Nicely Broke

my budget for this month has exceeded tremendoulsy. with all the shoppings i've been doing, well i justified myself by saying i really do need that stuff and i actually do, i know i've betrayed my own plan. but after tonight? well, i consider myself officially broke.

it all started with an email from a friend about a dinner at one of a nice place in town. smart casual. if there's additional people you must confirm with the chef at least one day in advance. that kinda posh place. we've tried the other 2 slightly lower end place from this company, so it is kinda nice to complete the experience, that's how i reasoned myself.

at first, i was a bit worried of not being able to blend in when i realised that not most but all the invitees are either from uk or lived there for ages before moving here. but well, what the heck .. i'll just go, after all the one organising it is one of my own buddy. dinner was good .. really good! there was an incident when the order came out wrong. instead of taking it back to the kitchen the staff put it in the middle of the table saying, 'it's on the house'. how good is that. and don't get me to the dessert. i broke my own routine by not ordering tiramisu and had the chocolate degustation instead. and of course the company was great as well. i am actually motivated to go back to exercise routinely after hearing bea's story on how she motivated herself. very inspiring. its always nice to hear stories and reflect back to yourself. but when the bill came it was not good for my pocket. $931ish! blimming expensive. at first we decided to share the bill equally but then one of them rejected as she ordered quite a number of drinks and i ended up paying $89. still bloody expensive. but it's all worth it and it's not a regular thingy. payment type is always fun for me, because each of us will take out their wallet and start counting the amount they need to pay. once all the money is on the table someone will do the counting, if its not enough we'll divide it equally among us to cover it. once it's done we'll hand it to the waiter who's waiting patiently for us. it might sound very troublesome, but it's fair to everyone. unless somebody has no cash, then it'll be charged it to that person's card and we'll do the same way of counting before leaving the place. if it's a close group than we'll just simply divide the amount equally. so everyone always leave feeling happy.

once done with dinner, i joined 2 of them for the friday night gathering. not that i drink or what, but passing this place everytime i'm around the orchard area really makes me curious to check it out. the drinks is pretty cheap here compared to other places i went before, well, at least my cranberry juice is. my intention was to stay there 'til 11 but we only reached there at 11.20, thanks to the taxi driver who until now hasn't call me! so i decided to leave at 11.45 instead. apparently there were few familiar faces there and the crowd was not that bad that i ended up leaving later then intended. luckily one of the guy who stays at bayshore left at the same time and offered me a taxi ride home. at least i safe my transport fee, hehe.

but seriously speaking, i have to cut down all this fancy dining stuff next month to redeem my overspending this month. i've already told them that i won't be joining the weekly brunch. why? they asked and my answer was it's too pricey for me. come on $78+++ for a buffet brunch with a free flow orange juice? i'm not an expat eh, i'd be selling my organs if i join them that often.