Happy Friday...

Japanese version follows below

Today was a bit humid.

I guess summer is here. Haha! Thankfully, Cool Biz dress code has started this week. Otherwise, I would be sweating like crazy.

Today was my fake day off. Fake because it's only half day. In the morning, I had three lessons. After my third lesson, I headed home, changed and went for a jog around the Palace.

After that I headed back home to take a shower, change and return again to the office for two lessons. Unfortunately, my 1PM didn't show up today. The student was probably busy at work.

Too bad but that also meant I got to go home early.

In the afternoon, I did a bit of housework. Then, I bought some stuff for my day trip on Sunday. A few posts ago, I mentioned starting two new hobbies this month.

The second hobby starts on Sunday... provided that the weather cooperates.

Looking forward to it. Hehe!

Happy weekend!

日本語のバージョン:

今日は蒸し暑いよ。

夏になりるそうです。笑。　神をおかげさまです、今週は仕事でCool Bizを始まったよ。

今日は僕のお休みよ。でも、半日だけだよ。朝は三つのレッスンがあったよ。０８：３０のレッスンの後で帰って、着替えて、皇居の周りにジョギングをしたよ。とても暑かったよ。

ジョギングの後は家に帰って、シャワーを浴びて、会社に戻りたよ。

午後に仕事の後では家に掃除した。後は銀座に行って、買い物をしたよ。

今週の日曜日にもう一つの新しい趣味をはじまるよ。いい天気があるといいね。

楽しみによ。笑。

週末が楽しんで。

Solo karaoke X ohitorisama life...

Recently, I learned of the "Ohitorisama" culture. It refers to people living and doing things alone. (hitori means one person. sama is an honorific title "Mr./Ms." o is an honorific prefix.

To some people, I know doing things alone seems depressing or unbearable. Not to me. For as long as I can remember, I've been okay doing things on my own. When I did my internship in university, I had lunch on my own because I was the only intern in my department and my bosses had their own schedules. I've never had any issues watching movies on my own or dining alone. True that I'm clingy to my friends, but yeah I don't mind being on my own when no one's around.

And it seems I've found the perfect place to live the "ohitorisama" life. Haha!

I've yet to find the same kind of friends I have in Manila and in Singapore. For some reason, most of the people I meet here turn out to be one-way kind of friendships. I was the one always inviting the other party to do something.

I learned my lesson the painful way. Lol. Example, there was this one person I hung out with. One time, I lamented how I have no real friends in Tokyo. The person said, "Hey! I'm your friend." Gullible person that I am, I believed him. But whenever I invited this person to hang out, there was always some kind of excuse. Eventually, I just got tired dealing with the BS and stopped making an effort. There were a few other similar encounters.

Oh well, I'm sure they have their reasons and it's perfectly fine. Thankfully, there are still a few who I think I can consider as real friends.

But recently, I had this realization than I'm done with such kinds of toxic relationships.

So, enter the decision to adopt the "Ohitorisama" life, at least for now.

Haha! That was such a long introduction, what I really wanted to say was that I found this awesome karaoke place for solo people! It's a chain and there's one that's really, really close to my house.

Since today's a holiday, I decided to check it out.

It was goooooood!!! Hmm, the selection of English songs were updated. The downside is you should probably know how to read hiragana/katakana, at least. That's because you'll have to register as a member. Also, if you want to sing Japanese songs, there's no romaji option so hiragana/katakana knowledge would be useful. Chinese and Korean songs are also available.

Because it's Golden Week, the place was almost deserted. I imagine it gets busy on regular days. It was a good decision to check it out tonight.

The facilities were really good. They have a drink all you can station.

One of the really good things as well, and this is going to sounds really "ohitorisama", is that you can sing as crazy as you want, you can sing whatever song you want, you don't have to wait for your turn to sing. While it is true that karaoke with friends is probably more fun, there are times when you just want to sing your heart out. Haha!

The name of the place is 1Kara. They've got a few branches in Tokyo. Will definitely be back soon....

Random Friday...

I went for training today so I finished work early.

Actually, I finished early because I decided not to work in the evening. It was a good decision because I was beat by the end of the training session.

The good thing was I passed the training. Yay!

After work, I was supposed to meet up with Jack. We planned to go to the izakaya in Iidabashi we used to frequent. However, he had to work overtime so we threw the plan out of the window.

Instead, I ended up walking around Shinjuku and Ginza and finding pieces I'm not supposed to get. Lol. Technically, I still haven't gotten the pieces but they're all on hold.

Hahaha!

Quick stroll at Omotesando (and Ueno Park)...

I managed to do something touristy today.

Since the day ended early, I met up with a visiting friend and we did a bit of walking around Ueno Park and Omotesando.

