Little India

Today John did not want to join the women on a trip to Little India, so after a small breakfast Annika and I travelled the blue line to this very Indian area in Singapore. She had not explored it to her liking so that is why we chose it.

The first street we got to had banners above it saying Pongal Festival. It did not seem to still be active, or just nothing was happening at that time. We decided to cross the street and head towards my chosen location through smaller streets. The goal was to reach Mustafa Centre; a mall Annika's daughter Rebecka had recommended when she was here during her visit in December. On one of those small streets Annika and I found a stall that sold incenses. I saw the name of the ones John really likes. We used to have a lot of those in Sweden and our home constantly smelled like Nag Champa (the name of the scent). I bought a box to put the sticks in which had a lid that I thought would be convenient because of the cat.

Mustafa Centre had everything. It was crowded with shoppers on every floor. We strolled around the first floor, giving it an honest try to find something interesting amongst the perfumes for a good price. None of us found anything. On the same floor they sold bathroom essentials, the floor above had food. It felt strange with the sudden change, but walking around we found that the mall truly had everything. Sports gear, jewellery, food, shoes, household appliances, tech-stuff, apothecary and probably a lot more that we missed. After getting lost and going up, down and up again we eventually found a way out. By the time it was around three and we were getting hungry.

We both really intensely wanted sushi, so I googled some restaurants close to our location. I found one fifteen minutes away but it had started to rain so we did not really want to go that far. Just a few streets in that direction Annika spotted a sign with sushi. We went to the mall bearing that sign with no idea what the name of the mall was, or where we specifically were. Inside we looked around for the restaurant serving sushi but could not see it. We asked in a help-desk to point us in sushi-direction and were given a Japanese restaurant that was actually Korean (it was even called Seoul Gardens). The other was on the fifth floor and had just closed for the day. Being very hungry at this point we headed back downstairs to eat at Pastamania. We both ordered Ravioli di Salmone, but after sitting down at the table the woman behind the counter approached us and explained they only had enough left for one dish. Annika was kind enough to change her order.

When we were fuelled up we could actually see where we were. The mall had several floors, many of which we explored briefly. I took Annika inside one of my strange favourite stores called Daiso Japan where I never buy anything but always walk around thinking I could find something. It is very Japanese and has everything you can think of. A lot of stationary stuff, cleaning supplies, kitchenware, toys, snacks and so on. There is usually a very long queue to the cashiers and yet I have not found anything I would want to buy there.

When we eventually left we though about where we should go next. Instead of going directly to Farrer Park station, which was near, we walked back towards Little India. Essentially the same way we had walked but now we walked down other small streets. At one point we found a small garden with umbrella-trees. I could not grasp the meaning of these apart from art, but they looked cute and unusual. I think that is Singapore's signature; odd trees. It was a bit sad to see so much littering inside the fenced park. Singapore is very proud of being a clean country but I find that Little India is uncharacteristically dirty. It is a shame really because there is no shortage of bins.

The headache that had slowly crept up on me during the day was now in full bloom. Even though we could have gone further I felt the need to get home. We took the MRT from Rochor and were soon home. While Annika bought ice tea I went up to John, surprising him with his gift of incenses. He looked really happy to receive them, having searched for some online for quite some time now but thought they were too expensive with the shipping fee. We promised not to light any while Annika was here since she does not appreciate the smell. I went to bed and tried to sleep, only John wanted to cuddle and talk. As soon as he left I fell asleep and slept for almost two hours. I had told Annika I would come down to the pool so we could have an evening swim, but when I awoke I felt groggy and hungry so I wrote to her that I would not join her. My dinner was tasty cheese and ham sandwiches.

Food-day

Yesterday we found a new hawker centre nearby. A couple of acquaintances had asked us why we had not been there before and seemed honestly surprised when they learned that we had not. The only reason was that we did not know about it. It was very close to the street where we walk a lot, between the Botanic Garden station and FairPrice. It was as simple as crossing a street and there it was, behind some bushes lay a very Malaysian hawker centre. It was crowded even though it was three in the afternoon. Half of the stalls were closed and the ones that were open had little food left. I found two stalls that sold satay but both were out. John wanted ayam penyet, but they were out of that too. Instead we ordered nasi lemak - fried chicken with rice, a fried tofu and a small bowl of onion soup. Apart from the soup everything was cold and tasted like it had been cooked hours before. Even though the food was very disappointing the centre felt good. All of us wanted to return another day at a better time.

Before we left Annika bought an avocado/banana smoothie (Avocanana) to me and a carrot/orange/apple juice for herself. Mine was okay, not amazing but still very good. Another time I will try something else. Annika's was fresh and thin, easy to drink and tasteful. We headed towards FairPrice to do a bit of grocery shopping. We ended up with more than I had expected. Annika found a fresh fish, sea bass, which she thought we could eat for dinner. We bought it and a smaller one for less than a dollar that would be Ymir's dinner. Annika was kind enough to pay for everything which we were very grateful for! It was a lot to carry but eventually we made it back home.

