Smart and not-so-smart face of our smart-to-be nation

Experienced the smart and not-so-smart face of our smart-to-be nation today.

Went to NTUC at Tiong Bahru Plaza to grab an isotonic drink after a run in the afternoon. Started drinking while queuing to pay via the self-service machine. For those of you who are familiar with the self-service machine, the drill goes like this - (1) scan the item(s), (2) place the item(s) into the bag and (3) pay. Was stopped at (2) with a message that assistance is coming my way.

Weird, I thought. So it turned out that the machine detected that the isotonic drink weighted less than it was supposed to be (because I drank half of it!). According to the assistant, some customers buy 2 items but only pay for it and the machine can help to detect this! OMG - so smart right?

Decided to grab tomorrow's breakfast and I only had a credit card with me. And guess what, I did not managed to because Old Chang Kee and Four Leaves do not accept credit cards! Only NETS and cash. I thought these popular shops should have the basic credit facility! OMG - you mean I might go hungry in a smart nation?

Well, I shall not make a mountain out of a molehill. This scenario is not new. Some of the food places like food court only accept cash or their own cashless card too. And that's the time I had to dig my wallet for the notes or the coins  to pay for my food. Well, I am quite cashless these days because I want to use my credit cards to meet my minimum spending and clock points. Must make every dollar and cent spent worked harder right?

Well, it's part of the journey towards a smart nation. I guess. Some amazing discoveries and some expectations not met along the way. We will get there, slowly and surely. 

Yay to long weekend in Singapore

Enjoyed the Hari Raya Puasa long weekend that has just passed. It was great to just rest and not to have to think of work (except for 1 hour on Sunday - no choice, boss messaged).

Spent Saturday packing the house (G was coming to visit) before heading to Ikea (so so crowded) then Vivo City for dinner with the family (SS was flying off to Seoul the next day).

Sunday was spent at home packing again (LOL) before staying over at my parents' place. Feeling very domestic.

No Monday blues as I went cycling at East Coast Park (ECP) with C and KL Did I mention before that we can now cycle from ECP to Marina Bay Sands via the Park Connector Network (PCN)? Have done it thrice and loved it! Definitely looking forward to this healthy fun again soon :) The finale? Meeting Grace for dinner before heading to my place. Was a good catch-up as it has been a while since Maldives (check out Life is an adventure).

Photo stop at the Bay. Glad we started the day early - Singapore is beautiful in the morning too!

That's our CBD.

First time I cycled past the Barrage to MBS. That's the older part of the CBD (as I termed it).

Another beautiful side of Singapore that I seldom see in the morning.

Back to where we started the day at Marine Parade Food Centre. Herd mentality got us queueing for the Kun Ji duck rice/roasted meat and the Da Dong prawn noodle.

Not in sight is the Apollo Fresh Cockle Fried Kway Teow which we have wolfed down- surprised there was no queue!

#ilovelongvacationsg #longweekend #harirayapuasa #food #East Coast Park #MarinaBaySand #ECP #MBS #MarineParadeFoodCentre

SMART goals - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely

Met up with D yesterday and she was sharing what she wants to do with her life next. I was just blogging about the goals I want to achieve by 2021 as few days back. Rather coincidental - perhaps signs that are telling me to go for them!

Working overseas was one of the many things on my to-do list many years back but I did not have the courage to ask for an opportunity. I really don't know if I speak for my generation (the Gen Y) but I wish I was as brave as D and the millennials when I was their age - to have that relentless spirit to pursue their dreams. There is no way I can do that now. The only way is to move forward :)

Of the many things that I have learnt during my stint in HR, one of them is goal-setting in a SMART way - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. And yes, I have set the SMART goals on the sticky notes on my laptop. And surprisingly, I found it a lot easier to set smart personal goals than the annual goals that I had to set at work.

 #livingformyself

Walk and Dim Sum Chinatown

Sometimes, it's quite ironic that we travel the world to explore far flung places while we  have not explored so many places in our own backyard. A mental note to myself to check out more places in Singapore and share them with you #ilovelongvacationsg

It was Dim Sum time with the family last Sunday #throwback Been a while since I have been to Chinatown and I took the chance to walk around after lunch. Feels like a tourist in my country and don't get me wrong - it feels good.

Kind of bring back good memories of Jonker Street in Malacca and Georgetown in Penang. Definitely a good place to hunt for vintage stuff -  saw some metal posters going for $6 each (think they will cost double in the shops). So fascinated by the find that I forgot to take pictures of them! Haha. Anyways, sharing some pictures I took below

Didn't knew we had a visitor center in Chinatown! Visitor centres are usually one of the first places I visit when I travel, especially if I did not do much research. Good to see one at home - go check them out, friends of Singapore！

So we have these floor markers in Singapore too! Very apt to use rickshaw on the floor marker in Chinatown as in chinese, 牛车水 literally means 'trishaw pulled by cows'.  

