Full Of Fun

Ahh yes blogging streak is definitely still on! 

Time for another recap of this past weekend!

Ok this wasn't exactly the weekend, but I met up with Talia last Thursday. I think she looks like a doctor or a medical student in this photo! I'm sure it's the white blazer...

It was raining really hard that night so we just walked around inside ION before heading to Coffee Club at Wheelock for dinner. 

I ordered wasabi shrimp salad. First and last time man! You can even see from this photo how unappetising it looked. 

Coffee Club just updated their menu so some food items aren't served anymore, like the smoked salmon and beef ciabatta bites. Other favourites like the chicken baked rice remain.

We shared a basket of potato wedges. Mmm!

On Friday night, a small group of us met at our regular spot.

We knew it was going to be a fast skate that night since there were only four of us.

In about 40 minutes, we made it to Marina Barrage. There were actually quite a number of people there with lanterns and even candles. Not sure if the latter is actually allowed...

Paused for a short break.

Got a beautiful view of the Marina Bay area from crossing the bridge to the east.

We ended our skate at Rochor Beancurd which was pretty crowded for a Friday night!

I packed a few home for the fam and realised halfway.... that I was sending tofu at 12am!

HAHAHA!

See video below (just till 1:27)  if you've never watched Initial D and don't know what that means:

Takumi Fujiwara is the son of a legendary mountain drift racer, and the reason why he's so good is because he's been delivering tofu for his father every single morning. Rain or shine, through all four seasons, Takumi has to deliver tofu down the same mountain pass without damaging the tofu in the back of his AE86. To help him keep the car stable, Takumi's father puts an uncovered cup of water in the cup holder. Essentially, Takumi has to drive in such a way that water doesn't ever spill out. This ensures that the easily-bruised tofu in the back stays intact.

Since Takumi drives on the same route every single morning, he unconsciously started to drive faster and faster just to get the delivery done quicker. Needless to say, his skills on the mountain pass were developed far beyond any ordinary racer of his day.

The reason why I'm spelling out this entire story is just to illustrate one point: to be an expert in something, you just have to practice daily. Talent may bring you further, but it is the boring, routine, mundane practice that helps you beat all opponents in your skill.

I know that, because I've been skating almost daily, and as a result I've improved very quickly. Last October, I wasn't able to tackle urban terrain (stairs, curbs, rough roads) on my own. Fast forward to now, I have no fear skating anywhere in Singapore, nor do I have any fear skating in the rain.

This same principle is inherent in the docu-biography Jiro Dreams Of Sushi.

Jiro is an expert in sushi, quite simply because he makes sushi everyday. Everything he does is for and about sushi, to the point where he even dreams about sushi when he sleeps at night. From dawn till dusk, Jiro and sushi are one. 

And that's why the man is so good now! After years and years of daily improving, failing, experimentation, dreaming, doing, practicing, Jiro has left all his competitors in the dust.

Alright, sorry for the diversion... It's not like I'm really intending to become a pro skater or anything, but this is just something that I'm always thinking about. 

ANYWAY.

On Saturday night, the moon rose round and bright.

A group of 50+ skaters met at Bishan Park for Skateline's Mooncake festival skate to Woodlands Waterfront.

Though the skate started out kinda slow, it ended on a rather intense note. But all in all, I had a lot of fun!

Sunday morning, I went to the 07:30 service in church and then dropped in the Chinese youth service at 10:00. Man, it's been a loooongggg time since I was last part of this service. Such a strange feeling of nostalgia swept over me as I sat there surrounded by the same group of people (now all youth leaders), singing the same songs we once sang as secondary school students. 

After youth service was over, we went to Saizeriya in Bukit Timah Plaza to meet with Ida, our ex-youth group teacher who was in Singapore for a short visit.

Found some dry humour in the menu.

It's okay if I'm the only one who's laughing.

Food was alright. The smoked salmon salad was definitely better than the wasabi shrimp salad from Coffee Club! And at almost half the price, it's a win win winner.

After church and House of Bread, Papa picked me up to go for dinner with the fam in Geylang. 

Won't be revealing the location of this restaurant because it's crowded enough lol!

Had bean paste fish head.

Veggie soup. Very very very good veggie soup! 

Minced pork and salted fish.

