Tokyo, Japan 2022

 Went to Tokyo for business over October.

Spent a week with the Tokyo office and it was such a fruitful trip. 

It was really enjoyable for me as well because Japan was finally opening up and I got to enjoy all the Japanese food.

Of course my busy schedule meant that I didn't have the time to travel to see the sights of Tokyo, but every single night, I had colleagues bringing me out to try all the various local food and restaurants. It was extremely pleasing for my palette. All my meals were so so so good!

Here are some photos of the trip.

Shoulder Pains

 I had some shoulder pains over September and October.

Decided to go try a chiropractor.

Since I had an army buddy whose now one, I decided to pay him a little visit. 

Dr Ashley Liew from Family Health Chiropractic Clinic was at hand to help guide me through!

He helped me adjust all the necessary stuff around my shoulder, spine and even my pelvic bones which caused me to walk unevenly (horrendous as that sounds, I never noticed!)

In the end, my shoulder pains gradually went away a few days after visiting him.

Would definitely recommend 10/10 :)

Kevin Magnussen & Saxo F1 Meet The Driver

 We had our Meet The Driver event after so many years (previously we did it with Romain Grosjean).

This time around, we held it at our new Saxo office with F1 car simulators around. 

So clients got to race against Kevin Magnussen as he set the best lap record in the house.

It was a fantastic event and I even got a selfie with him!

Good luck in your F1 career Kevin!

Golfing At MBGCC

 Its been so long since I last golfed.

Managed to sneak out for a game with Eugene, Victor and Mark.

Marina Bay Golf Course has always been a forgiving place to play, as long as you stay out of the bunkers!

I actually hit really well and scored a 97!

How lucky was that!

Wonder if I will find time for golf again now that Covid is over and work is really getting super busy!

PSLE Boy

 This is the boy's PSLE year.

PSLE is Primary School Leaving Exam.

He studied SO SO SO hard. Since July. 

Unfortunately, the PSLE rolled around and a few days before his first paper, he catches Covid. 

Like seriously. 

WTF.

Cannot get more suay bong than that. 

We tried all sorts of stuff to help him recover quickly in time to sit for his first paper but it was to no avail. 

He was still positive going into his first paper.

The next day was his second paper and he had to miss that one too.

Finally he recovered over the weekend, and had to sit for his third and fourth papers. 

So in the end he missed two papers and sat for two. In fact he missed his strongest two papers (English and Maths) and sat for his weakest two (Chinese and Science).

We were so worried as the consequence of this was that his first two papers were assessed based on his preliminary exams' marks, which he did not do well in.

Sadness.

We start expecting the worst and considered schools in the poorer academic range.

In the end who would've thought.

He outperformed the two papers he sat for, and the Ministry of Education benchmarked his prelim results and gave him a slightly higher score. 

So he ended up scoring a lot better than we expected and could go into his original school of choice.

In fact he scored so well that we could even entertain the thought of even better schools!

What a journey it has been for us. 

But I really cannot be prouder of my boy. 

Seriously.

I12 Malaysia Boleh

 The new food court at I12 Katong is called Malaysia Boleh.

It claims to house many of Malaysian culinary delights. 

I love eating there actually, because of the carrot cake, the KL hokkien mee, and the bak kut teh.

Quite unhealthy, but definitely a treat for anyone who loves local fare.

Missing Covid Home Delights

 The Covid period brought really lovely homecooked food to our household.

My wifey turned out to be a magical culinary master chef, where even the simplest of meals were so delicious.

Now that things are back to normal, I do miss them, as she does not have the time to cook anymore either.

Some of the simplest dishes of hers were really the most delicious.

Yummers.

Ki-sho Omakase

 I made a special reservation at Ki-sho during my wifey's birthday celebrations. 

This was the first time we were trying Ki-sho's famous omakase. 

Safe to say it was a really nice experience and the wifey enjoyed it (she loves omakase).

Here're the pictures of our key highlight dishes.

Menu also can be found.

Definitely would recommend for special occasions.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2022

 Went to KL in mid August. 

It was nice to go back there again after the Covid years.

As we had a rather packed itinerary, the main sights we saw were just the evening food and drinking scenes near our hotel in Bukit Bintang.

That said, we caught a glimpse of the KLCC Petronas Towers though!

Bouldering On A Whim

 We just felt like taking a day off to go bouldering.

There's this really nice bouldering place at Paya Lebar.

This was back in August.

My In-laws

 Here's a funny picture of my in-laws.

This was the first time we visited my SIL's new house in Pasir Ris. 

He's My Brother

 Just me and my brother.

My Choir Girl

 The girl performed at the Singapore Youth Festival this year on 24th August.

It was a closed door affair, but we were all frantically dialing in to catch her in action.

So proud of her!

Argentina Have Won The 2022 World Cup

 Argentina have won the 2022 World Cup!

