Life is still as happening as ever, before the funds run dry and the mother at home starts nagging. =x Sometimes I'm not at choice for this right? Oh wells, hopefully things will turn out to be better.
Anyhows, a few updates on the happening stuff in my life lately then.
1. A lot of cafe hopping was involved. Of course I'm not that hardcore and rich to go to all the cafes. Because after a few cafes, you'd really think that some of them are just not worth the money and effort to find them.
Assembly Cafe at Evans Road. One of my favourites by far, because everything we tried there was nice. Including the drinks that weren't in the picture. But I haven't tried the desserts though. But I really loved the sandwiches.
Chye Seng Huat Hardware, and Tiramisu Hero on the same day because they were so near each other. Haha! Erm. Should have tried the coffee at the hardware store, but I didn't, had hot chocolate while my friend had the coffee. She said it's nice (that's what they are famous for by the way). The french toast was fine, I mean, how bad can it go? Lol. My friend had the pork chop and said it was not as good as expected. So in the end we had more food at Tiramisu Hero. The iced latte was mediocre, too blend though I'm not a fan of super bitter coffee. Tiramisu was good albeit a little pricey for the size, and I preferred wet tiramisu (I guess it will be if we opt for the alcoholic option, but that will be another $5!). Waffle was good though. We had Bangers and Mac'n'cheese instead of the normal Mash. I would try the mash next time if I ever go back again. (Oh I did go back there a week or two after for another round of tiramisu with other friends)
Strangers' Reunion: seems like the talk of the town for a moment. We were lucky that we didn't have to wait for the seats, but the place was very cramp just to accommodate more people. We were literally joining our table with the table next to us, and we could hear every single thing our neighbours on both sides were saying. Wouldn't be possible for anyone to move in and out with ease. We ordered a main together and 2 sides, with a drink each, and the table was fully used. Couldn't move anything an inch apart. They need bigger tables, really. Spam fries was good, just that we couldn't really finish later. Didn't expect the sweet potato chips to be this kind of chips though. Haha! I thought they were fries made with sweet potato. One of poached egg doesn't have the flowy yolk, which was a bit of a disappointment. Other than that, we spend some good time munching on the snacks.
Because I wasn't in a mood for any serious food. So I went to the new cafe two blocks away for some quiet time. And they had ham and cheese sandwich plus a drink for $10. So I had these while listening to some music and reading my book before the place became more crowded and filled with people talking, I came home. I have since visited the place a few more times and will continue to do so. Haha!
Went to Wimbly Lu just before one of the practices at NYJCCO. Food was not fantastic, and they had lesser choices on weekdays, there wasn't any All-day Breakfast available. Drinks were okay, we wanted to order something alcoholic because they looked nice on the menu, but decided that we shouldn't do that in the afternoon, esp. we had a rehearsal to attend after that. But dessert was good! The ice-cream and the waffle was yummy! Oh, friend had Black Out cake, which was quite good too.
Hot chocolate at Craftsmen Specialty Coffee. I meant to go there for some dessert too, but they didn't have anything else other than drinks and they didn't have a price list as well, it was all by good will. I don't know what happened though. I went by another time and they were closed. But recently I saw that my ex-colleague had posted some photos on the food there! I have no fate with this place, but I will try again.
Antoinette at Lavender. It's such a hidden gem at the vicinity. I love the ambience, and the space of the place. As you can see in the picture, there isn't a lot of people on a weekday afternoon. I love the food! I had the Florentine Crepe, and I finished every bit of it. And dessert was two macarons (Chloe - Citrus Yogurt and Yuzu, and Rose)
2nd time to To-gather cafe tucked behind the 85 market area. Had the pork cordon bleu for the 2nd time and still loving it. I wished the next time I'm there, I will be able to get a table inside the shop and not outside.
Percolate again, trying the red velvet cake this time.
That's a few places involved in this collage. Haha! No. 1 was Department of Caffeine for brunch/lunch. My food (D.O.C breakfast platter) was good in my opinion, though they didn't allow me to change the tomato for anything else (please allow me to change to mushroom next time), so my plate looked quite empty (I took a very close shot of it). Friend commented her food (the sausage and mushroom and egg) wasn't as nice, mainly because the bread was cold and hard. Drinks were okay. No. 2 was All Things Nice at the fountain area of Suntec City. Expected more from the taros, could have been better. No. 5 was Lady M at Marina Square, Love the cakes. I'm going to try other cakes the next time. :)
2. A lot of concert watching/performing was involved.
Display Band SYF. My first time watching a Display Band live. I have to say that I'm very impressed by all the students. They were all so amazing. Be it the student conductor, the drum major, the musicians, the dancers or even, the helpers. They really know their work well. Even though some of the choreograph doesn't look as complicated as the rest, the effort they put into this is very very commendable. These days, a lot of parents complain that their child are spending too much time in CCAs. My take is, the students don't find it so, why are the parents always the one making this kind of decision. Yes, parents should advise their child on the kind of CCA they should take up according to ability and interest, teach them to do time management and plan for themselves, and not just outright saying that CCA takes up too much of their time. Just ask your child, what have they been doing outside CCA time or when there's no CCA? Are they definitely studying? And if they complain, it must be that they haven't seen something like this before. If your child is in there and you see how much pride they had on the stage, you probably won't say they are wasting time anymore. I can't say for any other CCA, but as an orchestra member, I must say that orchestra taught me so many things that can't be taught in classroom. I'm sure every CCA has its value and teaches the students something in life they will never forget, if they find it time-wasting, they probably haven't found the correct CCA for themselves, how about exercising your parental skills and find out more about your child and explore their potential to enter a suited CCA? My 2-cents. :)
(I have also shared something like that on fb after the event can't rmb but I'm FOR CCA!)
