Well, well! I’ve finally had a chance to take a breather after an eventful weekend and a spate of exams. Last Sunday was Mother’s Day and for my mother, a doubly joyful day when she became a true mother for the first time (although I doubt she actually enjoyed that very day much, being in constant labor pains and then under general anesthesia for the cesarean section she had to go through). My whole family sans yours truly went to the Imperial Herbal Restaurant on the night of the 10th for a dinner, and they assured me that my absence was felt.

That’s my beautiful mother for you! She’s nearing the big five but she looks nary a day older than 30! Amazing, I know.

My mom and maternal grandma! They were caught candid by my sister looking happy dining on the delectable dishes the restaurant is renowned for.

It is always the holidays when one misses his family the most. For me, that’s even more true since I’m living in a wholly different continent right now! 就是在这种时候，离乡背井的我更想我的家人。
非常的感谢你们寄来的卡片，我看了真的很感动！
希望你们过得健康、快乐，有着最充实的生活。
我也会尽我所能，努力的做好自己的本分… 放心吧！

보고 싶어요… 家族がいなくて寂しいです…

(Sigh.)

Here I am, one year older, one year wiser (I hope), and, thinking back, I’ve certainly had a most unpredictable year. A year ago, I celebrated my birthday abroad too, and I guess in a way it foreboded what it was to come for me. I went back to Singapore, worked hard for the last semester I would spent in NTU WKWSCI, unbeknownst to myself. Got a great GPA, and somehow got all my transfer details worked out at the same time, and made the hasty snap decision to continue my studies in the United States instead. It was a Malcolm Gladwell moment - I’ll have you know when you read my paper on instantaneous decisions - thoroughly last minute and full of uncertainties half a year ago but nevertheless became something promising and achievable in retrospect. I was making a new venture outside of my comfort zone, trying out life as a thoroughly independent person, experiencing a new way of life that is not thoroughly foreign yet is still strange in many ways, risking all that is familiar to me while my one-dimensional peers perplexed over my actions, unable to fathom why anyone would not want to stick around in sunny, safe, sheltered old Singapore, contented with the ho-hum existence of their lives that is mundane at best, the doldrums if you want to be exact.

Then again, it may be a false sense of infallibility, much like the perceived invincibility of a child or a speculator’s bravado puffed and fanned by his opportunistic broker, that is now clouding my future. But I do know, there are certain choices one have to make in life to forge one’s destiny. I suppose this is one. Better late than never, I say, to follow my own dreams.

So here I am, off in another land, off in search of a life of my own that eventually, I would be proud of, a life that I do not wish to mark with regrets. For such are the things that wreck the peaceful sanity of a person’s life, forever buried under the veneer of normalcy, forever the memories that haunt and cry for attention at the depths of the night when you’ve had a cuppa coffee too many. But I digress. It is a beautiful moment to commemorate, I suppose. I am praying for a rugged conviction and tenacity that will last me for the time to come.

Moving on to something lighthearted.

For the weekend, wywy took me out for our usual weekend outing at the bustling downtown.

I took pictures, being so glad to have this short reprieve from the onslaught of tests and quizzes and exams. The following weeks would be even more intense than before since the finals are looming! Then the day itself - Chinese longevity noodles, red eggs, Schubert’s Saint Honore cake - the whole works.

These were done wywy-styled. Not too bad for a first-timer! The intense gravy was a huge yum factor of those oodles of joy - I went for seconds!

The Saint Honore was a heavenly concoction of fluffy sponge layers interjected with rum custard atop a crisp chocolate base. Topped with fresh cream, glazed mini puff pastries and raspberries, and you have this savory sweet creation that is a treat to feast upon, visually and gustatorily. (The colorful stick-like appendages are actually unlit candles.)

I look really goofy here ‘cos I was trying to suppress laughing at something silly wywy did. More pictures:

The day was generally Fun Incarnate, we drove around and went about shopping and sight-seeing at various places. I was also trying out my birthday present for the first time, and realized, unwittingly, how some people were casting second looks at my newest baby. Oh, the pride! (Wanna know what wywy dearest got for me? Click here!)

Dinner’s at one of favorite sushi restaurants around Geary - Minami’s.

Nothing like these ambrosial bits to satiate my gastronomical needs. Their sushi is fresh and creamy, leaving the gourmand in me asking for more. We had about three of these platters in different sushi combinations, and also some of my favorite ika sashimi. Fyi, ika’s fresh squid. Absolutely scrumptious when cooked, even more so when it’s raw! Another plus point that is not always consistent at this restaurant but was nevertheless evident on this particular visit was the meticulous service the young Japanese waitress offered. I recall getting home really exhausted from running around all day but in good spirits.

So here’s good cheer to a new start and hopefully the update next year would be even more substantial.