When it was time to start making dinner Annika and I gathered in the kitchen together. We looked up a recipe online on how to cook the fish but ended up going against the instructions anyway. I filled the fish with onions and lemons after Annika's suggestions and folded the whole thing inside aluminium. I put it in the oven to start cooking while Annika cleaned potatoes that would go around. I chopped some red onions and spread both potatoes and onions around the package in the oven.

Then I fried the smaller fish for Ymir. When it was done Annika showed me how to separate the fishmeat from the skeleton, but still I had to fiddle out many bones afterwards. John joined me to sing for the cat and present the new fish for the little guy. He turned one year old on the twenty ninth of January. Happy birthday, Ymir! After tasting some small pieces of the fish he abandoned the thoughtful gift from his humans.

The human's dinner was a simple meal that filled our bellies. The white fish had some taste but needed to be enhanced with salt and lemon. The potatoes was my kind of softness; not too mushy but not so chewy either. They had a nice balance of pepper and salt on them so no need to exaggerate the taste. To this we had a way too simple salad containing tomato, cucumber and baby spinach. I would have liked something more to complete it, like corn and cheese.

We finished the day in the sofa watching a movie. It was called Captain Fantastic and was really good. The theme was unusual; about a family of six children living out in the forest, the mom is not present in person but her spirit was the essence of the movie. I really recommend seeing it. It was two hours long but managed to feel much longer. The ending had a small plot hole, but could be overlooked if you are not too picky. As for me it was something unresolved and I could not understand how the movie, having been so clear and precise throughout the two hours, could leave it at that when it was only a few minutes left. It is like they ran out of minutes and could not squeeze in an explanation.

Cheese Haul

So it is Chinese New Year. Today? Tomorrow? The day after tomorrow? I have no idea. This is the first time I have really noticed it. Having lived in Sweden all my life (and never been to Asia before moving here a year ago) I have never really given it a thought on how to celebrate it or what it is about. Families gather, food is important and everything closes without notice.

I went to One-North to have lunch with John. I made sure to go there one hour before he got of work to get some time outside in the sun. I sat down on a staircase with the sky above me and most of the people unwilling to use the stairs instead of the escalators nearby. I listened to music, I enjoyed the sun heating my skin and the occasional drizzle to cool it down afterwards. It was pleasant, it was relaxing, my butt fell asleep and I burned my shoulders. Nothing I noticed at all, nothing John even commented on. We walked to Timbre+ to have lunch but at arrival saw chairs raised on top of tables. Nothing was open. Surprising, but okey. We went to the food court John usually buys food from after work. There was one stall still open, three persons standing around it. We gather with them and the lady behind the counters says last order to the man first in line. We sigh and leave. Downstairs is our favourite pita place closed, there is a salad-bar still open but the queue is too long for us to endure. We head downstairs towards the MRT, giving our last hope to Subway. It is open and has a medium long queue. Apart from the sandwiches I chose to order a small bowl of their broccoli soup. Did not think much about it, I had low expectations but it sounded good. It was surprisingly good! Creamy, tasty, big bits of broccoli and smaller bits of carrots and other ingredients. Really good.

We brought it with us home since we enjoy food better in our couch rather than the busy underground MRT-station Subway-tables. After eating, talking, socialising, etc I go to the toilet and stand in front of the mirror. Suddenly I see a read shoulder and a terrible sunburn. ON ONE SHOULDER! There is a small mark on the other but only one side has the clear white line. I walk out with a surprised face and John laughs and asks if I had not noticed it until now. No? How could I? I thought the sun was kind and just heated me during the time I enjoyed the outdoors. I feel betrayed by my beloved heat!

The afternoon was event-less. It felt like all I did was sit around waiting. I realise I have not mentioned it on the blog previously, but Annika arrived today! Tjohey! So I sat around reading a good book. Then I spent half an hour doing pilates and took a shower. While in the shower I heard the door open and with that Annika had arrived. Joy!

Apart from Annika being here, the best thing about her visiting is the amount of cheese we get. Singapore has a very bad supply of cheese. We might be spoiled Swedes but it is in our culture. Cheese is important! We got eleven different cheeses this time (two not in the photo below for some reason). Those two were just for me since John does not like blue cheese. Apart from that we got two large Präst, two large Grevé, two Parmesans, one full-cream, one feta and one brie. Does this sound like a lot of cheese for two people to consume before they go bad? They will not live long. We love cheese and it will be gone way too soon.

John and I ate a small sandwich dinner, both with a moderate amount of cheese, during and since we have been talking. It is close to midnight and they are still talking. I listen a lot and jump into the conversation with small things to say, but I enjoy hearing their voices. Also there is a day tomorrow and maybe soon they both will run out of things to talk about...

SkEye - app recommendation

SkEye | Astronomy

Free version.
Available on Google Play.
Developed by lavadip.
Official website.

SkEye Pro

Cost $8.17.
Shows comets.
Satellite tracking.
The complete NGC.
All stars up to mag 10 are rendered.

