4/29/15

I know this won't be seen but I just want to take this opportunity to greet a good friend of mine a happy birthday! Its a shame that I can't celebrate with him right now but I hope to see him soon together with the rest of our gang!

4/28/15 - Singapore 2015 (Day 3)

Here's day 3 of my trip to SG. Day 2 recap here.

I woke up early to visit the PAL Ticket office in SG. Fortunately, I found the directions from the website and found out that it was not so far from the hostel area.

I went there first thing in the morning since I had plans throughout the day. I was able to talk to the ticket lady and got myself waitlisted for at least 3 more flights including the weekends. My ticket is open-dated so I ca actually extend my stay. Though it would mean that I would have to take an absence in work but it's alright.

I walked my way to Bras Basah where the Singapore Art Museum is located. My friend suggested me to check it out.

The entrance fee is around 10 sgd. It had good art pieces on display.However, I was quite disappointed that my timing was off as there were a lot of installations ongoing while I was there which means some of the gallery were not yet ready and I didn't get to see all of the exhibit. It was still fascinating to see all the artworks on display.It makes me wonder why I've never really explored museums in the Philippines or perhaps there aren't as many to go to.

I finished quite early and I got to walk towards Suntec and Marina Square mall which I intended to see initially. I bought a CD from HMV before leaving the area.

I decided to go to Chinatown and have lunch there. There were plenty of people everywhere so I had nowhere else to eat but in Subway in one of the establishments in the area.

I roamed around the streets of Chinatow afterwards and found many cheap items that could be bought as gifts. I would have bought some but I already bought some gifts the day before. I also didn't want to have plenty of carriage with me.

I was meeting up with my friend at around 3pm so I took the MRT going to Harbourfront/Vivo City where we will proceed to Sentosa after.

My friend was late so I had time to walk around the mall and look around. When my friend showed up, he suggested to take the tram instead of walking the boardwalk since it would be more convenient and the ticket wasn't so expensive.

After arriving at Sentosa, we immediately took plenty of pictures allover. We didn't really have enough money to go inside Universal Studios but we still had plenty of things to see outside. The attractions were quite expensive so we didn't get to avail them as well but we did take the Skyline and Luge ride where we had to ride a go-kart and head to the beaches. The beach was amazing considering that it was man-made. The water isn't so clear though but it was a good place to chill. It even drizzled a bit but it stopped shortly after.

We left Sentosa early and decided to meetup again later for dinner.

I promised him a dinner treat as my farewell treat before I leave. We ate at a restaurant at a mall in Sengkang. I forgot the name but it was a upper end cafe. Our dinner almost failed since he planned to work on his photos while working but the cafe told us they didn't offer wi-fi.My friend had to use the wifi on his phone instead. 

We both had pasta for food and we got to talk about random as well as personal stuff. It was a good conversation to end the night and the whole day as well.

At that point, I didn't feel like leaving SGyet and continued to hope that I would get confirmed on a flight to a different day.

I continued going back to the Mustafa centre at midnight just for some alone time before finally deciding to call it a day.

4/27/15

Today is the first of my 3 consecutive rest days this week. I don't really have plans but I hope to get some rest and organize stuff. It's not going as planned so far but I still have time. The heat is just unbearable these past few days so it's really hard to move around.

I've been trying to do more workout lately since I'm hitting the beach in a few weeks. I don't see significant results yet but whatever happens, I won't be dissatisfied with my physical appearance.

4/22/15 - Avengers: Age Of Ultron

I watched The Avengers: Age Of Ultron today. I bought my ticket early since I know a lot of people will be watching and I was not mistaken. I was supposed to watch with some of my friends but due to some conflicts, they couldn't go so I just watched it by myself.

The movie was good enough but I was quite underwhelmed and that's saying a lot considering that I wasn't too hyped for this movie. It tried to insert some humor in it but for some reason, some of them were not effective. It had great action scenes though. It was also good to see some backstory for some of them as well as getting introduced to new characters like Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch. There are some scenes that are quite confusing and dragging. I also felt that the romance between two certain characters felt a bit rushed.

The movie was running for more than 2 hours but I feel like I wated to see more. Not really sure if that's a good or bad thing though.

I wonder if they are going to tie this up with the TV show, Agents Of Shield.

4/18/15 - World Of DC Fun Run

Earlier today, me and my friends from work participated in a fun run held in SM Mall of Asia. The theme was World of DC so we were running in superhero designed shirts with matching accessories.

