Japan trip day 1 to 6

24/3 - Took SIA 10.45pm flight to Japan

25/3 - Reached tokyo haneda airport in the morning. Got our wifi router, had Tully coffee. It was rainy and cold, we went to put our luggage in the locker, walked to Tsukiji. But there were too many people with umbrellas. Had a hard time looking for food, in the end we settled with a strawberry mochi. 

We were hungry and we just looked around outside of Tsukiji and we settled for a italian where we had margarita and crab sphegeti.

Dinner was a atas boat dinner where we took a boat out to the skytree. There was sadly no sakura flowers.

26/3 - day 2

We went ginza area where we had starbuck coffee and cake. Rained heavily and we went to a hibeya mall where we had 2 nice siew mai. Took metro to shinjuki.

Shinjuki - we went looking for gacha but it was disappointing. Had ramen. 

Went home and we had the hamberg dinner near our place. It was a nice dinner.

27/3 - day 3 (sunny) askusa to sensoji - had some snacks - macha. Kura sushi. GU - bought sweaters and socks. Went akihabara to find gacha, chanced honey toast cafe. Choc banana toast and a burger set.

28/3 - day 4 - went to shinjuku, bento set inside station and drink. Ate and drank on the train. Reached there and had to wait 1.5hr in cold to catch a bus to our hotel. Chateraise. Had dinner - tempura rice and had sake.

29/3 - day 5 - bought snacks from a traditional jap sweet shop. Had some for lunch. It was rainy so we stayed in hot until 12.30pm. We walked 4.8km to chuleito pagoda to take nice photo. Had to climb hundreds of steps. Took local train back to kama, walked back to hotel. Y went to buy sausages and we ate v nice ice cream. Then we walked to kosaku and i had duck hotu.

30/3 day 6 - checked out. Walked to kawakugiko and took bus to mishima station. Nearly missed our bullet train because of some china tourists who went to our carriage and hoarded the door. We arrived in kyoto and walked a long way to our hotel.

health

Yesterday i had a rude shock when I saw my health screening result. My creatinine level is outside normal range.

I became worried, because my sister has kidney failure. I am going to Japan tmr but this news made me worried. It could be the start of kidney disease.

I went to see online to see YouTube videos to see how I could protect my kidney. I saw some saying drink more water and exercise.

On impulse, I went to buy a water bottle, to remind me to drink more water. And to continue exercising.

Scheduled a appointment to polyclinic to see if they can help check but the latest is mid may. Didn't want to worry anyone, so I see how it goes.

wan fou tang

Yun qing has always helped me buy a slot to chao du ys. 20 bucks.

I am grateful she always remembered Ys. I cant even rem the steps to pray to ys, let alone this.

Failure - on my part....

one more week to japan

Feeling excited abit that i will be taking a 16 day break on 24 march onwards. Ys and me had never been to japan.

I shall bring his photo with me, hope he can come with me. Going with Y.

I remembered ever having thoughts of going solo to japan in 2009 after a very bad argument with ys. I just want to run away.

Hope things go smoothly. After tt, tender my resignation.

Qingming

Today went to mandai to pray to him. This is the 2nd qingming. Time passes.

As usual, bought the three kind of rice, plus kuay chap. His sister took care of the snacks. Andy and wife came. One of his daughter came. All four of us came.

Writing this so that I remember the sequence. I always can't. 

Qingming is peak so if need to drive, need booking. This year chose 1 day before the peak so that we need not do any booking. There were some others too.

Quickly laid out the food. Din open until all are present. Mum and Y went to Bai di zhu (rem this). 2 fagoh, one for us and one for di zhu. Mum also burn some Jin zhi.

Then we lit the incense and walk up to bring him down to eat. Remember I had to lead the way. Then we took turns. His is row 316, 120.

Then we went down and wait and chit chat. Kuen told me his cousin Stella has cancer and undergoing chemo. Asked me to ask him bopi her. I think if ys know, and if he had the means, he will bopi her. 

Then tried to buay bei to ask him if he finished. I dunno I tend to want to rush as I do not want to chat with any others. Second buay bei then he ok. Maybe next time I will take things easy.

Then after buay bui, burn his stuff first. Next time I will burn myself. Today too much smoke created because the second bag was not burning properly. I remembered when we go bishan, burning was the last. Anyway after that Andy drove us home. 

Had a dull headache, which didn't go away. Took Panadol and slept a bit. Feeling better. Think tmr then I pack for Japan. Tired maybe of heavy menses today.

Best purchases

Some big purchases I made in the past.

I remembered shortly after my hubby passed on, I threw away my old bulky sofa which cost 1.5k. Replaced it with a cheap sofa - 270. It is almost 2 years and aside from a little tear, it is largely still in good condition.

I also bought a Xiaomi 2-in-1 handheld vacuum mop, which I love and still using. No issues except for the mop pads which don't stick. In the end, I replaced them with brandless mop pads and it had worked. This cost 599 including an air flyer.

Next, I bought an elliptical from decathlon. Had some hiccups with the delivery, but eventually it came and I fixed it up myself. I remembered I bought it around April 2023, except for a small part that had came off, it had come in handy on wet days and days where my knees hurt or I have no mood to go run. Am using it to train for my 10km marathon that is coming up in 1 month time. It costs 250. I just did 1.5hr on it. Yay!!

