Break Fast Run

Due to the fasting month, Shut suggested a late night run on Friday night.

I had dinner with Divey & Junie at Plaza Singapura MOS Burger (so poor us, got to sit in one corner of PS to finish our vege chicken teriyaki because everywhere was soooo crowded) before we head home to change and get ready. Divey, the first SGRunner to come to my place, changed at my place before we rushed out to meet Shut, Roentgen & Junie. By then we were actually all very tired from the long day and everyone was kinda worried whether we could survive the run falling over :P

Started the run close to 10pm, ran to AMK -> Bishan Park -> Casuarina before returning to AMK and back to my place. We cooled down before Roentgen drove us all to Jln Kayu for our pig out session. Teelee, who was unable to join us for the run due to his many gatherings that night (popular hor??), joined us at Jln Kayu for his 3rd round of dinner.

Their ice milo was good!!! Very big cup and of just the right taste! *slurp* Divey, Junie, Roentgen & I shared a plate of sinful chicken murtabak (which was YUMMILICIOUS) and mee goreng. Yumz Yumz! We had a good time chit chatting and finally left for home (THANKS Roentgen for driving us back home!) at past midnite.

Total distance covered : 17km
Total time taken : 2hrs

THANKS to Shut for organising this run! To Shut, Junie, Divey & Roentgen for the wonderful company for the run. Everyone is doing really really well ! Great run & even greater company for the run & supper! :)
What a FANTASTIC way to start the weekend! I like! *2 thumbs up*

12 Ways to be Happy

Received this from a friend. Can't post up the powerpoint slides.
The meaning is simple .... but whether we can follow them is another matter altogether

Pls take some time to register the messages in your head (my own tots in between square brackets)...

1. Make up your mind to be happy. Learn to find pleasure in simple things. [I find pleasure in having a simple meal with good friend(s) who understand(s), and who doesn't mind spending time with me. I find pleasure in reading a good book, in talking to like-minded friends. I find pleasure in lending my ears, although I can't help anyone, but at least I hope my listening helps them to not bottle things up? I find pleasure in running with friends, in running along scenic routes, in breathing in the cool mrn fresh air, in just running, and not having a care in the world. ]
   
2. Make the best of your circumstances. No one has everything, and everyone has somethng. Of sorrow intermingled with gladness of life. The trick is to make the laughter outweigh the tears. [Tears are inevitable. Key is to wipe them away and find things that make one happy. Forget the past, embrace the future?]
   
3. Don't take yourself too seriously. Don't think that somehow you should be protected from misfortune that befalls other people.
4. You can't please everybody. Don't let criticism worry you. [Very often one worries about what others think or more often than not, what one think of himself/herself. "I'm NOT good enough", "Why are you so stupid?", "You are incompetent, this is such an easy task. How could you have not done well?" True, we can't please everyone, and sometimes we can't even please ourselves. Its easier to ignore other's criticism but more difficult to ignore our own]
   
5. Don't let your neighbor set your standards. Be yourself. [Can't say I assimilate with this]
   
6. Do the things you enjoy doing but stay out of debt.
7. Never borrow trouble. Imaginary things are harder to bear than real ones.
8. Since hate poisons the soul, do not cherish jealousy. Avoid people who make you unhappy. [True. If someone takes too much (positive) energy outta me, I will have to break away. Similarly, I shall be happy and not sap the energy outta my own friends.]
   
9. Have many interests. If you can't travel, read about new places. [Ok, I got to expand on this :P Anyone keen to go travelling ? haha]
   
10. Don't hold postmortems. Don't spend you time brooding over sorrows or mistakes. Don't be one who never gets over things.
    
11. Do what you can for those less fortunate than yourself.
12. Keep busy at something. A busy person never has time to be unhappy.

Impromptu CBD Run

All plans were thrown into disarray today (I shall not go into details). Then a mtg was delayed and I had to work late.

Finally managed to get out of the super duper boring (a repeat telecast mtg for me somemore since I had already went through the mtg content once the day before!) at 7+. Changed into my gear and head down for a run. Immediately as I stepped out of my office lobby into the open, I could smell this thick smoke. As I looked up into the sky, saw that our skyline was clouded by this thick haze. Very bad .... was wondering whether it was wise running in such conditions. But since I have no history of asthma, thought I should not need to worry so much.

From the CBD Start point, ran towards Marina City Park, towards Sun-dial, up the Sheares Bridge and instead of turning right into Esplanade, turned left towards Kallang. The sky was really hazy last night and from Sheares' Bridge I could only make out a blurry night skyline. Very very bad haze! U-turned at Kallang, took the same route back to Sheares' Bridge, to Sun-dial, went straight running alongside the body of water, turning right into the seafood village at Marina South. From there it is again familiar ground - the end part of the CBD run route back to start point.

Finished the run in 2hrs 10mins, total of 16km. Didn't expect to run this distance but legs were feeling good (no shin pain at all!) and was going at a very slow pace, so didn't feel breathless throughout (except when climbing up Sheares' Bridge!! :P).

Good run on a mid-week. Today is rest day ... *sigh of relief from my toes* ... got to really go for a foot massage. I need it desperately ...

Oct BG Run - Lord of the Rings

Wow! Will be Ring-bearers for the next BG Run!
UBER Cool!!!

Thanks to Renoh for painstakingly planning out the route! Got to really salute him man! *THUNDEROUS APPLAUSE*

Read about it here. I'm sooooooo looking forward to this run. Will prolly do my LSD there.

Attractiveness Scale

Someone just sent me this link. I was almost about to dump this as another one of those rubbish I've been sent. But took a closer look and thought, hey, this is a pretty well represented graph!
;)

Actually, quite true .... are u aiming for too high, something unattainable ? Think about it ... I am (thinking about it).

Ideal vs. Reality

CBD Run

A huge turnout at CBD run last night! Even have the honour of DO, DR, SC5, littletigger gracing this event. First time seeing SC5, finally know how he looks like. An ironman, wow!! The sifus were at CBD run because they would be heading to Mt Kinabalu this weekend for the race so this week would be their tapering down week *sweat*

Also met a few new faces but can't remember their names.

The route last night was to Jetty and back. The pack pushed off strongly (at least I feel they were very fast lah haha) and in no time Divey, Junie & I were left behind. Didn't want to push any faster than we could, we just continued with our normal pace to the jetty.

Didn't stop at the Jetty as I didn't need to visit the ladies, so did a small little loop and carried on, with DR, SC5 and DO leisurely surpassing me, chatting with me as they passed me. These veterans are REALLY something! They were jogging with sooo much ease its such a joy to see them run. How I wish I can run like them, seem so effortless & yet sooo fast!!! Its hard to believe that several years ago they were portly middle-age man (that's what I have been told)!!
They are definitely very very determined individuals who set their minds to doing something and achieve it! my idols man! I must learn to be like them.

I was running alone as the rest were slightly ahead of me. Having no one to talk to, I soon found myself deep in my own warp thoughts. Thinking of nothing in particular, but just lots of tots crossing my little head. As I turn the corner to hit the club (its a club rite ?) I saw myself with bee in front and alvo, meteor by the side of the road. I just carried on and before I know it i was running alone by myself. Did an additional loop as usual, on my way back saw these 2 guys ahead of Junie & Bee. As I struggled up the slope back out of marina south, these 2 guys overtook me and realised its none other than littletigger and his friend, still going strong. Finally finished the run in 1hr 20mins, about 12 km I think. Did a cool down run round the start point while waiting for the rest to return.

Hooray, managed to talk to SGRunners resident megahunk IMD briefly. He couldn't join for dinner as he had to be up early the next day (boo hoo) but anyway, good that i still managed to chit chat a bit with my idol mah wahahaahah THANK YOU so much TEELEE for waiting for me at the start point (thinking I might have things to put in his TLV) while I went back office to deposit some stuff. Thanks man! Very very considerate of you!!

