A Better Philippines

So we have a new president. One that really got me believing and hoping for the better again. Based on what I've been reading from Twitter updates, his speech seemed to have moved many people to rally and stand behind his presidency. I'll have to look it up in YouTube later. I'm feeling optimistic.

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The Full Monty

I watched Pangdemonium's The Full Monty, their first ever production yesterday at the Drama Centre Theatre. Pangdemonium is a theatre company put up by husband and wife, Adrian and Tracie Pang. I only had the realization that the theatre company is Adrian's mid-way through the musical when I thought about the company's name. This is because I haven't had the chance to look at the program yet at this time. (By the way, they don't sell the programs, you just donate how much you can and take the program and it doesn't look cheap either.)

I first saw Adrian Pang perform when SRT brought "They're Playing Our Song" to Manila, I think about 10 years ago. He played opposite Lea Salonga and was really delightful there. I was a tad disappointed when I watched the musical again and he was replaced by Michael Lee. He's a very big star here appearing in various productions and I must say that it's well-deserved.

The musical is one enjoyable experience. Clocking in at almost three hours including intermission, the performers' energy never waned. I watched the matinee performance and it's almost hard to imagine that they still have another performance that night with barely two hours of rest in between. The entire cast was wonderful including Pang's own son who played Nathan. He was very adorable and I must say disciplined.

I have to admit that though I have seen the movie it was based on, I am totally not familiar with the musical and the songs. I did leave the theatre totally loving the songs and raring to get a copy of the soundtrack.

This musical is truly worth your time and money. They have another weekend left. Go catch it! It feels to me that no expense was spared in mounting this production. Their set alone has been set up with every little detail in mind. Imagine that kind of dedication translating to their performance and you're sure to get your money's worth.

Hershey's Chocolate World

Right outside Universal Studios Singapore, is the first ever Hershey's Chocolate World in Southeast Asia. They plan to expand soon to other countries such as Indonesia and Thailand and set up several more outlets here in Singapore.

The chocolate lover that I am, it got me all excited when I saw the store. It's also good that they allow taking of pictures inside so we can share the experience with others.

There were lots of Hershey's chocolate products and souvenir items from stuffed toys to chocolate scented candles.

I think that star of the store is the giant Hershey's Milk Chocolate. It sells for S$60 which is a good pasalubong if you don't mind hand carrying it.

What I really loved the most though are the Reese's products. It was Reese's heaven!

They even have Reese's ice cream topping and giant Reese's!

As we were paying for our goods, I chanced upon Mr. Goodbars. I nearly missed the shelf where they were. I guess since they're not as popular as the other brands, it was placed in a not so popular spot. 

We actually couldn't contain ourselves. We were barely out of the store and I've already finished a pack. Here you can see Em-J also stuffing himself with chocolate.

A Whole Lot of Bus Rides

The following day, most of us were already up by 6:30am. Too early by my standards, it's either we're all excited for the day ahead or we all just can't sleep because we all stayed in one room. I don't remember what we had for breakfast but after a quick bite, we all went downstairs for a swim.

Over lunch, we all decided to go to Johor Bahru, Malaysia since the bus interchange is near where we're staying. It took forever for all of us to finally be ready.

So off we went to the bus station. 

We boarded the bus to JB, however, upon reaching the checkpoint, we needed to head down and take another bus. The bus station was chaotic and hot. It was swarming with people, think Holy Week at bus stations. After queuing for a short while, we all decided to just head back.

We saw a shuttle heading straight to Resorts World so we took that. It turned out to be a not so good decision since the trip seemed to take forever. By this time, we've already had 4 bus rides and we've gotten nowhere yet. 

Reunion

Friday, after work, Clarice and I hurriedly headed home to start preparing for dinner. We promised our flatmates that we'll be cooking for them to celebrate our birthday. As it turns out, in our haste to get home and finish preparing early, we forgot to pick up tons of stuff from the grocery such as onions and even the pasta! We had to ask Froggy to go get some of the missing ingredients for us. We finished by 9pm which was already too late, the kare-kare was still in the pot. Nevertheless, it was still a fun dinner.

Dianne went over to celebrate with us. This is a mini-reunion for us since this is the first time that we're seeing her here in Singapore.

We weren't able to stay long and chat with Dianne because shortly after dinner, we had to leave to pick up Oliver and Analyn from the airport. They are flying over to celebrate with us. We got to the airport a bit early so we decided to have coffee to pass the time. 

They arrived shortly after Em-J finished his drink, here's Analyn looking all happy. 

Her brother was also at the airport to get a glimpse of her. 

We originally planned to still head out but no one really had to energy to still do so so we just decided to stay in for the night. 

A Whole Lot of Eating

A couple of days before my birthday, I received this courtesy of Melvin. Three more past seasons of 24 to while my time away. He was apologizing as he wasn't able to get DVDs but I'm fine with it. So long as it's 24, I can't really complain. 

He also gave heaps of chicharon with laman. I had a few cause I couldn't really eat much. The fat is making me cringe but they're delicious. 

On the 16th, I invited Clarice to have dinner over at Pastamania. We have been salivating over their pasta as we have been passing by the restaurant every single day on our way to the MRT. Em-J mentioned that their food is really not that good but I'm like, how can a highly popular chain that specializes on pasta not be good? I was wrong.

I had the meatball spaghetti while Clarice had the seafood pasta. The pasta is cooked well and wasn't soggy, that much I'll give them but both dishes were bland. It seems as if they forgot to put salt in it. Even the meatballs tasted boring. Add to that the fact that the dish was swimming in pasta sauce which I don't really like. 

Oh well, at least we know now. We're not coming back. When we did get home, the rest of our flatmates surprised us with pizza, cake and ice cream. Too bad we're already full but the gesture was much appreciated. 

Thanks much! :)

Orchard Road

This comes mostly as a shock to most Singaporeans since this hasn't happened before. I also didn't know that it was this bad. When I got to the office this morning, the sky was already overcast and it was starting to rain but it was not as bad as yesterday where I got drenched in spite of my umbrella. Apparently, it was worse today in Orchard. Good thing the mode of transportation wasn't affected otherwise I can only imagine the number of people who would be stranded.

Clarice, Through the Years.

2005 

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Happy Birthday Cheezey!