My 1st smartphone!

Hello gals! 

Lost my hp last Fri on a cab for the umpteen time and decided that was it. The final straw! It's time to get a smartphone proper and change that unlucky number which I have been using for 14 years! Think that about marks the history of mobilephones in Singapore. Once upon a time, I used to own a Motorola pager!

That mobile number has seen me lost 5 handphones, including the one last Friday and that was a spare phone of someone's else! Urrrgh! Would you believe me if I said I once lost my Blackberry which was a spare phone kept in my drawers? I had no idea where it went!

I had 6 mobile phones under that number and this is the only phone that survived out of the pack.

The Husband calls it the Bandage Phone. All who have seen me using this remember me and my phone. Because it's not often you see a phone twined with a rubber band. #Iamthejokeoftheday

I dropped the phone so many times on the floor that the battery got bloated and the battery cover is unable to shut close. The battery starts to drain out real fast and finally, the phone died a heroic death and all went blank after the final fall. Nokia phones are really hardy. I used it for 4 years!

I still keep the phone for memories' sake. It's my first white phone and the first phone that didn't got misplaced/lost. Totally deserve a space in my drawer just for that!

I had really wanted to wait till Oct for Iphone5. =(

Wasn't able to launch without a phone too, because I won't be able to access my UOB a/c and there's quite a number of customers who do bank transfer via UOB. 

I was at Starhub PS close to 9am on Sunday. I reckon that would save us a lot of time in queuing and squashing about with others.

To get a Iphone 4S 16GB would cost me S$248, while a Samsung Galaxy Note would cost me S$228. The only time I have forked out money for a phone was about 8 years ago, when I fell in love with a Samsung red flip phone. That red matches my SQ red nail polish! It was gorgeous! Ever since I lost it, I told myself I'm only going for S$0 phone from then on. No point throwing away my money!

The thing is, good smartphones are never S$0 and those were the days when phones are merely for calling and messaging.

I tweeted about my dilemma about choosing between Iphone 4S and Samsung Galaxy Note. A very sweet customer emailed me giving me suggestions and a live email exchange ensued.  We were both awake at 4am on a Sunday. Hahahaha! Thank you, Sandy, for your recommendations! If not for you, I won't know Note comes in Pink too!

I was all set on getting a Note when I saw that Samsung Galaxy SII was going for S$68 with contract. That's so much cheaper! There and then, I wondered if I really needed a Note. Yes, it would be useful if I need to reply urgent emails! Peering and tapping on small screens are very exhausting. The Husband and the Starhub staff walked with me to check out the dummies and I was like asking everyone for opinions. I'm very bad at making big decisions like this. =(

Not sure how I got convinced but I got a Note in the end and am still feeling the heartache of spending more than S$200, instead of S$68 even though it wasn't my money. Sandy was right. I wasn't used to the bigger size. But it's really very slim and light for its size. Brother says it is good for me because a bigger phone will be harder to lose. Another plus point is it's easier to fish out from my disorganized bag too! 

The Husband is more excited about the phone than me. I can't feel the excitement yet though. It's just a phone, isn't it? He was bugging me to set up all my social a/cs on the phone but I worry that if I lose it, some stranger is going to have access to my personal Twitter/Facebook a/cs and TFL Gmail (horror of all horrors!)! So no, I will only log in when I need to use it. 

One function that I really like is the S-note function! This phone comes with a stylus and it's so useful for scribbling notes on the go! I can scribble pages of them if I want! I am using it to write my daily affirmations because it's more environmentally friendly and I'm often in too much of a rush to sit down at my table for the writings!

The 8mp camera is a plus point too! I finally have a more 象樣 camera! My Sony camera was only a 6mp and I can't hold it still enough to take good photos. This also means customers can look forward to me posting more TFL photos on Instagram/Facebook!

