First Running Lab Run

Went for my first Running Lab Run last night. Was urged by Tekko & Taz to seek out the pro there by the name of Eddie. They said that since I'm suffering from shin splints, and it might be due to my running style, it would be good to seek his advice.

So there I went. With the kind company of Shutehelup & Tiwazz, who gallantly agreed to accompany me for my inaugural RL run.

I got to City Hall MRT at 6:30pm and met Tekko & wife at the escalator. Apparently we must have taken the same train :) Met up with Tiwazz at the control station and the four of us strolled to Funan. Was chatting with Tekko & Tiwazz about the World Harmony Run (WHR) slated to be on 15th Jul. I am very keen to participate but the distance is a concern. Not forgetting that the following day is my Shape Run, so both the Ts discouraged me from joining. Hmmm ... they definitely make sense, but I'm just so keen to participate in the WHR. Maybe I'll just go for a short 10km, albeit very slow one since Tekko reassured that he will cover the rear at a very slow pace of >7min/km. Hmmm. .. should I or should I not join ....

We reached RL and there already was a crowd gathered outside the shop. The crowd isn't as friendly as the seow kampung in CBD run. They mostly kept to their own clique of friends. I met a couple of familiar faces there like the vitamin gers, puay hien, yean yin. Even met one of a business associate from my ex-company. He found me familiar and I just smiled to acknowledge him, and he did likewise. I doubt he could remember where he had seen me before haha.
Anyway, we walked to the starting point (since I'm a road RETARD, needless to say I will not be able to articulate where we start and details about the route we took, but I'm sure most of u know where and what I'm talking about lah) and Eddie conducted a warm up before splitting us up into 2 groups, one going for the 10km and the other the 5km route. Shut & I wanted to do the 10km route (albeit at a super slow pace) while I can sense Tiwazz wasn't that keen (hehe, think he is worried my shin will give way).

After Eddie explained to us the route, we started the run with the 10km group running at a pretty fast pace (compared to me lah haha). I was reminded to take it slow and I have to thank Shut & Tiwazz for patiently pacing me, keeping to my slow pace and reminding me to slow down. Tintin was with us and though he could normally run fast, he said he was tired and will do a slow one that night. Shut was running alongside me the entire time and watching out for me (how nice Shut! Warning me of the oncoming traffic etc. Thanks bro!) Towards the mid point, Eddie ran up to me (after doing a u-turn to check on the slower runners etc.) and talked to me about my running posture etc. Guessed Tekko must have asked Eddie to advice me, thanks lots Tekko! He even taught me how I should run and stuff, and from the chat I learnt the following:

1. I should do HEEL landing, not forefoot landing (hmmm, thought I was a heel lander, as described by the podiatrist. But have been adviced recently to not land on my heels but my forefeet *scratch head* hmmmm)
   
2. To land softly and push off with my forefeet with strength to propel me forward
   
3. To take small steps
   
4. To look up, chest up and upright (again, this was all along my usual running style - or at least that's what i thought. But was recently introduced to chi running where they said one is to lean forward to minimise impact and reduce forefoot impact? aiyo, so confusing leh)
   
5. Eddie said my shoes are alright - but think maybe i will still consider Asics Cumulus ... see how
   

Met imd on our return leg (u-turn at kallang basin) of the run. Surprise! He wasn't at the starting point and we thought he wasn't coming for the run. He must have been late and with his fast pace, quickly caught up with us. Knowing that he will catch up with us real soon, we just decided to run along not having to wait for him. True enough we heard imd's footsteps behind us shortly after and he even slowed down to run alongside us. I asked him to not let me hinder his pace but he was really cool about it and said its ok. So the four of us jogged slowly and chit chatted along the way, past Marina Promenade to Esplanade and back to starting point. Towards the end we met Ronnie doing his ninja (wow, he seems to be running the same mileage of 15km everyday!! really one super seow on guy haha).

Finally reached the starting point with everyone already sitting around cooling down (haha). Eddie conducted his cool down routines and after which we strolled back to RL. Wah! I was so dehydrated and was pleasantly surprised when I realised RL actually provided us a bottle of plain water each!!! Life saviour, RL! I thank thee! *hail* I downed the bottle in no time, browsed around the shop briefly before the few of us (imd, shut, tiwazz, tintin & i) headed to the nearby food court to have dinner. Met Tekko there and as he was sitting alone (his wife was sitting with the vitamin gers), I asked to join his table. We chit chatted and Eddie joined us shortly (wah, he eat super healthy one. Ate yong tau fu and all vegetables. I noticed we ate about the same items haha ... so ok lah, at least i eat like the trainer ?? wahahhahahah *self console*)

We parted ways after dinner and Shut, Eddie & I took the same train home.

Was a great run, I covered 9.5km in 1hr 05mins. Aiya, like that how to run 10km in less than an hour ???

Anyway, exercise is done for fitness & in good fun! Great company once again and I got to run with 3 hunks (IMD - megahunk!!! Shutehelup - Sensitive New Age & Funny hunk!!! Tiwazz - 6P hunk!!!) ... what else can I ask for man ?

:)

ContentedJazz

Blood Bank - Low Supply!

I read in the Straits Times yesterday (28 Jun) that Blood Bank is running low in supply (especially O and A blood type).

So for those who have not donated in the past three months, pls consider going to the Health Sciences Authority (address provided below) to donate. More about blood donation can be found here. It is important you read THIS before you make a trip down to donate blood. This page tells you in what circumstances you are NOT eligible to donate blood.

Health Sciences Authority
11 Outram Road Singapore 169078

Opening Hours:
Tues - Thurs : 9am - 6:30pm
Fri : 9am - 8pm
Sat : 9am - 4:30pm
Sun : 9am - 2pm
close on Mondays and P.H.s

I am going down after my LSD on Saturday. ETA 11:30am. Want to meet up there ? just call me. :)

CBD Run

Another big turnout for the CBD run today.

Too many people and many new faces. Nowadays I seldom go up to introduce myself, because there are some people who I have heard so much about such that I'm not keen to introduce myself to them. In order not to look too bias I decided to just not introduce myself to anyone unfamiliar in the CBD run.

Incidentally I was just thinking about tintin & family this morning. Wondering why tintin hasn't joined us for anymore runs after the BG run last month. A sweet surprise when I saw the family at the CBD run. I had so much fun playing with Ryan, tintin's son. He is sooooo cute! He is not afraid of strangers and he has such a cuteeeeee face! He is just simply ADORABLE with his big eyes and rosy cheeks! He likes it when I sweep him up and make him fly up. He will laugh and ask for more. He also knows how to make adorable funny faces (like lifting up his eyebrows and in the process widening his already really cuteeee eyes, or winking at others!). I just laughed non-stop and had so much fun with him! He is sure gonna melt so many gals' hearts in future! wahahhaha ... just playing with him for a good 10 minutes really cheer me up and melt this auntie's heart liao! wahahaha

The group was really big and we even had special guests like brokie (who just returned from a one-month trip to Tibet, leh-lio gal-brokie's sis & Dasher). We started the run and as the run progresses, the faster group led the run while the rest were split into two smaller groups. All of us have the unspoken oath to avoid running last. I was in the middle group with james, bee & philip. We congregated at the Marina South Park sundial and waited for the third group consisting of tiwazz, kay and taz (tiwazz & taz accompanying kay who has lay off running for an extended period). The front runners pushed off while a few of us walked up the sloppy Sheares Bridge (I was under instruction not to run on slopes by Tiwazz!). Mid way, sxuanjing caught up with us to tell us that Run3 had diarrhoea and had turned back. Taz was worried about her, running alone back in Marina South Park so decided to head back to look for her with sv accompanying Taz. I called up Shut to ask him to look out for Run3 (he & his mha had taken the shorter route).

