Off at last!

22 months of patience paid off.  I finally removed by braces yesterday. It felt so good to take them off, now I don't need to worry about getting bits of food stuck and cleaning them. :)

Here's my before and after pics.  I can't imagine how I can live with the crooked teeth for so long.

Before

After

Don't let others threaten your joy

Ignore the people who threaten your joy...do true but easier said than done.
Especially when you have to face them 5 days a week for 8 hours a day.

I no longer feel the joy in going to work. Everyday I dragged myself out of bed and go to work. I yearn for weekend to be here sooner.

Sometimes I have the urging to just leave all this unhappiness behind but I'm still hanging on.

Hopefully an exit will come up soon on this seemingly endless highway.

Renovation completed

My last light is finally installed. All that's left are some touch up to be done.

The Sorrento - Day 8

Carpentry all done. I finally get to see my floor again. 

My kitchen with the mirror and cabinets 

My tv console 

Bookshelf with movable table 

My room looking a bit bare without bed 

Looking bright

The Sorrento - Day 7

Carpentry is in at last! Finally looking more like a home than just an empty apartment. 

Shoe cabinet and 'dish rack' which I have no idea what to store yet. 

My bookshelf with movable table. Doors are not up yet and wheels on the table not done.

Working on the table console. A bit too dark to see anything.

Ledge in the DB box for my modem 

Laminate on the bay window completed. 

The Sorrento - Day 6

Another day for electrical work where they installed the rest of the lights.  Too bad I still need to wait for my bedroom light. 

My balcony pendant light 

My ceiling fan

Bedroom sconce lights 

Waiting to see how the carpentry will look when they install them tomorrow. 

The Sorrento - Day 5

Fan was delivered today. Lucky Sam was there to help me receive the delivery. 

And I finally bought my bed! Ended up choosing the silver leg so that it won't look too dark. And it's also higher so Kayla should still be able to go under the bed.

And Sam gave the go ahead for the textured fabric for my headboard.

The Sorrento - Day 4

Mirror was up today. Looks great now. 

The Sorrento - Day 3

Didn't get to go down and see the place yesterday so went down to take a quick peek today. 

Progress of day 3. I can see the paint now. Love the Bright Steep color on my wall. They also stained the decking to a dark black color. 

Much prefer this black color to the normal reddish wood color

Wasn't as dark as I expected but I love this color.

Black rims painted, ready for the mirrors. 

The Sorrento - Day 2

Painting and planter today! 

No paint to be seen yet as they are only applying the base coat.

Planter is up though. 

Work in progress 

The base

The planter - flushed with the floor 

The Sorrento - Day 1 开工大吉

First day of reno starts today with electrical works. 

Whole place is so dusty but I have lights now!😀 Wasn't expecting that. Thought they would just do the hacking and leave the installation to another day. 

Can't wait to see the rest of the transformation. 

The grass is not always greener on the other side

We Singaporeans love to complain about the high cost of our public transportation, we make big hoo-ha when the MRT breaks down and are always comparing to other countries.

When I started travelling to major cities around the world and took their public transport, I realized that how lucky we actually are in Singapore.

Take London and New York for example, they have a very comprehensive Metro/Subway system.
Trains station in these two cities often close for repairs, etc without much notice and you are forced to re-route your travel.  And do you know the cost for each train ride? In New York, each train ride is USD2.75 regardless of the number of stations.  In comparison to Singapore, my entire journey to my office which consists of taking a bus to the interchange to change to a train then another bus to my office only cost me SGD2.38!  In Oslo, a train ride from the city centre to my office easily costs me around SGD7-8 one way. No doubt, Norway is known as the most expensive city in the world with a Mac meal costing SGD15!

After all my travelling, I really appreciate Singapore more.  Singaporeans, learn to appreciate what you have rather than just keep on bitching.

 

Always listen to your heart

My sixth sense and my heart had told me long ago but I just refused to acknowledged it. I just wanted to cling onto that tiny little bit of hope.

Now without a doubt, I knew I'm right and I feel free now!

Dream

It felt so real but then it's just a dream. 

Is it subconsciously  trying to tell me something? 

And he's gone

Reality has finally set in. Our founding father Mr Lee Kuan Yew was cremated today.

It started raining 2 hours before the funeral procession started and got heavier as the time creeped closer. Heaven was crying for a great man and clearing the road for him. I was crying buckets as I watched the funeral telecast. People lined the streets undeterred by the torrential rain. I was very touched and made me wished I was there with them.

So I paid my respect to him in my own way, I stood up for the minute of silence, recited the national pledge and sang the national anthem.

It was the first time I felt the pledge meant something when reciting it. Shortly after the national anthem, the funeral ended and so did the live telecast. I felt a sense of loss, now we really won't get to see Mr Lee anymore. 