Spotted our very own ice-cream on rickshaw before entering Buddha Tooth Relic Temple for the first time.Was asked to leave as my dress was 4cm above the knees. Oops. Do take note of attire if you are planning to visit. 

Dim sum at Tak Po was OK but considered good for the price - less than $100 for 5 pax. The frog leg claypot porride was good - must try! :)

Morning detox drink and mid-life crisis

Just came back from an evening walk to the supermarket with some ingredients for a morning detox drink which I have skipped for a week. I started on this diet because my flat belly is disappearing - not sure if it works but I definitely feel healthier. 

Cut up some lemons, oranges, cucumbers and mint and dumped them into ice water and voila, ready to drink the next morning! Feeling good - it can be quite therapeutic to be domestic sometimes. Guess I'm getting old.

Been thinking about how I can spent my weekends better these days. Do think that I spent my weekdays doing meaningful work. As for weekends, well, it's great to just rest after 5 days at work but it does feel like a waste of time sometimes (maybe I'm a workaholic haha).

While I like what I do for a living, it can feel quite meh at times. After all, it's working (and living) for a paymaster. And like it or not, there are times when I wish I am living for myself a bit more. Maybe mid-life crisis came early? Do fellow Gen Ys feel the same? Or is it just me?

Well, time to set some goals and to work towards them in the next 4 years (till my 5-year HDB MOP is up) on weekends. Even if I only spend 4 hours each every Saturday and Sunday on achieving them, that would take me closer to living for myself, right?

Feeling good that I have set the goals. Gonna make some SMART plans to achieve them!

My first one-pan pasta

Been trying to use the kitchen in the new place more. After all, it was half the renovation cost and the kitchen next to the entry way turned out nicely :) Quite ironic for someone who does not cook and lives to eat. LOL.

There's a first time for everything. So today, I made my first one-pan pasta and tried this one-pan pasta recipe by Martha Stewart which I read in The Straits Times a few months back. Quite an easy recipe and pasta turned out quite tasty too. Did not read that it was a recipe meant for four though. Cooked too much although I halved the ingredients. What a waste of food! Lesson learnt - got to read the recipe more carefully next time.

News clipping of the recipe for reference and keepsake.  

Other lessons: for some reasons, it took more than 9  minutes to cook till al dente and the water did not evaporate. Maybe too much water or the pot was too small.  Well, practice makes perfect!

Appetising colours!  

Prepared a mini salad too. That was easy and the third time I did it. Just a toss of some greens, corns, cucumber, honey ham, sesame dressing together. I like the $2 sesame dressing from Daiso - really value for money. Today, I decided to put the honey ham (frozen) into the pot pasta and it tasted much nicer than when it was 'raw'. Maybe cooking it enhanced the taste of the honey? Lesson learnt : Cook the honey ham in future.  

Cooking for one can be quite challenging. Ingredients are usually sold in bigger portions. Take for instant, the basil leaves bought more than a week back. It has turned brown by the time I got down to cooking the pasta. The bag of mini cucumbers are turning mushy too. So perhaps need to pack a homemade salad to office on a weekdays should I decide to cook over 2 weekends...

Life is an adventure

Hi there! Guess the one-sentence journal didn't really work for me. Found it unsustainable - guess my day-to-day life is well, not that interesting. Haha. Am glad I tried though. Otherwise I wouldn't know.

Been to Maldives and Tokyo in January and March. Been some other movements in my life, besides travel.

The first three months of 2017 have been exciting. Not only because it was the first time I stepped onto the soil of both, or rather sand in the former :P I also officially moved into my new place after returning from Maldives in January and moved on in my career life in March. It's not all excitement - there were some apprehension and sadness, leaving familiar places and faces. But cliche as it sounds, life is an adventure. And I am looking forward to new adventures.

Been thinking about blogging for a while. Been trying to sort out the pictures as I really want to blog/press about my trips - still struggling to.  For now, sharing 2 videos.

Maldives is indeed paradise on earth, partly because we stayed in a sea villa (over the water villa as they call it) in Cinnamon Dhonveli Maldives. For four days and three nights, we were waking up and falling asleep to the music of the waves, seeing sunrise right at your doorstep and seeing stars right above you with the sunbed on your back, walking around the resort surrounded by blue skies and waters 24/7 and good company. Very blissed indeed to start the first week of 2017 this way.