James, teelee, bee & cosmic were waiting for us and together we jogged to Esplanade. I slowly picked up speed as I need to let go of all the frustration with my stupid shin. I was trying to keep Taz's words in mind. To just lean forward a little and land with forefeet. Without any guidance and just trying on my own, i seriously do not know whether what I was doing was causing more harm than good. But nevertheless by just leaning forward a little and shuffling more i realise I could run slightly faster. Might be just psychological, but I managed to just run at a slightly faster pace than the past few runs after my 1 month break from runs. Really sick and tired of my shin, and really sick and tired of all that is going around me right now, a bit sian with all the comments I have been receiving the past month, really demoralising, and I feel very tired and lack of energy. Just hope SunshineJazz will return soon .... argh! Just hope I wouldn't become trichotillomaniac ... (thanks to Roentgen for teaching me this word)

Upon returning to the starting point, we found that run3 has not returned. Taz looks really worried. So James, Taz and I (I went so that I could at least go into the toilet to check whether she is there) took James car to head back to Marina South Park. On our way we received phone call to say she has returned. Since we were already on our way we decided to pick up Shut & his mha before heading back for ..... Roonz's birthday celebration.

Amid the usual Happy birthday song and cake eating, we chit chat and also ate the cheese cake that I brought for them (courtesy of brother who just came back from a holiday in Japan).

We then adjourned to the food court nearby (went to Maxwell mkt only to find out it is closed for cleaning!) for our dinner. Bee & charlotte didn't consume anything ( I really salute them! how can they tahan not eating ??).

We finally parted ways at close to 10 as many of the guys had to rush home to catch the 11pm Brazil vs Ghana World Cup match. Kind teelee again sent Taz, myself, charmane and superboy home. Thanks teelee!

Been a long day. The run today is enjoyable for I'm able to run at a slightly faster pace than the past few runs, but still slower than pre-injury days. Sian. The rest of the CBD run just isn't as interesting and fun, guess maybe i'm just not in the good mood today, and also coz my usual kakis (nemo, junie, roentgen, andy etc.) are not around. Miss them. Prolly the too many new faces, and not knowing them well makes the run less "cosy" ... time to get to know the new faces better.

Ok, need my sleep now. Nite.

TiredJazz

Yummy Lunch

Met up with my da jie, Frances for lunch today. I asked her out for lunch and she specifically rescheduled her lunch appointment so that she could meet with me. What an angel!

We had lunch at her favourite claypot stall. I ordered a claypot chicken tomyam noodles while da jie ordered their specialty chicken claypot rice. She simply luv the claypot rice in this stall. Apart from that I ordered a steamed toufu side dish, and da jie ordered one fuzhou fishball soup & prawn roll!

Wow! Just between the 2 of us we had our main dishes + 3 side dishes! That is enough to feed 5 i think! Hahhahaha, what gluttons we are :P and we cleaned finish everything! No wonder we are not thin wahahaha

It was an enjoyable meal, catching up with da jie & having yummy food (healthy food too lah). Although it was just catch up over lunch, it was still enjoyable and its always good to meet up with good friends like da jie. She has been worried about me for so long and its good to let her see a healthier and happier side of me.

We were even discussing about where to go for my birthday celebration meal and I suggested bringing our moms out together to have a gals' dinner. That would be fun wouldn't it! :)

HappyJazz

Gift from Bangkok

Uncle Heng just returned from a shopping trip to Bangkok with his family and got a souvenir for me.

Was expecting some yummy goodies or some little souvenir and was pleasantly surprised to receive a plastic container with a T-shirt inside. The T-shirt reads "Princess in Shirt". Hehe, am delighted to receive this T. Been a bloooody loooooooooooooooooooongggg time since I was called a "Princess" (lately being called "jie jie" or "auntie" or "ah fat" more often -_-") so am very happy to feel like a "Princess" for the day.
Thanks Uncle Heng! (but of course he is the same person who calls me fat -__-")



Hope I can wear it though, then can wear it this coming weekend! hiak hiak hiak

PrincessJazz

Fat :(

Someone just called me fat (in not exact words of course) during lunch ...
:(

So sad!

Update on 27 June
HOW MANY TIMES MUST I BE REMINDED THAT I'M FAT?!?!?!
A colleague also openly said I'm fat and should trim off all the excesses! Wau lau eh!!!!!
Do I need to be constantly reminded ?? HUH ?
AhBuiJazz ("(o o)")

Mizuno Wave Run

My dear HSP mates, especially nemo, helped me to register for the Mizuno Wave Run last Saturday.

My bib number 5709.

Special thanks to teelee for helping to take this pic of my bib. He is helping us to keep the bib til race day so he has kindly offered to help take a pic of my bib so that I could post it here. Gam Siah, teelee! *thumbs up*

Wish me luck ! I'm sure many of u taking part and reading this will finish way before me. So pls run with me at the end, or lend ur support or just cheer this old auntie at the finishing line ok ? :P

Astrology Today

My horoscope for today, from Astrology.com

Your mission today is to practice kindness -- toward yourself. Isn't it funny how that thought immediately sets off a whole cycle of negative thoughts? Treat yourself as you would a beloved friend.

Actually I don't think I'm unkind to myself lah. But I sure wish I can be kinder to myself today, by taking leave, taking a break from work. Haha, sounds silly since I just had a good weekend. But its really time for me to take leave, take a break and rest my tired soul ...
I've so many plans for a short 1-day vacation and they are
1) hit the gym for a 2 hour lunch-time spin class - I so miss that!!!
2) go for a relaxing spa / massage thenafter
3) watch the omnimax show on Greece (is it still available??)
4) Go for a walk in the park
5) Go see some veterans sgrunners train by chionging up slopes in MF. Then go up MF for drinks to enjoy the beautiful nightsky on MF.

Sounds like a plan ? No time to take leave this week though. Nevermind ... July ....
:)

DreaminJazz

Dinner with ex-colleague

Met up with an ex-colleague for dinner on last Friday night. I was suppose to meet him at 7pm at Harbourfront but my mtg droned on so I sms him to tell him I would be late. I was still in office at 7pm! He waited patiently at Dhoby Gaut for me and so we decided to meet up at Plaza Singapura for dinner instead.

Had dinner at the Lao2 Bei3 Jing1. Never been there ... food was alright. We shared a few dishes and I ate most of them! (he had gone on a diet and no longer has a big appetite -_-" am i the only one with a huge appetite nowadays :P)
We chatted over dinner, about life at our workplaces, mainly about how he is struggling in his present work place. We all I guess share the same woes one way or another, a general dissatisfaction with our job but with no clear end in sight. No idea what career switch we could do at this point in our life, and even if we do, switch to what ? (Basically no skills haha)

Had a good chat with him, good catch-up with old friends whom I don't get to meet. Ironically, this is the first time I'm having a meal with him alone! Haha, we only get to MSN more often after I leave the company and we normally catch up over MSN. Power of MSN, helps bring people closer ? So it doesn't necessarily mean that MSN tears people apart (physically) because it is whether we make the effort to still meet up on and off to catch up over tea or a meal, and to maintain that personal touch. I admit that I'm lousy at keeping in touch, at a face to face level. I'm more a "virtual" kind of friend. I do better over sms, email. I dislike phone conversations (reminds me to change my phone plan to have free incoming and loads of free sms, i don't need much talk time really). So if I don't ever call u to say hi, be thankful at least I make the effort to sms ? :P

Again, I digress. Anyway, its good to be able to catch up with old friends. Time for me to organise another gathering with the rest of my ex-colleagues whom I used to be close to. I organised one i think 2 months back (how time flies!) but the turnout was dismal. This time will keep the gathering small, just a few key ones. I think i still like small group gathering if I want quality chit chat haha

Relaxing Sunday

Woke up at 8+am this morning. Had a good rest after the fun night at ECP yesterday. Weather was soooooo cooling this morning, was drizzling and it was such a great weather to sleep in and just nua at home. Thankfully there is no organised run this morning, else I will not be able to enjoy this relaxing morning.
I laze in bed reading the Sunday Times and only dragged myself out of bed when the rest of the family have woken up and getting ready for breakfast.

Finally had a yummilicious breakfast of bread, chee cheong fun & ma3 la1 gao1 at 10+am and finally had time to chit chat with my sister. The past 2 weeks seem to have passed by in a blur with all these fun activities that seem like I haven't had the chance to sit down and eat with my family in a while and chit chat with them. So today is a good chance to just yak and talk rot with them LOL

Spent the rest of the morning looking at the pictures posted by IMD, FD and TLR on the sgrunners anniversary event. There were tons of pictures posted and I had a great time just browsing the pics and relieving the fun I had last night. I also blogged my entire experience and uploaded some pics to accompany my post.

