Body Movin', Body movin'

Dear Mom, stop nagging me. Hehe. Pero I love you pa rin :)

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My boss invited people in the office to go wall-climbing last Thursday. Lo and behold, only the Noyps (Pinoy) were game for it.



This is a picture of me belaying, my boss, Jon (who'll probably kill me when he finds out I posted a picture of him here) and Jai (a teammate, climbing the wall) The wall-climbing place was around Tanjong Pagar, still near the city central, and is called Climb Adventure. Not bad. But then I find that the PowerUp facility in Pasig is way, waaaay better with the higher walls, the smaller stones (for the increasing level of difficulty), and the safety pulley fixed to the ground (in which this place has none at all). I did about five climbs before I realized that I lack exercise.

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Yesterday, I got invited to a little night out at Clarke Quay, the most happenin' place in the country. Pity I didn't bring my camera, but then I don't want lug something with me when I move to the groove (it's more of a seizure-like wriggling, but anyway). I don't remember if I've ever gone clubbing, but then there's always a first for everything. So we headed for the brilliantly named Ministry of Sound and danced the night away. It's got these different rooms with different themes (70s, house, hip-hop/r&b). Entrance fee goes for at least $20 (comes with two drinks) depending on what day and time it is, and if you're a guy or a girl. Don't forget to bring your ID.

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We were also advised to go to the "new" temporary office in Tai Seng Avenue. It's our disaster recovery (DR) site. It's a bit lifeless really, looking around the area, I mean compared to the Atrium@Orchard office. The thing is that we SHOULD take a cab going to and from the place because it's hardly the most accessible office in the world. We'll see what happens in the following weeks.

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After visiting the DR site, couple of my officemates took one of our visitors from the New York office around Suntec City. We ate lunch at Marche's then went our separate ways.

Met up with a friend in Heeren on Orchard. But not before purchasing boardshorts. It's a black, red and white Ripcurl boardshorts. At size 32W, it surprisingly hangs scandalously low (I'm supposed to be a 33), as in bolex low. (Ask your friends what bolex means). Anyway, I'm just leaving some allowance for wearing trunks underneath the shorts which is how things should be.

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Sunday afternoon and evening is pretty uneventful. Took a nap. Had dinner in KFC Bedok. Did a little grocery shopping in Giant then went home and watched Batman Begins on HBO.

I've also found that Sunday nights are the best time for blogging and in essence, recalling what I did in the week that came before.

So until next time...

Fried Hokkien Mee

Nes and I just came from Bedok, just one station east from where we live. It's where we ate some Fried Hokkien Mee or Prawn noodles. Really nice food. Of course, if a local (i.e. one of my officemates) tells you where it's nice to eat a certain kind of food, you just go! Usually the nicest food can be found in the hawker centres (or food court or carinderia), so you really can't be picky about the place or how dirty the place looks or how noisy it is. So this is in Bedok "Cooked Food Centre" which is right beside the bus interchange and MRT station. Sometimes you can tell which stalls have the good food just by looking at the number of people waiting for their takeaways. Sometimes you just have to do a little sign language since most of them don't speak English.

Isang Bukas Na Liham sa Ilan Kong Kasama Sa Trabaho

Sa Katrabaho #1: Pare, magpabango ka naman. Hirap naman sa atin, wala kasing effort yung mga iba riyan. Alam na alam ng tao kung kailan ka dumadaan sa likod dahil napapalingon kami.

Sa mga Katrabahong gumagamit ng urinal sa CR: Mga pare, i-shoot niyo naman sa loob. Di naman mahirap yun eh.

At isa pa, please lang magtuyo kayo ng kamay bago lumabas ng silid. Wag munang hawakan ang handle ng pinto kapag basa pa.

Malamang marami pa akong reklamo, pero heto na muna ngayon. Salamat.

The Awful Tooth

How's this for recreation? Our boss just invited us to shoot clay pigeons one of these days. It ought to be one hell of an experience. The last time I held a gun was at Villamor Airbase for that ROTC shooting Sunday. I didn't think I hit the target because the recoil really hurts the shoulders (and our dunderhead of a commanding officer made us do pushups the day before). That was with a light M16 rifle. This time, with a 12-gauge shotgun, I'm determined to get at least one target.

