8 Weeks Post 60DWCC - Long Live Our New Found Hobby

So another week has flew by, what's all the time gone to? For us, we spent quite a bit of time pursuing our new found hobby - playing slot machines. Online.

While it does suck up our precious time, THL and I find that the game is exhilarating, especially when you get a huge BIG WIN prompt. :)

Day 110 - Saturday

The day was spent going out with THL's family. We visited Changi City Point as well as getting some stuff from some of the exhibitions at Singapore Expo. We all had lunch at the Prawn Noodle restaurant.

As we have an appointment with a long time friend of mine, the 3 of us left early and took a train down to Pasir Panjang Station. We had our dinner at Pasir Panjang Food Centre and as usual, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves devouring the satay, BBQ wings and Zi Char foods that we ordered. My friend gave us a lift home after that. What a sweet and kind gesture from him! :)

We spent the evening watching some boring TV shows while playing our beloved Slots Paradise games.

Day 111 - Sunday

RK and I left for a jog to Chinese Garden early in the morning. We went home just in time to eat breakfast prepared by our beloved THL. :)

We set out to Jurong Point after our lunch at one of the nearby coffeeshop. We bought some stuff some Popular, Robinson and NTUC. We later had a little bit of dessert at Durian Empire.

In the evening time, we had fruits for dinner and THL cooked noodle for RK. Watch the funny yet exciting Hangover III DVD with THL while playing Slots Paradise.

Day 112 - 116 ~ Monday to Friday

We got our air conditioner serviced on Tuesday as it is no longer blowing out any cold air and with the weather getting warmer everyday, it is therefore a top priority to have the air-conditioner fixed.

On Thursday, our stupid son RK spun his head endlessly at one of the playground after our session of soccer and freebies. And guess what happened after that, he was so dizzy he has to go to bed early after dinner. Serve him right for performing such act of stupidity. LOL!

On Friday, I got another complaint against RK from his Chinese teacher. RK has not been doing his corrections and homework given to him for a few weeks hence the teacher got no choice but to call the parent. I gave RK a big piece of my mind when he came back home in the afternoon. I also made him finish up all the outstanding homework and corrections.

Friday evening, we meet up with my parents and had dinner at IMM. We ate at one of the recently shrunken Taiwanese restaurant. The food is average but the price is slightly above average.

Transport Expenses:

Like I mentioned last week, I will only be updating the transport expense at the end of each month now. March just ended and the figures are out. We spent around $140 in terms of transport expenses for the month of March.

Weekly AfterThoughts:

The long awaited news regarding the adjustment to COE premiums, loan terms and interest rates have not been favorable hence we will just have to hang on and continue our now more than 60 days without car challenge. :D

6 Weeks Post 60DWCC - An Unproductive Week - Guess Why?

Next week is the one week school holidays (one that I honestly do not look forward to) and while it is all good for RK, it certainly has the opposite effect on me as I will not be as productive as I could be - with him lurking around at home, waiting to pound on me anytime. LOL.

 Day 96 - Saturday

Thanks to the small meals and heavy lunch that we had yesterday at City Square - JB, I had to go for run (to Chinese Garden) to help trim off all the "extra" carbos. As it was RK's birthday today, THL and I decided to spoil him with some surprises today.

First off, we made our way to Sentosa after taking a ride from Uncle Jim's van. He was kind enough to offer us a ride to Vivocity. From there, the 3 of us took the monorail from Vivocity to Beach Station inside Sentosa. From there, we took the free tram ride to Palawan beach to walk the Southern Bridge.

After that we took another tram ride to the nearby beach for RK to indulge himself with sand castle building and running around the water adventure fountains.

After all the fun at Sentosa, we took the monorail back to Vivocity for lunch at Paradise Dynasty. The Tim Sum there was delicious although the price is a little on the high side. After lunch we walked and shopped around for a bit before taking Bus 166 to Dover and switch over to another connecting bus to Buona Vista Station.

From there we took a train down to Holland Village. THL and I initially wanted to have dinner at one of the restaurants there but we could not find one that suits our appetite at that point in time. So in the end we took a taxi home and THL made us some finger foods as dinner while watching our favourite Korean drama series.

Day 97 - Sunday

The weekend morning was spent staying at home enjoying a slow breakfast and watching Korean drama series. At around 1pm, we left the house to have lunch at BurgerKing - Jurong Point before taking a bus to my parents' place. We stayed for a while and left for JEM at 7pm by taking a cab.

