Yes, we did it! :)
All five of us, Charmane, Roonz, Bala, Teelee & I joined other five cycling teams and started our 7-hour spin challenge at 1015hrs. In front of us were the 7-hour GroupX challenge where the instructors from Fitness First (FF being the organiser of this charity event) led the participants in exercises ranging from Body Attack, Body Pump, Step, Combat, Yoga and the like.
I thought that with minimum resistance, I wouldn't have problems spinning for extended periods of time. But I wasn't prepared for the pain sitting on the bike and I felt the pain and lethargy setting in very early on in the marathon. I had to constantly alternate between standing climbs and seated spin throughout the challenge.
The challenge for myself in this event is to cycle as much as I can. Though most of the funds have been raised, but a good friend has offered to donate for the duration of the time I spent cycling. Ok, so you might say that no one (apart from my team members) will know how long I actually ride, but no. I have my integrity, and I wouldn't lie just to get a few extra bucks. It is also a personal challenge to myself. I'm never an athelete, and the only riding I do is during the spin classes in FF. So this is like a challenge to myself in finding out how long I can last on the bike. My target : 5 hours with 30mins rest in between.
It was good fun just being with the team, chatting and laughing and entertaining ourselves while spinning away. The team beside us, made us of one of my fellow gym mates and his friends, were also spinning away furiously beside us. My gym mate, whom we never spoke in these many months we attended the same class, was actually very friendly and jovial and joked with us on and off.
Helps to keep the boredom at bay.
Got to thank our many friends who came by to support us while we sweat away. THANKS to Kops, JT, Tao, Taz, Aichai & family ! Appreciate you folks taking the time off your precious Sat to come see us and cheer us on! *bow*
Also wanted to thank my dear team members for readily agreeing to take part in this challenge (you people rock!) and for allowing a rookie like me to spin as and when I asked so that I can raise more $$ for CCF!!
I managed to spin a total of 5 hours and stopped at 1700hrs. Though there is still 30mins more to go before the end of the challenge, I decided to call it quits as my left leg was starting to really hurt by then and I didn't want to risk an injury. However, I'm glad that I managed to meet my target. Yay!
The challenge ended at 1730hrs and all six teams did it! Although there was no doubt that we could complete the challenge, it still felt good.
And we each received a certificate of participation ... 
We were supposed to wash up at the gym and wait for the party to start 2 hours later. However, most of us were beat so we decided to just have a quick dinner at the food court nearby before heading home to rest.
A very very big THANK YOU to all our supporters, and to the many of our friends for donating. We couldn't have done it without the support from all!
Its interesting how this whole thing came about. Just recently I was thinking to myself that I have yet to do a project for charity this year. Something which I said I would do following the wonderful experiences I had from the Go The Extra Mile project for HWA last year. It was shortly after that thought that I got to know about this Cycling Marathon. Its interesting how things just fall into place in just a few msn chats and in no time a team was formed. I'm also surprised & happy that I managed to collect over $800 in donations this round.
I'm glad I managed to do something in 2007 for charity. Definitely a highlight in 2007 for me.
All photos courtesy of Kops. Thanks for taking pics for us (as none of us brought our cameras along)
:)
I received a call last night from an acquaintance whom I met 7 years ago during an overseas trip. As fellow Singaporeans in a foreign land attending the same conference invited by the vendor, we got along well. However, we never keep in contact after returning to Singapore. So you can imagine my surprise when this said acquaintance called me last night. I think he could distinctly sense my suspicion and uncertainty about the purpose of the call and had to reassure me he wasn't calling to sell me something (like insurance? haha). Yah, perhaps not now, but he might be staging something for the future "attack" ??We exchanged pleasantries and did some catching up about our lives and despite sounding friendly, I was still guarded (hey who wouldn't??). I can't shake the notion that there is something more to this. The whole thing just seem so ....... unreal ? Maybe I'm just being the 小人 and eyeing him with my own prejudices about human nature :PWill people really be so kind to call and catch up ? After a 7 years break ? I know I wouldn't. Its just not me. But that doesn't mean others wouldn't. Anyway, through the conversation I just told myself to relax, but somehow I also didn't want to let my guard down, to risk hacking away the defensive wall that I have put up. I guess I'm overly paranoid ? But I just hate feeling stupid thereafter, when I thought someone is being kind only to realise later he/she has his/her own hidden agenda. Then I felt so foolish and naive. Ah well, anyway, just some musings about something unexpected that happened. And recently I also wondered ... when people ask you "how's your week so far" (or something along that line), they basically just wanted to to tell you about their week ? And not really keen in yours ? That's how I felt when I bumped into someone (that I dread) in the pantry and all she could do was rattle on about her week and stuff. She just found someone to absorb her ramble, and that person sadly, was me. :PK, random musings ...
