Hah! After a very productive week, I finally had a relaxing night for socials. Despite feeling a little bit under the weather. I just discovered there is a little lounge room at the office that has an Osim massage chair that I enjoyed for a few mins before walking over to this pub. 😎
I took my time this morning and had a leisurely breakfast of kaya teh set at Kopitiam. I missed the softboiled eggs.
Kaya toast set breakfast for SGD 3.10. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Fish skin chips. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
While I was buying takeaway lunch at the basement of Raffles Place, I saw these fish skin chips being sold at that Japanese resto. I was weighing whether I should buy now or before I leave on Tuesday. I decided against it so I just proceeded to our office to do some serious work.
My laptop can lay flat. I don’t have an external keyboard so this will do. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I was so busy today that I ate lunch at my desk because I needed to finish my edits and a million emails.
Eating oyakudon atmy desk. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Then I went to Suntec to meet a source. On the way back to the office, I got held up because there was a Delsey luggage sale. 🤣 Buying new luggage is one of my missions here in SG and just my luck I came across this store. The 55″ luggage I bought only costs SGD 164 (minus the GST because I will claim refund at the airport when I leave. My old American Tourister is already falling into pieces and I already had the wheels replaced in Manila.
It was still raining when I arrived at Raffles Place.
Wet and wet. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Back at the office, I had a lonely dinner at my desk because I needed to finish some tasks because that luggage shopping held me up by an hour 🤣.
Bento dinner at my desk… Again. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
And now I’m having a pint since my friends are taking quite a while to arrive. The rain. They’ve already forgotten how to navigate much worse thunderstorms in Manila.
Summer Ale. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
It will be almost a week since I had taken my antidepressant. I’m doing good. ❤️
I don’t know if I’m going to get sick or this is just exhaustion. I went home early after we wrapped up our 4-day conferences.
I wasn’t able to get a proper team photo so I just resorted to just doing a selfie. This was taken in the afternoon when everyone’s a zombie already. Something soupy to soothe my tired mind and body. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I still have to go to the office tomorrow to finish some edits and articles.
Being in Singapore is like being in a bubble. You’re so far removed from the happenings in the outside world. You tend to forget that things are not as hunky dory as it seems. I say this because I was not aware that there was a strong earthquake back home and only when my twins messaged me this morning did I get to learn about the calamity. The newsfeeds on social media are not as loud as whenever I am back home.
In the train on the way to Westin.
The conference today is half-day only but I was able to have meaningful connections today. Longer conversations with people since we are not that hurried.
My colleague and I went to our new office at Raffles Place so I can work. I initially didn’t plan on working there, but changed my mind since my hotel room is not conducive for working. Well good thing I did because I was more productive today than I thought I would be.
My temporary desk. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Our new office is a lot bigger than our old one because this also includes the other divisions of our parent company. The setup now here is that we no longer have our own “cubicles” or permanent working spaces. Here, we hot-desk since most of us anyway are always out on interviews or client calls/are transients (like me), or are not coming to the office regularly due to the pandemic. Another colleague told me that people at the financial district usually work from home on Fridays that’s why it’s going to be just me here on Friday.
This is just a third of the office. It’s almost empty. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
What I like about this new setup is that logging into our system is not as painful as before. You just scan the QR code of the terminals you will use, plug in your laptop, then you’re already connected to the system/internet. Plus all stations are equipped with dual monitors. Just bring your laptop, external keyboard, and mouse.
We have a bigger and better stocked pantry.
You no longer have to eat at your desk or at the conference room. Photo by CallMeCreation.comI welcome the various teas that we have. There were also multiple coffee machines just like in our HK office before. Photo by CallMeCreation.comAnd seriously, we have a lot of wine. Photo by CallMeCreation.comLounge area. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I doubt if the lounge area is used since most of the people here are knee-deep in work. It was hard taking a nap in our old sofa since it was near our entrance. I was told today we have a room in our new office where I can station myself when I check out from the hotel on Tuesday.
And of course, the obligatory bathroom selfie for the OOTD. View of the Singapore River from one of our conference rooms. Photo by CallMeCreation.comOutside Raffles PlacePhoto by CallMeCreation.com
I got out of our office at 8:55 pm I did overtime because I had to finish two stories tonight and some edits. I should come back here on Friday to finish emailing people whom I have met in the past three days during our series of conferences. I need to email them or else I would forget them and they will forget me, too.
Omurice and Teriyaki Chicken. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Good thing there was a Kopitiam near the hotel where I am staying because I’m already tired and I’m not in a mood to have GrabFood.
I need to sleep now since tomorrow is my big day. It’s my own conference.
Ahhh bed, I’m so tired today. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
This intense networking and raking of my brain for instant information that I could share with my instant contacts have left me dead last night. J would have killed to be there because the entire area smelled of money: a lot of LPs just looking for funds to invest in. Some flew in from the US and Europe. They were just discovering, hey Asia is a good place to place our bets on 🙄.
I talked non-stop to a lot of suits yesterday since I got there a little past 9 am until 6:30 pm.
As if this would really interest the audience. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
You could only imagine the level of tiredness I had today. There was this instance this afternoon when I literally chased down the firm’s managing partner—who was about to leave for the airport—from the ballroom to down to the hotel driveway.
Serious
I never talked so much in my life! Non-stop talking from 9 am to 6 pm. I decided to go home early and recharge my body. I thought I was going to be sick. By 10:30 pm I was snoring.
View from my lunch room. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
And everyone was asking about Marcos and how I felt about it. I asked back, “how do you feel about Trump?” Then they ask back, that bad huh?
