Shoppingsquare.com.au Review

Ah.

I really don’t want to write this review, but I’ll do it as honestly as I can without any bias whatsoever.

For those who have been following this blog and my twitter (or kept an eye on my twitter via my blog), you probably would have realised that I bought a digital camera  about a month ago. About 2 days before buying the camera, I ordered a memory card. It’s only today that I received the memory card, after borrowing my friend’s card for the past month ish.

Background on the website

For those who haven’t heard of this website, ShoppingSquare.com.au (from now on abbreviated as ‘SS’) is a division of Apus. When you visit the website it appears that they have won numerous awards and they have a lot of products that are at great prices. I myself have been eyeing the Escada perfumes for a very long time – but never justified it since I don’t use perfume all that much. The only setback it appears at face value, is high shipping costs.

I’m honestly telling you all that this is a really popular website – make no mistake about that.

Recently SS had made a Facebook fanpage (you can search it up if you want, I’m not going to advertise the website here) and made a promise to give away gift vouchers of certain values if they made it to a certain number of fans by a certain time and date.

People were warmed up to the idea of getting $10, $20 or even though it seemed fleetingly impossible $50 vouchers for their purchases and referred their friends to “like” the page.

When the promotion was over about 5000-6000 people signed up, enough for the $20 voucher – however SS changed their terms and conditions last second and split the vouchers into measly increments and made it so that you could only apply one voucher per order (and note that the minimum shipping they charge is generally $10). They made the vouchers only applicable to items excluding promotional items (although at the time when they advertised the vouchers, they said you could “use the vouchers on anything you like”).

People were furious, complained, SS apologised, and quickly issued $20 vouchers instead.

For me, I was one of those people who got a $20 voucher. The entire process was fairly simple – collecting the voucher was hassle free. The only problem with the voucher was that you couldn’t use it towards shipping, but that’s okay.

You can read more about the voucher business here: http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/26278 The comments pretty much speak of different experiences and on the general side, it’s not particularly pretty.

It’s not a surprise that most of the complaints and stuff have been removed from Facebook (particularly those that weren’t worded too nicely). Their apology still exists on their Fanpage as a note.

Why I chose to buy from them anyway

I still believed that they can’t be too bad since they are reputable and so on, so I just hung onto the voucher.

Then came the 16th July 2010, when my friend tells me that SS has a free shipping promotion going on. There were SDHC Memory cards either going for free (less than $20, free shipping) or very very cheap.

I settled on getting a Sandisk 8gb Class 2 SDHC Memory Card for just only $2.40.

Free shipping. Voucher applied.

The description said that the RRP of the card was $99.95. I’m starting to think that it’s complete bluff, because on Officeworks the very same card I ordered is going for just $31.46 [NB: EDITED LINK AND PRICE - I got too confused since I waited too long for it, sorry about that]. FYI, the RRP they wrote of the $99.95 was probably referring to the $99 Sandisk extreme 8gb Class 10 card – which this clearly was NOT.

Either way, I’m still stoked that I only have to pay $2.40. I don’t need to travel to an Officeworks, and it comes to my door.

I paid and ordered on the very same day via PayPal and just patiently waited. It took them about 3 business days for them to dispatch my order. (There was a weekend in the time equation, so it wasn’t particular fast by my standards – I technically waited 5 days).

Problems started to arise.

Slow dispatchment.

I wasted several days at home thinking that I’d receive my memory card soon. I just couldn’t figure out why it would take several days for a memory card to be dispatched from the warehouse. Does anyone else feel the same? You just print a label, find the item, put it in the envelope, seal it, and put it into a mailing bag and wait for Australia Post to collect it in the afternoon.

I just honestly couldn’t understand why it’d take so long.

After when I finally did get the email saying my card was dispatched, I patiently waited thinking that I’d have it delivered to me.

Wrong. It never came.

On their website under the HELP category in regards to the transit insurance question, “Is my item covered with transit insurance?” it says:

Yes.

For your peace of mind, all the items you purchase from ShoppingSquare.com.au and Apus Auction Express are covered with transit insurance. All items that are ‘Missing in transit’ or ‘Damaged in Transit’ are covered with a third party insurance provider.

 Buyers can be reassured that they don’t have to deal with insurance companies in the event of a missing or damaged parcel. Once we receive the documented proof for ‘Missing in transit’ or ‘Damage in Transit’ from the courier or the Post Office, we will send the replacement item immediately.