Diagnosed Food

I could not go to have lunch with Ash today. I woke up this morning feeling fine, even tried to make John leave the bed before his second alarm went off but I was unsuccessful. I walked around being rested and feeling like today everything was going to be fine. Then I sat down by John, woke him up with cuddles and talked about my dream, when the creeping nauseating stomach made itself present. It was early in the morning and my stomach was turning against me.

I would have left around half past eleven. An hour before that I read online about high rise sicknesses and such, to see if this feeling had anything to do with staying for too long high up in the air. I found nothing on it, apart from one person asking the same question. Could someone in a high rise apartment get nauseous staying indoors for too long a time? The answers had nothing to do with me - air conditioning, cleaning solutions, new carpets, etc. Another said that the feeling had nothing to do with the building and that the person asking should see a doctor. I found something called sick building syndrome, which just seems to be the condition the person in the thread I was reading had. Also the symptoms did not match mine.

After reading all that I decided to go downstairs and sit outside for a while to see if my problems faded. If so I could go have lunch with my friend! I took a seat just outside the building and breathed. It felt good to get some fresh air and some heat from the sun on my skin, but after a while I started to feel lightheaded. When a cleaning lady swooped the area I decided to head back home. When rising to my feet my head felt like it kept rising and I floated to the door. The elevator-ride was uncomfortable and by the time I closed our front door I had a headache.

John went to have lunch with Ash instead. I thought that was a good idea since then she would at least have company by one of us. Besides, she once said that John and I act like the same person. I had a small lunch and ate yoghurt a few hours later. John told me they ate not-so-tasteful-food-court-food. He called me afterwards and explained how to start cooking the chicken that was supposed to stay in the oven for over five hours. Only the ingredients he wanted me to use all had mould on them - the onions, the carrots and the broccoli. So he asked me to wait for him to call me back since he by then was at the doctor's office and had to rethink the dinner.

I am not sure if a psychiatrist is called a doctor. John finally went to see one after lunch. For as long as I have known him he has said that he probably has ADHD, but never actually made any move to get himself diagnosed. Today's meeting was booked for forty five minutes but apparently it only took twenty minutes for the psychiatrist to say that John probably has ADHD. He gave him three types of pills and John had to say no when the doctor wanted to prescribe even more to him. So strange. But he never got a diagnose since that takes time. John will have to see this not-so-great psychiatrist again to be able to move closer to a proper diagnosis. I am very confused by this, but will try to keep the blog updated on these events.

John called me again after he was done there, saying that I should turn off the oven that I had left on since it was going to be warm soon anyway. We discussed what we had at home that could replace the moulded ingredients. Did not come up with a solution. John said we could cook another recipe that would only take an hour, so we hung up. Around five I got a message over at Telegram telling me what to do. I put the stuffed chicken (preparations made by John last night) in an ovenware, was told to cut the only onion left (not moulded) in four pieces and place around it. Take potatoes, clean and put around the chicken as well. Then John told me to cut the potatoes in half, because it was a squeeze, and add two more. I salted, I peppered, I used olive oil in a confident drizzle over the whole thing per instructions from John. I sent him a confident video as proof. He told me to add more and totally ruined my confident swooshy olive-oil-application-video. I added a little bit more and John said to add more pepper so I did. Eventually I was allowed to put it in the oven, set a timer to twenty minutes and when it rang I would turn it ninety degrees. I did so every twenty minutes until he got home.

Dinner was good! Chicken was full of flavour and so juicy inside. John had given us half each and none of us could finish it (even though we both gave it a good try). Potatoes were a bit too hard for my taste, which was too bad because the overall taste of them was good. Good potatoes. I like potatoes. I wish we ate it more often! Unfortunately... they last two bags we have owned had moulded before we figured we should eat them. John said we should only buy food on Friday's that we know we will eat in two days. The rest of the week we can survive on food court/hawker centre food! I agree. Let us try this... eventually.

Unwell

There has been over a week since I last wrote a post. Even longer since I wrote about something happening in my life. I have a very good reason for this - nothing has happened. Last week I was not feeling so well so I never left the apartment. I am still unwell and really do not want to go outside. It has been raining for the last couple of days which has kept me from wanting to go out even if I felt okay. John on the other hand had to go out to get to work and got soaked yesterday. He reported that he avoided the rain this morning, but it is still raining though.

I have had this blog for almost a year now and I keep looking at the number next to the month in the archives. Five and seven is the lowest amount of posts I have done in a month. It feels like I should have had more things to write about. This month I have gotten so far as ten (with this) posts and that is okay. It is low but since I have had nothing to write about I am okay with it.

Feeling ill is blocking my writing. I open my documents but the words that are written are sad and incoherent. I am so close to the end and all I want to do is be done with it. I am looking forward to have it all there and read it from beginning to end again. Right now I can not. If I write something right now I will have to go back later and probably remove everything. My mood affects my writing. If I feel ill the writing will give away that feeling. I try to write those short moments when I feel alright. So instead of writing on the actual book I am doing side-works. Writing down all the species mentioned in the book, figuring out rules of my made-up universe and figuring out the structure of the chapters.