I learnt more about him in this week than I ever knew.  What impressed me most was the way he handled the SIA pilot strike issue. It showed he was always prepared and made me realized how lucky we are to have a leader like him. One who doesn't bow to pressure, coo headed and had no qualms about having to make hard decisions. 

Although there were certain policies he implemented that I might not agree with.  He had to do what he had to do as a leader and we do not know if it the outcome might be better if it had been otherwise. 

The love between him and his wife is especially touching.  Guess we never know there was such a soft side of him other than the cold and hard man he appeared to the public. 

Thank you Mr Lee for everything you have done for Singapore.  I have never felt more proud to be a Singaporean. Singapore will always be home to me and I can only hope that we will soon have another great man like you to lead our country. 

RIP Mr Lee. 一路好走！ 

Solo trip in Europe - day four in Copenhagen

Last day in Copenhagen. I woke up to the rain. 

Decided to go out and walk around the neighborhood. Can't stand the rain so ended up having a cuppa to chillax.

I live their cafés, even their decor is so chic and cosy. I'm definitely in love with Scandinavian design. ❤️

After the coffee, went back to the apartment where it's warm and toasty. 

I finally talked to my host. She's really friendly and this apartment here is more than 100 years old. Wow! Since she moved in 2 years ago, she has been doing up the house all my herself little by little. 

Finally time to leave Copenhagen. Definitely glad to leave the rain behind! 

Solo trip in Europe part 2 - day three in Copenhagen

Today is castles day. I set out in the morning to the first castle - Kronborg Castle. 

Located by the seaside, the place is damn windy, I was freezing when I was walking there. I regretted not wearing my down jacket instead. 

Unfortunately, the castle was not open when I arrived. I learnt one thing - everything in Copenhagen open late, even the tourist attractions. Everything either opens at 10 or 11 and closes at 4 or 5pm.  Anyway, I walked around the castle ground and took some pictures.

After Kronborg, I proceeded to Frederiksborg Castle. I couldn't see the castle from train station. But the first time I saw the castle, it took my breath away. The castle is way more beautiful than Kronborg. 

Of course these two castles cannot compare to the Neuschwanstein castle which simply looks so fairy tale.  But Frederiksborg looks really pretty too. And the town is also very charming. It was a pleasant walk to the castle. I finally tried the hot dog. Hmm...Jac said the hot dog in copenhagen is one of the best. I beg to differ though, I felt the ones I had in Stockholm tasted much better.

After the castle, I headed back to the main city where I went on to take the canal tour. Yawn, the canal tour is damn boring and I was freezing to death. 

Last destination of the day - Tivoli. The place is packed with families with kids. After all, it's an amusement park for kids. The whole park is currently decked out in Halloween decor, lots of pumpkins all over the place. 

Solo trip in Europe Part 2 - Day two in Copenhagen

Thank god my leg is ok again, no more knee pain. Yay!

The weather is dreadful today. It kept raining. Lucky I had my umbrella with me. I decided to go to Christianhavn today to see the Freetown Christiania.

Nothing much to see actually, just a small part in Copenhagen. Though I can see lots of men smoking marijuana in the morning! I can actually smell it in the air. 

There are three rules when you enter the main district where people smoke. No photo, no running and have fun. 

The sign you see when you leave the small community of Christiania.

After Christianhavn, it's shopping time!

I went to Stroget, the main shopping stretch. Such a disappointment. Everything is so expensive! Even the H&M. I had better luck buying stuff from Stockholm. The most time I spent is in Lego shop. 

I decided to visit Normann. Big mistake. I thought I read that the shop is in Osterport but my gps showed me another place which is rather far away. I decided to follow the gps which turned out to be a mistake. There was no Normann shop there and I ended up along so much for nothing. 

Not wanting to further aggravate my legs, I decided to give up. I went back to my apartment and rest before meeting Jac for dinner.

The restaurant, Madklubben, Jac had made reservation is only less than 10 mins walk away. The place is packed. Lucky it's not too expensive, the price is 100, 150, 200 or 250 depending on the number of course you choose. 

I had a great time catching up with Jac and the food is good. Jac gave me a few recommendations which I planned to try tomorrow. 

Solo trip in Europe Part 2 - Day one in Copenhagen

Yet another solo trip. Arrived Copenhagen super early in the morning around 6:30am. Taking the train was really easy. This time round I remember to use my GPS and I was lucky as it was also raining.  Kinda of dejavu.

This is my first time trying AirBNB and I was lucky to find a host who have no problem for me to check in early.  

IThe room look exactly the same as pictures. Room was big and bright and the whole flat looks really cosy.

My host Lotta seems alright. She's a Korean who has been adopted since young. After freshening up, I went out. I was kinda feeling miserable as the rain kept getting heavier and my jacket was rather soaked through. In the end I went to the HC Andersen fairy tale house to get some warmth before the start of the walking tour. The place was really interesting.

