Good Luck!

Just a short note to wish everyone ALL THE BEST to the SCSM come Sunday!

Wow, time really flies ... its THE DAY in 3 days!!!!

Enjoy the run and smile for the cameras!!! *2 thumbs up*

:)

OD ...

I'm totally OD on all the financial jargons .... leverage, options, warrant, hedge, long, short, call, put, what the $#(*)@(&$^* ... I have absolutely no idea what is going on and I just feel absolutely STUPID that
I
STILL ...
DON'T ...
GET ...
IT ....
despite the course being the most elementary course anyone can conduct. -_-"

No wonder I can't be a banker/portfolio manager etc.....

Anyway, I thought I would see the end of this at least for this week .... only to know I'm just assigned to go for another course today and tomorrow ..... ARGHHHHHHHHHH ...

Tricho-tillo-maniac again!

TTMJazzy

Sweet Gesture

Been a really busy day today. Had to interrupt my course in the morning to go for a meeting. Then had to leave the course early coz of another meeting -_-". Followed by another meeting right after that. Got to clear emails and stuff and well, just not feeling all too energised ...

So I'm very touched when I received this sweet little pressie from this someone (who *ahem* sometimes wield a parang -_-") . Very very unexpected. No doubt it was a small gift, but it is really the tot and the effort put into making it that counts and puts a smile on my face.

Thanks for the very nice gesture!

And So the Story (Whining) Goes ...

And so I thought I was feeling better, and so I went for a treadmill run on Monday, and so I felt alright enough during the run, and so I felt a slight pain today, and so I decided to do another run just now since
I
REALLY ...
NEED ...
A ...
RUN ....

and so I realised I
STILL ...
CAN'T ....
RUN ...

coz it hurts freaking bad.

and so I just tore my head out, dump it into a huge zip-loc bag and screammmmmmm out my frustration, before re-attaching my head back on my neck.

And so I guess I will be limpin again for another week or two ... and so I am again thinking of giving up .... and so I'm done with my whining ... and yeah, I could almost hear some saying I deserve it since I shouldn't be running (which by the time the doc didn't stop me from running just that I can't run if it hurts).

And so i think i should just take up golf. hahaha

Escort to HWA

Kind Shwee buddy jie was helping 12 of her friends returned their pledge cards & money collected. With so much $$ to hand over to HWA, and the number of goodie bags that jie jie has to carry ... CC & me decided to escort her to HWA ...

After the yummy BKT, we headed to HWA but at the last minute before we turned into HWA, CC decided to check out the temporary Whampoa market which according to the banner was closeby. I, as usual, wanted to check out MJKs and hence we enthusiastically reccee the market for any good food finds. The market was small but was packed. Unfortunately there weren't any MJKs sighted, but we managed to get some you tiao (freshly fried) and soya bean curd and drinks for some of the HWA members. YUMZ!

We spent a while at HWA for Stephanie to sort out the money returned by BOP, do some more of the logistics like packing more runner's pack, stock-taking of our singlets inventory etc. We met Meteor, Alvo and Angelica_Wonders who came to return their pledge cards too. Angel is busy with her exams and look pale and stressed. Aiyo gal, hang in there! just 2 more papers!! You will do just fine! *HUGZZZZZ*

Some RI boys had also been spending some time at HWA helping to spruce up the place. Xmas decor had been put up. They also got some tables & chairs from their teachers and helped to set up this lovely cosy corner (with xmas tree too!) Well done boys!
Some pics here to show the great work that they have done.

Stephanie shared with us some students came to help (as part of their school's community project or something) and were lost when they were handed brooms to sweep the floor. Its sad and scary at the same time, that our future generation is way toooo well taken care of now that we have maids in most households, that they are losing the basic survival skills. Its worrying, very worrying trend ...

We finally left the place at close to 1pm and went to deposit all the goodie bags in BOP's office before heading to this recommended (by one of the food blogs) bak chor mee sua place near shenton for lunch. The dry mee sua is alright, nothing fantastic but CC was very contented with his ketchup mee sua. We also ordered this bowl of fishball soup and wow, their fishballs are huge! But taste just like any other fish ball, nothing fantastic. A more detailed account of this mee sua dish can be found here


After a fulfilling lunch, BOP left for her next appointment while CC left to kk at home. I had to do some studying but couldn't decide where to settle down for some quiet reading. Town was really packed and noisy and lazy me decided to head home to zzz before doing some studying. As I left the train station to take a bus home, I realised it was pouring and hence decided to go to the nearby shopping mall to look see a bit and wait out the rain. As luck must have it, I chanced upon this cafe cartel so decided to checked the cafe out ... to my pleasant surprise the place was close to empty and they had rows of plush cushy sofas!!!
I wasted no time to plonk myself in the sofa at one end of the restuarant and happily browsed through their menus. There were just so many varities and I was torn between what to order. Finally decided to just have fries (YUMZ!!!!) and a cup of cranberry juice. I think I spent more time just enjoying the fries (which were chunky but not crispy enough inside) then doing the real studying. I struggled to finish 2 chapters, and had a tough time fighting the Z monster :P

Ok, i still need to do a lot more serious studying ... time is running out ...

