Having a hectic work in the office these days makes me treasure my weekends much more. My wife and I slept late last night catching up on a Japanese drama series on Netflix (Good Morning Call). I slept throughout the night – which is rare nowadays though my Garmin watch says that I had very little deep sleep (and that’s not good). I woke up at nine. Normally I would go back to sleep. Today, I have plans.
We ran out of milk. Hence we could not make Nespresso in the morning. And hence, a perfect excuse for me to propose having breakfast outside. Besides, in this “early” hour, parking at the mall nearby would be much easier. I have been dreaming about this breakfast outing for months.
The cafe is along Upper Thomson Road called Pacamara Boutique Coffee Roasters. The coffee is pretty good. Food too. This place is always crowded regardless what time the day it is, for good reasons. Great ambiance. Plenty of sun from the glass panels. A bench full of very high-tech looking coffee and tea making machines. A hip place full of youngsters consuming very expensive food and drink. Among the crowd were my wife and me.
After our breakfast, grocery shopping at the mall where we parked our car was rather stressfree. Except for the unusual long queue at the fish counter. Apparently, well-to-do Singaporeans tend to wake up early on a Sunday and order a whole fresh salmon. One salmon costs around S$100. In front of me, five whole salmons were queued to be cut into filets. I have picked a red snapper and I was told that it would take fifteen minutes for it to be gutted and cleaned.
“Come back later,” said the guy who was handling all the fish orders.
“In that case, could you put some ice on my fish while I wait?” I asked.
In the end, I did not need to wait for fifteen minutes. I stood there and the guy just took my single red snapper and he jumped the queue for me – which totally made sense. In front of me, there were orders like a whole salmon or a plate full of fish. I am just a dude with one fish.
On our way back, I saw some big splash of water hitting my car’s windscreen. I did not pay much attention until when we were home, I saw a huge splash of bird poop on my car’s bonnet.
That was one mother-$%@#-huge bird!
It was great actually. I was looking for an excuse to have the car washed. And since we have spent so much money yesterday ordering food to be home delivered (I did hair henna for my wife – a very proud husband), we did not feel like paying S$8 for a car wash. Besides, I would need to drive out again.
I don’t mind car washing. It can be a rather good workout. And I love the results, always.
The car wash was good. Except, that somewhat spoilt my plan to set up my home music studio because I was exhausted after the car wash.
Time for Intenso on Ice! (Hint: Nespresso).
The biggest white elephant in our home is – actually we may have a few – a Zoom R24 Recorder. It is a multi-track recorder that can be acted as a mixer too. Right before my band No Eye Candy went into hiatus, I bought a Zoom R24 Recorder so as to replace my old USB Mixer. It was meant to be an upgrade because no longer would I need to operate the mixer with the PC (for recording).
Then, our drummer felt in love and has decided to leave Singapore. Our lead guitarist has a baby. That left my wife and me.
Fast forward to today, I have long wanted to set up my home music studio with this “new” toy that is not that new anymore. It took me a while to make it works with my electric guitar (stereo output through my VOX tube guitar effect box) and my mic. My wife has a new bass amp. For now and since I am not recording, I don’t need the bass input. For future though, I ought to think of micing her bass amp with an SM57.
And I have not got an SM57, yet.
PS. I just recall another white elephant in the house – a flat response monitor headset that I have yet to use. I shall start recording … one day.