The rest of us then proceeded to Maxwell for dinner. Although it was a huge turnout, not many went for dinner. Only had 2 tables filled when we got there. Had our dinner and went back home to snoooze.

Missed a few usual runners like charlotte (sick), shutehelup (fasting month), kay (ninja), angelica_wonders & cosmic (must be work ba). Hope to see them soon.

Demoralising Run

6min/km run
Changi Coastal Road
DO, DR, Ultraman, Brokie
20-34km

"no way in my right mind would I go for this run" - that's what gone through my little brain when I first read the forum about the upcoming demoralising run on 24 Sep. I just knew this run ISN'T for me. All the super fast speedsters (DO, DR, Ultraman & Brokie - and of coz many others) and the fast pace for such a long distance, its just not something that I could do.

After Roentgen said that he will try out his run/walk technique during this demoralising run, just so that he could clock enough mileage, I gamely asked to join him for this run. Afterall, I have been wanting to try out the run/walk technique and what best time to try then to tag along someone who did just that for his previous marathon! Also, I have been good and been increasing my mileage gradually (of not more than 10% per week), I was keen to try completing a 27km LSD.

Took a cab to Changi and met up with Roentgen outside the Changi Hotel (since I do not know exactly where the meeting point is, Roentgen had so kindly offered to pick me up at the key landmark in Changi). We arrived to see DR and DO already at the car park chatting away. Teelee & sassyrunner arrived shortly after. Chit chat & caught up with many of these sgrunners whom I seldom get to see (different league lah, can't join their runs -_-"). Attendance today: DO, DR, Realrunner, Brokie, Ultraman, Roentgen, Joao, Rim, Sotong, Dasher, Mightyjoe, Run3, Sassyrunner, Teelee, Tktan, Doraemon_red, Jamesoh, Fennel, Cfred, Bee, Ripley, FBB, Acleong.

Due to some miscommunication (some of the runners were waiting at the other car park), we finally managed to start our run 30mins late. The gang were really serious! Even starting with a 1km warm up run (do we need to warm up since most of them are already running the high 20s and low 30s??? *faint*).

The group were way too fast and before long, Roentgen & I were left way behind doing our run/walk. Roentgen suggested beforehand about doing an 8 min run, 2 min walk for the entire LSD at a very slow pace of 7:30min/km pace. It took a lot of patience in the very beginning to stop and walk so early on in the race, but I was determined to try this technique, and also not to push myself too hard considering my running form hasn't been too satisfactory this whole week, so this run/walk technique in fact is a good respite for me.

Soon we hit the demoralising run stretch. It was indeed demoralising seeing this long route that doesn't seem to end. We passed lots and lots of cyclists out on their training on Sunday. Sweet Junie has been very kind and had even sms-ed me the night before to remind me to be extra careful and vigilant while running there because of the big trucks that pass there and because we will be running on the road (no pavement there). THANKS Junie, you are such an angel! :) Many times we had to siam the oncoming traffic of cars, trucks and cyclists and at one point at our walk break, one cyclist among a herd of them encouraged us to "Keep Running!" haha .. Its great running along this stretch of road actually, not demoralising at all! I feel so alive to be out on a Sunday morning, jogging and just enjoying the morning sun and air, and being out with all these other sports enthusiasts. Few years back, I used to pass this stretch of road very often, and I always imagined/wanted to run here, coz I think the feeling of running here on a Sunday morning, together with all these cyclists, will be great. But I never got a chance until this morning. A little dream that I have had for these years have finally been achieved today. This must have sounded very silly to most of you, what dream ? Its just a run! :P but really, the feeling of finally doing what I had wanted to do for so long, is WONDERFUL :)

Kind Roentgen brought along powergel and offered me one so that I could try how it taste like. If I wanted to run marathon next year, I will need to learn to take in some isotonic drinks and power gel to refuel along the way - he said. Not one who likes gooey stuff and I have heard many mentioned how yucky it tasted, I wasn't all that excited about trying it. I chose the Plain powergel and squeezed half of the pack into my mouth and yes, it tasted yucky!

As we neared NSRCC, we met Bee & Ripley waiting for FBB. When we reached NSRCC, many of our friends were already on their return leg (-_-"). Saw cfred, mightyjoe & dasher all going strong. Shortly after met DO who told us that there is cold 100+ waiting for us near the toilet, courtesy of Tekko. Also met Teelee, DR, Jamesoh and many more. They all looked so fresh ... amazing!

We passed Tekko and decided to catch up with him on our return leg and slowly prodded and saw Mrs Tekko doing her run alone. Waved to her before we carried on til we hit carpark F2, our u-turn point at 14km. We returned to see Tekko doing his one-legged push up (and on his operated leg some more!!! Am really impressed with Tekko, just after a knee operation and here he is out exercising!! And glad that he is looking well too! *thumbs up*). We chatted for a while (too bad by then the 100+ supply had gone out haha - just showed how SLOW we are!), asking how he is before continuing with our journey. THANKS Tekko for providing the 100+ !! I'm always impressed by the altruistic nature of many of the sgrunners !! *2 thumbs up* Something I have to learn! :)

Met Doraemon_Red & tktan along the return leg of the "Demoralising Stretch". She was running with tktan and he was feeling the strain and was falling behind. They were doing the long distance of about 34km, and even took the detour *faintz*. Roentgen & I continued with our run/walk while Doraemon_red ran ahead, stopping periodically to wait for tktan. While I was running, saw these 2 cyclists passed me and caught a glance of the female rider and was trying to place her when the other cyclist called out to me as he passed "Kickjazz"!!! I recognised the voice immediately as that of Mythos and the lady cyclist as Jennifery, Mythos training partner. Was very happy to see them and later on I managed to see them twice more as they did loops along the demoralising road, even waved to them happily. I dunno why, but it just feels so good to bump into the sgrunners ... everyone is out doing their training on a sunday morning and the doing what we like and having fun is just such a warm feeling :)

We completed the last few km of the run, playing catch up with Doraemon_red whenever she stopped to wait for tktan, then later have her whizzed past us and then the cycle continued until one part she was ahead and warned us about a snake up ahead. We saw one malay man using his fishing rod with the snake (not sure what he was doing though) and the other malay man looked on. Turned out the snake was a cobra. Not sure what the malay man with the fishing rod was doing, but I would hope he was trying to catch it and keep it in captive because having a cobra lurking in the grass is REALLY dangerous considering there are people camping there etc. :(

I was really surprised to see all the runners still at the start point when we returned 3hrs 38mins later, 28km after. Thought they would have all showered, tng chu kiao kah liao :P
Finally had a taste of the heavenly barley from Brokie. It was frozen and so it tasted like ice blended barley. Extremely refreshing after such a long run!!! THANKS Brokie!! Also thanks to (I think Ultraman) for the 100+! I saw him carry the carton of 100+ from his car so I figured he supplied them ? Doraemon_Red came with jellies for us and its yummy! Texture is just right! Just the right softness & chewiness .... super nice!!! Thanks Doraemon_Red!!

We then showered and walked to the food centre nearby (not exactly nearby when walking under the hot sun! Almost melted!!). Most of them were there to try this very famous and yummy beef noodle and by the time I got to the food centre, Run3 told me they have already placed order with the auntie (although the shop is not opened yet!!!) *eyes almost pop out* Cfred queued up for the famous chicken chop hor fun and he gallantly offered to help me buy (THANKS Cfred!) the ipoh hor fun. Was seated with Dasher, Run3, Ripley & ACLeong. Had a good time talking to them, especially had fun with Run3 teasing Dasher, the vainpot :P THANKS to Roentgen who got me an ice cheng tng! Wow, seldom see cheng tng in such a HUGE bowl and lots of liao ... got lots of sweet potato and the little white and black jellos ... yumz yumz!!!

After that its home to snoozeeee ...

