Foreign Prophecies

List of prices

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:54:00 +0000

Here is a price list of haphazard electronic goods I sighted upon on my last visit to BestBuy:

Audio
iPod Earphone $40
Gumy Earphone $11
iPod wall charger $26
Sony earbud headphone $18
Dynex audio line-in jack $10
Sony noise-cancelling headphone $50
Sony studio headphone $30

HDTVs
19-inch Insignia HDTV $190
19-inch LG HDTV $200

Gaming consoles
Nintendo DS $130
Nintendo DS games $10-30
Wii bundle (including remote and nunchuk and charger) $300
Wii games $30-50
PS3 250GB $350
PS3 games $20
XBox 360 $300
XBox 360 games $20-60
PS2 $100
PS2 games $10-20
PSP $250
PSP games $20-40

Others
Macbook 13 inch, 2GBram, 250GB HD $1000
Rice cooker & Food steamer $45

If your girlfriend was a boy

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 01:13:00 +0000

"Dude, let me ask you a trivial question of the day", I said to Mark.

"What?"

"What would you do if one day you discover one day that your girlfriend was a boy?"

"Ah"

"Hmm?"

"Yea well... I'd kill myself."

"But why? Don't you wanna kill her?"

"Hahaha that won't make any difference dude... Even if anything happens to her, I would still have to suffer the shame of being ridiculed by people who say 'Hey take a look at him, he used to date a she-man!'"

I laughed.

~~

So joking aside readers, what would you do if one day you discover your significant other as belonging to the same sex? Question is open to answers, criticisms, or jests.

Zero privacy

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:11:00 +0000

On my very first days of living in this 380 square-foot apartment room, I had the window blinds snapped into two. The leasing office had previously written on my room's notes that it was a new blind, hence my bewiderment.

With my room being on the first floor and facing the parking lot, it was quite a nuisance during my first couple of days because I had no privacy at all: I cannot even undress in my own room!

Moreover, the bright sunlight of the day enters my room as soon as the sun rises, forcing me to wake up without alarm clock at around 8.00 everyday, despite my work shifts that start at 15.00.

But thank God the apartment's repairman has substituted it for a new one now.

For gratis.

Now I can finally change and wake up late.

Story of a gay guy who was married with a woman

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:12:00 +0000

This is one question that still makes me wonder till this day: "When a gay guy kisses a woman, does he feel disgusted just like the way we heterosexuals feel when we kiss a member of the same sex?"

Out of the blue, I asked that question to Mark, a friend at the Deli.

"Hey that's a good question. Good question, dude. I'd probably ask my gay uncle"

"Yoh have a gay uncle?"

"Yep"

"Is he openly declaring gay or does he have a partner"

"He has a partner. Well, it was an embarrassment to the family at first, but we finally came to accept it", he shrugged nonchalantly while cleaning the chicken steamtable.

Whoa.

He continued, "But not all gay guys live with another guy though. Sometimes they get married with a woman too"

"Hey yeah, that happened a lot in Indonesia!"

"Really?"

"Yeah..you know, they want to appear normal in front of their society, hence marrying a woman.."

"Oh!"

"What?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Man, there was an assistant manager, he used to work here, and he's openly gay"

"So?"

"And he was married to his wife and had a 13-year old daughter!"

"Oh my God. Does his wife and daughter know about it?"

Then he cracked up.

"What?"

While suppresing his laugh, Mark explained, "There's a funny story behind it. His wife cheated on him soon after she found out that he was a gay...and do you know how he got back at his wife?"

"You mean how he paid back his wife for her cheating?"

"Uh-huh"

"Nah.. You tell me"

"You see, the other guy with whom she was having an affair...this assistant manager met that other guy and had sex with him"

The story was such of a freakish nature that my mouth gaped wide.

"You mean, his wife was married to him, a gay guy...and she was cheating with a gay guy too? Do you mean it for real?"

"Yep. I heard it from his own words, man.. Apparently.."

"His wife was a magnet for a gay guys", I concluded.

"Exactly"

Moving and costs of living

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:21:00 +0000

It had been quite a while since I last blogged, and it is to my pleasure to see a fellow Indonesian blogger leaving some comments on my blog... A young man from Central Java he is, with an interest in the Hallyu (Korean wave).