Display wise, I prefers Iphone/Ipad. The screen is more comfortable to look at but Samsung has designed its phones very well. Note is very intuitive! For e.g. if I'm on the phone with someone and I need to press a key, all I have to do bring down the phone from my ear and the screen will light up! And Samsung really have the nicest-sounding melodies for its ringtones! p.s. I have used Panasonic, LG, Samsung, Nokia & Motorola mobile phones.

I have sent invoices with the Husband's Iphone and Ipad previously and its copy-and-paste function is able to do it with the right formatting as seen in TFL invoices. So I thought this would be a norm. But the first time I tried sending an invoice with my Note, I was really disappointed that the Note can't copy the formatting i.e. no paragraphing, no bolding, no underlining etc. All the pasted text would be in one chunk of paragraph and look very disorganized. Why, Samsung, why??? If I knew that would happen, I would have gone for Iphone 4S. =((


The Husband said there might be a miraculous app that will solve this problem for me. I doubt so but still gonna look into it one day!

The Husband has been bugging me with ways to protect my phone. But I like my phone plain and simple. No fanciful casing/covers, just protective films. And he's like, oh what if your phone break when it gets drop, what if it get scratched, what if this and what if that... The irony is that his Iphone doesn't have a casing either. Double standard. Pffft!

And yay to a new auspicious mobile number! I hope that erases all my bad luck with phones and bring me more good news of prosperity for Tian Fen Lan!! Huat ah!! (I think only a Chinese will say this, haha!)

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu

Presents for a blogshop owner

I spent a lot of time in front of my laptop. Like, really, a lot of time.

My family must have noticed too because recently, I got a lot of unexpected gifts from them. No, not diamonds or Chanels, haha! But affordable little gifts that make working for TFL much easier!

A foldable bed tray table from Ikea! The Husband bought it at S$9.90 in early May! What a good deal! It's not some filmsy plastic but of sturdy high-impact polystyrene plastic! I only saw it in hot pink though. I like the amount of space under the table top. It's wide & tall enough for me to sit cross-legged underneath or change to stretching my legs straight, without having to push away the tray table to do that. The table is very stable during usage. Its legs don't collapse under the weight of my 2kg laptop and my hands, even when I used it for 5-7 hours straight.

The Husband has taken it upon himself to stock up my snack pantry when I get hungry in the middle of the night, replying emails or doing up launches or watching Kang Xi Lai Le. I didn't like the Lays chips he bought because as much as I like chips, I don't like them too salty. Meiji biscuits packs are very yummy when paired with Laughing Cow cheese! And of course, with Coke! Heavenly!

So the other night, I randomly grab this packet of chips because there's none left. It was of a ailen brand that I had never heard before. Was telling myself if it did not taste nice, I would get the Husband to finish up because I don't like throwing away food. But SURPRISE SURPRISE!! This is the most delicious packet chips I had ever had!!! It's not as salty as most chips and tastes very real (not sure if you know what I mean)!

It's a bonus that the chips are free from cholesterol, gluten & trans fat! I didn't even know that till I was almost done! I thought the chips were made from potato till the next day when I was gushing to the Husband how different & yummi-licious the chips were, the Husband enlightened me that the chips were made from cassava, otherwise known as tapoica! 番薯片! It was written in bold on the packet but I was literally eating blindly! Lol! 

And guess what?! It's manufactured by Tai Sun! I was expecting a US manufacturer because of the taste. My mum-in-law tried looking for it in Malaysia when she was in Johor, because she saw that the chips were made in Malaysia but couldn't find it there. Yes, she likes the chips too! 

I'm never going back to the usual potato chips!

THIS is the most most most most most most most useful present I had ever received as a blogshop owner! My mother had never saw how I work for TFL. 2 Fridays ago, she came to meet me to pass me homemade red bean agar agar. That was her first time seeing me carrying so many bags of parcels & stuff. I was lugging a big China bag of shoes, bags & clothes, all packed, with several other smaller bags. Mum saw me and throughout the 2 hours we met, she kept asking me why I sloughed this way. I presumed she was referring to why I opted for such a laborious job instead of a corporate career. 

