Sunday with RKGreg...

Today was a really good day.

I had my first visitor in Tokyo! RKGreg is flying to the US to attend a wedding. As expected, his flight had a layover in Tokyo.

Thankfully, it was a 10-hour layover. We had time to meet up and hang out the entire day.

Last night, I messaged him to check what time he will get in. He said that he’ll probably reach Tokyo Station at 10AM.

That was perfect, as it gave me enough time to attend the 7AM Mass at St. Ignatius Church in Yotsuya.

After Mass, I headed to Tokyo Station and eagerly waited for RKGreg. Since I had some time to kill, I brought the Japanese vocabulary book from the centre I attended in Singapore. While waiting for RKGreg, I was trying to remember/memorise whatever Japanese word I could. Hehe!

At 10AM, I saw the familiar face in the crowd exiting the JR central gate exit.

Our first stop was Shibuya for lunch and coffee. Of course, we had to do the whole Shibuya Crossing thing. From Shibuya, we headed to Odaiba to see the Gundam statue. Surprisingly, RKGreg said he, MkSurf8 and Tian3x didn’t get to visit the statue when they were here for a holiday two years ago. Our final stop was Tokyo Tower. Again, he wanted to have a photo op with the tower.

From Hamamatsucho, we headed to Shinjuku where we had an early dinner.

After that, I walked him over to the JR gate of Shinjuku station to see him. I thanked him for the treat today and gave him a big hug.

As RKGreg walked away, it was then that I felt a tinge of loneliness. I realised how much I terribly miss my friends in Singapore.

But I gotta be strong, I prayed for this and God granted my prayers. He must have a reason why he said yes to my prayers! Just gotta keep the faith.

In the mean time, I can’t wait for more friends to visit Tokyo!

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...

Postcards from Japan...

What a wonderful surprise!

Well, semi-surprise of sorts. Haha!

These postcards recently arrived. They were from Jon, and the postcards were sent during his Japan trip.

I kinda requested him to send me postcards. Haha! It was really kind and thoughtful of him to send me not one but two postcards.

Thank you, thank you, Astralcowboy!

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!

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...

New postcards...

I got new postcards.

One was from Japan, the other one was from Stockholm.

A few days ago, Dean tagged me in an Instagram post. His post was of a postcard that he was going to mail. Five days later, the postcard arrived. I was impressed how fast the postcard arrived. Maybe it's the combined efficiency of the Japan postal system and the Singapore postal system. Hehe!

I was happy to see the postcard because it is my first postcard from Japan. I did send myself a postcard from Kawagoe, but the postcard from Dean is of course a thousand times better.

The other night, the postcard from Stockholm was waiting in my room when I arrived.

It could only be from one person - Coly. I love how Coly now regularly sends me postcards wherever she goes in Europe. Deeply, deeply grateful for her thoughtfulness. What was extra special about the Sweden postcard was that there was also a note from Luise. Apparently, they met up in Stockholm. So cool!

MonRich will be heading to Europe in a few days. I'm asking the lovebirds to send me a postcard from Florence. Haha!

Weekend with Tey and Monday night with NN...

Always happy to have good friends visit Singapore...

Dinner with Bernice...

Bernice is in town again, but for only less than 24 hours.

She's flying to Bangkok for work, and as was always the case, she needed to transit either in Singapore or in Bali.

I'm glad that she flew in via Singapore.

We didn't really have any set plans. We just agreed to finalise things once she lands in Changi. I had training the whole day so I couldn't meet her at the airport.

Mon sent me a text message around 5PM to ask if I wanted to join him and Richie for dinner. I told them that Bernice will be arriving, and that she and I will join them if that's fine. (Of course, it was!)

It's the first time that Bernice and I hung out at Suntec area, I think. Usually, we'd stick around Farrer Park or Dhoby Ghaut or Orchard. It was a good change.

We ate at this Japanese place at Raffles City Link. I forgot the name but Mon describes it as atas Yoshinoya. Hehe!

Food is good and it's affordable. I ordered the curry rice and some sides. Bernice ordered the udon and some sides.

Afterwards, we were so full that we ended up walking to Suntec for tea and chitchat.

Good Saturday night! Looking forward to seeing Bernice again on Friday before she flies out back to Dili.

Packed Sunday, what's new...

Another long day, another day where I packed too many activities. Haha!

Though I slept past midnight, I still forced myself to wake up at a little after 6AM. I wanted to hear Mass before heading to the museum. I was worried that I won't have time for church given my activities for the day.

Thankfully, there was an 815 Mass at St. Ignatius. It's a bit far from the house, but it definitely fit my schedule.

After Mass, I took the bus to the museum. It gave me enough time for breakfast before my duty.

