Most favorite time

Loot of the day :P

One day, upon looking at the handwritten weekly school schedule, a man asked a young kid, "What is your favorite subject in school?"

The kid was innocently answered loudly with so much proud, "Recess is my favorite!!!", and 'Recess' was really written there in between English and Math between 12 to 12.45pm from Monday to Friday.

Hahahaha..... ^^"

And if you asked me what is my most favorite time of the day during work, that would be 'lunch break.' Lol!!!

I think I mentioned before the location of my office in previous blog post. If you could not remember, it was located at the Singapore's famous shopping belt area. Apart from Uniqlo, Zara, Iora, and so on, there was my most favorite place to browse during my lunch break. 

Guess what???

Jeng jreng jeng jreng.....

One of the boutique library in Singapore :)

Yessssshhhhh!!! It was library!!!

It was such a beautiful one!!! I wrote about it last time here, just less than a month after it was opened. It was still clean, beautiful, quiet, with many book collections, and many seats available too!!!

Book browsing at local bookstore :)

Sometimes when I browsed bookstore on weekends, I would check books on shelves, flipped those that were gaining my attention and checked if it was according to my taste or not. I would take photo, browse its title in the Library apps, and checked if such book were available (both e-book or physical one).

So when I had time, I would first check the availability of the book in advance. If it was there, I would walk there, get it, scanned, and brought back home.

Browsing healthy recipes :)

When I had too much time, I would sometime browse and read the book until my lunch break was over. Especially when the book was too thick and only few pointed things I would like to know, then I would capture its content in my camera phone and I could browse it again when I needed it without having to borrow.

Capture the beauty of knowledge :)

There was just too many things to learn from the books, the beauty of the knowledge that the authors shared with us :)

Thank you Singapore 🇸🇬 ☺️ 

So, I am truly grateful for everything that happens :) For the easy access for such beauty in life, and everything else. I hope you all enjoy your most favorite time of the day too, just like me :)

As of now, I wish you all a wonderful week ahead as I had to get back to work :) See you again!!! 

Weekend notes

Happy weekend!!!

Was it just me? Or did it apply to anyone who were employed? This month - August - went extremely slow. Hahaha.... We were only going to finish the third week of the month and two more weeks to go!!!

With monthly pay, the pay would be the same no matter how many days it existed in a month - be it 28 or 31. Well, maybe just me! Hahaha....

This week the weather was with many raining days, even this upcoming weekends. Unlike the weeks before, with more sunny days around. This week we had also started the ghost month or known more as the seventh month (in Chinese calendar).

The air was smoky, which came from the burned incense sticks that were put all along the roadside, plus the money with other accessories / belongings (like car complete with its driver, house with servants, series of latest mobile phones and tablets, branded clothes and shoes, latest design jewelries, and so on). So the rain, perhaps helped in washing out the heat and smell.

We were lucky enough to live in a country that was blessed with good geographic location with lesser natural disasters and extreme unpredictable weather, like what happened in the other countries surrounding us.

The typhoon had hit Japan and Korea recently. The severe flood had also hit many countries in the world recently, affecting many lives and the daily lives encounters. So again, I was grateful for being here, living in this country.

Well, reading too much news during past time was really not good for the brain. Lol! I think I should have browsed less on the news and read more on positive kind of news or books. I had returned to my reading habit recently though, on my journey from and to work, and before sleep (it really helped in getting sleep fast) Hahahahaha..... :D

Since tomorrow was predicted to rain, I would finally have an excuse not to go for the once-a-week morning walk exercise. Then I guess I would just sleep late tonight and wake up late tomorrow. The weather was really cooling here during nighttime that we did not even have to turn on the air conditioner. 

Just jotted down my thought here as the blog update today and wish everyone had a great weekend ahead wherever you were!!! Hope you were all in good health, live in peace and harmony, surrounding by people you loved. Take care and have a lovely time!!!

Just another day

Dark clouds

It was just like another weekday afternoon. The weather was hot outside, and yet, dark clouds were seen from afar. Melancholy feeling came and overwhelmed me once again.

Kiss 92 played one of my historical favourite songs by Boyzone, oh really historic, indeed!!! Some of the good memories was suddenly playing at the back of my mind. 

