Japan Kyushu Dec 2022 Day 14 & Myung Ga II with Ian & Cherlyn + “Thai Cave Rescue” + bi-annual dental appointment + farmily’s Xmas & Ian, Gwen & Ava’s bday gathering + Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery + Potato’s relatives come over + Les Mills BodyAttack & dinner @ MM & Andre’s new nest + Full body meridian massage & Teppan-Man & Whisk Paddle café with Potato + Resolution for 2023

 

20/12/22 Tues: PotaTOHs woke up at 6.15am to catch SQ655 flight back to Singapore. We managed to return the Demio 2 to Times Rental at about 7.20am or so after refuelling to full tank (JPY 3263)… almost knocked into a motorbike coming from our left enroute to returning the car… phew. Took their shuttle bus that resembled the older and long Transitlink buses in Singapore from Fukuoka’s domestic terminal to their international terminal, which took 15mins. Queuing for check-in took us about half an hour or so, but the horrible part was queuing to go into the departure lounge! It took us more than 45mins before an SIA ground staff “came to our rescue” and expedited us through to the immigration queue.

I ate the sweet and sour chicken fried rice for lunch on board and SIA gave us mango mochi ice-cream for dessert too! Huge and cute haha. We touched down at Changi T3 at 2.50pm, about half an hour earlier than scheduled. Potato bought some liquor at the DFS store and after returning the Changi wifi egg, we left with Ian and Cherlyn, who came to pick us up about arriving from Bintan at about the same time. *Time flies and we really enjoyed ourselves in Kyushu! It’s our first trip in the new norm, and it’s funny how I can’t wait to travel again now! The travel bug in me’d been “in dormant state” since COVID-19 struck the world, but now that the world has opened up (mostly), I reckon flying twice/thrice a year is back on my “to-do” list now! New Zealand, Taiwan, Bhutan here I come!*

Ian drove us back and four of us headed out for dinner at Myung Ga II. It’s Ian’s 34^th birthday so PotaTOHs treated them to the meal! We window-shopped at NTUC afterwards to look at ingredients we could get for the farmily’s Xmas gathering on Saturday.

21/12/22 Weds: After tuition with Triston and Trinice, PotaTOHs went to my parents’ place for dinner. Passed them the snacks and stuff we’d bought for them in Kyushu, including the Kyushu soy sauce, Sugi Bee yuzu honey, salon pas etc.

PotaTOHs finished watching the six-part series “Thai Cave Rescue” on Netflix.

It was based on the real Chiang Rai Tham Luang cave rescue incident that happened between June to July 2018, where 12 members of the Wild Boars football team and their assistant coach were trapped there for 18 days.

There were, of course, dramatised parts we believe, but it was a real good look into the cave because filming took place there and the real members’ home in Chiang Rai. Informative with some drama but not over the top.

Rating: 4/5

22/12/22 Thurs: Managed to get a slot at Koh Dental for polishing and scaling at 8.45am. Dr Cheryl Koh is a bit more “naggy” than Dr Lee I think lol… it’s the second time she “nagged” about the discoloured filling on one of my upper right canine! Also, she mistook one filling as a decay at first, but realised that after checking against the x-ray scan. I decided to redo the cosmetic filling on the upper right canine and the amalgram filling around the crown, but in the end, she only had time to do the cosmetic one. Just one cosmetic filling and the usual scaling and polishing costed me $214… $14 from GST omg.

Met my in-laws for zi char dinner nearby their place with Potato. I enjoyed the curry fish head and tofu. Passed them the strawberries, Sugi Bee grape honey and mochi we bought in Fukuoka too. FIL was very enthusiastic and started bringing out all the photo albums that contained photos of Potato and MM when they were young, as well as his travel photos when FIL represented Singapore in international basketball matches.

23/12/22 Fri: Good virtual Piloxing workout with coach Stephanie on Zoom this evening. *I hope it further helps my right external oblique and serratus anterior muscles that had been aching for about a week now since our trip in Kyushu albeit salon pas did relieved it by quite a bit already.* Chef Potato is back in action tonight after a two weeks’ break in Kyushu.

24/12/22 Sat: PotaTOHs went over to James’ parents place at Bukit Timah at 5+pm and to prepare for the BBQ session at the cabana before Fran, PY, her dad, Ian and Cherlyn came over too.

Ian made potato gratin and salad… potato gratin was yummy! Potato helped BBQ-ed most of the food and my bias is the portobello keke. There were cheesecakes from Cat and the Fiddle too. Gwen came home after her violin rehearsal, then Wandi and Ning came later at night. The family enjoyed an impromptu jamming session in the living room till close to midnight haha. Ian sent us home after that.

25/12/22 Sun: I microwaved some Korean dumplings, boiled the edamame and cooked cold soba for dinner. After that, we watched “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”.

Rating: 3.5/5

26/12/22 Mon: Resumed Pilates reformer class with Chisa after the holidays! They were the usual moves but I felt that a few were a bit more tiring to me because I have missed class for a month already!

My parent in-laws came earlier in the afternoon before the other relatives, and FIL wanted to help us drill a hole in the wall for our wedding photo, but his drill was not working properly somehow. Potato’s four aunties, uncle and his wife and cousin SS were here in the afternoon and enjoyed fruits, durian puff, prawn, abalone, egg tarts etc over tea. *They spoke Cantonese mostly which I don’t understand oops.* After they left at close to 6pm, my in-laws and us opted to have zichar for dinner at the coffee shop nearby.  