Specifically, the area in Ueno that I like is the one where all the museums are - the Tokyo National Museum, the National Museum for Western Art, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and the National Science Museum. I've only been to two of these and I definitely will visit the other two one of these days.

Meanwhile, Omotesando (and Aoyama) are so far my favorite places in Tokyo. I love walking down the street and just enjoying the sights and sounds. But what I suggest is to actually get off the main street and check out the side streets of Omotesando. There are many quaint and lovely shops and cafes to be found in the area.

It was definitely a nice Friday night.

Train to Busan...

I watched Train to Busan last night with JB and Jon.

It was gooood!

Uhm, I don't really watch horror flicks because I have an active imagination. You can't make me watch The Conjuring, Insidious, or anything similar. I just can't.

They are too real for me.

Meanwhile, I can stand zombie films and apocalyptic films. Haha! Is that weird?

Anyway, I absolutely enjoyed Train to Busan. I kept hearing good revs about it and now I understand why. Glad I chose to watch it over Suicide Squad. Hehe!

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.

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 with visiting friends...

The higlight of the weekend was meeting up with ex-colleagues.

Last Friday, it was with ex-colleague from Smart Steph. There are three of us ex-Smart PA peeps who are now here in Singapore - me, Arlyn, and JoAnn. I'm really glad that even though I don't work in Smart anymore, the friendship with the PA girls stays alive. Arlyn decided to bring Steph to Swee Choon for dinner. The place is always a good idea. Food is good. It's affordable. It has a local feel. It's not touristy. After feasting on dimsum, we headed to nearby City Square for dessert and more chitchat at Cocoa Colony.

Yesterday, my catchup was with ex-colleague from Magsaysay Weng. We went to Ikea Alexandra to buy some stuff followed by lunch at Anchorpoint across the street. Aside from being an ex-colleague, Weng and I went to the same university, and took up the same degree... though she is a few batches ahead. Hehe! I'm guessing being both Peyups grad is one reason why we really hit it off. Hehe!

Anyway, really glad to see these guys! My Singaporean friends always say that I have a lot of friends visiting Singapore. I always tell them it just so happens that my friends visit Singapore at the same time. I dunno why that happens. Haha! The other week, another ex-colleague from Smart and a friend from Couchsurfing days were also in Singapore. However, I didn't get to meet up with them as the invite was last minute and I already made plans for the day. Some other time, I guess...

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!

Sale night...

What was supposed to be an uneventful Friday night turned into a somewhat busy Friday night thanks to Mon and Richie.

I didn't really have anything planned for the night. After work, I was thinking of just maybe going to the library to do some reading or browsing.

Some time during the day, Mon messaged if I wanted to go with them to the Valiram sale in Changi.

Hmm, I was curious to see what the sale items would be, and of course, I'd like to see Mon and Richie as well. So just like that, I had better plans for the night.

We agreed to meet at 730PM. Mon and I met earlier at 7PM so that we can grab dinner in Lavender.

From Lavender, we met Richie at Paya Lebar and then took the train down to Changi.

The sale was impressive since most of the items were on sale up to 70% off. Most of the pieces had an additional 10% if you bought two or three pieces. That sweetens the deal even more. Haha!

Initially, we started with a bunch of Tumi items, a Coach passport holder (for me). I was looking at some shoes as well since they were mostly more than half the price off.

In the end, we ended up just hoarding scented candles. Haha!

Success... that I didn't buy anything on impulse (well, maybe the candles but they're dirt cheap) and success for buying stuff that I somewhat need or otherwise, can be a present. Hehe!

Hmm, when is the Club21 sale this year???? I want!

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...

FaceTime Friday...

What a nice, relaxing Friday.

It's mainly because I got to spend a good time chatting with my best friend in Manila, Tey and best friend in then-SG/now-Syd, Tipz.

Thank goodness for living in a country with very fast Internet connection. Haha! The FaceTime sessions with both Tey and Tipz had very good quality.

When Tipz called, he was at the beach sunbathing. When I called Tey, she was having dinner at JT's Inasal. Two things I also miss - the beach and chicken inasal. Haha!

I'm staying in tonight. It'll be an early night. Tomorrow, I have to leave the house early again since there is a training I have to attend. After training, I'll head back to take a nap before going to Church and then dinner. After dinner, I'll have to head to town for RKGreg's birthday party.

Weekend's already looking packed. And it certainly started on a good note thanks to nice FT sessions with two of my closest friends.

Friday and Saturday hohols...

Weekends have always been precious to me. I think there isn't a single working person who doesn't look forward to the weekend (except those who work on weekends. Lol!)

Now that I'm telecommuting (which is basically working from home most of the time), weekends have become even more precious because it is a time that I get to see my friends and once in a blue moon, go out on a date.

