A boy sold me a box of ice cream...

On my way home from the gym the other night, a boy probably in approaching early his teen years walked up to me. He was carrying an ice box with him. He opened the ice box and showed boxes of ice cream. He told me he was selling them to help finance his studies.

This was the second time I've experienced something like this. The other similar situation was with a poly student. I was on my way to meet some friends and this poly student approached me. He showed me his ID to prove he is a student of a certain poly. He then showed some papers and asked if I would be willing to help him. I asked him how his grades were. He said they were okay. I told him to study harder before parting with my $10.

The situation with the poly student was not too surprising. The one with the primary school student was very surprising.

I told PG Boy about it. He thinks it might be some modus operandi. I doubted it. Otherwise, someone would have already reported it. To me, if that kid tried to dupe me, then karma will get him for me.

Singapore is generally perceived to be a very wealthy country. It is. Uhm, it has the highest concentration of millionaires. Hello. Any first time visitor to the country would already be wowed by Singapore even before that person has left Changi Airport. When one goes to Orchard or Marina Bay Sands Shoppes, all the luxury shops that sell pieces with astronomical prices are there. The fact that these shops are in business mean they have customers.

But having lived here for three years now, there have been quite a few situations where I wondered about the lives of other groups of people. A few times, I've experienced an elderly asking for loose change because they need to get to some MRT station. I wonder where the frail aunties and uncles selling tissue papers go after an entire day of sitting at some corner. I wondered about those senior citizens who are alone in life and cannot work anymore. Where do they stay? How can they afford the insane rent of flats? (Mr. Lim explained to me once that the government has flats with very low rental for the low-income groups.) A few of those times that I came home very late, I've seen father and daughter and sometimes, senior citizens, going through rubbish bins scavenging for recyclables. There was also one time when I saw an individual sleeping under the stairs of an HDB flat. The person just had a blanket wrapped around him.

I'm confident that the government has programs to help the low-income groups. I wonder if all groups have access to the assistance. Whatever gap I guess is filled in by the non-government organisations.

It still just surprises me, I guess. When I told some of my close visiting friends about these things, they were really shocked to hear that it exists in Singapore.

Hmm, not everything is what they appear to be I suppose.

Hello, January...

Even with that particular challenge that welcomed me and a bunch of people back in the Phils. this 2013, the first month of this brand new year is still an exciting and a busy one.

On top of the volunteer work I'm doing with this particular group which takes up two nights every month, Wednesday nights will also be quite busy (for the next three months) because I registered for a language course at the ERC Institute. It's quite a challenging language to learn, but we'll see, we'll see. Haha! I aced my Spanish courses back in uni. I learned Nihongo quite quickly after attending a few sessions. We'll see about this one. Haha!

Workwise, things are also quite busy. My team lead signed me up for two trainings, which will take up three days all in all. Uhm, it should be okay lah. Training is always good and will definitely be of use.

The one thing with work that is causing me stress at the moment is the impending renewal of my work pass. I am praying double, triple hard for the renewal. I don't even care if my work pass type is downgraded. As long as the work pass is renewed, I will be one happy boy. I'm not ready to go back to the Philippines. There. I said it. And I have my reasons. Hehe.

The other two major things happening this month are two trips. One is to a beach place I've never been to. The fact that it will be with some good friends from Manila makes it really exciting. Another trip will be happening some time end of the month. That one is also worth looking forward to, at least for me. No deets yet.

So, yeah it's a busy January.

How is your January looking?

Loooong Saturday...

Saturday was one very loong day.

Dim sum lunch

Day started with a dim sum lunch with Ho, Widdy,  Andi and Pg Boy at the Royal China at Raffles Hotel.

It's probably one of the best dim sum places in the island. The place is great, and the dim sum is priced reasonably. For the eight (?) dim sum plates we had yesterday, we just had to pay $14 each. Not bad. We had carrot cake, siew mai, cheong fun, char siew buns, hakkao, yam puffs. These are the ones I can remember. Hehe!

It was my second time to eat at Royal China. The first time was last December for one of the many Christmas lunch get-togethers I had. Hehe!

The first one was a good experience. This one wasn't so much. While the food was still as awesome, the service was painfully slow. We all had no idea why.
However, something wasn't right that afternoon. The dim sum arrived late.

Ho got very impatient and very frustrated. The four of us were very nervous as he began scolding the wait staff. Hehe. Good thing I couldn't understand Chinese.

But I think it was necessary in this case. The wait staff were moving at a very glacial pace, and the orders just took a long time to arrive. Seriously, how long does it take to prep siew mai and hakkao?! Hehe!

La Cage at Esplanade

From Raffles Hotel, it was a quick drive to Esplanade for the main event of the afternoon - the La Cage Aux Folles.

Thankfully, Singapore is a very tiny country so it's quite quick to rush from one place to the next.

I had a feeling that I already saw La Cage back in Manila. Because I remember watching a play with Topper Fabregas in it, and the story line was the same. I was right. Gay Birds, the Manila adaptation of La Cage, was staged back in 2007. Sheesh! So long ago!

