy's Bear handphone chain (100% cute), strawberry kitkat and a pocky-like cookie stick?

How to move your CoH to Steam servers

Updated
I upgraded the version to the Company of Heroes (new Steam) version. I think that is the one to replace the existing setup, because from what I understand the game on Steam that runs on Quazal is still active too.

I must say I was damn depressed when I logged in and realized that none of my friends were inside. My entire friend list has been wiped clean...