I naturally assumed and was under the impression that all items would come with a tracking number. I mean, it sounds logical, if they were going to guarantee that you’d receive the item. Their partner was “Australia Post (eParcel)” so again I assumed that all items would be sent as eParcels. I guess NOT? I was merely under the impression that was the case. It was subconscious false advertising, in my opinion, for them to leave out any detailed information in their Help section. I wish they added detail – that way they wouldn’t get so hammered for fail postage methods that us as consumers least expected.

I didn’t get a tracking number under my account details or in the dispatchment email – so I wrote to Customer Service using a Support ticket and asked them what the tracking number was.

By this time, I had waited until the 26th July to ask them this. It had been about a week since I paid, and I must say this – I live VERY close to their warehouse. It should NOT have taken anywhere as long.

They replied me on the same day saying that it was tracked, but wouldn’t give me a tracking number because I can’t track it on the AusPost site (not registered post). They suggested I let them know mid-week if I still received nothing.

Wednesday, 28th July, I replied to the Support Ticket stating I didn’t get anything.

2 business days later on the 30th July, Customer Service told me that they would have sent a memory card/ small item in General Post/ Mail in an envelope. I’m assuming they meant they send it with a 60c stamp, and I was not impressed, since their website implied (rather deceptively) that items would be posted in a way so that you wouldn’t need to have to worry about it not coming. See, why would you tell me that it was “tracked” in the previous reply when it wasn’t? It’s just general post – it means you slap on a stamp and it’s ready to go.

They also told me that they would have to send me a “Replacement Agreement Form” and asked me to provide them with my email address and to confirm that they had my correct address.

Feeling a bit exasperated that they had my email address to begin with, I replied them anyway.

It was on Monday 2nd August (since they don’t work on weekends) that they replied me, but they failed to email me the form.

I replied telling them I didn’t get anything.

Guess what? A business day later I just get a reply merely saying “I have sent it again. Please check now.”

Excuse me?!

If I made a mistake like that I’d apologise at least (even if it wasn’t me personally, I’d apologise on behalf of a coworker), because they wasted an entire day of mine since they failed to send me the replacement form!

The Replacement Form, for those who are curious, is a ridiculous word document which asks you to sign and agree that they’d send you a replacement, and in the event that if the original item came, you had to send it back to them. Uh well okay – but I DO NOT THINK I’LL GET ANYTHING – it’s been weeks already! And I hope you realise that with such inconvenience already having to go through this form and waiting so long for replies that you probably have to send back the item (if it ever came) AT YOUR OWN COST back to SS. Sigh.

After 20 minutes of receiving the form I emailed it back (signed and dated) and posted on the Support Ticket thread anyway to let them know. I told them I sent them the form in an email reply.

Their response on the same day? “We will send you the form shortly.”

What?!

It’s like they didn’t even read what on earth I was writing!

I waited an extra 2 business days and because I didn’t get a reply or any notification on whether or not they had received my form (honestly, it’s NOT HARD TO HIT “REPLY” in the email and to type “Thank you, we have received your form and will process it shortly”), I had to post yet another reply asking them what the heck was going on.

So it was “processed” and will be dispatched sometime next week. By the time I got this reply, the date was 6th August 2010.

Just imagine yourself if you were in my shoes – I paid on the 16th of July! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that a memory card located maybe 20 minutes drive from me to take 3 weeks to get to my place.

Finally, I received a dispatchment email – this time with a tracking number, and I’ve received it now today, 11th August 2010.

Receiving the memory card

So it was tracked. Was it well packaged?

I’ve read horror stories about shipping costs in relation to packaging (a girl on Facebook wrote that she paid about $15 of shipping when in reality it would have only cost $2.95 for SS to ship, and the worst part was that it came in a paper envelope with no padding – methinks it’s not so much the padding, but the possibility of the items wrecking the envelope forcing it to get lost in transit.)

This is what I got:

Well, it wasn’t too bad. It was a highly durable, tough plastic envelope. No padding whatsoever, but I could feel something inside.

And inside the envelope I found this memory card in a plastic case. Nothing else. No packaging of the card (like instruction booklet or stuff you’d usually associate with buying a memory card), no invoice, nothing. Just this little case and the card.

The card works and it ‘s fine. It was cheap at just $2.40. It did eventually come to me.

It looks like it’s only worth $2.40 though. That’s the disappointing and great thing about it. Disappointing because I felt I didn’t get a bargain since all the packaging was gone. The great thing was I didn’t pay $22.40.

Irks

Depending on who your customer service person was, the length and nature of the replies were polite to just plain short and damn lazy.

Especially the ones replying “k I sent it again” (paraphrased) or “We’ll send you the form shortly” – what?

It took them mostly 1 entire business day to just write a reply, which is just plain slow. I can understand customer service taking that long for initial queries, but for the entire process it was took almost 1 business day per reply. I could get Gmarket customer service to cancel the item same day, and they don’t even speak English as their native language!