Bak Kut Teh

Met CG this morning for breakfast. CC has craving for Bak Kut Teh (interesting considering he is not big on meat) and hence BOP brought us to the famous BKT at Rangoon Road. Ok, I'm one of the uninitiated who didn't know Rangoon road has this famous BKT stall. :P

I was told that many celebrities / famous characters patronised this store and when we got there, the place was already bustling with life. Must be good lah considering so many people are already tucking in to BKT at 9+ in the morning!

The shop is at a corner of a row of shophouses, across the road from a little known apartment. We walked in and plonked ourselves down at a clean table. I saw a couple of pictures of HK celebrities (of the past) plastered on the wall, even have one of the Taiwan mayor (Ma Ying-Jeou)! Not bad! The service is bad though, the auntie serving us has this super bin chow chow face and was like almost growling at us!! Aiyooooo ....

Looking around the place, I feel like a kid once again where most of the eat-outs were at such simple chinese "restaurants". White or beige -painted walls, white tiles, heavy duty fans hanging from the walls. The simplicity of this traditionally furnished (practicality over design) place actually appeals to me very much. I could actually imagine myself coming here on a weekday morning just to kiao kah, sip tea and eat BKT! :P

We finally caught the attention of someone and he came over to take our orders. When the food came, we were all just like hungry predators ready to pounce on the food, but of course, only after we have taken pics of the dishes :P The soup is nice, a little oily though, must not be very healthy :P but it tastes good and the soup isn't too pepperish, which is my common grouse everytime i eat BKT! And we spotted this big bag of cut you tiao sitting pretty in this chair beside us. I was soooooooooooooooo tempted to just dip my hands into the bag and grab whatever you tiao my fat fingers can hold and throw them into our bowls of BKT ! The only thing holding me back is CC lah, who was sitting between me and my bag of you tiao -__-" hehe I should have said SIAM!!! and plunged myself into that bag of you tiao .... awwwwwwww, wouldn't that be heaven ? :P *lau nua*

The meal was rather expensive though. Came up to $10 per pax ... but well, all is worth it coz this is indeed a nostalgic-triggering kind of place ... and the relax and easy conversation ... awwwww ... what a great way to start the weekend *contented smile*

Next stop HWA ...

Wiener Kaffeehaus

Suppose to work late on Friday night. Had a demo scheduled from 5:30pm til late. Fortunately (on a personal livel, to maintain my well-being and sanity) or unfortunately (for my project that has been in limbo!) the meeting had to be cancelled due to some technical glitches.

Was so busy in meetings and discussions and I had work to clear (before my course next week) but my mind was not thinking straight already and my heart was already out of the office having fun on Friday night :P, so decided to pack up (and bring work home boo hoo hoo) joined the gang at the SCSM race expo. I already got mine earlier in the afternoon as the company had helped us to collect in advance (good hor? :P awww, i feel so privileged! haha)
I called up Roentgen and was surprised that he and Junie had already collected their race packs! We were expecting a long queue but surprisingly they cleared quickly!

I was out the office in a jiffy to meet the gang at the race expo ... met Daisiki (miffy) & Wai Fung at the citilink on my way to Suntec. So good to see miffy after so long. First time seeing her in workwear ! They had already collected their packs and even had their dinner already (wow, fast!) and were on their way home. At the expo (noticed the queue wasn't very long), I met up with Roentgen, Junie, Taz and Divey near the adidas booth. I wanted to walk around the race expo as this is my first time at the SCSM expo and wanted to look-see and have a feel of how its like. They were very kind to hang around and wait for me while i recceed the place. Met several familiar faces (Vitamin gers-Karen & ??, choonwei, hedgehog, teelee, charmane and Mr & Mrs Tekko) and even managed to talk to them a bit. Wah, its been a long time!!! *happy* Good to see u all! :)

As for the race expo, got to say its a rather disappointing experience. I guess I'm just in my own little world (and hallucination :P) but I had the assumption or visuals that the expo would be very happening and upbeat and energy-charged! (Where's the loud pumping music to get everyone all psyched up ?) The whole place seemed pretty dead and there weren't anything interesting there. I only managed to get a micro fibre towel that I've been wanting to buy but always putting it off ($20 for a small towel seems a tad toooooooooo extravagant! my mom and sis will faint if I tell them about it :P) The adidas store looks like a warehouse sale with its pathetic looking mechanise hanging oh so pathetically on the racks. It was really unappealing and I wasn't even tempted to step into the booth.

While I was dutifully checking out the expo, the bunch of foodies (Roentgen, Junie, Taz & Divey) were squatting (haha, oops i mean gathered :P) somewhere deciding where to pig out. Divey recently checked out this Austrian restaurant Weiner Kaffehaus at Neil Road and raved about the desserts (chocolate cake) and wanted to bring us there. We gladly agreed as we have passed by this restaurant many times and we have mentioned umpteem times about visiting the restuarant but we never did!!! This restaurant is also mentioned in several food blogs and so of course we jumped at the chance to check out that place!

Wiener Kaffeehaus

As I stepped into the restaurant, I felt like I was transported into one of those movies, where the actor/actress enters a beautiful, cosy little restuarant for a nice warm simple meal to escape from the cold weather (think snow during xmas). I don't think I can articulate well how I feel about this place but probably a few pictures will do the trick. :)

Its a small little cosy (I think you will find that i use the word cosy very often because that's exactly how i feel - nice & cosy & comfortable) restaurant and as you can vaguely make out from the picture, there is an upper deck that is big enough for a few extra tables. The basement housed a wine cellar and also their stockpile of products that I think they imported from overseas.

