1. Why am I always hungry
2. How to tell if boobs are fake
3. Why I love gummy bears
4. I love pad thai
5. Why do guys like poker
Having previously put down the phone with JW at 2am last night, phone rings at 2pm today, waking me up from my sleep.
Me, groggily: hellooo?
JW: Have you been sleeping all this while?
Me, indignant: what? no, I woke up in the middle for lunch.
JW: How can you sleep so much??
Me: But… I am tired.
(I spent all of yesterday watching tv)
JW: From what??
I am not proud.
Today was the most fun I’ve had in a loooooong time. Perhaps in 3 months.
Went to Sentosa with Sharon, Brian, Eugene and Jin Yi.
1st stop. Luge. Zoomed down the hill in the black go-cart thing and it was so fun! Well not exactly zoomed cos there were little kids blocking the way and going so slowly as they didn’t know how to control their carts. But it was still fun.
2nd stop. Southern-most point. Boring since I’ve been there many times. Sentosa does not have very nice beaches. The sand is fine but the sea water is dirty. It is not very scenic either because when you look into the horizon you see ships.
3rd stop. Fort Siloso. Boring too, because I think educational things aren’t meant to invade holidays. Do not like museums! Traveling is meant for relaxing, not for learning.
4th stop. Go Green Segway. FUN!! We got to ride that thing Kevin James uses in Mall Cop. I thought only uppity city folk who care about the environment use segways to get around! It is reallyyy amazing, that thing can read your mind! If you lean forward, it goes forward, and if you lean backward, it slows down. OMG, like those broomsticks in Harry Potter which react to your thoughts. Sharon kept saying whoever invented segways is a genius. hehe. So after training for a bit you get to go on this course which has curves and slopes etc. Omg it is so fun! I really like doing things rather than seeing things. Which is why luge and Segway were fun for me while Southern-most point and Fort Siloso were not.
Sentosa has hidden speakers which blast music everywhere. When ‘Nobody’ by Wondergirls came on, me and Sharon started singing along and dancing to it. I like spontaneity like that.
After Sentosa, Sharon and I had dinner at Food Republic in Vivocity. I let Sharon try Dou Sha Bing (the flat pancake chinese dessert, not dao sa pia). Yay cos it was yummy.
Then we went to the Vivo rooftop with all the shallow pools to chill and talk while sticking our feet in the water. It was so relaxing and fun. Took some pictures too. To my annoyance, this little boy swam by us and said ‘Don’t kick your smelly feet at us you unfashionable girls’. ARGH I get annoyed just thinking about it. But I shall not let a little boy faze me, because cool people like me are so together that we are way above annoying young boys. HAHA. Chilling on the rooftop was very enjoyable, guess it was a combination of the company, scenery and relaxed mood.
After that we walked around Vivo for a bit before heading home.
Yay…
Came across this across this China Daily article, “Britain’s BP, Chinese oil firm win Iraq deals“, recently and read with interest as Iraq held its first auction of its oil fields since the US-led invasion. The sale is the first chance for major foreign companies to gain a hold on the world’s third largest oil reserves since Iraq nationalised its oil industry in 1972. MSNBC also reports that at this point, “Iraq needs the expertise of internationals that can develop its dilapidated oil and gas industry. The country lacks the oil revenues needed for reconstruction following [the] U.S.-led war… that tipped the country into chaos.”
Major oil companies such as Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP and CNPC were asked to put up a total of $2.6 billion in ’soft loans’ in return for access to Iraq’s main oil fields, which could net the companies a total of $16 billion. These oil fields hold 43 billion barrels of reserves and are responsible for 2 million out of Iraq’s 2.4 million barrels per day in output, MSNBC reports.
Given the unprecedented access to Iraq’s oil fields, the most surprising part of the article is that out of the 8 fields on offer, only one field – the largest 17-million barrel Rumaila oil field – was successfully auctioned off, to the BP/CNPC alliance. However, closer reading revealed that the failed auctions were due to Iraq’s low offered fee for each extra barrel produced. For example, while Shell wanted to be paid $7.89 per extra barrel of oil produced, Iraq only offered $2. Similary, the BP/CNPC alliance wanted $3.99 per extra barrel produced, but had to accept $2.