Tomorrow I have a planned lunch with Ash. She has two hours free for lunch. I am nervous about this. Will I be able to go? I really want to! I am hoping this will be gone by tomorrow but so far no good. This has to end soon, I have started talking to myself.

The Echoes of Love - book review

The Echoes of Love is a romantic novel slightly over four-hundred pages long. It has two main characters; a woman named Venetia and a man called Paulo. The story plays out in Venice, so if you would forget about that just think about the main characters name - she is literally named after the city.

The only good thing I can say about this book is that there is a story here! It is hidden behind four-hundred pages of nonsense. For most part of the book we follow the perspective of Venetia, but occasionally we switch over to Paulo and those chapters (more like two to five pages) are worth reading, mainly because we get to know the character just a tiny bit.

There is not much good in this book. It is about a woman who falls for a man but during the first half refuses to accept this because of her past. She got her heart broken by a man who's baby she was carrying and lost. Fast forward ten years. Venetia falls for the well-known playboy. He is creepy and demanding. She is mean and cold-hearted. One scene struck me as unsafe; she wants to go home from a party, he wants to take her. She thanks him but does not want to be escorted, yet accepts his company while she tried to find a taxiboat. Of course she does not and then agrees to join him on his boat. Total stranger. She even accepts a drink which he pours at the boat to calm her down after a pathetic fall! My mind was screaming rape warning but that never happened. He was a sort of gentleman and drove her home and just as she is getting of the boat he grabs her arm and looks her in the eye and demands that she is going to have dinner with him. EVERYTHING in that scene says stay away from this man. Yet she dosen't. Despite having the appropriate thoughts about a man demanding a dinner from her she still meets him later and falls for him. I wonder if she only falls for his looks because the personality is downright despicable.


Not only did the weak story move ever so slowly forward but everything was described into the smallest detail. There is a long description about her apartment; all the way to the bathroom and the tub sitting under the window. One page was for describing how she looked when she woke up in the morning; the hair, the eyes, the arms, the light, the slowly opening of the eyes, the colour of the eyes, the sheets, etc. I had to skip certain pages to survive the endless descriptions over places not important to the story!

The most unbelievable thing the author did was focusing so intently on eyes. I am not kidding you when I say that every time Venetia looks at Paulo his eyes will be described. I found twenty different kinds of blue throughout the book, many mentioned over and over again. The worst thing is that his eyes change colour all the time! I first thought it was because of the lightning and that yes, in the dark blue eyes can appear like midnight-blue and yes, in sunshine they can appear like sky-blue, but in the same scene in the same lightning and room his eyes still managed to drastically change to three different kinds of blue! And I barely remember what the rest of him looks like.

The book is written in English but since it is in Italy everybody speaks Italian of course. This I understood at the very beginning of the book and yet some characters need to first have their sentence written in Italian and then translate what they say to English right after. Are they meant to speak both languages? No, it is just for you as a reader to enjoy learning very specific sentences in Italian if you wish. It was truly annoying and I really did not like having it interrupt my reading.

At the end we finally discover the secret, the mystery of the book. The book ends. There is no further explanation what happens to their romance. There is a short scene when they reunite in the end and they look at each other (he has very blue eyes indeed) and then it ends. There is no understanding what happens after the dark secret has been revealed. Some feelings are mentioned but everything feels abandoned. It was not a very satisfying end to this very boring book. I was glad to be done with it and finally pick up a good book!

Made by TotalyMoo/John

No Artsy Dinner

We meant to go see this outdoorsy art display yesterday. It was at Aliwal Street, where we had been on Sunday to eat at a restaurant. It felt good to recognise a place and not feel terribly lost in Singapore. After a year here I can finally feel like I somewhat know the place.

We travelled to Bugis around half past five. The people we were meeting were supposed to get there around half past six, but I wanted to go to some stores in the mall before that. I am looking for a cheap and large notebook with blank pages for a scrapbook I am planning on making for the previous year. It will be fun to create it since it was the first year in Singapore. A lot happened. Unfortunately I did not find any - all notebooks had lines in them and were too small. I started to feel a bit dizzy since I had not really had anything to eat that day. Half a mango for lunch/breakfast and a glass of o'boy. I had also just taken a caffeine pill so my stomach was acting out.

John and I met Weile, a woman we had never met before, outside Typo. She was sweet and forward, felt like she had known us for some time. It was very relaxing and not at all uncomfortable as it can be when meeting new people. We walked over to the fountain to wait for Ash. We did not have to wait long before our friend arrived.

Our first choice of restaurant was a curry restaurant but when we saw the line we rethought our decision. John thought of Victory, a restaurant I had forgot but apparently Ash had recommended it before. Before going there John got the opportunity to play with Ash's camera. She had a new lens and the photos looked really good! We then walked towards Arab Street which was close to Aliwal Street and the art display.

