Out & About #98 | Collective May Visuals

The time for the monthly photo dump has finally rolled around. Let the excessive photo-posting begin!

1. Cherry blossoms had been blooming earlier in the month, though the trees were soon ridden of the beautiful, baby pink petals when strong winds and heavy rainfall hit mid-May.

2. Fresh Lemonade was purchased from CoCo's as an alternative to Lemon King.

3. Kim Soo Hyun's poster was spotted at The Face Shop in Square One; I had stopped to take a photo beside it, and was somehow offered one of my own!

4. On one specific Saturday, yogen fruz was handing out free chocolate-flavoured frozen yogurt cups for their Triple-Point Spending event. Toppings were also free, so I loaded the swirly sweet snack with dozens of chocolate curls and granola bits.

5. It's been a long time since I stopped for Presotea in Square One - the main reason being that I can find better quality bubble tea (and much better service) elsewhere. Presotea is part of a chain of businesses that offer Vicinity points; upon showing the guy at the cashier, who was later discovered to assume a manager-like status, my purple Vicinity card obtained from Chatime, I was bluntly told that "We are Presotea, not Chatime.". In return, I replied that I understood this very well, but as both businesses were still used Vicinity, the card could also be used at this shop. His reply was nothing but the snatching of my card and the addition of one point.

A large Earl Grey Milk Tea with Grass Jelly was ordered, however we received one with tapioca instead. Not only did the manager provide us with an expression highly unfitting for any paying customer when we informed him of his mistake, an annoyed grunt could also be heard as he grudgingly snatched back the cup to add the grass jelly. "There you go!", an angry voice called out as the tea was slapped back onto the counter. Never again, Presotea, never again shall I return. Your courteous attitude has the left the most striking impression in my mind.

6. S'Mores HERSHEY'S were also spotted at Shoppers.

7. Morning coffee breaks usually equal caffeine and a decent amount of sugar; I'm sincerely convinced that majority of the Starbucks staff knows me now...

8. Bubble tea is also a post-work fave of mine. Pictured above are the Honey Oolong Tea Latte w/ Grass Jelly and Honey Oolong Tea from Chatime, while the Wintermelon Grass Jelly Milk Tea from Gong Cha is shown below.

9. My early-morning desk setup usually follows this arrangement.

10. Donning my construction site gear for the first time rendered my completely ecstatic, despite much sleep deprivation.

11. This flower was considerably pretty, and thus deserved a spot in this monthly visuals collection as well.

12. Colourful sushi rolls delivered to me after a long day of work was probably the best thing I could ever ask for. (Besides delivery bubble tea, of course. Hahaha, jks.) Following this delightful dinner though, I made a quick trick to Green Grotto for dessert. Unfortunately, they were out the La Rocca Tiramisu cakes again, so I settled for a cake consisting a slab of chocolate brownie atop a layer cheesecake. A Milk Foam Wintermelon Tea was also redeemed from collected Vicinity points.

13. Did you know that you could mix a Passion Tea Lemonade and Peach Green Tea Lemonade for no additional charge? It's seriously the best of both worlds for indecisive Starbucks fanatics like myself. Matching drinks and salt and pepper sweaters was also an interesting occurrence.

14. More Starbucks! 

15. For a change of pace, I dropped by Tim Hortons a few times as well, trying their much-raved about floral-inspired Nutella donut. In all honesty, I was disappointed that the calorie-intensive pastry was more dough and chopped hazelnuts than Nutella. The presentation wasn't as pristine as Starbucks' baked goods, and the lack of the chocolate-hazelnut spread was considerably evident.

16. There's a small kiosk outside Shoppers on Yonge Street, just outside Shoppers. I've passed by numerous times, but never actually had a chance to stop and try their Taiyaki. While they were absolutely fragrant, the quality of the fish-shaped, red-bean filled pastries were nowhere near that of P.A.T. nor the Richmond Night Market. The dough to filling ratio was too high, and the pastry was much too greasy; the lack of filling also caused the pastries to be flatter than average.

17. A car painted completely in gold chrome was spotted whizzing past as we exited.

18. Newly-obtained LINE plushies from Pacific Mall! (Why didn't I buy these while in Hong Kong.../sigh)

19. Drinks for two from Chatime: Passion Fruit Black Tea w/ Coconut Jelly and a Taro Smoothie w/ Pudding and Tapioca.

20. The Erindale GO Station is huge, however I've only realized this recently as I had never taken public transit to this terminal before. The overall design of the parking building, as well as the tunnels to exit from the rail, are both quite interesting.

In order to exit from the platform, one can either climb two, rather steep, flights of stairs and walk through a tunnel to the parking building. From there, elevators can utilized to reach the desired floor, including the ground floor for access to the bus loop.
Alternatively, commuters can also walk past the stairs and down through a short tunnel that emerges on the other side of the track; this enables easy access to the parking lot.
Leaving the lot was a complete nightmare though: as there was only one main path, a massive amount of congestion had resulted from impatient drivers eager to leave the parking lot all at once and  regional and local buses trying to enter/exit. I don't think the widening of the path would be too great of a fix, as this would sacrifice the number of parking spaces available, but adding an alternative pathway to Rathburn/Creditview may be a plausible solution.

May was an incredibly hectic month for me, and I anticipate even more chaos in the following 11 months. Work has wrecked an immense amount of havoc on my health and well-being (mainly through sleep deprivation), but hopefully, time will gradually allow me to adjust and maintain a balance between the two.

See you in June!