Wednesday night ASEAN hohol...

It was an enjoyable Wednesday night.

A week ago, Bernard asked me if I wanted to join him, Miru, and Jackie as they were planning to visit the pasar malam at Geylang Serai. Supposedly, there are a number of food items that are worth trying.

Initially, I thought I couldn't join them because they planned to meet at 6PM. I was knock off work at 530PM and I live all the way in the West. The pasar malam was all the way to the East.

Somehow, I managed to work out my schedule and I did end up joining the trio.

It was quite fun. There were a lot of people naturally, but I did enjoy trying out the different food items sold by various stall.

From the market, we walked to nearby One KM where we continued our conversation.

I think it was a really good convo as we didn't notice that it was already a bit late by the time we decided to head back. Haha!

Always good to see these guys. It felt like a meeting of ASEAN members since it included a Filipino, a Malaysian, an Indonesian (now Singaporean), and a Singaporean. Hehe!

I love today #4...

I love today #4.

I love today #3...

I love today #3.

Afternoon at the Kranji Marshes...

Last Friday, I joined a company outing. Some colleagues organised a nature walk at Kranji Marshes.

It was a good place for nature walk beginners, I suppose.

For those who want something more rustic, the nearby Sungei Buloh reserve is a good place to visit as well.

I did enjoy the walk and I did enjoy testing the macro shot capabilities of the iPhone.

It took me a huge amount of silence and stealth in taking the photos of the insects. Haha!

Erm, I'm quite happy with the photos. 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.

The last good date...

I've been a good boy for the past three months.

By good boy, I mean I haven't been on any apps, I haven't met up with anyone. All I've been doing is hang out with my couple friends or fellow single friends, work, museum, gym, and so on.

These past few weeks, I've been masturdating since MonRich were in Europe while Jon was in Japan.

While I was doing my jog earlier, one of the thoughts that came to mind was trying to recall the last time I went out on a good date. Hehe!

Since it happens rarely, only two persons come to mind - SQ Guy and Curator Guy.

If we're going to be strict about the definition of "date," then only Curator Guy would count. The thing with "SQ Guy" was more of a hang with some harmless flirtation. Hehe!

I don't even recall when the date with Curator Guy happened. It was a few months back and it only happened because there was an even which we were both interested in.

He and I have been messaging on and off for almost a year before the meetup actually happened. When it did happen, it was good because it was nice to be on a date again.

We had dinner at a nice restaurant. We went for a short walkt to the event venue. We shared an ice cream. We went for another round of dessert after the event. Throughout the night, there was easy convo and some flirting. He offered to drive me back but I refused because my place is too far. Haha!

We did hold hands. And as any proper date, ended the night with a polite kiss to say, "Thanks, I enjoyed your company."

It was, as I suspected, a one-off thing. We chatted again for the next few days. We agreed to meet up again. A day before the meetup, he said he's not feeling well. I wasn't up for it either. And the whole thing just died a natural death. There are no regrets because during the date, I already sensed some red flags. Nope, he wasn't a bad person. I just knew that it wasn't going to work out.

On the other hand, I was really happy because it was a good date. It wasn't a date that started with "Got place?" It was a date that started with "Would you like to go to this event with me?"

And although I was turned off for five seconds by the fact that he's wearing flipflops (WTF?! I took my time prepping for this time and you show up in flipflops?!), it was a night that I sincerely enjoyed. It was a night I won't mind having again soon.

Mark your calendars, 23 July...

I'll just leave this here...

Mass at St. Francis of Assisi...

I still haven't been feeling very well.

Thankfully, I didn't have any commitments yesterday. The entire day was spent at home. I spent a few hours for the online course I signed up for.

In the afternoon, I spent time resting and catching up on Game of Thrones.

My only plan for the day was to attend anticipated Mass since I may not be able to go to Mass today.

I thought of going to one of my usual churches but decided on being more adventurous (...or maybe stubborn since I should actually be resting. I shouldn't be tiring myself.).