Hooray! Just got the confirmation that we are in!Fund raising begins now ... Hope everyone will be supportive of our efforts to raise $$ for CCF :)
Hooorah!!!! We have formed our team!! *victory sign*Thanks to the indian chief for helping to find us our 5th rider ... and also coming up with our team name .... Team Jiak :PWe are ready to go ... now let's just hope that our team got selected coz they only looking for 4 teams for this event.*prays*Thanks to the double Rs (you know who u r :)) for so promptly pledging your support & funds. Really really appreciate your altruistic & kind gesture! *BOW*
3 stationary bikes. 5 riders. 7 hours. $500 (min).A few of us would be riding for charity this coming 27 Oct from 10am to 5:30pm.We will be raising a minimum of $500 and we are still lacking one rider to join us in this meaningful event.None of us know what is in store for the 7 hours, except that we will ride and all proceeds will go to the Children's Cancer Foundation. I'm lucky to have found 3 other like-minded friends to join me in this "marathon" of sorts, and I'm in awe of how readily they agreed to help out. No questions asked. Just "Ok!" or "On!". I like such decisive-ness! I myself am not so decisive. I have to learn from them! Hope we will be able to raise the min $500 for the team. We are already prepared to fork out $100 each in the event we couldn't raise the sum.But the most pressing need now is to find ourselves one more team member to join us in this charity event. If anyone is keen, pls come forward. Just drop me an email or meebo me (just chat on the meebo box on the right hand frame) :)
A Friday dinner turned into an unexpected 2N stay at the ol' place.
Had a long overdue, anticipated, much desired home cooked dinner. Needless to say, it was healthy and YUMMILICIOUS! Vege & toufu soup with thick slabs of steamed cod. What else can KJ asks for ? The green bean soup dessert makes me a happier gal. :D
Woke up feeling happy because I've been thinking about having breakfast at Ghim Moh for the longest time and I finally got my wish after this long. Walked to the market with mom and found the food centre thronged with people. Many of the stalls were doing a roaring business and I had difficulty deciding what to buy. Not so much due to the vast variety of food but it was just tough to find a decent stall that doesn't have a long queue! There even was a shop selling chee cheong fun with this LCD screen playing some advert of their CCF! win lor ... CCF only leh -__-"
Finally settled for some homemade bao which are yummy (the chicken bao was oh-so-YUMMY with the chunks of juicy chicken - so unlike those disgusting ball of minced meat of unknown origin in those mass produced buns. The red bean bao - which was oh-so-tiny but oh-so-delish! the paste just ooozes out when you break it into two ... HEAVEN!) Only bought 1 each as I wanted to try other stuff from other stalls. Unfortunately, it was way too crowded for comfort so ended up just buying prawn noodles for mom and mjk for myself. The MJK no longer tastes as good as before. Its smaller in size *tsk tsk* and the loose peanuts filling just doesn't stick to the kueh and they just sort of made a big mess when you try to bite into it ... u taste more of the kueh then the peanuts, which have either been dropped back into the plastic bag, or onto the table. There was also way too much sugar in the peanuts mix making it taste more like sugar than peanuts and hence it lacks the crunchy peanuts taste. The kueh however is still as nice and soft. Next time can I just ask the uncle for MJK kosong ? :P We ended our breakfast with a bowl of ah balling. The green tea tang yuan was overpowering and taste too much of artificial flavouring. Mental note never to order that flavour again (auntie said is a new flavour). I still like the sesame and peanuts paste best. Shall stick to those in future.
While buying some groceries in the nearby supermart, we met my uncle & auntie. Wow, what a coincidence! They actually called my mom out for breakfast but she was already out with me, so they came over to our place after their shopping to chit chat.
The rest of the day passed by peacefully, just eating, sleeping, watching tv (its a long time since I watch ch 8 and u and cna!!! I have to say they really have boring shows!!! CNA saved the day with Japan Hour and I Do! Let's eat ... where I enjoyed some good tv time with mommy haha)
Next morning, a last minute decision brought us to Commonwealth. The place has changed a lot. It is now buzzing with activities what with the newly opend Sheng Shiong and a food court right beside it. But no, mom and I were not there to eat at the food court. We wanted to reminisce by having our brekkie in the old food centre. But alas, when we got there, realised that the food centre is really quiet. There were only a few stalls open and the yummy fried fritters stall wasn't open for business yet. We finally decided on having porridge only to have the owner exclaimed that they were all sold out -__-". No choice, we ended up at the newer food centre for some laksa, yam cake and chee cheong fun. The laksa was quite nice. Best of all it had the makansutra certificate and yet there wasn't a very long queue and the service was damn fast! Sometimes i wonder whether the stall owners deliberately slow down their pace so that the queue gets longer to form this fake impression that they are very popular hence making more people queue up for their food -_-"
Anyway, while we were about done, an older lady joined us at our table. Mom easily struck up a conversation with her (that's typical of my amicable, friendly mom) who happens to be teochew too and we happily chatted for the duration of her meal of porridge. She is a spritely old lady of 70 plus, full of wisdom and positivity. It was a good chat with her telling us many of the life's simple yet important lessons. Lessons which I think my mom really need to learn and remember. In a way, meeting this old lady was almost a God-sent. Almost like heaven planned this for us because just that morning, we were having a rather serious talk about some stuff and I could tell mom was troubled and worried. But after hearing from the old lady, she sort of relaxed and agreed that she had to learn to let go. Let's hope she remembers that!