Did some ironing before it was lunchtime. Sis had cooked pig's organs soup (yummy!!). I haven't had a home cook meal in ages and I really savour the home-cook meal! It was yummilicious to say the least, and of coz being able to eat with family just make the meal more enjoyable. Watching the kids eat, talk and stuff, what a heart warming sight. Kids grow up very fast so its not long before my nephew and niece will grow up to be teenagers haha ... so must savour their cute-ness now LOL

Did more msn with friends and was contemplating joining some of the folks for a run at 5pm. They are doing an LSD of 15+km around the neighbourhood. I was tempted to join them for a segment of the run but was strongly discouraged as my shin wasn't healed and if i continue to run i will definitely become paikar. cfred already said i will be called PikachuJazz if i run somemore (Pikachu = Pai Kar Pai Chiu - a term they used in army). Hahah, i was laughing out loud about the Pikachu thingy. What an innovative term! Learnt something new today hehe
I was really beat by 5+pm. Went to take a nap and woken up at close to 7 to have dinner. Wah, today is really a relaxing n wonderful day. Great cooling weather with light drizzle for most part of the morning, great food, relaxing time with the family. I feel recharged!

RelaxinJazz

SGRunners 1st Anniversary Event

Hit the gym at 1pm to attend the yoga class and spin class.
After which took a cab down to ECP to attend the SGRunners 1st anniversary event.





It was raining on my way to ECP and was wondering how we are going to proceed with the Amazing Race cum BBQ. By the time I got there, all the moderators were taking shelter at the nearby hut. We chatted while waiting for the rest to turn up (I'm one of the early few! tsk tsk). Think we only finally started the Amazing Race at about 6pm by then the rain has stopped. The moderators planted themselves at the various checkpoints and we were paired into teams to play the game. There are a total of 4 teams with andy and myself in the first team. imd & evelynwee in the 2nd, teelee & cfred in the 3rd and ronnie & sv in the last team.

Nemo wanted to do the video recording, and since he is definitely able to do a better job than me with his creativity streak (just hope the end results are not tooo "jerky "or "bumpy" considering his high energy levels, prolly jumping around a lot haha), I let him be the videographer.

The Amazing Race game requires each team to go to a total of 5 stations, based on the clue given. At each station, the team will have to complete a task before given the next clue to move to the next station. These are the stations and their respective task Andy & I did for this race starting from BBQ Pit 57..
(i) Bedok Jetty - T@z had a box with 26 items in it. We were to memorise as many of the items as possible in the specified time given and to list out all the items that we can remember. We managed to list out i think 18 items. Actually missed out the goggle!! Aiyoooooo *slap forehead* *pengz*
(ii) Water Ski Point - Sxuanjing was waiting for us at one cosy spot under the shade of trees. The task, very easy. Just to finish up a 1.5L bottle of mineral water between the two of us. Thankfully I'm known to be a water gallon, so this task is the easiest for me. But running with a full stomach sure isn't a joke! haha
(iii) Carpark F3 - we had difficulties figuring out the clue and it was only after calling Sotong to get some hints tat we managed to get to carpark F3. Wah, was a super super long run! I was soooo tired, shin was screaming! There, we had Cyberkinetics & Bee hiding behind a big red container avoiding to be seen by us -___-" but thankfully I managed to catch them. There we had to play some games with the team having to earn 5 points. Will post up pics to explain what the game is about. England not powderful so dunno how to describe :P Picture will say a thousand words.
(iv) Seafood centre - wau lau, got to run from Carpark F3 to seafood centre! Really want my life leh! Andy & I made a mistake and was searching high and low at the Food Village! We wasted a lot of time searching through the throngs of people in the food village and it was only much later i realised it was the seafood centre! So we quickly ran to the seafood centre and took a while before hunting down tiwazz & sxuanjing seated inconspicuously at the side enjoying the sea breeze! -___-"
We tried to piece some puzzle together at that station but was unable to do so and after 10 minutes (the max time given), we were let off with our last clue.
(v) Bike Shop near Food Centre - Philip di di was waiting there patiently for us. We were each to walk 2 rounds round the "foot reflexology" paved by those stones. Wow man! This was the most PAINFUL game ... Philip was really kind, accompanying me for a distance barefooted as well. But he couldn't stand the pain and had to give up after a while. It was really painful but well, a good experience and I guess psychologically knowing that it should help the blood circulation makes this painful game more worthwhile! haha



Andy & I came back and received roaring applause for our dignified return (hahaha). We were the third group to return but was a tie with cfred & teelee in 2nd place (as we started the race later). It was all in good fun so none of us really bothered bout the placement lah. Sv and Ronnie came back last, as they missed one station.

There were lots of food (sotong made potato salad with onions and roasted bacon bits and raisin - very very yummy!, otah, satay, fried bee hoon, fried rice, corn, marshmellows, curry, fish, fishballs ..)
yummy! I ate so much as usual! :) but it was fun and I also went around video-taping everyone, asking them to say a few words about this wonderful day, recording all the funny bits, the chit chat among friends.




There was also the prize presentation for the winners of the Amazing Race (imd & bikerchic evelynn). Nemo took over the recording but unfortunately in his enthusiasm he did not realise that the recording was in pause mode! Hahaha, he was SOOOOOOO apologetic about it and I had to keep reassure him that its alright! aiya, its all for fun, no big deal one lah nemo (if u r reading tis, pls stop beating urself up over this ok?? SMILE ! U already did a great job with the recording & FR & everything! Well done, brudder! :))

We stayed behind for a long while just chit chatting (topics ranging from chi running to food to running style to shoes to our charity fund raising etc.) and i guess everyone is just not willing to leave while having so much fun. By close to midnite can see that everyone is really beat so we packed and leave saying our goodbyes and goodnites. The wonderful teelee drove us HSP folks home though I could tell he was already really beat. Attempts to ask him to drop us off at one central place failed as he reassured us that its alright. Really got to treat him to a meal one day for his kindness leh ...

All in all, everyone enjoyed ourselves tremendously. I really wanted to thank TLR for setting up the SGRunners and being such a kind and accomodating penghulu. Not forgetting all the wonderful moderators for keeping the forum going and organising all the runs and all these events to bring all of us with the same passion together. Without the efforts of these running enthusiast, SGRunners wouldn't be where it is today and I wouldn't have met all these wonderful friends and now many of whom have become my good buds.
Cheers!

Look here for the penghulu's speech on the SGRunners' 1st Anniversary! :)

HappyJazz

SGRiver Recovery Run

At last Saturday's run to labrador park, I had arranged to run with Tiwazz on Thursday night so that I could run 3 times a week. I had also invited Roentgen, who joined us for breakfast on Saturday for the run since sgriver is his "territory".

I had asked teelee along when I met him on MSN one of the days. Nemo declined to join as he wanted to do his own ninja. I asked Junie on Thursday itself and was delighted that she could join in the run.

We all met up at 645pm at the CBD run start point where Roentgen kindly picked us up to drive us to SGRiver. Roentgen didn't know where to park and was asking us whether can park at Zouk -___-" (aiyo, isn't that your territory lokun?? :P) Well, none of us knew coz no one has ever been to Zouk (Wow! we sure are a guai1 bunch yah??) except for Tiwazz (whose last visit was over a decade ago?)
We reached Zouk, did some light stretching and was on our way, doing a very slow jog along sgriver, to clark quay and esplanade. At Esplanade we stopped to walk as by that time my shin was again complaining and Roentgen and tiwazz, worried that I wasn't doing well, stopped me from running and insisted that i walk. We did a relaxing walk along Esplanade, chit chatting and enjoying the cool breeze. The open air atrium was abuzz with buskers performing some fire stunts and there were people crowding around to watch these free performances. There were also many joggers doing their evening jog along Esplanade.

