Birthday Love, Bye Shan Shan & JB

I can't believe I just turned 23. I just can't believe it. I still feel 21- and that's just sad. 

On my birthday, I didn't take leave from work. At night I just had a little BBQ at my place with friends and cool peoples. Here are some people who stayed a little longer till the end. I had a really fun time and barely took any pictures all night. I probably would've ended up with no pictures at all if not for Amanda who volunteered to take pictures for me. 

And the reason why I have a towel wrapped around my shoulders is because I got thrown into the pool toward the end. 

That's to be expected right?

The problem is, I was actually chewing a fishball before Huey suddenly grabbed me by the waist and I had no time to swallow my food. I was so afraid of choking that I ended up spitting out my half chewed fishball onto the floor right before landing in the water. 

I told people not to bring things, but they all didn't listen. 

It was very heartwarming to read all the cards though =) Thank you guys for making it a special time!

Shan Shan's leaving for Japan for a missions trip, so we met up at Mind's Cafe to bid her farewell. 

Played a really confusing game of True Colours, but overall a fun night!

On a random note, my dad's been going on a JB frenzy recently. We now go to Malaysia at least once a week for supper after work. 

My passport is going to get stamped up with Malaysian stamps before it expires I assume...

Weekend In Review

It seems like more and more of my blog posts are just turning into reviews of what I did over the weekend. I suppose that makes sense since I'm working all day during the week anyway. After work, I don't do much besides skating. 

Well last Monday I went with Chen (colleague) to meet up with a prolific user of our app- PG. It was the first time we'd met him offline and I must say, he's not much different from what I thought he'd be like. I could even recognise him off his profile picture! 

We had ramen at a restaurant in Cuppage Plaza that I'd never eaten at before. The restaurant, Gyoza Na Ohsho, is an informal little place on the first floor with a nice selection of ramens cooked by Japanese chefs (served by filippinos). I ordered chili ramen and it cost $12. All the basic ramens cost $12 while the more special ones (I assume they're more special) cost $15. 

Overall I thought this place was pretty good. Cuppage Plaza has a lot of hidden gems I suppose... Gotta explore this area more!

So I've been rollerblading almost every night. Nothing new, I know.

One of my favourite places to skate to when I'm alone is the East Bay Gardens overlooking the Singapore Flyer. It's next to East Coast Park and there is a path that you can take over a bridge towards Marina Barrage.

The reason why I love this place is because it's usually devoid of noisy people. The couples who do come here for "pa tor" are very unassuming in their dark corner benches- leaving me virtually whole peaceful waterfront to myself.  

Tuesday night, the moon was gigantic.

It's so nice to find a place in Singapore that is not crowded (like ECP) yet well-lit enough to feel safe.

Not to mention, the views across the river are quite stunning. 

Can't believe how much the Marina Bay area has transformed in slightly less than a decade.

 All this "wildlife" that's here right now, wasn't here too long ago...

That Tuesday night, my dad and I went on a totally impromptu trip into Johor Bahru, Malaysia for supper. He drove me home from East Bay Gardens to grab my passport before we zoomed over the Woodlands Causeway towards yummy and cheap food.

Went to a street vendor for wanton mee.

Papa decided to try the BBQ grease truck parked on the side.

You get to pick whatever you want before they barbecue it for you. Most of the skewers were seafood skewers.

Even though it was almost midnight, the tables and chairs were mostly filled with Singaporeans. All the cars parked along the side of the road were Singaporean cars as well! 

I don't blame Singaporeans for wanting to eat here though. Look at how much our food costs. And keep in mind that this is in Malaysian ringgit! Divide the amount by 2 for a rough estimate of how much all this costs in Singapore dollars, or divide by 4 for a rough estimate in US dollars.

My dad and I each got a plate of wanton mee.

This bowl of wantons in soup came with it as well.

Our BBQ skewers were amazing.

Everything was dipped in a kind of soy sauce mix which gave it just the right level of saltiness.

Soft shell crabs on a stick. Ate the thing whole.

Love the old school chopsticks.

After getting gas in Malaysia (which is half the price in Singapore), we went back home. I went to sleep about 01:00 that Wednesday morning.

The rest of the week went by like a blur and by the time Saturday arrived, I didn't want to do anything else by relax.

The weather was perfect that afternoon.

The boys had a lot of fun in the pool.

At about 14:30, we started getting ready to go to ECP for their rolerblading lessons. 

I really wanted to skate, but my entire body was aching severely from rollerblading about 40km on Friday night. It was insane! 

Nevertheless, my addiction to skating couldn't keep me from going to ECP where I met this lovely cat.

In the daytime, Xtreme Skate Park is overrun with young kids. And when I say young, I mean anywhere from four to fourteen. Some of the real "pros" in the skate park happen to be plucky seven year olds who don't seem to get the concept of pain or gravity. 

Man, this place makes me feel old...

After some time in the skate park, I wandered off towards the water. Thankfully, the weather was slightly cloudy and breezy. Still, I was sweating like a pig (random thought: do pigs even sweat?).

There was some windsurfing thing going on by Castle Beach.

ECP is always a blast when it's nice out on the weekends!