The website indeed is quite deceptive. This card is not $99.95 RRP – that’s just a load of rubbish – I should have checked other sites beforehand, but silly me, I thought that I could rely on SS and with the voucher I thought that I’d get a deal. I have doubts on whether or not they well and truly did dispatch my memory card in the first place, because I know for a fact that Australia Post generally delivers unless if some idiot sorts mail incorrectly, or the item itself was labelled so poorly it was illegible, or packaged poorly it affected the address on the envelope to the point you couldn’t deliver. I’m not sure if any of those possibly could have happened, but I find it ridiculous either way that a small envelope could get lost in transit, about what, 6km away from me. Is that stupid or just stupid?

Conclusion

SS is having another voucher promotion giveaway (I don’t know if it has ended or not – I do not care).

Was I satisfied with my purchase? Let’s say yes. I paid just $2.40, but it took almost a month for it to arrive. It’s not just merely an inconvenience – it was an utter waste of my time having to chase up Customer Service just to send me stuff and reply me/ update me. Things that Customer Service should do on their own accord.

Would I purchase from them again? The Escada perfume? No way. I’m not going to ever buy from this website again. The service was shockingly slow, there’s no guarantee I’ll receive it on time, and there’s no guarantee it’ll come to me in one piece, especially when I’ve seen packaging look like the photo I just posted above.

Do you regret purchasing from here? Yes, I do. Even though it was just $2.40 and you think the money was well worth it, I would have rather just gone to Officeworks and paid $29.93 for a Class 4 Sandisk Ultra SDHC 8gb card complete with packaging and receipt instead of paying $2.40 and miserably waiting for this thing to arrive in a month. I’ve had overseas purchases sent via normal mail, unregistered, and it has taken faster than this ridiculous order located so close to where I am situated. I order occasionally from DealExtreme and even though they are similar to SS (low price, free shipping sitewide, worldwide), they come from Hong Kong, it only takes 10 business days for it to arrive, and even though the items may be crushed, at least they use a bubble envelope – so they tried. SS kinda didn’t.

To me, even though money is tight, time is more precious. I do NOT like having my time wasted, especially when it comes to something as simple as this. I buy it/ pay for something – you have to send it to me. Why that logic even failed in the first place and took about a month to do so – just – really?

Honestly speaking and reviewing this place – if you can get a great deal from them and don’t mind the wait (after all I finally did get my card), go for this site. They are slow, and it did feel like at a stage they were deliberately being slow and trying to run down my PayPal dispute period so eventually I wouldn’t be able to file one (a bit like basketball players running down the shot clock towards the end of the last quarter) - but they aren’t scammers as such. They really do have some great prices – but take into account shipping costs. It’s not necessarily the case that it’s always cheaper to buy online – it could very well be cheaper and worthwhile to buy in person.

As for me, personally, I had to “Unlike” their fanpage. I’m no longer a fan, and whilst I’m barely a satisfied customer, I do not support this website. I will not be recommending it to any of my friends and I suggest you all to carefully do your research before you purchase from them, or at least brace yourself in the unlikely (or perhaps likely) event that things go wrong. In my case, things did go wrong and I wasn’t too impressed. But at the end of the day, I got my item, and that’s it.

Have you bought from SS before? If you would like, please leave a comment sharing your personal experience. I’d like to hear from you.

- Misa

Until next blog!

Hotel City

So, Playfish has had some undeniable success with “Restaurant City” on Facebook. Their latest “City” apart from Gangster City is “Hotel City”.

I realised this immediately – there is an unmistaken resemblance between “Hotel City” and “Home Inn”.

Hotel City

Home Inn – the image I used ages ages ago

I was so surprised that Playfish took the same background sort of graphic from Home Inn – though to their credit, Restaurant City has a similar graphic in their streetscape view -  not too sure what to think of it. I like the idea of having rooms as individual blocks that go together instead of dedicating an entire floor to a room (that idea is kinda freaky and reminds me of Oldboy – sort of), and there are restaurants, cleaning rooms, gyms and probably other things.

I know “Hotel City” is in its Beta stages, but it’s almost impossible to get enough coins to decorate anything properly. A small room is only $1/ person who stays, and the large one I have at the top is $3. Heck, using my gym only costs them $2 and only about 3-4 people use it at the same time. The hibernation bed (the funky looking machine in the top left room) costs like 8000 coins. It’s ridiculous.