I thought there wouldn't be visitors at 11AM, but I was wrong. Initially, the group started with about 6 people but it grew when we were already inside the galleries. One of the guests was the cutest, youngest visitor I've had ever. He was about 5 or 6 years old maybe. He approached me after the tour and asked what happened David Marshall. So cute.

From the museum, I walked over to City Hall to meet up with Bernard, Miru, Ted, and Jackie. Bernard's birthday is coming up soon and we thought why not have an early celebration. Ted suggested we go to Kaiserhaus at Capitol.

What I thought would be a 2-hour thing turned into a 4-hour get-together. Hehe! Good thing the place was not packed so we managed to stay that long.

My next agenda was at 730PM. With about an hour and a half to kill, Bernard and I went to Plaza Singapura for jalan jalan.

At 730, he said buhbye and I met up with Richie and Mon for Kung Fu Panda 3.

I only realised how long a day it was when I was already in the train otw back. I was really falling asleep. I started re-reading Andrew Tobias' book but I was falling asleep. Hehe!

Good day though. Good day. I just need to remind myself I'm no longer 25.

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!

Random blah...

As my work day came to an and while I was preparing to head out to go to the library, I received an iMessage from Richie. Before I managed to read his message, my phone rang and the caller display showed Richie's name. Lol!

It must be something urgent. Either that or he was going to ask me out to dinner because the topic in one of our group chats was liempo and lechon manok. Haha!

As it turned out, it was something more urgent and something a lot better than liempo and lechon manok. Haha!

I need to check a few things before I could reply back to him. That's what I'll do tomorrow. I'm crossing my fingers.

Snail mail from Tipz...

On the way to work this morning, I messaged Tipz to ask for his new snail mail address.

Fortunately, his morning was not too busy and we ended up chatting for a good 30 or so minutes. That’s my guess because that’s usually the time it takes for me from my place to reach the office.

We talked about plans in general, Christmas plans, etc. Because I asked for his snail mail address, he blurted out something like “My postcard already reached you??!!” LOL! That’s how I knew that he sent a postcard.

I think I’m really longing for days long gone. I love sending and receiving snail mail. On my recent trip to Manila, I dug up and brought back with me a few handwritten letters from two bests friends - one from secondary school days and one from my early university days. Seriously, who still does handwritten letters these days?

Hmm, I’d like to preserve the letters and maybe, I can show it to my nephews and nieces when I am much older. Or I can even probably donate it to a library. “This is what handwritten letters look like.” Hahaha!

Going back to Tipz, we had to cut our conversation as I was already at the office while he needed to go back to work. It was a good catchup though a short one.

The rest of the day went by uneventful. For lunch, I met up with Ann Marie and Ana. We ate at Insead where I had a healthy plate for just $5.50. For dessert, Ana brought some of her home-baked cookies. They were really good!!! Chewy and I love the choco chip she used.

When I got back home, I was surprised to see a postcard on the floor of my room. Obviously, I knew it was from Stephen! Haha! I wasn’t expecting any postcards from my other snail mail peeps Coly, Len, or Tey. I’m glad to have gotten Tipz’s postcard. It was a good ending to the day!

Keep snail mail alive!

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

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.

Quick meetup with Tipz...

Look who was in town...

... but only for an hour or so. Hehe!

Tipz had a short layover in Singapura before his flight back to Sydney. He spent a week or so exploring Vietnam with his KL-based best friend. It's sooo good to see him again. Since he didn't have that much time in SG, we just agreed to meet up near the airport. I asked Richie if he was free for dinner, then he and I could meet up with Tipz. I would have organised another dinner but the visitor didn't want to inconvenience other people.

Visitor.

It was not long ago when we were both FTs. Haha! Good times, good time. Okay, I will stop before I start speeding through a highway of nostalgia. Hahaha!

So good seeing you, Tipz! :) Thanks for the early birthday pressie... even if it was forced.

I can always return it when I visit you in Syd. ;)

Friendship (always) wins...

How does one know when two people are true friends to each other?

When both have opposing thoughts on certain topics and both engage in a passionate discussion and there are no signs of meeting eye-to-eye, possibly in this lifetime, until one party says, "Agree to disagree?"

And then the other party then replies, "I agree." And the convo ends with planning what to do on a Saturday night.

Then you know those two people are two friends.

Because even if they take different sides on some matters, at the end of the day, friendship prevails. Friendship wins. Hehe!

Bed talk over dinner...

Over dinner the other night, one topic we talked about was beds.

Ann Marie, one of our friends, recently moved in to her own place. So, the past few weeks/days have been spent scouting for, making decisions about, and finally purchasing home stuff - including beds.

That day, she told us that she was contemplating between two beds. I forgot the details of one bed. The other bed, meanwhile, has a technology whereby sleeping person 1 won't feel a thing when sleeping person 2 climbs into bed. It's probably perfect for light sleepers who wake up at the slightest of movements. Hehe!

This started a discussion on why or why such a bed is good.