As it started to drizzle, we decided to u-turn back and did a slow jog back to sgriver. Roentgen taught me the Jeff Galloway 4mins run/1 min walk technique and we tried that technique all the way back. Along the way, we met the Running Lab group doing their cool down. It was a pretty big group and we met IMD, run3, tekko and dasher amidst the group. We chatted briefly with the gang, its a long time since i last met dasher and run3 and yakked a little with dasher, suaning him about not joining the CBD run ... must be we tooo slow for him liao lah <_<

Met Shutehelup with them and realised he had been trying to reach me on my mobile. I didn't take my mobile as today the run was what Roentgen & Tiwazz considered as MY run so I was confident we would run as a group ( I trust them to take care of me and will not leave me behind) and hence did not bring my phone. Big mistake as I already told Shut previously to contact me so that he could join us for dinner. My bad really, felt bad for being so irresponsible! Sorry Shut! *bow* Thankfully Shut was smart enough to based on our running route to get to us, else I'll be sooo guilty for making him wait!

We did our run/walk back to sgriver, passing by the countless watering holes (Robertson Quay side was sooo ulu wonder how the business there survive) and the buzz at Clark Quay. We should really go Clark Quay to have dinner one of these days. We need not drink but I'm sure there are lots of places to hang out and just have a good dinner. If we want some place quieter we can opt for Robertson Quay.

By the time we returned to sgriver I could really feel the strain on my shin. Was getting worried but there really isn't much I could do. We did our cool down and stretching on the crooked bridge and Roentgen went to his car & came back with cold 100+ for each of us (he had bought them and placed in the cold pack or something). So thoughtful of Roentgen! Thanks brudder!! *thumbs up*

After more chit chat, we finally proceeded to Bukit Ho Swee for our much awaited muay dinner! It was unfortunate that we couldn't find any halal food to buy for Shut but he insisted he was not hungry and didn't wan to eat dinner. I think he was just being polite and didn't want to spoil our dinner plans. Really salute him for his consideration and understanding. We shared porridge with fishcake, lots of roughage, ikan bilis & peanuts (while this dish is heavenly!!! very sinful but really worth it man!). Their home made barley was however extremely disappointing. We unanimously agreed that it tasted more like plain water. If we grade the food as good, then the service is on the exact opposite of the scale. They serve you reluctantly and basically show no interest in your business. *shake head*

After dinner, we decided to head to Zion road to have dessert and hopefully get some halal food for Shut. Unfortunately there wasn't any food for Shut but he was happy to be able to get banana shake (his favourite concoction of blended banana - no sugar added). Among the rest of us we had ice kacang, chendol, almond jelly & cheng tng. After more yakking, we left for home. Roentgen was kind enough to offer to drive us back but I insisted that we will take a cab home as he had to pack for his business trip tomorrow and so didn't want to trouble him.

Was a good relaxing run tonight. Am really thankful to everyone (Tiwazz, Roentgen, Teelee & Junie) for accompanying me for the run, especially the guys who slowed down so much, even to walk with me!!! just to accomodate me! I felt bad but they kept reassuring me that its fine. Thanks guys for making this my recovery run and thanks for showing me the 4min run/1min walk!!
I enjoyed myself truly!

:)

Fallen off nails!

I already got one missing toe nail on my right feet, 2nd toe.

Last night while busy drafting the minutes of meeting for the charity run discussion, i kicked on something and my entire big toe nail on my right feet came off, hanging precariously on the nail bed. I was flabbergasted and at the same time intrigued by the sight. Too bad I was tooo zonk out to think about taking a picture of that hanging toenail. (aiya!) After sniping off the big nail with a nail clipper, I'm now proud to say I have 2 nail-less toes on my right feet. Suspect the big toenail on my left feet will be falling off soon ... will keep anyone interested in such mundane matters posted. LOL





Kick-til-no-toe-nails-jazz

Roentgen's BD Celebration

Roentgen's BD today. We had the day earlier already planted the present in his car and Nemo had everything planned out about how to lead Roentgen to his present today.

Early this morning at 6:30am, he already woke up to sms Roentgen about the hints about where he placed the present. The sms he sent started asking Roentgen to participate in the "Chway Boh" CD game. Five questions were asked namely:
1) Who is the fastest runner in HSP ?
To which R replied "starbucks, tea leaves ... oh! teelee!" - hahahahaha HILARIOUS!
2) KJ is the _____ of Hougang
3) What is the event that happened on 2 Jul?
4) What is the alter ego of Nemo ?

Smart Roentgen answered each of these dutifully and correctly and he was then asked to piece the answers to find the location of his pressie. I'll let you read more about this in his own blog here.

At 8am, I received a phone call that the radio dedication for Roentgen will be read out in 10mins. I was on my way to work and hence was not able to listen to it on air. But Nemo taped it down and sent the clip to several of us. This was all thanks to Andy for using his connections to get the dedication read out on air! Roentgen was very pleasantly surprised! :)
Another success!






Later in the day we had our usual CBD Run. Wow, the turn out was record breaking! We have about 31 runners in all with many new faces brought in by puayhien. After lots of BD wishes and handshakes with the two BD boys (yes, 2! Roentgen and Ironmandreamer-my fav ultra hunk!) we finally pushed off for our Marina South run to jetty and back. I decided to go for the full 9+km although my shin was feeling a little strained and at the return leg I had the honour of running with several hunks. Initially we were running in a group with Roentgen, teelee, me, shut and charmane. Eventually shut and charmane picked up speed and aichai followed, asking teelee & Roentgen to stay behind to keep me company. So there we were, the 3 of us slowly trotting along, I have to thank Roentgen & teelee for slowing down just to accomodate my pace. Thanks guys!!!! At one point Roentgen saw that I was struggling and forced me to stop for a walk. Shortly after we returned to our jog, IMD passed us by. He had already done one loop and was doing his second when he caught up with us. IMD overtook us but i guessed being the nice guy that he was, he changed his mind few meters later and turned back to jog with us, chatting with us along the way. This was the very FIRST time that we had such a LONG conversation with IMD! Wow! What a treat! Me felt so happy being able to run with the 2 birthday boys and with the cool dude teelee tonight! Hooray!



Upon returning, cool down, it was then the actual birthday bash at Tanjong Pagar! Among us we had a total of 3 cakes, several bottles of 100+ and coke, egg tarts & pancakes. After singing IMD and Roentgen the BD song, we eagerly tucked in to the sinful food. There were lots of yakking, laughter and photo taking! It was indeed a fun nite.



We later proceeded to Maxwell market for more makan and with the record breaking turnout, we all filled up 5 tables at Maxwell! Amazing isn't it! *clap clap*
With our stomachs filled, and satisfied, we all headed home for our well deserved rest. We chit chatted along the way back to the carpark before we say our good nites and rest well before heading home.

I'm sure everyone enjoyed the run as much as I had! Such an enjoyable day! and here's wishing Roentgen & IMD again the very best in the new year. Many happy returns and may all their dreams come true! Great people beget great things so I have no doubt they will have many more good tidings to come! *thumbs up*

Pillar of Support

As I mentioned in my earlier post, I had a lousy Monday morning. Was totally stressed out after the morning meeting and close to pulling my hair out. Was taught by Roentgen that there is a medical condition where people tear their hair out and that term is called trichotillomania. Solid right ? I can use this term to go and show off to the commonfolk, who will prolly just give me a blank stare haha

Anyway, I sms nemo during the meeting to tell him i am v v v v v v v v v stressed out. He called me at lunch time to ask me out for lunch. I was stuck in the mtg but he was really really kind and said that he would wait for me for lunch. Initially I was planning to go gym during lunchtime but I decided at my present state I should prolly be better off getting out of the office to have a good lunch with nemo. The lunch was a good escape from the stress and I had a good lunch just yakking and hanging out with nemo. I'm really glad to have friends like nemo, who is always so willing to help his friends and who will just drop whatever he is doing to come to the aid of his friends in need. Thanks very much nemo! I am thankful to have a friend like you :)

Shortly after I got back to the office, roentgen sms me to check on me. He has heard that I had a rough morning (must have heard from nemo) and msg me to ask me to take things slow and easy. Although it is a simple sms, but I felt blessed that I have friends who bother to sms to cheer me up. Thanks roentgen for the sms. No doubt that is just a small gesture, but it means a lot to me nevertheless. :) Well, what can I say ? I'm a simple gal with simple needs! wahaha

Knowing I have friends who are behind me helps to keep me sane til the end of the day. Well, I'm happy to report that as of now, I still have a head full of hair ;)

Top of the $$ Birthday Celebration Dinner

I had dinner at the very swanky Top of the M @ Meritus Mandarin tonite. Guess the M in Top of the M refers to "Money" and not "Mertius".