“Hotel City” is also really damn boring because there’s nothing for me to do. I have no money to decorate (you can tell because I have like 100+ coins only) – and I can’t control the little people either. Unlike in “Home Inn”, I can clean up the rooms myself, or do the weird kissing thing to my customers and keep them happy (somewhat seedy, but it’s something to do, because it only happens once every 5 minutes and your friends might get to them first).

The last thing that pisses me off the most is my temporary workers are really ugly. The guy looking after my gym wears glasses and has a combover! Not that combovers and glasses aren’t sexy, but seriously :\ Also – I can’t hire my own staff. I have to post up an annoying notif on my wall feed asking people to click and be my staff member. WHAT A PAIN.

I seriously don’t find this game interesting or captivating. My attention span quickly ran out especially at the beginning with the stupid tutorial telling me to buy a 2500 coin white wall – I didn’t want a white wall! It was just a waste of 2500 coins. I know the tutorials are helpful and all, but I don’t appreciate having to waste my coins on something I don’t want just because of a tutorial, which I think should be optional, NOT compulsory to follow.

Long story short, I don’t have enough control in “Hotel City”, and I don’t have enough interaction with the game because it doesn’t allow me to. Even with Restaurant City at least I can feed my workers every now and then – with this, there’s nothing I can really do. Boringsauce.

Sorry to Hotel City fans, but I won’t be playing this one.

It’s MOO TIME

This morning I woke up at about 8am because some idiot upstairs went onto the balcony and started chuckling madly. Woke me up. Argh.

Anyway, today was my mum’s dentist appointment and luckily enough, I was allowed to go with her. I decided that today would be the day to buy my Juicy flip flops. YAY!

The problem was that by the time I got there a lot of the sizes were gone. Most were only size 8, 9, 1o, 11 and some were even last pairs D: Back in those days when they first landed in Sydney, they were $60 a pair and I cringed so badly about spending that much on a shoe that wasn’t even a sandal (I still think that these days, actually) – but now they are $80. I have to give in because they will never go on sale, and the sizes go so incredibly fast it’s ridiculous. When I showed them to my mum, she agreed that they were much better quality and make than the ones that were selling to begin with though. Not much to choose from - there was only one design that had any size left, so I got it.

Despite the ribbon thingy covering the platformish bit looking a bit funny, I prefer it to look crisscrossy rather than a “CHOOSE JUICY” printed on the side.

The flip flop I bought is called “CLEVER” (haha, get it?? ._.) and I got it in brown. According to the black flip flop there’s a navy available, but it wasn’t on display and I didn’t ask for it. I probably would have preferred navy, but it’s alright. Brown is awesome.

As usual, with my awesome Juicy luck, I was the only person to have ever tried these on. I know this because at the time when the guy came out with these, the tissue paper was still on the charms and ribbon. This is a size 6 by the way. But yes, it seems that I always get to buy Juicy shoes and be the only one to have ever worn them. How awesome is that?! I don’t have to worry about other people’s feet’s sweat germs. Now that sounds pretty gross XD

These are ridiculously soft and comfortable though. Plus I love Juicy tissue paper. That’s another sheet to add to my collection >:3 This box isn’t as nice as the other box I’ve gotten though. But it’s compact, and I can’t complain.

I started liking these flip flops ever since I saw a girl wear them on a bus. I liked the fact that Juicy could make a flip flop so elegant, and it was definitely the ribbon and charms that did it. Not to mention, if you watch He who cannot marry, Kim So Eun (Jong Yujin) wears Juicy-ish flip flops for the entire series. Such a casual but sweet look.

KAWAII! How can I resist? I love their charms. Everything else by Juicy however, I don’t really like because they’re just overboard. I like their shoes though >:3

Pretty padlock charm. I’d reuse these charms if these flip flops ever die on me. They’d better last a good 5 years before that happens though.

Feels weird since they are somewhat platformish. Hopefully I conjure up the guts to wear these out since I did buy them already.

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Three Kingdoms drama adaptation should hit the shelves of pirated DVD stores in Chinatown after the 20th February or so, as Chinese New Year celebrations are currently underway overseas (and as a consequence has halted pretty much all work in general).

That reminds me that I still have to review The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre 2009, which was IMO full of vomit. I’ll be back in a few hours with that.

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We were in Market City and my mum dragged me into a store that I used to buy shizz from but stopped doing so because they started to only sell their own branded clothes. Seriously, I only liked them because they stocked K*2 Factory clothes. (NB: K*2 is a premium streetwear brand that is popular in Hong Kong with highly exhorbitant prices. Seems like they changed their clothing a lot in the recent years – back then it was pretty hard out, I must say – they sell K*2 on Yesstyle now, but eurgh, the stuff looks awful compared to what I remembered seeing in their store.)