Then, last Sunday, when we went back for lunch, my Mum surprised me with this trolley bag she got her friend to buy from Bangkok! I had never seen this selling in Singapore. The bag, yes. There are tons of variations, but not with an ATTACHED trolley! The trolley is really sturdy and stable and because it's attached to the bag, the bag base is of strong metal + plastic and not waxed paper. It is still light enough to be hand-carried if necessary. This also means I don't have to worry about the bag falling off from the trolley and no more torn bags and no more holding on to 10-12kg worth of stuff!! The usual cabin bags don't work for me, because selling bags & shoes mean parcels can be of all sizes & shapes. So bags with slightly flexible shape works best!

Back in SQ days, I had always used cabin bags with attached trolleys. I didn't fancy using a separate trolley, because many times, the bag would fall off when the crew gets on/off the escalators, makes a turn or navigating through the plane's narrow aisles. In short, it's just irritating. I gathered I must have a 不解之緣 with trolley bags because I never thought 4.5 years after hanging up my kebaya, I would still rely on a trolley bag for work! Hahahah!

Such China bags (is there a proper term for them actually?), despite their size & ability to store, break rather easily when they are made from wax paper. Canvas is the best bet if you have heavy stuff to put in. But I can't find canvas China bags in Singapore. I asked my mum if there were plain ones because I'm so not a cartoon prints person. Hope to buy a bigger one with attached trolley too! I'm very adept at pulling trolleys! =D

Metta, 

欣雨 Xinyu

My toothpaste diary

Hello gals! 你們還好嗎?? 希望你們都很開心！！

So happy to be able to update again! =)

I've been having so much fun and inspiration over at TFL that my only rest times are during sleeping and eating times. Now I have about half an hour to squeeze in a blog entry before I need to run off to pack parcels for courier and get ready for puja later!

I got inspired to blog about toothpastes (yes, of all things) because as I grow up, I realised how difficult it has been for people around me to keep their teeth beautiful, healthy and strong. My teeth has been straight and neat since growing up and apart from the couple of fillings I had in my primary school days, nothing major had went wrong all these years. I count myself very lucky that I didn't have to spend thousands of dollars on my teeth. Still, at my age now, I'm not gonna take things for granted.

Source: Google images

Getting the maximum value from your toothpaste. No lah, this is not what my entry is about today. I just find this photo rather amusing. =P

The only problem I had, since teenager days, is my gums would bleed when I brush my teeth. And you know what that means...reddish toothpaste foam. >_<" I didn't realise it was a problem, till the first time I visited a dentist in my twenties. Wouldn't have gone to one if it wasn't subsidised by SQ. He could tell that I had bleeding gums problem and prescribed me an antiseptic mouth wash, which was green in colour. Since then, I never had bleeding gums and my gums are a very healthy pink colour now! It used to be redder!

The dentist also reminded me to brush my gums gently as I brush my teeth, so that gums are kept clean too. Gosh, I never knew my gums need brushing too!

Since we are talking about brushing, the Husband's dentist recommended brushing the teeth in a circular motion as it removes impurities better than the up-and-down brushing. I tried that technique and my teeth looked cleaner and whiter!


Fyi, his dentist is from Sunshine Dental at Woodlands Civic Centre. The Husband is full of praise for the clinic, its staff and its equipment. On his first time there for a routine cleaning & polishing, they took a high resolution photo of his mouth insides and showed him the current condition of his teeth via the monitor. The Husband was aghast, to put it mildly. All he could mutter there and then was, "Wah, doctor, your clinic has very clear and sharp monitors." Lol.

Darlie Original Strong Toothpaste

This is the first and only toothpaste I had ever used before I got married. My mum, for some reason, only buys the original Darlie and nothing else. Not Darlie with extra mint or Darlie whitening or that Darlie gel toothpaste. Just the original Darlie. She said other brands taste strange. I wonder how she knew since for 20 over years, she only buys Darlie toothpaste for us. 