Stir-fried beef and veggies.

Stir-fried tofu.

After dinner we drove through Chinatown.

Then went to Gardens By The Bay to join the rest of the Mooncake Festival crowd!

It's nice to actually be here without skates for once.

The moon didn't disappoint!

After Gardens By The Bay, we went to ECP for our usual candle burning nonsense.

My dad's right. It's like we never grew up. I probably will never outgrow this.

We lit and hung up lanterns at the pavilion we were in.

Joel got creative and decided to set a palm branch on fire.

Like a 野人 (wild man) LOL!

I love that we are still playing like this as "grown" children. 

May we never grow too old to enjoy ourselves!

Corrinne May & Stuff

Hoho! Can't believe I actually slept at 04:30 last night. Blame it on the bubble tea at 02:00... I'm dying to sleep right now but I've got to finish this post. \\

Sadly, all pictures were taken using an iPhone instead because I left my camera at HOB over the week :/ 

Saturday evening was a magical time. I went with Annie and Rodrigo to the newly-opened Gardens By The Bay.

To watch the Corrinne May concert! 

Sadly for me, I've not listened to many of her songs besides her National Day song. Therefore, I went to this concert without any hopes or expectations.

We got to the gardens really early and were greeted by an immense throng of people. Last time I was here, the place was not completed yet and there weren't many people at all. 

Beautiful orchids were planted all around the supertrees.

With more than an hour before the concert began, we went to Cafe Crema to have dinner first. There was quite a queue inside, but we were fortunate to get a table after about ten minutes.

I love going to concerts with them!

Rodrigo ordered this really tasty looking sandwich.

He then proceeded to demonstrate how one could wolf it down with a monstrous bite. Very nice! 

Annie and I both ordered mushroom soup each, and it was THE BEST MUSHROOM SOUP EVER! 

For $8, this is definitely worth it. I've never had so many chewy and juicy mushroom bits in one bowl of soup before. This dish deserves two thumbs up. 

If I knew the soup would be so filling, I wouldn't have ordered this bacon and mushroom aglio olio as well. It tasted just like fried chinese noodles and nothing like pasta at all.

I guess Cafe Crema must have just opened since they've got many lovely flower bouquets lined up outside.

With about forty minutes to go before the concert, we wandered through the supertree grove.

Am I the only one who thinks they look kind of ugly? Ugly but impressive. Very Avatar-like. Still, I wish there were actual centuries old giant rainforest trees instead of these purple poles.

Annie gazing up to take a photo. 

We finally made it to The Meadow. 

I didn't realise it was an open air concert. Fortunately, the organisers provided everyone with plastic ponchos that we could all use to sit on the floor with.

Annie happily snapping away while I lay down on the grass beside her. Was starting to feel quite sleepy by that time.

When Corrinne started singing, I was startled to hear such a lovely sultry voice. Annie wasn't kidding when she said Corrinne sounds like a cello! Though I spent most of the concert lying on the ground with my eyes closed, I was actually listening to every song (except maybe one where I fell asleep for a bit). Her self-written songs are quite meaningful and the audience was even treated to a free show of fireworks from the NDP rehearsals in the background.

Lying there in the cool night breeze, listening to Corrinne sing about God and other things was a beautiful experience that I won't forget for some time.

And of course, how could I not go skating that night? 

While Annie and Rodrigo stayed behind to watch a free movie screening of Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, I rushed home and then to Vivocity with my skates to meet the NUS Skate Club for their annual urban skate night. Though i was never a student at NUS, I self-invited myself once I heard about this event because it sounded like so much fun! Do you know how difficult it is trying to look for skating kakis these days? 

Anyway...

It was only when I got to Vivocity that I realised that they were actually planning to skate from midnight till five in the morning!!!

Five is wayyy too late, even for a chionger like me. Besides, I had to go to House of Bread the next day. I ended up leaving halfway and got home around 02:30. 

_______________________________________________________

Last night, even though I slept so late, the time was still well spent. 

Sat in the bathroom singing some worship songs with my guitar (sound quality is best in there), read some of Eric Liddell's biography and decided to just plain spend some time with God. 

I wonder how God feels sometimes, looking at me shoving and squeezing activities into my calendar instead of being still at His feet.