We all dressed up as Batman and ended up running the 3K route since stocks and slots for the other superhero designs and race routes were already sold out.

This is just my second fun run that I've participated in so I was quite excited. Unfortunately, the event was poorly handled and it turned out to be a disappointment. It should be considered that it is the first time that this was done so I hope that the organizers do a better preparation next year if there will be a repeat.

But it was great to run with my friends though. We haven't had a chance to go out recently due to our busy schedules so it was nice to catch-up with everyone even for a short while.

We had brunch in Recovery Food in BGC afterwards before going home.

We're planning to go on an outing but we're having problems with venue and scheduling. I really hope it pushes through. It's been something we have been planning since early this year.

4/14/15 - Singapore 2015 (Day 2)

Here's day 2 of my trip in SG. Day 1 recap here.

I surprisingly woke up early on my second day. After the tiring first day, I thought I'll be sleeping more/ But that's perfectly fine as I already had plans with my friend in the morning.

I walked my way to Bugis just by using the map for directions. Most of the stores were still closed but the mall, Bugis Junction, just opened and it was hot so I went there for some sightseeing and airconditioning. I was planning to buy some souvenir items for pasalubong in the area since my friend's stylist told me that it was a place to get cheap gifts.

The bazaar area was still closed so I had to settle for the stores inside the mall. I was able to buy myself a watch from Cotton On.

I was scheduled to meet my friend at his place for lunch so I left the mall early. However, the bazaar area was open when I passed by so I decided to do some last minute shopping before leaving the area. I got a local SG shirt and a bunch of keychains that were enough for the people back home.

I rode the train to Punggol which was the last stop of the purple line and the area where my friend stays. It was a residential area so I was greeted by mostly apartments and condominiums when I got down. There were barely a sign of commercial buildings so I wondered where my friend would take me.

We had lunch at this mini food court and had me try the chicken rice which is supposed to be one of SG's well-known dishes. Unfortunately, I had no appetite during my whole trip but the food was good though!

It turns out that the area had some nature sights to offer. We took a short bus trip going to Punggol Waterways where we can view the beach. It had a deck and a turtle pond as well as a walkway where you can rent and ride a bicycle. It was a good place to chill out. We took some good photos before heading back to the city.

We were going to meet my friend's stylist at Orchard road so we took the MRT. While waiting, we tried the dollar ice cream that was popular among the streets of SG. We also went to this bookstore that occupied an entire floor in one of the malls.

We finally caught up with the stylist and decided to head to the Marina Bay Sands area. I got to see the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Gardens By The Bay, Merlion, and cross the Esplanade. I wanted to go to these places up close but my friend suggested against it, especially the Merlion since it was quite overrated plus we didn't really have much time and we're all tired from walking. We just took a couple of pictures along the bay and entered the mall. I invited them to ride the Singapore flyer, a big ferris wheel. They haven't rode it yet so we almost got lost trying to find it. We had to cross the helix bridge and walk down the streets to go there. Unfortunately, the price was too expensive for our budget so we decided not to go. We just hang around a Subway resto at the ground floor where there were restaurants. We spent some time looking and choosing photos from the previous day's shoot and talk about career plans and struggles as well.

We went to Clarke Quaye afterwards to ride the G-Max after my friend suggested it. It was a reverse bungee ride which will throw you up in the sky! Me and my friend rode it and it was very fun! It was scary at first after watching people go up and flip around but it's not that scary once you're on it. We even saw a great view from the top. The area was such a good place to have drinks and chill out but my friend's stylist had to go for a birthday party to attend to so me and my friend decided to have dinner somewhere in Somerset but ended up in a food court at a mall in Orchard road if I'm not mistaken. We had time to catch up with each other's  lives and even talked about extending my trip for a sure flight back home.

Back in the hostel, I couldn't sleep so I decided to go to Mustafa centre tolook around.This time, I made sure to remember the exits so I won't get lost again. I also got in touch with my mom and talked about the possibility of extending my trip just in case.

4/11/15

We had our first ever summer camp outing for our team. I'm glad we were able to pull it off. The members of our team who volunteered to organize it were planning this for more than 2 months and the result was good. We were able to have fun while maintaining operations for work. It also served as a goodbye of sort for our big boss who is leaving the company.

We had played games, ate plenty of food, and had a great time in the pool! I hope we'll be able to do it again next time.