Why was I there you ask ? Hot date ah ? Haha, i also wish leh! But turns out this dinner is better than any date that I could wish for. I was there with a couple of good friends, as one of them is celebrating his birthday soon and insisted on bringing us to the restaurant for dinner. We of course repeatedly refused to be treated to such an expensive meal as we all believed that it is the company that counts more than the ambience or price of the food. However, my this friend insisted and well, since he is the birthday boy, we relented.

My friends and I (less the BD boy) met up earlier to write our wishes on his birthday card before meeting him at the carpark (BD boy even came to pick us up!!! wah lau, how nice leh!). By then we were already late (fancy keeping BD boy waiting! We ought to be shot!) but he was still very patient, smiling away and didn't scold us at all. We then headed to the restaurant. Initially the mood was a little sombre coz everyone had a stressful and lousy day at work. (BD boy was like the dartboard kanna tons of arrows, I had a tough early morning meeting with Director frowning at me that my project ISN'T moving!! haiz). I had to switch my mindset and tell myself that I have to forget the tolls of the day and start enjoying my friend's birthday celebration.

We finally reached the restaurant and settled down. All my other three friends have patronised this restaurant before, except me, the sua ku one. I looked around and yeah, the restaurant IS revolving! And I could actually feel it moving! Wonder how people with motion sickness stand eating in this restaurant :P

The whole restaurant was rather deserted and we were then presented with the menu. After much deliberation (and i really mean MUCH deliberation - coz dunno what to order! Just looking at the prices already made me gulp down few ml of my saliva!) I finally decided on the pan-fried cod fish (Yummy! finally can eat cod fish! sure miss my mommy's steamed cod fish). I also ordered the caesar salad, which turned out to be super salty! Dunno wat they put inside, maybe grind the dollar notes together with the vegetables, and added some salt together with it.

The ambience made us more serious and unlike the usual noise and loud chatter, we were rather toned down in our chit chat. The topics of conversation were also much more serious but I enjoyed them because they revolve around how we deal with specific situations and that helps each of us know one another better. Topics of discussion included our take on punctuality, (whether we tend to be slightly early, on time or perpetually late and our level of tolerance to late comers), risk adversity (how many minutes do you normally "cheat" when tearing the carpark coupon? General responses range from 5 to a whooping 30 minutes!) and our tolerance for ambiguity. Interestingly these are things we have never talked about. I appreciate this conversation as it helps to shed more light into the characters/traits/pet peeves of my friends.
During all the chit chat, my friend and I were frequently distracted by smses. Well, the 2 of us have been stealthily discussing about the cake arrangement we made with the restaurant. We were discussing when the cake will be served etc.

Finally after our dinner, while pretending to look at the menu to order dessert, our birthday cake for BD boy and the band consisting of 3 men came over to sing him a Birthday song. The cake (strawberry mousse) was yummilicious. The restaurant also threw in a plate of ice cream coated with chocolate as a complimentary dessert for the BD celebration. Heaven!

After a lot more laughter and chatter, we finally left the restaurant and the very kind BD boy insisted on sending us home. Wah, seriously, I feel like I'm the one celebrating my birthday coz I have a wonderful dinner in the company of wonderful friends and at the end of such an enjoyable night we still have a friend to send us home! Wow!

All in all a really fantastic night to an otherwise stressful and gloomy Monday.

This dinner allows me to unwind but most importanly allows me to celebrate the birthday of a very good friend, someone whom though I have not known for long, has been such a wonderful and kind friend to all of us. I must have done something right to deserve such good friends around me.

New Balance Foot/Running Analysis

Roentgen, Junie, Tiwazz and myself arranged to have our foot/running analysis done by New Balance at Isetan Sports today. I had called to make appointment for the 4 of us previously and we arranged to have the analysis done today in the afternoon.

I met Roentgen at Wisma Starbucks earlier as he was chilling (actually working, this guy works v the hard leh *disapproving looks* and we had fun chatting away while waiting for Tiwazz to turn up. He only managed to get there few minutes before the appointment and we headed to the shop (after searching high and low for the shop!).

We had to wait for our turn coz the podiatrist was running late. From observing others taking the test, we got to know the test entails which includes:-
i) walking on the treadmill barefoot
ii) running on the treadmill with own running shoes
iii) running on the treadmill with recommended NB running shoes

According to the podiatrist, my running posture and pronation is normal. Only that I tend to exert a lot of pressure on my forefeet when I land, which might explain my shin splints. He recommended cushioning shoes for me and NB 1060 which have both backfeet and forefeet cushioning would be his recommendation for me.
I tried on and ran on the treadmill with it. Unfortunately I didn't like the fit. The advices he had for me are:-
i) to avoid black toenails, i should buy shoes with a deeper toebox
ii) i shouldn't over-compensate by buying too large shoes because that might mean i'm not getting the right support on the bigger shoes
iii) The mizuno shoes are more for korean/japan market. The cushioning is thinner
iv) I need forefeet and backfeet cushioning
v) it is not about whether we have a low, natural or high arch. Its more about how we run, how the foot lands on the ground that matters. As such, the wet test is really not that important.

Funny thing for me was after my analysis, the NB lady who was helping out with the tests came up to me and said that the Straits Times is doing a feature on Urban about this test and whether the reporter could call to interview me. What ? Me?! She must be kidding. I politely declined. Didn't want to have my ugly pictures plastered in the papers, no matter how small and insignificant the picture might be! Dun wanna be the laughing stock in the office and in sgrunners man! ahhahahahha

All of us had a really good time at the NB shop. It was hilarious looking at each of us went through the tests and comparing how each of us fared etc. We spent a significant amount of time there and when we finally left the place, it was already 5:20pm. Best of all, the analysis, which originally costs $30 ( I even went to the ATM to withdraw cash for this) was waived due to overwhelming response! Wow!!! We are SOOOOO lucky!

We then headed to Republic food court for snacks (for roentgen and junie- who have dinner appointments). I was famished and had my dinner there.

I had a really really enjoyable afternoon with them. Learning about foot/running pronation etc. from the podiatrist, the great company of roentgen, tiwazz and junie and not forgetting the yummy food from Republic foodcourt.

What a great great weekend!

Accidental LSD ...

Suppose to run a less than 5.4km around my area. Wonderful teelee even helped me to plot out a route for me to run that covers 5.4km. See map here.

Woke up at 5:50am and I was just lazing in bed feeling so lethargic. Andy's morning sms came in at 6am. From then on I was just awake but refused to get out of bed until 7am. That's when I finally dragged myself out of bed to get ready for my short run/walk.

I did some stretching and pushed off at 5 mins to 8am (wow! late siah!) I followed teelee's route and turned into YCK primary school and headed straight ahead. Then I realised that I didn't passed by Hougang Green. Haiz. What can I say, when it comes to directions, i'm just an absolute RETARD! Cursing under my breath, I just went ahead and passed by Montfort Primary. At the junction of Hougang Ave 4, instead of turning right to Bowen Secondary, I was attracted to the little park that lines the semi-D houses along the road. So I thought why not just take the pavement in the little park, that is parallel to the main road anyway. But as I turned into the park, I was just itching to run inside to oggle at the semi-D houses. That's where my accidental LSD started. I ran past the various houses, passed by some apartments and by the time i reached the main road, I wasn't sure where I was. But I saw a sign that said "Serangoon Gardens Way" and I was like "wah! finally managed to get to Chomp Chomp" and I just couldn't pass up the chance. So i decided to just do a slow run/walk to Chomp Chomp. From there i passed by the club (didn't know there is a Jumbo seafood there). By then the sky was getting really dark and it finally opened as I was turning out of Serangoon Gardens. I took shelter at one of the void decks and did some stretching. As I saw that the rain wasn't gonna stopped soon, I braved the rain and ran across the road to the nearby coffeeshop to sip on a cuppa hot milo while waiting for the rain to stop.

By then I had lost my bearings and ran the wrong direction and found myself near the Rosyth neighourhood. Realising that I seemed to be further away from home, I backtracked and finally managed to find my way back home.

Total time taken : 1hr 45mins

Was supposed to be an easy and short run but didn't expect it to become an exploratory run (just like yesterday's run). But it was nice and I get to explore my neighbourhood a little more.

