A Year Older

A big thank you to everyone who remembered to greet me on my birthday (or thereabouts!), from the US to Australia, via my online communities/ mobile/ email / MSN. It's such a blessing to have reached such not so young/not so old age. Looking back, the past few decades have been quite an adventure.


Several of you have asked what I ended up doing on my actual birthday (4 June) so let me share with you and the rest of those who visit this blog.


While my birthday did not generate as much publicity as the 700-pound Mexican who celebrated his birthday recently, I still think mine was an exciting one.


5.00... 5.15... (finally) 5.30 am
I woke up to prepare myself to hear mass. It's strange to wake up this early since I do this usually when I need to cram packing stuff for an overseas trip.


6.30 am
Reached the church only to find out that the 6.30 am mass is somewhere close by instead. As it was still dark, I opted not to risk getting lost so I took a cab and requested "uncle" to take me to Novena church.




700/715 am
Mass ended so I took a leisurely walk to Novena Square and Velocity. Had breakfast at Han's -- some sandwich (whose filling always came out due to my clumsy hands) + juice.



800 am
Decided to walk to the nearby Tan Tock Seng hospital for hepatitis A and B immunity shots. My previous health screenings showed that I was not protected from it so I decided to make the vaccination symbolic by doing it on my birthday.







845 am
Reached the city hall area hoping to find a copy center for documents I needed to give to my friend Daryl. Almost all the shops were closed so I decided to go home.


930 am
Arrived home, cleared my room desk, checked messages, cleaned selected parts of the house and prepared some documents.

1200 nn

Dropped by my favorite restaurant in Vivo City and ordered my favorite dish (Mongolian Spare Ribs) that went well with the Seafood Fried Rice with XO sauce. The ultimate lunch treat for myself.

[Too stuffed that I could not even bring out my digicam to take photos for the next few hours...]

100 pm

Paid the bill and went to Ben & Jerry's. Haven't really visited for a long time so it was good to hang out there for a bit and re-acquaint my taste buds with Strawberry Cheesecake (or was that Cookie Dough? I forgot!).

130 pm
Went around shopping for a birthday and Father's Day present for my dad. I had earlier found two wonderful greeting cards to go with the items.

200 pm
I then went to Singpost to have the package shipped. Queue was long so I had to stay for a bit after filling out forms etc.

300 pm
Arrived at Orchard Road and walked around, focusing my energy (but controlling my expenses) on a few malls I hardly enter on usual trips to that area (the buildings after Wheelock Place).

400 pm
Reached the Regent Hotel where I am scheduled to meet with Marlene for British high tea. I have to say that was the best high tea session I've done, coupled with an interesting chat with one of my favorite friends from church.


630 pm
Made my way to Tanjong Pagar to find Cork (wine and tapas place) which served as back up venue after a failed attempt to secure seats at Morton's Mandarin Oriental. Morton's is a popular steak place but since I decided to try steak only at the last minute, the earliest my friends and I could be accommodated was at 845pm. No way! Dinner must start at 730pm/800 pm instead.


730pm
Reached the resto and waited shortly for Ryan and Sean to arrive. Ryan and Sean are probably my first two local (non-work) friends in Singapore at the time of my relocation here. They helped me scout for houses as part of my transfer and have since then become my good buddies. Hard people to catch due to their busy sked so I am lucky they were available to join the celebration.

930 pm

Dinner ended. Ryan gave me a lift home.

1000 pm
Day comes to a close. Slept around 1100 pm

The celebrations continue for the next few weeks. Come to think of it, having mini-celebrations are better than have a major one in a noisy place. More time for conversation, better lighting for photos!