On Sunday, I cooked borscht for my friends at House of Bread. It's the first time I'd cooked borscht since I came back to Singapore and it turned out quite alright. 

I've never been to Russia, but sometimes I feel like I miss it haha!

After House of Bread, we went to Dave and Sarah's place for a farewell BBQ for them. Dave and Sarah aren't regulars at House of Bread anymore, but I see them at the baptisms and other meetings. They're Americans who are teaching in Singapore, but now they're going back to Virginia. Though I haven't known them for a long time, I've grown to appreciate their presence as shining examples of Christians.

Quite sad to know they're leaving actually... So soon before I've even got to hang out with them more.

Welp, people come and go in this life. But in heaven, we'll be together for all eternity! =)

BBQs & Meetups

Wow I finally found some time to blog!

Well, not really. I'm kinda multitasking right now at my dad's place, waiting for my brother to finish his dinner so we can cut his birthday cake. In the meantime, I'm trying to finish some Excel sheet for work, watching TV, talking to my family and reading some article on the Internet. 

I feel so busy yet unproductive. 

Anyway, I've got some pictures up today. 

Two weeks ago, we had three birthdays in the office, two of which were on the same day! Jeff was nice to invite us to his place for his birthday BBQ. I really enjoyed the fact that he actually hired chefs to come and barbecue so we that didn't have to work at the grill. 

Then on Saturday, 15th Feb, I finally got to hang out with Chayana who used to play netball in TK. The cool thing about this meetup is that we actually see each other everyday since she works in the same building where I live, however I didn't recognise her at first. It was only until she told me on Facebook that I realised who she was! 

What can I say, she looks so pretty and grown-up now that she's virtually unrecognisable!

After watching The Iron Lady at I12 Katong, we had Katong laksa.

I'm sad that this stall is completely renovated and looks different from what it used to, but at least it's still here. A lot of the older shops are gone now- replaced by swanky restaurants that look nice but don't taste that good.

I had a blast with Chayana and hope we get to hang out again soon. I love that she hasn't changed personality-wise since TK days. Still the same sweet girl I know :)

That Sunday, we celebrated dear Joyjoy's birthday at the Hane's Bible study.
I'm gonna start calling it House of Bread from now on 'cause that's what it's called :P

I love Joyjoy. She's such a cutie and she's one of my inspirations to lead by example. 

We had a great discussion that Sunday. I don't even remember what Bible verses we talked about, but thoughts were popping in my head like popcorn on a heated pan. 

Many exciting/fun things happened all throughout last week, but I either kept forgetting to bring my camera out or to charge it. 

For one, Talia and I went to KBox to spend the free vouchers I'd gotten from a flea that past weekend. I had SO MUCH FUN! And it was Talia's first time- yayyyyyyyy!!! I really hope we can go again soon, maybe when we get a larger group so it won't cost as much per pax. There's just something liberating about singing nonsense songs out loud, knowing that you sound horrible but no one cares. Hah!

Ok so this past Saturday, I finally got to eat the mee soto I've been craving since I came back to Singapore. Since October 2011, I kept wanting to eat mee soto. Yet every time I tried to order it, they either didn't have it anymore, or they just didn't sell it. 

:(

Then on Saturday, I met up with Fatimah (also ex TK netballer and my former ex-classmate) and we ate awesome mee soto at Bedok Food Centre!

Can't believe it's been so many years since we've seen each other. Eight years, maybe? Yet when I saw her face at the MRT station, it was like old times again. It wasn't long before we started laughing and cracking up at stupid lame jokes like we used to in secondary school. 

We went to the arcade where I made her get on the DDR machine after shooting hoops. Looks like she hasn't lost her netball skills even without practice!

Walked around Bedok Point and sat here drinking bubble tea while chatting. All the time I kept feeling like i was back in my white and green uniform, loitering in random places after netball practice. The sun shone in just the right amount to jolt my memory all the way back. For those few moments, I felt like I was fourteen again. 

When I snapped out of it, I felt kinda sad. Why do people have to change? Why do we have to grow up?

Sigh...

But then I thought about the book I just reread, Tuck Everlasting. Man, it stinks to never grow older. It stinks to watch life move on without you. People grow up, get married, have children, die and meet the Creator. It would be even sadder to always remain the same. It's not natural. What is life when there is no death?

Alright, enough of that!

Later that night, we had a little family BBQ to celebrate my two brothers' birthdays. They're only days apart. How convenient right? 

Talia, Manda and Andrew came as well and we went swimming after dinner. I did a lot of terrorising- chasing Talia into the icy cold pool, and poor sunburnt Andrew into the hot tub. 

A rare shot of myself by myself. Can't believe I'm gonna be 23 this year... Nooooooo!!!!!!!! 

Okay the real reason why I took this picture is because I'm gonna appreciate it when I'm 25 and wrinkly. 

Sigh. 

What's the point right?  

Also, Qiuqiu put this picture of us up on her blog! 

=O

I feel like I just appeared on some major news channel and instead of taking a video of it, I'm screen-capping it. Wooo!!! 

Note to self: don't pose like a dork next time.