Konnichiwa, Edsel...

For the first time, I closed four lessons in the evening.

The reason was I wanted to meet Edsel earlier. He arrived this afternoon. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to fix my schedule properly because I didn't know Edsel's itinerary.

Thankfully, it wasn't very busy at the center today and I got permission to close my four lessons since they were not booked.

The only downside was it was raining. And it was chilly.

Still, Edsel and I met up for dinner at Ginza. After that, we walked over to Yurakucho and I took him to this row of izakayas. It was still a fun night. We had to call it a night early because I have work tomorrow. Also, we couldn't do much because of the rain.

Tomorrow night will be epic though.

Wonderful Friday night surprise...

I just got home about an hour ago.

The guys threw a surprise party for me last night. Later on, I found that it was my friend Jon who went through all the trouble to organise the gathering.

I seriously thought that the gathering was for the birthday celeb of @MkSurf8. When I reached the lobby of Amara, @RKGreg fetched me at the lobby so that I could go up to the room.

The sweetest surprise welcomed me as soon as the door opened - my closest friends in Singapore, the most important people in my SG life all gathered together.

It was really a memorable night.

I stayed the night with Jon, Lara and Migs and we had brunch at nearby Group Therapy cafe.

What a wonderful gathering. I was deeply moved by the whole gesture and thank you, thank you, THANK YOU a million times over to @astralcowboy for organising the whole thing.

Now, I'm ready...

Por Kee dinner with the guys...

Zi char - one of the things I have grown to love when it comes to eating in Singapore.

Maybe because it reminds me of how meals are done in my home in Manila (or in almost every Filipino home, I guess). Maybe because any zi char meal is a great opportunity to hang out with family or friends and have a great time.

I can't remember the first zi char place I went to in Singapore but I do remember some of the goods ones I've been to.

Last night, I invited the guys to dinner at Por Kee Eating House in Tiong Bahru. It's one of my favourite zi char places in the island. They have really good coffee pork ribs but I believe the one dish everyone must try is the homemade beancurd.

It is super!

I'm glad that most of the guys haven't been to Por Kee. It was only Sarge who had a memory of the restau. I'm guessing we ate at the place a loong time ago, possibly during PG Boy days.

When I arrived at the place at 730PM, it was already busy. No, it was extremely busy. It was a good thing that I called a week ago to make reservations. Otherwise, it would've been a disaster for us. Hehe!

The guys enjoyed the food. I enjoyed the food and their company. Too bad Chris and Jin weren't able to join us as they are on holiday in Surabaya.

After dinner, we bought some desserts at Tiong Bahru bakery and took the bus to JB's and Ian's new place at Redhill for dessert, drinks, and more chitchat.

Last night was a gooood Saturday night!

Flowers, flowers, flowers...

Here are some photos from the SG Garden Fest and the Orchid Show at the Gardens by the Bay.

Since Sunday was the last day of the Garden Fest show, it was expected that the event was going to be crowded.

There was a part of the exhibit entitled "Floral Windows to the World." The hall featured a showcase of flower arrangements that were designed by local and international floral designers. I found that to be the best part of the exhibit.

From the SG Garden Fest, we walked to the nearby Flower Dome to check out the Orchid Show. Again, it was packed but it was quite pleasant since the dome had AC. Haha!

The orchids were just pretty, really pretty. I guess it does take skill to grow the orchids. The flowers were really lovely to look at.

Our day ended with a much-deserved dinner and chitchat at one of the cafes at the neighbouring MBS. It was a good Sunday!

Weekend with friends...

It was quite a packed Saturday.

In the morning, it was over at Boon Keng for a BBQ gathering with Jon and my ex-colleagues Arlyn, Joann.

In the afternoon, I was in Mountbatten for a gathering with fellow museum volunteers. One of our friends recently gave birth so we dropped by to say hello to the new parents and their wonderful baby.

Sunday was just as busy. Hehe.

Jon had free tickets to the SG Garden Fest. Together with our other friends, we tropped to the Gardens by the Bay where the event was held.

Since it was the last day of the event, it was packed.

The tix also included a free entrance to the Flower Dome, where the current theme is orchids. The place was also crowded. Hehe! It was a bit of a challenge to appreciate all the beautiful flowers.

Tiring weekend but good one.

Looking viewing party preps...

And this is how you do a viewing party.... Lol!

JB was kind enough to host a viewing get-together for HBO's Looking the movie. Erm, I think it was more because we volunteered his temp flat although I'm sure he would have volunteered his place, too. Thanks, JB.