I wish I could share their video here, but somehow unable to upload it.
I've already talked about 天冷就回来, so I'll skip that.
Went to this cool concert by Andre Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra with Van because Liyana gave me tickets to it. It was last minute but it was definitely a good decision made. I didn't know my students would be jealous of me going for it. Haha! We were awed by how glamourous all the musicians were in their beautiful gowns and tuxedos and the super glam stage set and everything, they are so professional, multi-talented and awesome in their playing, and yet, very entertaining. Plus the kind of stamina they had to play through the 2plus hours without really stopping at all. The tenors and sopranos are so good really. And the audience was fantastic, very spontaneous and cool. I'm sure we all love the part they stood up and danced along with Blue Danube. Have to say it's one of the few few concerts I clapped until my hands were very numb. Lol! Great show!
Then I went to watch the eyecandy's concerto with SSO. Everyone was expecting better of him since he's the principal player. So I have to admit that I really know very little of music. And I should really upgrade myself on this part. Of course I could spot some flaws here and there, but if you really want to talk about in depth techniques and skills, I really have no idea. And then I thought, maybe I'm not so much of a musical person too. So shallow for that kind of sharing. Erm... I can only say, good to find out a little more about myself :x And I will work on that.
And then I went to watch Ding Yi's Great Master concert. Can't say it's a fantastic concert for sure. Sighs. They should have done better than this lah seriously. Both the soloists and ensemble have their problems to solve. Oh well, we almost left halfway through the concert. Haha! But I like the banhu sound of the soloist, 姜克美. Her erhu sound is not as thorough as her banhu and jinghu. Not sure why, but perhaps in future she could just focus on the 2 instruments instead.
And then I watched Happy Ever Laughter @ Esplanade Theatre, a night of laughing. It's the 2nd Happy Ever Laughter, the content is totally different because they are tied to a lot of current affairs and of course, have to think of new jokes lah. But it's my first time watching. I would prefer that there's some interaction between the actors instead of each of them having their mini monologue. It's just like Crazy Christmas, albeit this being funnier. Broadway Beng really brought the mood up more because he sang, the rest just spoke. Not sure if I'll go again if they return with a sequel. That's probably why I haven't gone to any monologue shows other than Broadway Beng. Listening to them talk and talk and talk the whole time is just not my type.
Here comes May and I went to CNBLUE's Can't Stop Concert! Been looking forward to it since the day they announced it and gotten the ticket. :DDD I have to say I really admire the boys for the kind of stamina they had. Although the concert was relatively short (about 2hours), they had very few breaks in between their songs where they just speak a few words and drink some water. They didn't change their outfit until the encore part. THUS, we got to stand for 2hours straight. The first time I stood throughout a concert! It was really fun and high and really, "Can't Stop". Haha! Wished it had been longer. Don't think I have ever been to a concert whereby my arms ache the next day due to the use of light stick. hahaha!
And then came NYJCCO concert. Played as an alumni again. :) Really glad that I still have connections with the school COs in such a way. In my years of education, I never had a proper concert or tour with any of my school CO (not sure if I'm suay or what). Haha! Thank you for the good chance to perform in an orchestra again. :) Happy that I could do something for the alma mater too. And I really love Ding for being so strict with everyone. With expectations really come improvement and good quality music, which is sometimes lack somewhere else. Really glad to be back somewhere with so much warmth, and with friends to come support me at the concert. I don't usually ask friends to watch my performance anymore, because there were just too many, and not like I'm playing a concerto or what. I only asked my batch mates to come because they were from nyjcco after all. Haha! But for the rest, they were asked by others and I'm happy to see them there. :)
And last one for the month was Budak Pantai's Final Countdown concert. I was quite surprised at first that the initial-only-show got sold out quite fast before I could get a ticket! So when they announced the 2nd show, I immediately asked the sister and I got the tickets for us. It was definitely a good concert, even though I've heard some songs over and over again, but they're still funny at the pun lines no matter how many times I hear them! They are just awesome. Too bad, they didn't release any new albums, though they sang some new songs at the concert, like, Let It Go. Haha! Very updated group I have to say. And mostly were very funny. :) Oh! And I was super duper happy when they open the concert with "One More Chance", it's like one of my favourite, and probably one of the songs I started loving a capella. They are not-so a capella now cos of Danny's guitar, nonetheless, they did some numbers a capella and still doing good. :) Love the concert max. Really had a great time cheering and clapping for them. Certainly will miss their performance and waiting for their comeback. Haha!
Ok......... as you can tell, I have finally finished 2 months worth of updates. Sorry if it got too boring. But too bad. :D
(These are the reasons my colleagues and friends always say that I have a very happening life. Well, I guess so.)
Till the next time when I get the motivation. Heh.
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