Last day of January

I had some Watami vouchers that were expiring today so 小花, Ms D and I went to the restaurant at The Star Vista for lunch. We ordered a number of dishes to share and were very satisfied with the food. Pleased that we didn't waste the vouchers :)

So fast... today is already the last day of January. 1 month of 2013 has passed just like that...

Long lunch

Today 小花, Ms H and I went to Vivocity to have lunch with Tulip at Sushi Tei. Usually there would be a long queue during lunch but surprisingly the place was not very full today. We ordered quite a number of dishes to share and we were very full.

After lunch, Ms H went to have coffee with an ex-colleague while 小花, Tulip and I went to Giant. Both of them bought air fresheners and some other household items. Tulip then left to go to the bank, and 小花 and I went to buy some bread for tomorrow's breakfast before proceeding to McDonald's to wait for Ms H. We waited for about an hour and spent the time playing Candy Crush Saga. In the end, we only reached office at about 4pm :P

As customers gave us a few hampers for Chinese New Year, my colleagues opened them and conducted a lucky draw to distribute the items. I got a can of abalone and a bottle of grape juice. Lucky uh :D

Relaxing day

Today we had our free weekly lunch provided by the company. After that, we went to a temple in Bugis to pray. We also bought Toto before going back to office. Hope we will win... Huat ah! :D

Today there was also not much work to do so I just continued playing Candy Crush Saga. Some of my colleagues also played too. Really a good way to pass time :)

Tried to send a message through whatsapp and got a prompt that my "trial" version will be expiring in 7 days and prompted me to purchase an extension. Now can only receive but not send messages :( Shall wait and see what happens after 7 days so shall switch to Google Talk for now...

Candy Crush Saga

Today I didn't have much to do at work so I just played Candy Crush Saga to pass time. Finally managed to clear a stage that I was stuck at since last night so was able to proceed to the next level. It can be a frustrating game at times but I quite enjoy playing it. At least there are "missions" to accomplish so that I have a goal to work towards to. Think I would be able to spend quite a lot of time in office playing since our "boss" is not in town. Yippee! :P

Shopping day

Today I woke up around 10am. Had some breakfast then went out with my mum and youngest sis to Jurong Point. My sis told me not to always shop at Bega only so she brought me to another shop Sense to try the clothes. The shop assistant was very helpful and kept taking clothes for me to try. In the end, I bought 11 pieces of blouse/dress/pants. My mum said I was very efficient, can always settle everything at one store.... haha.

My dad joined us after his work. We then went to John Little where my mum and sis wanted to try on lingerie. I was not interested so I went to the shoes section to have a look. Saw a pair of flat shoes by Americaya that was very comfortable and it was made in Japan so decided to buy it even though it was rather expensive :P

We then went to G2000 where my dad chose a few shirts. He had already bought some last week but decided that it wasn't enough so he bought a few more. After that, we passed by Bega so I just went to see if there are any clothes for more casual wear. I was only looking for tops of T-shirt material so didn't find many to my liking, but I still bought 1 top and 1 three-quarter pants.

It was about 6pm after we have finished our shopping. My mum and sis wanted to have a hair cut and insisted that I go along with them so they called the salon at West Mall to check if we could go over at about 7.30pm. We booked an appointment and decided to go to West Mall for dinner. I actually only wanted to have a hair cut but as my mum was coloring her hair, my sis and I did an additional scalp treatment. We were only done at almost 9pm.

We were about to go home when my dad asked us to go to Harvey Norman next door to see if there were any good TV set to replace our current one. A white patch has formed on the display panel of our current TV and the patch seemed to be enlarging. In the end, we decided on a Samsung LED one which was on sale and seemed good value for money.

Next week will have to stay at home and do spring cleaning...

Lethargic

I only woke up at about noon time today as I felt very tired. Actually wanted to go out and shop for some new clothes but was so lethargic that I decided to go out only tomorrow. So I just spent my time watching some J-dramas and playing Candy Crush Saga. Omg... I've got a long list of outstanding J-dramas to watch. Think I have to be more selective, otherwise I won't have time to finish all of them.

Shall sleep early tonight so that can wake up earlier tomorrow to shop :)

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

Today 小花 was on MC but we had already booked movie tickets for tonight and she said she just had to be careful so I went to meet her at O' Coffee Club for dinner first. We ordered the Garlic Prawn Pasta and the Skipper's Delight to share.

After dinner, there was still time so I accompanied 小花 to Daiso to buy some things. We then proceeded to the movie theatre. Our show was supposed to start at 9.30pm but we could not enter the cinema hall until almost 9.45pm as an earlier show had only just ended. Not sure what happened to the scheduling :S We were starting to get worried whether we would miss the last train when our show finally started at 10pm. The show was full of action, though some scenes were rather gruesome. Luckily the show was not very long so we were still in time to catch the train.

