Some Manila trip photos...

Some happy photos from the short Manila trip last week.

Loved ones, friends - the main reason I try to visit Manila. Lol! If not for them, I would just be visiting the countryside where my heart really belongs. Lol! I miss the urban/rural feel of Iloilo. I miss the panoramic views of Palawan, Sagada and Banaue. I miss the colorful scenery at Zamboanga. I still have to visit Bohol and Batanes. I still have to see other parts of Cebu. Hehe!

I was born and raised in Manila, and have lived there for the first three decades of my life. If I ever go back, I think I don't mind living in another part of the country and just make trips to Manila to see family, loved ones, good friends. Hehe!

More interviewing today...

What a tiring day. Lol.

Because the soapbox tours at NGS were canceled, I just decided to go to Mass at St. Bernadette before heading to the National Museum.

Today is the second day that we're interviewing applicants to the docent training progamme.

There were fewer interviewees today so it's not as tiring as yesterday. Together with fellow MV Inn Siew, we interviewed 4 individuals - 2 guys and 2 girls. I was more confident to interview people today since I now know more how to conduct the interview. All four interviewees were interesting. It was nice to listen to their reasons for wanting to become a museum volunteer.

Afterwards, the team had a meeting. We finished at half past six.

Good thing I decided to go for the morning Mass. If not, I would have missed Mass today. Yikes!

I thought of going to the library but instead, I just decided to head back and have an early evening.

Oh gosh, tomorrow is the last day of November. On Tuesday, it's the start of the last month of the year. Wow, what a year it has been. Haha!

All day Museum day...

Good morning, Saturday!

Who gets up before 6AM on a Saturday?! Lol!

It's going to be an entire day at the museums today.

In the morning, I have an activity at the National Museum. I'm helping out interview docent programme applicants! Whoa! Two years ago, I was the one being interviewed. Now, I'm the one doing the interviews. Hehe!

In the afternoon, I have volunteer shifts at the newly-opened National Gallery. Today will be my debut as a museum guide for the fantastic gallery. I'm very, very excited to see the space finally completed. I'm also excited to converse about the art works.

This weekend and next weekend, we will be doing soapbox tours (which means I'm stationed at one painting and if there are any visitors, I would engage them in a convo about the painting). I would say that I'm more knowledgeable in Singapore and Malayan art. For the soapbox tours, I chose the work of one Malayan artist - Chuah Thean Teng and one FILIPINO artist - Jose Joya.

Joya's work featured at the National Gallery was a loan from the National Museum of the Philippines. I couldn't be more proud to talk about it and see it in Singapore!

So, yeah, it'll be an all day museum day today!

Happy birthday, friend...

Back to the gym today. I went for the usual Thursday night Pump class at the gym closest to my house.

I've been taking it easy though because I'm trying to be kinder to my knees. Hmm, it must be aging. Haha! I don't feel any pain and I am able to walk properly. I do feel some stiffness on my right knee. I hope it's nothing. Ugh! I should pay a visit to the doctor this weekend, I suppose.

The other highlight of the week is the birthday of good friend Richie. A couple of years ago, his closest friends, including myself, committed the biggest offence against him when we all forgot to greet him. Yes, it happened! That was a reminder that we've been too reliant on social media to remind us of a friend's birthday. My other excuse was I watched a play that night and I was on cloud nine because I had a photo with Lea Salonga, Menchu Lauchengco, and Adrian Pang. Hehe!

Anyway, after that major blunder, none of us ever forgot Richie's birthday ever again. Hehe! This year, he decided to go celebrate in Manila. Unfortunately, I was already back in Singapore. The original plan was to have a feast at his place this Saturday with the rest of the becks. However, Richie's mom had to postpone her trip and as a result, the feast was also postponed. Hehe!

Still, a small, simple celebration was held on the eve of his birthday. We had dinner at one of his favorite places followed by drinks at a nearby drinking place.

Happy birthday to one of my long-time friends! We've been friends for more than a decade and counting! I definitely admire and respect him for having the courage to be vocal about his beliefs! :D

Andre x Lala...

I was in Manila for a few days to attend the family event of the year.

Though a short trip, a very short one, the few days created nice, new memories for me and the fam.

Though I'm not sure if I or my second brother will ever marry, I'm sure my Dad is smiling from the heavens to see that his family name will continue thanks to my youngest brother. Hehe.

Congrats and best wishes, Andre and Lala!

Waiting for boarding time of SQ XXX...

I'm at the airport now, waiting for boarding time.

This is the last overseas trip for 2015. Hehe!

2015, you've been a good year for travel. ;)

Bridesmaid ka lang...

In light of a major event happening soon, this ad suddenly came to mind. Lol.

I'm surprised it's on Youtube. Or maybe I shouldn't be...

All around the island on a Sunday...

Another long day. Haha!

Started with a hike to the HSBC Treetop with Bernice and Mr. Lim. However, the latter only joined us until the Ranger Station. He had to head back earlier since he had a wedding lunch to attend. It was really nice of Mr. Lim though to wake up early and drive us to the starting point of the hike.

Bernice and I completed the hike in about two hours. It was a bit slow because I was carrying a backpack with toiletries and change of clothes. As most of my friends would know, I don't really know how to pack light even for very short hikes. Lol!