We bought some fruits and necessities from NTUC - JEM before taking a feeder bus home. We had fruits and some light snacks for dinner before spending the rest of the night watching the Korean drama.

Day 98 - Monday

Today is the first day of RK's one week holiday and OMG, half the day was already gone coaching him on his school's elearning homework. After lunch, I had a few hours of time to doing my work while he enjoy himself silly watching snippets of videos from Youtube and playing some of his favorite online games.

The rest of the day tied in seamlessly with the daily routine and today marks the day THL and I finish watching the Korean drama series.

Day 99 - Tuesday

Apart from doing my work, some portion of the day was also spent working on testing and improving RK's grasp of the mother tongue language. His grades for the 2nd language has been nothing short of disappointing and so far I have been looking for a Chinese tutor for him without much success so it looks like I may have to send him to those commercial language school. I personally do not like such commercial schools as their fees are usually on the high side and they do not guarantee results.

I managed to catch up with my work while RK takes his afternoon nap. After dinner, we watch a movie, chosen from some stack of DVDs that THL and I bought some weeks ago. Now that we have finished the Korean drama, we may take a break and rest for a few weeks before taking on another show. We will see how it goes. :D

Day 100 - Wednesday

THL and I took the day off today to run some personal errands and THL has her medical appointment in the afternoon. We brought RK along with us since he has no school this week and with the absence of the weekend crowds, he too, enjoyed the joy of commuting and shopping around on a week day.

 Food courts are not crowded, malls are almost empty, trains and buses are mostly on half capacity (besides peak hours), nice! :D

After THL's medical appointment at NUH, the 3 of us went to JEM to get some stuff for dinner before heading home.

Day 101 - Thursday

After my morning run, I was able to work on my projects for a couple of hours as RK has his tuition class scheduled in the morning. This is a special arrangement since it is a school holiday week.

 I was able to work without much disturbance in the afternoon with RK enjoying his favorite past times. RK stayed at home while I went over to Jurong Point around 5pm and I had a hair cut before meeting THL for dinner at the food court. We bought dinner back for RK and we took a cab home as it was raining heavily when we were on our way to the bus terminal.

 The rest of the night was spent watching TV with RK around playing his new mobile games.

Day 102 - Friday

Today was the last day of RK's school holiday and he was busy working on some of the extra assignments that I gave him since Monday. And that gave me some time to work on my project. :)

The rest of the afternoon went by monotonously and the 3 of us had vegetarian stuff for dinner while watching some of the aired channels from Mediacorps.

 THL and I also watch 'The Inside Man" DVD after RK went to bed at 10pm. It was an ingenious show featuring how a group of robber became super rich after robbing a bank without having the bank lost a single cent of their money.

Transport Expense (Day 96 - 102): $74.23

Day 96: $23.34

Bus Ride:

Vivocity to Dover Road => $1.16 x 2 + $0.58 = $2.90
Dover Road to Buona Vista Station => $0.77 x 2 + $0.38 = $1.92

MRT Ride:
Buona Vista to Holland Station => $0.82 x 2 + $0.38 = $2.02

Taxi Ride:
Holland Village to Home => $16.5


Day 97: $17.89

Bus Ride:
Home to Jurong Point => $0.83 x 2 + $0.41 = $2.07
Jurong Point to Bukit Panjang => $1.31 x 2 + $0.58 = $3.2
Jurong East to Home => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82

Taxi Ride:
Bukit Panjang to JEM => $10.80


Day 98: $1.66

Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83
Lakeside to Home => $0.83


Day 99: $1.66

Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83
Lakeside to Home => $0.83


Day 100: $17.86

Bus Ride:
Home to Jurong East => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82
Tanjong Pagar to Commonwealth Station => $1.37 x 2 + $.60 => $3.34
Jurong East to Home => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82

MRT Ride:
Jurong East to Tanjong Pagar => $1.49 x 2 + $0.60 = $3.58
Commonwealth to Buona Vista station => $0.77 x 2 + $0..38 = $1.92
Buona Vista to Kent Ridge Station => $0.87 x 2 + $0.38 = $2.12
Kent Ridge to JE Station => $1.33 x 2 + $0.60 = $3.26


Day 101: $10.16

Bus Ride:
Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83
Home to Jurong Point => $0.83

Taxi Ride:
Jurong Point to Home => $8.50


Day 102: $1.66

Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83
Lakeside to Home => $0.83

Weekly AfterThoughts:

The one week school holiday has certainly taken it toll on the amount of time available for me to work on my projects and you may think that I could have, like other irresponsible and selfish parents, left the child alone and not care a damn about them for a bit. No, nay, not me. I am equally responsible for RK as well as my business. It is just that some times I really hope that I could have more time on my hands to handle some extra personal stuff and activities which I very much would love to do at a very personal level.