I was looking at a pair of ripped leggings that looked kinda cool (just to check the price) and they were $35 (without any discount). However, I also managed to cut myself with their coat hanger. NOOB. Great way to start the day at 10:45am.

It’s actually nastier in real life since I didn’t touch up the colours. And yep, it did start bleeding but just barely.

Now it looks like I made an unsuccessful attempt to cut my wrist. Hmmm. Let me reassure you, do not try this at home. I was annoyed even though this was a scratch. Just DO NOT TRY IT AT HOME – OR AT ALL FOR THAT MATTER.

Something tells me that I’m not gonna walk into that shop for a long while. Hopefully not ever. We only liked that store because they had a $10 storewide sale a few years back because they were going to renovate. I mean, K*2 SKINNY JEANS FOR $10?! YOU’RE KIDDING MEEEE – a mini skirt that covers half your ass is about $500HK (that’s about $90AUD) – let alone a pair of full length pantsssssssssss! It was a one off thing though. I should have bought the entire store at the time. :\

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Onto other matters, I’ve finally been changed to the new Facebook interface which seemingly looks more simple but actually takes dog vomit amount periods of time to load. Hmmm.

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Searches!

I’m not going to reply them in full, because they’ve been answered in my other “How did you find me?” posts. This is just a selection of awesome searches that I got in the past, I dunno, 2-3 days. So if you landed on this post and didn’t get your answer, be sure to search my other posts (type in miketsu *your search here* into google and if there’s an option to show more results from my blog, click that. You’ll find your answer in no time ).

lovigan - OMO!! AGAIN!! <3

so ji sub naked – I love this search. If you find leaked naked images, please come back and share the link with me? PLEASE?! But anyway, check out the OMONATHEYDIDNT livejournal, or find my So Ji Sub hotness post. I linked to a site with raunchy images >:3

gu jun pyo impersonation youtube - as far as I’m concerned, Hongki of FT Island did a BOF parody. The other impersonation I know of is done by mychonny (or was it on the yourchonny channel? Hmmm) on Youtube – grab the link from the side. I can’t remember which video it was, but it was one of the last 5 he did.

zipia jeans size, zipia jeans – they are true to size. Measure a pair of pants that fit that you own and measure across the top and times by two. Or if you know what pant size you are (in inches), it should be the same. PS: they’re very comfortable and excellent quality.

$1 nail polish sydney – you can get (cheapest) for $2.50? As far as I know, I’ve never seen $1 nail polish unless they’re tiny. You can try Paddy’s Market.

park shin hye fanfiction – try www.soompi.com/forums/ You need to be a registered member to read the Fanfiction section. PSH fanfiction sounds kinda… nm

gucci designer killed – that sounds awful Dx

fake burberry brit sheer ebay – I have no idea 8D Burberry Brit Sheer is a limited edition item. If it’s still at retail RRP, then it should be real (because I still see a lot of places still selling it here in Sydney) – but if it’s cheapish, then stay away from it. Limited edition fragrances rarely dip below RRP. But I don’t really know. Usually they tend to bump up the price a little – but it’s probably not as popular as some other limited edition fragrances around. I STILL LIKE THE PINK BOTTLE. But oh well, it’s in better hands now <3 Anyway, wild digression – I’ve been meaning to make the point that with “cheaper” prices (not really possible since it’s Limited Edition), just buy it from a shop. That’s the safest bet!

so jisub feet size – are you a fan who wants to buy him shoes when you see him in person? This search sounds rather perverse…
But yeah, his feet do look quite large. Maybe a size 12? I know someone of similar height with size 12 shoes, but I have absolutely no idea.

mc hotdog dirty – very. Very. His lyrics, anyway >:3

kinokuniya slimming foot patch – I get confused if this search intended to be for a foot patch that will slim you down, or a patch worn to slim the foot (there’s a difference, hehe). I think I know what you mean (the foot patch that slims you down), and no, I don’t think Kino sells them. They used to sell them at Maruya for $2.50 per pair of foot patches. However, they’re bogus and they don’t do anything really. If you really want to slim down, do exercise.

mizuya karaoke sydney prices – my friend J went to eat at Mizuya. This image is courtesy of him.

PWNED!

That aside, the prices look fairly reasonable and standard. I’ve heard mixed reviews now – J said it wasn’t that great, but it was sort of alright as a snack/ karaoke place. My friend D said his sister went and really liked it. Guess it depends? Note that J is in his 20s (23ish?) whilst the little sister is probably 18, 19. As you know, our food tolerances get stricter as we’re older.

