My Singapore Adventure - My Next Chapter

Robinson’s Voucher Redemption (16th Dec 2014)

16 December 2013 abrigatti Shopping No comments

Buying Myself Presents

Well there is nothing like a free lunch – and I do tend to agree with most offers I receive or review.

After opening a Robinson co-brand credit card account with OCBC, I received a set of vouchers for Robinson vouchers – but these ranged from $50 if you spend $200, $30 if you spend $150 or $10 if you spend $100. These are quite annoying offers, but yes it is a marketing engagement and spend activation campaign – so I shouldn’t be surprised – but it is still very annoying and vouchers like this are in my opinion rubbish.

Most vouchers in the UK, you usually get the voucher free or get a free gift card or similar – this way, you are still ‘buying’ from the shop, and you are likely to spend more than the face value of the vouchers – unlike in Singapore, where they expect you to spend a ridiculous amount to get a small amount off. Hmmm…

Either way, I was keen to use them, rather than lose them! So decided to go with my mum to see what I can buy, I decided to replace my wallet and also a Fahenheit 32 eau de toilette – spending just over $200 and get the $50 off. Not that bad, I guess.

Messy Night – Hungover Again

16 December 2013 abrigatti Entertainment No comments

Whose idea to drink that much – oh that’s right, we set our own destiny…that means it was my fault – haha!

Anyway, it started with a few drinks at Blarney’s at Marina Bay Sail, where I met up with a friend and a couple of work colleagues. After an couple of hours or so, we decided to grab some food…well one must eat. We headed off to Raffles Bistro just around the corner, as the weather was still pretty horrid (raining), and it was under cover! After some great food, and a couple bottles of wine, we then decided to for another drinks at Harry’s at the Sail. This is turning into a mini-bar crawl @ the Sail :). Haha!

We then continued to drink ourselves silly, and finally decided to call it a day – having reached about 11.30pm…the worse thing is that I had mixed all types of drinks (the number one sin of drinking): Guinness stout, Red wine, Rum and Coke, Sambuca and Whiskey Soda – and yes it was a horrid affair as the following morning confirmed :). Ouch!!!

Boulevard Red Dot – Maxwell Road

9 December 2013 abrigatti Entertainment No comments

A colleague from work invited me to drinks at a Maxwell Road with his friends, and I happily obliged – hard to say ‘no’ to a drink! After a bus rides and walk, we arrived at around 715pm, and settled in for a few drinks and some finger food. I was expecting to stay for a couple of drinks and then make my exit, but after several drinks, we turned to shots (yikes) and lots of silly talk and jokes.

Before we realised it, our bill was quite long and it was coming to 1130pm…bang goes the early night idea. Alas, never say no to a fun night with some great folks!

Luckily it is getting towards Christmas, so any excuse to drink more, is a good one – haha!!

Here’s to tomorrow…just hope my head is in one piece 🙂

Boulevard Restrobar
28 Maxwell Road #01-03
Red Dot Traffic Building
Singapore 069120
Tel: +65 6327 4338
URL: http://www.boulevard.com.sg

Comedy Club Night @ 22 Dempsey

6 December 2013 abrigatti Entertainment No comments

One of the financial advisors that I had been discussing investment services with, contacted me to say that he had a number of free tickets for a comedy night – they amounted to 3 pairs (6 tickets), and I couldn’t say no to this. I invited a couple of colleagues and their partners from work, but I only had 5 people (including me) who accepted the challenge – a shame, but alas, even free is not enough to entice people sometimes!

Having gone to the Komedia Club in Brighton several times, I always wanted to find out if the was a version of this in Singapore, and I’ve just learnt that they do. There were 3 keys acts – Paco Erhard (Germany), Gina Yashere (UK), Emo Philips (US). Even the MC was pretty hilarious. The first act, Paco was very good, and a good stating act. Whilst Gina was always going to be very funny, I have seen her at the Hammersmith Apollo TV programme before, although I must add that some of her jokes were repeats, but still got the crowd going. The last one, Emo, was a total let down, he tried so hard, but I just didn’t quite get the guy or his humour, but 2 out of 3 acts was good going for a comedy event!!

But the food and drinks were just perfect :). From 7.30pm (8.30pm show start) to 11.30pm – wow…3 hours of humour….I had such a stitch by laughing soooo much. We even managed to get Gina’s autographs having purchased a recording of one of her US shows on DVD…such. A funny lady.

