4 Men

Last night, I went to bed with 4 men studying outside my door.

This morning I woke up to 4 men sleeping outside my door, with their laptops in front of them, tired from a whole night of programming. They were really silent throughout the night though, and I'm thankful I still got my good night sleep.

It's so amusing to witness the transformation really. A few years ago, these boys were playing gameboys and playstations outside my door....Noisy little screaming boys...

我的弟弟长大了!

A loss

Almost a year ago, I bought myself a watch from a small pushcart in Jurong Entertainment Centre.
It was nothing fancy, really. Just a really plain, sleek gold watch. 

But it has since became one important accessory in my dresser. 

This gold piece started my love affair with the colour actually, and I soon began to build my wardrobe around it. Clothes. Bags with gold buckles. Sandals with gold details...

I lost my watch while travelling in New York about 2 months back.

And believe it or not, the heartache resembles a painful breakup. The pain never seems to truly fade.

Afterall, there're so many things that remind me of the watch. My outfits never seem complete without the watch. It almost feels like something's missing all the time.

It was made worse with the fact that Jurong Entertainment Centre had to be scheduled for demolition when I was away...

And hence my efforts to buy another one of the gold watch came in futile.

I still try my luck at every pushcart I see now (even those in Batam), but I've never had the luck to see that design again.The closest I ever came, was a similar design in silver. I had to buy the watch. But it was almost difficult to match it with the stuff in my wardrobe. 

Self-reproach creeps in once in a while.

And I blame myself for never really treasuring my watch.

I bought the watch for twenty-six dollars. A tad more than what I'll normally pay for a watch. But now, I'll actually pay much more to get my watch back.

Maybe one day I'll see my watch again... Or maybe one day I'll fall in love with another one..

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps...

Batam

A short getaway to Batam to energize ourselves for the upcoming academic term really does wonders. 4 days 3 nights of taking in the beauty of nature, enjoying the sea breeze, amazing seafood and pure indulgence. A perfect hideaway to escape the city. I'm missing that place already!

Best of all, the whole trip was part of an amazing deal we found online, so it really didn't take much of a toil on whatever's left of my savings.

Cultural performances...



When was the last time you spent lazy afternoons playing chess and scrabble...

We visited 3 shopping centres at Batam with another couple (Jesslyn and Nicholas).... Shopping there isn't worth raving about. But they bought A LOT OF STUFF! Marco and I pretty much settled for window-shopping, cafe-hopping. and hours and hours of great conversation... We had the chance to talk about everything that's been bugging us (thesis, career, school..)... and I really appreciated how we were able to do things without having to worry about time and nitty gritty errands.

The seafood there was amazing though. I'm so craving for the calamari and chilli crab there.

And how could we miss A &W! Amazing rootbeer float!

Cheap steak!

One of my favourite moments in Batam was dinner at the Sunset Beach Restaurant. We were seated at this hut, looking out to the sea, enjoying the seabreeze and yummicious food, while arguing over silly things like whether there were crocodiles in the waters beneath us...

We had wanted to go for a swim at the resort's swimming pool, but it was down for general cleaning. But guess what!!! The manager took us to the private jaccuci/ sauna room, and treated us to a full-body massage for free in a private hut! The massage was damn GOOD okay. It was so refreshing. And I felt so pampered! The whole experience actually kinda motivated both of us to work hard and earn more money in order to afford more of such indulgences. I'm definitely going back for the massage, seriously.


Another day was well-spent doing sea sports like parasailing, canoeing, and go-karting!

There isn't much nightlife to talk about in Batam. So we spent our last evening having a quiet retreat by the beach. A romantic dinner of grilled meat + seafood with a cup of Baileys to top it off! I was totally dreading the return to Singapore actually. It was utter bliss to be able to slow life's pace a bit and enjoy the simply pleasures of life with someone special.

Oh well. it's time to face reality. Back to school! Too much partying and travelling in Canada for a whole semester is not good when it comes to finding the motivation for this semester. It's like I can't remember when was the last time I really mugged. Oh well, I got to get my momentum back!