After weeks of discussions, finding and determining the appropriate charity organisation to support, talking to SSC etc. , we finally got SSC's in-principle approval to organise the charity fund raising drive!!!
LAST UPDATE (21 Jul 0120hrs) : The post to inform the fellow sgrunners about our charity drive has been put up here. Pls go take a look and join us for this very meaningful & worthwhile event! Every individual & every effort counts!
Below is the all important email that we have been waiting for .... finally we have the confidence to push full steam ahead *clap clap clap*
Hi XXX,
Thank you for your support of the Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2006 (SCSM06) Good to have spoken to you today. We have noted your request to run and raise funds through the SCSM06.
In principle, you have the approval to raise funds for the HWA (your proposed beneficiary). Please note that you will have to follow-up to provide FULL details of all activities that you will be doing!
Thank you!
Best Regards,
YYY
In the ensuing months, a few of us sgrunners will be appealing to all you runners out there to help raise funds for Handicaps Welfare Association (HWA). Fund raising details are still being worked out, so watch this space! Just pls make sure you support our charity fund raising yah :)
I sincerely hope you will do your part to contribute to this very worthy cause. If you would leave a note on this blog, I'm prepared to set up a mailing list to update you as and when there are updates on this charity event to keep you informed. :)
PleasedJazzy
Friday, July 21, 2006
Wonderful Dinner with Friends
A friend sms me in the morning asking to meet up for dinner. He needs some company and to bounce off some thoughts with a small group of us. So I went for my gym during lunchtime, instead of in the evening. Did a relaxing run of between 7:30min/km to 6min/km on the treadmill. Covered about <8km in 50mins.
Met up with my 2 friends close to 7. We had dinner at this taiwan porridge in Thomson road. The food is yummilicious! We ordered pork floss toufu, braised pork with salted vegetables, fu-yong egg, vegetables and mushroom with prawns. The serving however was really small and we didn't feel satiated. A friend asked whether we have had enough and I was soooooo glad when we all agreed that the food was hardly enough to be a starter. Hence we ordered a second round, repeating the braised pork and pork floss toufu dishes plus a few other dishes. We had a good talk during the dinner, talking about serious topics and its through such topics that I realise how mature some of my friends are, and how shallow some of my thoughts are, as compared to theirs :P
After dinner, we still didn't feel satisfied so we went Chomp Chomp for dessert. We went Cafe Cartel and had between the 3 of us, 3 desserts: mudpie (which is really really DISAPPOINTING!!!), banana split (normal) and the brownie stack (yummilicious!). Frankly, if I were with my galfriends, they would already been saying that they are tooooo full right after the first serving at the muay place and I would be the only one feeling hungry still and feeling soooo much like a glutton. There is no way I would have been able to order a second round and go for dessert! (In fact we ordered only 2 desserts but we cleaned out the plates in no time, hence we went for a second order of the dessert too! R we gluttons or r we gluttons??? :P) But with these friends of mine, for once I feel NORMAL! That hey, there are human beings out there that eat the way I do!!! Although they are guys, and ok, I match their appetite :P but at least I feel normal and for once I felt good about it! THANKS guys for making me normal again :P
It was good company tonight. Good food and great talk with my friends.
Some random thoughts .... in life, there are many trials and tribulations that each of us has to go through during our lifetime. Some breeze through life while others seem to have it tough. I'm one of those that I guess breeze through life being a common folk, not achieving much but at the same time not having toooooo many horrible setbacks. Meaning in a normal distribution curve of the entire world population, i'm in the mid range of the distribution curve, meaning the common folk. So i guess i have very few life experiences to share and whenever friends have problems to talk about, I'm normally the one listening intently, but having not much to share haha. Anyway my point to all my friends is, whenever you feel unhappy, pls pls don't
bottle it up, dun just hide it under the carpet. It will just eat into you and you will feel miserable, and you will seem to have so much burden to carry on your poor shoulders. Try to find friends whom you can trust, and talk to them. They might not be able to help you, but trust me, when you r burdened with some problems, your mind tend to be clouded, you will not be able to think straight. This is when talking about it, bouncing some ideas off someone will definitely help. Even if it doesn't, I'm sure letting it out will make u feel better. Sometimes we just need to learn to let go. Many things cannot be as before, we just need to learn to accept that it will never be the same, and move on. Moving on is tough, but what to do ? We can either "hanta kaki" forever or we can bite the bullet and learn to move on gradually. We never know what is in store for us. Nothing is for the worse nor better, its just how we view a situation.
