And I thot I have it nailed!

Whatd’ya know! How long have I been playing with vinyl stickers? 15 years ago was when I put the 1st vinyl decals on my 1st car! I wouldnt think that I’ll still make those beginners mistakes! Allright, so yesterday put me back in my place.

wet out the blue and 1 at a time

There I was, working with a new type of reflective material. Hah, I thot they be all the same… but no, this metallic material tears and wrinkle easily. Its not like vinyl which flexes and stretch! … And it bubbles! Very easily, and not easy to repair. .. Now, nobody really needs to know these stuff, so I should stop moaning and groaning.

Flip over and peel the back off

Hey, I have an order to deliver, so I must be able to produce right!? 

Overnight, I had to develop some tricks to overcome these challenges with the new material. 1st problem, how do I lift the yellow to put on the blue? Just peeling it with the transfer tape is causing wrinkles! Hmm… hey… why dont I try peeling the back off..? Oh wow! Thats the way to do it! No wrinkles!

Finally. good and bad, see the difference?

2nd problem, how do I put the yellow on the blue and no bubbles? Clean the blue really well with lint free cloth and the window cleaner. Make sure the surface is lint free! Wet out blue surface thoroughly with the window cleaner, then peel the back off the yellow, and line it up in small areas that I can manage. .. The whole lettering may be too much for my small hands… Touch down from a edge and push the goop out from under the yellow, using fingers… Finally use a squeegee..

8″ tall vinyls are quite difficult to manage… and putting on the final transfer tape is a chore by itself. … the transfer tape may wrinkle and cause bubbles under the final application. I needed more hands to help me hold and place the transfer tape on evenly… sigh… I thought sticky is a 1 man business… but it really is not! …

Highrise gardens.

Neat row of flowering garden.

I was never a kampong kid. My family left the kampong at Kangkar just before I was born, and since then, we lived in Hougang… no I remember a time when our address was Tampines… and there was a bit of wilderness just in front of our block, and I have gone in there and gotten coconuts. The patch of wilderness has long been transformed into a block of condo… so no more coconuts.

Fruit and herb garden. See a basket hanging over the edge?

Many people do have a love for plants and planting. This is evident in our block. We have flower gardens and fruit gardens and herbs garden. Actually its not so bad to live in a block with long conridor space for some planting. Look at that those bright flowering plants, and check out the pamelo in the basket!

Over the edge, hangs a big fruit

I dont know what its really like at a Kampong… but I like how my neighbours keep they plants going. I wish there were more block gardeners… but it takes time to keep it squared away and nowadays, most people dont have time for that.

Chili flower.

Me and Doug, we plant only low maintenance stuff. Like the chili and ginger are not too fussy about being watered daily.

Local chili padi. Green or red, they are absolutely hot!

The fruits of our labor.. Only a small harvest each time.. mind you, they are very hot!

I dont know about the coriander… we are just trying out our 1st batch. Time will tell.

A need to know

Last week, I was caught in a long downpour while riding my bike. I really dont like to ride in the rain, so I hid under a bridge. As I waited for the rain to pass, I wondered about rain… Its strange how the minds wonders about things. I thought it strange too, that I have been drenched so many times by rain, yet I know so little about it.

What I dont know about rain?

– How long does it take for a drop of rain to fall to land? 10mins? … can we have a 10 minute rain to land forecast before it actually hits?

– What makes the raindrops big or small?

– Why is rain not a constant trickle of water from the sky? Or a great big splash as it comes down all at once?

…. curious minds wanna know…

My take on unemployment rate

Think worldwide unemployment rate can be 5% or less? Get real!

What is unemployment? Is it the count of people who are able and equipped with skills to work? Or is it a count of people who used to have work in the past 2yrs? To me, unemployment is the count of people who needs work, but is out of work for 3 months and have no possibility of getting any work soon.

Simply put, some people have no work and no income, but does it mean that they are hungry or suffering? May or maynot. Losing income is to some people, losing the ability to make payment on the 2nd home or something else equally frivalous. For some others, it might be mean a lesser education for a kid and cutting away some wasteful ways that one has developed. But it is not really about being hungry, or fear of being hungry and sick. Its the part about curbing desires and changing expectations that really hurts!

Now, where did the jobs go? In the past, to produce food, you need farmers. Now, we have machines that work 100x faster than a farmer, cost less and is more reliable. At the assembly plant, more machines and less workers. At the office, more computers, less clerks.

While it is true, that there is more people in this world today, and therefore there is more consumer and therefore more needs of consumer products and therefore more factories are built and more machines are hired … but

more CONSUMERS + less JOBS = less money = less spending = less sales

Anyway, thats not my point. So what am I saying? Simply, with automating the workplace with machines and computer, there is less need for people! The trend is definately going towards fewer jobs even if the world population is still growing! Its high time the governments recognize this and shift paradigms to get the people ready for this eventuallity.

Bottom line, its okay to have no income, as long as there is food and enough activity or entertainment to keep the people happy. As far as happy people goes, the robots can keep their job!

Get real people! Using unemployment rate to measure the health of a economy should be obsolete!

Mini tsunamis – a daily affair at Labrador park

Ferry wakes!

The power behind these waves flooded my little sit-on-top kayak when I was paddling off Labrador park.

Its coming in! Run if you can, take it bow on if you cant.

Was exploring the park on foot and decided to get a footage of these waves that swamped me. These are about 0.5m peak to bottom.

Starting to peak!

On that kayaking day, I had been stern to waves on the 1st hit, and bow to waves on the 2nd set of waves.

Mini surf

If I wasnt careful enuf to watch for them, I could have been side swiped by the waves and capsized!

Whooossshhhhhh!! Crashed...

Conclusions…  Must be prepared for the worst conditions when I kayak. Everything on my sit-on-top must float! 

Floating key fob

In the event of a capsize, I still can retrieve my paddle(floats), crocs(floats), camera(inside a water-tight tupperware and floats because there is air in it)… opps, my favorite hat wont float! Am going to make a float clip for it! Will really hate losing my hat by being careless! Already have a float for my keys

Plus, dont bring anything unneccessary. … like iPxxx. They sink and they die when wet! Let nature be your music. .. btw, I have 2 drowned phones! from previous kayaking days. Learned it the hard way!

So guys, have fun and dont lose anything!