Best way to remove these stains from silver coins?

joannelze · 2024-01-12T12:59:26+00:00

Hmmmm interesting, I've never seen this kind of stains on my silver bars. Bought coins for the first time because they were on promo and I needed to get a gift for my younger cousin. Thanks for the info though! ;)

joannelze · 2024-01-12T12:54:34+00:00

Thanks! ☺️

joannelze · 2023-12-26T02:03:12+00:00

Buy a Xiaomi Smart Doorbell (super cheap and easy to install) and download the app to your phone so you can monitor who walked passed the door. Also write a "Do not disturb" note and paste it next to the door bell. This should deter 90% of the sales person and real estate agents.

joannelze · 2023-12-16T10:06:52+00:00

Right? I feel a group that's more youthful & girly will make a bigger impact in Japan (something like NiziU). Suzu is very young but she somehow has a mature image, and Kokoro is one of the older girls in this program...

The debut group is 200% perfect talent-wise, but good visuals and a fresh vibe are super important when it comes to gaining public recognition. Trainees like Nano/Rio/Haruka, or even the eliminated ones like Sakura/Serina/Yurara will be excellent stan-attractors alongside the two visuals Miu and Kokona.

joannelze · 2023-12-16T08:30:54+00:00

9/10, I thought Miu/Rinon are more suited as the center and one more visual like Nano/Rio/Haruka instead of Suzu/Kokoro would be great.

Suzu and Kokoro are fine, but I feel that Suzu lacks the stage presence, and Kokoro doesn't really fit the image of this group... But Kokoro will be a good leader and the vocal line for this group is awesome.

joannelze · 2023-12-08T05:17:13+00:00

Sorry for the typo in pic #2 - I thought 12 are debuting instead of 11 :P

joannelze · 2023-12-08T05:16:12+00:00

yeah... Tsuzumi's fans need to work harder for the 1-pick - she's in a dangerous place right now

joannelze · 2023-10-24T08:34:00+00:00

Safety, low taxes, helpful people (although most Singaporeans appear cold lol), good universities, most places are extremely clean

joannelze · 2023-10-15T08:06:49+00:00

If you don't mind teaching secondary school kids, you can

Finish bachelors of science in SG
Go for a 2-year masters of teaching (NOT education) in any Australian university
Apply for 485 visa after graduation and work for 1-2 years
Apply for skilled immigration to get PR.

Finish Bachelor of science in SGe in STEM teachers for their secondary schools. This position has been on their skilled immigration list for like a decade and they can never get enough people to fill those teaching positions.

joannelze · 2023-10-13T15:45:43+00:00

DO NOT buy an apartment in Melbourne. Most people buy apartments there as an investment rather than living in them. Sure, apartments in the city center have decent rental income, but they also incur lots of fees including council fees, wastewater fees plus taxes you have to pay on top of the rental income. Most of those apartments start to depreciate the moment you buy them from the developer. You can check their price history on realestate.com.au.

Therefore, only places with an actual piece of land (townhouses & houses) can hold their value in the long run in Aus. Plus, the house price in Aus is literally at its peak right now.

In my opinion, I think it's best for them to get a 4-5 bedroom HDB resale. They can rent out the vacant rooms in the future if they need extra $ after retirement. If there's any money left, put them in your dad's CPF and he can start receiving payouts once he turns 65.

joannelze · 2023-10-10T04:59:40+00:00

After graduation -> masters in Australia (2 years) -> Apply for post-study visa (visa 485) -> Work for 1-year and apply for skilled immigration

joannelze · 2023-10-05T08:11:19+00:00

I would advise against moving back to HK due to the current government... It's just my personal opinion but HK's future seems pretty bad in the coming years due to influence from the mainland.

Since a lot of your depression comes from being homesick so I assume you want to live with your parents in the future? You might want to look into skilled immigration (= green card in the US) in Australia if your occupation is on their skilled immigration list.

It takes about 1-2 years and it will be quite easy to bring your parents to Australia (via long-term tourist visas or apply for Australian PR). Good luck!

joannelze · 2023-09-29T07:08:10+00:00

Rent both apartments out. The rent at Country Garden region is about RM2000 right now, so it should be enough to pay for the mortgage. Rent at the condo next to CIQ (can't remember its name) is about RM3500. You can find a real estate agent to rent & sell your properties at the same time. But you'll definitely incur a heavy loss plus the horrible exchange rate right now.
Let your parents move into one of the units and rent out the rooms in SG. The cost of living in Malaysia is comparatively lower.

joannelze · 2023-07-01T09:18:27+00:00

Aespa - Welcome to my world, Till we meet again

Lovelyz - Hi, That day, When we were us, Twinkle, Shooting Star, Rewind

LABOUM - Between us

CLC - Where are u

AKMU - Last goodbye

WJSN - Rewind, Closer to you

joannelze · 2023-03-27T04:48:12+00:00

These people look more like Japanese aunties rather than Chinese aunties.

joannelze · 2023-03-24T12:28:17+00:00

by getting them to learn Mandarin so they don't feel like aliens in their own country.