We were seated beside the lady boss who was working away on her iMAC (shweeeeeeee!!!!!!) and laptop.

We eagerly "devoured" what is available in the menu and finally placed our orders including vegetarian sandwich, ham sandwich, viennese salad, some bradwurst sausage etc.



The vegetarian sandwich (multigrain) is DELICIOUS!!!! Its actually a very simple fare with some tomatoes, lettuce but the multigrain bread is the BEST bread I have ever eaten!!!! Ok granted that I have never been exposed to those home-made, expensive bread sold in those upscale bakeries, my bread intake is limited to kopitiam loti, gardenia wholemeal/raisin/fruit & nuts bread ... so this multigrain bread that is served here really blows me away! I never knew normal bread can taste this good! Everyone agreed that the bread was good! The salad was alright, the green gooy stuff is actually the cucumber. Not bad indeed!

Divey also ordered this interesting looking drink ...












Of course, what is a pig out without dessert ? So Roentgen & Divey went to the counter and ordered 2 chocolate cake and the appel strudel.

I'm not a big fan of apple strudel (what's dessert if its not sweet ?? and apple strudel is typically sour lor) so I can't comment much about the strudel. The chocolate cake was ok though ... very thick rich creamy chocolate coats the top of the cake .... the cake must be REAlly good because we have Divey & Roentgen fighting over the cake!! Kids!!! *roll eyes*




THANKS people for the yummy PO! But most importantly for the great company and many a good laughs! And of course the many sms/mms that we sent to Loti to update her about what she was missing out in :P Ok lah loti, next HWA mtg! :P Can almost hear loti cursing away hahaha :P

Deadline for Pledge Cards Return

For all you HWA Runners out there, THANK YOU for helping to raise funds for HWA!! We are heartened by all your efforts and the money collected thus far! *bow*

Today (24 Nov) is the LAST day to return the pledge cards and money raised to HWA. Details can be found here. We seek your co-operation to return the cards and money promptly so that HWA can proceed to close & audit the accounts, without which the funds cannot be released to HWA for its use. The accounts cannot be closed as long as there is still one card unaccounted for.

If you have not returned your cards, I know you are very busy but please take some time to return the cards by today ok? A little token of appreciation in the form of a goodie bag awaits you when you return your pledge cards & $$ :)

For those who have already returned your cards, THANK YOU so much for your prompt action! *clap clap clap*

Fund raising can still continue up till 3 Dec 2006 (that's when our licence for this fund raising drive ends). Hence, you can still make use of the donor appeal letter as the final surge to raise more funds for HWA.

Thanks again to everyone, for GOING THE EXTRA MILE for HWA!

Physio 4 & Doc Followup

My 4th session with physio. Told her I'm not feeling good. My shin hurts and I feel calf pain even when I was on elliptical trainer on Monday. What is going on ? She asked me many questions such as:

• Is the pain more acute after the strengthening exercises?
  
• Did it get more painful after my run in new shoes (i didn't run -_-")? after wearing heels ?
  

She wanted me to monitor or to be more conscious about what I was doing prior to the pain. Ok, will try to take note.

Did the same old sets of strengthening exercises and again deep tissue massage. This time round done by my trainer. Wah, I could feel him using his elbow to massage my calf! I was like just gritting my teeth, burying my face into my arms and screamed (of course I was on mute lah :P). My trainer got a scare when he thought I was crying and asked with concern "You crying ah????" Think he really got worried there ... haha ... aiyo, of coz I wouldn't cry over this rite ? Its painful no doubt, but in a sadistic way, it actually feels damn shiok! :P

The timing was impeccable. My appointment number (to see the sports doc) flashed on the LED once my trainer was done with the massage. Perfect! So I went to see the sports doc (Dr. Jason Chia) and told him the same thing about my shin pain, my NOT running since the last time I saw him. He seemed concerned enough and agreed that I should get another X-ray done. Well, results of x-ray didn't show anything different from 3 weeks ago (that should be a relief!). Since an x-ray is unable to show whether there are fractures, only that there are small "lumps" at the side of the big bone, which might be an indication of stress injury or fractures etc. The shin pain might also be brought on by the muscle stress around the bone area. With so many possibilities (and short of going for a bone scan or MRI), the doctor suggested deep friction (or what I thought was deep tissue massage). This doctor is pretty hands on, brought me back to see the physio and told her to administer deep friction on my shin area. Prior to that though he wanted to do a gait analysis on my running. So off we went to the treadmill where his staff set up the video cam and stuff and got me to do some running. I could feel the pain with every heel strike (didn't notice until Dr. Chia asked me when I felt the pain, push-off or heel-strike)

From his observation of my walking & running, he said I might not pronating enough. Wah lau, sometimes I'm pronating outwards, sometimes not enough. What is this ?? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Dr is not good, i'm just saying why analysis by different docs always give such varying observations ? Very the confused ...

Anyway, ended the session with the deep friction of my shin - specially by the physio. Typically it would be administered by one of the trainers, but the physio had to do it herself because she said she will have to report back to Dr. Chia. Wah seh, not bad hor ? So I had 2 deep friction massages in one morning. I jokingly told my physio that I'm being tortured TWICE in one morning, and that why didn't they consider GA for patients that have to undergo such pain :P
Well, silly me. She explained that they will need to obtain feedback from the patient to ensure they don't injure the muscles and cause bleeding in the course of the massage.