Visit to clinic

This afternoon I accompanied 小花 to the doctor as she has been feeling spells of giddiness the past few days. The doctor asked her to go to A&E for checkup as a precaution as her blood pressure was rather high. So she went back to office to pack her things and Ms K drove her to the hospital. Seems like her blood test and x-ray results were OK and just need to take medicine and monitor the blood pressure. Hopefully everything will be alright.

I also took the chance to consult the doctor over my itchy throat when I was at the clinic. Occasionally my throat would feel itchy which causes me to cough. It is very irritating so I wanted to see what the doctor thought of it. He said it was most probably due to sensitive nose and prescribed some medicine for me. I'm still considering whether to eat the medicine as I'm very bad at swallowing pills :P

Relaxing day

Today I had lunch with Ms M only as our usual lunch kakis had other appointments. We actually wanted to eat at Local+ but there wasn't much food left so we went to Umi Sushi instead. I didn't really feel like eating the bento set so I decided to have sushi instead. Ms M also chose to have the same as me after some consideration. Nice to have something different for lunch :)

After lunch, we went back to office. As we had nothing much to do, Ms M introduced me to a new game called Candy Crush Saga. I tried playing it and it was quite fun, and we continued playing for most of the afternoon. Good way to pass time :P

MRT blues

This morning the MRT was so crowded at the Jurong East platform for trains heading towards Pasir Ris. So I decided to take a train one station back to Chinese Garden first but the journey back to Jurong East took almost 10 mins due to slow-moving trains ahead :S It was again very crowded at Buona Vista and the train was packed to the door.

I'm really annoyed by the train situation as I don't expect to have seats for my journey but I really hate squeezing like sardines in the MRT every morning. Why can't the trains be scheduled better?? It really spoils my mood whenever I commute in a packed MRT :(

This evening, my parents called to ask if I was ready to go home as they could give me a lift since they were around that area. I was very happy and agreed immediately as I could avoid the MRT crowd and reduce the chance of getting pissed off again.

Monday blues

Today I went with Ms S and Ms L to meet Tulip for lunch. 小花 was supposed to come along as well but she had a customer appointment so she did not join us. We had a good chat over lunch at Jia Xiang Sarawak Kuching Kolo Mee.

I was actually rather free today, except an unexpected issue which caused so many people to contact me and make me feel annoyed as I don't know what to respond to them. Hopefully there won't be any more problems after I have escalated the matter to higher management.

Wedding dinner

Today I attended an ex-colleague's wedding dinner at Crowne Plaza Hotel. I was supposed to meet Ms L at Buona Vista but I received her sms saying that she won't be going as she had a stomach upset. Then I received another sms from Ms D asking if I wanted to hitch a ride from Ms H so I agreed. However, Ms D was late when meeting at Clementi and Ms H still had to send her husband and mother-in-law to MBS and Pasir Ris respectively, so we were rather late for the dinner.

We had missed the first march-in and the first dish was already served. The food was quite good and we finished most of the dishes. As the dinner started rather early at 6.45pm, the full course was served by 9pm. I took a lift from my colleague and reached home before 10pm.

Sian that tomorrow have to work again...

Rainy day

Today is a rainy day. I think the rain started since early morning and continued non-stop till late afternoon. The weather was very cool and nice, which made me feel lazy to go out.

I spent almost the whole day watching J-dramas as there were quite a number of new shows released while we were in Japan. So far most of the shows that I have watched seemed ok so would continue watching them. Oh dear... think it would be like last season where there would be a long list of nice dramas to watch.

Back to work

So fast... Our trip has ended and we have to go back to work today :( The only good thing is that today is Friday so we can look forward to the weekend.

We did not book any movie tickets for tonight so 小花 and I just went for dinner after work. We decided on BBQ Chicken at ARC as 小花 was craving for french fries. We were surprised to see that there were only customers at 1 table. We ordered a promo set which came with free soup and drink. The food still tasted good :)

Tokyo Trip: Tsukiji Market and Ginza

We went to Tsukiji Market this morning. It was quite crowded, probably as it was a weekend. We walked around and ate some fresh oysters, tamago roll and grilled squid. Tulip and Ms S even bought vacuum-packed fish as it was very cheap as compared to that in Singapore.We also had our lunch of sashimi rice bowl before we left.

After that, we proceeded to Ginza. We spent some time at a rather large Sanrio store as there were many cute stuff on display, trying to lure us to purchase them. We then shopped around at the nearby Mitsukoshi department store before trying to look for the Almond Cafe that 小花 highly recommended. We walked towards the wrong direction at first but in the end still managed to locate the cafe.

We had actually only wanted to order cakes to share but we had to order drinks too as they come as a set. The cakes were very soft and nice and we chatted and relaxed while eating.