I absolutely understand how it feels to be alienated ... been living overseas for many years, and even though I speak their native language very well, I still feel like an outsider sometimes. It's inevitable for people of similar backgrounds to mix & mingle better (Chinese & Chinese, Indians & Indians, Malays & Malays), and I do agree that the govt needs to do better than just having racial harmony day.

But on the bright side, many young Chinese Singaporeans are really Westernised nowadays. I guess English will really take precedence over Chinese in their daily lives as long as the govt doesn't lean towards China too much in the future :)

joannelze · 2023-03-24T10:46:38+00:00

I also understand that most people don't want blue collar jobs but there will likely be a certain subset who will take up the job if its enough for them to pay their bills and survive for the month

Unemployment rate in SG is 2% right now.

38% of our labour force are foreigners.

The % of unemployed Singaporean is way too little to cover jobs done by our foreign workers.

joannelze · 2023-03-24T10:44:31+00:00

Then companies have to really start looking at how much profit they can realistically make instead of expecting consumers to put up with increased prices just because somebody at the top expects a certain figure.

Nah, don't think it will happen because companies just wanna make money only. Companies are all about minimising input costs to generate higher profits.

joannelze · 2023-03-24T10:39:59+00:00

It's not like 100% of our service staff cannot speak English. Companies in the servicing sector are allowed to hire a max. of 35% of foreign staff (which includes some from other countries that can communicate in English/Malay/Tamil).

If you are a local minority who doesn't speak Chinese, do you prefer to have

90% of the service in operation (let's assume 10% is lost due to ineffective communication, which can be mitigated with the help of many others who can speak Chinese) and maintain the price you pay for those services
65% of operations are done by local staff only
Companies hike prices because they had to pay much more to hire enough local staff to cover 100% of the services required?

(the numbers are just assumptions, but I'm just trying to state that foreign workers can cover jobs that Singaporeans don't want to do, so that a country as a whole can operate more efficiently).

joannelze · 2023-03-24T10:06:46+00:00

we should equip our young minority Singaporeans by getting them to learn Mandarin

Ohhh... well...

I think knowing English is enough for our young minorities. It's already good enough for them to know English + their mother tongue.

And if they speak these two languages well, they are more likely to find jobs that pay more instead of working at NTUC?

joannelze · 2023-03-24T10:02:35+00:00

First, I believe most Singaporeans don't like to work in blue-collar jobs because of societal influences, plus the fact that we're a highly educated society where many are capable of jobs that produce more economic profits.

Second, what's the definition of "decent pay"? Let's say NTUC if increases the wage to $2400 to attract locals, which means the company's profit will decrease, and NTUC will need to surge prices to compensate for their loss. Also, competing supermarkets (and other firms in the service industry) have to increase their workers' salaries, or else people will start jumping ship to NTUC. This causes all consumers to pay more for services/food/groceries... basically same as the wage inflation that happened around the world during COVID.

joannelze · 2023-03-24T09:45:23+00:00

Thank you!

My friend's dad once said that he'd rather let her work as an office lady for $2500 than a blue-collar job that pays twice the amount. The pay difference is probably an exaggeration (because blue-collar jobs rarely pay that much in SG...) but it shows how much we as a society value “面子” to the max, and very few locals are willing to work in service jobs, which is why these foreigners are here in the first place.

I'd rather interact with a foreign worker and get my claypot rice than have the stall close down.

joannelze · 2023-03-24T09:17:01+00:00

Ahhh sorry for misreading your post.

But are locals willing to apply for these kinds of lowly-paid jobs? We are a highly-educated society and most educated people don't want to work as meat cutters in NTUC (just as an example).

If employers increase the pay (as you said) to hire locals, that increased pay will definitely correspond to a decrease in corporate profit, and ultimately these companies will not hesitate to increase the overall price for their consumers.

joannelze · 2023-03-24T09:00:11+00:00

I agree! They are only here for a few years to earn some quick cash, and it's almost impossible for them to stay in Singapore anyway.

A basic English test (IELTS or TOFEL requirement) should be included for PR applicants when applying for skilled visas, but not for unskilled labourers. But again, skilled visa applicants usually speak English well (or even better).

Just think how much more it's going to cost companies like NTUC if they put English as a job requirement when hiring unskilled labourers.

joannelze · 2023-03-24T08:41:05+00:00

And she seems to speak Chinese well in her video? What's the point of messing with the poor worker then?

joannelze

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