Ok, enough nonsense, I frankly do not know what I'm talking about .... its late and I better get some sleep else I will be soooooo zombie tomorrow ...
But I'm soooooooo glad that its finally FRIDAY!!!! Tonight's the 15km run with Taz, shut, teelee, superboy, cosmic and FBB ... hoorah! Just hope I can complete the 15km!! Wish me luck! :)
Met up with my 2 friends close to 7. We had dinner at this taiwan porridge in Thomson road. The food is yummilicious! We ordered pork floss toufu, braised pork with salted vegetables, fu-yong egg, vegetables and mushroom with prawns. The serving however was really small and we didn't feel satiated. A friend asked whether we have had enough and I was soooooo glad when we all agreed that the food was hardly enough to be a starter. Hence we ordered a second round, repeating the braised pork and pork floss toufu dishes plus a few other dishes. We had a good talk during the dinner, talking about serious topics and its through such topics that I realise how mature some of my friends are, and how shallow some of my thoughts are, as compared to theirs :P
After dinner, we still didn't feel satisfied so we went Chomp Chomp for dessert. We went Cafe Cartel and had between the 3 of us, 3 desserts: mudpie (which is really really DISAPPOINTING!!!), banana split (normal) and the brownie stack (yummilicious!). Frankly, if I were with my galfriends, they would already been saying that they are tooooo full right after the first serving at the muay place and I would be the only one feeling hungry still and feeling soooo much like a glutton. There is no way I would have been able to order a second round and go for dessert! (In fact we ordered only 2 desserts but we cleaned out the plates in no time, hence we went for a second order of the dessert too! R we gluttons or r we gluttons??? :P) But with these friends of mine, for once I feel NORMAL! That hey, there are human beings out there that eat the way I do!!! Although they are guys, and ok, I match their appetite :P but at least I feel normal and for once I felt good about it! THANKS guys for making me normal again :P
It was good company tonight. Good food and great talk with my friends.
Some random thoughts .... in life, there are many trials and tribulations that each of us has to go through during our lifetime. Some breeze through life while others seem to have it tough. I'm one of those that I guess breeze through life being a common folk, not achieving much but at the same time not having toooooo many horrible setbacks. Meaning in a normal distribution curve of the entire world population, i'm in the mid range of the distribution curve, meaning the common folk. So i guess i have very few life experiences to share and whenever friends have problems to talk about, I'm normally the one listening intently, but having not much to share haha. Anyway my point to all my friends is, whenever you feel unhappy, pls pls don't
bottle it up, dun just hide it under the carpet. It will just eat into you and you will feel miserable, and you will seem to have so much burden to carry on your poor shoulders. Try to find friends whom you can trust, and talk to them. They might not be able to help you, but trust me, when you r burdened with some problems, your mind tend to be clouded, you will not be able to think straight. This is when talking about it, bouncing some ideas off someone will definitely help. Even if it doesn't, I'm sure letting it out will make u feel better. Sometimes we just need to learn to let go. Many things cannot be as before, we just need to learn to accept that it will never be the same, and move on. Moving on is tough, but what to do ? We can either "hanta kaki" forever or we can bite the bullet and learn to move on gradually. We never know what is in store for us. Nothing is for the worse nor better, its just how we view a situation.
Ok, enough nonsense, I frankly do not know what I'm talking about .... its late and I better get some sleep else I will be soooooo zombie tomorrow ...
But I'm soooooooo glad that its finally FRIDAY!!!! Tonight's the 15km run with Taz, shut, teelee, superboy, cosmic and FBB ... hoorah! Just hope I can complete the 15km!! Wish me luck! :)
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Mid Week Lo .......
