Samu't-Sari

Well, I didn't plan to go online today and chat or blog or whatever it is I do. I thought I would only blog whenever something interesting happens. At least, interesting to me. One week in Singapore, and there's still some places I haven't gone to. Not that I have all the time to tour and sightsee.

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In the office, I just keep abusing the vending machine that dispenses free drinks (although, it does have a coin slot for some reason. My drink of choice is hot Milo. Mmm-mm! There's also that interesting Lemon Barley soda that I drink occasionally. It tastes like watered-down lemon tonic water, with some fizz removed. Also free.

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Lunchtime, I ate at KFC. I miss pinoy KFC, if anything. The chicken doesn't look fat enough with flour and there's automatically no gravy to go with it. But there's some in the mashed potato, so there you go. I did like the cheese fries (cheese flies, hehehe). It's just the normal fries (not the KFC fries that we know of) with cheese sauce, some sort of sour cream, and spring onion leaves. Costs around $6, about P180.00. Pwede na!

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I also discovered this hawker centre, a few hundred meters from work. A hawker centre is essentially a food court. Chicken cutlet rice, $4.00, iced kemon tea, $1.95. Pretty affordable.

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Well, the legends are true. they do have free wi-fi inside McDonald's. And speaking of, their Chicken nuggets Barbecue sauce tastes different. I swear the counter guy also asked me If I wanted curry instead.

That brings me to the worst part of commuting: the smell. I really, really don't get it. I mean, we all have noses. Do they find the smell relaxing? energizing? Well, honestly, I find it revolting. Hong Kong MRTs didn't smell anything like this.

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Anyway, I had to endure that smell on the way to and from Queensway Shopping Centre. That place is famous for discount sports gear. I bought myself a pair of Nike sandals for $84, marked down from around $120. I don't know if I saved a lot. But they have some pretty good stuff on discount over there. It's just that it's far away from where I'm staying and I had to take an MRT and a bus for that little trek.

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I thought I'd be able to go around a lot more this weekend. It turns out that I'll be doing just that, except in a different way. Someone from the real estate agency is going to show me around to look at some long-term housing. I hope I get a good deal.

The place I'm going to live in for a couple of months, maybe years, is probably going to be less desirable than the place I'm staying in right now.

On the way to Queensway, I've seen the HDB (government housing) flats that people stay in. Man, they look lonely. True enough, that's Singapore's version of a depressed area. I'd hate to stay in one of those.

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Next week, I should get down to business and start budgeting. Daily expenses on meals, commute and travel time also. I can't wait til payday.

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World Cup 2006 starts tomorrow. People here are crazy about it.

I'm a minority of course. I'm rooting for the Mavs to win the NBA Finals.