Life Updates and Photo Dump.
24th Jan.
Fitstop Classes have now become a routine for me, I go for an average of 4 sessions per week and it has been great for my mental health.
On this day, I went for a class with my friend, we went to have lunch afterwards, so here I am,
waiting for her and her wife to close up the gym after the last class of the day. She is my social anchor for Saturday classes because those sessions are always packed and it is just nice to know that when I go for class, there will at least be a friend present in class that I can approach and group up with.
After our meal, I headed over to her place with her to chill while her wife went for a Private Coaching session, my plan had been to go to her place to take a look and leave within maybe 2 hours, but I ended up staying till 10pm, it was crazy. She was very generous and kept offering me booze, so I had many cups of alchochol, even though I am not a drinker and couldn't appreicate the drinks.
She did home cooked food, one of her friend, whom I have met at the gym class, came over mid-way through, then her wife joined us afterwards, I even ended up meeting her wife's Mum at night, it was a good day. I felt socially fufilled that day and at that moment, I just felt really happy that I had made the choice to join the gym and had the chance and a reason to reconnect with her.
7th Feb.
I started swiping of Hinge again, matched with a few profiles and ended up going for a meal with this one guy I had been chatting with for 2 weeks or so.
We met at Outram and then walked over to Marina Bay Link Mall with the intention to get Egg Coffee from this cafe called TON Coffee, but before that, both of us were actually really hungry, I had attended a gym class that morning (without my friend because she had gone for a holiday trip to Japan), and I hadn't had anything to eat since.
We settled for this place that sells Hong Kong Diner style food, it was alright. I have to say, I was actually quite pleasaently surprised at how natural the conversation between the both of us flowed, I had my reservations prior to this meet up that it could potentially be awkward, but thankfully, he was actually quite engagining and chatty.
After this meal, we went to get the coffee, it really wasn't anything too special, getting Egg Coffee from Ton Coffee is like getting a cup of Latte from Starbucks, I mean it is good, but not really something to shout about.
We headed over to Marina Bay Shoppes as we both sipped on our drinks, and ended up in Penhaligon to smell some perfumes, they were actually quite nice, but the price point is the same as LV, so I was defintiely not going to be getting my hands on a bottle anytime soon.
After this, he told me we could visit this perfume shop at Arab Street that has been around for a while now, and I was really excited to pay them a visist, so we ended up WALKING all the way to Arab Street FROM Marina Bay Shoppes!
It was definitely not walking distance, but thankfully the weather that day was cooling, so we didn't actually end up breaking into a sweat, but my feet were really tired and by the time we got there, we were both parched because we actually were just talking the entire walk over. Had a cup of Teh Tahrik, checked out the perfume store, didn't get anything from there in the end because even though it was affordable, I didn't really smell anything I felt like I really needed to get.
We walked around a bit more and then ended up at this cafe where we just chilled and chatted even more, I definitely enjoyed hanging out with him, but I think now that I have return back to a more grounded emotional state, my desire to look for a partner is a bit more controlled right now, so I ended up seeing viewing him more as a potential good friend to meet up with for meals every once in a while.
We have been in touch since that meet up, but the rate of texting has definitely taken a significant dip over the past week, so I am not sure if we would actually end up meeting again anytime soon, it is also Ramadan right now so I think meeting up for a meal would be a bit challenging, since he is going to be fasting until Hari Raya.
12th Feb.
We had a Company CNY Lunch.
My boss has once again given everyone a big fat Ang Pow this CNY, it's not as much as the first Ang Pow I got from him when I first joined the company, but to be getting $1000 is still huge and I am trying not to forget how generous he really is.
That being said, I definitely still want to look for a new job because I have hit the ceiling when it comes to career advancement in this company. I am hoping to join a company that I can eventually retire from and if my boss had plans to grow his business into something much larger than what it is right now, I would be very happy to continue working for him, but after being with him for a little over 2 years, I just don't see that happening.
Sigh.
14th Feb.
My friend came back from Japan, so we were able to attend the gym class together on Valentine's day! I didn't end up pairing up with her for the session though because we were on opposite ends of the gym when we were told to pair up, and since I was literally standing next to someone I had been doing my weekday classes with, and he clearly didn't have anyone he was really familiar with in the class aside from me, we paired up instead, and the session was actually great.
After the class, I went with my friend to Beauty World for brunch, she had send me a bunch of videos the day before of all this different stores that were at the hawker centre and they were stores I didn't even know exisited.
All I can say is she knows her food becuase this Unagi Berempah was so good! We shared a plate so the portion was just nice for us to be satiated, but not full.
Then there is also this Fried Chicken store which was also really good. It's actually crazy how much fried food we were having in the morning right after gym class, we had pretty much just wasted all our excercising effort.
She also ended up paying for both items, so I told her I will pay for coffee later and we visited Offsite, which was just opposite Beauty World.
She got Matcha, I got myself this Mont Blanc Coffee and a Slice of Bannoffee Pie, her friend that I didn't know, also came like 5 minutes later to join us, it was honestly a bit awkward for me and her friend because ther really wasn't any point for us to really get to know each other since we will only probably only see each other that one time and never again, so after I was done with my coffee and pie, I excused myself and just let them catch up with one another.
I had my time with my friend, figured I should give her friend some one on one time with her as well. I headed back to Beauty World and got some desserts to go, then headed home.
The goodies my friend got me from Japan, some drip coffee packet and a small box of pistachio cookie.