Am really happy that I joined this run and get to catch up with many of the runners that I don't normally get to see. I have to really thank Roentgen for

• jio-ing me for this run
• teaching me the run/walk technique
• accompanying me for the duration of the run although me so slow!
• sharing power gel with me to get me accustomed to take power gel for long runs
• sharing isotonic drinks with me (ok, almost forcing me to take it) to replenish the loss of salt in my body - I prefer plain water which is not good for long runs as I may, according to lokun, become siao ding dong if i dun replenish my salt intake

Thanks so much, Roentgen!!! *bow low low*

HWA Day

We (Roentgen, Junie, Charlotte & me), the GO THE EXTRA MILE For HWA Organising Committee, have been distributing the donation pledge cards to the HWA runners for over a month already and there were still about 20+ who had yet to collect their cards. Hence, Roentgen suggested to organise a special pledge cards pickup just so that these runners could pick up their cards and start helping to canvass for funds. The earlier the cards are out to them, the earlier they can start canvassing for funds for HWA.

As the collection pick up time was between 3 to 5 pm, Roentgen suggested a lunch meeting to touch base, update on the progress of this charity fund drive and also what follow-up actions need to be done by the team. We hence decided to have lunch at Purvis Street (near to the Raffles City where the pledge card collection would be). Purvis Street was chosen thanks to some food blog which recommended several yumz yumz eating outlets there (hehe). Junie last minute couldn't make it due to her LSD in the morning, so the three remaining hungry piggies started our food hunt at Purvis Street.

We passed several outlets, even took a look at the Ms Clarity menu (we already decided before hand - thanks to the food blog) to try their Bread Pudding there. We wanted to look see somemore before deciding on what to eat and finally decided on this Hainanese coffeeshop when all 3 of us got soooo excited about the fish head curry that they sell. Food there was EXCELLENT! The hot plate doufu was yummilicious (I thought I tasted the bean paste - like wat my mommy will cook with ! yumz yumz! I miss home cook food!!!) and the curry was not too bad. I wun say that's the best I have tasted but hey, at least the gravy is the THICK kind. I like!! The ladies fingers were a tad tooo hard though ... Too raw liao, must be because they hadn't cooked it long enough and we were prolly after all the first customer to order fish head curry ? :P Full details can be found here.

Next we had our dessert at Ms Clarity (Junie joined us after we were done at the Hainanese lunch). I have to say I am very very happy with their desert there! We ordered a Fudgy Pudgy (i think that's how it is spelt), Bread Pudding and a Mud Ooze. They all tasted simply delicious! Just the tot of it now just makes me drooool ... the mud ooze is served in a cup with 1 scoop of ice cream on top of this thin layer of chocolate that holds the melted/watery chocolate together. Once you dip your spoon into this thin layer, you dig into this yummy looking chocolate that oozes out and fills your spoon. The taste and texture .... mmmmmmmm just delicious! :) Gotto try it !

(Someone eating snake .. hehe)
Ok, enough about my ramblings on food. Now to the serious business of pledge cards donation. We (less Junie who had prior engagements) plonked ourselves down at Raffles City Starbucks and started our wait for the runners to turn up. Of course prior to Saturday we have already sent out email blasts about the pledge cards collection on Sat and also sms them to check their emails. Out of the 30-ish people that we sent to, unfortunately only a handful (less than 5) replied. Got to even sms them to try and get a response from them, some even got to call. There were about 10-ish that agreed to turn up to collect the pledge cards, so we stationed ourselves at the Starbucks (we figured somewhere central will be most convenient).

In the 2 hours that we were there, we just met so many kinds of people. I will just summarise the negative feelings I get from some of these runners below:

1. People who said that they will turn up but never did. And don't even bother to call to inform that they wouldn't be able to make it.
   
2. From the group above, I had to text them to ask whether they were coming. Only a handful of the above replied to say that they are caught at work, unable to make it for some other reasons. Well, the decent thing would at least be to call to inform that they cannot make it ?
3. Some (from group 1 above) did not even bother to reply to my sms ! I had to call them and ask them whether they are coming, that WE were waiting there for them (30mins after the stated time!) and they just gave some lame excuses.

Of course, I'm heartened to see others in the totally the other extreme end of the spectrum who turned up as promised. Who are polite and friendly. We made a few friends, in particular with these 2 dragon boat gals who came with their dragon boat oars. One of them was accompanying the other to collect the pledge cards and after hearing out Roentgen explained about the charity drive and the instructions on what can/cannot be done with the pledge cards, the other gal was convinced enough to sign up with us on the spot! They were very friendly and even invited me and Charlotte (we were both keen on trying out dragonboating) to join them in their training. The gal who just signed up with us (a very pretty young lady if I may add) even politely asked for our numbers so that we can keep in contact and meet up for the dragonboat training. (She later sms-ed us so that we have her number too) Hooray! I got to know another friend through this! *BIG SMILE*

The biggest positive experience I had on Sat was from this runner (Samuel Lim) whom none of us know. He texted me at 2pm to ask whether he could collect his cards earlier (as he had to attend a play at 3pm). As I was still having lunch in Purvis Street, I told him I couldn't make it back in time. I even called to ensure he could still meet up with us and found out that he would be at Esplanade watching The Forbidden City at 3pm. I agreed to wait for him after 5pm if his play ended in 2 hours. He texted me shortly after to thank me for agreeing to wait and that coffee is on him (what a polite guy!). At about 3+pm, Samuel turned up ! Apparently he ran from Esplanade to RC Starbucks to collect his cards during his play intermission! *RESPECT* He said that he was afraid to make us wait for him so he took the time during intermission to rush down to collect. Wow! we were all VERY impressed with his considerate nature!! This super fit looking young man is really very polite and considerate! Young gers, watch out for this guy! :)
Shortly after, I texted him to just thank him on behalf of the committee for being so considerate and to rush down to collect the cards and here is his reply:

Hey, the pleasure is all mine. Thank you all for spending the weekend out here waiting for the rest of the ppl. N thank you for all the hardwork in the organisation. I wish u a wonderful n pleasant weekend. Cheerio! :)

Its people like Samuel that makes this worthwhile. :)

As you can see, for the same task (of collecting pledge cards), you can see the attitude of people. Some couldn't be bothered and wouldn't bat an eyelid about not turning up for something that they have promised. While others would make the extra effort and even appreciate the effort that was put in. We need more people of the latter, to make this world a better place. I, for one, will also want to learn from Samuel and be reminded that we have to be considerate to others, and to appreciate what others do for us.

Taz & Divey joined us while we were at Starbucks (Thanks for the company folks!!). THANKS to sweet Divey for buying curry puff for us!!! Divey is one considerate and sweet gal too! She remembered I mentioned about A1 curry puff at Marina Square and she actually bought if for us! You are such a doll, Divey! :)

(Eggplant dish with chicken pieces)
Junie re-joined us later and she, Divey, me and Roentgen went to have dinner at Ichiban Boshi in Novena Square (Taz got to meet wifey, Charlotte got to meet up with the cyclohunt buddies for dinner). We had our fill of sushi and stuff, even had this very interesting eggplant dish with chicken pieces. The company was, as usual, great! Had loads of fun with Roentgen (as usual) cracking lots of jokes (and not forgetting, teasing me!!! -__-"). He later dropped Divey off at her friend's BBQ party before sending Junie & me home. THANKS Roentgen!!