60DWCC-wise, we have totally adapted to taking public transportation and while it is taking forever for the MAS to pass down the new ruling, we are no longer in the hurry to see it materialize.

3 Weeks Post 60DWCC - Planning and Booking a Family Trip to Hong Kong

2 weeks have quietly slipped by before I realize it is time to update the 60DWCC blog again. For our family, the first 3 months of the year are usually packed with family events, birthdays, anniversaries, CNY, Valentines and so on. Hence it can be quite a challenge to 'find' time to write when we are 'swamped' with so many DVDs to watch (ha!), family to-do lists and so on. By the way, I have run out of excuses and so here goes...

Day 75 - Saturday

Saturday Morning Run

I went for a run this morning. No, I do not usually run on weekends. But I find that it was necessary as I have had too many 'good food" over the week. It is so easy to overeat these days without even realizing it when there are so many luring food temptations going around everyday.

Change of Family Tour Destination

We had to make a another trip to my parents' place due to the fact that the flight vacancies for March have sold out for most ideal tour destinations like Hong Kong and Taiwan. In view of that, we have decided to change the trip to June and instead of going Taiwan, and we have decided to go Hong Kong. THL and I will start to source for June HK packages beginning tonight and we will try to secure the best possible Free and Easy package.

After having dinner at Carl Junior at Jurong Point, we went back home to start working on finding the best online package for Hong Kong for June.

Day 76 - Sunday

THL and I spent most part of the day hunting for good online bargains for trip to Hong Kong in June. As we wanted to take SQ flight, stay at 5 Stars hotel as well as having good accessibility to the MTR station, it was really quite a challenge to finally shortlist a couple few packages that fit our criteria.

We spent the entire day at home with THL cooking both lunch and dinner. In order to get the best possible deal, we have decided to wait a couple of days before booking the tour as there may be price changes during weekdays.

We ended the evening re-watching a Japanese thriller DVD - DeathNote - Part 1.

Day 77 - Monday

Today was a pretty routine day with me performing all the weekly household chores and working on my projects. I also spent some time monitoring the prices of the Hong Kong deal on the website that we intend to book from. As the pricing did not change, we decided to wait for another day and see how it goes.

We watch Deathnote - Part 2 in the evening after our dinner.

Day 78 - Tuesday

I rented some DVDs home today after getting lunch back. To my dismay, instead of going down, the price of the Hong Kong package went up by around $450 today. It was truly unexpected, THL and I regretted not booking it over the weekend. Sigh... THL and I decided to take the risk and wait for another day.

After our dinner, we watch one of the rental DVD - Gravity. It is a relatively new show and it has grabbed many awards and while there are only a few casts throughout the show, the storyline and script were superbly written and in my opinion, it would have been well worth the money even if we choose to watch it in the cinema.

Day 79 - Wednesday

Dry Spell 

It has not been raining for a few months since last December and the weather has gotten very humid. RK and I were feeling hot and sticky even with minimum mobility around the house. It seems this dry weather will persists until late April.

The price of the Hong Kong did not change today and we decided to book it before another round of increase happens.

We spent the evening going through the Hong Kong pictures that we took when we were there in 2010. RK was only 4 and the half years old and it was fun looking back at some of the happy moments that we shared back then.

THL and I also planned out some places of interest to visit when we bring our family there in June.

Day 80 - Thursday

I had dinner with THL at KFC today with RK waiting at home. We bought back RK's share after that and since it is a Wednesday, RK went for his tuition after dinner.

THL and I begin one another drama serial from Hong Kong - 功夫状元 this evening. It was an old DVD package that we bought a few years back and we forgot about it. The starting part of the show was slow and boring but it does get a little better as the show progresses. 

 

Day 81 - Friday

RK and I took a bus down to Jurong East to meet up with THL for dinner at Food Republic - West Gate this evening. This is the first time we are having dinner at the branch in West Gate. 

