P/S: I am 9818 days old today!
Labels: australia, beer, friendship, memories, party, photo, summer
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After-dinner beer at Brotzeit, Raffles City
Remember Benoi Sector, circa 2004? The two of us at our first jobs, clocking overtime together and sharing cab rides home. Long meetings in Hokkien, container officers, having kopi and economical rice at the run-down canteen. "We must proudly raise the white flag of HN and keep it flying!". That God-awful yellow sapphire ring that was the butt of our jokes for many weeks running.
How we have evolved.
Of course I will miss you. You know I'll be waiting for you in Melbourne.
You were the first person to send me a care package when I was living in Tokyo, filled with instant noodles, kaya, Colgate and what-nots. You were the first person who offered to lend me money if I ever ran out when you found out I was self-funding my post-grad. You're the one who has sat down with me lunch after lunch after lunch talking about the same thing over and over again.
Ten years from now, we can look back at the momentary troubles and heartaches and realize how far we have come. We'll be two old ladies in granny clothes and walking canes, drinking our coffee and eating our cake someplace fancy; and inside, we'll still be the same, you and I.
Labels: beer, farewell, friendship, home, memories, photo
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Loo, Chaz and I at Food for Thought
Days spend lounging by the pool, pretending to do homework and study for our exams, talking about boys from other schools, sitting outside the mini-mart and bothering the Uncle who ran it, attending parties at the rented ballroom, stalking a certain cute French who looked like Josh Hartnett (long story).
10 years on, so much has changed.
Loo is putting her law degree to good use by working for the Law Society, after having spent two years doing merchandising for a now-defunct fashion brand. Chaz has been slaving for the same company since graduation and is soon-to-become a civil servant. I am, as always, changing jobs and relocating. Yes, it seems everyone else we know is getting married and popping babies, but us few, we are too fabulously single and enjoying our youth.
We caught up on those lost years, laughed at memories long-forgotten and gossiped about other classmates we haven't seen in years (the wonder of Facebook).
You can take us out of Nanyang, but you can't take the Nanyang out of us.
Labels: beer, food, friendship, high school, memories, photo
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Today I masqueraded as Curlilocks.
My boy made a dinner reservation at Garibaldi, touted as the best Italian restaurant in Singapore. Too late for Valentine's and too early for White Day, but he decided that we deserved a nice night out since he was going to be away for a while (before I got my ticket to Melbourne).
We got to town early so we did our usual cafe reading routine and window-shopped for a bit, and then met my sister and Harley ("Harlene" or "Joley" if you like) for a beer and chat before heading to the restaurant.
Besides the complimentary soup and free flow of freshly baked onion bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, we also had the Trenette Vongole E Bottarga (spaghetti with air-flown clams and grey mullet roe in white wine sauce) and Risotto Zucca Foie Gras E Balsamico (pumpkin risotto with panfried foie gras and balsamico glaze). They were really good and left us absolutely stuffed!
We had to skip the wine because it was a ridiculous $90 per glass- I laughed when I saw the menu, and decided to walk over to Max Brenner's at the Esplanade for dessert instead.
Thank you my love for the wonderful date!
Labels: beer, family, food, home, love, memories, photo
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They had gone early to reserve a good viewing spot and found a perfect place under the bridge, right by the waters.
In summer, there are plenty of outdoor festivals held at different locations every weekend and the Japanese gather to enjoy the cool evening breeze and watch spectacular fireworks display.
Sumida is the largest of them all, with 900,000 people coming together and about 20,000 fireworks being set off for about an hour and a half- think the Singapore National Day parade on steroids. The entire sky is lit a kaleidescope of colours by the massive display and you allow yourself to be enveloped in an imaginary Disney world of incredible sights and sounds.
I remind myself life in Tokyo isn't so bad.
P/S: I haven't been updating as often because my laptop is infected by a virus from Cambodia, and it keeps dying on me. Time to look for a new one! :(
Labels: beer, friendship, memories, photo, summer, tokyo
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I couldn't, and the truth is I have been dreaming about that every night.
I dream about being home, in my old room, I dream about talking to my mum, I dream about being around Singapore, in my surburban neighbourhood, I dream about what life used to be before I moved to Tokyo. It's so real I don't wake up, and maybe I don't want to.
I wish I could hop onto a plane and fly back tomorrow. But I know the day would arrive before we know it, and our little Southeast Asia adventure would be over before we know it too.
And I haven't seen E in 2 weeks, so even though he kept me waiting for more than an hour (we had agreed to do drinks after his dinner with his music producer), and even though I had eventually decided to go home and was at my station walking back to my apartment, I happily hopped back onto the Yamanote back to Shibuya to meet him for a catch-up session.
It was nice seeing him again, and I was ready to have a heart-to-heart talk over our usual round of drinks at the Hub. We walked from Hachiko and I took a wrong turn, and who would we bump into but our dear friend Leon.
We invited him to have drinks with us. I didn't realize how drunk E already was ("I had a beer to start off with and about a hundred glasses of wine after that," he confessed while walking) and his face was beet-red and he was smiling cyptically and sprouting more rubbish than usual. ("I like Chinese girls but I hate Singaporean girls", "T's the meanest girl I've ever known","That's because Singaporeans are not native in English", "She's totally pyscho, man".)