It turned out to be a gathering that needed preparation. JB and Ian got themselves busy with arranging the place and figuring out the technical side of how we can watch the movie from the HBO site. They also thought of the chips and drinks. Mon and Richie, on the other hand, thought about whether extra chairs were needed. And naturally, they also thought of the food to be served for the pre-movie and the actual movie. My contribution was dessert (a few tubs of Ben & Jerry's) and crackers for the cheese and cold cuts.

And with all these preps, we are now ready to watch the movie...

Pinoy fiesta...

We had a Filipino feast last Saturday. Haha!

Just look at the photos of what we had...

Ahh, it was heaven for 5 overseas Filipino workers...

Friday night = Whiskey night...

I was home early yesterday. Some colleagues organised a nature walk at the Kranji Marshes. I signed up to join them since it's been some time since I last went on a nature walk.

The place was okay. It's not as rustic as Sungei Buloh. I'm glad I went for the walk though. Anyway, since Kranji is a station away from my place, I was home early. I managed to still get some work done.

There were really no plans to head out but I thought I'd check where Jon was. I messaged him and he said he was out having dinner with his housemate Lara.

He also said he wasn't really keen to go for drinks because he needed to work and he wanted to do laundry.

I told him we'll just go for one drink and that we'll catch the last train back to our side of the island.

We even set a time for going home - 1030.

One drink. 1030PM.

Haha, well, one jug of whiskey sprite became two jugs. We headed to our usual drinking place, and I managed to get the bar staff to make the mix stronger. Uhm, we're paying $48 for the jug! I dun want it diluted.

By the time we were finishing our second jug, Jon and I agreed to drop by a neighboring bar.

I should've known that already meant that we weren't getting home early. Hahaha!

Three of his friends joined us. We ordered some more whiskey sprite but man, the whiskey at this bar was really bad whiskey. It didn't take long before I got wasted. Haha!

Long story short, I slept over at Jon's place. How we both got back to his place in one piece, I'm thankful. He was just as wasted as I was. Haha!

It was a fun night though. We defo missed Tipz.

Okay, next tugs should be in August na.

Dinner at Wheat...

I'm not feeling very well.

It's the weather I think. There was one night I slept with the AC really cranked up that I woke up with a weird feeling in my throat. I knew something was up because the next thing I know, I was starting to feel feverish.

If it wasn't for the scheduled dinner tonight with MonRich and PG Boy, I would've stayed home and slept early. Hehe!

Still, I went out and met up with the guys. We had dinner at this new healthy foodplace called Wheat. It's at the basement of Raffles City. I got a teriyaki chicken salad. It's a good salad place but I think I'd still choose Toss & Turn. Hehe! That's mainly because I'm a creature of habit.

The guys and I parted ways about an hour ago.

It was good because I was starting to feel worse and as a result, I wasn't contributing much to the convo anymore. Hehe!

Hope I'll feel much better tomorrow.

Dinner and dessert with visiting Richmond...

Just got back from dinner.

I rarely meet up with MonRich on a weekday evening. However, tonight we met up because of a visiting friend - Richmond.

Richmond, whom Richie knows since his university days and whom Mon and I know since early 2000, was in town for a few days with his family. He'll be flying back to the US on Saturday night. It was nice of him to ask us out to dinner.

Over dinner (at Wee Nam Kee because Richmond was craving for chicken rice) and dessert (at Robert Timms because this was our default go to for coffee and dessert), we talked about the old days - how Malate was such a fun place, how we used to be able to go on spontaneous out of town trips, and so on.

I guess one thing that stuck with us from tonight's convo was Richmond saying, "We need to create new memories!" It does make a lot of sense because we kept on harping back to the past. (Is it harping or harking? Hehe!)

Hmm, I think we have been making new memories. In fact, I think we've made tons of new memories. It's just that most of us have gone on different ways since the early to mid-2000. However, we still find ourselves at crossroads sometimes and when we do, we tend to remember the good old days. I'm not complaining though. Hehe!

Who knows when I'll see Richmond again? I'm quite sure though it would still be a fun get-together the next time we see each other.

Whiskey and wine night...

Some of the guys and I had an early commemoration of the Philippines 118th Independence Day.

Okay, the hohol was actually just meant to be a regular hohol at MkSurf8's flat. But since 12 June is in just 48 hours, why not turn wine and whiskey night into an opportunity to remember the Philippines as well? Hehe!

