The Road to 40 Day 277/365: Oceanarium Day

Vino’s friend from Vietnam was visiting, and we planned to go to the Oceanarium with him later in the day.

But first things first, I had to visit the doctor to check my blood pressure. Upon checking, my blood pressure was normal, but of course, I had to get myself checked. My cholesterol levels are significantly higher than normal, as we found out from last year’s executive checkup.

However, I told the doctor last year that I’d make changes to my diet and exercise habits, and would want to get myself checked again after I made these changes. Unfortunately, between holidays and stuff, I wasn’t able to exercise as much as I would want, and I’ve enjoyed eating the food from everywhere.

At some point, I breached the 90kg mark, which I swore I wouldn’t. I worked enough to bring it down, but still, my normal weight plays around 88-89kgs.

Anyway, the doctor said my high blood pressure is not directly correlated to my cholesterol levels, but I should consider medication apart from diet and exercise. I think at this point – and the doctor pointed it out as well – medication is inevitable.

I wanted to avoid it as much as I could, but with both my siblings having high cholesterol as well, he said it would be best for me to take medication now instead of waiting for something to happen.

I got a blood test and will wait for the results by the end of the week.

Later in the day, I picked up Vino’s friend from their hotel. His sister and his mom joined us, together with his mom’s friend and son. We all went to pick up Vino from school.

I toured them a bit so that they could see an overview of the school. I also wanted to burn some time because they wanted to take the bus, which meant we’d have to battle all the students heading the same way.

Luckily, the bus wasn’t as crowded. There were also a few kids from the same school who sat with us at the back who were very chatty, which I think added to the experience.

It was our first time in the Oceanarium. The mom’s friend and the kid didn’t join us because she said there’s also an aquarium in Vietnam, and they’re all pretty much the same.

I tend to agree, but Vino has loved going to aquariums wherever we have traveled. He’s seen one in Australia, in Korea, and in Thailand. Yes, the sea creatures don’t vary much, but the experience is always the fun part. No matter how many times you’ve visited a place, who you go with will always make it a unique experience that money can’t buy.

It’s the first time that Vino had a friend visit him here in Singapore, so he was really eager to enjoy the time they had together.

She took her son to the Harry Potter experience, which we haven’t seen, and she said we should have gone there instead of the aquarium since aquariums are everywhere. I didn’t argue, but personally, Vino isn’t really that much of a Harry Potter fan, and I wasn’t sure if his friend was as well.

His friend loves ships and planes. He’s the guy who got Vino to like the Titanic and everything about it. So he was very into the stuff we saw, and he even gave random facts that I didn’t know.

Overall, I think we made the right choice. It was damn expensive, as with everything here in Singapore, but the boys loved exploring the place by themselves.

Ultimately, the other boy asked his mom to come back to us so that he could play with Vino again. Vino is an interesting mix of personalities. While he appears to be introverted, he can be silly if he chooses to.

I sometimes worry about him because I feel like he doesn’t talk enough to meet new friends, but when I see him in his element, he appears to have a magnetic personality that draws people in. The other kid didn’t know him before today, but he kept trying to catch Vino’s attention while they were together, and even got his mom to come back to join us again.

We wanted to do more things, but the sister looked super tired and sleepy, so they decided to just go home first. Hopefully, we can still meet them again tomorrow so the kids can spend more time together.