Friday and Saturday have both been really good ones as I got to hang out with people I don't see as often but I wish I saw more often.

Thanks to Chris' invite, I was able to hohol with him, MkSurf8, RKGreg, Jeff and Jin. Chris' sib and the wifey gifted Chris with a room at the Intercon to thank him for hosting them in Singapore (I think), or something along those lines. Hehe! It was a good get-together though short as I had to catch the last train to the far West. I don't see this group of friends as often as I used to. Thus, every invite to a get-together is a happy moment.

I don't know if ageing has something to do with it (haha!). Lately, we've been trading the noise and the crowd of the club to an evening of chitchat with drinks at MkSurf8's place or in this instance, at Chris' hotel room. I enjoy both but I have to say that I enjoy the hohol moments where there is just a conversation among the guys. Group conversations are always fun because we can talk about anything, from the mundane to the most serious of issues. Haha!

The following day, Saturday, was also quite a busy one. At one point, I exclaimed to Richie,"I'm exhausted!" after realising how I've been running around all around the city again! Morning started slow with just usual house chores - laundry, folding clothes, watching series, cleaning the room a bit. After that, it was time to head to the gym for Pump class. With the training for my new volunteer commitment coming up, I have to rethink my Saturday gym sched again.

Gym was over by 1PM. From Jurong East, I took the train down to the city to meet up with my fellow museum guide-turned-friend Lionel. He's one friend I don't see as much but we're in touch almost every other day. It's nice to catch up with him and just talk about travel and so on.

Saturday concluded with an evening with Richie and Mon. Lionel told me about the screening of the docu film Dior and I as part of the Singapore Design Film Festival. I knew immediately that Mon (and maybe Richie) would be interested to see the film. Luckily, Lionel told me about the film early enough that I could still buy tickets. Apparently, all tickets were sold out.

The screening was at 8PM. Kiasu that I am, I insisted that we meet up early so that we can have dinner early so that we can queue early. Lol! The aim was to get good seats since it was free seating!

It was a success. I met up with Mon and Rich around 6PM. We had a relaxed and filling dinner at Tonkichi, just one level below the cinema. By 7, we collected the tickets and headed straight to the hall where the movie will be shown. Our group was the first in line. Yay!

The movie was only 89 minutes and I'm glad that both of them enjoyed it. We had a short discussion about the film just before parting ways.

I reached home at 11PM. I was beat and just wanted to crash into bed. Haha! Definitely, Friday and Saturday have been great!

Hey, Friday...

And so the first work week of 2015 is over...

How did it go for you?

Get-together with UP friend Trish...

It was a rather relaxed Friday.

From noontime until late afternoon, I was at a restau in Bugis for our department's Christmas get-together. In a span of 4 years, the department has undergone so many changes. We're now a small size of 30 plus people. I'm grateful for the job and for the life here in Singapore.

In the evening, I met up with a university classmate Trish, her partner and her ex-colleague. I don't remember the last time we saw each other though it's sure to be almost a decade ago. She's now based in the US and it was great of her to pass by Singapore on this trip to the Philippines.

When I asked her where/what she wanted to eat, I was surprised that she mentioned she wanted to go to Violet Oon's Kitchen. Apparently, she read that the local celebrity chef is described to be the Julia Child of Singapore. I've only been to Violet Oon's once. I don't go there that often as it is a bit out of way. So last night was not just a reunion with Trish, it was also a reunion with Violet Oon.

I'm glad that she enjoyed the food. She had the dry laksa. On the other hand, I had the Buah Keluak Ayam. Harold, her Dutch partner, had the Beef Rendang. The other friend had a meatless pasta. For dessert, we had a cake and my favourite pulut hitam with vanilla ice cream.

It was a really nice evening of catching up over good food. Hopefully, next year I can visit the US to see Trish and Harold, and our other classmates.

Happy Hoholloween...

Friday night was HOHOL time at MkSurf8 and RKGreg's place.

I thouhgt it was going to be the usual get-together until talk about what costume to wear started.

I don't recall the last time I wore a costume for Halloween.

The only vivid recollection I have was some time in mid-2000 when a bunch of friends - Richie, Suki, Xoch, Edsel, Omar - and I wore somewhat religious garb and walked the streets of Malate and Makati.

Suki was then driving a station wagon type of car with no tint. Just imagine the reaction of people in the cars next to us seeing 5 men dressed as nuns and one man in a bishop's attire. Haha!

That was one memorable night.

This time, I did not have the chance to really prep for Halloween. I had a costume in mind. However, I had to rethink the costume as I could not meet up with the friend who was supposed to lend me a costume. With not a lot of time in my hands before the party, I just decided to buy a crown and wear one of my black tops. Initially, I was just thinking of wearing one of my normal long/sleeved shirts. Then I realised this was a good opportunity to bring out one of the CDG Shirt pieces I got. Hehe!