I decided to make myself a cup of coffee using the atas Starbucks origami coffee bag. As I poured the hot water into it, hmmmm..... the smell was awaking me up, reminding me a little bit that I was sitting at the office working table, and not on vacation at the bar on top of five-star hotel with amazing view! Ha!

I took out Cannolo Cioccolato from my shopping bag (as usual, I grabbed something during my after lunch walk that would be a perfect company of my coffee or tea), and hmmmm...... perfecto!!! Just ignored the calories that it contained in that piece of sweet pastry, and as I bit the top part, the Cioccolato burst inside my mouth, I closed my both eyes and focused more on the intense flavour that filled my whole mouth!!! Yum!!!

Next song was sung by Firehouse. What a nostalgia feeling they tried to lead us into! 

Outside the leaves were moving along with the wind. And the rain seemed like coming in soon. I turned the radio volume up after both coffee and cannoli filled my belly.

It was time to work again!!! Focus, and concentrate!!! Read and reread! Understand and remember! Yeah... three more hours to go. Let the time fly and enjoy the ride before it was over!!!

With every kiss, our love is like brand-new
And every star up in the sky was made for me and you
Still we both know that the road is long
We know that we will be together
Because our love is strong

I finally found the love of a lifetime
A love to last my whole life through
I finally found the love of a lifetime
Forever in my heart
I finally found the love of a lifetime

Lunch pack

Lunch pack (Pic source: Google.com)

When I went to Australia, I always saw people bringing lunch pack to school and/ or to work as it was not only healthier, but also most importantly, more affordable. The price of buying lunch outside was pretty expensive, especially in city area. It was wiser to save the money by bringing the leftover food from the day before and reheated it at the office pantry upon consumption. 

In Bhutan, it was a normal thing for people to bring lunch pack from home. They even exchanged their food so that they could taste different dishes every day. These days, the cost of living in city area had increased tremendously too, and it was only wiser to bring the homecooked food from home. They had the taste of love of their spouse, siblings, and parents too.

I really loved the idea of bringing lunch pack to work and/ or to school.

So this time, as I went back to workforce, I decided to prepare my lunch pack too! I was quite exciting with the idea actually! 

There was a fridge, kettle, and a toaster in my office. However, there was no microwave. So, if I brought food to work, I would have to eat it in cold condition (heated food was better for the stomach and the taste).

At my first week to work, I made a-week portion of potato salad (so I could keep it inside the fridge before consumption). I had it for four days in a row, but later on, I realised that it was not a good choice to bring salad to work because the air-coonditioner in my office was super cold!!! I even had to wear a thick sweater every day hahaha...

Pumpkin soup :)

My brain thought hard and later on, I got a better idea. The next weeks onwards, I made soup to bring to work :) because I had the thermal pot that could keep my soup hot upon consumption time. I could eat it with bread too in case it was a thin soup. 

I loved soup, especially when eaten in cold environment. And I loved making and eating the Western soup, not the Chinese style. 

So I made different soup each week and got the recipes from Google. So far, I have made and brought the potato soup, tomato soup, pumpkin soup, mushroom soup, white bean plus vegetable and tomato soup. It really suited my taste bud hahahaha.... Sometimes I even wondered how good I was in making soup, although there was no experience in making one before :P

Only buy fresh ingredients :)

Every Saturday after finishing my walk, I would stop by at the supermarkets in the area and bought the ingredients. Either at the same day or the day before, I would prepare a week portion soup, divided it into 5 containers, and freezed it so that it could last longer. 

I moved the container out from freezer to normal fridge the day before and reheated it the next morning and kept it inside the thermal pot. I had it during lunch time at my desk, sometimes with bread, sometimes with fried rice, then had walk afterwards.

Tomato soup with bread or fried rice :)

Once a week I would buy the food from outside, so I would not get bored from eating the same food every day. So far, I chose vegetable soup over meat. But next time I might try making soup with seafood or chicken :)

It kept my body warm, full, and happy :) I felt grateful and happy with the arrangement. I was not sure about the health impact from it, but I always used natural ingredients and never used any MSG into it. So I would not feel thirsty after having it. 

I did not know how this habit would last but I hoped this could continue for a long long time :)

Gratitude beyond measure

Gratitude Quote (Pic source: Google.com)

Good morning!!! It is Friday!!! Yayyy!!! 