Those who didn’t want to listen stayed at the cocktails area. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
The conference area was packed so a lot of the participants spilled over to the cocktails area. So during the networking break, this little room looked like a superspreader event waiting to happen.
I still have to work on some stories and edits today. Sigh.
Going up Westin Singapore’s main ballroom. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I was late. My room is so damn dark even if it’s already 7 am so I overslept. I have huge windows but it’s just one of the quirks of Singapore: it’s 7 am but it still feels like 6 am; it’s already 7:30 pm but it still feels like 5 pm and there is still daylight. 👀
So the conference already started when I arrived. Had to listen to the sessions because the topics being discussed are the same things that I write plus I needed to keep an eye on the big guys and network to death. And of course I got the big guys 😬
Fierce.
And as usual, my Malaysian colleague and I closed the open bar. We were chatting with a very jolly Indonesian real estate guy who works for a big conglomerate in his home country when another colleague of mine from the organizing team had to tap us to say they were already literally closing the venue 🤣.
One for the road. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I was walking out of the building complex where the conference was held when I called up my girls to check on them and the results of their midterm exams in their review sessions.
At Asia Square. Photo by CallMeCreation.com I looked really tired.
The twins said they sucked at Math and abstract reasoning. Errrm, I was good at abstract reasoning because of Tetris (and my older sister credits Tetris as well) so I told the girls to download the game and play it. Basically it’s logic and the game teaches you to flip images in your brain. I would have to help them review and quiz them when I get back home.
Meanwhile, my exhaustion today didn’t stop me from going to Maxwell.
Maxwell Food Center. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Because I wanted to eat chicken rice from Tong Fong Fatt. It’s better than that overrated Tian Tian.
Photo by CallMeCreation.com
When the Maxwell Station (brown line) opens, it would be easier to go to Maxwell hawkers center and go food tripping.
The yet to be opened Maxwell station on the brown line. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Changing stations. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I’m tired, I’m aching all over. I want a good bone cracking and muscle kneading session. 🤕💆
Barely slept. The Airbus that whisked me away to Singapore was narrow, ergo, the seat was small and uncomfortable. 😥
Before the plane took off. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
But I was given a beautiful sunrise before I slept in an upright position. It made the ordeal less intense. The real thing mimicked the PAL logo 😂
I lingered for a while at the Jewel a.k.a. Changi Airport mall to see what the brouhaha was about. For 8 years that I have been coming in and out of Singapore, this is the first time I bothered to check the place out. Well, I was forced to because I was looking for a convenience store that was selling a Starhub prepaid SIM. The ones being sold at the airport were expensive. SGD 32 for something that I wouldn’t be able to maximize because I would often be indoors i.e. have wifi access. I didn’t find a 7-Eleven or Cheers—the outlets that sell SGD 12 Starhub SIMs. I remember a few years ago I wanted to kick myself for succumbing to laziness by buying that SGD 32 from the OCBC kiosk when SGD 12 is available outside the airport. I didn’t even consume half of the allotted 100GB data from that SGD 32 prepaid and it just went to waste.
Of course I went straight to Song Fa. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
While I was looking for the convenience stores, I found Song Fa at the basement of Jewel. I was hungry and I was going to a Song Fa branch anyway, so there. Happy 😊
Checked in at my hotel to drop off my bags. Then off I went to fix some stuff as a transient Singapore-headquartered worker.
New ezlink card. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Among the other Singapore things that expired because I wasn’t able to visit for more than 2 years is my Netspay. It still had SGD 11 in it and I was told at the ticket booth at the airport there was no way I can transfer the amount because I don’t have a local bank account.
I was asking my colleague-friend if I can just transfer the amount to her account instead of letting it go to waste but she said she doesn’t use Netspay but instead other e-wallet that I haven’t heard of. Now it makes me think how many e-wallets are operating here and it seems like there is little interoperability among them 🤔
On the way to Lavender. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Anyway, I tried the ticket station at Bugis and ask the personnel there if she can transfer my expired amount to my Grabpay. She said she would just give me cash 👀
Wow, talk about consistency.
Me on the way to Bugis. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I went to Bugis to buy the prepaid SIM from the Starhub kiosk there. They were out of stock. Went around and saw a 7-Eleven and hoped for the best.
Wohoo! Got my new number now.
I shopped a bit for my girls. The usual stop is Lovisa because Twin I is obsessed now with earrings, the fancy ones.
Teh tarik. I missed this for some reason. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Went to Orchard to pay homage to my home away from home in SG: Kinokuniya Books.
I love Japanese pens. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I wasn’t really there for the books but for the Japanese stationery. I love their writing stuff like pens and notebooks. I took after my father in that aspect. I remember he always used a Parker pen and ordinary pens just wouldn’t do for signing docs or just for notes. For me, it’s Pilot Pens.
However, Kinokuniya didn’t have refills for Dr. Grip and Acroball. 😢 Not the ball size that I want.
Studio Ghibli items. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Of course, just like everything else in this country, the price is too much. I didn’t succumb to temptation.
On the way back to my hotel. Photo by CallMeCreation.com Searching for Harry’s along Victoria St. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
Went for drinks with colleagues as my ex-boss, who is transferring to the data team, will be leaving for London for good on Wednesday.
To start the work week right, a pint of Guinness. Photo by CallMeCreation.com
I didn’t take my antidepressant because I will be having a lot of alcohol this week. I was already booked by the conference team to have drinks with clients on Wednesday, so help me, God, that I will still be sober after this week.
