Well my instinct told me not to follow the crowd. I knew much better than the crowd I followed 🤦‍♀️.

I’m talking about hotel choices. The team (from the sister company) that I was following booked the hotel via our expense management system. They thought it was nice as it was falsely advertised in our booking system. However, something at the back of my head was nagging me, reminding me why for the past almost 9 years of flying in and out of SG I have not booked this hotel and its other branch. But still, hey, I thought it would be better for team spirit that I join them.

Well, crap.

Hotel service is zero. They haven’t cleaned my room since I arrived on Sunday. No drinking water; they just have a dispenser somewhere on the same floor and you fill the pitcher in your room yourself.

A member of the team from our sis company moved out. Others were like, ok we’re just gonna grin and bear it. Some of them came from hedge funds and global law firms so they are used to 5 star hotels. I, as a journalist, am used to crap since we’re mostly operating on guerilla mode and got to work with something we’re given with. So if I booked a substandard hotel because I didn’t listen to my instinct, I just bite the bullet and stay because it’s already paid for and hard to get refunds nowadays (it’s not immediately refunded in my credit card).

But then again, I deserve better, right? Well, I just charge it to experience. I will never ever book this hotel and its other branch. Blacklisted.

Really sleepy now.

I don’t remember exactly but I think I had 6 pints of beer. Colleagues were paying for it so I didn’t count.

And this is the first time I rode a taxi with curtains and neon lights inside. My colleagues and I were joking that this is a signal that we should be partying some more inside the cab. But being a Monday night, we questioned the wisdom of doing so.

Now that I’m in the hotel where other colleagues are billeted as well, I realized that I was not alone with my frustrations with the company. I got a lot of pats on the back for speaking up and for pushing the envelope. I told one colleague I was always in danger of getting fired for speaking my mind out and for operating outside the box. He said he was in the same boat and he said this trip is a good way of knowing that we are n the same page. Now we will keep pushing the envelope until we get fired.

I only had one hour sleep yesterday because of all the errands and packing I needed to do. I barely slept in the plane because the seat for some reason did not recline. I went about my day very groggy 😑

I regretted booking this hotel because it was very out of the way. I couldn’t check in early to rest so I went out again for forex. I wanted to go to Arcade near my office but guess what? The MRT from Outram going to Raffles Place broke down. No trains. Wow.

So I had to take the bus but I didn’t know which to take. I just took what seemed would pass through the areas near Raffles Place.

When it went through Chinatown, I jumped off.

It has been quite a while since I’ve been here. I have stayed away from this area because it was always crowded. Anyway, I got a good deal on the forex. UOB and DBS (via ATM) and at the airport offers PHP 42 = SGD 1. At some of the money changers at People’s Plaza, it’s about PHP 40.1 = SGD 1. I only got SGD 20 from the ATM to replenish my MRT card but the rest were exchanged in Chinatown.

Was debating whether I should go to Vivo City to buy myself a belt because the one holding up my jeans is falling apart. But I was already getting hungry at 1 pm and already sleepy. I just crossed to Chinatown Point and ate at Song Fa. Sadly this area is already taken over by restaurants and the stores I used to frequent were gone, like Hush Puppies and other apparel stores.

The Fairprice here is a favorite of mine because they have a lot of offers. The discounts are not that much but when you spot a good one, like a laptop bag (can’t remember if it was Targus) grab it. For some reason I was able to buy a laptop bag there when other Fairprice branches don’t carry items like that. Anyway, I bought the staples like 3-in-1 coffee that my bro and sis-in-law like so much. And I’m also a coffee runner for my friend from my old TV network for years. Same brand. I don’t know why they like it so much.

Found some stuff for my girls as well. They loved the matcha we bought at Mitsukoshi and they had been searching for it at the grocery stores but we weren’t lucky.

The rest are my spice mixes and drinks I will consume in my hotel because they cost twice at the vendo or at 7-Eleven.

I was debating whether I book Grab but I can’t remember where I can wait for such at Chinatown Point. In the end I suffered through MRT transfers with my grocery bags. I really regretted booking an out-of-the-way hotel.

It was old and big so there were a lot of people. 😑 But at least there was a 7-Eleven beside it but that’s it. The MRT station nearest it is quite a walk and it has been raining all day so it was very inconvenient.

I was again weighing if I should go out for dinner or feel sorry for myself eating noodles in my room. Then I realized I didn’t have chopsticks or a fork. That decided for me. Maxwell was just two MRT stops away.

I was hankering for a Tong Fong Fatt Chicken Rice but it was closed. So I thought about the much ballyhooed Tian-tian because it had earned a Michelin Bib Gourmand…

It was raining still when I got back to the hotel.

I think I was already out by 8 pm.

The prospect of buying a tube of white gouache revived me. The sight of artists making an alley near Maginhawa pretty lifted me (Alley 44). That’s how visual art, music, theater/movies, and literature give me life when the drudgery of everyday existence engulfs me.

But before I could sit down and make art, I needed to run errands.

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I needed to relax and practice with my heat gun.

I made an impression of the photo I took during one of those lonely bike trips to Eastridge (Binangonan-Antipolo) almost three years ago. I had that photo printed and framed and it still hangs on my bedroom wall, to remind me that despite all that I’ve been through, I still can stand proudly even though I am alone.

So what warranted this stress-busting painting session? Well, I drove south again to check on my tiny house and apply for a new Converge line so by the time we move in, I will already have a 500Mbps internet connection.

This area will be protected by polycarbonate roofing so my patio and grilling area/brick pizza oven will be protected somewhat from the rain. It would look like the one below:

Beyond the stairs up to the perimeter fence/wall will be my laundry/utility area. In the future, I can convert the space under the new stairs (it will be a lot bigger with a deck midway) into a workshop of some sort for my DIYs or it can become art studio if I try my hand at acrylic and oil—the super messy media. I did oil painting twice and I never liked them. It’s too messy and my asthma doesn’t like the fumes from the oil paints and thinners.

Anyway, I will fill this area with potted flowering plants and line the walls with creepers or I can hang orchids on coconut husks. The area on the right beyond the stairs will be my veggie garden and the composting area (which my mom had been doing for 30 years).

This pathway leads to a holding area/screened porch that leads to a front garden and garage. The front garden may be demolished to make way for a three-car garage. This pathway is currently messy because of the construction but this used to be lined with plants. I will revive this with flowering plants and have bougainvillea and yellow bells creep along the perimeter wall. The door on the right is my mom’s studio unit which is currently one giant room with walk-in closet and ensuite but with no kitchenette. Beyond that is the main house.

I’ll go back to painting.

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And nope. I cannot push my luck. The second painting is blaaahhh because I’ve exhausted all my creative juices in the first painting (above). I’m pushing myself too far.