STC Grand Singapore Gold Cup farewell meeting + WZ’s belated bday lunch @ Kohaku Sabo + Ian & Linh over for dinner + “Inside North Korea’s Dynasty” +《青春18x2 通往有你的旅程》+ dad’s bday zi char dinner from Famous JB 101

5/10/24 Sat: Went into office earlier at 10+am and though I was given the bento lunch by Serene, I still decided to have some food at Press Box and it was good that I did because they had scallops there and our bento tasted bad.

It was a whirlwind meeting and while I said “hi” and “bye” to many people, it felt the meeting was over in the blink of an eye. Smart Star, trained by David Kok and ridden by South African visiting jockey Muzi Yeni caused a major boilover in the $1.38 million Group 1 Grand Singapore Gold Cup (2000m) in the last race.

Had bad recordings because of the echoes and noise all around so I had to re-interview David and Yeni. Worked till close to 12am… my eyes were tired and I was mentally fatigued.

The crowd was larger, the atmosphere felt more lively, but the notion of sadness is there. Knowing the last race in Singapore was run didn’t feel good. *Then again, people only understand the importance of things when we lose them. Haiz.* It still has not sunk in completely for me come the end of the meeting since I had work to do at home, but I will always be proud of the fact that I’ve met and knew these bunch of racing lovers who taught me the importance of being passionate about something you do. 不论个人理由为何，至少他们都热衷赛马。从他们身上我认识到了，能有自己很热爱做的一件事情，那其实是很幸福的。

6/10/24 Sun: I was just mentally tired the whole day haha. Met Pat and WZ for WZ’s belated 36^th bday lunch at Kohaku Sabo. Their signature tempura don was not bad. We shared the banana-flavoured jiggly cat pudding and it was only okay la.

We then had coffee and cheesecake at The Coffee Bean before I went over to my in-laws for dinner.

7/10/24 Mon: Attended Aerial Flow in the morning and damn the flow was not that easy as it seemed. I somehow ended up tying my knot very high and with almost trembling hands, I managed to get myself to sit up there for a few photos. The backbend mid-air thereafter was a bit too much for me though.

Potato made our meatless sandwich dinner! He added maitake, scrambled eggs, iceberg lettuce and tomatoes in them~ nice~  

8/10/24 Tues: Finished an article on Bruno in the morning. Scott was nice to treat me to lunch at Kei Kaisendon for offering him two guests tickets to the final meeting last Saturday~ quite enjoyed my unagi and sashimi don set hehe.

Went back to my parents and mum steamed the shrimp cake that she finally found after a long time~ yay I have not had it in a while! *Ouch my left eye is kind of bloodshot since last week… too strained I think.*

9/10/24 Weds: HL said my body was湿热this afternoon during the TCM massage, so she said刮痧and拔罐would be good. *My left shoulder blade was quite painful while my right neck was rather tight during the massage.*

Potato pan-fried breaded sutchi chunks for and stir-fried cabbage with mushrooms and carrot slices for dinner~ very flavourful veggies while the fish went quite well with sour cream, albeit a bit bland.

10/10/24 Thurs: It’s been two months or so since my last Pilates reformer class at Options Pilates after Chisa left. Had class with Mai this morning and it was not as tiring as Chisa or Belinda’s class overall and I also think she has a bit more “lesson planning” to do because the class didn’t flow very well.

Ian popped over at 2+pm before Linh came in the evening. Potato whipped up delicious seafood fried rice with salmon and tobiko for us~ Also discussed a bit about our trip to Kuala Lumpur and Ipoh end of December.

12/10/24 Sat: Tried a new upside down pose in JE’s Aerial Yoga Beginner class and it was a bit scary at first but I soon realised we’re safely “wrapped” up in the hammock.

Had the danggui duck rice with Potato at JE and I’m glad he found it nice too. Both of us went looking at digital door luck at Westgate and IMM in the evening but instead bought ourselves a EuropAce DC standing fan ($89) from Harvey Norman using our Climate Vouchers. Had dinner at the foodcourt at IMM. I ate tom yam tong yau foo ($7.5) while he ate pad Thai ($5.9)~ Went shopping at Daiso and Don Don Donki too, where he bought some yummy salmon sushi for supper as we watched “The Zone: Survival Mission” at night.

13/10/24 Sun: There’s a strange sensation over me this weekend. It’s been a long time since I haven’t worked on weekends but knowing now that racing’s over, which somewhat means my job is mostly done, I felt my brain sort of “unwind” itself almost totally. It’s like I’d been loaded with heavy burdens on my shoulders all these years and thinking non-stop about work. Now that I have to dump them, at least for the time being, my brain simply “died” over the weekends I think lol. There’s this unfamiliar sense of ease I haven’t felt in years, probably not even during the holidays. I’m enjoying it while it lasts, and if maintaining it this way means a healthier me, I welcome it! Hopefully it does not go anywhere downhill from here or result in me become lethargic after unemployment kicks in. But it seems I have a lesson to learn: Much as I don’t like, I can’t seem to handle stress well so in future, I’d have to ensure I draw a clearer line between personal life and work. And just randomly, the idea I’ve discussed with Potato before, of “working for a while and taking no-pay leave or break from whatever job I’m doing now and then” sounds very ideal for the future me…

Caught “Inside North Korea’s Dynasty” on Disney+, introduced by PL, whom I met at the “Essential Thinking : Adopting A Growth Mindset for Critical Thinking and Problem Solving in the Digital Age” course.