I must sign up and see whether it is worth doing this again soon, maybe with my own lady company next time too – we’ll see!! 🙂

The Comedy Club Asia
8 Eu Tong Sen Street, #18-85
Singapore
059818
Email: info@thecomedyclub.asia
URL: http://www.thecomedyclub.asia
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheComedyClubAsia

Christmas Doo – Number 1

5 December 2013 abrigatti Entertainment, Food No comments

The division that we report into had settled for a Christmas Doo at Halia Restaurant in Botanic Gardens – it is quite a bit of a trek to get too, but it was quite a nice venue. We pretty much had booked out the private dining part of the restaurant, with other guests having to settle for the other main part of the restaurant.

We brought our Secret Santa and put them under the tree – as soon we arrived at the restaurant. The food was very tasty, ranging from Western, Chinese, Indian and Asian Fusion – but very tasty indeed.

Whilst any doos in Singapore are usually just smart-casual, I do like the opportunity to ‘dress up’ – so as I had brought my DJ (Tux) with me when I came across, I thought it would be a good opportunity to actually wear it for a change. So after work, I got changed and actually got a fair number of surprised looks from the people in the office – many admired the look and fashion sense, and gave me a nice compliment.

Upon arriving, there was the customary division head speech, and it actually started with admiring my formal ware and that of a the lady – so we both won a customary box of chocolates for the best dress female and male of the night – haha, you see it is all worth while in the end 🙂

The rest of the night continued with lots of good food, chats, laughter and a prize draw. Like previously years, it does seem to come to an abrupt end as soon as the meal finishes, as the coach arrived to pick us up (for those wanting to leave – which I a fair number opted for). We then arrived back at City Hall and did the MRT route home – and this was just 9.30pm. It is quite weird that Christmas Doos finish before midnight, but alas that’s the Asian way of life…!!

Onwards to the next one, later on in December 🙂

Halia Restaurant @ SBG
1 Cluny Road, Ginger Garden
Singapore Botanic Gardens
Singapore, 259569
Tel: +65 8444 1148
URL: http://www.thehalia.com

Mum Arrives for her Holiday

3 December 2013 abrigatti Family and Friends, Holiday No comments

I have been looking at flights to the UK for Christmas for a few months, but they were ridiculously high (almost £1000+), so I decided to opt for a holiday closer to Singapore. Last year, I spent it in Hong Kong, and my mum suggested that we do the same. Whilst it is a good location, I didn’t want to pressure my cousin who we stay at, but we opted to go with this based on the short timelines we had to sort it out.

With work being manically busy (no really change there) I didn’t have that much time to arrange it, but we booked the flights (from Tiger Airlines) which cost around S$300 each (~£150), and we tried it find a way of enjoying the visit.

Maybe next year I will spend more time to book the holiday back to the UK (possibly when BA or Singapore Airlines have a sale on), but I think we will settle with a HK Christmas and NY break this time around. Maybe we can squeeze a trip to Macau, but let’s see what happens 🙂

Secret Santa – What to Buy?

1 December 2013 abrigatti Shopping No comments

As part of the division’s festive dinner and gathering event, we were taken to Halia Restaurant within the Singapore Botanic Gardens complex – as part of this, we had a Secret Santa festive challenge, which required us to pick a name out of the hat, and purchase an item of no more than S$30 for the person we had selected.

I wanted to get the person (a lady) I selected something different, most people would opt for a Body Shop or Scented candles type of gift, so I decided to with a ‘puzzle’ idea. Also, it is a bit of a gamble, as I don’t know the likes or dislikes, but that’s part of the fun. I found a place in Velocity Shopping Mall in Novena, my nearest shopping mall, and it was called ‘Perfect Fit‘ and the selection was pretty interesting – although the price varied widely, so I tried to keep the cost close to the S$20-25 range. I got one that was priced around S$27 and it was one of a black and white image of NY City, so as Amex had it’s HQ building there, I thought it was related to work (just about).

Anyway, I think she liked it, but at the very least, will provide some fun to put it together… Okay perfects for an hour or two 🙂

Biometric Health Screening

1 December 2013 abrigatti Exercise, Marina Bay, New Chapter No comments

On Monday, 25th November, we had a biometric health screening session scheduled for MBFC, so I was keen to do a check-up to see how I was doing – health-wise. I previously had one done in early 2012, so was keen to check whether I was still alive and kicking!