All in all a wonderful Saturday. Managed to have so many good meals with great friends, and also managed to distribute more pledge cards. Very fruitful day! :)

PleasedJazzy

Oasis Run

Divey & Roentgen have been talking about this muay place - The Oasis at the stadium. We been wanting to try for the longest time ever (ever since several of us were so hooked on A-li-san muay place in Kovan!) and so we thought of doing an Oasis Run. Since some of us will be doing the Demoralising Run come Sunday, we will need to do a run on Friday nite.
(Pictures - Comparison of Roentgen's, Divey's & my shoes and feet)

Arranged with Roentgen who kindly offered to pick us gals (Divey & myself) up from Tanjong Pagar MRT (THANKS so much, Roentgen!!!) at 6:40pm. Everyone was prompt and we were on our way to The Oasis to meet Teelee at 6:40pm sharp. Reached at close to 7pm, got ready, went for a bio-break, did some stretching and warm up and decided to proceed with the run at 7:30pm even though Teelee had not arrived. Anyway, we were sure the speedmonster will have no problems catching up with us at all slow coaches :P

Did a loop around Tg Rhu while waiting for Teelee, weather today isn't good. The air was still and slightly stuffy. We passed by several people out taking a stroll, walking their dog etc., even saw this couple seated on the edge of the stone walkway (over the railing!) barbequeing!! Aiyo, the scent just made us all sooo hungry but of course, being disciplined & determined (hahaha!) runners that we are all, we just plodded on ... Teelee called Roentgen to ask about our location and in no time we saw this little figure speeding us behind us (what a sight!) and we were simply in awe. We even behaved like kids trying to speed up a little, sort of like playing police-and-thief with teelee, but of course, the attempt was futile as the speedmonster just caught up with effortlessly.

Soon we hit ECP and we just passed by loads and loads of people out at ECP barbequing, inline skating, cycling, jogging, walking and basically relaxing on a fri nite. Teelee wasn't feeling well and went ahead to find the toilet leaving the three of us to carry on. We carried on chatting along the way, many times having to siam incoming inline skaters or cyclists and u-turned at the MacDonalds. Only managed to see Teelee near where we first "left him" and he said he actually ran to Mac and back but didn't see us ... gosh, he must be running too fast that he didn't see us and neither did we! -_-"

Poor teelee wasn't feeling all too well and yet still wanted to carry on, but we decided to just walk and run partially part of the way back.

Reached back at Oasis in 1hrs 45mins and covered about 13km. Saw Junie & Taz waiting for us at the steps leading to Indoor Stadium. We went to change and clean up while Junie & Taz went ahead to the Oasis. We had our dinner at Oasis, my first time there while the rest like Roentgen, Junie & Divey had been there previously. Looking around the restaurant, I had a feeling I had been transplanted back to the 70s or 80s, the place was minimally decorated with pink tiles and a hole in the wall to segregate the kitchen and the restaurant. Dishes are served through this hole to the auntie waitresses to serve to us. Our dining tables are the usual round ones with white tablecloths ... really makes me think of my younger (and I mean really younger days haha) days when I'm out with my family for meals.

The porridge (re-fillable!) was served in this little container which we scoop out of. We had our fill of vegetables and minced meat and toufu (can't recall what we ate already). I wasn't satisfied by the meal (what to do, I'm a glutton!) but as everyone was already full (I could tell Roentgen wasn't one of them tho! haha) we decided against ordering more. Thankfully all agreed to have dessert and so we headed to Siglap for some sweet stuff. Decided on Gelare at Siglap, order a sundae, 2 biscuit waffles and we happily tucked in to the heavenly fare while continuing our mindless banter.

Another wonderful Friday evening with wonderful friends for company. The run was pleasant just that the air was a tad too humid and it was disappointing to run in ECP without the breeze (totally different experience as compared to our earlier Tues run there). Also good to have the company of more friends (Junie & Taz) for dinner and dessert. :)

THANKS to Roentgen for planning the route and picking up Divey & I from CBD. To more Friday runs & jiak!

:)

Angel with Ear Bix!!!

Got a call early this morning .... was Divey ....

This angel of a runner friend actually called from the mrt station, asking me whether I am free and convenient to come down to our usual lunch-time mtg place, so that she can pass me a pack of the ear bix! So that at least I have something to munch on.

What ...
an ...
ANGEL!!!

Thanks gal! We gals have been so excited about the ear bix and now that Divey has this stash of ear bix (thanks to DreamRunner!!!), we are just soooooo gonna be pigging out on ear bix! But of course, we will be sharing with alllll our kakis ... good things, must share! :)
hehehhe

EarBixSiaoJazzy

Midweek Kah Sng Run

Ran with Teelee on Wed nite.

Think now that the cool dude has tapered down in his weekly mileage, his every run is slightly faster than before. Started the run faster than usual (*pant pant*) and 5 minutes into the run my HRM hanged!!! Didn't notice until I wanted to check my HR about 10+ minutes into the run .... Disgusted with my stupid POLAR F11 HRM!!!! Have been giving me constant problems like hang, incorrect HR reading (goes up to 110%!!!), unable to read HR, blah blah, ever since I had it in Jul 2005. (#*()#)*(*)$%)&*(&#_(@()$(_@#* If not for the fact that comments from RS200D HRM are just as bad, else I would have changed my HRM long ago .... I can't stand defective devices ... anyway, enough griping

Original intent was to run to Chomp Chomp, but as we progressed, the route plan changed. Since I'm a certified DR, I just left it to Teelee to decide on the route on the spot, at each junction. I never mind running without any aim nor direction, I like such exploratory runs ... its the rare times when I'm not so structured and planned ... and breaks the rigidity / routine in my daily life. The new-ness just makes me feel less sian ... less dull and boring :)

Anyway, I was feeling kinda tired from the run. Not sure whether it was due to the pace (not exactly fast but definitely faster than the recent runs that I do) and my legs were starting to feel tired and I could feel that my form was completely wrong. I could feel myself pounding on the tarmac (especially my left leg - now I know better why I got shin splints on my left leg) and I was getting worried about injury.

Initial intent to do a 1hr 30mins was cut short to 1 hr coz by then we were hungry and I was tired! Ended the run at Hougang Ave 2, estimated covered 9.5km, at this ulu estate where Teelee said had good seafood soup (he had lunch with us - seafood soup at Amoy in the afternoon and totally find it not up to mark and so had to have a good seafood soup to make up for the lousy experience during lunch hahaha -__-"). Wah, am quite surprised that the coffeeshop was buzzling with activity. Many people were there (at 9+pm!) having dinner and most of them having seafood/fish soup. Waited a darn long time for our food to be delivered. Ok, not too bad, slightly bland for me but well, at least I had a healthy dinner after all the sinful stuff that I have been eating.

Thanks to Teelee for accompanying me for this run. But think hor, with Teelee's decreased mileage now, think he needs to run BEFORE meeting me to continue the run, else I ... just ... can't ... keep ... up ... with ... the ... speedmonster!!!
:P

Kah Sng & Tired from the run ...

Special Run @ ECP

CBD Run was cancelled due to the IMF. The organisers were worried that such a big group of us running along Marina South Park area may invite questioning/interrogation by the authorities especially with heightened security due to IMF.

Not wanting to miss the weekly Tue run ritual, many of us decided to do our own run. Teelee, on 2 weeks leave, suggested a run at ECP and even kindly offered to pick the CBD slaves up at the usual CBD Run start point (THANKS Teelee!). Of coz, I jumped at the chance to join in the fun - and its not everyday that I get to run in ECP!

When I got to the start point, Teelee was already there. Charmane, cfred & cokiee (wah, all the Cs!!) arrived shortly after. While putting my bag in the TLV, saw a posh Beemer pulled up right behind the van. Upon closer inspection, found out that it is Junie and Aichai, in his swanky suit - suit & tie and all! *whistles* Very kind of Aichai to drive by to pick up some of the runners, since I was already ready, decided to hop on the beemer and went ahead to ECP first while the rest wait for IMD, Shut & Divey to turn up.

First time sitting in a beemer 7 series (wah, spacious siah, not everyday or every month even! that i get to sit in a luxury car so haha, must enjoy the ride lah) and spent some time discussing about HWA and also talking about marathon etc. Good to be able to see Aichai again and catch up with him, since he has been so busy that we haven't met up with him for weeks!

Thankfully traffic wasn't all that bad and we managed to reach ECP at 6:50pm. Roentgen arrived shortly after followed by TLV. Junie's friend Alvin joined us (I wonder how he knew we were at carpark F2 - coz F1 was packed, when we were suppose to meet at F1?). Shut somehow didn't turn up and also met IMD (woo hoo! Megahunk running with this small group tonight! Honour siah!).

