“Abang Adik” + “The 8 Show” + “Agents Of Mystery” + LL’s bday lunch + Elementary 1 Japanese language online class + trial Aerial Hammock & Bungee Fitness class @ D Fly Fitness + Fishmart Sakuraya with Farmily + KTV @ YB’s + trial Pilates @ D Fly Fitness

Watched “Abang Adik” on SQ 318 two weeks ago.

A film talking about a pair of brothers with “no identity” in Malaysia. The older one’s a mute. The brothers loved each other a lot. In the end, the elder brother was sentenced to death for half causing the death of a social worker. His younger brother was partly to blame for her death too. I cried a bit because the sense of helpless-ness was so strong. 没有身份认同等于无根，所以无助。

吴慷仁’s acting was so good. No wonder he won影帝because of this movie.

Rating: 4/5

15/6/24 Sat: Potato tried his own version of Fiskisupa, Icelandic fish soup with Taiwan noodles for dinner and it turned out yummy! He put salmon cubes, shrimp, tomatoes, red wine, chicken stock, butter, black pepper, Tabasco, celery and carrot into the mix… just bar the cream and red capsicum Icelanders normally use.

Also, PotaTOHs finished “The 8 Show” on Netflix tonight.

Very dark and sadistic. I was in such a bad mood as the drama progresses. How greedy or cruel can humans get? It also got more boring as the “game show” went on.

Rating: 1/5

16/6/24 Sun: Was awaken by thunderstorm at 3+am and both Potato and I couldn’t fall asleep after that. By the time we fell asleep again at around 7am, we both missed my alarm at 8am and I only woke up at 10am alamak~ 45 more minutes till before I was supposed to go to work lol. *Think both of us are still suffering from jet lag haha~ I still am groggy at times and my eyes get tired easily… just can’t fall asleep at the correct timings yet.*

PotaTOHs each had 1.5 dumpling my FIL made~ together with the winter gourd with carrot soup that Potato cooked for us for dinner… nice! *Lots of courses coming up… hwaiting!*

17/6/24 Mon: Had an easy Pilates reformer class with Chisa this morning.

PotaTOHs cooked meatless for dinner. He had the idea for the butter celery with teriyaki enoki mushrooms which tasted great while I took a recipe for lemon king oyster mushroom salad on IG. He helped me with mine and the cold dish turned out not bad too.

19/6/24 Weds: Attended STC’s townhall this morning. On a side note, staff are happy because we have good VBs this year, but we also know things are coming to an end here too, especially for staff who will off-board by end of this November. Chatted with Scott, Janet, LT over lunch and well it seemed we think similar: to get this over and done with quickly! Lol. *Less than four months till the last race meeting and five months to my last day of work at STC. Am I ready? Not sure.*

Potato cooked Vongole Alla Spaghetti for dinner tonight~ always yummy! We also watched the first three episodes of “Agents Of Mystery”, a Korean escape room variety show together… the effects were quite well done.

21/6/24 Fri: Did half an hour of Qigong session this morning. Had cheap $2.50 cai fan for lunch and cut my hair shorter. *The itch from my limbs were gone. I strongly thought it was linked to our living room sofa’s seat covers which we washed a second time because there were probably washing powder residues on it the last time and that most probably irritated my skin.*

Potato used Masa’s recipe and cooked teriyaki chicken with cold Taiwanese ramen for dinner and it turned out very yummy! The sour base with kelps, cherry tomatoes and Japanese cucumbers went very well with the sweeter and somewhat “charred” Teriyaki chicken thigh meats! Somen was used in the original recipe and Potato decided he’d used the Taiwanese ramen which turned out a wonderful replacement.

PotaTOHs finished watching all six episodes of “Agents Of Mystery” on Netflix.

Good recommendation from him! There were only two themes and three episodes each… the escape room were well-designed with interesting storylines.

Rating: 4.5/5

22/6/24 Sat: Potato was nice to cook tom yum chicken with king oyster mushroom and celery for me for dinner before he and Ian went out for dinner at Jem~

23/6/24 Sun: Picked up my Elementary 1 Japanese language handbook at Hougang Japanese Tuition Centre before I went over to LL’s. We ordered Penang Savour for lunch and I had the Penang kway teow, which was spicy and okay I thought. Jess, Ahna, LL and I updated each other about our recent lives, and it was such a nice get-together that time flew without us realising.

Got home for dinner and had kimchi seafood fried rice that Potato was craving for~ shiok!