Richie proffered, "But don't you like it when you feel that someone finally climbs into bed next to you?"

Me being me, I naturally agreed with him on the above and on this - well, I do like it when in the middle of the night, I reach out to the person next to me, I could feel the person there. I certainly don't want to reach out to an empty space. Lol!

So, yeah, I think the only thing I want from my future is bed is to wake up with no middle back pain. Haha! But then, I dunno if that's because of the bed or if it's because of aging.

The discussion moved towards other home furnishings such as sink, toilet seats, lighting, and so on, but the bed got one of the lengthier talk time. Hehe!

Random Wednesday post...

It's a short week. That means it's a busy week. Haha!

On top of my work work, I also have to finish writing my museum paper. My groupmates and I agreed to upload all our papers by Monday for peer review. Thankfully, we have an upcoming four-day break so I can work on that paper.

However, I also have quite a number of activities this weekend. Friday and Saturday afternoon til evening are dedicated for the museum. There are a few activities I signed up to attend/help up with. I-van is also still in town for work. It's been a busy week for him as well. We will only get to meet up this Saturday morning - for a run and breakfast.

I've been busy with a few things that I don't have the time to head down to Lavender to pick up the magnets Bernice left for me at the hotel where she stayed at. Yikes!

Tomorrow is the deadline I gave myself to head down to the hotel to get the stuff.

Speaking of Bernice, we managed to hike at Bukit Timah during that recent trip of hers. Congrats are in order as she is my first overseas-based friend who voluntarily joined me for a hike. Haha! Yay! I wonder if I would also get a chance to go visit her at Dili and then we can go for a morning walk over there.

I-van is in town...

Monday started out on a very good note.

I worked from the office. The reasons for this were the following: morning meeting with manager and team mate, and in the afternoon I signed up to help with prepping for a company volunteer activity.

From the office, I headed to Mon and Richie's place to hang out first while we wait for I-van to land in Singapore.

He'll be here for a week; Moi will also be flying in this Friday night. So, this week will be for I-van and the coming weekend will be for Moi and I-van. Hehe!

When I-van finally messaged that he was on his way to his hotel, Mon, Richie and I also made our way to Clarke Quay to meet up with I-van. Jon was also free to join us, so yay!

After checking in, we just walked to the nearby Robertson Quay and had dinner at The Wine Connection. I swear, the place never fails. Food is good, wine and other drinks are not that ex, the environment is nice for gathering with friends.

Our party of five parted ways just before 11. By the time I reached home, it was almost 12. It was good because CD Guy also gets home from work around that time. I managed to wait for him to get home and chat for a bit before saying good night.

Good Monday!

Post-birthday birthday dinner for Jon...

Sunday was a bit busy as well.

Just a quick recap, the day started with a visit to the library. I wanted to borrow some books for the upcoming trip this Thursday. I headed to the National Library where I met up with PG Boy. He has been my official "library borrower" since it's free for him to borrow books as a Permanent Resident. Maybe I should consider getting a library card if I'm going to keep on borrowing books. I think non-PRs have to pay $50 to get a library card. Hmm, something to consider. Maybe I'll wait first for the renewal of my work pass in January 2016.

From the National Library, I took the bus to the museum. Initially, I was thinking of going to the Toa Payoh library. Eventually, I decided to go to Bugis since it was closer to PG Boy and for me, closer to the museum. If the Saturday guided tour started with more than 10 people, the Sunday guided tour started with a very small group of 3 plus me. However, as is usually the case, more people joined the group when we started to walk around the gallery. There were about 15 people by the time the tour ended. A few of them spoke with me again after the guided tour. It really felt good. :)

The last agenda for the day was a post-birthday birthday dinner for Jon. He was in the Philippines on the day of his birthday so we were not able to meet up and celebrate. I made reservations at Tonkichi at Shaw House. Partly, the reason for Tonkichi was to make up for the so so Japanese dinner during Pink Dot. Hehe! Plus, it would be a good venue for dinner as it is in a quiet location. Our party was an intimate party of seven - Richie, Mon, Ian, MkSurf8, RKGreg, me and the birthday boy. Tian3x is in Australia for work, and Tipz is in Australia. It would've been great if both guys were also around. I bought a cake at Awfully Chocolate. The cakes from the store never disappoints. Hehe! It was a vgood dinner. Time with these guys is always, always a fun time. I love how the conversation just keeps on flowing and I love how the entire night would always be punctuated with bursts of laughter because someone would say something funny.

We ended the night with a round of drinks at Robert Timms. After a looooong time, I had a mojito again. Lately, I've only been drinking whiskey and coke on the very rare occasions that I drink. I have MkSurf8 to thank for introducing me to the wonderful, wonderful whiskey that is Maker's Mark. Hehe!

Anyway, we all parted ways close to 11, I think. What a really nice Sunday it was!