Just for Laugh

A hypothetical situation where 20 CEOs board an airplane and are told that the flight that they are about to take is the first-ever to feature pilotless technology: It is an uncrewed aircraft.

Each one of the CEOs is then told, privately, that their company's software is running the aircraft's automatic pilot system. Nineteen of the CEOs promptly leave the aircraft, each offering a different type of excuse.

One CEO alone remains on board the jet, seeming very calm indeed. Asked why he is so confident in this first uncrewed flight, he replies : "If it is the same software that runs my company's IT systems, this plane won't even take off." !!!!

That is called Confidence!!!

Arghhhhhhh

The only times I managed to run for the past 2 weeks were when I chased after the bus!

Both times my leg hurt :(

This is really really frustrating ......

And to think that SBR is few days away and the physiotherapist that I'm seeing shook his head when I told him about my desire to run this sunday .... "You will suffer", he said.

Haizzz .... there goes my joy in running (yet again) ....

and its affecting my spin too coz I feel the pain, and my swim ... and my walk ....

Must I lay off completely ???

I think I ought to see a chinese sinseh about my ankle, feels like a mild sprain .... though therapist said I might have a mild case of achilles tendonitis ... -_-"

Aiyo .... I'm just a casual runner ... dun even train seriously .... y am i afflicted with all these injuries !?!?!? *bang head*

Slack Week

Super Duper Slack Week ....  

I cut down on my exercise this week due to the pain on my leg ... Spin on Mon & Wed, swam on Mon.  By Wed the pain was enough to make me feel totally wiped out during the spin ... I knew I had to rest ...

But I'm glad I had a pretty good sociable week ....

Tues
Met up with Al, my long-time friend, for dinner and to get something from him. Had dinner at New York New York, AMK Hub. Weekday and yet got to queue for dinner! -__-"
Food turned out to be quite lousy, with staff who doesn't know the difference between wedges and fries, and who gave me the bill when I didn't ask for it, only for me to realise it was a bill for another table, with the change in it! *shake head*
Only saving grace was their mud pie. That was the only thing that tasted nice. At least Al enjoyed it.

Wed
Spent a relaxing and wonderful afternoon with mom.  Had lunch @ Victor's Kitchen, followed by retail therapy and lots of easy chit chat during the shopping spree ..
Also had dinner at one of the places that I've been wanting to go for ages - Curry Flavour.
We both loved the curry! I'm also quite surprised that mom enjoyed miso soup! Mom isn't a Jap food fan and I thought she would find miso soup a tad too odd for the taste buds. Boy, was I wrong! :P
Was a good afternoon off for me ...

Thur
Met up with a friend whom I have not met in years! Ever since she got married and moved to Paris. She is now back for good, and very much living like a tai-tai (just without the airs). Its very good to hear her voice after so long. She is someone whom is so full of zest, so easy going and happy, its almost contagious. We had dinner at Clarke Quay while catching up ... always nice to hear her stories ... and she just has so much to tell ... while I'm always the boring one just happy to sit back and listen to her stories ;P

Fri 
Home cook dinner! Yumz!

Sun
I'm going to bring mom to see the movie 881 tomorrow. Yah, quite surprised that I would want to watch that show, but saw in the news many old folks seem to enjoy that show, so thought it would be a good chance to bring mom to catch that show. Anyway, its been decades since she last step into a theatre i think. Let's see whether that movie is any good ...

Leg still hurt though ... losing the momentum to exercise and haven't got my lazy butt off to try and run.  But on the other hand I also do not wish to aggravate it any further ... not sure when I will resume my regimen ... but I better at least go for a swim or something before i lose all motivation.  I even went to the doc's to get some muscle relaxant.  Not sure it would help, but at least the mild pull/pain wouldn't bug me as much ...

Sian

Second day of inactivity. No gym, NOTHING.

And my calf still hurts ... ankle feels odd too ... WTF !

New York New York ...
Victor's Kitchen ...
Curry Flavour ...
nonya curry ...

These are my jiak since Tues!!! Goosh!! No exercise and yet ....

Solid!

Happy National Day!