24/6/24 Mon: Went to take blood test this morning. There’s this uncle behind me who kept commenting on which nurse he wanted to take blood for him and pointed the young male nurse as “inexperienced”. I was called in to his booth and instead of proving the uncle wrong, this young guy failed to draw blood from both my arms, and had to call his senior, another auntie to help instead. When I went over, she said to not waste time and prevent bruises from taking blood from the thin veins at my arms again, she suggested the prominent vein near my right wrist. I almost froze and was scared because mum said she drew blood from the veins on the back of the palm before and it was painful to her, so I reckon this won’t be too different. Still, I decided to go with the nurse’ suggestion and… hey, it’s about the same level of “pain” when they poke needles into arms I thought. Oh well, a “new spot” for drawing blood “unlocked” I suppose? Lol. *I wonder if the young male nurse’ level of confidence was affected by what the uncle said…*

Turned out Potato’s meatless dinner that was inspired by the sight of my dark poop the day before was Alio Olio with Chinese spinach and shimeiji mushroom haha! My thoughtful hubby thought of my anaemic condition and that spinach can help with it lol.

26/6/24 Weds: Had my first TCM massage with HL at Long Kang clinic. She sounded like Malaysian and while her actions were very fast, they “untied” my knots pretty well I think. HL said my neck and shoulder area were very tight and knotty, but they are probably not caused by my pillow but the湿热体质I have. Cupping marks were also darker at the top of my back nearer the arms. She said it’s good for me to soak my feet in warm water at night and I should do it regularly to help “push” the dampness down and out. She also mentioned the heatiness could be due to the fact I’m taking iron pills to“补”血. HL also asked if I stayed up late or like to drink cold water but I told her not nowadays but I did before my 30s mostly, and she said the湿热that’s showing up now could be accumulated over the years and they’re showing now, which is a good thing because it’s purging out. *She advised me to reduce my intake of seafood because of the “toxins” reflected on my back.*

Saw a random recipe I saved on IG and made steamed tofu with shrimp and egg~ used two spoonful of light soy sauce, oyster sauce, one spoonful of vinegar, chilli oil and chilli flakes and four spoonful of water to make the dipping sauce… ended up with too much sauce so Potato advised me to boil it off but the taste came out yummy~ went very well with rice!

Started my first online 1-to-1 Elementary 1 Japanese class with Kurihara sensei from Hougang Japanese Language School. I was reading simple Romanji sentences after her and to be honest, she’s a bit fast so I will tell her to slow down in future haha. For someone with almost zero knowledge in the language, I had to focus quite a bit and it got a bit challenging when I had to think and answer simple comprehension cloze questions myself.

27/6/24 Thurs: Had the same Korean bibimbap ($7) for lunch at Bukit Panjang Plaza with Janet… nice and big portion haha. Potato cooked mille-feuille with Taiwanese ramen for dinner~ the bacon’s savouriness went into the soup but it got a bit too salty after a while.

Tried Aerial Hammock beginner class at D Fly Fitness studio at night. We did very deep stretches to warm up for like 10 minutes or so and instructor Kay started to teach us the moves in two parts. At first, we did not have to spin but damn had to use the core to flip up at the start every time. *Of course, I was a bit tense as I could not remember the moves and the instructions got confusing for me haha. The neck felt sore after a while.*

After that, Kay taught us to do those moves while spinning omg. There were slow spins and fast ones. I was already worried about getting dizzy during the spin and damn I was spot-on. Was rather giddy after I finished the first set and even though I wasn’t spinning very fast already! We took turns use the hammocks to practise and Kay was very patient and encouraging throughout. There were a few times I couldn’t flip up because she said my butt dropping down and also, I cannot spin up elegantly like the rest of them can because I’m either not doing it right or the core is just not strong enough oops. In the end, Kay took a video of me doing the simple flow for the fourth time. *Had to take breaks in between because my neck, arms and whole body were tired… and to think at first I still a bit sian we can’t have one hammock each… after that then I know why LOL!* Class overrun and took 1.5hours and I got a “weird” feeling in my stomach and a slight dizziness while otw home lol… good thing I did not vomit haha.

28/6/24 Fri: Tried Bungee fitness with instructor XY. There were four students in class and though the space was small, she managed to make things work in the beginners’ class. After learning all the basic moves, we did a set with music and though I sweated quite a bit, I must say I do enjoy bungee fitness classes. *But my heels did feel a bit painful after class… maybe I should consider indoor shoes in future.*

Bumped into Ning and Wandi on the bus towards West Coast Plaza as we had dinner plans with Potato and Ian at Fishmart Sakuraya. The two came later in Ian’s car but three of us were hungry, so we had maki, chawanmushi and fried squid already haha. They came and ordered sashimi for everyone to share. Very filling dinner before Ian drove us to Clementi mall for some mochi waffles and banana crepes.

