Goodwood porridge.

This morning is my mum's blood test for tomorrow's chemo session. We reached the hospital at about 9 am, she had her blood test done, and we had to wait to see her doctor. Wait wait wait, finally saw the doc at about 11 am. Seems like everything is going well, he's given the go ahead for her to fly to my graduation next month. He will send her for a scan after she's back on the last week of December, then see him again in the first week of January next year.

 

Being the last session tomorrow, we were feeling rather relieved and excited. It calls for a celebration, haha, so we went to eat the Taiwan Porridge A La Carte Buffet at Goodwood Park Hotel. Her appetite has been really good these days, which is a good thing, so we are pumping her with all the nice food. Come next week, her appetite will most probably be fluctuating.

 

Nice ambience.

 

Desserts spread.

There was a buffet menu, which we could order anything on it, such as omelette, toufu in japanese sauce and pork floss, prawns in black bean sauce and prawn paste chicken. The quality of the food is stupendous! Every single dish was really yummy, except for one eggplant thingy which tasted weird. As if the dishes wasn't enough, the buffet also came with desserts. The chocolate cake was really rich, but their famed durian puffs were not there though. =(

 

Pork floss toufu.

 

Fried fish thingy.

 

Squid, veges and codfish.

 

Porridge.

 

Spicy squid.

 

Century egg toufu.

 

Black bean prawns.

 

Bean sprouts and prawn paste chicken.

 

Desserts counter.

 

Cake and ice cream!

It was a wonderfully satisfying lunch for all of us, not only as a prelude to mum's last session, but also marking my first week back. Hehe. This time last week, I was still on the plane charging towards Changi Airport. It's great to be back. Everything will go well and smooth tomorrow.

Sunday valediction.

Dearest friend,

 

You came.

You touched many of us with your sincerity, compassion, graciousness and purity.

And now you are on your way again.

It was short, way too short!

But nonetheless, it has been a wonderful 3 days. I remember your initial apprehension about meeting us, as you are afraid that after seeing each other, there won't be any 'mystery' left in the friendship. Haha. Your graciousness was evident on Friday night at East Coast, where you were fighting with everyone to pay for the food and drinks. You made us feel rather bad, as you are the guest, and we should be the ones getting the food. Please do not do that again next time. =)

Purity shines through from the way you speak and interacted with us. For many of us, it was as if we were meeting up with a long time friend, rather than for the first time. We were all comfortable in your presence. If Friday night was building the friendship bridge, Saturday night was definitely reinforcing it, strengthening its foundations.

Sorry I was not able to join you for lunch on Sunday afternoon, but we were still able to spend a last few good hours before you set off. Thank you for the wonderful gift, and the truly momentous weekend. This is not goodbye, our paths will definitely cross again in the future. Till we meet again, take care, my good friend.  

I dedicate this poem to you;

Arched Across The Sky

Hope

Rainbows created my imagination
As it arched across the sky
On one end there sat you
At the other end, there sat I

Imagining I could slide across
Over the rainbow to the end
There would be my pot of gold
The sweet love of my dear friend

The rainbow is a connection
Like a bridge from me to you
It appears joined by sunlight
Then the grey skies turn to blue

Arriving after the rainstorms
It became so evident to me
Thoughts of love follow rainbows
They arched right across the sea

A colourful arching rainbow
It has no gate, it has no door
It reaches from friend to friend
It arches from shore to shore

I smiled up today at the sky
How far would my loving smile go
It slid right over to the other side
The other end of the coloured rainbow

 

Yours sincerely,
jh

Saa..sa..saa..Saturday.

It is my first weekend back in Singapore, and my oh my has it been hectic. I woke up at almost 12 noon today! My mum, sis and me were going out to have lunch together, at Crystal Jade in Vivocity. I have not been there before, but my sis has, and according to her the food there is good good. We ordered 2 individual set menu thingys, which consisted of 6 or 7 small dishes, and some dim sums and roast pork (my craving).

 

Menu.

 

Sharky fins.

 

Roast porky.

 

Buttery prawns.

 

Steamy fish.

 

Sea cucumber, abalone, mushroom brisket thingy.

 

Grilled lamb.

 

Gooey almond paste.

The food was really good! Im not much of a food critic anyway, so anything that tastes nice and fresh is good enough for me. Can tell from the presentation of the food pieces that much efforts were put into making them aesthetically nice, accompanied by the quality and freshness of the seafoods and meats. Their service was commendable too, the waitresses come around to replenish our tea cups every few minutes. Haha. After the hearty lunch I walked out to the harbourfront to take in the view of the currently building sentosa integrated resorts. Construction seems to be moving along fine by the looks of it.

 

Sentosa bridge.