Until next blog! (which I’ll be reviewing vomit drama)

掃除の日

The Japanese actually have a day they call “掃除の日” which translates to “cleaning day”. As you know, they get down onto their knees and use the zoukin cloths to polish the floors, and just clean everything immaculately. For me, I rarely clean, but when I do, it must be spotless.

I was so bored today I scrubbed the shower, and wiped down my touchscreen computer, laptop, printer, desk, modem, external DVD burner (though I don’t use it any more), 2 bedside tables, and all the crap I have on my “personal” bedside table. What’s on my “personal” bedside table? An alarm clock, two watches, three moisturisers, 3 body lotions, 1 hand cream, 2 toners, and a bunch of other random crap including tea tree oil, tea tree ointment, papaya ointment, dettol cream, 2 eyeshadow cases, about 6 pairs of earrings, a box of tissues, an oil for bruises, and various sample jars.

I worked so hard that my nail polish on one finger has chipped off DOH.

But anyway, it was a good idea to just clean everything before New Year – It feels a lot neater. If it weren’t because my hands were feeling super dry and my nails getting weak from being soaked in water too long, I would have wiped down the inside of my windows (which I usually do when I clean the outside, on a hot day). I wiped my mirrors down though.

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Tomorrow, I am planning on more $2.50 ness. After a day of cleaning, I realised that I am probably the only one who does any decent cleaning at home, and the tools we have are not adequate. I’m going to get some good cleaning cloths, and if required, detergent (yes, they sell detergent) so I can scrub to my heart’s content.

I actually like cleaning, because of the satisfaction I get afterwards that I’ve cleaned something. The only things that stop me from cleaning are obviously the dirtiness, and that I cannot stand dust.

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I realise tomorrow is New Year’s Eve. No, I do not have plans. Do I intend on having any? Well if anyone happens to be free, I wouldn’t mind lunch or something. Otherwise it’s just more window shopping for me. YEY.

Note, I am quite sceptical of NYE fireworks and “celebrations”, because I’ve been to one, and I didn’t find it particularly enjoyable. Especially since I can see all the fireworks from my window exactly where I am sitting right now, it doesn’t help. Restaurants are fully booked, you wait forever just to get food, and just about anything to do with entertainment will be filled up.

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I think I’m going to cut my nails short. Like, now.

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Today, I got a search for the hater post even with the correct hater name. MLIA.

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For the past 5 days or so, I’ve been getting at least 100 views each day, with one day having more than 300 views, and a few over 200 views. MLIA.

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Crap, I just realised NYE will be full of idiots being invited over to my apartment block, and plenty of them on balconies screaming and dancing to music and shizz. Ugh. I hate NYE because of this reason. Sure it’s a reason to party, but at least have some respect for your neighbours – who cares if the next day is a public holiday? Some people actually would like to SLEEP.

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What’s going on? I still haven’t received my January 2010 issue of Marie Claire. Or did I? But anyway, I’m meant to be getting an issue soon?

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Chinese drama parents are currently watching: too much exaggeration, too little action going on.

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Biotherm sucks. I am never going to turn away from Shiseido ever again. I have started Benefiance within the last 2 days and my mum instantly remarked she could see a definite improvement in my skin. Sucks that it’s pricey (but it’s Estee Lauderish price, not so expensive as Dior or Chanel lines, so it’s not new to me, but it sucks since I was saving money), but it works miracles. Even the pimples will be like “zomg! It’s the Shiseido! *respect*” and back down. Seriously, never buying Biotherm ever again. What to do with my 800 or so membership points? I’m sure I have more than that but Internet is running low so I won’t check now.

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New Facebook privacy settings suck big time (or so M would probably write, “suck copious amounts of whale penis”).

I finally had put my comments posted to other walls onto the OFF setting so people won’t see on their feed when I post to my friends. Now, you can see every single post I make to every single person in the feed.

Facebook, have you ever heard of the “friend” but “stalker” friend? As in the friend you’re comfortable enough to having on Facebook, but not comfortable enough for them to stalk your posts and end up inviting themselves to something you organised with another person?

Seriously, the new privacy settings are STUPID. I can turn off my status updates (but only to my friends or whatever – which is a really dodgy option), but all my wall posts are for everyone to see? What kind of stupid logic is that? I thought these settings were meant to IMPROVE privacy, not to make it even more public. I don’t like my wall posts turning up in EVERYONE’S NEWS FEED.

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Due to said privacy settings, an influx of randoms (with barely 5 friends, no mutual friends) are adding me to their friends.

R commented at the beginning that my Facebook settings were apparently “so private I couldn’t even click her [Misa] name to add her!” – now, I happen to get a bunch of people adding me. What the hell is going on?