What a crazy game that was worth staying up to 2am for!

Argentina went 2-0 up in the first half, then Kylian Mbappe turned it on and scored twice in two minutes with 10mins to go, to tie the score 2-2. In extra time, Argentina scores first to take it 3-2 (who else but Messi) and everyone thinks Argentine would win it then, but again up steps Mbappe who scores a super beauty with 3mins left to play, to tie 3-3, and take the game to penalties! Then in the penalties, Argentina wins the shootout 4-2. What a crazy game!

World Cup Semifinals 2022

 And then there were four.

With two shockers in Croatia defeating Brazil, and Morocco defeating Portugal.

Croatia, Morocco, France and Argentina.

Who’s going to win?

Osaka, Japan 2022

 Just back from Osaka, Japan.

It’s been a week now and I’m still mentally over there :(

Pictures will be posted at some point, but first here’s the itinerary.

It was the first time I’d travelled with my kids alone (the wifey simultaneously had her siesta’s trip), and it was every bit as awesome as I imagined it to be. We travelled entirely free and easy, and took public transport (train and bus) throughout the trip.

Really hope I could do this again maybe even annually.

There’s something magical with being alone overseas with the kids. Maybe it is just spending so much quality time with them and being able to communicate with them alone, with my own influences.

Here’s what we did.

Day 1 - Arrived at Kansai Airport at 9pm, reached hotel in Honmachi at 12am

Day 2 - Osaka city tour (Umeda Sky Building, Dotonburi)

Day 3 - Osaka city tour (Osaka Castle, Tannoji Zoo)

Day 4 - Universal Studios Japan

Day 5 - Kyoto city tour (Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, Fushimi Inari Shrine) 

Day 6 - Nara (Nara Deer Park)

Day 7 - Mt Rokko Snow Park, Kobe

Day 8 - Departure from Kansai Airport at 11am

What an amazing trip with the kids! I really love Japan.

World Cup 2022

 The World Cup has just begun.

This year’s edition is in Qatar.

There’s been a few shockers so far, with Asia doing surprisingly well.

Saudi Arabia 2 Argentina 1

Japan 2 Germany 1

South Korea 0 Uruguay 0

Iran 2 Wales 0

Australia 1 Tunisia 0

Not bad, hopefully they can continue this vein of form and some can progress into the knockout rounds,

BRPS Speech Day 2022

Thank you Mr Foo, teachers, students, parents, alumni and administrators of Blangah Rise Learning Centre. 

It is a great honour to step up here once again to address all of you, and congratulate all the well-deserved award winners.

 

The Covid years have been tough on all of us as we have had to make big adjustments to our lifestyles, adjust the way we work, the way we live, and even the way we play, to stay safe as the pandemic ravaged throughout the world. Yet, from an optimistic angle, the post-Covid world has brought us many silver linings. Our children are now much more adapt to new technologies brought about from home-based learning, and we as a nation, are more well prepared for any hardship that could come our way.

 

So in thinking of my speech today, I felt the need to use this precious time, to give each and everyone, some useful advice in preparing yourselves for the post-Covid future, wherever your life journeys take you.

1. Adaptability - the world is moving and changing at a faster pace than ever before. New technologies are thriving in every field such that there will be new and significant advances everywhere we go. Adaptability expands your capacity to handle change, no matter how serious it might be. Being adaptable helps you stay prepared to handle these new changes in your life. Charles Darwin once said, “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive, but those who can best manage change”
2. Develop a Growth Mindset - Rather than a Fixed Mindset, where you think in a rigid structure, learn to think optimistically, constructively and positively. Instead of thinking “I’m afraid of failure”, think of “Failure is an opportunity for me to grow”. Instead of thinking “I like to stick with what I know”, think of “I like to try new things”. Instead of thinking “I will never improve”, think of “I will keep trying and not give up”. This is the Growth mindset and such a mindset will help you face challenges in a much more positive way, so that you can achieve greater things.
3. Mental Wellness - looking after yourself not just physically but mentally as well, can help you face all challenges in life better. One of the best tips I found online, is actually available on HealthHub’s OKAY tips:

1. Observe your emotions - identify them, find out what is causing you to feel that way
2. Keep a healthy lifestyle - sufficient sleep, a balanced diet, exercise regularly
3. Adopt coping skills - manage time better, think positive, clear your mind
4. You can reach out - stay connected, be there for others, seek help if needed

Remember your first times logging into HBL or SLS? It was a struggle for you students, learning to learn in an online environment, while sitting at home. It was a bigger struggle for parents, learning to set things up so your children’s connections could work and they could attend their online class. While having to Work From Home. And if you students look around the hall today, it was a struggle for the hard working teachers too, who had to learn to manage a room full of students but an online room,  with not just schoolwork questions, but also IT Support questiosn from students and parents! Super kancheong period at that time I can assure all of you.