It's a love-hate relationship. He loves me and I hate him.
We left the Hub in time to catch our last train home. But Leon and I sat across from my apartment talking about life and love, and it ended with us dancing in the moonlight, he was going on as usual about Keanu Reeves and I was singing Theresa Teng's songs.
See you in less than two weeks!
Labels: beer, confession, friendship, home, memories, tokyo
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It was done tastefully and in my favourite red-black-white colour scheme, and except the fact that it's almost in China and you have to walk up a hill to get there, I love everything about his place. Most of all, I wish I could bring his red sofa bed home.
I went early to help and we cooked up a storm- Vietnamese spring rolls, tandoori chicken, bulgogi beef and watercress salad. I'm a pretty decent cook if someone is next to me giving me specific instructions, heh.
After a sumptious dinner and too much alcohol, we turned up the music and went a little photo crazy.
See a bazillion other photos here.
Labels: beer, food, friendship, memories, photo, spring, tokyo
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Upon Casey's request, E and I searched online and found a place in Ebisu that served okonomiyaki.
The downside was that the service was incredibly slow and a certain waitress looked pissed whatever we asked her.
The couple was exhausted from their day in Disneyland so they headed back to their hotel after dinner, but E and I decided to go for a second round at an authentic yakitori place we walked by near the station.
And we continued to eat and drink until right before our last train, planning our Southeast Asian trip at the end of June.
Yes, you heard right, I'll be heading home and travelling around the region for about 2 weeks. Right now the plan is Tokyo - Singapore - Bangkok - Siam Reap - Ho Chi Minh - Singapore (and maybe Indonesia if time permits) and I'm really psyched!
It's about time for a vaykay, I say.
Labels: beer, food, friendship, memories, spring, tokyo, travel
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I wonder what my first Christmas away from home would be like.
We had an early Christmas party today and it was a lot of fun. We played bingo (I was one of the winners ;)), ate and drank a lot, sang Christmas carols and took a bunch of photos.
Labels: beer, christmas, culture, food, party, photo, tokyo, work
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Ami is a friend of Kaori whom she met at a home party; Kaori is a friend of Eric whom she met when she did her undergraduate studies in UMass; Eric is a friend of Ben whom he met when they were both doing an exchange in Hokkaido for a year and Ben is my co-worker whom I have been hanging out with.
So Ami was a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend, but she's now my friend too. :)
In Tokyo, the city of chance meetings and random acquaintances, it is the most populous place in the world but perhaps one of the most isolating as well.
Which is why I count myself blessed to find someone like Ami, who is intelligent and independent and inspires me. I feel like we have known each other all our lives, except we really don't, because she was raised in Australia and returned to Japan for college and lived in London for a year to do a graduate course.
We started with a half-pint at the Hub, moved on to a sukiyaki nomihodai (all-you-can-eat) at Mo-mo Paradise and then ended with a simple coffee at St Marc's.
It was a no-frills night out, very low-key but meaningful in so many ways.
I will be bringing her and Jo to the Mori Art museum on Friday night for the contemporary art exhibit, and I'm looking forward to it! :)
Labels: autumn, beer, coffee, culture, friendship, shopping, tokyo
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They rented a park in Shin-Kiba, somewhere near Tokyo Disneyland and about thirty minutes from where I live.
Although, to call it a party is a misnomer, I would think "festival" fits it better.
Think tentages upon tentages, all done up in a different theme- mystical forest, UV bar, posh chandelier, patio... Not to mention the countless activities for the family - caricacture drawings, face painting, massages, woodcraft, paper planes, bouncing castle, racetracks etc. Free flow of alcohol and beverages, candy floss, popcorn, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese cuisine with delectable desserts like cakes, ice cream, crepes... Amazing performances like jazz, orchestra, hip hop, rapping, karate, dancing etc etc etc. THEY EVEN INVITED DRAG QUEENS AND RENTED ANIMALS.
I can go on and on, but I'll let the pictures do the talking.
It was also the day P moved out, and it was a good distraction.
Labels: beer, friendship, memories, party, photo, summer, tokyo
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Dear Andrew, if you ever get to read this-
Three months is a short time but I'm still glad I got to know you here and here's wishing you all the best for your new life in grad school back home, and I'm pretty sure you'll kick some serious ass. 頑張ってください！
I'll miss you when you're gone but I know our lives will move on very quickly- しょうがない！Don't forget to keep in touch and またあうのひ...
Labels: beer, farewell, food, friendship, memories, photo, tokyo
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It was the belated welcome party for Jen, myself and Ben, plus the farewell do for our super IS Alain and to celebrate our branch being number one in Japan!
I had so much fun chillin' with the staff and colleagues but didn't manage to take photos of everyone because we were split into two tables.
It was all-you-can-drink again, and yours truly wanted to get her money's worth and ended up getting really high on beer. It was compounded by the fact that I had only gotten all of an hour of sleep the night before and had to teach from 8 to 6.
I literally twirled my way out of the Indian restaurant to the station, much to the amusement and concern of the rest, since I lived the furthest away and was returning to Tokyo alone. But I somehow managed to get home in one piece and sobered up by the time I got back to the apartment.
The weekend always flies by!
Labels: beer, food, memories, photo, tokyo, work
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