Another hectic day at work. Also dunno what I busy with, some phone calls, some stupid problems with the system, some argument with peepz ... haiz .... work sucks ... but ok, shant dwell on the unhappiness ... it just SAP one's positive energies .... lalalalala
Ok, so during lunch time, I went to Running Lab to try on shoes. Previously gotten advice from DO, DreamRunner & Taz to try Adidas Adizero SN or Asics Cumulus. The former is out of stock so I decided to focus on Asics. I called up before going to RL to check whether they have my size for Cumulus and was delighted to know that Sam (was told to check with him) was in the shop til 3pm! He is seldom in the shop now as he now works part time and so i felt reallll lucky to know he was in the shop. Anyway, tried on the women's Cumulus 8 (newer, upgraded version of 7) and Nimbus. Even ran on the treadmill to try it out (in my office attire! so odd :P). The Cumulus is pretty light but unfortunately their women's size 10 does not give me the one thumb size difference and in order not to risk getting more black toenails, I have no choice but to go for the men's size. The men's Cumulus is red all round, pretty alright lah ... but then people in the know will all know that I'm wearing men's Cumulus! -___-" a bit the pai seh hor ?
After that I had lunch at Delifrance (wanted to be sinful and eat KFC, but no seats at lunch time & i was in a hurry, so ended up at Delifrance, which was pretty empty). As I was in a hurry, I got impatient after about 20 mins and asked the manager whether the food is to be served soon. He was pretty quick in doing damage control and swiftly offered us a fruit tart each - complimentary. A little odd IMO to serve dessert when we were still waiting for our main course! Should at least give us garlic bread or something more savoury ... We ordered chicken curry and fish. The curry chicken was yummilicious but the fish was horrible! It had a really fishy taste... yucks. So anyway, u have been warned if u intend to eat at Delifrance. But I find the food rather expensive. A little bowl of curry with a few miserable pieces of chicken & a bun and that fish in total cost me $23!!!!
Went to the gym at nite for a spin class. Today didn't feel that I have worked out much, maybe coz the session wasn't much of a hill climb session. Did a short run on the treadmill before heading home.
Two more days to the weekend. Shall go bodycombat class tomorrow and looking fwd to the LSD come Friday night. Hooray!
TiredJazz
Ok, so during lunch time, I went to Running Lab to try on shoes. Previously gotten advice from DO, DreamRunner & Taz to try Adidas Adizero SN or Asics Cumulus. The former is out of stock so I decided to focus on Asics. I called up before going to RL to check whether they have my size for Cumulus and was delighted to know that Sam (was told to check with him) was in the shop til 3pm! He is seldom in the shop now as he now works part time and so i felt reallll lucky to know he was in the shop. Anyway, tried on the women's Cumulus 8 (newer, upgraded version of 7) and Nimbus. Even ran on the treadmill to try it out (in my office attire! so odd :P). The Cumulus is pretty light but unfortunately their women's size 10 does not give me the one thumb size difference and in order not to risk getting more black toenails, I have no choice but to go for the men's size. The men's Cumulus is red all round, pretty alright lah ... but then people in the know will all know that I'm wearing men's Cumulus! -___-" a bit the pai seh hor ?
After that I had lunch at Delifrance (wanted to be sinful and eat KFC, but no seats at lunch time & i was in a hurry, so ended up at Delifrance, which was pretty empty). As I was in a hurry, I got impatient after about 20 mins and asked the manager whether the food is to be served soon. He was pretty quick in doing damage control and swiftly offered us a fruit tart each - complimentary. A little odd IMO to serve dessert when we were still waiting for our main course! Should at least give us garlic bread or something more savoury ... We ordered chicken curry and fish. The curry chicken was yummilicious but the fish was horrible! It had a really fishy taste... yucks. So anyway, u have been warned if u intend to eat at Delifrance. But I find the food rather expensive. A little bowl of curry with a few miserable pieces of chicken & a bun and that fish in total cost me $23!!!!Went to the gym at nite for a spin class. Today didn't feel that I have worked out much, maybe coz the session wasn't much of a hill climb session. Did a short run on the treadmill before heading home.
Two more days to the weekend. Shall go bodycombat class tomorrow and looking fwd to the LSD come Friday night. Hooray!
TiredJazz
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
CBD Run
I left the house in a hurry this morning, and only realised that I have forgotten my running shoes when I was in a train!!! Was disappointed in the prospect that I may have to skip the CBD run tonight until teelee came to the rescue and offered to help me pick up my shoes from my place after his morning training! My saviour!!! He is really my ANGEL IN DISGUISE! I can't thank you enough teelee!!!