I don't remember much from the Manila show. The Singapore show was awesome when it came to the set design, the lighting and the costumes. With all the feathers used for the costumes, I was waiting for PETA to storm into the theater screaming about animal rights. Hehe!

What's also nice about the show was that it was given a local flavor. Something that was also done in the Manila production. If you've been living in Singapore and have been reading the local dailies, you would understand most of the jokes. What I didn't understand were the scenes with the Ah Beng and Ah Lien that were spoken in Chinese (Hokkien or Mandarin, I have no idea. Haha!) Thankfully, Pg Boy was there to somewhat translate.

E's birthday dinner + party

The show ended close to 6PM. We headed to Raffles City for another engagement - E's birthday dinner. We were quite early so hung out first at TCC. Around 7 plus, we headed to Marche where E and the rest of the gang were. Pg Boy didn't get to join anymore because his sister was in town. Ian, the guy who introduced me to E, Pg Boy and their group, was there so I was really glad to see him.

I ordered the roasted chicken crepe. If I didn't have a half a sandwich earlier, I would have really enjoyed the food. For just $15, I got three stuffed crepes plus a side salad. It was worth it.

After dinner, we all headed to the Grand Hyatt in Orchard where the party carried on. Originally, Ian and I were planning to stay only until 1120. I wanted to catch the last train, and so did he. But it turned out to be a very fantab night that I ended up staying until 2 plus in the morning. Hah! I decided to go ahead and head back. I had the breakkie with Melvin this morning and if I was set on going to that breakkie, I definitely had to leave already.

Guess what? The cab fare wasn't as bad. I thought it would be more expensive. Cab fare came out $20. It was much cheaper compared to cab fare from Tanjong Pagar. Hehe!

So that's how it was. Looooong Saturday. But def fun.

Legs, legs mo ay nakakasilaw...

Is it just me or are there really a lot of Singapore men who have hairless, smooth legs???

Having lived here for almost a year now, I've noticed one too many guys with hairless legs.

Who cares if they had it waxed or if they shaved it themselves (or if they're straight or otherwise_?

Bottomline is it's hairless and it looks so clean.

I've never really been concerned with having hair on my legs. In fact, I kinda like it. I think it adds a certain manliness. LOL! Tough guys have hair on their legs.

Until someone mentioned to me that he actually likes to have hairless legs. Until iandmac introduced me to this wonderful "gadget" from Daiso. Haha!

So on one lazy weekend, with nothing to do and bored to death, I took out the "gadget" and started shaving. Haha!

Uhm, as shallow as this may sound, I actually like it. It makes my legs look really clean. LOL!

That sounded really AJ. (Ask the locals what it means.)

Anyway, I just wanted to try it out. Hehe!

I thought it would be one good way to be more "one with the locals." Hehe!

Still about the molar...

The problem with the tooth continues.

I'm thankful that there is still no pain with the tooth, so it hasn't been causing me any physical pain.

It has, however, been causing me unnecessary anxiety.

When I asked the dentist how much the root canal might cost, he casually said, "About S1200-1500."

I wanted to faint. Hindi ko naman binibili iyong dental chair. I just wanted a root canal procedure, if that's what is really needed. Hehe!

There was no way I am going to get it done here in SG. While the company insurance will cover a certain amount, it still is just not practical to spend that much for the procedure.

I messaged dentist friends in Manila to ask about the procedure.

I also told Pg Boy about the dilemma. Being the more logical person, he offered me a number of possible solutions.

He told me that he thought of the possibility of getting the procedure done in Bangkok or Malaysia, because it was going to be much cheaper there.

I told him that I also thought of going back to Manila to get it done there.

But after some research, we found out that there's a possibility that the RCT might not just be a one-sitting thing.

I can't really afford to be flying back and forth to Pinas, Thailand or Malaysia for this procedure. Otherwise, I would have just done here in SG. Hehe!

The next best thing, as suggested by Pg Boy, was to have it done at a town in Malaysia nearest to Singapore.

It seems like the best choice I have right now. I can take the bus to and from. The cost is half of what it would cost here in SG. Plus, I have some friends in that town who were able to help me look for a dentist/endodontologist.

Since the plan was beginning to take more shape, I told Pg Boy about it. I told him that I was planning to go to the town by myself the following week. I didn't really want to hassle him with the problem, and I didn't want him to be away from work for this. Yes, may ganong drama. Hehe!

"There is no way I'm letting you go there all by yourself."

O ha! Ang haba lang ng buhok ko, di ba?! I told him I think I should be fine because I come from Manila, anyway. He insisted he didn't want me to go on my own.

However, this dentist I found seems to be very much in demand. The free sched wouldn't allow Pg Boy to go with me. But God is good. I got a message from my friend Alan who's based in the town and he offered to meet me at the mall near Customs/immigration and send me to the dentist. Yey!

If I am really in need of root canal, I would have to go back a couple of times though. I hope the next time I go, Pg Boy would be free to go with me.

Prayers, prayers pwease.