Funny guy, our boss. He sent an Outlook invitation email that had you vote for your selection with these choices:

"No, I'd rather not do that sort of thing" and "Yes, I want to kill things"

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And speaking of work, we learned today about our temporary move to Tai Seng Avenue. This place is waaaaaay out of easy commute. So we're looking at getting taxi allowance as well as meal allowances because of the sudden change. This'll happen late next week. We'll be there for two months then we'll be back at the sweet confines of The Atrium@Orchard, right in the heart of Singapore.

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Today was also the day I went to the dentist. After doing some cleaning and X-rays, she explained to me how much work needs to be done. And I heard the two sweetest words of the English Language: ROOT CANAL. Times TWO! Yep, too bad most of you won't be anywhere near to hear me shriek like a girl. A couple of extractions need to be done as well. Most of it is covered by my lovely dental plan. The dentist also suggested that I get tooth-coloured fillings, which cost and arm and a leg (yes, even for a guy who can afford a plasma TV and a laptop). Anyway, I'm going for all of it. I've never really taken care of myself like this before. Might as well go all the way. Leave a beautiful corpse, that sort of thing.

Curiously, one of my lola's, the second eldest among siblings who's probably never gone to the dentist, still has her teeth intact (although not perfect) at NINETY YEARS OLD. It probably helps that she's a nun and she probably fasts a lot. Good ol' Lola Madre.

National Day

IMG_3239
Originally uploaded by ton2fig.

Today is Singapore National Day, my first holiday here. There are some "national day" events happening at the, where else but the National Stadium. There are national day sales here and there and also national day TV specials.

Have I said "National Day" enough?

Last night was part two of Singapore Fireworks Festival, featuring the Singapore Team. Lots of people gathered around The Merlion and The Esplanade to watch the fireworks display in Marina Bay. Unfortunately, we picked the wrong spot to watch and scrambled for position only after the fireworks started. Nonetheless, I managed to capture some interesting pictures, with people's heads as foreground. The display lasted for about twelve minutes. Bought a tripod yesterday and set the camera on the fireworks setting. There are a couple of interesting snaps, including a "star effect" shown here. I caught them by chance, as I set a one-second delay in shooting so as not to nudge the camera when taking a shot.

This is the star effect, or whatever it's called:


So check the rest of the snaps in here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ton2fig/sets/72157594229349844/

Bum-around Sunday

Sunday began in the late morning with a trip to catch the 12:15PM mass at The Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. It's just one bus stop away from home although it was already starting to rain once we set out. After mass, we headed for Pasir Ris MRT just to see what was there in the area. Pasir Ris is the north-easternmost end of the East-West Line and the one MRT area I haven't explored yet way out east. As it turns out, we didn't really go far and just went to this one mall beside the station. Ate lunch at McDonald's, looked around some shops, and then headed home for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

It was laundry day for me as my hamper was already barfing out my clothes. I did four batches from the afternoon until around 11PM tonight. Almost ran out of hangers. In the following days, I should be ironing the lot of them or else the wrinkles will really be hard to get out.

So while waiting for the laundry to finish, I was either playing SimCity 4, watching cable or watching DVDs. I purchased the DVDs yesterday at Tampines Mall (yeah, right after I wrote that post about NOT spending). This evening, it was Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) showing on good old plasma TV.

This weekend probably marked the first days that I never spent any time in the city. The malls in Tampines area are almost as good as any regular mall, and it's just four MRT stops away from the weekend traffic. I think it's safe to say that going to the city on weekends will get rarer except for special occasions. Malls outside the city -- that's good urban planning for you.

Shore leave

If you're a spending and shopping machine like I currently am (what with the laptop, plasma TV, O2 XDA...), then this article might be a good read for you.

And this after I bought 2 for $30 DVDs of Fargo and About A Boy, a $60 Akira Special Edition, and a $30 Abre Los Ojos. It's been bum-around Saturday for me today. This morning, I went to Tampines Mall, ate McDonald's Chicken Nuggets. I passed G2000 and their "final sale". There were a couple of good buys, shirts, pants. But none, I really, REALLY liked. Besides, the lines were long. So I just went to Fairprice grocery and bought a few things for the bathroom.

After I went home, I just channel surfed, went online and played SimCity4. It's nice to hang out here at home if I really wanted to avoid the weekend crowds. It's breezy, the air is clean, the sun is shining and there's a bunch of food in the fridge. People are milking National Day sales here and there which makes it extra hard to use public transport to the city.

Wednesday is Singapore National Day. Woohoo! Tonight, there will be a fireworks display on Marina Bay. There's a good chance it can be seen from the apartment, as good old #13-03 faces west towards the city.

With a house like this, who'd ever want to go out again?