Welcome akhlis, and thank you for leaving your trails, I appreciate it (unlike some of you regular readers who still remain anonymous...I encourage you people to leave your footprints here too).

Now I have some updates to do.

First of all, I have moved out of my home stay location in the southern part of Florence, KY, due to some personal reasons that I cannot possibly disclose here. Suffice it to say that the family had been helpful in facilitating my move, and I am especially grateful for having Kerry as my adoptive mom, I'm forever indebted to her.

I moved out to an apartment building the northern part of the city. It is a 380 square-foot efficiency apartment, with a monthly rent of $510 (already includes water and gas) and electricity bills that is paid separately for an average of $20 a month.

It already included a medium-sized refrigerator, a stove and oven in the kitchen and a bathroom with a bath tub and a shower when I moved in, hence the only furniture I had to purchase on my own was a metal arm futon, which cost me $120.

And oh, a microwave too for $50. A microwave may not seem essential for you my fellow Asians, but believe me that when most of your food are available in instant packagings, you would want to consider getting a microwave.

Altogether my purchases for detergent, soap bars, shampoo, blankets, chair pads etc cost me a total of $260 (excluding the microwave and fridge I just mentioned). What a cost of living.

My apartment security deposit for the first month and its application fee, together with the rental fee for the month of November cost me another hefty sum of around $430, just to give an idea of what it takes to start renting an apartment in a mid-sized city of 25,000 people in America.

Costs of living aside now, I am very delighted to have my new apartment located nearby strategic establishments such as McD, PapaJohn's Pizza, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell...all of them located merely 150 metres away from my apartment building. Which means just next to your door step.

But the down side of living there is the distance it has from my workplace of Spartan...which is 6.5 kilometres away, meaning 90 minutes of walking or 35 minutes of biking everyday. It has been wearing me down for the last two days that transferring to the store of Spartan in Erlanger branch, which is located just 2 kilometres away from my apartment, have become something of an urgency. Otherwise I would have to bike for 35 minutes under the snow during winter, something I could not possibly stand doing everyday.

They do have a point

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 16:36:00 +0000

On a $100 sandwich

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:56:00 +0000

A colleague of mine at the deli mistakenly gave a price tag of $100 to a piece of sandwich, which prompted bewilderment when a customer ran it thru the cashier.

"What on earth did you guys put on it, gold?" they asked, which tickled us all.

After the cashier took back the sandwich to the deli, my colleague then reverted the price tag back to its original price of $3.99

Otherwise, that would have turned into one of the most expensive sandwiches in town!

Milli Vanilli

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:48:00 +0000

Do you know Milli Vanilli?

If you are born after the 1980s, chances are you don't.

Yet a friend of mine recently told me about how this musical duo achieved its notoriety for lip-syncing on MTV stage...and the tape got stuck.

What's worse, that particular song had won a Grammy previously, and as a result of that unfortunate incident, its award had to be revoked, causing downfall to the duo.

I know it's not funny to laugh at the demise.... But it certainly is to watch the video of how the lip-syncing went awry.

You can check it out on this Youtube link.

Libraries and new hobby of collecting bookmarks

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:58:00 +0000

Lately I have been patronising the Barnes & Noble bookshop and the public libraries in Union and Florence.

Especially these American libraries...they are such a marvel, you can borrow 50 items at once (whether they are CDs, DVDs, audiobooks, or printed books) for 21 days!

In the libraries I usually spend the entire day -I would've stayed here from dusk to dawn if I could- but since it opens at 9.00 and closes at 21.00 every weekdays, I spend only 10 hours of my holiday hours there.

Now one thing I found amusing is my newly found obsession for bookmarks.

I've found bookmarks which advertises the library's website and some Starbucks promotion and what's so good of them is that they are free.

So now I've found what it means to be a regular guy, just like everybody else.

Because since my childhood, I've seen other boys collecting anything they are obsessed with: some ask for stamps, some collect soccer balls, others find love in kites, shoes, musical instruments, and some of those fucking rich brats always come to school with a new electronic gadget or cellphone every once a month or so.

While I was left by myself...the only male species found not interested in collecting anything.

But hey, I collect bookmarks now! I promise you people I'll upload a picture of my collection someday.