Victory is an Indian restaurant and we ordered three dishes to share. A murtabak; half made of bread and half egg with chicken in the middle with tiny pieces of bones. I had the small edges of bread. Then we ordered chicken briyani, but the chicken was spicy (for me) and they had mixed it with the rice so I could only take the small amount that was untouched by the sauce. I also had some small pieces from the chicken without the spices. Lastly we had red/orange thin noodles that were okay with my spiciness level, but did not taste good overall anyway.

My dinner consisted of a small amount of cucumbers with ketchup. I had ordered lime juice but received water with lime and a ton of sugar! It was too much so I handed it over to John, then ordered a glass of water. The water never arrived, even though we ordered ice water on three different occasions.

When we were leaving I started feel dizzy and sick. We walked towards the art street but at some point going there I felt like I was going to throw up. I explained the situation and John was kind enough to help me home. It felt like I had sunstroke even though I had not been out in the sun. I think it was the heat and the lack of food. We never got to see the art but had a cosy evening at home instead. John made a bowl of yoghurt and salted tomatoes (something I just recently discovered is a great snack from when John's sister Rebecka was here on a visit). We watched the first episode of A Series of Unfortunate Events and really liked it. It was cruel and unforgiving. They did not hold back on anything. Really liked it! Can not wait to see more! I read the thirteen books about the Baudelaires as a teenager and really liked them. I remember every plot in every book and really hope this series will survive to show them all.

Before leaving Weile and Ash at that street Weile said we could always go on the next event. It felt good to hear since I felt like I was betraying my own words for leaving. I appreciated it a lot, thank you. Let us have a girl's night soon!

National Exhibitions

On Sunday John and I went in to Bugis to have lunch before we met our friend. We decided to visit the Food Junction's food court, this only being our second visit even though we have been in the area many times. I had no specific desires and so John had to take the lead. After passing by every stall possible we retraced our steps and ordered Indonesian food. John had nasi briyani, chicken breast with curry rice, and I had ayam penyet, a mild chicken leg with plain rice under chicken floss (I also added more vegetables than the lady served me). We had not yet reserved a table, by placing napkins or something like it on top, and thought we would find one quite easily in a very busy food court at the busiest lunch hour on a Sunday. But before we went to hunt down a table we bought drinks. Might as well since we had no idea where we were going. We had food in one hand and drinks in the other and started looking for a table. There! Without much confusion or searching we found one, made our way to it before it was taken and had our meal hot and tasty. Very good - the chicken floss on top of the rice was delicious!

We were close to the National Museum and so we decided to walk there. It was a thirty four degrees hot winter day (so strange) and we were sweating before even making it out in the sun. We used John's new phone to get directions and started walking. Soon I realised we had walked there once before, with Annika and Thomas in September 2016. I had to send them the information about our situation and got a response that they were having minus five degrees and a grey sky. Such different worlds and yet the same planet.

We arrived at the museum some half an hour before we were supposed to meet our friend. At first we thought we would go inside and see some exhibitions without him. There was a small line up to the counter where we then could see the pricing for the two exhibitions. One being the permanent gallery showing Life of Singapore and the other was down in the basement called What Is Not Visible Is Not Invisible. We were unsure which ones our friend wanted to see and concluded we should wait. We sat outside in the open doorway, which cooled us with freezing AC from the lobby, until John received a text saying our friend would be even later than expected. Business meeting or something like it.

John and I bought two tickets for all exhibitions, costing us eighteen Singaporean dollars each. We took the elevator up to the second floor (yes, we were at the first floor but who can handle stairs when it is sweaty business to just exist?) and entered the first room - Life in Singapore: Modern Colony. It displayed clothes and furniture from the 1920s to 1930s. I found it a bit bleak and boring, which was sad since I truly enjoy hearing about that decade. I found a gramophone that I would want to own, but sadly it was hidden behind reflective glass and I could not get a good look.

Second room showed Life in Singapore: Surviving Syonan (~1940s - 1950s). Personally I thought this was the most interesting since I know shamefully little about history. I had John hanging over my shoulder while reading facts hanging on the wall. I walked around and understood the people, the why and how, the build up since, and at one point it dawned on me - this was not long ago. While in there our friend arrived and came to meet us. I greeted and then walked away, perhaps looked a bit insolent but I was deeply focused on the story in the room and the artefacts from that time.

Third exhibition we saw was called Life in Singapore: Growing Up (1950s - 1960s) where they had the an old bike belonging to LKY, the Father of Singapore. It was mainly about school - songs, books, toys, etc. but in a smaller room furthest in I found something I have never seen and was mesmerised by. I forgot to take a photo of the description so I have no idea what is it called. Apart from this confusing creature there were three windows displaying different things. Our friend explained them. In one there was small games like marbles, small sandbags and a slingshot. In the next one over they showed hairstyles from the time when Elvis Presley was huge. In the last they showed food which our friend explained was special treats from the different nationalities living in Singapore during that time.