I decided to buy an umbrella for the walking tour as I have no wish to get anymore wetter. Once we start the walking tour, the rain stopped. Damn! 

The whole tour took around 3 hours and we went to many places. I met two friends, one from Texas and one from Singapore who happen to know my colleague! Both were on sabbatical traveling around for 2 and 4 months. So shiok! 

After the walking your, I decided to go to the Acne Archive outlet. I lost my way and ended up walking a lot. Turned out to be such an waste of time since the outlet has nothing interesting. Bleh.

On my way back, I suddenly realized that my knee joint hurts whenever I go up or down the stairs. Shit, I hope it can recover after a night's rest. Today is only the first day and I have many more days to go. 

Solo Trip in Europe: Stockholm - Part 1

I've taken a solo trip before but it was to Phuket and so different from this time.

I've done quite a fair bit of research for the trip but once you arrived at the place, you can feel a bit lost.

I was lucky I started my journey from Oslo. At least I'm rather familiar with it now being here twice before. However, the first thing I did when I arrived in Oslo was to check out where the bus terminal was and to buy the bus ticket. 

And so, my trip started when I took the bus from Oslo to Stockholm. Since I already recee the place a few days before, I knew where I was going and was rather confident.

I was expecting comfortable bus like the ones I've taken before from Singapore to KL. When I got onto the bus, I realized I was so wrong, it was like their normal bus. I was planning to sleep on the journey, the purpose of taking an overnight bus. Seat is not too comfy, how am I going to survive the night? 

And the bus is not direct, making a few stops along the way. I tried to sleep but kept waking up because of people alighting and boarding and I wanted to stay alert since I'm alone. 

After almost 8 hours, the bus arrived in Stockholm bus terminal. After I got my luggage, I was thinking shit, which direction should I go? I don't want to appear lost and be a target. So I ended up going into the terminal to ask for direction. I got a general direction and started pulling my luggage along. After walking down 2 streets, I was starting to feel cold and it started drizzling. I started wondering if I might be heading the wrong way since I remembered distinctly that the hotel should be nearer to the terminal. I remembered too late that I can use my phone GPS! How stupid of me!

I found the hotel but the door can't open. Thank god there was a lady smoking outside who offered to use her card to open the door for me. I was super cold and miserable by then.  I was so thankful for the warmth in the hotel. 

Unfortunately I can't check in yet till afternoon. So I left my luggage at the hotel and went out, changing to my warmer jacket. 

I decided to walk to old town but somehow I kept walking and saw durgarden and decided to head there instead. It was probably a mistake, it was a damn far walk and before I got to the bridge that leads to durgarden, it started raining again and I was feeling super super cold and there was no shelter at all along the way. I saw a glimmer of hope when I spotted a cafe right after the bridge, even if it's not open, there is at least sheltered tables where I can sit down and rest my legs. There were people in the cafe! I went in and the staff said they were not really open yet but could get me a coffee. Thank god! A warm drink and a warm place to sit down.  I decided that I'm going to take my time drinking since most venues are not opened till around 10 and it was only 8:30am and still raining. No way am I going out walking in the rain again. 

I managed to get my Stockholm card from the tourist information in the cafe. And I tried to map out the rest of my day so that I can make full use of the card. 

Shortly before 10, the rain became light drizzle and I thought not to waste time and walk to the garden first before going to the museums. I think I walked wrong direction and ended up walking up and down but passed this nice little garden. 

A pretty garden I happened to came across

Haiz, so I ended gg to the Vassa Museet first. It was rather interesting to see the old vessel. Next, I headed to Nordiska Museet which was alright. 

Nordiska Museet

By now, my legs were aching and I was hungry so decided to walk to the food market as recommended. 

More walking, around 15 minutes and I finally got to the Saluhall. I walked around trying to find out what to eat. Finally found a place where they served meatballs! The lemon drink which came free was super nice too. 

I decided to walk back to the hotel to see  if I can check in. More walking again! And  I saw a group of people who seemed to be protesting. Interesting.

Is this a protest?  

After dunno walking for how long, I finally got to the hotel. Lucky they said my room is ready. Hehe...the lift reminded me of the lift in Nic and Shennie's home.

Woah, the hotel room here is damn small, just a small single bed, a little table and that's it. Super basic but can't complain since it has a private bathroom. Guess the hotels here are expensive and small. There's no kettle in the room and you need to pay for hot water! Damn, and I thought I can eat my instant noodle here. 

After resting for a bit, I headed out to the old town again. More walking, I think my legs were gonna break. The old town is rather quaint, reminded me of the place in Seville.  Since I was there, being the smart aleck and trying to maximize my stockholm card, I decided to walk to Sodermalm and visit the Fotografiska.  

Gamla Stan - old town in Stockholm. Very quaint and nice to stroll along.

I was so thankful when I finally got back to my room. End of day one! Yay!  And I made arrangement to meet Sara the next day.