Source: Google images

We had used Darlie for so loooooong that I even witnessed the rebranding of Darkie to Darlie in 1989. Did you know Darkie was first manufactured in Shanghai in 1933, then Hong Kong and later on, Taiwan? I didn't realise it was a original China product all these years till now! That explains why I could never find it in the supermarkets of Western countries! 

After I moved in with my in-laws, they only had Colgate toothpaste. I couldn't get used to the taste and I really think its effects are not as great as Darlie. So I went out to buy a medium-sized Darlie for myself! I didn't dare to buy the jumbo tube because in the early days, I wasn't sure if my in-laws would mind me stuffing their toilet with so many of my personal toiletries when it was already very packed. Haha!

I have also discovered a new use for Darlie. It can heal burns!!! 

I scalded myself once with hot soup and at wits' end, I applied a thick layer of Darlie on my burn. There was no other medical aid in sight, except a gawking Husband. To my amazement, there was no pain and the burning sensation quickly subsided! So it was no old wives tale after all to apply toothpaste on small burns! Definitely works better than running under running water or putting antiseptic cream! Best of all, as the wound heal, the burnt skin peels off finely by itself and leaves almost zero scar! 

Recently I burnt my forearm again when ironing clothes for TFL shoot. I didn't even put my wound under running water (it's a temporary relief that doesn't heal the burn, imho) but instead, slap on a thick layer of Darlie. And viola, no throbbing burning feeling and by the next day, the Husband couldn't even tell I burnt myself again. 

But, but, but please remember not to apply Darlie with EXTRA mint! I did that once and I was literally yelping from the 'hot' sensation on my wound from the strong mint! Not sure if other toothpastes work just as well though. I had only used Darlie on my wounds so far. =)

Theramed 2-in-1 Whitening Toothpaste + Mouthwash

A friend with super serious teeth problems introduced me to Theramed, a made-in-Germany toothpaste about 2 years ago. It has several different toothpastes but I only like the whitening one. I had never found the need to use whitening toothpaste despite being a a Coke-aholic aka serial Coke drinker. But as I hit my late twenties, my teeth were definitely not as white as before. I used to brush my teeth only once a day and that was when I wake up. After hearing my friend's woes about his teeth, I started brushing my teeth after every meal whenever possible.

My verdict: Within 2-3 weeks of using this toothpaste and only this toothpaste, I could see my teeth lighten by about 1-2 shades. Even over all these months of usage, the effect remains. I had never used it as a mouthwash, but only to brush my teeth.

Yellow teeth are just not so pretty especially when I put on deep-coloured lipstick. There was a period of time when my mum kept telling me how yellow my teeth are and I should visit a dentist in front of her friends. Gaaaah!! So embarrassing!!! But now even she noticed my teeth are whiter than before!

Currently, I used this toothpaste when I wake up and sometimes after the last meal of the day, to keep my teeth white. It is available at Watsons, Guardians and Cold Storage. If you are a Watsons member, best to get it at Watsons. Sometimes there's 20% off the usual price of S$3!

The only con is this toothpaste is not great for freshening the breath. My guess is mint is not a prominent ingredient in this whitening toothpaste. Darlie is still the best for that!

Dentiste' Plus White Nighttime Herbapeutic Toothpaste

I strongly recommend this nighttime toothpaste to people with toothache problems! One of the main ingredient in this toothpaste is clove oil, which is a great remedy for toothache. But, dear, if you have a serious problem of toothaches due to more serious issues like my friend, please see a dentist. My friend has this innate and illogical fear of seeing a dentist that he rathers his teeth drop out one by one, despite our threats/coaxing/cajoling. Sigh. Don't ask me why. 