Home in Maldives :)

Tokyo was a mad last-minute decision. A break I managed to squeeze in-between my old job and new. It was crazy - booking the flight a week before, accommodation a few days before, putting together the itinerary like 48 hours before, flying off solo a few hours after saying goodbye to my ex-colleagues. Flight and accommodation were ridiculously high - for a flexible traveller like me! Guess it was all worth it for the SAKURA and well, SNOW! Japan and nature decided to give me a bonus in Hakone. I have been thinking about a white winter for a while - this was as close as I could get. Unexpectedly. Very thankful to end the last week of the first quarter of 2017 this way.

Owakudani in Hakone in the first video I made with iMovie!

No travel plans for this quarter yet - will see if I can squeeze a weekend off in June from all the happenings in my new job. Meanwhile, guess I will focus on blogging/pressing about Maldives and Tokyo now that my weekends are less packed, having gotten into the groove of my new life. Can't wait to share the pictures of my adventures :)

One Sentence Journal l 22 January 2017

Found it challenging to do this daily. Here's a throwback to an eventful Sunday. Went for Piloxing as usual, had my first acai and did my nails for the lunar new year! Managed to squeeze in time to do shopping for the house too!!

Checked out Haakon at Holland Raffles. Like the Scandinavia interior - lots of wood, white and grey. Acai was refreshing but a tad too healthy for lunch personally. The superfood salad menu looks good though. 

One Sentence Journal l 14 January 2017

Celebrated MQ birthday today with lobster at Pince and Pints!

One Sentence Journal l 10 - 13 January 2017

Survived the first working week of the year. Found it tough to jot down a sentence in the journal daily. So here's one for the last 4 days.

10 January

Forgot to bring my running gears so no evening run round the Bay! Decided to go to IKEA to shop for the house. Again. A note to myself : no more salmon at IKEA cafe! Tried two salmon dishes so far and both fell short...

11 January 

Feeling tired midweek. But lunch from Omnivore was good! 

12 January 

First time to Republic Polytechnic. Going back to school feels really energising. So looking forward to learning new things and using the SkillsFuture credits this year!

13 January

Happy to end the week on a positive note and another step closer to a new opportunity. Think I must have started the day right with fresh air when I passed by the nursery in the hood this morning. 

One Sentence Journal l 9 January 2017

First working day of 2017. A better start than I imagined. Opportunities still abound.
Spotted some pretty white blooms on the way home :) Always great to end the day with some daylight.

One Sentence Journal l 6 - 8 January 2017

Didn't get to blog the last few days, hence a 3 in 1!

6 January was our last day in Maldives. Wish we had stayed longer. The highlight of the trip was definitely the snorkeling with turtles! Also visited a sand bank which was so untouched.

Back in Singapore on 7 January early morning and rested at my parent's place for the rest of the day before heading home. It's good to be home despite the post holidays blues :p

Started 8 January, the first Sunday of the year, with Piloxing which I really enjoy. Have not really seen the results though so perhaps time to up the ante this year? Maybe join 1 more cardio activity weekly - hmmm... shall see if this comes true. Bought the very first fridge of my life today and well, had sundae at Sunday Folks for the very first time too! Yummy for a super sunny day! And no queue :)

Not bad a weekend before starting the first work week of 2017 tomorrow!

One Sentence Journal l 5 January 2017

Still beach bumming at Maldives and wondering at nature's creations. Spot the kingfisher we spotted on the way to breakfast?

One Sentence Journal l 4 January 2017

Surreal to blog under the stars in our Maldives resort tonight. For city dwellers, it's almost impossible to see stars from the comfort of our home. It's been an eat-excursion-beach-eat-swim-excursion-eat day 2. Life's a beach, for now.

One Sentence Journal l 3 January 2017

It's great to listen to the waves and blog in the water villa in our resort in Maldives. Feel blissed to be in Maldives which is indeed beautiful and Cinnamon Dhonveli is quite a nice property.

Went for the Dolphin Sunset Cruise, half sceptical that we might not see any. Very blissed to see so many! Happiness!!

And double the happiness to see the sun setting from the sea! :)

都忘记了原来幸福可以很简单. 

One Sentence Journal l 2 January 2017

Belated post. Spent the second day of the new year trying to get to Male. Going to spend the first week of 2017 in Maldives!

Good to travel with E and G again after BKK 2015, and first trip with PY.

Can't wait to hit our resort which is a 30-min speedboat ride from Male later.

One Sentence Journal l 1 January 2017

Having scored a zero for blogging in 2016, its time to start afresh in 2017. Saw this book Happiness Project One Sentence Journal by Gretchen Rubin last December - inspired to get started on mine. Well, shall try! 

Started the first day of 2017 with one of my favourite activities - reading the newspaper before getting started on reviewing my finances in 2016. Not a great year when it comes to financial health and definitely hoping it will get healthier in 2017. Continued packing - it is such a chore but I am lucky to have the luxury of time to complete my move. 

Looking forward to sharing more about life at the new home in the next 365 days. May everyday be amazing in 2017!

L