This is more like it ... :)

Uh-Oh

Think I'm injured again as I feel the same pain when I run now ...
Tried to run ytd and well, I struggled for 1km before I had to stop, rest and stretch ...
I admitted defeat 1 km later as I didn't see the need to push and aggravate it anymore than I should

Was seen by someone while walking home (was a long walk back), but I didn't know until that someone sms to ask me how was my run that morning ...

I will hence lay off once again ... for how long I'm not sure .... quite tempted to hang up my shoes once and for all ...

Time to kiao kah ...

Wun be blogging for a while ...

Rest & Jiak

Feeling really tired by last evening. Slept before 9 and didn't even finish watching the NDP :P

Felt so tired and my left leg is not good. Very weak, with pain on my shins and ankle ... I feel the weakness compared to the right .... so decided to just skip my morning gym today. No, in fact, I shall lay off for today ... and possibly whole weekend ....
Rest I shall. I must be discipline to rest too haha

Last minute ended up having breakfast at Kovan. I have always seen a long queue at the Mee Jiang Kueh stall though I didn't recall it to be any good. Been wanting to try it again to see what is so great about the MJK so decided to head there for breakfast since I'm not going to the gym.

The MJK is really not fantastic. The kueh is soggy in the inside (that's not what it should feel like! yucks ...) and the sticky peanut is nothing to rave about. The peanut wasn't generously spread across the mjk and it doesn't oozes out from the kueh opening when you bite into it. Disappointing. The kaya version isn't any better too. Frankly, I don't see what's the fuss! The ones at Maxwell or Ghim Moh are much better! If I ever need a MJK fix near home, I'll just buy the one at the Pinle branch in Kovan.

TLR Wedding Run

Our penghulu of SGRunners, TLR, would be finally tying the knot with his beloved FD this coming Sunday.

To commemorate such an important event for such an important man in our SGRunners kampung, Tiwazz (think is him since he started the post?) had organised a Wedding Run just for TLR.
(Picture : The Lonely Runner - not for long :D)

Seeing that the distance posted on the forum was 8-10km, I decided to sign up for this run. More to be a part of this run to help celebrate such a joyous event with TLR, and also because I thought 8-10km would be manageable for me. And considering that it would be a fun run, I suppose the pace wouldn't kill me :P

It was a cosy turn-out of a handfull of us including Tiwazz, Charlotte, Dasher, Alvo, Meteor, Roentgen, JT, SV and Aichai. Haven't seen Aichai for months so its really good to see him again! The run didn't start til 7:30am while we waited for Tiwazzto set up the "accessories" for TLR and also for the sky to clear from the early morning downpour. Everyone was joking about skipping the run and heading straight for breakfast but of course, we couldn't possibly let ourselves down without a run could we? :P

TLR was really embarrassed and awkward about running with a "Just Married" tag on his bum and several balloons and tin cans strung together to form a train behind him while he ran ... but he still good spiritedly went along with us ... except that he would run along with the cans in hand each time we pass by a more populated area so as not to attract tooo much attention haha


Suggestions streamed in about where to run (so as to run past crowded places :P) with Dasher leading the way guiding TLR and us on the direction and Roentgen running around snapping away with his swanky new Canon Ixus 850IS. It was a short distance but somehow many of us were feeling very tired from the run. I for one, with my injured leg acting up again, was feeling quite unwell for the run but realised even JT, Charlotte & Aichai were feeling the strain too. Possibly the talking, the frequent start & stop made the run more tiring ... (Picture of TLR leading the pack past Holland Village)

We returned to the start point in about 1hr later, covering an avg of 8km, according to the many footpods among us and was joined by FD.

We yakked some more, took some group photos and left for breakfast at the nearby halal kopitiam. A detailed account, with photos can be found at Roentgen's blog.

My very first SGRunners run in almost 10 months! Wow! Time really flies. Its good to finally be able to join the group runs again and see familiar faces. Hope I would be able to join more of such runs .... for now, I've got to lay off again. Lately feeling a lot of strain on my left leg. Doesn't bode well and I have to rest if I still want to run SBR in 2 weeks time.