Constructions.

What better way to burn those after meal calories than.....to exercise! I went to play badminton with my sis and her friends after lunch. Playing here is so different from playing in the Gold Coast. Over there, I can barely squeeze a drop of sweat out, but today, I was sweating like a pig after half an hour or so! I was playing singles with my sis, 2 against one with her and her friend, and doubles too. At the end of it all, my thigh muscles were aching from all the stretching and bending over. Haha. We played for close to three hours, til about 6, and I had to rush home to shower.

 

Badminton.

Badminton.

What better way to replenish those lost calories and energy than.....to eat!...again! I was meeting an ex-schoolmate of mine, who graduated last year, for dinner. The last time I saw her was about 3 months ago, and there were much catching up to do. We used to hang out every other day during the second semester of last year, together with other Singaporean friends, and she demands that I update her on what has been happening. We went to Thai Express at Marina Square to eat. I was initially quite against the idea, as I don't have very fond memories of Thai Express, their food tastes rather bland. But this time, I was pleasantly surprised.

 

Tom yum soup.

Soft shell crab rice.

Vermicelli!

Yay, full.

The soft shell crab and rice thingy was nicely done, with some sort of pseudo satay sauce, which tastes a bit like peanut butter too. Tom Yam soup steamboat was a tad too spicy, and they gave rather small portions of chicken, fish and squid, 2 prawns, and a whole lump of glass noodles! Overall was not too bad, I enjoyed the company more than the food though. After dinner we took a walk to the esplanade area, considering whether to have desserts at Max Brenners. But we were too full, so we walked around the Marina Waterfront area, chatting and taking photos (very touristy, I know).

 

Mysterious girl.

Romancing Fullerton.

I ended the night with her at about 10pm, and went to meet a few other friends, including a special guest from Auckland. But that is another story for another time, tomorrow perhaps. Good night, and thank you for the fantastic day. 

Que Pasa No.5

Met up with a good friend whom I have not seen for almost a year. The last time we met up was probaby starting of this year, during my summer holidays. It was a rather last minute thing, she was saying she will be in the town area later, and asked if I wanted to meet up for dinner or drinks. I was at the gym when she asked, and I have dinner at home, so I told her we can meet for drinks after I have dinner with my mum. Spent about 45mins in the gym, running and doing some machines, and rushed home to bathe and eat dinner.

 

By the time I reached town was about 8.15pm. Met her outside Heeren, as I parked there, and we proceeded to Que Pasa as she wanted to eat their pizza. Que Pasa is sneakily tugged behind Centrepoint, together with a few other watering holes. Even though I already ate, I couldn't help but sneak a few slices of their famed pizza. I only realised I havn't taken a photo of the pizza until there was only a slice left. -_- It was that good.

 

Que Pasa.

 

Pizza, or whatever's left of it.

After finishing our drinks and pizza, we crawled to pub next door, No.5, as they were having Martini Happy Hour. 2 Martinis for $15 between 9pm to 1am. It is about as cheap as it gets, nowhere else I know charge cheaper drinks for that quality of a Martinis. I made her drink the strongest concoction they have, Dry Gin Martini, and it was really phwoarh! We updated each other about the various happenings since we last met, eating freeflow peanuts at the same time. We ordered their famed chicken wings, and second drink, Choya Martini, which was euuuwwwkkk. Don't understand why girls like choya, even my sis and aunts like it, to me, Choya tastes like some herbal medicine gone wrong.

 

Dry Gin Martinis.

 

Best friends forever! Haha.

 

Chicken wings.

It was a nice catching up session, and definitely not the last. Thank you for the wonderful evening.  

The prodigal? son returns.

Yay, it is very comforting to be stepping on home soil again. The feeling of euphoria surrounded me when the plane's wheels hit the tarmac of the runway. It is the same feeling I get the many times I have returned home, and everytime without fail, the air stewardess will say something like this shortly after landing; "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to singapore, and to all returning Singaporeans, a very warm welcome home." Awwww, cue warm and fuzzy feeling. The first thing I did when I saw my mum was give her a nice long hug. Hehe. My sis was saying I'm the only person who came out of the arrival gate and hug someone. Nothing wrong with showing affection right? Haha. We had a nice long chat throughout the journey home, afterwhich she cooked something for me to eat. I was rather tired already, given that GC is 2 hrs ahead, and I have been sleeping rather early the past week or so. Konked out shortly after midnight.