29/6/24 Sat: *Omg the DOMS from aerial hammock class was terrible~ especially on the left side of my neck, shoulder, arms and the core.* I treated Potato to a 1.5 hour-lunch omakase at Hana restaurant and we opted for the $50 10-piece sushi set (before GST and service charge). The appetiser was tako wasabi which I got a bit sick of after a while. Next, we had the flounder and the hotate which were quite nice.Then came the Medai (butter) fish and bonito. The tendon from the Medai was so tough I could not break down in my mouth and had to swallow it down. Potato managed to spit it out and gave a feedback, so the waitress returned with another slice but with skin removed… easier to chew but the tendon was still there. The lighter-coloured wasabi on the bonito was not at all spicy so we think that’s freshly grated as compared to the one served to us from the start. Salmon belly and tuna were good, albeit I never was a fan of tuna because of the strong metallic taste. Ended with uni with chutoro and ikura, as well as aburi prawn with caviar~ Potato liked the former while I preferred the latter but both were quite good. Lastly, they served their miso soup cooked with dashi… very good.

Browsed around Decathlon for snow hiking pants but could not find my size. Potato bought a pair of shoes and pants for work though. Had zi char for dinner at YB’s at night before Ben, YB and I “re-lived” our secondary and poly school days with KTV session at her condo haha. It felt nice in that two hours or so of singing and Ben bought cakes from Paris Baguette to celebrate YB’s 36^th birthday in advance haha. Unfortunately, the system broke down at 9+pm so we left earlier for home.

30/6/24 Sun: Potato cooked miso butter ramen with chicken, mushroom, celery and napa cabbage. The stock was cooked using miso paste and the packets of dashi stock he bought today~ not bad but it got a bit salty for me towards the end.

1/7/24 Mon: PotaTOHs tried the new chicken rice stall at Le Quest mall and it was not bad, albeit portion a bit small. I attempted to fry chives, cabbage and tofu wrapped in rice paper for dinner but I probably had the wrap too fat so the corners did not stick while frying and oil splattered around quite a bit. *frying them one side for five minutes would be better because the skin would be crispier* Still, the taste came out not bad and went well with the dipping sauce in Masa’s IG video.

2/7/24 Tues: Went for my bi-annual scaling and polishing but did not do the root canal for my upper left pre-molar in the end because Dr Tan advised that I follow through with one dentist for the whole procedure but I can’t usually go to the dentist on Tuesdays, so he suggested another dentist on a Monday instead.

Potato walked me to D Fly Fitness studio after dinner at mum’s. Apparently, there was another yoga class ongoing at the same time as my Pilates reformer group class. Not that I mind but the space for our Pilates class was so small we could not stretch out hands and legs freely. There were only two students in class with instructor Mandy and we had to take turns to use each equipment. Granted it was nice I get to try different equipment in a Group class, but we had to wait for Mandy to give instructions and she could not focus fully on two students at one time, which to me, defeated the purpose of a Group class.

As compared to Chisa and other instructors I’ve had before in Pilates, she obviously wasn’t prepared for her class as she came up with moves on the spot. I don’t doubt her knowledge, but she was not as detailed when it came to preparing the moves… which the downside being some students could get hurt if they did not have correct postures while doing certain moves or not reap as much benefits from it. We had to wait for the other class to completely end first before we could leave our small room to walk to the main entrance too... ended up doing small talks with Mandy.

We had photos and videos taken, but that was the most unrewarding Pilates reformer class I had. Much as I liked photos and videos too, the main aim of the class should still be to have a good workout first then we talk about pretty “Instagram-able” poses! Could probably have the equipment and do it all by myself. As someone who’s already done Pilates reformer class elsewhere for a while, why would I need an instructor if they don’t add value to my class? But really, what bothered me a lot more was the space constraint.

3/7/24 Weds: Les Mills BodyBalance class started late by 20 minutes. Good yoga flow with Pilates move and I sweated omg haha. *Quite a short wait to close my OCBC 360 account at the bank as compared to queues at POSB normally.* Followed a recipe online to marinate the pork belly with light soy sauce, mirin, miso, ginger paste and garlic bits but it turned out a bit too salty. Stir-fried cabbage with mushroom too.

Had my second Japanese lesson with Kurihara sensei tonight and there were so many new vocabulary and phrases again~ got to find time to learn to write the Hiragana characters man!