We started the run at about 7:15pm. The sea breeze really makes the run very very enjoyable! Its so relaxing running there tonight. The pace was however slightly fast and in no time Divey, Roentgen & myself were left behind. However, I couldn't care less about the pace, coz I just wanted to do my own run tonight, need to run off the irritation and frustration that have been bugging me lately. I need to run, to keep myself sane and I was just simply enjoying the wind, the sound of the waves, the company of my friends, the chit chat with Aichai, Divey & Roentgen. Was good, I actually forgot about all the lousy emotions I have been feeling.

Did an extra 1km plus before u-turning back. By then everyone has up their tempo and I was left only with Roentgen slowly making our way back. Good to be able to feel the breeze and just run and yak with Roentgen (of coz got to suffer his constant teasing about Bedok Jetty & my near splits today -__-" Thanks hor Roentgen, hope u BT too! *evil luff*)

We finished the run 14.5km in all in 1hr 32+ mins. Good run.

We then proceeded to the food centre nearby for dinner and more yakking. Had lots of laughs tonight. We managed to sit around this big table, squeezing all 9 of us, so we were able to have a lot of chit chat and laughs and lots of interaction with everyone. Very good communications! I like!

Good run tonight with awesome company! I feel oh so much better after this enjoyable run, thanks to everyone! :) How I wish I can do more of such ECP runs ! Its therapeutic, and good for my soul *thumbs up*

MJK Gals

Arranged to meet Divey for lunch today, so that we gals can go check out the MJK (Mee Jiang Kueh) at Boon Tatt Street and then to change currency to Ringgit to pay IMD for the Pacesetters 30Km run next year at KL as well as to check out the Oakley store (since we did not manage to shop for our shades last Sat).

Jio-ed Charlotte for lunch too and she agreed. So we 3 gals met up and bought the MJK as our lunch, happily munching away while we head to the Change Alley to change $$. Its pretty nice just munching on my MJK and walking leisurely past Lau Pa Sat, almost feel like i'm not working! :P The MJK however is disappointing. Its bland ... *shake head* ... so we gals started a conversation about where has good MJK, what kind of MJK we like etc ... wahaha

Changed RM$250 for tonite and then we just walked aimlessly around. Lots of counters set up selling mooncakes. Soon it was time to head back and we walked Charlotte back to her office before Divey and I strolled back to our respective offices, stopping at the Bitez cafe in CPF Building to check out the salads that they sell there - that will be our next makan hideout :)

.... and sadly though, we still didn't manage to shop for our shades ....

Ok, back to work. I'm not paid to blog :P

Again ???

Aiyo ..... can you believe it ???
I ....
Just ....
Fell ...
Down ...
AGAIN!!!!
*faintzzzzz*

And this time .... I fell while on my way to get a cuppa in the office! My Director was right there (thankfully back facing me) and I just somehow slipped and did a near-split on the floor!!! My Director turned around and saw me kneeling on the floor (-_-") and asked me whether i ok. I replied "yeah" and explained that the wooden floor was slippery and cool-ly walked to get a drink and still heard him call out to me confirming whether i was ok ... wau lau, already felt a bit pai seh.

Got my drink, on my way back to my cube ... then a lady colleague asked me whether I was ok. I said yes, and proceeded on only to find a group of guy colleagues and my boss asked me whether i was ok (-__-") super malu liao wonder how many of them saw my near split! I smiled and replied that i was ok and continued on my way back.

Horrors of horrors! Found that my skirt had been torn due to the fall (wau lau eh!!!) so had to quickly go find sewing kit (guess its just my good luck, my friend cum colleague was just telling me over dinner last night that she borrowed the sewing kit from the PA yesterday!). Spent a good 15 minutes in the toilet mending my skirt and laughing at myself. Find this whole episode pretty hilarious hahahaha *shake head*

So now ... I'm calling myself P2BTJazzy - Prone To Bua Toh Jazzy :P

Hope i dun BT anymore!!! :P

P2BTJazzy

Monday Blues

Noticed that I always end up whining and being sian on Monday .... *shake head*

Feeling super tired and sian ... and situation is worsened with my shwee shwee red shoes being toooo tight for me! (it was alright when I tried it on last sat! :( ) and I couldn't walk in them without wincing in pain. Thankfully I have a spare pair of heels in office ... :(

Memorable Run (with the elites! :P)

Roentgen, Divey & I had planned to do an LSD on Sunday together with the Terry Fox Run. (The rest couldn't make it for one reason or another). Unfortunately, Divey had to back out due to her knee injuries (take care Divey gal!) so it was left with Roentgen & myself doing the LSD.

Woke up early at 4:30am (even before the alarm sounded! Must be my enthusiasm about running to Labrador Park and in Sentosa !! :P) and left the house by 5:15am to get a cab to bring me to Harbourfront. Stopped at the traffic lights at the junction leading towards Harbourfront and saw a CRV right beside. Noticed the car plate number and found that it was Roentgen! haha, what impeccable timing! We parked and started our run close to 6am. It was still pitch dark in Sentosa and am quite surprised that they didn't even have lights at the walkway! *frown frown* Luckily I brought the torchlight (courtesy of the NDP goodie bag from the NDP preview) which I intended for use at the stretch of road leading into Labrador Park, that helped lead the way at some very dark portions of the run in Sentosa, lest we fall into some long kao :P

As we started the run on time, we were able to comfortably make our way to Labrador Park, which is about 6km from the start point in Sentosa. The sky was abit downcast and we were worried that it might rain but we continued with our run in a comfortable pace of about 7:10min/km. We reached the road leading to Labrador Park and I was surprised that the road was brightly lit (so the torchlight wasn't necessary for that stretch of road afterall). I haven't been into Labrador Park for a long time and it was nice being back there, and running alongside the waters, breathing in the cool crisp morning air and feeling absolutely alive and good doing our morning run so early on a Sunday morning. At about 7+am, we headed back to Sentosa. By the time we reached Harbourfront, it was close to 7:30am. There were still lots of cars streaming into Sentosa. We proceeded into Sentosa and saw that there were still many runners slowly making their way into the start point.

We reached the start point and saw Andy, Rogerhub, Angelica_Wonders & her friend Chris and found out that we have mixed up the start time, which was at 8am and not 7:30am *faint*. It was already raining pretty heavily by then and not to risk cooling down further waiting for the flag-off (which we were not sure when it would be) so we decided to start the TFR route. Andy, Rogerhub, Angelica_wonders & Chris joined us. They were all too fast and before long the 4 of them were way ahead of us. Along the way we saw lots of marshalls ( practically every few steps!) and some of them were very shocked/confused to see 6 runners running when the run has not started. Many of the marshalls were very hyper and upbeat and cheered us on while we passed, telling us the route to take. First time I was given undivided attention in a race! Whoa! Roentgen was saying he felt like an elite runner and I have to agree!

The route led us to Sentosa Cove and seriously, I find the place over-rated (ok, maybe coz its still under development) but it seemed way too artificial, like those super CMI (Cannot-Make-It) tourist spots that some countries including our own have *shake head*. Quite disgusted lor, considering this is suppose to be a super exclusive, a prime spot for the rich to berth their yachts and have a quick weekend getaway. Disappointing. As we u-turned out of Sentosa Cove, we saw the elite runners sprinting up in the opposite direction. I was wondering whether they would be very very shocked to see some rookie runners way ahead of them ... but Roentgen & I cheered them on nonetheless. As we saw more runners, we could feel all eyes on us, everyone must be wondering who these few runners are (sooooooooo embarrassing! I was just glad I had my cap and I just ran with my head down haha). We met renoh, brokie & cokiee along the way while we trotted slowly back to the start point. I only felt more comfortable and less self-conscious when we merged with the 5km runners and finished the race with the clock showing 37mins. HAHAHAHAAHA ... 9km in 37mins! If only! :P

Total distance covered according to Roentgen's footpod : 22km
Total time taken : 2hr 51mins (including stops and the contemplation about whether to start theTFR first)

All in all a superb run with Roentgen. THANKS Roentgen for the great company ! The weather was very cooling and it feels good running in the rain, makes the run very comfortable. Of course this is too ideal a condition to train in for a half/full marathon, but nevermind lah, training is secondary to me. Doing a good run and feeling happy about it is of utmost importance to me :) It was also great to meet up with the rest of the SGRunners, although it was a small gathering, but was glad to meet up with Mythos, Sotong, Brokie, Ultraman, Burnz, Andy & Renoh. We even had a photo taken on Andy's camera. :)

After the shower, we had lunch at Seah Im food court with Mythos, Jennifer, their friend (whom I didn't manage to catch the name), Andy, Rogerhub, Renoh, Ripley, Cokiee & Roentgen.