Well, so for now, I have to monitor how I feel. When does my shin hurts, whether my shin feels better after the deep friction (I feel better today).

So well, SCSM is definitely out for me. I have mentioned about the KL pacesetters to both Dr. Chia & physio. Physio doesn't seem that optimistic, and frankly, me neither. Well, just have to pray for the best, hope (oops, thanks to Roentgen for pointing out my little boo boo :P) prepare for the worst.

What to do ? Such is life .. you don't often get what you want.

Wild Rocket

Finally had dinner at Wild Rocket on Friday! Been reading about it so often in food blogs and so was very happy when loti finally arranged for the dinner. Thanks LOTI!

Think this place needs no introduction but to the uninitiated, its at Hangout @ Mt Emily. You can build up ur appetite by walking up the hill but seriously its a little deserted and there seems to be some construction going on, so I think driving or taking a cab up is a more viable option!

I like the restaurant for the ambience. The soft warm lights and simple decor gives the place a very warm & cosy feeling. A group of 5 hip looking gals were seated at the table beside ours, chatting away but thankfully not making too much of a din. There were a few young couples who sat nearby but the restaurant wasn't fully packed. Some restaurants give one a very intimidating feel to it, especially those that try to look too upmarket, too high-classy restaurants, but Wild Rocket for its little setup and simple decor makes me feel very comfortable. A place I wouldn't mind returning, just to relax and chill over drinks.

We had the friendly waitress recommend us their signature dishes and waited patiently for the food to arrive. I wouldn't go into details about what we ate (will leave it to one of the foodies to blog about it in JBBMKK hehe) but I leave the place not feeling very impressed with the food. Quite normal lah, its nothing to rave about. The food was served a tad toooo slowly and we had to wait in between the dishes, but this may actually be deliberate so as to encourage banter! Its afterall a night to chill and hangout, where food should be an accompaniment to the night and nice company.

I was particularly irked by this guy who was walking about the restaurant, probably the manager in charge that night or something. He kept walking around with this very unfriendly air and look (in hokkien that will mean kian pa look) on his face, peering down on our table - he would be standing at our table and staring at what is at our table for what seem like minutes before moving off! And this happened in many occasions and it just irked me so because I was in full view of him everytime he comes by and I sense this very unfriendly aura ... If I'm not wrong I believe he was trying to see what has been served and whether we are done with our dishes so that they could serve up the next course ? But really, if that is his job, he ought to learn to do this more discreetly. He would have excelled in his job if he were to be able to inform the kitchen about when/what to serve for each table, without letting his presence be felt/seen by patrons when he goes around checking the tables. Imagine the delight that will bring to the patrons when they finish a dish only to be served with their next course shortly after, they will feel more impressed that SOMEHOW the timing of the kitchen/serving is just impeccable. I think that will leave a much better impression, than what this guy is doing. He seems more intent on being seen, instead of being inconspicous ...

The damage came up to $35 per pax. For a jiak-buay-bah & nothing-to-rave-about dinner, I find that a tad expensive. But still, it was a good dinner, with good ambience no doubt and great company. :)

A more detailed account off the food can be found here

We then proceeded to Dempsey road hoping for more pig-out. The place looked sooo ulu from along the main road but as we drove in, the place opened up to all these quaint little restaurants, wine bars and even pubs. Again thanks to loti, I finally managed to step into PS Cafe!!! Its really really very nice lor!!! I like the decor, with those floor to ceiling glasses and the place is HUGEEE! Unfortunately the place was packed and we were unable to secure a place coz there were many others before us still waiting to be seated too. I really would like to go back there soon, once in the night for dinner and dessert, and once in the day for brunch over a weekend when they served brunch. I think the experience will be totally different! I am already dreaming about sitting there during a weekend morning, having my brunch, looking out the window into the greenery (hopefully there is some greenery) and kiao-kahing away, hopefully with a good book in hand. Wah ... heaven!!!!!
Then for dinner will be with some great frens, chilling out over a nice pig out session, chatting about nothing in particular, just enjoying the company of good frens, talking nonsense. *dreamy*

Since dempsey road is too crowded, we decided to try the next and last location - Railway Mall. Found a few eateries there, but none interesting enough for us to want to pop in to try, so we left for home without a follow-up POS :P

Thanks to LOTI for the wonderful night, for planning the POS and bringing us to PS Cafe! So nice, found 2 nice hangouts in one nite! :) I feel so HIP leh! hahahaha

PS: The reason why I have to thank LOTI so many times is because if not she wouldn't bring sua-ku me to any new HIP hangouts in future :P hehehehe

Where do you draw the line ?

Sometimes you start to wonder, where do you draw the line when it comes to helping someone?

When someone (of course I'm referring to people whom I care about i.e. family, close friends) is in need, its just natural that I want to help. I'm generally a super passive person, I dunno how to help but I'll step in to do what I can if I've been asked. This time I know I have to step in to help, and initial intention is to do whatever I can to help. But while waiting for the situation to clear so that we all know how to help, I start to have my doubts.

• How much can I do for them ?
• Will doing this help much ?
• Whatever I need to do to help will have implication (everything is above the law here pls :P) on me too. Am I prepared for it ? Am I subjecting myself to unnecessary vulnerability ?
  
