CH234: Permutations

Yesterday afternoon, I got an SMS out of the blue from my dad.

"Hi, Tipz. Now that you have your Australian PR, you need to start prioritizing job, home and car. Set some aside for these. Take care. God Bless. Love you."

My simple reply: "Yes pa, that's the plan once I get to AU. Mortgage, car, and insurance."

There's only so much iterations one can go through to get things right. I've always been undecided about where I wanted to settle before. I had the opportunity to move to New Zealand with a job search visa, but decided not to risk everything and move. The earthquake that happened in Christchurch caused a saturation in the job market for my field in IT - SAP consultancy when the people living in Christchurch were displaced and had to relocate to Auckland / Wellington - the places which had the demand for my field of work when I applied for the SilverFern Job Search visa.

Singapore was never in my mind to be a long term prospect. I realized that after a year of living and working in it. It has always been a stepping stone for something better - AU or NZ. I don't mean that in the negative way - I mean, it's a give or take relationship. I've contributed in one form or the other that may just not be physically tangible as to what other foreign talents have contributed (construction, health care, etc) so I don't feel guilty saying that because I'm thankful.

So, getting back to my dad's message. Sometimes, I do feel that I don't share enough of my plans to everyone in my family, that maybe they think I'm just being the wild child who's off to travel Europe and the US come December and January then move to Australia by February. But the thing is, I am aware of what needs to be done in Australia, like I've told to some of my friends, it's finally my entry to adulthood - the world of mortgages, insurance, loans, and other worries. But I have passion in travelling. From the planning, to booking stuff (flights, accommodations, etc), to looking for the best deals, to organizing routes and itineraries and to finally experiencing the trip, I enjoy each and every one of those moments. I have a feeling that I won't be able to do as much of those things once I get to Australia. In fact, one thing crossed my mind last night: "The next time I'll probably get to see Europe is when I no longer need a visa to see it." For benchmark purposes, I've noted that my sister and husband got a house (more like a mansion considering it's LA and they have a pool and a big backyard) age 38, and my brother and wife got a house age 31-32.

The timing of my dad's message I believe was right in sync when I booked my New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco to Manila flight. Maybe they haven't realized, but the early purchases are not a means to splurge, but rather save. Advance all the finances forward in time to create savings later. I thought it was quite obvious going about it, how my plans are obvious to a third person living outside my experience.

There's only a certain number of permutations in the given amount of time I have left for me to plan, act and to make things right. Only time will tell whether I chose the right sequence or not.

CH214: Blitzkrieg

I will be moving to a different place this weekend. From a condominium in Farrer Park (City Square Residences) to an HDB block in Bradell. The place I'm moving to is just 4 train stations away and our block is right on top of the MRT.

Unknowingly, well at least, in no way was anything planned ahead, I've spent the past several days out late at night and not getting much sleep. Since one of my close friends from college is visiting Singapore, I decided to do last minute (i.e. spontaneous) meet-ups with him during his time here in Singapore.

Monday. 
I decided last minute to attend a Body Combat class. The one I can get to in time is in One George St, so I asked Norman whose office is close there if he wanted to join. And he did. Afterwards, we were just supposed to find a hawker place to eat at and have some beer. Out of stupidity, I transferred what savings I had in my active ATM savings account to a more dormant less accessible multi currency savings account. I didnt realize I didn't leave enough! Only 44 sgd was left and the closest DBS only allows withdrawals in 50 sgd denominations. So, Norman was able to withdraw cash and I just used my credit card. Since hawker places don't allow it, we ended up in Wings Bar in Clark Quay for some nachos, chicken tenders and beer.

Tuesday. 
I accompanied Ange as he looked for comfortable shoes to wear for his trip to Europe. 

Wednesday.
Since my good friend Eugene said he wanted to try the Cookie Dough Oreo I got from my sister, we decided to meet up so I can pass it off to him. We didn't have plans where to eat but just met at Tangs in Orchard. I randomly suggested Jollibee, and that's where we ended up eating! I ordered the spaghetti and chicken combo and ordered extra chicken. After eating it, to be honest, I feel that I like Popeye's chicken more. Or maybe they didn't give me enough skin? lol

Along with Eugene, we were joined by another good friend Paul. Paul revealed to us he had an upcoming TV-ad shoot. Congrats Paul on getting those modeling gigs!

Thursday.
Since Norman will be leaving on Saturday back to PH for our college organization's 20th anniversary then back to Sydney, I asked him if he wanted to catch up and go out for drinks. He of course confirmed being one of my kaladkarin friends even before since college. We didn't have plans where to go. One friend suggested Brotzeit Vivo, but I was like, erm...that's a bit far and sounds B-O-R-I-N-G hahah but I didn't tell him that. I just suggested we meet in Clark Quay and decide from there where we want to go as Clark Quay is quite central to all of us...unlike Vivo.

After we all met up, we still were one person short so I suggested we go have drinks and load up by the Clark Quay Bridge before deciding where to go to next.

We ended up in Highlander. Danced. Drank. Listened and grooved to a live band. I got home around 230 am and slept at 3 and woke up at 7am to go to work.

If I count how much hours I've slept starting Friday last week, I've slept around 32 hours out of 168. I'm 24 hours short of what people say is necessary. I'm still functioning though.

A blitzkrieg towards 28.