Roentgen, Renoh & I then headed to Alexandra Village for dessert. Wow, the dessert at this stall Blue Ribbon S8 is AWESOME! Roentgen ordered the ice kacang (without the kacang - red beans etc - I never knew of such a combi! Almost like me ordering orh luak without the orh :P), Renoh ordered the peanut ice kacang while I settled on a guava mixed fruit. The ice is really fine and just melts in the mouth and the dessert just taste yummilicious. The uncle manning the stall (prolly the owner) speaks English somemore! Wow! dun pray pray siah! When we got up to leave, the uncle saw us and even asked us how was the dessert. Hehe, don't think we can get such service often in a hawker centre :P

A very very enjoyable day! I had loads of fun ! :) The only thing that marred the whole day is when I fell (nope, not into long kao) near my place :P Thankfully it was just some superficial cuts ... can still zao! whew!

Retail Therapy :)

Last week while chatting with Divey, found out that we both were looking for flat office shoes and shades for outdoor sports (aka. running). Since we had no LSD on Saturday, we arranged to meet up for shopping.

Due to the IMF and some unplanned road closures, Divey sms to say that she would be slightly late and for me to go jalan first. So off I went to Raffles City Robinson to look see, wanting to get my toiletries that have ran out. Couldn't find the brand that I wanted so walked around the shoes section. I didn't expect to find anything that we will fancy (have the notion that Robinson stuff are more aunti-ish) but was pleasantly surprised when I found this brand that carries quite a few cute flats in my opinion. So I showed Divey my find when she called to say she has arrived and was happy that we shared the same taste and liked the same pair of shoes! :) Thankfully the pair we liked had our sizes ! We carried on to try a few more pairs of flats. Due to the orthontics that Divey got to wear, the other shoes didn't give her the right fit, so she only managed to get one pair of shoes. Me, the impulsive buyer, ended up buying another 2 pairs of flats-one super red, eye-catching pair of shoes. I have never tried wearing anything like that but nowadays I'm game to try almost anything ... think I have got to a stage where it doesn't matter anymore the stares I get, think I've learnt to be more thick skin and just do what i like :) Divey said that the red pair is very nice and will go well with black, and since I am almost always in black, I think i shall just give it a try :P

We then took a slow walk to Millenia Walk Nike to check out the merchandises there. Divey had discount at the Nike shop there and has kindly invited several of us to join her to enjoy the discount (Thanks Divey! very nice of you!!). We were concerned that the road closures near Millenia (due to IMF) would pose as a problem to Roentgen & Teelee joining us at Nike, we gals decided to reccee the shop first to see whether it was worth the visit. Sadly the stuff at Nike Millenia was boring, the same old stuff nothing new. But considering that the place around Millenia (even Marina Square) was not packed (again thanks to IMF!), we suggested to the boys to still head here for shopping (confirm no need to jostle with the crowd) and makan (confirm can get seats). I also read in the papers that the staff at Suntec have been reminded to be at their best behaviour/service for the IMF delegates, so am quite sure service there wouldn't be shabby (hiak hiak hiak).

While waiting for the boys to turn up, Divey and I went to the ultra-sinful place and yet the place where will make us EXTREMELY happy in Millenia - Candy Empire! Divey showed me all the yummy delights which she used to see back in Scotland and Europe and can see how she brightened up just going through all the snacks (mini cheezels, potato chips of varying tastes, kit kat again of different flavours, tons of candies etc.) We spent a good portion of our time just browsing the store and as it wasn't crowded, we just ended up chatting in one corner of the shop. Had a good chat with Divey and it seemed pretty interesting that we were talking about some pretty serious subjects amidst all these fancy candies and child-like place.

Roentgen, Teelee & Charmane turned up at the same time and after buying some nouggets and chocolates to share, we left this interesting kiddie-place-for-adults (and of coz with REALLY adult prices to boot!) and head back to Nike for the boys & charmane to check out the items. Met DO and Cfred outside Nike. DO left shortly after not seeing anything that he liked while cfred joined us for more shopping.

We then headed to Suntec and walked about those little food stores (right across from Carrefour Delights corner) that sells all these yummy treats. I got really excited about this Don's pies coz I've heard so much about it and read about it so we decided to walk around and come back later to buy the pie for dinner/snacks.

We then headed to Royal Sporting House as the boys have $250 worth of vouchers between them to utilise. It was only after repeated rounds around the shop that teelee found a pair of addidas tights and roentgen an addidas Formotion top and a nike cap. Haha, it was funny seeing all of us gathered around roentgen to help him pick up a cap! Was really an interesting sight having all of us giving him opinions about which cap is a no-no for roentgen. Of coz it was a happy ending to the hunt for the perfect cap for roentgen when everyone ahhhed and oooohed and agreed that we have found the right cap for roentgen when he put on the white nike cap. haha ... so farni!

Feeling hungry, we went to the food court to have dinner. Cfred offered (Thanks hunk!!) to go Don's pies to buy the pie for us (and Roentgen insisted on treating us to the pie. Thanks Roentgen!!!) while the rest went separately to buy our dinner. Divey, roentgen & myself shared one indian vegetarian set (yes!! indian "cuisine"!!!!), one asam fish with bread & chee cheong fun & soon kueh. I have to say the indian naan is pretty decent, the asam fish was alright, but we ended up "pilfering" the chicken curry from Teelee's portion haha. We had the Don pie last and I have to say it is YUMMILICIOUS!!!! The filling of chicken and mashed potato (i think) is superb! The crust was very tasty too. I just am sooo in love with it!

We headed home shortly after as some of us (including me!) were feeling tired. Thanks again to Teelee for driving me & Charmane back.

Another great day, well spent and had tons of laugh with the gang. Just too bad many others couldn't join us, but nevermind, there is always another outing :)

HappySatisfiedJazzy

Super Friday

My weekend seemed to start early this week.... :)

Supposed to meet an old friend cum ex-colleague for lunch, but 30 minutes before our lunch appointment, I discovered that he was still in another part of the island, just done with his interview. Not feeling optimistic that he will be able to get down to meet me for lunch in time, I proposed to cancel the lunch appointment. The sky was pouring then and the prospects of staying put in the office during lunch time simply didn't appealed to me. Was talking to Divey and found out that she decided to skip her company lunch-time talk, so I jumped at the chance to ask her for lunch which she promptly accepted.

So there we went, two gals just happy to be out of the office environment, excited about the one-hour (or so :P) lunchtime. As it was raining, we decided to simply take a train to Tiong Bahru for lunch. We were both undecided about where to have our lunch and finally decided on this porridge buffet that I have tried previously (it was crowded at the food court and we convinced ourselves that we would be better off treating ourselves to a restaurant fare than trying to find seats at the food court :P). The decision turned out to be a very good one because we gals just spent our time chatting about nondescript stuff and made alternative plans for our run for that night (if the rain didn't stop in time) over hot muay and healthy vegetables. Staring out the window, watching the rain fall (hoping that it will subside in time for our run) and simply nua-ing is just so therapeutic in a way. I returned to work feeling more recharged and I hope to believe Divey felt the same. :)

We were glad when the sky cleared by 5+pm and were even happier when Roentgen informed that he was able to join the run that night (he couldn't confirm his attendance due to a 5pm presentation that he had to give to someone who was notorious for dragging meetings til late). I met Divey at 6:45pm and we made our way to Kovan MRT. Met Roentgen & teelee there and ended up waiting for Charmane who was late (again!!! -__-") for close to 30mins. By then unfortunately the rain had started again and we were worried that our run couldn't proceed as plan. We waited for another 10 to 15minutes and were undecided what to do (although everyone seemed more keen to run out the rain then to cancel the run) until Roentgen gave the executive decision to run and only stop if the rain got too heavy.