So this same friend told me about this amazing herbal toothpaste. It cost S$10 for a 100g tube meant for sensitive teeth. I couldn't fathom paying so much for a toothpaste when I had been so used to using Darlie, which is at a fraction of this price! If you have non-sensitive teeth, you can get the normal range at $11.90 for 3 in a pack (2 full-sized 100g tubes, 1 60g tube) at Watsons. 

My verdict: It really does what it claims! The morning breath is much better and my teeth feels much cleaner, compared to using Darlie! I was surprised at how herbal this toothpaste taste & smelt on my first usage. And I really like that! 

To give you an idea of how herbal this toothpaste taste, here's some of the active ingredients:

Xylitol, Silicon Dioxide, Peppermint oil, Clove oil, Menthol, Vitamin C, Eucalyptus oil, Sage extract, Chamoile extract, Fennel extract, Glycyrrhiza extract, Cinnamon Bark extract.

My friend, who suffers from toothaches due to dying teeth and diseased gums, has his toothaches drastically reduced, after using this toothpaste!

Here's some technical information extracted from the web:

Dentiste' Premium Night Time Toothpaste, world's first and only natural night time toothpaste clinically proven to inhibit night time bacteria for fresh morning breath, features a proprietary blend of 14 kinds of premium natural extracts. The premium natural extracts are naturally anti-septic and anti-bacteria so that it provides an active protection against bacteria caused by low saliva flows and thus eliminating bad morning breath. For even better protection, we use Xylitol, a natural sweetener that cannot be digested by bacteria therefore starving and reducing their accumulation. And to make sure that no bad morning breath is left, CDX (Cyclodextrin Complex) is used to provide a passive protection against bad morning breath by effectively trapping bad breath. The Dentiste' bacteria-eliminating mechanism works so well that 97% of Dentiste' users feel the difference within just the first night of use.

Source: Google images

Dentiste' Plus White Repaire Rebuild Revitalize Remineralization Toothpaste

This, my dear readers, is another truly awesome product! It can really rebuild teeth! Well, not give you a brand new tooth if your old one is dying. But it helps form new enamel around your teeth!

Due to our lifestyles, diets and aging, we face teeth erosion and abrasion problems. This toothpaste contains a breakthrough ingredient "Calcium Sodium Phosphosilicate" derived from bone re-generation technology. Imagine bone re-generation technology in your toothpaste!! Now can someone invent a way to brush this into our bones?? A 2nd chance to grow taller maybe??

This ingredient neutralizes the acidity in our mouths (so that we can stop destroying our own teeth), converts to form enamel crystals, creates new layers of enamel and fills the open tubules (pores in inner layers of teeth) in your teeth. In short, this miraculous ingredient can repair cavities in infancy stage, reduce teeth sensitivity, gingivitis (gums inflammation) and bad breath! 

You know how we girls buy a moisturiser that says it can do 24352562 amazing things to your skin yet it fails? But here's a toothpaste that posts similar claims and performs to it!  一網打盡! At S$25+ for a 70g tube. Best to get at Watsons, especially when they have 20% discount. Guardians' sells it at S$29+!

It's really cool to see enamel crystals forming in the teeth! You would end up spending the next half an hour gaping into the mirror with your mouth open. But it's really amazing to see new enamel being formed!

When I was coaching my teen nieces in their Science, they were asking me why it was crucial to learn Science since they were not keen to be scientists. Now I can tell them it would help loads when you want to blog about a very useful product and you want to impress your readers by simplifying 4 paragraphs of complex scientific information into 2 short easy-to-read paragraphs. At the very least, you would be able to understand what you are blogging. Hahaha!

The toothbrush set I bring out! Got it at less than S$4 from Cheers at Changi Airport. I don't really like the toothbrush but I like the cover for the toothbrush head and the flat hard case. Used to buy the travel set from Dentiste' (nice toothbrush!), but the zip-lock case is too filmsy for my liking and gets dirtied easier.

Not sure if you notice but I really don't like squeezing toothpaste from the middle of the tube. Wait, you mean you do?? *wide-eyed*

Metta,
欣雨 Xinyu