Anyway, thanks to a website that lists all the churches and mass schedules in Singapore, I managed to find one church I haven't been to.

It's in Boon Lay, an area I rarely visit because I've really got nothing to do there. Hehe.

The church is St. Francis of Assisi. The saint is dear to me as he is the first saint I became acquainted with. He is, after all, the patron saint of our school. As early as prep, I was already invoking his name during prayers, "St. Francis of Assisi. Pray for us." after I call on our Lady, "Our Lady of Lourdes. Pray for us."

It was not that difficult to reach the church. Thanks to gothere.sg, I managed to easily find it. It's a small church with beautiful stained glass window.

The service was good. The church was packed. I'm always happy to see a packed church. Hehe!

Okay, adding St. Francis to the list of churches I've visited.

Several more to go...

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.

Anna Wintour x Amy Schumer...

Okay, this was totally unexpected....

but...

this is truly hilarious!

Anna Wintour - you're the best!

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.

I love today #2...

I love today #2.

Prayers for Orlando...

What horrific news to wake up to.

Prayers for Orlando. Love is love is love. End the hate.

Kelong dinner with fellow MVs...

Who says museum volunteers don't have time for other things but museums?

A trip to the kelong for dinner was proof that MVs do know how to have fun outside of the museum.

Volunteers from Asian Civilisation Museum, Singapore Art Museum, Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, The Peranakan Museum, and of course, my beloved National Museum of Singapore, took a break from museum guiding for a yum dinner at the kelong. Aside from the food, the other exciting thing for me was catching our dinner (even though the snappers came from a sure-catch pond... hehe!)

Thank you to Diana for organising the outing. It was a nice experience!

Brunch with Ian and JB...

We'll be welcoming another friend to Singapore soon.

Come 1 July, JB will be working in Singapore. It was a surprise for me as I didn't think he would actually leave the Philippines since he is doing well back in Manila. However, when he told me the story of how he decided upon the move to Singapore, I then understood that it was definitely a good decision. He'll still be working for the same company, still in the same department, but his responsibilities have expanded. That would be really good training for him. He's one of those friends who's a go-getter. I definitely see him occupying an even higher position in the next few years.

Anyway, this weekend he was in Singapore for a preview trip. He came over look at possible flats that he and Ian can rent. In between their flat viewing, we managed to squeeze in a brunch. Yay.

They checked out a flat in Holland V. Naturally, we decided to go for brunch in the area. The area where Chip Bee Garden is actually has a few good choices. We decided to settle for Gastronomia da Paolo.

It was a good decision as I was craving for Western food. The place was also not very crowded so we had a relaxed brunch just as every brunch should be.

Close to 2PM, we decided it was time to go. They had a few more flats to check out. I, on the other hand, needed to head to the museum for an activity.

It was a short catchup but I was glad to see JB (and Ian, whom I was with last night. LOL!)

Advance welcome to Singapore, JB! See you in a few weeks!

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!

Trains for throwback Thursday...

The other night, I was daydreaming about Japan again so I thought I'd look at the photos of my Japan trip.

One thing I really enjoyed during the 11-day trip last October was the train rides. Getting to ride different kinds of trains made me feel like a little boy being rewarded with ice cream on a Sunday.

From the sleek shape of the shinkansen to the boxy lines of the JR trains in Nara, each train ride was just part of the whole trip experience.

Here's a confession. On my second day in Tokyo, I left my friend Dean's place early because I wanted to start exploring the city early. With my iPhone and the trusted rented pocket wifi in my bag, I was confident that I will be able to navigate the city just fine. I followed the instructions on Google maps about which train to take...

Or so I thought. What should have been a short trip from Oimachi to Shibuya turned into a two-hour trip. Haha! I made the mistake of getting off the train and transferring to another train. That brought me to another station and unfortunately, the station was not in a tourist area. Hence, there were very few people and very few spoke English. I tried to look for a passenger service center but I couldn't find one. So I went back to the platform and watched as train after train came and went. One thing I learned early on is that the rail track is shared by the different train companies. Taking the next train doesn't mean it'll go in the direction you want, which was what exactly happened to me.