So off we went, 5 of us, seeming like total nutcases to the people around us, running in the rain at 8+pm on a Friday night - with teelee leading the run. We ran past part of the Mizuno route, to AMK passing Bishan park. At some point of the run, the rain got heavier but we were all too psyched up and warmed up enough that none wanted to call it quits (i love the determination of this group!). We got to Upper Thomson road, past Casuarina (checked out the makan places there and agreed to return to have our dinner there after the run), Upper Pierce before finally reaching Nee Soon camp, where the boys (this is how Divey addressed the guys, which I find very endearing :)) work. We stopped at the 7-11 outside the camp and wanted to have our milo freeze which unfortunately wasn't available in that outlet, so we bought our drinks from this very old-fashioned looking provision stall right beside the 7-11. The whole place and the shop seem to transport us (or at least just me) back to the older days when I was younger - where there were no Shop N Saves, no big NTUC nor Cold Storage or air-con minimarts - only provision stores with those huge traditional freezers (which the butchers & fishmongers store their produce in those wet markets) where the drinks are kept and the products laid neatly in those metal racks. Brings back memories ! :) But I am sure the boys don't feel the same way, returning to camp is just like returning to work for them, on a Friday night, I wonder how they feel.

By then the rain had stopped and we just hang around outside the provision shop while waiting for teelee to go get the TLV from the camp. Teelee had parked his van in the camp and took a bus home at 4+pm after work so that he could join us for the run and drive us all to the makan place (Thanks teelee!!!)

We then headed back to Casuarina and had zi char. The place was 70% filled and we were initially concerned about the price as the menu did not list the price for the items. We almost left to find an alternative makan place when one of the ladies manning the shop listed out the general prices of the dishes ($4 for a small plate of veg & $8 for a large plate). Finding the prices
reasonable, we agreed to give this zi char restaurant a try and ordered between us one plate of vegetables, one doufu, one deer meat, one large fried rice and hor fun (we ordered the fried rice after seeing it being served at the next table and how yummilicious it looked). The lady who took our order the first time was shocked when the fried rice was served and thought it was a mistake. She was worried that the amount of food we ordered was simply too much for us and they were very nice, even wanted to downsize the hor fun for us (but couldn't because the chef was already cooking our hor fun). Turns out the food was yummilicious, except that the hor fun was bland and tasteless and we had to dip in chilli to give it some flavour. The best thing was, it was ultra cheap! We were pleasantly surprised when the bill came up to only ..... $50! So imagine, such a sumptous dinner with meat and vegetables and it only cost us $10 per pax! Even cheaper than the muay we eat! A good eating place ! We also saw many people eating their chilli crab with deep fried mantou (yummy! my fav!). But we thought the seafood there would be expensive (so will prolly just stick to eating the non-seafood stuff there). We even met Glenn Ong & Rod Monteiro (not sure the spelling) from Class 95 hanging out at the same restaurant. Not bad eh ?

We returned to Kovan where Roentgen picked up his car and drove Divey home while kind teelee drove Charmane & I home. Thanks teelee for always driving us home and even walking me to the lift because it was late! Thank you so much Teelee. The weather makes the run very cooling and comfortable and the friendly and warm company of this close pack makes the run very enjoyable. Thanks all! Most important of all, THANKS to Teelee & Roentgen for planning the route and organising this run. At least we now get to know where our some of our good frens work and call "camp".

Happy Lunch

Feeling damn crappy this whole week and very the bad mood ... brain also refuse to function and just have this nagging voice that keeps telling me I'm just NOT GOOD ENOUGH at work and everything else and telling me to better BUCK UP! haiz

Anyway, chatting with Divey and she suggested lunch (hooray!) and I immediately agreed. Thoughts of going to the gym during lunch went right out my office windows (hehe).

As I need to change the "face" or "mask" of my handphone (thanks hor Divey, calling it a paperweight :P must wack lokun liao for suggesting that in the first place! *cracking knuckles*) at Chinatown, we arranged to walk there for lunch.

We strolled to Chinatown food centre only to find that the place has been closed down. After regaining from our shock, we just laughed and said we were soooooo gonna blog about this. Divey even took a picture of the signage to inform about the closure and you can view it here.

We hence ended up eating this fish porridge across the street from CK, the store that sells cheap apparel and stuff. This stall is always packed whenever I passed by and so am quite surprised that it is pretty quiet. Anyhowz, we had our lunch before proceeding to the shop to get my phone's screen protector changed (I have scratched the surface and it is increasingly impeding my sms so got to change it before I'm crippled and can't sms! *HORRORS!!!*)

Knowing that I'm such a glutton, Divey kindly suggested that we can pop by to Maxwell market to buy some tidbits from the tidbits store. I was elated and off we went. I bought my fav mee jiang kueh from this popular store in Maxwell. Got to queue up to buy even! But it really smells nice !!! Somemore it is still hot and fresh ... yummy! I didn't dare to buy anymore tidbits because I had already stocked up a lot just the day before so decided to just look see and buy only if i find something that really caught my fancy. Divey bought some ear bix (yummy!) and sour plums before we headed back to office.

It was a good reprieve from an otherwise bing chow chow day for me (haha, kidding lah, i'm not really tat bing chow chow :P) THANK YOU so much, DIVEY! For the enjoyable lunch company. It was nice just strolling, yakking and makaning with (ok, think i'm the person makan-ing :P) Divey. Interesting that we found out many things that we have in common! Like our similar taste when it comes to junk food! Our love for mee jiang kueh (and we already have our next lunch planned - to go Boon Tat Street to check out the mee jiang kueh there - Yipeeeee! gosh, i sound soooo much like a glutton its scaring meself! :P) and our similar struggles with daily living. Thanks Divey, I had a good time! :)

Fun Stuff!

Found this from Divey's blog .... tried it & found it cute ....

Wizard Text


Clapper Board - Action!
(somehow can't load this pic. ah well ... later then)

Think I must be darn sian ....

C Bay Disappointing Run :P

hehe ... before u think that i had a very lousy time @ CBD Run last nite, hear me out why I coin the run the C Bay Disappointing Run ...

As I walked towards the start point, saw that a number of the usual SGRunners were already there. Andy, Divey, Charmane, Andy, Bikerchic, Shut, Roentgen (and many more whom I can't recall). Also met joao. Very happy to see Sxuanjing, whom I have not met for a very long time (even before AHM). Met some new faces like Kwang & Thomas & 2 folks from Fitness First. There was, surprisingly, no key CBD run moderators present (-) last night and everyone was lost as to who to lead the run, the route to take etc.

With no route in mind, we decided to just take the easy route of running to the Bedok Marina Jetty and back. I took a relaxing jog towards the jetty and after a brief stopover at the ladies, we (Charmane, Junie, Divey, Roentgen, Shut) headed back & met the sgrunners resident hunk & sxuanjing running towards the jetty. Teelee was back to his usual good form and told me beforehand that he would be running faster as he has not been running for very long (Duh, we just ran on Sat didn't we ??) and anyway, knowing that he needs to carry on with his training and I'm more than glad that he has returned to his running form, I was happy to see him chiong ahead. The sgrunners resident hunk up his tempo too and shortly after both hunks were out of sight leaving the rest of us mere mortals smelling the dust they kick up. But we had fun yakking away. I was chatting with Charmane who was more siao than usual (must be the sun in Desaru short-circuited her young brain :P) and suddenly Teelee ran past us and muttered that he just did a second loop (-_-" hello ... we were still struggling with our first!) and up ahead we saw resident hunk (RH) u-turned back to run towards us. We got all excited thinking that RH was turning back to check on us only to have our hopes shattered when he stopped to wait for Teelee and both of them carried on their way (-). We were all laughing & joking that our hearts were shattered by such callous behaviour from the RH, who slowed down to run with Teelee rather than with us.