Driving on the wrong side of the road

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 18:08:00 +0000

Having to use bike or feet as means of transportation from home to work, especially without any pavements on which I can safely distance myself off the passing vehicles, I always take the routine of driving against the traffic, which is the left-hand side.

That way I can safely see the cars and trucks coming ahead to me, instead of passing from behind.

Haha, being on the left-hand side of the road using the UK system again, eh? Guess it doesn't make much of a difference whether I'm still in Indonesia or living in America...my brain is still fixed to use the left-hand side of the road.

Now what makes me wonder is that some asinine drivers out there do not seem to be able to grasp the same sense of logic.

A couple of days ago I was klaxonned at and yelled at by a driver, who seemed to be furious seeing "this teenager who can't use his head to ride his bike on the right side of the road".

Thank God that I can't hear a single thing that he said, as he was yelling from inside his car windows. The only one who heard those cusses would be himself.

Thinking of transferring

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:54:00 +0000

I am currently thinking of transferring to either one of the other two branches of Sparta: one located next to a public library, and the other is strategically located within walking distances of several bookstores and gift stores, and shopping centres.

Moreover, both branches are more pedestrian-friendly: they have pavements within 50-80% of my walk/bike ride from home to each of both, which consequently makes my trip much more pleasant.

And those two other branches are around 30 minutes of walking distances each, which is around 10-15 minutes shorter than the time it takes to reach the place I'm working now.

What about the current Sparta branch where I'm working?

I tell you, it's not a pleasant one at all.

Not a single speck of pavement could be found from the house to my work place, hence I always have to walk or ride my bike on the road shoulders.

Moreover, on those road shoulders I can see rotten and disfigured bodies, and some skeletal remains of dead puppies and raccoons that has been there for months (or perhaps years), apparently hit by vehicles.

Yuck.

Anyway, though such a transfer between branches is theoretically possible (I only need to talk with my HR manager and conjure up some good reasons for it), it is not actually as easy to do these days.

Especially with the Sparta deli being understaffed; they need us all here!

A friend of mine whom I call Sally in this blog has also expressed an interest in moving to another branch, but that does not seem laudable, not at this point of time.

I just pray to God that there will come some new hires to this deli soon.

I'm dying to transfer.

on Pay raise

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:38:00 +0000

Working in the deli department of Sparta can give me pay raises of $0.10-0.25 every several hundred hours or so.

But for my first pay raise, I'll get a raise of $0.15 after working 175 hours. So far I've worked around 125 hours, so it will take me another two weeks before I start seeing more dollars on my paycheck (this translates to $4 more in my paycheck every week, or $16 a month).

The next pay raise after then would be after working 400 hours.

The winter clothes and umbrella I bought

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:08:00 +0000

I bought an XL-size black umbrella (which the label says to be around 55 to 68 inches in width) for $19 in Sparta.

Seems to be an unreasonable price to some of you earthlings back in Indonesia, but I found the umbrella's largeness to be very comfy, especially when it comes to me not getting wet.

Now, regarding the chill.

The season turned to the brownish autumn at the end of September, and the night temperatures often drop to 8-11 Celcius.

Considering that my buddies in Sparta could not always give me a ride back home, I am sometimes compelled to walk by my own.

40 minutes under 10 Celcius, at 23.00. Geez.

My first day, I only had one T-shirt, one long-sleeve, a hoodie sweatshirt, and thin pair of socks to walk with. No protective scarf, no beanie, no woolen socks, nothing.

And I was all gelid when I finally reached the door.

So I went to TJ-Maxx where people say I can purchase affordable winter clothes, and got myself a couple of them. Here's the list:

Neck covering = $4
A pair of mittens = $17
A beanie = $12
Thermal long johns = $15
A pair of woolen socks = $6
Another pair of merino woolen socks = $7

For those of you who don't know, thermal underwear is a piece of thin garment which looks very much like those worn by gymnasts. The only difference is that if you wear this thermal underwear, your body could get heated up so easily.

Because it fends the cold.

And a neck covering is like a bandana that primarily protects your neck. It works like a scarf, but it looks like a bandana.