It's been a long time since I've had a hohol with MkSurf8, RKGreg, Tian3x (and JinnoJin), and Ian. So, even though I thought of heading home before midnight to catch the last train, I stayed on and finally went home close to 3AM. Hehe!

The convo covered a lot of topics and at one point, we started singing OPM songs and had a random Filipino trivia quiz (e.g. national bird, national animal, scientific name of the Philippine Eagle, the smallest fish). Haha! Whether it's the alcohol or our nationalism, it didn't matter because we were definitely feeling very nationalistic at that moment. Haha!

Thank you, MkSurf8 and RKGreg, for the invite for the hohol!

Weekend of eating...

Since Tey arrived Friday night, we've been pretty much going on a food trip of sorts. Hehe.

It was kind of expected since the main reason she flew to Singapore was for the birthday of her high school friend Nek.

The feasting started as soon as she landed. The hotel I booked for us was in Lavender. Actually, I got confused because I thought there was only one AQueen Hotel. Here I was thinking that I booked the one in Jalan Besar. It turned out that there was another branch along Lavender St. It was okay because the hotel had a good location and surrounded by quite a number of food places including Swee Choon. Since Tey didn't pack a lot of stuff, we went straight to Swee Choon for a late dinner. Fellow ex-Smartee Arlyn was fortunately free to join us. We arrived at Swee Choon past 10. This was great because we didn't have to wait for a long time to get a table.

After Swee Choon, Tey and I went straight to Aljunied where Nek stayed. It turned out that her boyfriend organised a surprise birthday party for her. Tey and I were full from the dimsum feast but we still managed to enjoy the cake and fried chicken. Haha!

Yesterday, it was another day of enjoying good food thanks to Ikea and Lau Pa Sat. Our main itinerary for the day was Ikea. We left the hotel late and arrived at Ikea Tampines in time for brunch. I'd like to think that our brunch wasn't that sinful since we did spend the next three hours walking around Ikea looking at stuff. Tey ended up buying a book shelf, a shoe rack, a clothes drying rack, and tons of other stuff. Hehe! I was tired when we got back to the hotel. I managed to take a nap before we headed out again.

In the evening, we met up with her friends at Lau Pa Sat for Nek's birthday dinner. Lau Pa Sat is always a good place to go to since there are tons of food choices. We ended up ordering roast chicken, grilled stingray, cereal prawn, fried rice, satay, prawn satay. Tey and I also bought a birthday cake for Nek as a surprise. It was a really long day and I was just dead tired when we got back to the hotel.

Today, I had a museum activity so that meant I had to have lunch on my own. Tonight, we're meeting up with PG Boy, Ian, MonRich for dinner at CPK.

Happy tummy weekend!

Monday night drinks...

I was planning to go for my usual run after work.

However, it suddenly rained around 5PM. Though the rain stopped, I decided to skipp running because I was worried that the ground might be too slippery.

Instead, I messaged Mon and Richie to check what their plans for the night were.

Since it was a Monday night, they said they didn't have any plans.

I asked them if they were up for some drinks. Haha!

By 8PM, I was already on the east side of the island making my way to Mon and Rich's place. On the way, I recognised a familiar person making his way to the same exit I was about to take - RKGreg. Yay, it was good to see him and I guess I was meant to see him.

I brought my Christmas present for them with me. My plan was to drop by their place after I visit Mon and Rich to pass on the Christmas pressie I got. Hehe! Good to see RKGreg.

Anyway, what I thought would be a somewhat short hohol time (it is a Monday after all) turned in to a long chitchat hangout. Haha! I just got home a few minutes ago. When I left, Richie was already about to sleep. Haha! It was way past their bed time.

Always happy to see them.

Whiskey Coke night...

I needed a drink tonight, just because. Haha!

Earlier during the day, I asked two friends if they were up for drinks. One was not sure, the other was up for it. Eventually, we decided to postpone it. Hours later, the plan was on. Haha!

It turned out that these two friends were planning to a meet & greet happening at City Hall. I, on the other hand, planned to meet up with Richie for dinner... at City Hall.

Everything was perfect.

After my dinner, I met up with my two friends and we went to a place along Telok Ayer St. It was interesting for a number of reasons: 1.) I didn't know the AJ bar existed; 2.) It was a karaoke bar; 3.) It's for bears!!! Wow!