• Will I become resentful in future for doing what I did ?
  

I feel selfish for thinking about MYSELF when someone is in need and I'm suppose to be doing what I can to help. That's what prompted my little brain to keep asking, where/how do I draw the line ?

As an outsider, I always say "Just help in whatever you can, within your means". I still live by this mantra, but the question now is "What is within my means" ? "Where is my threshold or boundaries?"

Kinda OD on these tots right now ..... got to clear my head and I can't go running!

Be Thankful

Got this in my email ...

BE THANKFUL
By Author Unknown

Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire.
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don't know something,
for it gives you the opportunity to learn.

Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations,
because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge,
because it will build your strength and character.

Be thankful for your mistakes. They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you're tired and weary,
because it means you've made a difference.

It's easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who
are also thankful for the setbacks.
Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles,
and they can become your blessings.

What I learnt today ...

I always feel very ashamed of myself whenever I am asked to help family/friends order kopi / teh in our local kopitiams coz I'm always so confused by all the Gosong, Gao, Siutai etc. etc. (ok ok, I do agree I have a pea-brain)

So now, thanks to loti, I can confidently order a kopi-Gao Gosong or a teh-Si Siutai.

Physio 3

Getting a bit sian to go for my physio session. Yeah i know, its just the third session, i shouldn't be expecting a miracle. But just that I wonder how long am I suppose to keep up with this weekly routine of stretching & strengthening. Granted I'm not walking with a limp, but ... u know what i mean ...

Anyway, got there and the staff did not find my appointment in their system. Already not very happy about being there, IRRITATION sets in. Asked me whether it was a manual appointment, which i have absolutely no idea what that means. I told her all my appointments were made the week before, on the spot, after my physio. A few more questions later from her, she sensed my growing irritation and managed to get me a number. Went in to see the physio, who was saying she normally doesn't schedule patients at 3pm because that is normally a very busy time (anyway my session was at 4pm!) and that she was very busy now. So was telling me to do warm up, stretching etc. and sent me off.

Dutifully stepped onto the elliptical trainer and did my 15 mins warmup, during which i met a familiar face - Tekko! Wah! felt much better just seeing a familiar face in the gym (hoorah!), took a while before he finally saw me. We chatted for a good 5 mins I think before i finished up with my warm up and he continued with his stretching etc.

Went back to see my physio, my balancing is much better than last week (of course lah, I forced myself to practice one-leg stand on cushion at home several times the past week) but because of my only practicing on my left leg (she didn't say need to practice my right?), I could stand on my left longer than on my right -_-". But still, my one-leg stand is VEry wobbly. Still not a good sign. But seriously, can everyone stand on one leg (with eyes closed mind you) and not hobble around or shake ?? A little tidbit of information for you: Do you know it is more difficult to stand on one leg with your eyes closed than with them open ? Maybe I'm just so lacking in general knowledge (or common sense? :P) but I didn't know that until I was told to do it. Apparently eyesight contributes to your balancing. With your eyes open, it helps you to correct & balance and when you close them, you actually lose one of these senses to help u to balance and you are forced to rely on your body for the balancing. Interesting huh ?

Anyway, I told my physio about my pains due to my short run on Sunday, and also asked where are we heading in these sessions. Yes, according to her I'm better, but I'm STILL NOT ABLE TO RUN (of course I didn't shout at her lah, am just stating my point clearly here :P). She said I still need to work on my strengthening without which I will still have all these problems. Several things that she mentioned (which I'm using this opportunity to jot down more for my own sake before I forget about them :P):

• She checked my Kayanos and found the soles too stiff. That could be due to them being new and need to be broken into. So she said my running in my new shoes & with all the current problems that I'm having may have caused my pain on Sunday too.
• Once I'm able to balance (one-leg stand) for a good one minute for each leg, i can then progress to do agility work (lateral jumps, hops etc.). That will take another 2 sessions.
• She asked me to hop on one leg and my left shin hurts. So no go for the agility work for now :(
• I complained about my calf pain and she found many "knotty" (i suppose that's what she meant?) muscles when she massaged on both my legs. Really quite a number. Asked her why I got those and she said it is due to problems like my weak ankles. Thus although I can go for periodic deep tissue massage to release these "knotty" muscles, I wouldn't be solving the root cause.

So off she sent me for more stretching and balancing works and did these with increasing frustration:

• one-leg stand on BOSU ball (4 exercises : with eyes looking up, then down, then closed, then closed with swinging arms). Each exercise is to be done for 30 seconds (my one-leg stand on the ball could hardly last 3 secs!!! so you can imagine my frustration), 4 sets per exercise.
  
• one-leg stand on tampoline (2 exercies: with eyes closed, with eyes closed and swinging arms). Same thing, 30 seconds and 4 sets per exercise. This is slightly easier than the BOSU ball which is more wobbly.
• Lunges with a 9lb bodybar. 1 lap along the track outside the gym.
  
• P-squats with a 9lb bodybar. 1 lap along the track outside the gym.
  