I am not done with the list of winter clothes yet. I still need a pair of boots ($40-80), thermal undershirt ($20), and possibly a pair of ski goggles ($20-30).

I really need the boots. Even with this pair of woolen socks, my feet still get cold easily, due to the thin-layered shoes I have (one's a pair of sneakers, the other's a pair of work shoes).

Shoe Carnival provides pretty expensive boots that start from $60 upwards, so I'm thinking of trying Wal-mart sometime soon.

AT&T and T-mobile (part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:46:00 +0000

I've decided to keep my T-mobile for my American contacts. While AT&T is used to send and receive text messages from anybody outside USA.

If only I had found out about AT&T much earlier when I was in Miami... I could have purchased a simcard which remains active for 3 months for just $25!

And from that $25 balance, $10 can be deducted each month for my 1000 messaging package.

Which averages a charge of 1 penny per SMS, regardless of text being sent or received, domestic or international.

Sigh. Oh well.

AT&T and T-mobile

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 13:44:00 +0000

The names on the title are two of the most well-known cellphone carriers in America. It was unfortunate that I had purchased both, when I actually only have the need for one.

Here was how it went.

I firstly did an extensive research on several cellphone carriers, even to those with relatively obscure fame such as Boost and i-Wireless.

I found that AT&T and T-mobile are two of the most well-reputed brand. I initially wanted to subscribe to a postpaid service (where I am charged a certain fixed monthly fee of $40-60), but decided to rethink about it after seeing that that amount of money is too pricey for my pocket.

What I need is of course, easier and cheaper long-distance communication with Indonesia. So I researched for a data-only plan (where I only pay for the unlimited mobile internet, but without any phonecalls or SMSes)...to no avail.

I thought T-mobile had a data-only plan with their so-called "Unlimited Blackberry" plan, but it was no good. Apparently it was directed towards a hearing-impaired audience.

There was also another carrier that listed unlimited international phone calls as its main feature, and it got me excited...until I found out that the so-called "international" was only for 60 countries relevant to America (you know, the Spanish-speaking countries that provides USA with immigrants, the Arabic-speaking countries that provides it with oil and terrorism cause, and Japan and China and some similarly wealthy friends in Europe).

That pissed me off.

So I decided to go for a smarter solution, which would be a normal Prepaid plan, as any good Indonesians would opt for.

Postpaid got me thinking a whole week because:

Though the phone may be low-priced (such as $150 for a Blackberry 8900) or even free, I have to subscribe to its carrier for 24 months in full. Which means that if I terminate the contract plan after using it for a year, I have to pay off a termination fee which ranges from $150 to 250.
All the features that you have in a postpaid plan can be purchased cheaper with a prepaid plan. Who needs 1000 minutes and unlimited SMS for $50/month in postpaid when you can have the same features with a prepaid one?

Voila, prepaid is my choice.

Then I bought a T-mobile simcard in Walmart (which comes together with its Nokia 1661 phone) for $20, with $3 initial balance. This means that the Nokia came for $17, which wasn't a bad deal, considering how plastic it is.

I also bought a $50 prepaid refill card for T-mobile, a move I regret now.

What a waste of money.

It may not be true for some other areas in USA, but T-mobile does have a poor signal reception inside the house I'm living in right now.

Then they also charge a hefty fee to send SMSes abroad to Indonesia.

So I researched more on its arch nemesis, AT&T...and look what I found, a messaging feature package of $10 for 1000 SMSes!

And it lasts for 30 days.

And I found that in Kaskus, fellow Indonesians are giving testimonials of how they have found a "leak" that the SMS package can also be used to send texts abroad (to numbers outside America).

Now that I have found that AT&T has a good signal reception in the house, I'm sticking to AT&T. Just as not to let my T-mobile phone go to waste, I may keep the number alive till its expiration on late December...or I may choose to discard it by then.

But oh well, even if I want to keep both phones active, I only need to dig $10 for T-mobile and $25-50 for AT&T every 3 months. Which in total, I only need to pay $35 at most.

Which averages $12 a month.

Not a bad deal. Not expensive at all. I can now SMS as much as I like to Indonesia!

Pay raises

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:12:00 +0000

From my current rate of hourly pay, I'll get $0.25 more per hour after working 175 hours in the Sparta deli.