Portsdown - Kent Ridge - Labrador Park Run

5:50am - sms received from Tiwazz. "Gal, wake up :-)"

"What the (#)$&(@$(*" - wau lau, I asked for a 6am wake up call last night as I was out partying the night before at Club 72. This guy dunno how to tell time issit ?? :P of coz being grouchy I replied to complain lah, ask him i asked for 6am wake up call, not 5:50am leh!
amp;(@$(*" - wau lau, I asked for a 6am wake up call last night as I was out partying the night before at Club 72. This guy dunno how to tell time issit ?? :P of coz being grouchy I replied to complain lah, ask him i asked for 6am wake up call, not 5:50am leh!
Yes yes, no doubt its just 10 minutes, but 10 minutes to someone who lacks sleep is A LOT alright ? Tell that to someone who could not make it for a Time Trial due to a 2 seconds difference! haiz

Anyway, enough about my whining. I got ready and was at Buona Vista to meet Tiwazz at 6:30am. At I stepped into the station, sms came in from Tiwazz "will be 8-10 mins late" -_____-
Of course, I couldn't be an angel to just reply "sure no prob". Once again I replied to bitch that first he had to wake me up early, and now he had to make me wait! So I demanded breakfast would be on him hehe
Waited for not 8 mins, not 10 mins but a whooping 20+ mins!! He finally calmly slowly appeared at 650+am! Argh!!!!

We discussed about the route (he was thinking of a 5km run and I was like "huh? I said less than 10km leh") and readily pushed off for a 5 mins walk before stopping at the bus stop for a warm up stretch. We heard frequent thunder and the dark clouds were closing in and we got worried whether our run would be cut short. I was eager to run and so we pushed off after a good 15 mins of warm up.

First stop, portsdown road. It wasn't a good place to run as there were no pavements and it was near to some construction. At night the place would be really deserted but in the morning you see a lot of workers. Still unsafe for a lone runner in my opinion, and the lack of proper pavements and running on the roads just make the place unconducive for running. However, it was worth it when I reached the Colbar. A dilapidated coffee house that according to Tiwazz serves simple western food. We walked around the area before running inside portsdown (Woking Road) to look at the old colonial houses. They all look so serene and tucked in lush greenery, the houses are just like my dream houses! They seem like they were in a world and era of their own and it just make these houses soooo attractive. How I wish I could stay in one of these but unfortunately there is no way I could afford their rent. hehe. Maybe can suggest they convert one of these to a chalet ? :P

We ran past the Tanglin Trust School (not sure what school that is) and not knowing where we were headed, we reached the stretch leading to Queensway. From there we crossed the road to Normanton Park into Science Park and guessing our way found one of the entries that led us to Kent Ridge Park! We ran inside, walking instead of running up the slopes and Tiwazz taught me the zig-zag method of running up slopes. In order not to strain my shin I was very careful and made sure I walk up any slopes instead of pushing too hard. We got a good view at the canopy walk (very short walk) before leaving Kent Ridge. We just ran and took whatever turn that we fancied at each junction, and was surprised when we hit Pasir Panjang. I was really excited as we were just planning a Labrador Park some other weekend morning and now that we are so close to Labrador Park, we decided to just run there. With some run walk, we managed to get to Labrador Park where we saw a lot of young men running inside. Seems like they are training for something. It was Tiwazz's first visit to the park, so I took him around. Again I took some photos but sadly ...... I was eager to see how Olive Restorante, the new restaurant recently featured in the Straits Times, look like. Unfortunately it was such a let-down. Although it wasn't open in the day, but it looks like just any other open air restaurant. Frankly I didn't think it was anything great, I bet it would be really hot and stuff and the patrons will be the the dinners for the mosquitoes ... not a place i would want to have dinner in. No air con leh! aiyo, eat until perspire .. haha











With about an hour left before we were suppose to meet Roentgen back at Ghim Moh for breakfast, we left the park, jogging slowly out and finally stopping outside the small coffee shop to replenish our lost water. From there we walked past HP and took the bus back to GM to meet Roentgen. (Roentgen did his own ninja and met us for a pig out session thereafter)

Between us, the three of us had wanton noodles, yong tau fu, tang yuen, chwee kueh, soya bean curd. It was great fun eating and yakking with both of them!

All in all a very great morning! Thanks to Tiwazz for accompanying me for a west side run! I wouldn't have been able to explore so many places on foot without Tiwazz's company! I have been wanting to visit Kent Ride & Labrador Park for the longest time ever as these are the places that bring back memories to me. Poignant memories but memories which although I do not want to relive, are still memories that form part of my life experience.

And thanks to Roentgen for the great company at breakfast! He helps to liven up the mood and really make the breakfast even more enjoyable! Thanks also for lending me the running book! So nice of you! Will definitely read it and aiya, too bad you have written your name on it. Else I will sure follow the footsteps of the eraser gal! wahahahhahaha

Total distance covered : about 15km according to Tiwazz. Great morning run!
*thumbs up*
Must do this more often! :)

Disclaimer: Since none of the pictures I took was saved into my dopod (ARGHHHH), pictures here courtesy of NParks website.

Geylang Claypot Makan Session

Met up with some of the sgrunners for an informal dinner at Geylang tonight.

Roentgen picked me, nemo and Junie up at Holland Village and we met up with teelee and cfred over at cfred's place at Geylang. We then proceeded to the Aljunied Mrt station to meet up with the rest (andy, balasing, charlotte, kay, philip and tiwazz) Junie wanted to meet up with Sotong before leaving for her next appointment but had to leave disappointed as Sotong did not turn up. Balasing made oreo cheesecake for us and while waiting for Philip to turn up, the group of us tucked in happily to the cake. The cake was delicious! I'm so impressed that a guy actually likes to make cakes! *hail* I ought to learn from him!




The group then proceeded to the claypot shop where we met Alvo and Meteor (our golden sgrunners couple) in the shop, waiting patiently for us. The group was really hilarious, everyone chatting away happily and Sotong providing lots of comic relief. Andy was as usual being the really really helpful guy, constantly serving us but refusing to let us serve him!! -_-"



The group was teasing Philip that he would pay for the dinner, and that we would sing him a birthday song to thank him for the dinner (although his birthday was still 6 months away in Dec! haha).

When the bill came, we spontaneously started singing the BD song and the stall helper even joined in the fun haha. Of course, we were just fooling around and we just split the bill and started pooling the money to pay the bill. Total damage for the food (consisting of claypot rice, deer meat, toufu, noodles & vegetables) came up to about $14 for each of us.




We then proceeded to the Rocher soya bean curd stall a few stalls away for our dessert. Sotong helped to order for us and we happily tucked into our bean curd, and again chit chat away. We then sang Sotong a birthday song as he foot the bill. Haha, we were really a rowdy crowd. Unfortunately Sotong refused to accept our $$ and so we had our dessert courtesy of Sotong. Thanks Sotong! Next treat on me yah! :)

As some of the guys are going to do their LSD the next day at MR, we left right after the dessert and headed home. Thanks to teelee who again sent nemo and I home, that I managed to get home by 11. Thanks teelee!! :)

What a great day today! Great run, great company for breakfast and tea (with Junie and nemo) and dinner. What more can I ask for ?

HappyJazz

Nites out @ Club 72

Friday - super busy at work. After a lengthy 4 hours of meeting, and several fried brain cells talking (or at least trying hard to communicate) with some counterparts later, I was just completely DRAINED at work. Meeting ended close to 7pm - on a Friday nite!! aiyo ... nemo msg me to have dinner with junie and to meet at Lau Pa Sat. I was ready to go when Junie counter proposed to nemo about going to Club 72 for drinks. "Club 72 ?" i said. "simi?"

Well, apparently it is an exclusive club in Westin (or rather Swissotel lah) that only accepts members, and Junie's boss could bring us in (if we don't mind him joining lah). I was a little apprehensive as I'm really not a people person and I don't know how to carry conversations well. But knowing that Nemo will be around reassured me coz I know he would be able to help dispel any awkward situations. So I told them I'm alright as it is a good chance to "challenge" myself in new situations. I got to learn to meet more people, to brush up my people/networking/socialising/whatever skills lah :)

Anyway, the meeting point was at my office and nemo walked over to meet me. Junie's boss, Patrick, came in his beemer to pick us up. We weren't expecting beemer so wah .... 2 of us looked at each other, like 2 swa kus, before we gamely boarded his car. We had a quick introduction before moving off to Raffles City.