After dinner, as usual, we walked and shopped around to have with the digestion before heading to get some necessities from NTUC at JEM. We took a bus home after that.

THL and I continued our watching of the 功夫状元 after RK hit the bed at 10pm.

Transport Expenses (Day 75 - 81): $18.67

Day 75: $8.39

Bus Ride:

Home to Bt Panjang => $1.27 x 2 + $0.58 = $3.12

Bt Panjang to Jurong Point => $1.31 x 2 + $0.58 = $3.2

Jurong Point to Home => $0.83 x 2 + $0.41 = $2.07

Day 76: $0

Day 77: $1.66

Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83
Lakeside to Home => $0.83

Day 78: $1.66

Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83
Lakeside to Home => $0.83

Day 79: $1.66

Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83
Lakeside to Home => $0.83

Day 80: $1.56

 

Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83
Lakeside to JW Blk 502=> $0.73

Day 81: $3.74

Lakeside to Home => $0.83

Feeder bus to JE => $0.73 + $0.36 = $1.09

Feeder Bus from JE to Home => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82

Weekly Afterthoughts:

Although the trip to Hong Kong for the 3 of us may set us back by about $2k, it is still worthwhile amount of money to spent as it is a once in a lifetime trip to finally have the chance to go on a oversea holiday with my family. Moreover the amount of transport expenses that we have saved from not owning a car have more than pay for the entire trip itself. 

 The 3 of us are looking forward to the Hong Kong trip in June and I will be sure to blog about it when I get back. So stay tune, ok?

2 Weeks Post 60DWCC - A Week of Sinful Food & Melancholy Mood

Another week flew past and here we are still trying to shake off the melancholic mood that grabbed us ever since we finished watching the Korean Drama.

Day 68 - Saturday

Family Day at Bukit Panjang

As THL has to work till 1pm today, the 3 of us met up at Jurong East after I fetch RK from his tuition centre. We had lunch at Lot 1 before taking a bus down to visit my family.

We were there for a few hours. THL and I went to shopped around Bt Panjang Plaza at around 5.30pm and we bought dinner back for the entire family. There were discussions about making a family trip to Taiwan during this coming March school holidays.

THL and I will go source for some packages and we will see if it is feasible to go in March. We took a bus home and continued with our beloved Korean drama after we washed up.

Day 69 - Sunday

Shopping for Taiwan Tour Package at Chinatown

The 3 of us left the house early to catch a bus to Chinatown. There is actually no direct bus to Chinatown and thanks to THL, we ended up at Bt Merah Bus Interchange and had to take another connecting bus to Chinatown.

We had lunch at Yoshinoya (at Chinatown Point) before starting our hunt for Taiwan tour packages. To our disappointments, the pricing for Taiwan or any other destinations for that matter have already gone up and we reckoned that it does not make financial senses to pay a few hundreds more just to hop on a plane in March.

We collected some Taiwan brochures and we asked for pricing for Jun and we were done for the day. Hurray! After that we took a bus from Chinatown to Tanah Merah MRT and took a train down to Bedok Mall.

After hearing our friends talking about it for a while, the 3 of us finally paid our visit to this latest mall in Singapore. While it was not as good as we thought it would be, the varieties of the shops there still took us a couple of hours to browse through.

As for dinner, we had it at Pho Street - a Vietnamese restaurant. The food was quite delicious and the prices are within reasonable range. After dinner, we took a long train ride back to Jurong East and took a feeder bus home.

Despite the tiring day, THL and I still manage to catch an episode of the Korean drama. LOL...

Day 70 - Monday

A Short Retail Therapy at JEM

Today was a typical work day with usual routines. At 545pm - RK and I took a bus down to Jurong East Interchange. We meet up with THL at JEM for dinner at KFC and we shopped around. THL and RK bought a cake and we took a bus home after getting some necessities from NTUC.

Day 71 - Tuesday

Sinful Dinner at Kushinbo

Yeah, we had this sinful dinner at Kushinbo - Jurong Point and the 3 of us ate our full during this close to 3 hours meal.

THL and I had spoilt our stomach silly with snow crabs legs, prawns and Sashimi. We even managed to grab 2 plates of the hourly special food which was a half lobster drenched with black pepper sauce. THL and I were up to our neck with food before we decided to call it a day and foot the bill.