LSD with Corrinne :P

Woke up without the phone alarm and realised that my phone had hung once again (argh!!!). Thankfully it was just past 6am (thank my lucky stars) and quickly changed and wanted to head out for my LSD. Stomach still felt darn full from the extreme pig out yesterday and feeling really guilty and disgusted with myself. While getting ready my bro-in-law appeared in front of me and asked to join me for my run! Scared the skin out of me -__-"

So we headed out and I showed him how to stretch properly before we started our run at Gerald Dr right at the petrol kiosk. The sky was just brightening and the air fresh. Its so good to be out taking a stroll .... BIL isn't fit (but still commendable that he wanted to start to work out!) and so I just followed his pace while we jogged with me yakking away to help keep his mind off stuff. Its interesting that I noticed so many unfamiliar structures that I never did previously. We walked at certain segments to let BIL catch his breath and just took things slow while we trotted and chit chat ... it was good to have someone to talk to :) I asked BIL to head back 30 mins into our run so that he doesn't overdo it ... based on the map we covered about 1.82km! Didn't seem that long! But it is really a good distance that a non-runner covered! That's a good start I would say :) We parted ways at the junction of YCK Rd and CTE where BIL turned back while I start my run.

Weather is still very cooling and nice and I think the 30 mins warm up helped to warm up my engine and I felt good to start my run. Today I didn't want to spend time cracking my head thinking where to run but I'm alright because my mind would be occupied listening to two new albums on my ipod ... so boredom wouldn't kick in for today's run (yipppeeee!) *super broad smile* With my ipod plugged in, I just headed straight, intending to hit Upper Thomson Road to Tagore Lane where my fav stretch of tree-lined road is and just carried on. Intent is to u-turn at the 1 hour mark so that I can cover by timing of 2hrs+.

Apart from a very tight left calf which I had to constantly stretch at each traffic stop break, the run was surprisingly smooth today and I didn't feel the lethargy even at the usual 30mins mark. I passed The Prata Place that ieatishootipost recently blogged about and Nee Soon camp. Aiya, once again my plan was thwarted when I reached the junction of Sembawang Road & Yishun Ave. Instead of u-turning, I turned right into Yishun Ave and ran towards Lower Seletar Reservoir Park. Reached the park and decided to run a little further towards Yishun Ave 2 when I saw across from the Yishun Sports Stadium was the Bottle Tree Park! Its really funny how things always turn out unexpected. BIL was just telling me about this place earlier while running just now and I thought I wouldn't check it out today, but would do that in my next LSD ... So was feeling very happy that somehow chance, and legs just brought me to this place and I got to explore a new place without expecting to!

The Bottle Tree Park looks very new, and the toilet was thankfully clean (prolly from under usage). They even locked some of the cubicles. Interesting that they even had shower facilities ! similar to those you see at ECP - those open air shower heads. The park had a basket ball court, a fishing pond (several ah peks already fishing by the pond... not sure what's the fun fishing in a small pond with the mrt train track right beside ... awww well ...*shrug* :P), two cafes (one right beside the pond so it would be a nice place to hang out for families ... already thinking of bringing my monsters there sometime hehe ... and the other cafe is tucked further up the stretch of road, but not sure whether it is open for business yet). They also had a small nursery but not sure what they are planting ...

The run from here on felt laborious. Legs started to feel like lead and I lost the momentum I had in the first one hour. I wondered whether the 30 mins warm up, even though at an extreme relaxed pace, contributed to my build-up lethargy now. Nonetheless I just trotted on, slowly but surely, and determined to return to the ending point, hoping to cover 10mins more than my usual run since I haven't up my mileage for ages.

I stopped at the same petrol kiosk right outside Gerald Dr for a much needed water break, walked for a good 4 minutes before i continued my run. Today I ended my run not at the kiosk, but did a small loop back to my place.

Total distance covered for today's route: 19.11km (excluding warm-up)
Total time taken : 2hr 20mins

I seriously think there is something wrong with the distance calculation at mapmyrun. Not possible that I have covered 19km in 2hrs 20mins when I was going at such a slow pace.

Last week I thought I had covered longer but ended up the distance shown was much shorter than I expected. And today, the opposite happened. I can only say something is wrong with mapmyrun :P

Also saw Gentle out for his morning bike with two of his kakis. So happy to see a familiar face during the run, really helped to spur me to carry on with my run! Good to see you around, Ironman Gentle! :)

My constant companion for my runs is my trusty ipod. And today, I have Corrinne keeping me company with her Beautiful Seed album ... and I'm so in love with Five Loaves & Two Fishes ...sadly, I have to say I'm not very impressed (almost a little disappointed) with her new album.