We had our dinner at the food court before finally adjourning to Club 72 for drinks. Turns out that drinks before 9pm are at half price and after MUCH deliberation, we finally ordered 1 champagne and 1 bottle of red wine. Nemo mentioned that he couldn't drink as he has allergic reaction to alcohol (but he mentioned a little should be alright) which explains why we ordered the champagne so that it is something he could drink. Unfortunately such a high class place doesn't serve the usual snacks like peanuts/crackers to go with their high class drink. So we (less Patrick) felt that it just doesn't seem complete. Shortly after nemo ordered some fries (without my coercion if i may add, as I was talking to Patrick about his recent trip to Dubai). Turns out the fries were just HEAVENLY! It was the BEST fries I have ever tasted! Even better than the Outback fries that tops my list prior to trying the Club 72 fries!!! We were just soooooo impressed by the fries that we proceeded to order a basket of calamari. Unfortunately the calamari just didn't taste as good as the fries. In between the chit chat, we saw fireworks from the stadium. The view in Club 72 was just excellent. It oversees the night sky of Singapore and as we were on the 2nd floor of the club, we could see from a higher vantage and the view was just awesome. We felt very lucky that we could see the fireworks (must be the NDP rehearsal over at Stadium) and nemo was visibly excited about the fireworks. haha

After 2 glasses of champagne and many cheers, we finished our bottle of champagne. We (less nemo) carried on with the red wine. However, towards our 2nd glass into my red wine, nemo suddenly picked up the bottle of red wine and drank rite from it, emptying the red wine in one gulp! Junie and I were shocked as we thought he was allergic! In between we were all sms-ing Roentgen, to update him about our nite at the club. He was having some sinful party at one of his friend's place. He got worried about us when we all sms to report that nemo was drunk, while nemo sms that Junie and I were drunk! Shortly after, our drunken fish was bobbing away in his seat and asking us to the dancefloor on the lower level. Naturally both Junie & I declined but after his persistent pleading we relented and accompanied him to the dancefloor while Patrick remained to beo the dancers from above (hehe).

The music was alright, but just not really our era but we just danced away. In between had this drunk young girl who knocked into me twice, laughed at her reflection in the mirror -_-" ... young girls nowadays ... haiz, drink so much for what ? I think what makes a woman intelligent is if she could at least hold her alcohol, and know when to stop ? She must learn to protect herself, that's what makes her smart. Anyway, we left the club at about 11:30pm, and Patrick was kind enough to drive each of us home. Roentgen, being the worried friend, even msged us to offer to come pick us up if we were drunk and that he was ready anytime. We replied to say we were fine and not to worry about us, and also to inform him that Patrick will send us home. Along the way back, we could tell nemo was drunk, singing along to the oldies that Patrick was playing in his car stereo. Roentgen was worried and sms us to check on us periodically.

Nemo was the first to be dropped off followed by Junie. By then I was really sleepy and was half asleep. Roentgen was checking on us and when he got wind that both nemo and Junie had reached home, he sms to ask whether I had. The journey from Junie's place to mine was quite a distance (as I was back at parent's place in the West that night) and it took me a while for Patrick to finally got me home. I sms-ed Roentgen to inform him that I'm safely home and only then was he relieved. I was afraid that I might wake him up but was surprised when he replied my sms to acknowledged my sms and to say at least now he could sleep soundly. Wah! I felt so honoured leh for my lokun friend to be so concerned about our safety! But at the same time apologetic that we caused him to worry! Really felt very happy and blessed to have such a concerned friend lor!!!!! Thanks for your concern, roentgen! *thunderous applause*

Its a long time since I last went into a club. Junie was really apologetic for keeping nemo and me up so late and being a bad influence brining us to a club to drink, eat sinful food and getting home late. Aiyo, Jie Jie, please don't say that. We all had an AWESOME time drinking, eating the yummilicious deep fried fries and dancing and relieving some good old memories! Made us feel young again! Thanks for brining us to the club, Junie Jie!

All in all a great Friday night! Thanks to Junie, Nemo and Patrick for the great company! :)

Time for Everything

Got this from aichai ... another meaningful food for thought :)

Time for Everything
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God.and I will continue to run so I can eat.

Muay Buffet at Crystal Cafe

Yummy! Had a yummilicious dinner of taiwan porridge with some friends.

The spread was alright with lots of vegetables (roughage as I was taught by my lokun friend haha) and some sinful stuff like pigs trotters (which none of us eat). I was munching on a huge amount of peanuts that my sorethroat has just got worse! :P ooops! got to really see doc tomorrow about my sorethroat ...

We just sat there, eating and chatting away. I truly enjoyed the company of this group of pals. Its so easy to talk to them. Our varied background was of no hindrance to our having a good time, communicating and understanding one another. In fact, its precisely because of our different backgroun or area of work that we have more things to talk about. Our view points may differ and that's how we can discuss about why we could view the same situation differently, or why we can react differently. The topic about how we handle tele-marketers was broached and 3 out of 4 of us admitted that we could be nasty to these tele-marketers whom we perceive as being rude or just plain irritating! However, the remaining one of us can understand the pain that these marketers go through, as he himself has to make cold calls. So well, I guess I have to think of this friend whenever some irritating marketer call me in future, and I will have to remind myself to refrain from sounding too cold/irritated with them ? hehe
ok lah, i'm really *not* tat evil haha (or am i??? i do call myself EvilJazz sometimes and I dun call myself that without a reason hehe *horns showing* ooops!)

All in all a great evening with friends. Great company, great food and basically lots of roughage. But I'm feeling so bloated now .... aiyo, like tat how to lose weight. Me have a weak mind, no discipline lah. Is there a bootcamp in SG that i can join to learn about discipline and to lose weight ??? hehe

I'm beat. Tmr's the most anticipated day of the week! I can't wait!

SleepyJazz

CBD Run cum Tiwazz BD Celebration

A great run last nite!

Met many new friends (daisiki aka. miffy, yeanyin & angelicawonders & charmane). charmane has joined the CBD run several times but as I have been away due to my injury.

Total turnout, let me try to recall :
imd, tiwazz (barang jaga as he just donated blood), sv, roentgen, ronnie, yeanyin, charmane, angelicawonders (came down from NTU), miffy, meteor, nemo, andy, teelee (he came after his training run just an hour ago!!!), aichai (just did his 40km bike this mrn), philip, sxuanjing, shut and cfred (who just had an operation to remove 2 wisdom teeth, he rushed down from Alexandra hospital at 630pm!).
After lots of yakking, we finally pushed off at 720pm with me trotting slowly at the back as I could feel some strain on my shin. When we reached the pier, ronnie and andy were already at the return leg of the run. We had our pit stop and short rest break before returning. At the junction, the group turned right to hit the marina south park while sv, angelicawonders went straight on a shorter route back. As I was already feeling the pull on my shin, I decided not to push myself and risk injuring again so went straight ahead to catch up with sv and angelica. Philip di di who was buddying me wanted to take the longer route so I told the rest to carry on without me. The guys were worried tat I might not be able to catch up with sv and so aichai gallantly cut short his run to run behind me. I wasn't aware but heard footsteps behind me, i turned and found him catching up with me. Was really touched that he sacrificed his run to accompany me back. Thanks lots, aichai!!!

As angelicawonders is not used to running more than 6km, we decided to slow down and walk. aichai asked angelicawonders whether she is game to play a game. Turns out it is to run 3 lamp-posts and to walk 2. So we used that technique to run/walk the rest of the journey back to CBD run. Good technique and this is so much easier than the 4min run, 1 min walk taught by Jeff Galloway! hehe ... good for fun runs, not for training tho :P

Needless to say, we were the first to return to the starting point as we covered a total distance of 7km. After some 100+ provided by aichai and banter, we saw Andy returning. He is really fast! Slowly the group started returning in dribs and drabs. After the cool down and yakking and some photos taken, we celebrated Tiwazz birthday with a chocolate cake & muffins. Junie also came with some cookies for us and the cookies were yummmy!!! None of us have lighter so teelee spontaneously went to get a lighter from 7-11 i think.

