art of simplicity: July 2017

oh my gosh! been a while since i had a perfect day! as i was scheduled for my scan and doctor appointment today, i decided to take a day's leave and plan my day around.

it was the annual mammogram scan which i always dragged, as my past scans weren't pleasant. however this round, i met the most encouraging and cheerful radiologist during the scan. she wore a cute hello kitty ribbon hair clip on her head. throughout the session, she was encouraging in her cheerpy voice, and i could not help to keep smiling, forgetting about the discomfort i was feeling. the scan went well on the 1st attempt! best experience i had! what a big relief!

i headed off to my next doctor's appointment at tong ji and along the way, dropped by at sheng siong supermarket to get my favorite cod fish snack. as usual, the wait at tong ji was long, and i probably only sat down with the doctor for less than 15 minutes on my turn. oh well, all the appointments were done for the day!

time for lunch! after walking around at the chinatown food centre, i decided on sour spicy noodles and otah. on top of that, i indulged in a cup of milk tea! what a fulfilling lunch!

the highlight of the day was visiting yayoi kusama exhibition at the national gallery. previously i got invited by a friend for a complimentary visit and i missed out on 1 of the exhibits because of the long queue. her paintings and installations were so interesting that it was worth another visit. besides, it would probably be less crowded on a weekday afternoon that i could slowly appreciate her works. the yellow room was my favorite, with all the walls painted in yellow and full of various sizes of black polka dots. there was an enclosed box in the centre to peek in, brightly lighted with mirrors on all sides and yellow polka dot pumpkins displayed on the base. an amazing amazing piece of work, with the yellow polka dot pumpkins being reflected multiple times from the mirrors. i even queued twice to have a closer look. her works were expressions of her emotions and perspectives, translated with colours and installations. impressive, love it!

i walked around the national gallery and there was an exhibition detailing the development of the national gallery. this was a combination of the previous city hall building and supreme court building. the complexity and fine balance between preservation of the historical architecture, while blending in elements of modern architecture, were indeed a huge ambition. the whole redevelopment took 10 years with all efforts from different expertise, to create what it was now. i was impressed and had yet to explore all parts of the building. great place to hang out with lots of resting areas to sit around, recharge and reconnect.

i settled my dinner with the mackerel kimbap from seoul roll. always a fan of rice rolls, delicious!

as i walked out of raffles city shopping centre, i looked up into the sky and saw the painting-like clouds. the gentle breeze was blowing and i thought, today was a perfect wonderful day!

i plugged in my headphones and played 五月天 songs. singing out loud while walking to settlers cafe at north canal road for julia's dwelling session. she ran the sessions biweekly, usually 3 different sessions on 1 topic. it was interesting to meet different people from all walks of life, on different sessions. they shared their perspectives and experiences on the topic. i was sitting with a doctor, computing engineer, teacher and estate planner at my table. today's session was on trust topic and we were playing jenga. how do we trust ourselves, how do we trust others, how do we build trust, etc. i thought it was quite a wide topic and we could look at it from various angles. through sharing, it got me reflected on myself on the topic. another great session!

it felt great to be on leave on a week day, lesser crowd and spending some quality me time with myself! everything went well, grateful and blessed! liberating! = )