Pig Out!!!!

I'm glad I managed to get my sis and mom out today to have a ladies' pig out at their favourite buffet haunt - Sakura @ Clementi Woods.

After the late night from the Corrinne May concert, I decided to sleep in and skip my LSD (SLACKER!!!! :P). So quickly rounded up the two most important female figures in my life to catch up over lunch. So happy both agreed !

This is my first time at Sakura @ Clementi Woods. Have heard so much about this place from mom and sis but have never got a chance to visit til today. Was in awe when sis brought me around ... they have 2 floors worth of food (this is a real glutton's paradise!!!) and I was just excitedly snapping away until one of the staff gently told me no pictures allowed :P by then I had already captured most of what I wanted anyway haha ...

On the upper level they have the sashimi (tuna, salmon, cuttlefish etc.), sushi, grilled stuff (chicken, salmon, beef etc.), dessert, fruits, pizza, spagetti etc.






On the lower floor they had the cooked stuff like fried rice, different types of cooked fish like salmon, dory, unagi etc, vege, prawns, satay, stir fried mushrooms etc, deep fried prawns, nuggets, samosas, laksa, chicken, oysters, salad, baked scallop, ice cream, chinese dessert, dim sum drinks etc.

Ok, for an over $20 per head lunch buffet, you really cannot expect the food to be too good. But its good enough for us ... not all the dishes are good (the laksa is a definite can skip) but the food is fresh ... Think I get my $$ worth just eating the sashimi and all the fish dishes .... today I really overdose on fish! Think I must cut down on fish intake liao hahaha

It was a good meal, and even better being able to be out to catch up over a hearty meal with the family.

My plan to run in the late evening after returning from the buffet never materialised because I felt tooo stuffed and heavy from the meal that I couldn't run! Think would puke if I run! hahahah

Pig lor! And I still ate somemore for dinner ... really champion ...

Beautiful Seed

I attended Corrinne May's concert on Fri night.

Its been such a long time since I was last at Clementi and didn't realise that the interchange has shifted to a new location some 200m from the original site, while the previous site is now under heavy construction.

Its so nice to be going back to NUS after so many years ... hasn't changed much, but then again, seems like so much has changed. Such a paradox. Got to NUS University Cultural Centre (UCC). My first time at the UCC. It just looks like a big auditorium to me, nothing much. We got ourselves Corrinne's latest CD titled Beautiful Seed (yay!) which come to think of it, was slated previously to be launched in May .. hmmm ... deadline slip haha ...

I enjoyed Corrinne's concert but somehow I wasn't as moved with her new songs as I was with her older two albums. She still has a wonderful voice although I feel that she wasn't able to carry some of her notes as high as she wanted at some point. Situation was possibly exacerbated by the overly loud music that drowned her voice at times -___-" Though I felt I enjoyed her xmas concert even more, this one didn't fall too short .... I was very happy when she sung some of her older tracks which included my fav Fly Away. I've heard it like hundreds of times (no, not exaggerating ... and this is still one track I listen to during my runs) but I still get moved when she sung it live. It was just so moving and somehow this song always reminds me of Colin Raye's Love Me.

There is less commentaries from her this time compared to her xmas concert but I do appreciate her giving some brief introductions to some of her songs to explain what the song is about. These 3 songs left deeper impressions in me ...

• Shelter - about telling someone that you will be there for him/her
• On My Way - about finding your way ... that you will get there ... both literally and figuratively ... you go figure. How she explained about getting lost while driving and getting herself a GPS just sounded so much like me :P
  
• Five Loaves and Two Fishes - she first sang this song during her xmas concert and I just love it. Its inspired by a Christian story ... which a friend later kindly explained that in the story, a young boy offered whatever he had, five loaves and two fishes, to thousands of hungry people. This was passed around and everyone just took a little and miraculously it fed all of them. In short its about not thinking that what little you do will not matter coz it does.

I'm glad I found friends to attend this concert with. Thanks for the company ....
:)

Happy Birthday, Loti!

Here's wishing Loti a very very Happy Birthday!
May your each passing year be a better one compared to the previous!
May you enjoy peace, happiness and good health always! :)