• Hip Flex, Abductor, Adductor, Extension. 10lbs, 4 sets of 15 repetitions each. Very difficult and very boring. At this point I was getting VERy frustrated and closed to giving up! The trainer came by several times to ask how I was doing and I could only smile at him with this really pained face. Physio came over close to 6pm (think is to check how much longer I have) to ask how I am and I could only smiled & said "VERY Tired!!" Seriously, I'm really sian about doing all these exercises. I used to dread doing them when I go to the gym, and that's why I run ? And now I'm forced to do them coz of my run ? A little ironical isn't it ??? ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I was so frustrated I was so close to screaming
  

I was suppose to do some other stretching but I decided to just skip them as it was getting late, people were all packing up and I basically just didn't have the motivation to carry on. Of course, I dared to skip those because physio also told me that those exercises are not the "die-die-must-do" ones. Haha, so I ate snake, went back to her and asked whether I will still get my massage (she said she will prescribe!) and she said "oh yah!". And since it was after office hours, she had no choice but to do it on her own. Wah! The massage is PAINFUL but SHIOK! As she found those knotty muscles and massaged on them, sometimes pressing on them really hard (she is a very petite lady and I actually felt her whole body on the bed so as to transfer more energy into the massage *faint*). I was of course in lots of pain but she was very encouraging throughout. But with the massage, she said that it has once again been proven, that women has a higher threshold for pain. That if it were her other male patients, they would have been screaming in pain, but I wasn't even flinching. hahaa. ... I have heard about women having higher threshold for pain, but for men to scream ? Kinda difficult to imagine since that species typically has so much ego in them :P ooops, can almost hear protests from the men hahahhaha :P

Finally finished up my session, did a quick shower and left the gym at 6:30+pm. By then the trainers themselves have already changed and doing their own workout at the gym. Wah, so motivated bunch. Saw my trainer doing his workout and said a quick bye. Wah, no wonder he got such a good bod! (yup, did I mention he has a good physique? Too bad I'm not interested coz he likes bluetooth devices! hahahahahhahaha) :P

Market Street Lunchie

Had lunch with Junie yesterday ... met up to collect the Great Eastern 10K run champion chip from her so that I can return on her behalf. Ytd was the last day to return the chip before they slap $50 fine on those who didn't return. But seriously I wonder how they are going to do that, they do not have the right to simply charge to the "offender's" credit card account right ? Because if they do, I'll be very concerned. But then again, maybe there is a clause during the registration that covers this ? That I, the participant, authorise GE to charge $50 to my account in the event I did not return the champion chip ? Anyway, I didn't want to go through the trouble to find out ..

We went to the newly opened Market Street place, which was transformed from an old carpark into a brand new eateries haven. Well, the place looks pretty bare when I first stepped in. The little cafes (with very little sitting room) surround this big white open space. One of the restaurant (some HK style cafe) was doing roaring business, with the place packed and queue waiting for satisfy their hunger (or curiosity about the cafe?). Junie & I checked out the menu which was profesionally made into a big lighted signboard in the front of the cafe and we found the prices extremely high. A plate of moonlight hor fun for $9+ (if i remember correctly)! Aiyo, I can eat 2 plates + some side dishes at our local kpt. Ok granted I'm paying for ambience & service blah blah, but $9 ??

Junie brought me to The Soup Spoon. We actually saw 2 local mediacorp celeb (Michelle Chia & Adrian Pang? - cham, I haven watch local programs for so long I can't even remember his name!) filming. Think they are featuring some food items in this newly opened food place. We went into the shop and ordered a pumpkin soup & cajun fish wrap. Both are REAlly good! The cajun fish wrap was nicely done, they heat up the wrap and it has the bite to it (unlike the subway chewy kind of texture) and the cajun fish tasted very soft & fresh. But didn't know it was fried, so not very healthy lah. The pumpkin soup is VEry nice too. We ordered the Grande size (which is the bigger of the 2 sizes offered) and was able to comfortably share among the 2 of us. Very nice, rich but does not make one feel "je-lat". Very yummy lunch! Total damage to us was about $15.

As we both took out $10 for the lunch, we had a remaining $5 for lunch (hehe, excuses to pig out more really :P). We wanted to try out this healthy dessert shop nearby but it was a really small shop with just one small round table & a few chairs for sit-in guests. Place was really crowded so we decided to check out the nearby shops. The shop beside (some italian food joint with a name that I can't even decipher - isit Bianca?) was really quiet in comparison with just 2 diners. This shop was actually featured in last weeks Sunday's Times. If I'm not wrong the chef is some NUS grade in Comp Science but somehow ended up cooking italian fare. So we tried his tiramisu @ $3.95. It was really nice (well, I'm not really a picky eater, nor an epicurean lah) and was a good place to hide from the rain too (yeah, it suddenly poured). Somehow the shop just looks too bare and unattractive. Frankly, from the first look, we wouldn't have stepped in. The shop looks very "clinical". Swanky white walls, with heavy duty kitchen appliances. The glass shelf just showed plates with a few deep fried finger food items. Not exactly finger-licking good. Anyway, considering the chef & I used to be from the same faculty, I took pity and gave him a few unwarranted, unrequested, unheeded feedback about his shop. He just keep smiling and nodding, seriously doubt he will take my feedback any further -_-" ah well, I still wish him all the best! I really admire & envy people like them, who strike it out on their own, knowing what they want and dare to try!

Had an enjoyable and relaxing lunch. Didn't really talk much, just some laughs, easy banter and comfortable silence. With friends you are comfy with, chit chat is optional. :)

What a wonderful way to start my half day afternoon leave ....

next stop ... CGH ...

Losing touch ....