I already lost two hours inside the train network of Tokyo(!!!) and I told myself, "Okay, you either sit here and wait for the entire day to go by and just waste the day. Or you take the next train and pray to God it takes you to Shibuya." That's what I did and thankfully, I found myself to Shibuya.

It definitely felt like a baptism of fire. Lol! After that, I felt like I was much more ready to tackle Tokyo's crazy train network. By the time I went to Kyoto, I was much more confident with taking the train. Also, it's mainly because the Kyoto network is not as confusing as Tokyo's. Haha! It was also helpful that I know how to read hiragan and katakana. That was definitely helpful when I was finding my way to Katsura and Shugaku-in stations in Kyoto.

The other thing I miss so much about Tokyo is the train announcement. Each station has its own jingle, according to my friend Dean. His explanation was that people would eventually recognise the train station by the jingle. And apparently, I'm not the only one who misses train announcements in Tokyo:



Hope to see you again soon, Japan.

Tyrion is so good...

Peter Dinklage is awesome as Tyrion Lannister.

Yeah, yeah, I know I'm late with this but I just finished season 4. LOL! He's sooo good!

I dunno though if he's a bad guy or a good guy.

Don't tell me. I want to find out for myself.

Random thoughts on bags and men...

Sometimes, two of my friends Mon and I-van and I would talk about getting a forever bag. You know, it's that one bag you will use until you're old and gray... or at least, for the next decade or so. Haha!

As I grow older, I noticed that I tend to be following a "less is more" thinking when it comes to certain things. For example, my current uniform is usually a black top and navy blue pants. Except on certain days where I have to wear khaki/cream pants with a dark colored shirt, I would just usually wear a black shirt and navy blue shorts/pants. I'm trying to make it my identity, if that makes sense. In terms of brand, I'm trying (and so far I've been successful) at just acquiring a specific Japanese brand. It costs more than your usual shirt but I believe these pieces are worth it because I'm assured of the quality of work and the creativity behind it.

When it comes to bags, gone are the days when I was crazy over getting all sorts of bags. These days, I just stick to Jack Spade. The brand is affordable and the piece itself is something that would last me for years.

Recently though, I've been thinking about forever bags. Again, it's still part of the whole "less is more" thinking as I turn a year older in a few months. I'm slowly reaching that stage where I'd rather pay for an expensive piece knowing that it will last me several years (maybe even a decade) than getting something from the usual store. I don't really need another bag. What I'd go for is another good bag. And I have an idea on the ones that I'd like to have.

The other day, I asked Mon to accompany me to a particular store in Ngee Ann. This one bag has been on my mind and I'm thinking of saving for it. It will be my forever brunch/lazy day bag. Haha! I'm eyeing the one in black.

I was wondering if it's a bit girly but I know I can pull it off as I've seen other men do it. (just like the guys in the above photos which I found on the Internet).

Hmm...

Finally watching Game of Thrones...

With no new series to watch, I finally started watching Game of Thrones.

I finished the first three seasons in just a few days. That meant late nights and some unproductive mornings. Haha!

So far, it's been interesting though I can't wait for some characters to already reveal their power and might.

When GOT first came out, I did hear about it and I did try to watch an episode or two. However, I didn't follow the series because I don't really like shows that have too many characters in it. So, I decided to move on to other series.

The good thing about delaying the watching of the series is that now all eps of the first five seasons are complete. I can do marathon watching. Gone is the agony of waiting a year for the new season. Gone is the struggle to remember which character is which and who was who.

This is just similar to how I approached Downton Abbey. It was already season 4 or 5, I think when I started watching the series. I eventually fell in love with it and became such a huge fan.

As a Filipino saying goes, "Huli man at magaling, makakahabol din."

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...