A relaxing Sunday

We had a nice, relaxing Sunday. Firstly, we met up with friends for a belated Easter lunch. We started this tradition of going for an Easter lunch with them a few years ago, but they were overseas during Easter this year, so we postponed the lunch until today. It’s a nice tradition that we’ve started, and I hope we can continue it for a while yet. But like I’ve said before, who knows where we will be or where they will be next year, so I just take things as they come, and appreciate the time that we are all in Singapore together.

We then went to a Dyson exhibit at the Art Science Museum. Yes, the vacuum cleaner company. I thought it would be more about the evolution of their products over the years, but it was more about promoting their current products, and learning some science along the way. They had a few interactive displays to learn about science and engineering for kids, so that was quite cool, but it just wasn’t what I was expecting. The kids of our friends who we just had lunch with would probably have had a better time. Oh well. But it did get us thinking about buying the brand new Dyson product, especially with N being allergic to Kitty 😔 so I guess their marketing efforts have paid off…! 😆

And then we rode share bikes to Suntec to watch Rampage at the movies there. We’re getting into the share bikes at the moment. Singapore is such a perfect place for it: it’s a small city, so it’s quite easy to get around on a bicycle. The pavements are smooth, the cost is cheap, and there are so many areas where you can pick up and drop off the share bikes that it just makes it so easy.

And we finished the evening with an episode of Game of Thrones. We finished season six. Now I only have one more season to go before I am all caught up. But then once I’m finished with season seven, I’ll be waiting with bated breath for season eight – for about a year! 😳

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Relaxed and carefree

I woke up today feeling so relaxed and carefree. It’s a Saturday, and we have no Chinese class, no dancing competition, no dance lesson, nothing. We were free 😂 I sometimes forget what it’s like to have a free day, until one rolls around and greets me warmly with open arms 🤗

We took our time leaving the house, simply because we could 😊 I read a bit more of one of my other books, Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty. The book is set in Sydney, so in similar vein to Crazy Rich Asians which is set in Singapore, it was cool reading all the familiar places in Sydney that I know intimately well. Harbour Bridge, George Street, The Rocks, the Fish Markets, Anzac Bridge… I felt like I was almost back there. It doesn’t take much effort for me to conjure up images of the city and visualise myself going around. I know it too well. So I could easily picture the characters in the book walking/driving around and basically just leading their fictional lives.

We then went and had lunch at this Japanese restaurant down the road. I think this place will become one of our regular haunts. The food is really good. Plus it’s owned / run by Japanese people, so they’re very polite. And of course I can practice my Japanese while we’re there 😊

They also have a collection of Japanese manga on their shelves, which customers can read while they’re in the restaurant. I have come to think that reading manga is one of the funner ways to learn a foreign language. I just need to find a series to get into, which is not only good for someone learning the language, but also a genre that I would really enjoy – and hence persevere and push through the obvious reading difficulties!

After lunch, we made our way to the annual Pet Expo! I love going to the Expo, if only just to see the competitions that they hold. Today we happened to sit in front of an Aussie judge who was judging some of my favourite breeds: Maine Coone, Exotic Shorthair, Persian, and British Shorthair. Only problem is, N is allergic to cats! He even reacts to Kitty sometimes 😔 He was saying how he should’ve brought a mask with him to the Expo today 😷 Well we did sit right in front of the judge, so that probably didn’t help matters!

After the Expo, I went home to rest while N went over to our friends’ place for dinner. I was invited too, but since his wife and kids were still overseas, I figured I’d give the two boys some boy time 😂 Plus I wanted to get a bit more rest, since this cold is still lingering around 🤧 And we have a comp in a week’s time, so not much resting is going to happen between now and then, so I figured I should take any opportunity to rest up while I can.

Remember the daily mantra that I mentioned back in January? Well I completely forgot about it (already! 😳), and only just remembered it last night. So I reinstated it today: “no trading”. I wasn’t allowed to read anything about trading, no books, no blogs; I wasn’t allowed to review my trades; and I wasn’t even allowed to think about trading. I’m getting unhealthily obsessed, and that’s not a good thing. So I’m telling myself to take the day off. Heck, probably the whole weekend off. My brain needs to switch off and have absolutely nothing to do with trading for just a few days; I want to come back to it fresh on Monday.

So I’m distracting myself this weekend, gaining traction on my other goals instead 😊

My lingering cold

I actually feel worse today compared to yesterday. Ugh. I still did some trading and I still went for our Ballroom lesson, but I skipped Latin practice as I just didn’t have the energy for it 😔

Our friends here keep saying that I’m sick all the time. I guess it’s relative – coz they didn’t know me back in Oz when I was sick virtually every month! Ok slight exaggeration, but it probably wasn’t far from that 😔 The weather in SG agrees much more with my constitution. Even with the constant walking in and out of aircon places here!