 

Look at all of us today, we’ve come through the pandemic so much stronger and logging online for a lesson is so easy now. Meeting your classmates for lessons is also so easy. We have succeeded in surviving this pandemic.

 

Success can come from anywhere, if you work hard enough. I am a strong believer that people create their own luck, because luck is when preparedness meets opportunity. Make your own luck!

 

With that I thank you for your valuable time and I once more congratulate all award winners!

 

Thank you very much!

Still Too Lazy

 Things are really hectic at work.

So have hardly any time upload photos.

Recently attended JJ Lin in concert and last night was Guns & Roses.

GnR was epic, even if they were here going through the motion and they’re all so old.

I wish I could stop working for a while. It’s really getting to me, because aside from that, everything else has been fantastic.

Lemme try to find time to upload some photos of everything that’s been happening in my life,

Lack Of Blogging About Traveling

 Have not blogged about all my travels yet!

Went to KL for work.

Went to Tokyo for work.

Went to Bali for holiday.

Will try to upload some of these pictures soon.

Wedding Anniversary

  Today is our wedding anniversary.

We have two dates every year.

This one is the traditional wedding banquet date.

The other is the wedding registry date (ROM).

We didn’t do anything fancy at all.

In fact I cannot remember if we’d ever celebrated this.

But we both remembered today for some reason.

We had a simple mug of beer each, at a coffee shop, eating our zi char dinner, and clinked our beers to toast one another.

14 years just like that.

Who would’ve thought.

It felt really nice.

Painful

  Sigh.

It really hurts.

But I cannot do anything.

Seeing him hurting from not being able to take the exams that he’s studied so hard for.

Such a milestone being ruined by Covid.

Really makes me sad just thinking about it.

My poor boy.

I wonder how much this will impact his life from here, starting with a poor eventual score for secondary school entry.

But I have do my best to encourage him to press on and believe that everything will turn out fine. I have be happy and optimistic so that he can overcome all these setbacks in his life. I have to do all that I can to give him the best life possible.

It is the least my children deserve.

Whatever it takes.

Q4 Already

 Wow.

How quickly this year has gone by.

And all that was Covid or pandemic is almost nothingness now.

We have made it through that arduous two plus years, and have come out of it for better or for worse, and all of a sudden it is a continuation of where we left off in January of 2020, when the first lockdown was yet to happen.

Everything is so normal now.

And with that the year has also whisked off so quickly.

The boy’s doing his PSLE next week, both him and the girl have grown up so much. Life with the wifey and kids were great throughout the pandemic. Hopefully that can continue hereon with lessons learned from the pandemic.

The biggest highlight probably by a country mile, was our Switzerland trip back in March. It already feels like eons ago. I hope to bring the family back there sometime soon!

Travelling came back with a bang. Have already done Vietnam, then Malaysia. It will be Japan soon, followed by Indonesia. Then what looks to be Malaysia once more.

Work has been less promising unfortunately. Stress from the current landscape and rising interest rate environment is hitting us hard. Even though we had our first Summer Party in three years, our 30th anniversary party was cancelled. Subsequently we announced our IPO plans, but we are rolling out some unsavory cost saving measures, that leave us entering 2023 with a slew of unknowns.

Hopefully 2023 will be a far better year for us all.

HUAT AH!

Die With Zero

 Been seeing this book recommended a lot lately.

A lot of interesting concepts.

Read the summary here.

Here are the nine main points:

1. Maximize your positive life experiences 
2. Start investing in experiences early
3. Aim to die with zero
4. Use all available tools to help you die with zero
5. Give money to your children or to charity when it has the most impact
6. Don’t live your life on autopilot 
7. Think of your life as distinct seasons
8. Know when to stop growing your wealth
9. Take your biggest risks when you have little to lose

Clementi Forest & Bukit Timah Railway Station

 The wifey and I took a day off to explore Clementi Forest and the adjacent Bukit Timah Railway Station.

I've read a lot about the forest area which looked like a great place to hike.

Turns out the entire trail was merely a kilometer long at most, so it didn't take very long.

The pictures make the forest look thick but again, its not extremely dense like the Lim Chu Kang area during my army days.

There was one little stream which we had a slight problem crossing, and both of us got at least one shoe wet in mud!

Before you know it, you'd be out on the other side, a nice comfortable road track that led to the newly restored old Bukit Timah Railway Station.

There is a cafe at the station and it is really quaint and cool. Basically the old ticketing counter turned into a hipster cafe.

The rest of the road is all part of the Rail Corridor, which I can proudly say, has been returned to Singapore (used to be owned by Malaysia), so there are plenty of remnants of railway tracks, bridges, tunnels etc and the whole route is about 25km north to south, from Tanjong Pagar all the way to Woodlands!

One day we have to try hiking the entire stretch!