Not bad. Averaging 40 hours a work week in the deli, I can get paid $4 more every week after I worked for four weeks!

Weekly, Biweekly, or Monthly paychecks

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:51:00 +0000

In Indonesia, there is only one method of paying your salary: Monthly.

It's paid either early of the month or late of the month. Which is a bad method, because I think some people tend to overspend their monthly budget for leisure and other unnecessary expenses.

In other words, for people with poor money management, after they get their monthly paycheck and pay their monthly bills, they tend to splurge it on everything else.

While in America, there are three methods of paycheck. Once a week, Once every two weeks, and Once a month.

In Sparta I get paid once a week, every Thursday.

Which is a good thing, really.

Let's say that my monthly pay is $400, then instead of getting $400 on the first week but having almost spent so much (especially with my poor money management) for three weeks after my paycheck, I get $100 to manage every week.

And another thing.

One month does not equal four weeks (with the exception of February).

It is equal to 4.28 weeks (for 30 days) or 4.43 weeks (for 31 days).

Which means that if you get paid $400 monthly, that doesn't mean that you go home with $100 every week.

You go home with a bit less than $100.

How I willingly picked the hardest job when there were other options available

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 12:52:00 +0000

The other day I was wondering what the hardest job (or position) in Sparta is. You know, other than the deli or bakery clerk, we also have those cashiers, CSRs (Customer Service Representatives), pharmacists, meat clerks, florists, janitors, baggers (those who help customers on bagging their purchased items), and even fuel clerks!

Then I asked Sally.

"The deli" was her firm answer.

She went on to explain that we are the only ones who are constantly and steadily busy for most of our 8-hour shifts other than the cashier. Except the very fact that cashiers are not required to clean their counters or stand up for eight straight hours.

That makes the deli job a hell lot harder than any other jobs in the supermarket.

"Then why did you choose to work in the deli if you know it was the hardest?" I asked her.

"Because it was the only job available when I first came in here. I would've chosen to become a pharmacist instead, if there were an opening in the pharmacy...And why did you choose the deli job"

"Err...it was a random pick"

Yes people, that was right.

The hiring manager gave me freedom to choose whatever job I wanted to take in Sparta when I was first interviewed, and I willingly and haphazardly chose the hardest job there.

Dammit.

Working two jobs

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 17:13:00 +0000

As some of you my blog readers have known, I am working two jobs at the moment. The first job (which gives me a full-time 40 hours a week) is as a Deli clerk in Sparta, an American grocery where I work for five days a week.

And the second job is a part-time 10 hours one as a Sandwich maker in Pinara, an American franchise of sandwich eatery, where I work for the remaining two days.

So, I'm working 5+2 days a week (for a total of 50 paid hours)...This leaves me with no holidays at all!

Hahaha, that doesn't matter much though. I don't need holidays.

In Indonesia I needed those holidays every once in a while, because holidays there could be well-spent by visiting relatives or hanging out with a bunch of friends in the mall.

In America, I no longer need such holidays. I need the money more, which is why I am being 'harsh' now by not even allowing myself to make any room for holidays.

Both are located within 40 minutes of walk from my homestay residence, and usually I either walk to my work places, or I ride a bike.

Now here's the fun part.

My regular shift schedule goes like this:

Sunday : 15.00-23.00 in Sparta
Monday : 16.00-23.30 in Pinara
Tuesday : 15.00-23.00 in Sparta
Wednesday : 15.00-23.00 in Sparta
Thursday : 15.00-23.00 in Sparta
Friday : 11.00-14.00 in Pinara
Saturday : 15.00-23.00 in Pinara

That may seem like a bad deal for some people to see me coming home late at 23.00 everyday (except Friday), but I actually kinda like it.

Yes, it usually gets really windy and chilly outside at those hours, but at least it gives me the luxury of staying up late everyday.

Because I hate going to bed so early in the night. Haha.

My work places: Sparta and Pinara

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:53:00 +0000

Currently I'm working in a supermarket as a deli clerk and a sandwich eatery as a sandwich maker.

In America, blogging about your office or work life, especially if you happen to bitch a lot about your coworkers, your boss, or your company; could land you either in a discharge (read: getting fired) or a lawsuit.

