For lunch on my birthday this year, we ate at the Gudetama Café in Suntec City in Singapore! My mom and I went wearing matching Gudetama shirts from Uniqlo, which we bought before I found out that the cafe existed. I swear it wasn't part of the original plan!

Every year Gardens by the Bay's Flower Dome displays a variety of tulips in an event called Tulipmania. It's my mother's dream to see tulips in real life so when she heard about this and the fact that the event happened to fall around my birthday, she immediately jumped on the opportunity. So if you're wondering if this was my choice of activity for my day of evacuation from the womb, there's your answer.

Once when I was in high school, a relative from out of town asked me about nightlife in this city. I had no answer for them because partying has never been and never will be my thing. A college classmate even called me an alien for not having plans on a Friday night, as if wanting a chill evening at home was a completely out of this world concept.

(Listen, I'm not judging you for whatever you like to do on your weekends so mind your own business and leave me to enjoy my "alien" interests, you silly human.)

Today's technology has trained us to expect things to be done RIGHT AWAY. It's too easy to take photos and post them seconds later--too easy that it's become the norm. Back then you had to take your photos to the shop and have them developed for you. These days my mom and our relatives expect the more than a hundred photos I took during our vacation to be posted as soon as we find a WiFi connection.