First week of August is here and four more to go! August is such a very long month (with 31 days in it), just like July! But if I can survive this, I am sure I can survive the rest of the year! :)

Many people asked me, "How is your work so far?" 

I said, "It is so far so good. I feel comfortable."

I mean, I feel like I am building my nest here, feeling secure and comfortable. This feeling is just like when I met my hubby for the first time. Like I knew that he was going to be the anchor of my life - someone who was able to provide me with emotional support, guidance, stability, and hope of my life; someone who was going to be a good father for my child.

This job, my Boss, and the office environment, are exactly the same thing. I feel that this is going to be something for the rest of my life.

So I am going to learn slowly, read more, know more about how it works, what the company dealing with, and slowly master it.

To be frank, I have never been so passionate about a job like this before. This is my first time when I could hug and embrace my job as if it is my lover. I could say that I love what I am doing here. 

I used to wonder a lot of how my other friends loved their job so much, by dedicating their time (many even sacrificing their family time), to embrace themselves with their jobs. Some, even after taking a break from it, were missing to go back and be part of it again. 

I kind of understand their feelings now. 

I even can put all the travel desires on hold, until I know what I am supposed to be doing with my role here, know well when is the best time to be away or when is the busiest time of the months or year, before I start planning on the next vacation.

I do not mind missing many aspects or things or even moments, temporarily in life (of traveling) - and as long as I still put a priority to spend time with my family at home and life here in Singapore - because I always believe that everything happens only for good reasons. That some day, when the time comes (for me to travel), if I have to be there, I would be there. And if the time would not come (for me to travel), it is ok, and I will be fine because I know what I am doing, enjoying it, and would never regret it.

It is mostly happy feeling and mood. As promised, no work during weekends; not much phone calls to receive and to make; not much stress at work; and not much emails - compared to other companies I had worked before; and those things means a lot for me.

Inside the lift at our office building, I often hear people gossiping around their bosses and colleagues. I felt truly grateful that I did not have to experience it since it is only two of us in the office. Instead, my jolly boss often talk about her Zumba, Pilate, and her passion in catching Pokemon with her fellow friends, also about how she spent her time with her children and grandchildren back home.

And yes, I am grateful, and will forever grateful for everything that happened to me in my life.

Thank you, thank you, and thank you SB!!! May all beings be happy and health, free from suffering and the cause of suffering, life full of peace and joy! Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu

Pluviophile

Pluviophile

I reached the station ten minutes before 9am. As I ascended the escalator from the underground MRT station, I could see the sky had turned dark and the wind blew chillingly touching my skin. 

"Wow!!! Looks like rain is coming!!!" I talked to myself. "Lucky both ways to the office building had the underpass so that I would not get wet in the event of rain," my mind was speaking again. 

Upon reaching the office door, I could see the office had turned dark, unlike many other mornings when the sun rays pierced through the both side windows, illuminating my working table and chair. 

"Wow!!! I like this!!!" exclaimed my own self. It was dark but feeling cozy instead of depressing.

I turned on the office light and walked towards my seat. I put down my bags, turned on the PC and office mobile, and set myself down into the chair. 

The morning would not be complete without coffee. I was supposed to cut the caffeine down, but the office would not be complete without coffee smell, especially in a weather like this!!! Hahaha... *my usual excuse :P

I opened the fridge and took the bottle of water out. I filled the kettle half and turned it on. As I looked up, rain had started heavily. 

"Wah, lucky I have reached here without getting wet!!!"

The sound of water boiling soothed me. I turned the Youtube on from the computer. I loved quietness when working, but sometimes, I would love to listen to some music too, especially on raining day like this. 

I typed 'raining day song' and many choices appeared. I clicked on a playlist and let it run themselves.

I cut the top part of the coffee sachet, filled it inside my rooster cup and poured the hot boiling water inside. I stirred it and brought it to my desk. Hmmmmm..... just loved the smell :) The taste was good too. I sipped it slowly and checked out my office email.

I opened the yesterday 'to do list' note and completed it one by one.

Raining day... 

Loved it because of the mood it brought, the ambience, the cozy dark feelings, the chill, the coffee smell, the me-alone time, but mostly because my Boss would usually come late, sometimes did not even come to office.

So, that was why.... I am pluviophile, one who loves rain; one who finds joy and peace of mind during rainy days and everything else I mentioned above :D