We then went back to Mitsukoshi to shop around its basement level. We ate a fresh scallop each (with the exception of Tulip who doesn't like raw food) and it was very sweet and nice. We also bought a cake roll to share after our dinner.

We decided to have dinner at Ootoya, which is near our hotel. The food was cheap and good and we were very satisfied with the meal.

Tokyo Trip: Nakano and Shinjuku

This morning, we had breakfast provided by the hotel before starting our trip to Nakano. We were supposed to go to Hakone today but all of us felt tired from the flight yesterday and did not want to wake up early this morning so we decided to swap today's itinerary with Sunday's.

We reached Nakano rather early and many shops had just started opening for business. We walked along the shopping street and went into a drug store. 小花 and Tulip were interested in nail polish, while Ms S bought 2 bottles of Kose cleansing oil as it was much cheaper than in Singapore. We then passed by Uniqlo and saw that they were having sale so we went in to have a look. I ended up buying 2 turtleneck long sleeve T-shirts and a pair of room pants. I also bought 3 pairs of socks for 1,000 yen at another shop for my mum and 2 sisters.

We were starting to feel hungry so we decided to go for lunch at a highly recommended shop selling cheap and good unagi rice bowl. We were not very sure of the location so we just walked till the end of the shopping street and just before Nakano Broadway, we saw the shop 宇奈とと in the street to our right. We quickly went in but as there were not enough seats, we were shown to the 2nd floor. The food was delicious but the only disappointment was that there were people smoking at some tables, so we quickly finished our meal and left as we could not stand the smoke, .

After lunch, we continued shopping at Nakano Broadway. There was another tidbits shop and we were pleasantly surprised to find the yuzu strips candy that was not available at the Ueno shop. We bought all of it as well as some other tidbits.We also went to the basement level and walked around a marketplace where locals shop for groceries.

After that, we decided to go to Shinjuku. We went to the nearby Sanrio Gift Gate but did not find anything to buy. We were feeling a bit tired so we stopped by Muji Cafe to have Yuzu tea for tea break. We then went to the Agnes B section at OIOI to look for bags. We were surprised that some bags that we had just bought during our October trip were already on 50% sale. 小花 bought a sling bag for herself and I bought a bag for my mum.

We then continued shopping around before proceeding to 博多天神 for dinner. This has been 小花 and my favourite ramen shop in Shinjuku and we always come here if we are in the area. The ramen was still of the same standard as before. Yummy! :)

We went back to our hotel to share the cakes that we had bought earlier. We decided to try a similar can of alcoholic sparkling lemon juice as the pear flavoured one that we had yesterday was nice. However, we still preferred the cakes and drink yesterday.

Tokyo Trip: Ueno

Our flight departed Changi Airport at about 6am and we landed at Narita Airport at about 2 pm. Managed to doze off during the flight but still felt rather tired as did not sleep very well.

After clearing customs and getting our luggage, we went to purchase the Suica & N'EX round trip package for 5,500 yen each. We travelled by reserved seats on Narita Express to Tokyo station before transferring to the Yamanote line to Otsuka station. We had made reservations at Toyoko-Inn, which is just 2 mins walk away from Otsuka station.We quickly checked-in and left our luggage in our rooms before proceeding to Ueno to start our tidbits shopping.

We made a stop at 神田達磨 first for a たい焼き each as we had enjoyed it previously. The red bean filling was not too sweet and the batter was not too thick. Yummy! :) Only disappointment was that the たい焼き became cold rather quickly due to the weather.

We then proceeded to the tidbits shop 二木の菓子. Although we have been there a few times, we still get lost occasionally as we couldn't really remember which turn to make. Luckily we managed to find our way there this time. We slowly selected the tidbits that we want until the shop announced that it was about to close for the day. We ended up with a few bags of tidbits each :P

There was a stall selling たこ焼き next to the tidbits shop and many people seemed to buy from it so we decided to try it as well. It was piping hot and delicious. Glad that we gave it a try :)

After that, we went back to Ueno station to look for 一蘭拉麵 for dinner. 小花 and I could only remember that it was near the station at 山下 exit so we just headed that direction to try our luck and managed to find it quite easily :) There was no queue so we quickly went in and ordered the ramen. It was delicious and I even finished the whole bowl of soup.

After dinner, we walked around the shops in the station. As it was Ms S's birthday today, we bought some cakes and a can of alcoholic sparkling pear juice before going back to our hotel. The cakes tasted very good. Think we were very satisfied with all of today's food :)

Excited

We will be flying to Japan at 6am tomorrow so was feeling excited throughout the day. 小花 and I finished our work and left office as early as possible. I had my dinner before doing some final packing for the trip.