Hmmmm ..... really losing touch with many of the sgrunners folks ....
My being injured didn't help the situation ....

Miss the fun runs, the chatter, the laughter, the camaraderie ... just being among this group of very fun people... hopefully i'll be able to join in their carbo loading come SCSM-eve. Though I wouldn't be running this SCSM (yup, hopes of me running this year is waning due to the current injury), but it would be good to be able to just hang out with them (if they still remember me :P)

On the big day, I'll prolly be the water-gal, pom-pom-gal, support-gal to cheer my fellow sgrunners on (at the 30km mark). Will also have to be at the start point to cheer the HWA participants for the wheelchair race. Not sure whether I can do both or I will have to choose between one. If I really have to choose, I will really prefer to be cheering my dear friends on ... anyway, see how things go ba, still have 3 weeks to plan hehe

Haven't been in the forum much but went in just now and realised that Kay's birthday was on the 4th Nov - last last Saturday!!!! Aiyoooooo!!!! Happy Birthday, Kay di di! This is big time losing touch lor ...

And now that I really can't run ... I have to get off my fat bum and seriously learn how to swim ..... anyone knows of any good patient lady instructor to teach me ? :)

Not sure why, its already close to midnight and yet I'm still wide awake!!! Issit due to the chinese tea that I drank at work ? But i never used to have difficulties sleeping just because i had tea .... do we start to have all these symptoms as we grow older :P ?

Blogger's Block ?

I want to blog, but I have NOTHING to blog about !!!
Booo Hooo Hooooooo !!!
:P

Mai Tu Liao!

For all you HWA runners out there who have been helping to raise funds for HWA ....

What
Time to return your pledge cards & the money raised back to HWA.

When
Between 15 to 24 Nov

Where
HWA 16 Whampoa Drive Singapore 327725

So as to collect your HWA Goodie Bag. More information can be found here.

:)

Weekend

Saturday ...

Met up with some financial planner in the morning ... old one resigned without anyone informing me ... so basically my funds were left UNATTENDED for months .... haiz, my hard earned pennies and this established bank decides they don't need to maintain proper customer service with small-time penny investers like myself ? Is this the norm ??

Went Godzilla Bao hunting with double L at Tampines thereafter. This bao is termed as such because of its size (and price!). Been waiting to try this for the entire week and finally managed to track down this nondescript store in a kopitiam. Was hoping that the food will prove the store front wrong ... but unfortunately we had to be VEry disappointed. This Godzilla bao, that received rave review from a particular food blog (decided not to link to it lest I incur the wrath of this foodie unwittingly), was totally a BTTP experience! The bao skin was SUPER thick, a cross section of it showed that it covered almost 1/3 of the bao! The fillings in the bao is nothing to rave about, just some meat pieces that simply tasted like normal factory made bao. Worse of all, the bao was not even warm! Left the place feeling darn cheated.

We then headed to Hong Lim for more food. I think with my inactivity in recent weeks, my sedentary lifestyle has left me craving for food less. Didn't eat much (by my usual standard though it is still quite a lot to some haha) and then we headed to Far East Square to try out the Annie's Ice Kachang. D joined us in our quest to savour the yummy ice kachang. Been wanting to bring L to try this dish since we have been raving about it but somehow the ice kachang just didn't cut it yesterday! Aiyo, double disappointment! What's up man??

Finally packed the goodie bags at HWA. Time flies, we are nearing the tail-end of the fund-raising event. Been a good few months working on this event. I'm glad I'm able to work with this talented pool of individuals, with each contributing in whatever way they can, providing whatever assistance they can render amid their busy schedule, and sacrificing their weekend(s) to work on this project. Its with a little tinge of sadness when 3rd Dec comes. Regardless of how much we raised for HWA, I think we have all done whatever we can. Its the thought that counts and I sincerely think the experience we obtained in the course of organising this project makes all of us richer in our own ways. Hmmm, I'm already thinking of my pet project for next year :P

We (L, J & myself) then had our dinner at Joo Heng cze char at Joo Chiat. Still very impressed with the food there. Very the yummy! Just thinking about it makes my stomach rumble :P Just one teenie weenie complaint that night though. Our first 2 dishes came promptly but the remaining 2 somehow remained elusive. We wiped clean the plates and still no sign of the dishes ! Told the boss about it and he went to check and returned to inform us one of the dishes had been sold out! There must have been some screw-up in the kitchen as we were not informed at all. Our 3rd dish came shortly after and followed by a new dish we ordered in replacement for the one that was sold out. Apparently our order was removed from the kitchen after the 2nd dish was served and hence the kitchen wasn't aware that there were still 2 dishes outstanding. *slap forehead* But ok lah, despite the little boo boo, I have to say the boss took immediate action to rectify the problem and expedite our food order.

Later L & J bought some handmade bao from the shop beside Joo Heng. The baos are really minute but they taste super yummilicious! Skin is thin and fillings fresh & tasty. But they are pricy though, and one can wolf down 10 without feeling remotely satiated.

Sunday ...

Planned to do a test run this morning since I have been walking pain free lately. Was rather confident that I should be able to run so put on my running gear and off I went. I couldn't be more wrong lor, felt slight discomfort in my left shin and my pain in the calves got progressively more apparent ... just 8 mins into the run (arghhhhhhh!!!!! WAU LAU EH!!!!!! HOWWWW ????)
Anyway, no point pushing right ? So I just walked a little and did my stretching exercises advised by physio.