After the celebration and more group photos, we proceeded to maxwell market to carbo load. We finally disbanded at 940pm and teelee sent the HSP folks comprising taz, shut, charmane, junie, nemo and myself home. Thanks to u, teelee!!

All in all a superb run cum gathering. I'm so glad to finally be able to join the CBD run again.

Hoorah!

Lessons on Life

Lessons on Life
There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge
things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look
at a pear tree that was a great distance away.
The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in
summer, and the youngest son in the fall.
When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe
what they had seen.
The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.
The second son said no it was covered with green buds and full of promise.

The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so
sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping
with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they
had each seen but only one season in the tree's life.

He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season,
and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come
from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring,
the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.


Moral lessons:

Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.

Don't judge life by one difficult season.
Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come some time or later

I've Learnt ...

A friend emailed me this article. Some food for thought.

I've learned In My Life
I've learned-
that you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache
for
life.

I've learned-
that it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.

I've learned-
that you should always leave loved ones with loving words.It may be the
last
time you see them.

I've learned-
that you can keep going long after you can't.

I've learned-
that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

I've learned-
that either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I've learned-
that regardless of how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the
passion fades and there had better be something else to take its place.

I've learned-
that heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to
be
done, regardless of the consequences.

I've learned-
that money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I've learned-
that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best
time.

I've learned-
that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down, will
be
the ones to help you get back up.

I've learned-
that sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry, but that
doesn't
give me the right to be cruel.

I've learned-
that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest
distance.
Same goes for true love.

I've learned-
that just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to
doesn't
mean they don't love you with all they have.

I've learned-
that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had
and
what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays
you've
celebrated.

I've learned-
that no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every
once
in
a while and you must forgive them for that.

I've learned-
that it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others.Sometimes you have
to
learn to forgive yourself.

I've learned-
that no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for
your
grief.

I've learned-
that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are,
but
we
are responsible for who we become.

I've learned-
that just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love
each
other And just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do.

I've learned-
that we don't have to change friends if we understand that friends
change.

I've learned-
that you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change
your
life forever.

I've learned-
that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something
totally
different.

I've learned-
that your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't
even
know you.

I've learned-
that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries
out
to you, you will find the strength to help.

I've learned-
that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I've learned-
that the people you care about most in life are taken from you too
soon.

Sunday Fun Outing

11 June 2006 - Great Sunday!!!

I had a really AWESOME time today! Really so much fun!
:)

5am - Woke up and while washing up, a thought came to my mind. "Why am I taking the trouble to travel all the way to BG at this hour, for a 3km run ?? and none of my kakis like nemo, teelee, junie, roentgen would be there??". (junie can't run while the rest wanted to do an LSD at MR) Decided to just do my own ninja run around the neighbourhood instead. SMS Tiwazz to tell him i'm not turning up and went back to sleep.

6:18am - Nemo woke me up from my deep slumber with a call. "KJ, are you on your way to BG?" They have decided to switch to the BG run as it was raining and the conditions wouldn't be ideal for running at MR. I woke up immediately to get ready and wait for teelee to come pick me up. Picked up nemo next while roentgen picked up ronnie and andy. We finally reached at 710am and by then a crowd of sgrunners have gathered at the shelter while waiting out the light drizzle. We had a new member (tintin) who drove in in a red bmw and parked beside teelee's van and eagerly introduced himself to me and nemo who were standing beside the van waiting for teelee to wear his shoes. We went to meet up the rest and chit chat. The vitamin girls (Rue, Bambi, Golden Retriever and karen) started to tell us about exercise, effects of overexercising (osteoporosis, aging and build up of free radicals) and about anti-oxidants (Vitamins A, C, E and K). It was a simple and short talk and we all listened intently while karen gave the talk. A total of 21 runners + 4 vitamin gers were at the run and they were teelee, nemo, roentgen, ronnie, andy, cheow12, hedgehog, bee, kelly, sotong, tekko, mrs tekko, imd, imd's gf, renoh, cfred, evelynwee, tiwazz, realrunner (who joined us halfway) & tintin.

We listening intently to karen telling us about exercise and anti-oxidants.
David Gan: My latest hair salon is just there. You go I give you free haircut!






We finally pushed off at 7:30am. As it was drizzling the run was really enjoyable and cooling. I stayed behind to run at a very slow pace and I had roentgen and cfred reminding me that I have pushed past 4 km and to stop. But i was feeling so good running with the group I decided to carry on with part 2 of the run when the group ran out of BG. Some of us fooling around in front of the camera haha

There were several slopes and I had to slow down to walk. Andy was really really nice to accompany me to jog slowly or to walk and roentgen was really concerned too, reminding me to go slow, to call them if i slowed down and to keep asking Andy to take good care of me. I felt sooo blessed to have such wonderful friends! And Andy, foresaking his run to run at my pace! He was sharing with me about his family and I felt so much more respect for him. That despite all the difficulties, he was able to maintain such a positive outlook. I really feel that my problems are nothing compared to his, and that sometimes I'm just making myself feel unhappy. Why do I subject myself to such misery unwittingly ? I ought to learn from Andy. There are so many things I realised I can learn from the people in sgrunners. One day I shall write down all the qualities I observed in the sgrunners. Yes, I shall.
Andy is also very friendly, saying hello and good morning to every joggers that he meet along the way. Isn't that nice ?
There were way too many slopes so I ended up walking so as not to hurt my shin, and we were chatting away happily when i received an sms from roentgen warning me about the threatening slopes ahead and to walk up the slopes. I reassured him i'm walking. Isn't he nice ? Constantly checking on his sista and ensuring I'm alright. Tks lokun! :)

renoh, nemo and cfred - our three sgrunners hunks showing off their chi running ? :P





shwee mei mei evelynwee

funny Sotong, he sure knows how to liven up the mood! :)






We finally returned while everyone has returned and was cooling down. I played with tintin's 2 kids (Celestine and Ryan) and they are just soooooo adorable and well-behaved! We then chit chat and cooled down before heading to the shower. While walking to the shower room, i saw renoh topless walking back in the opposite direction! I immediately grabbed him to take a picture, and cfred (who was topless too) and teelee for a group picture. I had cfred on my right and renoh on my left, and I felt sooooo happy having 3 hunks taking a pic with me! hahahhaa, they made my day man! Am I lucky or am I lucky ?? Its not everyday u get 2 topless 6/8P hunks (renoh and cfred) and one v cool hunk (teelee) taking picture with me leh. I should have this picture developed and put inside my wallet! haha


After the shower, we proceeded to the prata place where the few of us (nemo, roentgen and me
especially) didn't want to fill up on sinful food. So we ordered drinks and chit chat with the rest who were having their sinful prata breakfast. i was chatting with cheow12 about his working trip to China (Suzhou, beijing and shanghai) for a month. We finally left the place at 11+pm and the few of us going to to the movies + SV headed to Marine Parade for our real brunch. I had my healthy Yong Tau Fu while teelee bought us zhui guay. Nemo bought us one yummilicious plate of chai tou guay and sv bought us fruits. It was really yummy and we had lots of fun eating and chatting away. teelee then brought us to buy $1 bubble tea and I treated the guys to the tea. It was cheap and good and we were happily slurping and munching into our respective teas and pearls. roentgen hasn't visited Parkway Parade in 2 decades so we decided to go there take a walk while sipping our tea and also to kill time.

We finally left the place at 2:30pm and headed to GWC. We collected our tix and headed to Coffee bean for drinks while waiting for junie to turn up.The movies turned out to be quite disappointing in my opinion although roentgen and nemo enjoyed it tremendously. I'm glad they enjoyed the movies. We were hungry by then and we headed to Geylang no signboard for dinner. cfred decided to head home and abandoned us at the restaurant. It was however a really great dinner with sambal kangkong, chilli crab, white pepper crab, cereal prawn, doufu and pork ribs. The food was excellent and we only paid $25 per pax. It was a steal in our opinion as we all had a good time with good food.

We finally left the dinner and teelee kindly sent us home.

A really great run and great day with the great company of friends! I really thank the group for making today such a wonderful and fun day for me! Thanks! Without you all, I would just be rotting at home and feeling miserable and sad for my painful existence in this world. haha. :)