I was just hoping to have one glass of my usual whiskey coke as I felt like celebrating because it was a weekend. That one was glass turned out to be 5 glasses! Hahaha! It was good because I finally learned the trick how to have more glasses without burning a hole in my wallet.

Order a jug and share it with a friend. Surprisingly, this bar is kinda generous with its whiskey Coke - 10 glasses in all! Hmm, the whiskey they used is defo not Johnnie Walker though, defo not Maker's Mark. Haha! For the price my friend and I paid, $36 in total, we don't complain. A glass of whiskey Coke is already $11 without taxes. So yayay!

Since I had plans tomorrow, I told them that we should catch the last train. Thank goodness for the Downtown Line, it was so easy to get back!

Happy Friday night!

Brunch and volunteer work...

Before heading to the museum for volunteer work, I met up with I-van and Mon for brunch.

I-van was in town for a few days because of work. However, he's been busy and only had time to meet up today. He flew back to KL this evening.

We agreed to have brunch at Robert Timms since it was most convenient for everyone.

I didn't mind trying a new brunch place but there weren't really a lot of choices in the area. This was because we agreed to meet up at 1030AM. Hehe!

In any case, Robert Timms is always a good choice as the food is good, the price is reasonable, the place is still in the town centre but not that crowded.

Mon and I-van went shopping while I had to go for my volunteer work.

Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was the work, but I was exhausted at the end of the day.

Happy to see people...

After four days of working from home, I needed to get out of the house and see people. Haha!

So, I decided to go and work at the office today just to be surrounded by humans. Harhar! I also asked Ann Marie and Ana to lunch since they both work nearby. For a few times now, the three of us would have lunch together at the cafeteria of Ann Marie's office. The food was affordable, very affordable. The food was great, the "scenery" was even better.

Surprisingly, PG Boy also messaged out of the blue asking if I wanted to go to dinner with him and his best friend. My initial reply was to ask whether his best friend was out of town, just to tease him. Hehe!

He asked MonRich to join as well. I was certain Richie wanted to see PG Boy as well.

We all agreed to meet at 6PM at City Hall. At first, it was suggested to do dinner at The Soup Spoon Union. Then I thought we should do something different instead of always going for our default place at Raffles City.

That's how we ended at Equilibrium at Capitol Galleria. I thought the food was okay. We were really paying for the homey ambiance and the location. Lol!

After dinner, we walked back to Raffles City and settled at Tiong Bahru for more chitchat.

It was a happy Friday night...

Clayman79 x Astralcowboy catchup...

The highlight of the day was dinner and dessert with Jon aka astralcowboy.

He just got back from his US trip. I just got back from my Bangkok trip. We had several stories to exchange.

We agreed to meet up for dinner. Initially, I suggested Toss & Turn but we ended up having dinner at Monster Curry. Not bad, not bad at all. It was like Coco Ichibanya.

From ION, we walked to nearby Palais for sinful dessert at PS Cafe.

Nice catchup with Jon. We miss @tipzstamatic though.

Hello again, SG...

Though it was a holiday today, I decided to start working on my backlog. Before returning to Singapore, I wrote to my manager to request that the updated leave coverage notes be emailed to me so that I can go through the notes during the two-day holiday.

I felt it was a good idea so as to minimise the shock come Wednesday. Haha!

Thankfully, I was able to get about 70% of the work done before I decided to call it a day.

In the evening, I met up with Mon and Richie for a catchup and a Welcome Back/CNY dinner at Lau Pa Sat.

The duo decided to check in at Fullerton Bay Hotel for a staycation. I definitely wanted to see them!

We decided to go for dinner at LPS because Mon was craving for satay.

It was really nice seeing both of them. While we were walking back to the hotel, I couldn't help but exclaim that Singapore really is such a beautiful place. Hehe!

To cap the night, we had whiskey/sprite while watching Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp on TV.

What a great first day back in SG!

Bernice is in town...

Sunday was definitely the highlight of the weekend.

I didn't have much of a weekend at all as I was just cooped up in the apartment working on my activities for next week. Seriously, I didn't think I could spend an entire day working on what I thought was a simple task.

Anyway, the best thing about the weekend was seeing Bernice. She is in town for work.

Unfortunately, we couldn't hang out for long as I had to get back to the apartment. She had to get back to her hotel to prep for work.

We met up at Siam Paragon and had lunch at a Japanese rice curry place. For dessert, I had her try the mango sticky rice at the Siam Paragon Food Court, which she liked.

Nice Sunday.