The Biometric screening was basically focused on a few quick checks – your height, your weight, your waist, a quick prick on the finger to check your blood sugars, your blood pressure and then a quick profile check. The great news is that I passed with flying colours.

Having been ill over the weekend prior (I had a stomach bug) I was a bit worried that this could impact my results, but in a way, it could have helped in the sense that my body was clear of any toxins 🙂

My weight was 53.8kg (8stone 6lbs), my height 176.8cm (5feet 10 inches) and 72cm waist. My BMI was 17.21 – which basically means I am slightly underweight, so I need to eat more, do more exercise, have a balance diet and eat protein etc – to puff up a bit.

My blood pressure was okay 126/75mmHg, my total cholesterol was 100mg/dl – so VERY good (and low), my glucose is 5.1 – which is in the health range, although my heart rate was in the low rate of 72bpm, so I definitely need to do more exercise.

Anyway, it’s not all bad – so I am pretty happy with the results!

The second intermediary and advance screening – was also done, and they took some blood for these more detailed tests. The funny thing is the clinic staff advised us that the costs were covered by the employer, but we then received an email later in the morning stating that there was a cost incurred for the intermediary and advance tests – I complained to them stating that we had volunteered our blood, and I felt that there was some miscommunication. Finally, they accepted this error, and they advised us that the checks would be free for those that gave the blood, and they corrected the communication for the other new tests from the afternoon onwards. Yay – more free tests 🙂

I am hoping to do a more thorough health screening to do additional checks and discuss in more details what plans I can deploy to improve my overall health and wellbeing.

Aquarium Team Build and Charity Philanthropy Event

30 November 2013 abrigatti Entertainment No comments

Amex continues to focus on team builds and it coincided with a community philanthropy event, which focused on helping under-privileged enjoy life. On 29th November, we took a group of children to the Aquarium in Resorts World Sentosa (RWS).

You may recall that as part of a smaller team build, where my team visited the same venue in October – bringing together colleagues from Korea, Australia, Japan, HK Malaysia and, of course, Singapore to spend time together. But this division team-build and combined charity event was on larger scale and included children. The challenge was we (4 groups) took the responsibility of almost 50 children, 9 were assigned to our group, and I was assigned as team leader. They ranged from 6 years old to 16 years old – what a range indeed.

Throughout the event, I continued to keep tabs on the 9 heads and had to keep a watchful eye on which and every one of them, and tried to assign them to individuals so that I could spread my gaze overall. What a task it w, but it was certainly fun, albeit very stressful!

I do like these charity events and they certainly showcase our community spirit – and overall are certainly rewarding for all concerned. I definitely want to do more of these types of events in 2014, where possible.

Wild Honey Cock-Up + Freebie

21 November 2013 abrigatti Food No comments

After visiting Wild Honey with a friend for coffee, it kinda ended a bit of a mess. It started as a pleasurable visit, and we tried to order some pastries/desserts, to accompany our coffee.

However, after we ordered the waitress returned stating that our first choice was not available (had run out) and to choose something else. We did so, re-ordered and continued to chat. About a few minutes later the waitress returned stating that our second choice was also not available, at which point we then asked what actually was left on the menu. After explaining that only a couple of desserts/pastries were now available, after all it was late in the day, we decided to go with a late brunch snack.

This then arrived and we tucked in; it was indeed very tasty. We continued and then asked for the bill to leave, as I was with a friend, I glanced at the bill, settled it and we left. When I arrived home, I took a closer look and then realised that the bill was incorrect, as they over-charged me. They still kept the dessert on the bill, even though we had cancelled it (as they had run out). Anyway, with true Aaron style, I emailed the place, to ask for a refund and for an explanation, advising that they should remove an item as soon as it is cancelled.

A couple of days later, I received an apolgetic reply from the Co-owner/Director – and I actually felt the email was quite comforting that they decided to put their hands up and admit the cock-up they made and remediate this by agreeing to send me a voucher. Subsequently, I received a S$25 voucher from the guy. In fact a few days after that, I received another voucher, so in total I had received S$50 for the mess-up. Not bad, after all. I hope they simply accept and deal with the feedback, as ultimately that was the aim of complaining 🙂

Wild Honey Mandarin Gallery
333A Orchard Road #03-02
Singapore 238897
Tel: +65 6235 3900
URL: http://wildhoney.com.sg

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My Singapore Adventure – My Next Chapter