27/12/22 Tues: Back in office and met the new AM, Diane. Good that she has a degree in journalism. Mum cooked assam stingray for dinner and Potato’s favourite fried egg haha.

28/12/22 Weds: Tried Les Mills BodyAttack virtual workout before lunch and some moves were similar to the ones I did on the Fitbit app, but it bored me towards the end. Taught Natasha for the first time and it’s great how her parents allowed her and her younger brother to learn mandarin since they were in N1.

PotaTOHs headed over to Min and Andre’s new place on the 23^rd floor and the view from their living room was amazing! *A steal for under $800k. $85k for renovation but certainly worth their money because the overhaul made the flat look great.* MM cooked pork belly udon for dinner and some pan-fried pork cabbage dumpling… delicious.  

29/12/22 Thurs: I bought watercress and carrot from Sheng Shiong at Marsiling Mall hawker centre after lunch and Potato helped cook the soup at night for dinner! He also fried some eggs with shimeiji mushroom and onion for us.

30/12/22 Fri: Did new moves in Qigong class this morning. Tried the full body meridian massage with eye meridian treatment ($98) at Beaule Beauty and Wellness salon at Le Quest mall. It was a two-hour massage said to unlock blocked meridian points, relieve body ache and pain, strengthen immune system, improve,and stimulate skin metabolism as well as to relax tense muscles. Masseur Sherlyn first applied ginger essential oil and massaged my back bare hands and then with a八爪仪before she proceeded to my legs. It was mostly painful and a bit itchy at most areas, but she mentioned that my upper back出痧more, and more were on the right side. There were also some light bruises after the massage, which I hope would go away asap. Sherlyn also said that my body’s not that “stiff” compared to some other customers. *I signed up for 10 sessions of the full body meridian massage ($980) and Sherlyn gave me an extra 20 minutes of head bojin or cupping for every session.*

For the eye meridian treatment that increases blood circulation, lighten dark eye circles and relieve eye fatigue, she said my right eye出痧more than my left, so it’s probably more tired than the other eye. I also signed up for the aqua-oxy indulgence facial treatment trial ($38) to try next week. *I feel sleepy after the massage… could it be because我体虚?*

After my Piloxing lesson in the evening, PotaTOHs went to Teppan-Man for dinner because he wanted to try it. He ordered the dory fish in teriyaki sauce ($7) while I had the sambal sotong set ($8). I also added in seafood tofu ($2), which is one of my favourite processed food that mum cooks for me often last time. I thought there could be more sotong and sambal sauce for mine though. After that, we headed to Whisk and Paddle café to have their chicken wings, lychee mint drink and pear earl grey tart ($33.10). The wings were still good, just a bit salty and the drink was nice. The tart was a bit sweet imo. *Treat for my dear who graduated with First Class Honours from NIE!*

31/12/22 Sat: *Potato woke up with a sore throat most probably due to the fried chicken wings we had yesterday. Hope he gets better soon!*

Time for my yearly reflection and resolution. There is only so much time we all have, so I will do my best to ensure that I spend them wisely and with people worth it. For those that I have done, I hope to keep them going. For dreams and goals that I want to achieve, no deadlines but I shall make it a point to at least kick-start what I wish to do.

PotaTOHs – I’m glad to have found a partner who loves, respects, communicates and helps me on our journey of a lifetime. Now that we live by ourselves, I appreciate the time spent with both sides of the families, usually over dinner, even more. If possible, I’d like to bring my family on a trip overseas since mum hasn’t taken a plane before, and also, travel with Potato and my in-laws.

My health and exercise regime – The result for my FH genetics test has been delayed, so I’m currently taking statins to control my high cholesterol condition. Because of this, I have more to think about when it comes to family planning. Much as I’m worried at times, there’s no point trying to beat the biological clock because I’d rather have a kid when I’m healthier. PotaTOHs are happy with each other’s company, and it’s great if a kid comes along, otherwise we’d be happy with a cat and/or a dog in future! *Have to pay attention to the ringing in my ears and dull ache in the lower abdomen once in a while.*

In 2023, I have added wheel yoga and yin yoga to my current exercise routine of Pilates reformer, aerial yoga, Qigong, meditation and Piloxing. Also did hiking, kayaking, Nirvana fitness, kickboxing, HIIT, Les Mills bodyattack, bungie workout, restorative yoga, hatha vinyasa yoga, snowboarding etc this year and added alternate days of essential oil diffusion in my bedroom. Exercising gives me a sense of satisfaction, knowing that they help improve and maintain my fitness. I’m open to try other types of exercise classes in the new year ahead. Have also signed up for a monthly body massage for myself to see how it can improve my health further.

My work – Take charge and fight for my own promotion. Don’t be afraid to ask or to speak out so I don’t waste time at work. Go for more courses to upgrade myself and be on a constant lookout for opportunities. Much as I enjoy my VO and tuition assignments, work is second, health and love ones come first.

Learning – Priority: read books and news, learn to cycle well. Secondary: lyrics writing, musical instrument, swimming.

Investments – Returns were mostly negative in 2022, but hopefully with DCA and continued investments, 2023 will be better.

Travel – PotaTOHs did travel to Kyushu, Japan in December 2022, three years since we last went to Bali, Indonesia! Planning was tiring but the whole journey and company made it worth. We hope to visit New Zealand next year, with Mauritius and Bhutan also options in mind, and let’s hope I get to go to Taiwan in March 2023 too.

Ended the year by watching《五月天线上跨年演唱会——诺亚方舟10周年特别版》as I enjoyed some sushi. Cheers to an even more fruitful and happy 2023!