Last exhibition that is permanently there was Life in Singapore: Voices of Singapore (1970s). This room had a strange display of pictures from around Singapore during that decade, but it was made of several small screens that did not lay flat together but stuck out from the wall in different forms. Looked like cubes in various sizes placed in an illogical order. I sat down behind two men that enjoyed the view and soon I discovered that those two men were from Sweden! The world is huge but our planet is small. I enjoyed their conversation much more than the photos from Singapore. After they headed to the backroom I looked at the posters of movies, covers from music albums and a dress and a suit from a famous performance which I knew nothing about.

    In the backroom there were seats made to look like cars to create the feeling of a drive-in theatre. The screen showed old videos from the 70s. I took a seat at the back of a truck but realised it was not very comfortable. When a couple of women left, John wanted to sit in the front car and so we moved over there. The seats were comfortable but now we had the frame around the front window of the car in the middle of the screen.

We were then done with the permanent exhibitions and crossed into the Glass Atrium. It reminded me of an airport in Stockholm. The vast space to the ceiling, the escalators everywhere, the walls covered by windows. It was a lifting feeling to walk out there. We entered the Glass Rotunda and found ourselves on a bridge where the ceiling was bent and showed falling flowers. Immediate interest! We crossed the bridge and came out on a ramp which led in a full circle around the spherical room. Along the ramp was a playing video of a forest. To be honest not very good looking or well made since the animals were stiff and got stuck. It was still lovely to see. It went from daytime, to a cave (when under the platform from where the forest had begun) and into the night of the forest. 

At the end of the ramp we came into the room underneath the bridge where this exhibition had started. Inside there was a fair amount of people laying on the floor, occupying huge pillows. I found a spot on one of the pillows where two girls tried to take it all to themselves. I puffed it up and asked John to lie down next to me. Suddenly the flowers were falling all around us. A forest grew around us and moon bears sat washing themselves in the night. It was peaceful and relaxing. 

There was a short exhibition about old trees. It was not very interesting. The photos were bleak which for me lost all of the trees energy and grandiosity. I suppose it was to get the feeling of it being really old photos but when photos looked like that the trees in the pictures were not that huge. I think the idea fell flat and it was a sad walk-through.

We came out into the Singapore History Gallery which displayed when the British arrived and made it their colony. There was a short opening of how it was before, with a ship to walk around and then the story of who came there and what happened. John read some of it to me and I understood some of it too. Not much. By that time my feet were beginning to hurt and I had to sit down while they kept walking around in the open space. John liked the hat tunnel and we strolled through it gleefully.

We kept walking further in and was suddenly in the invasion years again. A video showed how Japan worked its way down to Singapore and how many years that took. A small tank was in the middle of the room together with a chart of the commands in the Singaporean army. I sat down on old uncomfortable chairs to hear a man talk about the day it was clear they had given up. "The planes sounded differently. For days they had gone boom boom but that day it was just the sound of them passing by." (It is not a direct quote, but something like it.)

There was a lot to see in that section but I felt like I had enough information to process from the exhibition on the second floor so I did not read that much. Next room contained cardboard men with recorded voices and a podium where, if you stood just right, you could hear a speech from their recently deceased leader NAME? He seemed like a great person and a good man. He talked like he cared about the country and I am kind of sad that I missed out on him, having moved here only a years or two after he passed away.

After that I really wanted some sugar and the exit was just across from a café. My legs steered me in that direction but when I had entered John pointed out that we only had one more exhibition to see and then we could leave for dinner. I agreed and we escalated down to the basement.

This one was called What Is Not Visible Is Not Invisible. We showed our tickets and entered. This was a maze of small rooms showing things. First room was a thin blanket held up by ropes fastened in the ceiling. Underneath was a fan blowing up and forming a bulb in the sheet. Very inspirational? I have no idea. It continued like this. Videos showing nothing - a man sleep talking for four hours, a horse standing in the middle of a road for one and a half hour, a light slowly growing until the screen is completely white. It was very pretentious. Only fun room was when we came to the middle. There we found a ring with lamps where I stood and enjoyed myself. Then John saw a room full of balloons and could not contain himself and scattered inside. He laughed so much! He could not stand still when I wanted to take photos and when he did he wanted to make it extravagant (hide amongst the balloons and jump out in time for the photo). There was also a sheet hanging from the wall in the room, covered in blue paint and when I moved closer to read the name of the art it said Paint on sheet. Very inspirational!

We found a bomb shelter, which our friend said was not really a bomb shelter but a strong room. I found a camera in a corner and the screen outside so I asked John to step inside. Being the great man I love deeply he started acting out and striking pose after pose as if he was really in a strong room. At the stand where the screen was I found a large paper, Shelter Schematics, showing what potential psychological settings might happen when in there. On the other side there was a small crop-out shelter which I will not be doing.

We left the museum around five and took our friends' car to Arab Street. John have long wanted to go there but we had not before that day. It was beautiful, felt like being abroad all of a sudden! We searched for a place to have tap beer and dinner but were unable to find both. We decided to sit down at the most crowded bar and have appetisers. We drank really good beer that was well needed after a long day walking around the museum and also ordered satay to share. Here you get seven sticks of chicken and beef, a bowl of red onion and pressed rice. Also a bowl with the satay sauce of course. It was really good, I had the most because it was that good. No shame!