Decided to try alternative medicine by .... seeing .... a ..... sinseh :P recommended by one kind soul T. I told the sinseh about my x-ray and he was obviously not familiar with shin splints etc. He was asking me how could running cause bone problems in my shin unless i have knocked into it or something -_-". Anyway, I'm none the wiser, I can only say I have this pain after running this year :P Well, to cut the story short, he bandaged my leg, gave me some medicine to help with the bone healing and told me to come back after finishing the course of medicine. Let's see how things go ba. I'm sure this sinseh is good as he has successfully treated T before ... but whether he is well verse in the problem area I'm facing and whether he can help me is something that we will have to wait and see. See my der kah (pig trotters) ....

I've been advised/told/reminded countless times by well-meaning friends to be PATIENT. I'm trying to and I think I have been very discipline in stopping my runs and letting my legs rest. Granted that running isn't the ONLY thing that one can do, but it is the ONE thing that gives me loads of joy and helps keep my unhappiness at bay. I KNOW I have to be patient, but emotionally this is a very trying period for me not being able to run. I guess people can't understand this concept and of course I don't expect them to. But well, I just hope I will be healed soon enough ...

In the meantime, just a short note to my dear running friends that they do not need to feel bad when discussing running or organising runs in front of me. I may not contribute to the discussion (since I'm not participating in them), but that does not mean you all can't talk about it lah ok ? :)

Physio & Other Musings ...

What's up lately ...

Physio
Went for my 2nd physio yesterday afternoon @ CGH.
Did lunges & p-squats (?) on the track. 1 lap each.
Then did some balancing acts on the trampoline. Suppose to do them on my last physio session but trainer missed them out accidentally *faint*
No wonder the physio was disappointed when she tested my balancing yesterday and noticed no improvement and gently reminded me to work on my exercises. Almost felt like a student being caught for not doing her homework *mutter mutter*

So this will be my weekly routine for now ... boss must be wondering why I keep taking leave .... thankfully we met in the lift this morning and I managed to find an opportune time to explain about my need to take leave frequently for now ...

Not very nice to be taking leave so often, especially when I'm new to the job ... and my first year appraisal is coming up real soon! *faint* .... what bad timing eh ?

Shoes
Ok, though I am not running, I ended up buying another pair of running shoes. Was mid-way blogging about my shoe-buying experience in RL ... but just didn't have the drive and motivation to finish blogging about it.

So will just briefly mention it here.

Went RL with the gang last Sunday as Divey wanted to buy a new pair of Cumulus. Was browsing there and chatted with one of the staff there. A very young guy who happened to be standing around so I started asking him on his opinions about shoes (needed Support shoes according to the CGH physio). We started talking, this guy (Simon) although young, seems to be very knowledgeable about certain injuries (those that he has lah - which is shin splints & knee problems). Simon was real nice, very patient in explaining to me about what shoes might be suitable for me etc.

Anyway, to keep the story short, I got myself a pair of Kayanos. I have no fantasy about it solving my problems, don't get me wrong. But I thought I would like to try on another pair of shoes that hopefully wouldn't aggravate my current situation. I tried on the Kayanos but the female version was too small for me, so ended up got to get the men's size :( (same as my Cumulus). So bade farewell to the cutsy girlie kayano, and out came the manly silvery blue Kayanos. Well, I have to admit that the silvery blue pair of kayanos holds no attraction to me especially when the first time I set my eyes on them was when this "old man" with super huge feet was wearing them :P But then, i realised that it actually looks kinda cute leh after trying on them .... so I concluded that the silvery blue kayanos look better on ME lah ! :P

As of now, I only managed to take the kayanos out for walks and a short run on the treadmill. Was told that the kayanos has some ankle support mechanism that will make it "mould" to the shape of the wearer's ankle after breaking into the shoes, making the shoes fit the ankle better. Let's hope it truly works and help provide some support for my weak left ankle.

That's basically my update for now ... more physio sessions coming up ... may also consult a sinseh (basically just trying whatever options presented to me ... ). Let's see how things go ...

Ok, am beat. TGIF! Going to zzz ...

SleepyAMMJazzy

AMMJazzy

I been eating and not exercising. So naturally, I'm just growing horizontally and looking more pregnant than ever.

Wanted to call myself a whale but someone has already claimed that title (although she does not fit that bill lor, but well, dun like to fight with people for things, I friendly mah wat to do :P). Anyway, recalled recently about this article in the papers about this super humungous ship liner that is able to transport dunno how many tonnes of goods (a few hundred containers) and this liner just delivered tonnes of goods to Britain in time for Xmas.... and this liner is from Maersk

So. ... decided to call myself AhMaMaerskJazzy to fully explain how I feel right now ....

hehe

Update ...

Ok .... so for the past 1 or 2 days I have been walking without any pain, so today tot I will do a test run on the treadmill during lunch, in my new Kayano (will blog about that if/when I have the time).

Anyway, verdict: lasted only 17 mins before the pain got worrying enough for me to stop. Not that it didn't have a niggling feeling from the moment I start running.

So anyhow, my injured days are still NOT over.

Just a little update, more really just to keep my blog current. haha

I feel like an old lady now .... only able to go for WALKS, not runs hahaha -_-"

AhMaJazzy