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!

Gardens & Food

This past Saturday I finally met up with Huey. We'd actually planned to go camping but ended up eating dinner at Thaipan in Mandarin Garden instead. 

Huey's favourite butter prawns. 

Unfortunately, I was starting to get really sick on Saturday and didn't get to fully enjoy what I was eating. By the time I'd gotten home, my throat was completely swollen and I started to get a terrible headache too. And as midnight swung around, I was lying in bed with a fever. Thankfully, my mom had some fever pills in the cabinet. 

To be honest, prayer had a lot to do with me getting well. I really didn't think I'd be able to get up in the morning and go to church, but I prayed that I would be able to.  

Sunday morning, I woke up feeling kinda woozy, but at least the fever was gone. 

I made it to church kinda early, so I went to the garden in the back to rest for a bit. 

This place holds so many memories for me... 

It was actually really nice to just sit there and be quiet for a while. I haven't been able to sit still like that for so long. Probably almost a year now; and the only reason I was able to sit still that morning without moving around, making noise or playing with my phone was because I was feeling sick. 

I sat so still that the garden's resident chameleon decided it was safe to come out and play.

I couldn't help but think that this was probably the descendant of the same chameleon I had picked up in this very same garden 12 years ago. 

By Monday, my fever was completely gone but the sore throat remained. 

I'd actually planned a fun dinner meetup at Morton's, but we switched the venue to House of Rice Rolls & Porridge instead since I was sick (awww!!!) 

My abalone and chicken porridge was pretty good! Though I really prefer my abalone cold and undisturbed by other foods. 

Tuesday evening Shirley and I went to Green View in Far East Plaza for dinner. 

I had Indonesian prawn noodles, which really tastes a lot like Singaporean prawn noodles. The difference I guess lies in the amount of vegetables, as well as the addition of lime juice. 

Shirley had stir fried cut noodles. 

Hiding from the camera as usual!!

We went on a two hour hunt for shoes I could wear to a few weddings coming up. Thanks Shirley for being so patient! I always feel bad when someone else has to shop with me for my stuff... But I seriously needed help in deciding what was nice! It's been SO LONG since I've gone shopping for this kind of stuff that I completely completely forgot and lost touch with what's "fashionable" and what's not. 

Everything I seem to pick out now is just old-looking, but very comfortable. 

You know the kind, like stuff your mom would wear basically. 

How ever did I become like that? 

LOL!