This incident is but one in a string of resource deals completed by China in its shrewd use of the current crisis to its advantage. While countries and companies are reeling from the financial carnage, China has been making use of its superior economic status to advance its position and quench its hunger for energy.
In February this year, Russia and China signed a $25B deal that will see Beijing supplied with oil from Siberian fields in exchange for loans to Russian firms. China Development Bank will lend $15B to Russian state oil firm Rosneft, and $10B to pipeline firm Transneft. In return, Russia will supply 15 million tons – 300,000 barrels a day – of oil annually for 20 years, BBC reports.
More recent resource deals completed or to be completed by China:
Jul 10, 2009
PetroChina gets nod to buy Nippon Oil, Japan’s largest refiner. PetroChina will gain a 49% stake in the venture. The two companies agreed in May to establish a joint venture to operate the refinery with a capacity of 115,000 barrels a day.
Jul 6, 2009
China National Petroleum Corp., along with France’s Total, plans to bid for 2 heavy-oil blocks in Venezuela.
Jun 25, 2009
Sinopec, China’s second largest oil company, agreed to buy Addax Petroleum Corp, a Geneva-based oil and gas producer for $7.3 billion.
Jun 22, 2009
PetroChina (recently named one of world’s 10 most profitable companies) completes acquisition of 45.51% stake in refiner Singapore Petroleum.
There are many more, such as CNPC’s purchase of Kazakh oil company MMG, and in April, and CNPC’s purchase of Canadian oil firm Verenex to access Libyan oil. In June this year, ExxonMobil has also agreed to sell 2 million metric tons of LNG a year to PetroChina. 70% of China’s energy demand is still derived from coal, and China is already the world’s 2nd largest oil importer after the US. Also note China steel giant Ansteel’s increased stake in Australian iron ore explorer Gindalbie Metals (iron is the world’s most widely used metal) to 36.28%, making it its largest shareholder at the end of June this year. And many many more.
Just as the Baltic Dry Index is a great leading economic indicator because it deals with the precursors to production, China’s rapid acquisition of resources is also an indicator of its imminent dominance on the world stage. Fund managers everywhere are exhorting ‘buy China’, and indeed China’s rise presents great investment opportunities for us.
I feel like I have to write everything down, otherwise I will forget all the wonderfulness that has happened.
- Miami was awesome. Beaches – swam in the sea, seafood – stone crab + paella, Everglades – airboat + alligators, good company (Sze Yen, Chih Hung, Roy, Xinyi, Keith, Jinyi, Nichola, Tracie, Yushuang), diving at Key Largo – giant garoupa, beaches, beaches and more beaches. The best part was being able to thaw out in the warm weather after freezing in the Michigan cold. Finally seeing green and grass and trees was indescribeable.
- Chicago was super awesome because the entire holiday was chill and relaxed and I was around fun and awesome people the whole time. On Friday we arrived in Chicago and just chilled in our Hyatt hotel room, because we were all so tired. Then on Saturday, we woke up kind of late and went to eat brunch and a really nice place that you can only find in cities and not college towns. I forget the name, but it was sort of affiliated to cheesecake factory. Me and Vivian shared an omelette, Eugene ate eggs benedict, Yingyi ate chicken fillets and Jeff ate salmon rice. We then walked around the city and up and down Michigan Avenue. Went to the arcade just on a whim and Vivian saw the soft toy (bears) claw machine and said ‘Get one for me’ and these obedient boys just decided to get a soft toy bear for her using teamwork and skill. What nice boys, and what a cute Vivian’s bear! Then we challenged each other to Daytona and I came in first, even though I actually really suck at it and I have no idea how I won. Then we challenged each other to basketball! I didn’t win at it though :( Then, to indulge in Eugene’s feminine side, we all watched Confessions of a Shopaholic, which was such a touching and sweet show (Vivian was crying for most of it hahaha). After that, we ate at cheesecake factory with Kaijian, Edwin and their friend. The cheesecake was super delicious! Then we went back to our hotel room to play Saboteur, which was very fun! On Sunday, we ate super super yummy dim sum at Phoenix. I miss the dim sum there. The cheong fun was so nice and so was the dou hua. Ahhh.