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The Missha AC Patches are working. Day 1: hardened pimple. I popped it, stupidly. It hurts like mofo. Day 2: painful, red, but smaller. Day 3: Pimple is flattened, area of redness reduced. No pain. Day 4: well, hopefully by tomorrow I end up with just a red spot rather than including the area around it. Like I said, not the most effective way to get rid of a pimple, but it can help speed up the healing process. If I didn’t use the patches, I’d still have a red and sore pimple. Ouch.

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Coming to think of it I can also try my luck at Capitol tomorrow.

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Tomorrow is the last day of 2009! Wish you all safe and well, and not to drink too much – you want to start off 2010 feeling fresh, not hangovered!

Until next blog!

Home Inn- more jewels, your prayers have been answered

Another search I keep getting is how to get jewels on Home Inn.

I logged in and found this:

This is my friend’s lobby, because I already fed my people so there were no drumsticks to screen capture OTLL

You just need to cook something for them if you see a chicken drumstick hovering over their heads. I clicked on the kitchen, made some bread, and I got an award of 2 jewels. Pretty neat – EDIT/ seems like I could only get 2 jewels the first time just by cooking, but I’m not sure about in the future (maybe if you unlock more?) – just gotta play and see.

The Lucky Day roulette is still there – it has been moved to the right of the lobby.

I hate…

… people who do not read. Everything. Before writing.

It’s like people who don’t listen till the end, and then say something dumb.

Probably I’m a hypocrite since I do those things unknowingly, but some people do it deliberately out of nothing but sheer laziness.

Example: Facebook status.

The below example is fictional, by the way.

Status: I am going to go shopping now.
Comment: Oh really? Where?
Reply: Ehhhh I got a bit caught up and it’s a bit too late to go out now lol.
Comment (by lazy person): OMG LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU GET!

FREAKING HELL.

Can’t you just read through a comment or two? You’re already stalking my status, go ahead and stalk my comments as well – go on, do it. At least do it so you don’t look like a complete dumbass! Does your comment warrant a reply? NO, because you didn’t use your BRAIN.

I hate it when people do something stupid like that! It’s also with people who reply a forum topic without reading the first post. It’s EMBARASSING to reply something wrong. It undermines your intelligence and it doesn’t look good, full stop! Does it really require THAT much effort to read about what, 30-50 words extra? I don’t know about other people, but generally if it’s a layout like Facebook comments, I can read the entire comment in a glance. It’s more of a skim, but at least I get the general gist! (Btw, this is why I think that FMyLife should be in a narrower format. Sometimes I lose the FML midsentence and start from the start again since I can’t glance at it)

UGH. Lazy people like that infuriate me. I don’t mind lazy replies or comments like “lol” or “ok” because I will just close the window/ don’t want to reply, but when it’s a stupid comment like that, makes me want to sock their face across the Internet!

Stop being lazy!

Until next blog!

Home Inn Decorations

So I reached level 20 2 days ago and finally got a new storey. To be honest, the game is getting boring because I’ve bought all the expensive things with the coins. I want the ones you need jewels for, but obviously I don’t have many jewels (you get one when you level up, or you can buy them or get it from the poker machine at the lobby – and the poker machine/ roulette is rigged, because it’s been 24 hours and I still haven’t gotten my free go yet!)

So if you were wondering what decorations you needed for what kind of rent you will get, there’s a break down of how much I’m collecting and what there is inside each room. This is the first time I’ve actually compared the room rent, and I think I need to renovate the oriental style room since it’s the only room under then $700 mark. The lobby I think is almost at its maximum. It’d probably get more if there were items in there bought with jewels, but oh well.

So I know I could do this on Facebook instead, but anyway, Frank, the developer, if you’re reading this: please update with more new items that are EXPENSIVE and can bump up the rent. I know it’s good to make things affordable, but because it’s relatively easy to get coins if you play this game properly (like sit there and actually play), I have NOTHING TO BUY. Thanks!

Argh

STOP TAKING MY MANGOES IN COUNTRY STORY. THEY ARE WORTH 90 COINS EACH AND WHEN THEY ARE ROTTEN THEY ARE ONLY ONE COIN EACH. DOES IT SATISFY OR EXCITE YOU THAT YOU ARE SCREWING UP MY PROFIT MARGINS? YOU SADISTIC NONSENSICAL IDIOTS! LEAVE THE FRUIT ON THE TREES ALONE!

Teehee. Just kidding. I’m not that angry over a little game. But I must say it is really really annoying to lose 89 coins per fruit just because some idiot is greedy and wants some extra bucks. Mind you, it says 70 coins in my coin total, but I’ve actually got much more than that since I don’t sell my crops at all until I need to plant more seeds. I own 6 chickens, 4 sheep, a  cow and a duck, so I’m not particularly relying on these mangoes to make money.

