The weekend that was

Just had a great long weekend.

On Saturday, I had a little excursion alone to Batam, Indonesia (click to see map), where my college buddy Jean was waiting to take some Manila visitors of hers and moi to a spa for some pampering.

The day turned out to be just perfect! Despite the 6am start to my day, I was happy and content to be watching the people who were up early like me riding the MRT train to the Harbourfront station. Once there, it was only a few minutes before I was comfortably ensconced in my ferry seat, music blaring into my ear from my mp3 player.

After a short uneventful hour on the seas spent mostly dozing, I was in Batam mid-morning. Jean was already waiting at the ferry terminal. After a quick stop at her hotel to grab a bit of breakfast and to fetch her visitors, we were soon on our way to our massage appointment.

My 2-hour turn at the massage table being kneaded, scrubbed and polished and then soaked in something milky and honey-smelling was just heavenly. I could have stayed there to sleep the whole day if they let me but too bad that we all had to rush soon after to the ferry terminal again to catch the 2.45pm trip to Singapore. Jean's visitors still had to do Sentosa and Night Safari (the usual kamikaze skeds of rushed visitors) so we couldn't linger.

Suffice it to say that I slept like a log that night.

Sunday was another slow day. The hubby and I woke up late, pottered around the house, watched TV, read the Sunday papers and ate lunch at around 3pm. We both had Monday off to celebrate his birthday, and so we didn't feel hurried to accomplish some things-to-do then. At 6pm, I went to mass at the Cathedral.


The big news of the day was I got me a new phone! A Nokia 6880. And it cost me all of S$98 (Php3,280)! It's cheap cos I used a $100 voucher from M1 and because they signed me up to a 2-yr contract again. Upgrading was the farthest thing from my mind really, but what helped cinch the deal was the hubby's insistence that we were losing money by letting the resale values of our phones drop rapidly without a counter plan from us.

(As of last weekend, the resale value of a black Motorola RAZR v3 here was S$100, down $50 from only a weekend ago. My Nokia 6220 was a paltry $50. boohoo.)

And so, moi, who is soooo not into phones, have a new 3G phone. I'm still fiddling with it, alternately loving it and wanting my old 6220 back. The hubby loves it for a car-racing game and for the camera (2-mega pixel). Whatever it is, at least this phone is again forcing some sleeping cells in my left brain to wake up and figure out this new gadget. And God knows I need these mental teasers!

Monday was hubby's birthday! We were both off like I mentioned earlier, so it was a happy day from the start. But since everyone else was working and we have no relatives here, well, it was just us meandering in Orchard until dinner, when good friends joined me in 'surprising' hubby.

As it turned out, I was the one surprised cos the hubby later said he knew all along that something was up, that I was a dead giveaway in my actions and constant answering of a suddenly always-ringing phone. Mwehehe. I think I need coaching from some of the best party-organisers around -- my Kalayaan friends and Shanana (when she's in the mood). :-)

Best news of the day: hubby got his first floral bouquet ever fr J and E! Now that surprised him!

Aircon tales

It was time to have the aircon units in our place checked, so the men from the usual aircon servicing company I hire were here yesterday morning. Ordinarily, I would have left the 2 youngish Chinese-speaking workers to their tasks uninterrupted (usually takes an hour to clean the covers and water trays and vacuum the drainage pipes and check the gas of 2 window-type and 2 split-type ACs). Yesterday, however, I had to engage the more senior-ranked-looking of the two in conversation to explain to him, in very plain, and sometimes almost broken English (so we could understand each other), that the aircon in our computer-cum- ironing cubbyhole didn't respond anymore to the remote control despite the latter having new batteries.

Me (pointing to the aircon with remote in hand): That one, not working. See? (While aiming and pressing remote. Deadma ang aircon, no reaction.) New batteries here. (While pointing to remote.) This remote ok with other aircon. (Walks to living room and demonstrates. Aircon turns on with one click.) So how?

Technician: Ah. Signal receiver. Not working. $120 only.

Gastos na naman!!!