We went and grabbed some Japanese for dinner, a late dinner at around 9:30pm. I love how there are still quite a few options for a late dinner here, especially with our finishing late on most nights during the week. SG is for night owls, which suits us just fine 😊 Our morning lark friends and family struggle a bit when they’re here, with the lack of open shops in the morning for them. I am rarely (if ever?!) inconvenienced in the same way 😂

Friends and shopping

I finally joined BreadTalk Rewards. I’ve been having BreadTalk every week for lunch, after the FX seminar, it’s now become routine. So I decided that I should join and get rewarded for being a regular customer 😊 They have an app, and your card is stored in the app and you just scan the QR code at the counter when you want to pay. All stores should do this! It just makes it so easy. Although yes, I do understand too that not everyone has a phone.

We went and had lunch with yet another friend from Oz who’s stopped by in SG for the last few days, before flying back to Sydney tonight. We’ve had so many friends come and visit lately! It’s nice to see so many familiar faces 😊

We then went to 112 Katong in the afternoon and bought a few things. We really like this mall and the area in general. It just has a nice vibe to it, and isn’t one of the usual touristy / expat-y areas that we normally go to. Maybe we look into moving in to this area… 😉

We bought a few Chinese books from one of the shops in the mall. These are the ones that I bought. It says a lot about our reading level when I can’t even read the title! 😔 The dictionary will be my best friend while I make my way through these books 😂

Some reading / study this long weekend

And I also bought this totally useless item 😂 It’s called the Fidget Cube, and I think it is such an appropriate name! It basically just lets you fidget to your heart’s content. I fidget a lot, so this is going to be a well-used item. And it comes with its own little carry bag! So I am carrying this with me everywhere I go now 😂

We then stopped by Meidiya, a Japanese supermarket here, to pick up some food for dinner. I tend to just come here for groceries, but N reminded me that they also have awesome, ready-made Japanese food. I will have to remember to stop by and pick up some food next time I’m here.

Japanese for dinner tonight 🍣

A very relaxing Good Friday 😌

Hump day

I made this awesome pescatarian lunch today:

But then I ruined it by adding honey to the lemon vinaigrette… Lesson learnt. Never doing that again 😂

Trading wasn’t too bad today. I didn’t feel all high and mighty like I did yesterday, but at least I didn’t feel too stupid like I normally do. Maybe some things are actually coming together in the old noggin 😊

We had our usual Ballroom lesson tonight, and our teacher seems to be relatively happy with our progress. Latin practice afterwards wasn’t the best, we’ve danced better than that before. But N had a crappy day at work, and that was probably weighing on his mind a bit. Plus he didn’t get much sleep last night either. So with those two things combined, I’m not surprised Latin fell apart quite a fair bit tonight. Our next comp is in just 2.5 weeks, so there’s not much time left to make sure it’s well and truly back together!

And then afterwards, we went and had dinner with some dancing friends at Sin Hoi Sai Eating House on the East Coast. Great food, with outdoor seating so it’s pretty relaxed and casual. They’re open until 4 in the morning or something! We finish dancing at around 10:15-10:30pm, so by the time we get changed and leave the studio, it’s probably closer to 11pm, so places like this are great for us 😊

Kuala Lumpur long weekend – Sunday

We had a nice, relaxing end to our weekend getaway. We had breakfast in the hotel, and then just chillaxed in our hotel room until check-out at noon. I read more of Andre Agassi’s autobiography; he’s now with Steffi Graf. I’m nearing the end of the book, which is a little sad actually, coz I’m really enjoying the book and I don’t want it to end. He was a bit of a jerk at some of his tournaments, and he knows it, but he wrote about those incidents in a way that they have come across as amusing in the book more than anything else 😂

We grabbed some lunch and then did a bit of shopping at 1 Utama Shooping Centre before making our way to the airport.

Flight was uneventful – which is not a bad thing! I read for most of the flight, and slept the rest of the time. We had to do a few circles in the air, as there was a bit of a back-up at Changi, apparently. My friend tracked my flight, and here is his screenshot of the loop-de-loop:

Yes, we’re trackers! 😂

And then we finished the evening with a few more episodes of Game of Thrones. We’re nearing the end of season four!

Ahhh… Always nice to go away. Now, back to reality…

Kuala Lumpur long weekend – Saturday

We didn’t really do much in the morning but eat 😂 We had a coffee at Brasserie Fritz, their coffee was actually quite nice. I’m always surprised when Asia makes a good coffee, since it’s not quite their specialty. Much like if an Italian makes a good wonton noodle, I’d be just as impressed 😂

After our coffee, we went and had a two-part lunch: a yong tau foo of sorts, and then afterwards a stall renowned for its roast pork belly. Now for someone who is so far from a foodie it’s not funny, even I noticed the superior quality of the food at these two places.

Yap Hup Kee 叶合记 for the yong tau foo

Wong Mei Kee 王美记 for the roast pork belly

We then made our way to our second hotel in Petaling Jaya, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. We did a bit of shopping in the afternoon before having dinner at Auntie Sim.

And then after dinner, we headed up to Stratosphere, a rooftop bar, for a quick drink, before heading back to our room and calling it quits for the day.

Come to think of it, we didn’t do much at all today but eat and drink 😂 But hey, we’re on a weekend holiday for some R&R, so we’re doing exactly as planned 😊