15th Feb.
Had a really impromptu meet up with another friend on Sunday.
He was bored, I had nothing on, so I figured why not, and we ended up grabbing Matcha after having a meal at Chinatown Point!
I had this Matcha place that I really wanted to try called Cremie Sippies, kept seeing them appear on my TikTok page and I was honestly a bit skeptical about how good their matcha would be considering how cutesey the whole aesthetic of the cafe was, it just didn't look like a place that would have good Matcha, but I was actually surprised.
They used a lot of Matcha powder, I actually had trouble sleeping that night.
Headed over to Vivo after that because my friend wanted to get new clothes for CNY, he looked for his stuff, I found myself just lingering in ZARA aimlessly after I was done sniffing all their perfume and then just left the shop and walked around Cold Storage for a while. Clothes shopping is a really boring affair if you are not actually getting any clothes yourself.
Came across this scent that I really really like from Zara, didn't end up getting it because my wallet is still recovering from my Diptyque purchase. I did some research when I got home and realize this scent is actually a collaboration with Jo Malone, so now I am actually quite interested to get a bottle for myself. It's an ocean and sea salt scent, which is something I have been trying to look for and add to my collection for a while now, the only thing I wasn't a huge fan of is the pepper notes. Longevity wise, I think this one last longer than their other dupe inspired perfumes, I can literally still smell it on the test strip almost a whole week later, so it's definitely something worth considering.
Before we called it a day, I also got a tin of Pineapple Tarts to fuel me for CNY.
CNY Break Week 16-21 Feb.
I had a 1 week break during CNY, the company was closed on Monday - Friday.
Monday
I went for a Fitstop class in the morning, and then joined one of the regualrs for breakfast because his company had closed for the week as well so he didn't have any plans. In the evening, we had our reunion dinner, so I was able to see my baby nephew and he is always a joy to have in the house.
Tuesday
I had zero plans, no gym classes were avaialble that day because it is officially CNY, so we spend the day at my Sister's place instead. Had lunch and dinner there, it was a very chill day.
Wednesday
The day started with a Fitstop class in the morning, they had 2 sessions opened, both were morning slot, the class was bigger than usual, I think to allow more people to join, it went from the regulart 18 max per class to 24 per class.
That regular that I went for breakfast with on Monday told me he was on the waitlist for this class, but that his usual shenanigans is he will still go for the class whether he actually got in or not, well, he didn't clear the waitlist and he still came, so instead of 24, we actually had 25 people that day.
That would have been fine, if not for the fact that we had to pair up for the last execercise, and because we had an odd number of members, someone wouldn't have a partner, and that person ended up being me. One would then question, why did I pair up with that regular then, well, I was standing a bit too far away from him when we were told to pair up, so he had already found another partner. I ended up pacing on my own, which worked out fine actually.
After class, we had family lunch at home, so my Nephew came by again, along with my Grandma and one of my Aunt. It was nice to be able to play with my Nephew twice in a week.
Thursday
Nothing going on on Thursday, I did go to Clementi Mall to get more gym clothes, figured I could use more so I can actually attend more classes per week.
Friday
Another gym class in the morning to start the day, but instead of going for my usual 7am class, I decided to go for the later 8.30am one instead since I had no work and I really need a break from the 7am crowd after that massive 25 people class on Wednesday.
The class on Friday only had 6 of us, it was so nice to actually be with such a small class again.
After class, I got dessert from Beauty World before heading home, then left home in the afternoon hoping to get a haircut, only to find out the salon was still closed for CNY, so I got some snacks from Jason's Marketplace instead and lunch from Burger King, then headed home.
Saturday
Morning class, usually would be with my friend, but she had errands to run so she ended up going to another outlet and I had to attend the class at my usual outlet on my own.
I feel like the need for social validation whenever I go for this gym classes died after the not so great social experience I had on Wednesday.
It made me realize that I don't really have any go-to friends in the class, and I should just accept that and not go to this classes and worry about whether that, I should readjust my approach and actually focus on the fitness aspect of the class rather than the social aspect of it.
I feel like I have been overthinking this whole social aspect thing when I go to class, and become so hyperaware of how awkard and alone I feel during the sessions on most days that it has affected my ability to actually enjoy the clases for what they are.
I am not there to make friends, I am there to be surrounded by people so I don't feel socially isolated, and I am there to stay fit, to be able to make friends there would be a bonus and that is a bonus that just hasn't happened yet. Most of the members there are really friendly, but I haven't met anyone whom I am comfortable enough to really call a friend yet, except for my Secondary school friend, who doesn't really count because we were already friends before that.
Anyways, the class was a bit iffy today, I grouped up with a bunch of new faces I have either seen very rarely or never seen before, the exercise process was a bit confusing and I just feel like I didn't get to really push myself much physically because I was just confused 20% of the time.
We had Lo Hei after the class, I really should have just left before the Lo Hei started because I found myself just standing around on my own waiting for the whole thing to start, people were busy taking group pics with their clique, I was told to help one particualr group take a photo, and then when the Lo Hei started, I did the Lo Hei, didn't eat any of it, went to wash up in the toilet because someone got too excited and flung a bunch of it on my hand during the tossing.
I would usually try to find a familar face after class end and then just say goodbye to them to sort of make it feel like I have friends there, which is pathetic, but today I honestly just could not be bothered to, there were way too many people around and I just wanted to leave as quickly as possible.