After our hike, we went to the FF at Ang Mo Kio to have a shower and change into fresh clothes.

In the afternoon, we met up with Mon and I-van and went to the Hermes exhibits Little Room of Wanders and Leather Forever. Both exhibits were wow! I think I'll pay a visit again, especially to the Leather Forever exhibit.

The long day ended with a nice dinner at CPK.

Random blah...

How sweet is this! :)

It's from an ex-colleague who is now based in Australia with her partner. I'm happy that we still keep in touch despite the distance.

Oh, I also received a postcard from the UK. It's from my friend Coly who's based in Belgium. I love snail mail from friends/family. Haha! I wish I can travel more to be able to send snail mail.

Keep snail mail alive!

Wednesday night at the museum...

Wednesday night was spent at the museum. It was the Appreciation and Awards Night for museum volunteers, and I thought I'd go to this once since I've never attended it.

Having guided for more than two years now, I think I can already attend the event. Hehe!

It was also an opportunity to see my museum volunteer friends and a chance to debut the Forever shirt I bought in Tokyo. Hahahaha! :P Now that I've been working from home, I usually get dressed in a casual shirt and berms. So, any chance to dress in something nicer needs to be grabbed. Hehe!

The night was enjoyable. Nice entertainment, yum food, inspiring fellow volunteers. Some volunteers who were awarded have been guiding at the museums for 15 years!!! Amazing! It's hard for me to say how long I will be guiding at the museums, mainly because my life in Singapore is tied to my work pass. Oh well, let's not go into that.

I had a lovely Wednesday night.

Short trail in my backyard discovered...

I went for a walk this morning. I haven't started running again because I want to be kind to my knees for now. Lol.

Hence, I decided that I'll just go for a walk. Initially, my plan was just to go for a one hour walk. I had a route in my mind. When I stepped out of the house, I decided I'll do a different route instead since I won't be running.

That different route led me to a short trail which was just near my neighbourhood. However, as I reached the end of the trail, I realised that I was actually a bit far off and I ended up in the industrial area of Kranji. Hahaha! It was okay though because I still managed to find my way back. And now, I know that instead of going straight I just need to do a U-turn.

Because I got lost, I ended up walking an extra 2K and an extra 30 minutes. Haha! Good exercise for today though.

Random blah...

Half day at work today.

That's one of the nice policies our company has. Half day of work on the eve of a public holiday.

So, the day just went by very fast. I worked from home today. I was online by 8AM. Before I knew it, it was already 1230 and I already turned on my Out of Office auto-reply for this afternoon and for the whole of tomorrow.

After getting my lunch, I decided to have a siesta for an hour.

The last activities for the day were studying from 4 to 6PM, and then Pump at my usual Monday gym.

Tonight, we had a different Pump instructor because the original teacher is on a holiday. I actually like the guy who covered the class tonight. He made everything look so easy. Lol. He was just leading the class the entire team with ease as he worked on his own bar and plates. Hehe!

Hmm, I'm taking it easy with my weights as I feel some stiffness on my right knee. I am hoping, praying it will go away soon because I want to run and do Combat again.

Cheesy Taiwanese flick on a Tuesday night...

It's been awhile since I last watched a Chinese flick. Hmm, I think it's because I haven't really seen any good trailers being shown in Singapore cinemas lately.

Over the weekend, PG Boy asked me if I wanted to catch Our Times with him and his best friend. I saw the movie poster of the Taiwan film but I didn't really pay much attention to it. Apparently, it is currently the highest grossing film in Taiwan this year. That means it has to be good. Hehe! Since I was entertaining ex-colleagues over the weekend, I had to decline to PG Boy's invitation.

However, I really planned to catch the film soon. Soon was last night. Lol! After spending my hours at the library, I walked over to the neighbouring mall where I booked a ticket for the 9PM screening. Surprisingly (or maybe not?), the cinema was full house... for a Tuesday night. I did a quick scan around me and more than half were university (or even secondary school) kids. I think I was the only Filipino in the cinema as well. Haha!

The film was good! No wonder it's so popular. The storyline is a bit formula but that's fine. It was enjoyable just like the other Taiwan films I loved "You are the Apple of My Eye" and "Cafe. Waiting. Love."

What I'm really looking forward to though is Last Women Standing starring Eddie-Oh-My-God-Marry-Me-Peng and Shu Qi. I've seen both act in a few films and I like them. Eddie Peng. Sigh. Haha! I think I will enjoy this film more because the characters are already in their 30s and the setting is in the professional world - something I can relate to. Our Times is a high-school romance. Hehe!

New word: Masturdating...

I learned a few new words recently.

This has to be one of my new favourite words. Haha!

Lately, I'm starting to be addicted to chronic masturdating.

Happy Halloween...

It was a packed weekend.

I spent most of the time with visiting ex-colleagues. Last Saturday, I was with them from 9AM until 6PM going from place to place around the island.

In the evening, I went for drinks and clubbing with my guys. That was from 10PM until 5AM. Hahaha!

With only three hours of sleep, I met up again with my visiting ex-colleagues on Sunday morning and stayed with them until after they checked in for their flight back to Manila.

From Changi, I took the bus to Woodlands to attend Mass at my usual church. By then, I was really doing my best to stay awake.

It was no surprise that I was asleep by 930PM. Haha! Super super fun Halloween weekend though!