Marching on - JanuarIED

March started off on a positive note for a job hunter like me. Started the day with a trip to the far east of Singapore (took about 90minutes!) for an interview. If not for it, it is most unlikely that I will step into this part of my homeland. Sometimes I find it ironic that people fly for hours to a foreign land and yet do not have the motivation to explore places at home. I plead guilty at times and I definitely want to explore these places during my long vacation (by when it will end, I do not know but I'm marching on in search of that ideal (or near ideal) job :)

It's funny how time seems to slow down in the first 2 months of my long vacation (1 spent in Scandinavia and 1 spent in the quiet year-end job market) and how it seems to fly in the last 2 months! For those of you who have been envying me, job hunting turned out to be a full time job (San pay package!) with its own ups and downs which I shall not (do not want to) elaborate...

So how have I been JanuaryING and FebruaryING? Let's do a stock-take (with the photos taken with my S3). January first,  then February in the next post...

Went to the Asian Civilisation Museum Open House on New Year day.

With YK and our New Year drinks at Clark Quay :)




Fishball noodles after my first interview of the year at Tanjong Pagar Market(by the way, it is now closed for renovation. This was surreal because the stall used to be at Lau Pa Sat and I always had it when I needed some comfort food. I was thinking about it when I chanced upon it. Such is life.

Famous peanut ice kacang at Tanjong Pagar Market.

Went to Johor Bahru City Square with my equally jobless sister and happy to see Xu Liu San from Hong Kong. I miss Hong Kong! 

Hmmm... one more reason to cross the causeway more often :)

Zo cards! Found during spring cleaning.

Watched Le Miserables and found a drawing of it (which I did in secondary school so MANY years back) during spring cleaning. Ah...

Meet up with the girls (some mothers now) from Hall 8!

We had collagen soup at a Japanese restaurant at Plaza Singapura. A bit ironic (see the irony?) :P

  

Went to Tanjong Pagar for a hair cut and ate at the market again! The Nasi Lemak which attracted a long queue I went last time. No queue this time so we ate.

Looking a bit geeky with bangs :P

  

Collected my new lomo camera - Holga 135BC - from Groupon! My new toy I got for myself last christmas (lazy to collect earlier) - also a reward for job hunting so diligently.

At the Changi Airport to pick my brother up from the airport. He's back from Stockholm, back to reality.

I made this card for LMQ's XXth Birthday :)

And we took part in the Green Corridor Run 2013. Different from the usual road runs and marina bay sands views. It's fun - do try it next year!

And on the last day of January 2013, I attended my cousin's wedding (funny how the cousin, younger by so many years, will have to give me an ang bao next year...) ! Happy marriage, MX!

Also attended a 3 days course on Change Management at the HCS (Human Capital School)... I guess I blogged more and twitted more (excited to have more followers now!) Check out my wordpress blog (ilovelongvacation) for pictures of my Scandinavia trip!

Not sure if I achieved too much or too little in January. Guess it was nothing to shout about. I probably could have done some of these even if I was working, I guess. Well, well. This is life and it has to go on, employed or not, like it or not.

I would say January was good. Happy Marching everyone!



Happy Snake Year!

Come to think of it, this is the first chinese new year that I did not have to work. For the past week, it has been funny watching my parents rush in and out of the house to buy stuff to welcome the year of the Snake. Tempers do fly at times, with both of them flustered at each other. Sometimes, I get it too! From my mother who makes remarks like 'still don't want to work after so many months', 'thought you say very easy to find a job when I told you not to quit' etc. Blah.

Not the most enviable position to be in. But well, some things are beyond my control and I have tried (and still trying) my best at job hunting. Hope the ideal job will come by in the Snake Year. Meanwhile I am going to enjoy my long vacation while it lasts (who knows when the next one will be?). Have signed up to volunteer with the National Library Board and also enrolled for a social media marketing course in February, and looking forward to to next weekend trip to Bintan (to kind of celebrate my birthday)! :)

And to make myself feel more useful at home, I partake in the making of mini spring rolls :P Happy Snake Year! :)

Top: Cut up the popiah skin (flour wrap) into squares and dash a bit of floss (prawn fried with chili) onto them and wrap them up like a popiah.
Bottom: All ready to fry!

Crisp is how they are after they are fried!

Stored for Chinese New Year. Depleting by the day though as we have been munching them away! :P

Love hunt

Been a great first weekend of February! Joined the My Paper Love Hunt with my sister on Saturday, which is like an amazing race around Bugis Junction and Bugis Plus. My first time - fun but tiring. A good experience to add to my CV should I consider joining the real amazing race!

What better way to start February than a love hunt? :)

Had lunch at Bugis Plus - Seoul Yummy before the race. My kimchi ramen and the side dishes were ok, not fantastic. Maybe I can try the army stew next time - kind of reminded me about the army stew at Manna at Amoy Street... 

Top: Ramen with rice cake. Bottom: Kimchi Pancake which was quite nice. We usually order seafood pancake so this was a good change. It tasted a bit sour, so quite appetising.

And today (sunday!), I went to the Group Therapy at Duxton Street for brunch with MQ. We were there for about 4 hours so that's good testimony for the place. Crowded but not too noisy, with a quiet buzz about it.

Top: Chicken and mushroom pie was good. It was light which was good for me, as I had 2 cups of latte! The cous cous salad was nice too and with the chips, this makes for a marginal utility maximising meal :P MQ had the biggie all-day breakfast!



Top: The Piccolo Latte was good - very smooth and satisfying. A bit small though, but I guess that's typical. Bottom: Chai Latte which was good too (not as good as the ones in Scandinavia but it's nice :P). MQ had lychee red tea which the cafe topped up a few times (we didn't have to ask) and that (and the drizzle, the quaint view from the cafe and the chatter) kept us around for a while.

May February be a month filled with the things we love and love to do!  :)