I looked at the map and discovered that one of the stared places was nearby. I have marked some restaurants we would like to visit and when in that area I can find exactly where to go. So I led the way to Kaw Kaw SG. It was a burger place with a lot on their menu, some expensive and some to a relatively good price. We ordered and waited. I had Classic Chicken which was a fried thigh between buns. It was good, not the best ever but surprisingly tasty! Maybe I had low expectations but it managed to exceed them at least. To that I had nachos but fries was also an option which John took to his Smokey Beef Bacon. Sadly enough the bacon was very chewy and he had to take it out of the burger. I tried a piece of the bacon and sat for minutes chewing. Bacon bad, burger good!

Of course our friend wanted to share dessert with us and we are not people that say no to desserts. He drove us to a side street near Bugis and ordered some very Chinese sweets. We had rice-balls with sesame inside, floating in a sea of sesame sauce. Ice cream with mango and shaved ice. A plate of mangoes which I tried to eat all by myself but John stopped me. We were really full after that. The time was almost nine when we eventually headed home. Our friend was kind enough to drive us. It was a good day. Both of us really enjoy museums and good food. I will start looking for another to visit soon!

Clean-out Wound

I had a bad day yesterday and I am still writing the post about Sunday's adventure. Please be patient as I am trying to make that post as good as it can be. It will not pop up on any other social media since it will be scheduled as posted on Monday, but it is just not finished yet! Instead here is a post about my day.

Categorised Sauce

Do not be confused over the new categories seen right underneath the header. This is just to help my readers find the posts that interest them. John helped me to figure out what they should be called and what posts should be under which name. I found it confusing too at first but now I have gone through all posts I have ever written and placed some of them under the right category.

Slice of Life - posts about me, John, our life, our friends, what happens daily, what food we eat, what events we visit etc. At this moment my blog is eighty five percent about this. This category is mostly for friends and family.

Opinions - have you seen my app recommendations? They are under this category along with posts about mainly one thing. Movie and book reviews, thoughts on Singaporean traditions, etc. Most of these posts will be focused on that topic and not rant on about something else.

More categories will be made once I figure them out. John is suggesting Writer (or my writing, my work... something like that) where I would post specific posts about my book. I have written some posts about my writing (search writing in the search box to the right) but not really about my writing. Maybe I should do that. I just do not know what I should write.

---

Changing topic here. We ordered pizza for dinner since neither of us could think of anything else. We need to go to a grocery store and buy food to cook at home, but right now John is not feeling well and did not feel like going outside. Well, to this pizza he ordered sauce that we thought we could drip over the pizza. In Sweden there is usually an option for having it directly on the pizza; it is kind of a thing there where almost every pizza has some kind of sauce on it. In Singapore sauce is strange to have on pizza and the ones we can order on the side are very small. John ordered a sauce called Sweet Icing Dip but on the website the sweet part was hidden. When he tried this with the pizza he discovered it was actual glaze. Like proper water and sugar glaze. To pizza? Who? Why? How? I do not understand. We had a laugh about it in any case and put it in the fridge. At least we can use it on the gingerbread.

Hospitalised Cruelty

Yesterday morning John went to the hospital for another check-up on his eye (read previous posts here). I had my own business there and so I went with him, only I am not used to getting out of the apartment before nine (not that I usually leave the apartment during the forenoon at all). We ordered an Uber and set of towards Mount Elizabeth. The radio started playing ABBA "take a chance on me" which felt oddly appropriate. We arrived twenty five minutes before the appointed time and so we went to settle my business at the hospital. But first, John needed coffee. Then I could buy one Nuvaring, which was unpleasantly expensive.

Whilst at Guardian I thought I would buy a hair oil to control my frizzy ends. I placed John and myself in front of the only shelf selling hair products and brought up LogicalHarmony. This is a site I try to scroll through every time I am about to buy a beauty product. It is entirely dedicated to categorise brands into three types of cruelty-zones. Cruelty-free, grey area and avoid. All brands selling hair oil at Guardian was on the avoid list. It was a bust. There are so many brands on the cruelty-free list but Guardian (one of the biggest franchises in Singapore) had none! Such a shame...
I will also point out that this was a Guardian at a hospital and I can not say that all of their stores have no cruelty-free products.

At the specialists little room we sat down and waited. I opened Bloons TD5 on my phone and we entertained ourselves in the very clean-smelling environment. John was called to get something dropped into his eye to once again make his pupil go freakishly wide. I did not take a photo this time but if you follow the link above you will find the same situation on photos in the previous posts. He then continued to sit next to me while the eye-drops went to work. He noticed I started chewing on my lower lip, something I am very angry about that I have started doing and do not seem to be able to stop. He gave me a lollipop that the specialists offered in a bowl, probably for kids, and I put it gladly in my mouth. It took less than an hour to get everything done.

