Bisdak Babbles

Hokkaido in Singapore

2009-07-07T14:54:10Z

I miss the “real” Japan taste, so I was ecstatic when I received a flyer about the Hokkaido Fair at the Tampines Mall from July 3 to 12. I dropped by last weekend and the venue was crowded.

The usual comment that I heard from the customers? “It’s not so cheap.” If you’re used to the prices in Japan, you’ll find the prices at the fair acceptable because based on the computations I’ve made, I think they have just directly converted the prices to SGD. But I’ve stayed in Singapore for more than 3 months already so I find it not so cheap also. But Hokkaido doesn’t come to Singapore often so I just ignored the guilt I felt and bought Hakodate Maru Cheese Cake and … mentaiko! I miss the ramen in Japan so I might visit the fair again before it ends.

The booth owners are really from Hokkaido that I was so happy to speak in Japanese again, but alarmed at the fact that I’m slowly forgetting the basics. I also miss how the Japanese treat their customers. I wish that would be the same here in Singapore, too.

Weight gain alert

2009-07-07T14:29:39Z

Over the past few days, I’ve been eating like a pig. I’ve had complete meals but had heavy snacks in between. When I underwent a medical checkup for an insurance policy, I was not surprised to find out that I am now 2.5 kilograms heavier than when I first stepped foot here in Singapore. Desperate time calls for desperate measures so at times I thought of trying out stuff such as phentermine diet pill. It took me more than 2 years to lose the excess baggage I got from pregnancy, I wonder how long can I shed these exra pounds now that I am a few years older. Well, thank you for the advices and the encouragements. I will definitely start controlling my appetite and get back up running again. Wish me luck!

Purple Place

2009-07-04T06:39:13Z

I don’t want to expose Shaynna to kid-unfriendly TV shows and computer games. But I guess she also needs to be exposed to such things. I am just so glad that she has learned self-discipline on her own.

I visited XBox website and found some family-friendly games like Ice Age! I still have no plans yet of buying her a game console. She’s still 4 years old, after all. For now, I’m glad there’s this Purple Place, a Windows Vista-packaged game. It is girlie and educational game. Basically, it improves color recognition and other artsy aspect of a child. Here are some screen shots of the game. It is very colorful, probably the reason why my Shaynna loves it.

Less than S$10 Items

2009-07-04T17:25:21Z

During my first weekend here in Singapore, I went to Ikea to buy some bedroom stuff. There was this floor lamp that really caught my eye but it cost S$39, which was and still is expensive for me. Yesterday, a friend and I visited Ikea. I got too ecstatic to find my dream lamp on sale, at $30 less than the original price! Yep, I got it for only $9. As I scoured the store for more sale items, I also got something that I’ve needed for a long time. I bought myself a full-length mirror for just $5! I have my eyes on some rugs that would definitely make my bedroom more cozy. I hope I could get it at lowered price soon…

Relaxing Treat

2009-07-04T05:52:39Z

I have never pampered myself before that I have not even tried putting on a facial mask. When my good friend Akane-san visited Korea, she gave me some facial masks. That was March and due to my hectic schedule, I was not able to try it. I now have extra time to give to myself so I finally opened one of those masks and I was really surprised how relaxing it felt! I took it off 30 minutes later and felt its immediate moisturizing effect on my face that I bet it could be act as a good acne skin treatment. I’ve used up all of it so I took a trip to the drug store but was again unprepared for its price. But I’ll definitely try them again next time.

I need appetite control

2009-07-01T14:54:46Z

Today marks my third month stay here in Singapore! And what have I obviously earned? Two and a half more weight and a bouncier belly. I have started running weeks ago but all that came to an end when I got bored running alone. I don’t want to implement a huge cut on my food consumption so I started running to even it out. But now, it seems like I don’t only need physical activities but a natural appetite suppressant would surely come in handy. I have gone through some information in the internet and there are good appetite suppressants that could cut back one’s craving and at the same time makes the metabolism faster. While I still can tuck my belly in, I really need to do some serious running.

Collections

2009-06-23T12:39:16Z

At various points in my life, I have collected things that are supposed to be thrown away or left as it is. When I was about nine years old, a friend and I collected sea shells. We had boxes of them but I could no longer remember where we placed them. I just hope we put them back into the sea shore. During my highschool days, I tried collecting stamps, then shifted to stationeries until college. I had rare stationeries like from the movie Cassablanca and Romeo and Juliet. But when I went to Japan after graduation, I don’t know what had become of them. I had a box full of my precious stationeries and losing them still makes me sad. Just a few years ago, I started collecting cardboard displays and boxes of sweets from Japan. I still have loads of them in my cabinet at home in the Philippines. I still don’t know what I’ll be collecting next but maybe more of those cool paper bags?