I bought a single no headboard bed, which was left to Y to sleep. But after she moved back to her own place, it is there. As a spare for guests. Cost me 300 including mattress. I myself am sleeping on a sofa bed that is very petite. Saves me room in my already quite squeezed after I just parked my guqin table and chair. Still finding the best place to place my guqin....taking up quite some space. And out of sight, I would not go touch it. The guqin costs me 4400, table and chair 750. Should I gift it away if i am losing interest in it...this question had been popping up quite frequently. Took up guqin after my surgery in Jan 23, to soothe my soul after my loss. It does in some ways and I am grateful that it tided me through the past 1 year. I could not play my erhu after his death, cos the erhu just makes me wanna cry.

My erhu cost 1300, an instrument my erhu teacher helped me buy in 2016/2017. Had played erhu since my jc. I choose erhu cos it is a very portable instrument and looks very cool. After jc, I took lessons at community centre. I guess the main reason I play is to hope I can play music or songs I like.

My current wardrobe - bought it for 700++ in 2015/6 when I bought my bukit panjang house. It has been with me 8 years. No issues like mould etc. loving it still.

Why I am quitting

I am quitting my job of 14 years this coming June.

Why? Partly due to my grief and also the stresses from my job.

I can not focus on my work - when working, I feel like running away and sleeping some where. However when at night, I find myself sleepless. I guessed it was my coffee that I am taking as though it is water. My job kept me up at night, worrying days and night. 

I lost him in Aug 2022, to a heart attack. I took a week off to settle his funeral, and car. I had to take refresher course. I buried myself in work, trying to forget him. This went on for many many months. I couldn't quit because I had a car loan, his medical bill to pay. After I sold the car (one year later Aug 2023) I felt a heavy burden lift off my shoulder. I was left with 1 more year to pay 1240 per month. This will end Jul 2024.

After that, my expenses would be 2k a month which my passive income would foot 1650 of it. I can finally rest and quit to do barista fire.

Do I really need to go? I asked myself, but the answer is always a resounding yes. I have enough to last me and doggies. There could be a time when I might need to euthanize my doggies (both are 11 and 12) and incur a heavy bill. But I still have enough.

My worry is my hdb loan, 264k. I plan to pay off using cpf in 2027.

I am having a good paying job 9.5k a month factoring in bonuses. But my heart is dead. No matter how much more money I have， I don't feel happy. I thought I would if I reached FIRE. But realized without him, I feel very empty.

I intend to take a 6 months break, do part time job there after till I die. We shall meet again 😀😉

Peach garden

Dimsum with Mum and G. She made a booking prior to today.

Today went to Bai tai sui with mum and G. We took cab there. There was only us and a pair of mother, son. We prayed and the temple uncle was sharing his recent health issues and death of wife with us. His wife was same age as mum. Reminded me to spend more time with loved ones as much as I can.

We then went T2 to eat the dimsum special. All the dimsum at 3 per dish. We ordered each of their every item. We three were quite full. I thought the siew mai and hao gao is worth eating.

Then we walked around T2 while mum sat somewhere.

We drink a coffee and share a nice carrot cake at josh grocer. The cake was 10 bucks but it was quite nice. After that, G supposed to take mum home via taxi while I took mrt to Tampines. I walked to mrt at T2. Then G msg and said they took train cos it was very ex to take cab.

Then we parted ways at tanah merah stop. I went to isetan and bought three pieces of patch top. Could not find back the bixon one, so bought different pattern but same style.

Went home and starts blogging. Yesterday had woken 3 times cos lots of dreams.

Later will go jogging.

Thing i have tried

1) bought cars for hubby (kia, wira, altis, camry etc) - I am happy that I ever let him have a chance to drive a 2.5l Camry. He was very happy (2020-2021) back then and proud.

2) hdb - rent 1 for 3 years, bought and sold bukit panjang, bought bedok (4room)

3) dog - have 2 dogs

4) travelled to various countries - china, hk, msia, taiwan, vietnam

5) had 4 jobs (insurance, call centre, wrote articles, backend records, project)

6) investments (poems, moomoo)

7) signed up gym in 2019 since

8) learned music (erhu, ocarina, guqin, guzheng)

9) travelled with sm, wj to malacca and recently ipoh

Realised none of the above had anything to do with possessions... like luxury bags.

I set new things to try in 2H 2024 after I quit.

- Run a marathon

- Solo trips (hk, penang)

- Part time jobs (security guard, healthcare)

- Spend quality time with mum (she is 73yo)

- Self care - live and sleep as if there is no tmr

- explore sg on foot

- coloring (finish my bdae gift)

Hk samgor mixian

Today is my turn to be treated to a dinner dinner. After my usual bau routine including my guqin lesson. Today I gave the old man five bucks. 

Walked a long way to the golden mile food centre. It had been at least 11 years. Lg clinic was there for 2 years. It brought back some vague memories whereby I would wander while I wait for him to finish work. Usually we ate opposite at the golden mile food centre - the lala.

I remembered wandering about. There are a few old malls. I didn't go in as I was sweating a lot and not in the mood. So I reached the food centre which was very stuffy. So I bought fried nian gao and taro. Found a short way back. Less than 5 minutes....

After my guqin, I went to Bedok and met Y. We walked around before making way to samgor. I ordered the dried mixian. Chix was very tender. it was very filling.

After dinner, walked around abit before making my way home.

PS5 to buy or not to buy. See how it goes after I quit.