While walking about the area, realised that the place, like us, have aged. We went to this traditional bakery which we used to frequent many years back and chatted with the owner a bit. The business has deterioriated ever since some of the blocks were vacated and the residents shifted to the newer flats. The newly opened Sheng Shiong and food court didn't help and kept most of the crowd away from them, which was older and further in from the main road. They used to get some business from the church goers in the weekends but with the newer establishments, that was gone too. Kinda sad to see this old neighbourhood slowly wasting away ..... just like how some older people feel .... well, the shop owner was hoping that few months later the crowd would return after the novelty of the new establishments wear off ...let's hope so :) I sure do not wish for the authorities to tear down these old neighbourhood. We need some of these to keep our heritage ... our memories ...
The picture above - newer blocks form a backdrop against the older structures ...
The old food centre - now losing its shine and popularity but still retaining its old charm ...
Dinner was at this other food court, again surrounded by all these aged two-storey buildings. This is more like a senior citizens neighbourhood ... I wonder how long these buildings will stand before they are demolished ...Its a weekend full of eats ... and rest ... and also lots of thinking .... actually feeling very heavy hearted over some of the stuff I have to think about ... kinda stressed out. I'm worried but yes, I know worrying doesn't help the situation ... Deep breath KJ, deep breath ...
Yes, that's my weekly mileage now.
No motivation to run. Feel so sian just the thought of going out to run.
I struggled last weekend when I attempted a run. I had to huff and puff my way home ... legs were like lead. Total distance covered ? Less than 7km. Disgusting.
So I'm not running .... I've reverted to being a gym rat.
Too bad.
Just got this multi-grain rice from Sheng Siong last night, and sis helped me to cook it today.
Turns out to be a treat! Its made up of five types of grains though I'm not sure what they are :P
Definitely a good substitute for the plain white rice or brown rice.
:)
Yumz!
What's the fuss ?
I wasn't in the least bit keen to join another social networking community online what with friendster and all. What's the deal really ?
Anyway, a friend sent an invite recently and the newspapers also dedicated a whole one page of the Sunday Lifestyle section on it. So I decided to just spend some time playing with it, so as not to be too out of touch with what's popular out there.
I feel silly sending drinks to friends, sending hot potatoes to get them out of my hands, playing scissors, paper, stone, biting friends and turning them into vampires (??), decorating their garden, scribbling on their superwall ... ok ok, u know the drift ... definitely better than I do since I'm a newbie in Facebook! :P ....
I am selective who I send the above to tho, coz I think some of them will just find me totally BO LIAO for doing that! So I only send to those who had sent me similar invites/requests ... in an attempt not to seem overly childish :P
But I have to say this Facebook gives me time away from work. It doesn't take more than a few seconds to enter into a food fight with someone, so it helps to offer that momentary distraction from the drone of everyday life. Other than that, I haven't find the real appeal yet. Maybe I'll get hook to it too, maybe sooner rather than later ?
I dunno.
But until then ... buy me another margarita and throw me another basket of that KFC ! :)
No desire to blog lately. None.
Was doing some random housekeeping of the pics on my dopod and found some yummies that I thought I would just put it up as a random post for memories sake. (So long didn't blog and I encountered problems with the picture layout ... can't arrange them! argh)
4 Sep
New Harbour Cafe & Bar
Weekday drinks sesh with Al at this little place near my workplace. We wanted to go Tuckshop after reading about it somewhere ... but the place was crowded and noisy (filled with youngsters) and we would have to wait for a table. Wanting some place quiet for a peaceful meal, we walked about the area and found this interesting, quiet place (which the shop name escapes me at the moment) that sells beer and finger food. Beer was good (ok, I dunno much about beer so left the ordering to the alcoholic). I was in this fries-craze phase lately so ordered their chips. They came in this dim sum container. The chips were YUMMILICIOUS! There weren't many patrons, just a few of us so definitely a good place to chill and talk.
7 Sep
Had dinner at the Jerry's Bar & Grill. Been told that they serve great food, and their fiery wings (or whatever you call them) are to die for. So gamely ordered that plus a few other dishes including their burger. Not one who fancies burger, clearly that wasn't something I would have ordered. But I guessed I have been missing out on the burger coz I really adored it! Its not those fast-food chain burgers I'm used to. I'm now a burger convert, with the juicy sauce permeating the insides of the burger and making the burger soft to the bite and yet juicy when your teeth sinks into the insides of the burger, with the meat chunks. Its just heavenly.
Verdict for the wings - ok lah. Its spicy, but nothing to rave about. Friend wasn't impressed.
12 Sep
Prego!
A user at work invited me and another colleague to lunch at .... Prego. Yes! Prego! Suaku me has never been there and of course I was luffed at by colleagues who had dined there many times -_-" ah well, doesn't matter. My skin has thickened in the course of the years hehe
Not one who fancy italian food, pastas, spaghetti, liguini, rivoli blah blah ... they are just carbo to me.
The only thing I bothered to take a shot of was the dessert. Nicely put together.