 

Anyway I didn't manage to finish my post yesterday, wanted to post some pictures too, but the public address system annouced for me to board the plane. Timing was a little bit tight yesterday, as I finished my final exam at about 11.45am. My friends came to school to pick me at about 12.15pm, reached the airport an hour later. After checking in and everything, it was almost 2pm already, leaving me with about 20mins to write whatever I could. It was a very nice gesture from my friends who sent me to the airport, I was initially expecting just one or two of them to accompany me, instead 4 of them came along! I'm sure it's the perfect excuse to spend the afternoon in Brisbane after dropping me off. Haha. Even so, I'm truly grateful for their graciousness.

 

Exams, yes exams. I had one paper on Monday, and one yesterday morning. Preparation for them were rather last minute, as I spent the whole of last week doing an assignment that was due last Friday. Overall the papers were challenging, but manageable. I was sufficiently prepared, and surprisingly managed to remember all the concepts and frameworks that I was supposed to. I'm hopeful for a couple of distinctions and a couple of credits, but I'll be happy with whatever I get. =)

 

Here are some final shots of my last few days at Mermaid. I miss the beach already! I'm used to hearing the roar of the waves slapping against the hard sand, even from my room, it's rather uneasy to not be hearing them anymore.

 

Cause i'm leaving....on a jetplane.

 

Returning room to originality.

 

Chop! Who literally grew out of my housemate's wooden chopping block. Funny.

 

Last look at the ocean.

 

Neighbour's edible plants.

 

molesting the pork.

 

Yummy spread.

 

Wipe that smirk off your face.

 

Fabulous four.

Requiem for a dream.

And so, the time has come. Right now im sitting at some corner at the Brisbane Airport, waiting to board the plane. A wave of sadness overwhelmed me this morning, just after I left my ex-residence at Mermaid Beach. As I was walking to the bus stop to catch my bus to school, the skies opened slightly. It was as though my heart was crying, or the place was calling out to me to stay a little longer. Mermaid beach has been my home and place of solitude for the past 3 months. All good things have to come to an end, though sad, I will bring with me the many wonderful memories I have of the place, the people, the beach and the sea throughout my life journey. It has truly been a special chapter of my life, and I am so grateful for everything.

 

The many days and nights spent sitting on the balcony, enjoying the breeze and looking out into the endless horizon, giving me strength and inspiration to complete my last semester here dutifully. The wonderful neighbours I have, always looking out for one another, the meals we had together, parties we played together, jokes we made about each other and times we spent with one another, will never be duplicated again.

 

My last night on the coast was yet another memorable one. My housemate and neighbours thought of cooking a special dinner for my farewell, called the Last Supper. Haha. Even though most of us are frantically studying for the exams, they took time to cook up a nice and hearty meal of roast pork.

 

Opps..time to board the plane. I better end here, before I miss my flight. Thank you all, my friends. All the best in your life journeys. Cheers.

 

Love.

John Lennon - Love

John Lennon

Just saw a documentary on tv, which was about John Lennon, and the solo album he produced. This song is so beautiful, as good as argubly his most famous work, Imagine. 4 more nights and I will be out of this place in Mermaid Beach. Will definitely miss everyone here, especially my wonderful housemate. Better study for my paper on Monday. Cheers.

BBQ BBQ!

During the start of the semester, one of the first things I did with my friends was to have a BBQ. It was only apt that we ended the semester off the same way yesterday. Instead of the magnificent 8, there's the terrific 10 now, with 2 additions for the night. As usual, we went to buy lots of food, about $120 worth of them. Haha. Sidetrack a bit, meat and vegetables are getting really expensive nowadays! The same amount of stuff we got yesterday would probably have cost $90-$100 half a year ago. I can't believe brocholli is now selling at $6++ a kilo. The highests I've seen it go was $9+ a kilo, cheapest probably $1+ a kilo. Blame inflation!

 

Anyways, back to topic. Yesterday's BBQ was probably going to be one of the last meet ups for most of us, as exams are coming up, thereafter everyone will start making their way back to Singapore. Long story short, we had lots of fun eating, talking cock, playing mahjong and monopoly. With some of us graduating this semester, it will be difficult to gather everyone together again in the future, but I'm sure we will take with us all the fond memories. Here's to friends! Cheers!

 

Folding plastic bags.

Plastic bag origami.

Plastic bag samosa.

 

Go fire go!

 

Satay uncles fanning the charcoal.

 

Carcinogenic food.

 

Wow salad!

 

The nua pose.

 

Watching Australian Idol.

 

Army tee.

 

Sitting around chatting.

 

Feeling sleepy.

 

Memories aplenty.

Friends

HM3

Growing pains
Broken chains
A sad melody

Falling tears
Listening ears
A friend just for me

Reaching out
Sharing doubt
When life gets me down

Hands to clutch
Gentle touch
Can turn me around

Spoken words
Softly heard
Cognitivity

Holding tight
Loving light
Calm serenity

Thank you all, my friends.