Ok, it's not so much the cost of replacing broken-down things in this rental condo that gets to me. It's more the idea of having to call the not-so-nice real-estate agent of the absentee owner of this condo that makes my heart drop. You see, our contract for this place spells out that any repair over S$100 that has to be carried out will be borne by the owner of the condo. A repair costing less is on my account. Ergo, dahil $120 ang new signal receiver, I must call the not-so-nice agent to tell her that hey, the owner better pay for this.

I don't like this agent very much because she is unrealiable, mostly unhelpful, and generally don't care much about this condo. (If only the absentee owner knew how she has left the bathroom ceiling slowly and surely warping despite my repeated entreaties to her to get someone to poke their head into the ceiling for a possible water pipe leakage check.)

She's the type who doesn't call back when she says she will, who immediately puts me on the defensive when I call about something needing attention in the house, as if I have nothing better to do than sabotage the appliances around here. She dilly-dally's about getting me a plumber when water is already flooding the kitchen and seemingly wants the perfect alignment of the stars with Jupiter and Neptune before she will call an electrician to check why our ref short-circuits and leaves our place without electricity.

Anyway, so I had to call this lady, who I shall call Lynette. When she answered, I explained to her the problem.

Lynette (the she-devil): Why $120? It was only $80 the last time the other aircon also had this problem.

Me: Of course it wasn't $80 or I wouldn't have bothered calling you that first instance, right? If it was just $80, I would have had to pay it myself hence there would have been no reason to call you.

Lynette: Ok then. Pay $100 and then we will pay the $20, to make a total $120.

Me: Don't be absurd! You pretty well know that is not how it works! The contract states that anything that has to be fixed that costs over $100 will be paid by the owner. Don't try to pull a fast one on me cos I am not falling for it! And tell the owner that both our responsibilities re the unit were spelled out in the contract and his include paying for anything needing fixing or replacing that exceeds $100. He signed that contract first too. And ask him if he has heard of the concept of maintenance costs when owning a house? His unit is 8 years old and he can only expect things to be starting to break down around here.

After a few more to-ing and fro-ing, she finally relented and gave her go-ahead. (Aba, dapat lang!)

It's nice to have remote-controlled aircon units again but these battles of will with Lynette must stop soon. I don't like the idea of moving again after 4 years in this house, but I think the she-devil leaves me with no choice. I just can't stand her any longer! Anyway, I've been dreaming of a condo with an ocean view. Might be time to look into the possibility of that.

Hear, hear, the taxman's here

When I saw the unmistakable envelope from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore a few days ago on the dining table, I immediately set out to open it. You see, I was expecting a bit of reduction in my income tax assessment for last year given that the government had lowered the top personal income tax rate in early 2005 to 21% from 22%. Also, 2005 was the first full year that I was going to be assessed as a permanent resident (PR) here, so I was naturally curious if the change in status would have an effect on my tax rate.

Just as an aside, the taxman here doesn't withhold tax monthly from employees the way the BIR does in the Philippines. So for the whole of 2005, I received my pay sans tax.

Then came mid-April and everyone who earned S$22,000 and above from Jan-Dec 2005 had to file their returns with the IRAS. A few months hence (a little over a month in my case) and they come back to you with their assessment which states how much you owe the government.

A taxpayer then has the option of paying the owed amount in full or in 11-12 monthly installments by direct debit from a taxpayer's specified bank account. And so goes the cycle.

And so I was in a hurry to open the envelope in my hands. And boy, did the taxman deliver good news! My tax due for income earned in 2005 has been almost halved -- from the usual 4.8-5.5% rate to just 2.7%!

(I can't help but remember at this point how the BIR used to take almost 30% of my measly income when I was working in Manila. What country! (Translation: Ano ba yan?)

A low personal income tax. Just one of the appeals of Singapore to me.

For you Kat!

Hey Kat,

Check out this video I found. Now I miss our karaoke sessions back home. Remember the usual last song in our final set with Anna? Wilson Philips! Those were the days.

Hope you are having a blast over there. Don't worry too much, remember that when God closes a door, He opens another. Have faith, my friend.