It was a good decision to make a tiny effort to dress up because everyone else did the same - Mon had a skull head gear, Tipz had a tiger mask, Richie had a werewolf's paw. Chris was a hippie, while RKGreg and MkSurf8 were characters from those horror movies. A few other guests made a ll the effort to dress up as someone. Well done, K and A!

Thanks mucho MkSurf8 and RKGreg for hosting yet another great party! :D

Birthday month 30-day writing challenge: Day 3....

Day 3: How the day went in full detail.

This is a late blog entry for Day 3. Thanks to the writing assignment for day 3, the next few paragraphs will explain why this post is only written this Saturday morning.

Friday morning, I got up at 520. Since I didn't go for Pump the other night, I decided to attend the Friday morning Pump class. I'm going to be honest. There was a bit of debating in my head whether I was going to stay glued to the bed and sleep more or get up and go to the gym.

Thankfully, I went with the latter. Haha!

Pump was uneventful. It was a full class, surprisingly. Unsurprisingly, I continue to struggle with the biceps track. Haha!

The rest of the day at the office went as usual. My counterparts in India are on leave because of a public holiday. That meant less emails.

After work, the original plan was to head back. I was going to meet an online seller before heading to Tipz's to drop my stuff before we head to MkSurf8's place. There was a change of plans since Tipz wasn't feeling well.

Instead of heading back, I messaged Richie and Mon to check if they were still free for dinner. We agreed to meet at Paragon and ended up having dinner at the ramen place across Din Tai Fung. It was the only place with a short queue. Haha! The food was actually enjoyable.

Following dinner, I joined Mon and Richie at Cold Storage for a bit of grocery shopping. We then parted ways. They headed for the taxi stand, while I joined the Friday night crowd at Orchard and walked to Somerset MRT.

I reached RKGreg and MkSurf8's place at half past nine. Chris was already there and they were already having a convo over wine, cheese and chocolates. I brought peanuts from Indonesia. Haha! I should've bought more since apparently, it tastes good. For the next hour or so, we just talked about our recent travels.

Next to arrive was Chiz. An hour later, the rest of the gang arrived. I am on a resolution to significantly cut my alcohol intake, in the name of my quest to lower my uric acid levels. So as much as I would've wanted to have another class of JB/Coke and even with the prodding of RKGreg, I said no. Haha!

I took my leave around 1AM. Otherwise I might have ended up having Saturday as recovery day. Hehe!

It was an exhausting day as I was falling asleep in the cab on the way back. I didn't know how long I was asleep for until the Uncle asked me whether he was supposed to turn right at CCK 5. To my delightful surprise, we were two minutes away from home. Haha!

As soon as I entered my home, I went straight to my room, took off my clothes and rested for a bit before taking a shower.

After that, it didn't take long before I was in bed and zzzing... Haha!

That explains why this blog post is late.

Japanese din din for Friday night...

Just got back.

I planned to do my laundry tonight, but I decided to just do it tomorrow morning.

It's been such a long day and I feel so tired. I don't know if it's because of the heat or if it's an effect of the recent things happening at work. Either way, I would just like to zzz tonight. Haha.

After work, I went to Triple One Somerset for dinner with PG Boy and two of his closest friends.

We went to this Japanese restau called Fukuichi. Surprisingly and thankfully, we didn't have to queue at all to get a table. (Could it be because Triple One is not really a mall so there aren't as many people who go to the building?)

I decided to just go for a set meal, which included a salad, tori karaage, miso soup and salmon on white rice. PG Boy ordered a bento set with a lot of good things in it so I just stole some of his sushi. Hehe!

It was good to see the two friend of PG Boy. Both also just got back from hols overseas. One spent a week in Hanoi, while the other one spent several days in Vienna. Most of the topics over dinner, of course, were from the trip experience.

By 10, I decided to leave the trio because I was hoping I would still have the energy to do laundry when I get back. Not. Haha!

By the time I reached my block, PG Boy just messaged that he was also home. He was so surprised that he reached home before me. I had to remind him that it was normal for me to have one-hour travel time from the centre. Lol!

It's a nice Friday night. It would be nicer if the weather would be similar to Amsterdam's though. Too much wishing.

Fukuichi Japanese Dining
#02-11/12 Triple One Somerset
T: +65 6271 5586 / 6472 8269
Opening hours
Daily: 11.30am to 3pm & 5.30pm to 12 midnight

Chillax Friday night...

While waiting for PG Boy last night, I headed over first to Tipz's place.

I also had to drop by since I was going to get the Chia Te pineapple cakes I asked him to get for me from Taiwan.

Thank you, Tipz!!!