As we will be meeting at the airport only at 4.15am, I shall take a nap now and wake up at about 1am to shower and get ready. Hope I can get some sleep so that I won't be tired during the trip :)

Cool night

Felt a few drops of rain while I was walking home tonight and it started drizzling. Told 小花 about it as she had commented earlier in the day that she was hoping it would rain so that she could use her umbrella. However, the rain stopped soon after and 小花 was disappointed that there was no rain at her area. Luckily, there was a cool breeze and the weather didn't feel as humid as the day before. Think I should be able to sleep without switching on the aircon or fan tonight :)

Getting excited at the thought of our upcoming trip... Can't wait to go....

Hot and humid day

This afternoon we went to Chinatown for lunch at Chiew Kee Chicken Noodle House. We ordered a plate of soya sauce chicken, as well as vegetables and dumplings soup to share. It was delicious and we finished the food quickly.

After the meal, 小花, Ms S and I went to People's Park Complex to exchange for some yen in preparation of our upcoming Japan trip. The rate was much lower than when 小花 and I changed for our previous trip last October.I only exchanged SGD 500 as I still had some yen left over. Looking forward to the trip :D

Didn't sleep very well last night as the weather was rather humid. Even though I managed to sleep, it didn't feel like a deep sleep as I felt myself tossing around in bed a few times during the night. Decided to on the air-con for a few hours to cool the room before sleeping tonight. Hope it helps :)

Boring day 2

Today I woke up at about noon time but at about 5pm I felt a bit drowsy so went to take a nap till about 7pm... Spent most of my day sleeping :S  Think I better sleep earlier the next few days, otherwise I would not enjoy my Japan trip if I keep feeling so lethargic.

I did some packing for the trip but finished quite quickly since it's only a short trip. Crossing my fingers that there will still be seats available...

Sigh... Have to go back to work tomorrow. Seems like my whole weekend was just spent on catching up on sleep only :(

Boring day

I only woke up at about 12.30pm today... Was a bit surprised as I had gone to bed before 1am so I have slept for almost 12 hours! I think I didn't get enough sleep these few days. No wonder I was so tired yesterday and had to use one hand to support my head while at work :P

Didn't feel like starting any new shows so decided to just continue playing Avalon Code. Later in the evening I just watched some TV shows while having dinner before continuing with the game. And the day passed just like that...

TGIF!

This morning I was at Buona Vista and saw that the train was not very crowded, so I messaged 小花 that I would take that train and wait for her at Labrador Park. The journey was quite smooth until Pasir Panjang, when the train overshot and stopped about 2 doors out of the station. We had to wait for quite some time for the station staff to board the train and manually reverse the train. However, I think there were still some problems as the train was only reversed one door back. The train doors then opened but the station doors did not. The most comical thing was that the first train door opened to a wall and a man standing in front of it looked amused. In the end, the staff gave up trying to reverse the train and just allowed the train to continue to the next station instead. Seems like the MRT system is getting more and more unstable...

We did not watch any movies tonight as we couldn't book tickets using the HSBC movie card through GV's website. So we decided to go for dinner instead and Ms H and Ms M joined us too. We decided to just have dinner at Ichiban Sushi at ARC since it should not be too crowded. I wanted to try something different so I selected the Kakiage Bukkake Yuzu Udon. The taste was good.

Ms D also joined us after she has finished her work. We ate and chatted for quite some time before going our separate ways home. Good to have spent some time together :)

It's Thursday!

Today passed rather quickly for me. Didn't had much to do before lunch so did some research for our upcoming Kyoto/Osaka trip in April :P Although we didn't leave office as early as yesterday, I still managed to reach home before 8pm.

As I have finished all my outstanding J-dramas, I decided to search for theme songs that I think are nice when watching the dramas. Sometimes listening to the theme songs will remind me of the dramas that I watched. Managed to find most songs :)

Tomorrow is Friday! Yay!

Back to work

This morning I missed a train and the next train would only arrive after 6 minutes. What a long interval, especially as it was still during peak hours :( In the end, the train was so crowded and I had to squeeze in as I was not sure how long I would have to wait for the next train. Can't understand how they could schedule such long intervals between trains when so many people are taking trains during this timing. Really spoil my mood early in the morning.

Today was a little busier than usual due to year end closing. However, 小花 and I still managed to leave office at about 6.15pm. Good that can reach home early. Hopefully can continue to do so :Þ

Last night stayed up to watch the match between Wigan and Man U. Glad that Man U won 4-0... Keep up the good work! :)

Happy New Year 2013

Happy New Year! 明けましておめでとうございます!

Today is the first day of 2013. However I did not have any plans for today so stayed at home and relax since I still have to work tomorrow.

I decided to continue watching the J-drama 高校入试 as the show seemed more and more interesting and I want to know who is the mastermind and what is his/her motive for doing it.

Hopefully 2013 will be much better than 2012! :D