His eye looks fine. It is still damaged but the lasering did its thing and everything looks as it is supposed to look. John still sees strange shapes in his vision and explains it as banana flies (but only sometimes). He was worried about being able to exercise and go diving but the doctor said he could do both of those things. So he is safe for now but of course he still needs to be careful.

When we left the hospital it was almost ten o'clock. When entering the sunlight we both realised it was a really bright day. Once again John had not brought his sunglasses with him, which by now both of us should have remembered since every time it has been painful to go out in strong sunlight with a widened pupil. He walked with one eye closed and one eye on the phone, I had to steer him in the right direction to get him inside the mall where we would take the MRT. We travelled together to Farrer Road where I got of to get home and John continued on a few more stations to get to work.

My day went fast. I ate the half-foot long Subway sandwich a bit early since I had gotten hungry from the events of the morning. I also spent an hour cleaning the kitchen and another hour reading this awful book. More about the book in another post; I am halfway through and I will write an entire post as a review of this. Maybe this will be the start of long reviews of books on the blog. How about that? Would you as a reader enjoy reading my opinions? John came home with food and was very tired after the long day. We ate with haste and in silence before we could even take the time to greet each other properly.

New Things in words and metal

John started working today. He has had ten days of vacation and we have been very busy. If you have missed our activities you can scroll down and read up on the latest posts. I try to write about everything that happens in our life. I am also currently trying to figure out what this blog is about. Is it a daily lifestyle kind of blog? Should it be more focused on the life of an expat? John and I had this discussion yesterday. I said I could probably do more expat-related posts. He countered with asking if that was really me. Who did I want to be on the blog? So he suggested I focused more on my writing. Not sure what I should write about that. What do you think? Do you as a reader want to know more about how I work?

Another thing we did yesterday was order John's new phone. He has had his LG G3 for almost three years now and it was slowly dying as the days went on. The latest is that he dropped the phone to the floor today and afterwards it started doing a groaning sound like a boat at sea. Then less than one minute before he got home it knocked on the door and a man handed me a package. Then John opened the door a few seconds later and there it was - his new phone. A OnePlus 3T, ordered only yesterday with express delivery. Talk about speed!

Today I spent most of the day writing. I wrote over four pages today which is the most I can write in a day (with a break of an hour or so to eat). I have no idea if any of the things I wrote are actually good and worth keeping. John is too tired to hear me read it tonight so I will work more on it tomorrow and hopefully get some feedback. I have not been writing in a while - we had a visitor, then it was Christmas and then new years eve. Finally I can get both space and time to write all day long.

Apart from that hour when I almost got an headache and had to get some air, I took an hour out on the balcony reading a chapter in the book I am currently reading. I won it in a giveaway so I did not buy it, although just looking at it it might have been a book I would have bought. I am so annoyed by this book and the author. It feels like she read Twilight and Fifty Shades and thought she could be a bestselling author by combining the two and place the story in Venice! I have so much to say about it I can not tell you anything right now. I might just write a whole post about it later. I can not put the book down before I have finished it. That will make my opinion incomplete. I just can not do that. I need to see this to the end.

Let me just say that I am counting every time the male character's blue eyes are mentioned and how often they change hue. It is ridiculous...

Catapult me into sleep

I have not slept well in a long time. I do not stay up late at night, I go to bed around eleven or twelve. John on the other hand stays up until two, three and then comes to bed. Last night I took some sleeping pills since it was the third night in a row I had not gotten many hours of sleep. When John came in around three I was still awake. I had not tried to fight the pills, I did not think about anything in particular. I just wanted some sleep, but no, I was wide awake. I am so tired and exhausted. My stomach feels weird because of this.

Today was the day John built a catapult. As you may or may not know, depending on if you read every post I write, I gave him this as a Christmas gift. We even bought glue, something we later found in the box but it was small and he needed the extra glue in the end. It took him about forty minutes perhaps and then he was taking his time and making sure everything was it its rightful place. I did not dare touch it, too afraid I might brake something. I was a good assistant though and brought him things he could need such as a wrench! In the end it looked really cool and it was functional. He catapulted a cat candy across the room with a satisfying smile on his face. I believe it was a successful gift!

Happy new new year!

12.017 HE

I have told myself for a long time that I want to count differently. The current year never made much sense to me, in the same way that celebrating Christmas does not. But when asked by John what I wanted to count from I never had any specific answer. It has been a vague answers saying something that marks humanity as a species and not a religion. To me counting after Jesus' birth (am I right?) feels stupid since I am not Christian and "do not believe in him". I believe he existed, but I do not believe he was the son of God and had magical abilities (turn water into wine, really?). Therefore I need something else to count from.

A few weeks ago I found a video taking up my issue with the counting of years. They explain why we count as we do and why we should count differently. This is exactly what I had been talking about and I was so pleased to see that somebody else had thought it through. They made it very simple to convert to counting after the human era by just adding ten thousand years to the current year. The reason is simple - that was when homo sapiens built our first "building". With building they mean a stone temple. It feels right to count after something that we did as a species instead of counting after what one human did. It excludes religions meaning and embraces everybody.

Let us start counting after the Human Era. Happy new new year!