I’m very intrigued by most topics on the mysterious or the unknowns, hence the National Geographic’s documentary on the Kim’s three-generation ruling family in North Korea piqued my interest.

It talked about the story of the Kim’s family power, which began from Kim Il Sung, who began a three-year war to try to conquer the whole of Korea soon after he became the ruler in North Korea but yet lost and caused the lives of his people, tried to assassinate the Blue House’s president but his men failed. Then we saw Kim Jong II, who revered his father and depicted him as “god” to fellow countrymen. The movie director abducted a famous actress and director to North Korea to help them produce films for many years, and he too tried to kill another South Korean president. Now, we have Kim Jong Un, who befriended basketball star and initiated a conversation with then American president Donald Trump in Singapore, and how he was linked to the death of his uncle and eldest brother…

The 70 over years of reign by the Kim family in North Korea could “stand firm” because they were complex and ruthless to a huge extent. One really has to understand the family to understand how the country works. It was scary to think after listening to so many credible statements from all around in the documentary. They even interviewed the lady bomber who bombed a Korean plane (albeit she tried to kill herself by biting on poison after being caught)… whoa.

Very good and clear storytelling from many angles, so someone who did not know about North Korea’s history like me has learned a lot from this documentary.

Rating: 5/5

We went cycling in the afternoon for an hour at the open-space carpark before going up to the rooftop garden where there were tighter paths. I accidentally scraped my right lower calf at one point at a sharp turn~ ouch. *I know I can be petty at times but thank you Potato for always being the supportive and magnanimous one!* 

Potato cooked cold soba with Teriyaki chicken and eggs for dinner~ he used the newly-bought egg cooking device to try and make ajitama, but it became hard-boiled eggs instead haha.

14/10/24 Mon: Because I saved《青春18x2 通往有你的旅程》on my watch playlist on Netflix and I felt bored.

Should have guessed it was a tear-jerking one. 高中生Jimmy（许光汉饰演）在台南的卡拉OK厅打工遇见了大他四岁、从日本来的Ami（Kaya Kiyohara饰演）。两人一起打工，Jimmy暗恋她，可是后来Ami突然要回日本。两人放完天灯约定“完成梦想”后再见。

18年后，Jimmy事业失意时，偶然看到Ami从日本寄来的明信片。他想起了初恋，决定借着在日本的单人旅行与Ami重逢。

拍摄手法以18年前和18年后的画面交替播放，穿插剪接颇是无缝，最开始看得很甜，到后来就心疼了。原来Jimmy早就知道Ami过世了，但她是他未尽的青春里好想再见一面的人，所以他来到了她生活的地方。那一路上，他碰到了同样来自台南的日本料理厨师、火车上的18岁年轻背包客还有载他到日本放天灯地点的网咖职员。

整部电影我印象深刻的除了Jimmy和Ami坐火车一起听耳机那浪漫的一幕之外，就是Jimmy和那个年轻人搭火车穿出山洞后看到另一头Fukushima漫天雪地的画面，绝美！*看了顿时有一个人旅行的冲动lol!*

电影有句台词：“旅行就是不知道会发生什么事情才有趣。”我一向来都不太注意这点，因为我旅行都有计划。可是我也清楚计划赶不上变化，那就得更open-minded一些，凡事就迎刃而解、随机应变吧！

Rating: 4/5

15/10/24 Tues: Ordered zi char from Famous JB 101 for dad’s early 70^th birthday dinner tonight. Bro and I treated my family to the白胡椒砂锅鸡汤、三蛋苋菜、咖啡排骨and芙蓉蛋 ($91.9). Potato and I thought the soup was still as nice, but I found the trio egg spinach a bit watery this time. The coffee ribs were still a bit bitter for me and the egg was okay I think. *Mum didn’t really like the soup because of the milk in it.*  

16/10/24 Weds: STC gave staff a “thank you” buffet lunch this afternoon. Rushed to take the sashimi but by the time I queued for the main line, many dishes were wiped out already. Got some colleagues to leave messages in my Autograph book and took photos with some of them. *If there’s a chance for a sideline, I don’t mind!*

Came home to winter gourd soup with eggs, carrots and chicken drumsticks and stir-fried celery with shimeiji mushrooms and carrots because I have sore throat these few days.

And yes I passed my Elementary 1 Japanese test tonight!

17/10/24 Thurs: Attended Pilates reformer with Belinda this morning and her class is tough for me as usual haha. Everything was going rather smoothly but I think my arms got very tired towards the end, and they were weaker to begin with. *definitely need my sips of water in Pilates classes* Worked all the big muscles from the core to the arms and the legs… phew.

Mike treated me to the Vietnamese pork noodles at Happy Hawkers for lunch before he took away lunch for his wife and son too.

Cooked pork and lettuce wafu-style spaghetti for dinner tonight and it tasted great yay!