As we were too lazy and to full to walk to the bus interchange, we took a cab home. Such is the hidden cost of a meal at Kushinbo. LOL...

Day 72 - Wednesday

Reporting sick at Polyclinic

Thanks to the last night's dinner at Kushinbo, THL's stomach went on strike this morning and she had to take medical leave today. We took a bus to the JE polyclinic (our virgin trip there as we are huge fans of GP clinics) and upon looking at the huge pools of people there, we sighed and thought it was going to take forever.

But...to our surprise, the queue numbers went around fast and before we knew it, THL has seen the doctor and has collected her medications. All within 90 minutes. Yeah...it was that fast. And guess what, there was even a payment kiosk near the entrance for THL to pay her medical expenses.

The Korea Drama frenzy ended...

Since THL was on sick leave, the 2 of us managed to finish up the Korean drama series. Yeah! Finished watching after close to 7 weeks of consistent watching.

The melancholic mood stuck the both of us hours after finishing the show. It was the kind of sad when it is time to bid farewell to some good friends. As we may not be watching it ever again, both of us were in a somewhat melancholic mood for a few days...hoping that there will be a season 2. Wishful thinking on our part...:D

Day 73 - Thursday

Dinner at MIL House

After RK wakes up from his afternoon nap, both of us took a train down to THL's mum place for dinner. I have always enjoyed having dinner there as the food was always simple but delicious.

After dinner and an hour of chit chat and catching ups, the 3 of us took a train back to Lakeside and took a slow stroll back home. Nice...

Day 74 - Friday

Weekend Mood at JEM

The 3 of us meet up at JCube and we decided to have korean food for dinner at the Kopitiam foodcourt there. Nope...it has nothing to do with the Korean drama that we finished watching few days ago. Feeling sad again as I wrote this...:)

After dinner, we shopped around and I bought 3 pairs of new socks for my morning runs. The current ones are already worn out and it is time to retire them. We had a drink and a piece of fattening dessert (Raspberry Cheesecake) at Coffeebeans to enjoy the rest of the evening before taking a bus back home.

Transport Expenses (Day 68 to 74): $49.00

Day 68: $9.63

Bus Ride: $6.86
Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83
Home to Jurong East Interchange (RK and I) => $0.73 + $0.36 = $1.09
CCK to Bt Panjang => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82
Bt Panjang to Home => $1.27 x 2 + $0.58 = $3.12

MRT Rides:
Jurong East to CCK => $1.11 x 2 + $0.55 = $2.77

Day 69: $17.44

Bus Rides:
Home to Bt Merah Interchange => $1.55 x 2 + $0.58 = $3.68
Bt Merah Interchange to Chinatown => $0.93 x 2 + $0.46 = $2.32
Chinatown to Tanah Merah MRT => $1.51 x 2 + $0.58 = $3.60
JE Interchange to Home => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82

MRT Rides:
Tanah to Bedok => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82
Bedok to Jurong East => $1.81 x 2 + $0.58 = $4.20

Day 70: $3.74

Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83
Home to Jurong East Interchange (RK and I) => $0.73 + $0.36 = $1.09

JE Interchange to Home => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82

Day 71: $8.52

Bus Rides:
Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83
Home to Jurong Point => $0.83 + $0.41 = $1.24

Taxi Fare:
Jurong Point to Home => $6.45

Day 72: $1.46

Home to Polyclinic => $0.73 x 2 = $1.46

Day 73: $4.47

Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83

MRT Ride: $3.64
LS to PN => $0.73 + $0.36 = $1.09
Joo Koon to PN (THL) => $0.73
PN to LS => $0.73 x 2+ $0.36 = $1.82

Day 74: $3.74

Home to Boon Lay Interchange (THL) => $0.83

Home to Jurong East Interchange (RK and I) => $0.73 + $0.36 = $1.09

JE Interchange to Home => $0.73 x 2 + $0.36 = $1.82

Weekly Afterthoughts:

Wow. The transport expenses for this week was a hefty $49. While it is a huge jump from last week, it is still within reasonable range as we did quite a bit of traveling this week. We have been to Chinatown, Bedok Mall, Bt Panjang and not to forget we even took a cab home on Tuesday after our sinful meal at Kushinbo.

So, all in all, this amount of traveling expenses was expected and it is so insignificant when compared to that of owning a car.