No but seriously guys, this new tree thing is fun, but at the same time it’s stupid. You don’t earn any EXP whatsoever from them, and it’s hard to make a profit from them since people keep stealing from them and turning the fruit rotten (fruit turns rotten when it’s on the ground for 12 hours, and to steal the fruit, you shake the tree so all the fruit falls, and you pick it from the ground).

You’re technically better off investing in a duck for 10000 coins – it’s about the same for a fruit tree. The only down side is you need 50 rocks and 50 sticks, and you gotta feed the duck. Also you get less coins since each egg is only 120 coins and there’s a maximum of about 3 eggs each day. Mind you though, the eggs don’t rot, the duck doesn’t die and people can’t steal your eggs. Plus you get 1 EXP when you brush the little thing.

But I continue to buy these stupid trees… argh. I should have just bought seeds… why didn’t I think of that? OTLL

Thanks?

So you are all familiar with the Facebook interface – obviously the comment at the bottom came first, then I replied and it comes back down into a tree of comments.

I am well aware I did not censor the name “misa”. I’m fine with that. In one of the posts before I think I was writing about sasa.com and I left out the word “know”. Ugh I should stop being so pickeh D:

Anyway, random comments. Oh before I talk about that, check out the blobs of colour I used to screen their avatars <3

I can never really understand the idea of random comments, but then without them, life would be so boring. But the thing is, sometimes when there is a comment as short and ambiguous as that, I’m not really sure what their purpose was. Did they expect me to reply and actually say who I was, or were they hoping for their own friend (in this case, I suspect relative) to reply them? Either way, I’m not going to reply, and his relative has a 50% chance of replying. Either way, whatevers.

This is why I am so wary when I change my display picture. Seems like some people are very sharp with their eyes when they notice a display picture change.

ANYWAY.

This is gonna be gross but I have this scratch on the inside of my mouth and it hurtttttsssss like crazy. Usually with some water these things go away, but it’s not even a bump or an ulcer – it’s a friggin scratch! I can’t even wash my face properly because I can’t rub or else it will hurt Oh well, mouthwash and cotton tips tonight and hopefully it heals and goes away.

I think also today was about the 2nd or 3rd time I managed to sleep sitting up ish I was so bored in the living room (evacuated the computer and shut it down after hearing thunder), that I actually fell asleep.

Oh I’m so random. Toodaloo!

Country Story

There are lots of farming applications out there and the one that I play is made by Playfish called Country Story. From my memory, Happy Farm was the first one that came out, then came Farmville (and Farm Town), and then Country Story. There are plenty of other games out there, but we’ll just name these three – I think most people play Farmville.

I’ve played all of the ones I’ve mentioned above, but the interface that satisfied me the most was Country Story. Happy Farm has since upgraded its graphics, but I think Country Story is cute since you can decorate your farm and also rear up animals and actually see yourself plotting the farm or pulling out adorable looking radishes. I liked Farm Town because you can’t steal anything from anyone, meaning that there’d be less conflict between users. But I guess people just like the idea of stealing stuff.

Anyway, recently (as in the past month or so), Country Story/ Playfish have implemented a new feature that is at the start of every game (should be +11 GMT) – there are 2 parcel bundles and you randomly click on one, and there’s food inside. The interesting thing about Country Story is that your character needs food to have enough energy to sow seeds and steal stuff, so food is crucial in this game. However, food is quite expensive – different types of food give you different amounts of energy replenishment.

The lowest is a corn cob, which gives you 10 energy points (you can plot 2 plots of land with that – so it’s not a lot at all, or sow 5 seeds). Needless to say, a corn cob is the cheapest food available – but even “cheap” is quite expensive. I think it’s roughly the cost of selling 80 radishes or something.

Now pardon me, what was the point of even making me guess?

I’ve been getting corn cobs or sausages (second lowest food) for the past TWO TO THREE WEEKS – if it’s not a corn or a sausage, then it’s a lemonade (third lowest food). The best I’ve ever gotten was something that gave me 100 energy like bread or something - I have NEVER EVER gotten a salad bowl or anything. NEVER. Where are the fish platters to replenish 300 energy?

If you’re reading this Playfish, and the food selection is “randomised” then I highly suggest you change the coding and up the possibility of getting a fish platter or something, because almost a month of getting corn cobs or sausages or lemonades is RIDICULOUS. You might say that it’s all randomised, but from my experience, it begs to differ.

Until then, I’ll be continuing to collect my eggs and bottles of milk and hope that I have oodles of money to buy decorations and stuff.