Shut, Charmane & I wanted to go for an extra loop at Marina South Park. After waiting for Roentgen to catch up, our lokun was gallantly (read: happily - muahahha) escorting sxuanjing & joey until he saw us and decided to join us for the extra loop. So there we went. What a mistake for me!!! Charmane & Roentgen were running & yakking & unknowingly picking up speed as they run while I increasingly faced difficulties catching up with them. Shut, obviously, had no problems running after them. In no time, I fell very silent and stopped contributing to the conversation, not that I have nothing to say, but I had no energy to carry a conversation & run at their speed! hahaha .... tiring but good run ! I guess this is one way to train my cardio ?

Returned to the start point & everyone was already cooling down and hanging around. So sorry to keep everyone waiting. After more chit chat, we proceeded to Maxwell Mkt for dinner. Surprisingly, I lost my appetite (must be the run) and after exploring all the shops in Maxwell, I settled on pohpiah and bao. Didn't even eat my fav Yong Tau Foo (-).

All the (-) I peppered in this blog explains why I coin this my CBD run. Seriously speaking though, as usual, I enjoyed my CBD run. This has become my weekly ritual, to come out for this run, meet up with the wonderful SGRunners, have fun, be silly together, chit chat and makan and basically chill. Thanks to everyone for this great company! Cheers!

Prelude to Weekend Celebration - Tong Shui Pig-Out!

Yippeeee! After the last LSD @ ECP where we first heard about the yummy HK desserts like peanut butter toast, we finally managed to have a taste of it last Friday.

Been looking fwd to eating at Tong Shui for the entire week, and frankly, that's what helped keep me going (hehe, what to do, I'm just such a glutton! :P). Many people can't make it on Friday night and ended up only Teelee, Roentgen & Divey were able to join for this pig out session.

We ordered quite a number of dishes including the infamous peanut butter toast. We also ordered this mixed fruit toast and banana toast (a bit the overloaded on toast eh? :P). The toast unfortunately is just so-so, nothing fantastic. The mango dessert that Divey ordered was alright. The ice however was frozen hard that we had to wait for the ice to melt !


Verdict: Food isn't all that fantastic and nothing to rave about, but as usual, the company sure makes up for all the shortfalls! Thanks folks for the wonderful company! A great start to the weekend! *2 thumbs up*

Long Stressful Distance to Sembawang

Woke up early at 515am to get ready and out of the house to meet Divey and Roentgen downstairs. THANKS to Roentgen for kindly picking me up en-route to Sengkang compasspoint to meet the rest of the folks for our LSD to Sembawang, carefully planned and organised by none other than our resident route creator- Taz. :)

Met a few new friends today - Maggie (whose nick I can't recall) & Locke. Doraemon_Red & Fennel, Daisiki & Bee also joined us for the run. Not forgetting our resident HSP babe Junie & cool dude Teelee (he ran from Kovan - an extra 4km! *faint*) who also joined us for the run. Also very happy to see Patrick, who ran from his home to join us. Haven't seen Patrick in a while as he has been very busy at work, so it sure is good to see Patrick again! :) After a very bad start when we started late and the front pack were pushing off strongly (or should I just say I'm PLAIN SLOW ??). Few minutes into the run Divey & I both agreed that the pace was too fast for us and we decided to just slow down lest we pon chet too early into the LSD. In no time, the group was stretched thinnly with the front pack beyond sight. We trotted on slowly while waiting for Roentgen & Teelee to catch up with us. Sounds odd eh? To have me say that we have to slow down to wait for Roentgen & Teelee. No, we weren't running too fast but we had a at least 15 minutes head start because Roentgen had to park his vehicle after waiting for all to arrive with their barang (THANKS Roentgen for the barang service!) and Teelee was kind enough to stay behind so as to lead Roentgen in the run.

Roentgen & Teelee finally caught up with us 40 mins into the run, by then we found out we have lost Doraemon_Red & Fennel because they had ran way too fast and gone off on a different route. The two ladies thus decided to do their own run (anyway Doraemon_Red wasn't intending to run the full distance with us due to some prior engagement). Patrick decided to head back while the rest of us carried on. With the varying paces of the group, poor Taz had a hard time trying to make sure everyone is alright. We asked him to go ahead to stay with the front pack (Maggie) while we (Divey, Junie, Bee, Roentgen & Teelee) continued behind at our own pace. Thankfully for Teelee who brought along his walkie talkie (hey, at least I suggested that he brought the walkie talkies on fri nite *pat on own shoulder* hahahaha), we were able to maintain contact with Taz.

Dasher joined us midway and together with the front pack, they led us to Sembawang Park. Was glad to finally have a chance to run to Sembawang park, haven't been there in ages. Feels good to be there early in the morning, walking along the beach, albeit dirty. It was a long stretch of sandy beach that we had to cross and by the time we finally reached the park itself, I have mostly already cooled down. We took our water break there and discovered that TCS was filming there and Maggie was excited that Allan Wu was there! Ok, he wasn't really my type & I'm so not gaga over him but anyway, good to have caught a glimpse of him (and his 6/8P).

Divey was feeling a strain on her knees (still swollen from her training on Tues - poor gal, pls rest well ok?) and hence decided to not continue with the run. As I was feeling tired too from the run, I decided not to continue too and joined Divey to take public transport to Khatib to meet up with them. Surprisingly Junie, Bee & Teelee also decided to end the run with us (think Teelee just being his chivalrous self and didn't want to leave us ladies alone in the park). So the few of us took a slow walk out of the park. I enjoyed the walk, let me take a look at the surrounding, which I haven't had a chance to see ever since ...

We were shocked to find the front pack already at Khatib when we reached the mrt station. Wow! Imagine they ran faster than us taking the train *faint*. Roentgen & daisiki came back shortly after and told us about the many hills towards the end of the run (am glad I decided to drop off the run! haha)

We had our breakfast at the nearby coffeeshop before heading back to Sengkang. Taz was really kind to allow us to shower at his place before we head off to HWA for the Running Injuries talk. More can be found here. It feels good to be at HWA on a Sat afternoon, participating in something meaningful. HWA is performing a very important role helping to assimilate our handicap countrymen back to our society. As I walked along the aisle of the HWA corridors running some errands, I just felt that this is a much better way to spend my Saturday afternoon rather than having it wasted nua-ing (sleeping & eating & being online) at home wasting away ...

A few of us then proceeded to Great World City for late lunch / early dinner before catching a movie The Devil Wears Prada. Was a great show and I enjoyed myself tremendously. I thought Meryl Streep and Anne Hattaway were excellent in the show. Anne was absolutely stunning after her transformation from this dorky young graduate to this stylist lady in fashionable (and expensive!) clothes. But well, the morale of the story still is that clothes do not maketh a woman, you can be sooo beautiful, so thin, but are you doing what you want to do with your life ? Hmmmm .. I got to remember this and not be so hung up about my weight huh ? hahahaha *excuses excuses*

I returned home feeling really tired by the long but eventful day and unsatisfied with the not-so-good run due to my own lousy form today ... but was glad that I managed to talk to a good friend online and catch up a bit before I got taken away by the Z monster.

Before I end this post, just wanted to again register my BIG THANKS to TAZ for organising the LSD. So sorry to cause you so much stress in this run as you have to take care of the front and back runners ... pai seh! THANKS to Roentgen too for picking me up at my place & providing the much required barang tumpang service. THANKS to everyone who turned up for the HWA talk and lending support this charity fund raising event. I'm heartened to read about the positive feedback about the talk and also how the touring of the HWA facilities helped puts things into perspectives.