Now, I want to feel free to blog about my life in both places without sacrificing my own jobs.

Hence, I have chosen to call my supermarket (which I've never named here anyway) with the pseudonym of Sparta and my sandwich eatery with the new name of Pinara.

If I happen to mention my mates, they will be given their own false names.

Both names are adapted from ancient Greek city-states. Don't bother looking for the correlation between those city-states and the companies in real life, because they were just haphazard picks.

24%

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:26:00 +0000

Out of my total salary (which is paid every Thursday), 24% goes into the state taxes, federal taxes, and several other deductions made by US of A.

Such a high tax for a country with a poor health care system, eh...

Move to deli

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:37:00 +0000

I originally applied for the Delicatessen department, before I realise that I would rather be handling breads, cakes, and cookies.

I thought that "Deli" and "Bakery" were synonymous.

But they're not.

So during my first four days of work, I asked my manager to be transferred to the Bakery, which is not troublesome, considering that Bakery is actually a part of the Deli department as a whole.

Then I saw that being on the bakery had a couple of disadvantages:

I have to deal with both extremities of the temperatures in a consequent manner, meaning that straightaway after dealing with 150 degrees Celcius on baking doughs in the humongous oven, I have to take new frozen doughs from the freezer (which goes around minus five to five degrees Celcius). That is definitely not a good condition for my sinusitis.
In the bakery, the only available shift is the morning shift, because the bakery people have to finish baking the breads by 6.00! Which means that my shift starts at 5.00. What an awfully early schedule.

Since it is an eight-hour shift, 40-hour workweek, I am obliged to wake up at 4.00 in the morning for five days a week... And I could not stand it.

My first day started out fine, since it was an 8.00 shift, but my second shift onwards start at 5.00.

Considering that my bike ride from home to the supermarket takes around 20 to 25 minutes, that means that I have to leave home latest by 4.35 in order to reach my work place on time.

And just like in Indonesia, the summer mornings in Kentucky are execrably freezing, I tell you. I got sinus for the entire day, which may not prove to be good, considering that I am in charge of handling processed foods.

So that's it, I asked my manager (who happens to be in charge of both the Deli and the Bakery)...can I move to a later shift?

Fortunately, she said yes.

So for the Deli, my shift starts at 15.00 and ends 23.00 everyday, with holidays every Monday and Friday.

I know it's kinda late to ride a bike home at 23.00, but what the heck. At least I don't have morning sinus any longer.

Being in a female-majority world

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 22:53:00 +0000

I wonder what kind of gift (or curse) God is bequeathing upon me...seems that everyday I go, I am more entrusted to live in a female-majority world.

Whether it was on my French class, at my neighbourhood, or in my workplace.

Even in the Deli department I'm working now, everybody is woman except me and another guy.

Well, there used to be one other gentleman working here, but he just got fired, so that leaves me here alone with him as the only hunks around.

But oh well, since all the women working here are married housewives aged 30 or older, you can expect that I'm not as delighted as you think I am.

Haha.

on Food-dumping

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:59:00 +0000

I used to think that food-dumping (the removal of food products considered beyond the expiry date) by bakeries, restaurants, or the likes to be appalling; considering that many people in the Third-World countries are still dying of hunger every single day.

But nah, apparently that's a strict standard.

We have to dispose of those food products if they have gone beyond the selling date.

And that is a sad thing, considering that I work for the Deli-Bakery department. I see doughnuts, French breads, and baguettes which are only good for a day...and they all have to go into the dustbin on the next day.

Sounds sad to put those food to a waste, but yes, that's a protocol I have to adhere to.

What a strict world we are living in. I'd still rather donate those food to the charity.

(In case anyone is worried about the health safety of those products, I can tell that food products are still on an edible condition even for a day after the original expiry date. So if your cheese has an expiry date of 25 December, you can actually eat it until 26 December. Don't worry, it's not rotten yet, unless it is kept in an inappropriate temperature)

DVD-devouring days

noreply@blogger.com (toshi) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:58:00 +0000

My pastimes are mostly spent watching DVDs here, since the family has rented and bought some new DVDs, Eagle Eye and State of Play being two of them.

Eagle Eye is one I would very much like to recommend. A gripping movie with an excelent storyline.