I left the office earlier to be at the CBD Run meeting point, so that I can have sufficient time to change to my shoes. While waiting, chatted with Divey. She is such a nice and easy gal to talk to! Aichai & Roentgen came at about the same time while Teelee arrived shortly after. I quickly changed into my shoes in the TLV and at about 6 mins past 7pm, we pushed off for our CBD Run.
Great to meet some new faces today (Joey and steerpike). The people who turned up today included Roentgen, teelee, nemo, shut, charmane, superboy, kay, joey, charlotte, imd, alvo, meteor, cosmic, tiwazz, cheow (special appearance!!), doraemon_red, james, aichai, yean yin, bee, sxuanjing, Divey, run3 & cfred.
The folks are getting much faster and in no time Roentgen (who is recovering from a flu), Aichai, me are left behind. We were discussing about the charity event we were trying to organise while slowly made our way to the jetty. Apart from getting faster, the CBD runners are also getting stronger! They don't even stop at the jetty now, everyone just made a loop and carried on. Roentgen, Aichai, myself stayed behind and waited for Kay. We told superboi (who was accompanying Kay) to carry on with his run and we will take the shorter route with Kay back (anyway Roentgen has to take the shorter route back so as not to strain himself. Very well-behaved and disciplined doctor!! Well done! *clap clap clap*) We met James who was late and had to play catch up game to join us and after everyone had taken their break, we proceeded back, with aichai & james taking the longer route while the rest of us (kay, steerpike, roentgen & myself) took the shorter route back to the starting point.
The pace was comfortable and we reached the starting point and we took approximately 51mins to complete 6km. Roentgen finished the run strong and hardly breathless and he was able to hold a conversation easily throughout the run. Well done Roentgen! Welcome back and glad ur fitness level remains excellent!
There isn't any birthday celebration today. Feels a bit odd and something seems amiss without any celebration. The gang of us just crowded around chatting away, with some of us discussing about the charity and how to move forward. We finally left for dinner at Maxwell, occupying fully 4 tables. The group finally disbanded close to 10pm and kind teelee again sent the HSP folks back in his trusty TLV.
Thanks for the wonderful run & company ... :)
KickJazzy
I left the office earlier to be at the CBD Run meeting point, so that I can have sufficient time to change to my shoes. While waiting, chatted with Divey. She is such a nice and easy gal to talk to! Aichai & Roentgen came at about the same time while Teelee arrived shortly after. I quickly changed into my shoes in the TLV and at about 6 mins past 7pm, we pushed off for our CBD Run.
Great to meet some new faces today (Joey and steerpike). The people who turned up today included Roentgen, teelee, nemo, shut, charmane, superboy, kay, joey, charlotte, imd, alvo, meteor, cosmic, tiwazz, cheow (special appearance!!), doraemon_red, james, aichai, yean yin, bee, sxuanjing, Divey, run3 & cfred.
The folks are getting much faster and in no time Roentgen (who is recovering from a flu), Aichai, me are left behind. We were discussing about the charity event we were trying to organise while slowly made our way to the jetty. Apart from getting faster, the CBD runners are also getting stronger! They don't even stop at the jetty now, everyone just made a loop and carried on. Roentgen, Aichai, myself stayed behind and waited for Kay. We told superboi (who was accompanying Kay) to carry on with his run and we will take the shorter route with Kay back (anyway Roentgen has to take the shorter route back so as not to strain himself. Very well-behaved and disciplined doctor!! Well done! *clap clap clap*) We met James who was late and had to play catch up game to join us and after everyone had taken their break, we proceeded back, with aichai & james taking the longer route while the rest of us (kay, steerpike, roentgen & myself) took the shorter route back to the starting point.
The pace was comfortable and we reached the starting point and we took approximately 51mins to complete 6km. Roentgen finished the run strong and hardly breathless and he was able to hold a conversation easily throughout the run. Well done Roentgen! Welcome back and glad ur fitness level remains excellent!
There isn't any birthday celebration today. Feels a bit odd and something seems amiss without any celebration. The gang of us just crowded around chatting away, with some of us discussing about the charity and how to move forward. We finally left for dinner at Maxwell, occupying fully 4 tables. The group finally disbanded close to 10pm and kind teelee again sent the HSP folks back in his trusty TLV.
Thanks for the wonderful run & company ... :)
KickJazzy
Hair For Hope 2006
Since 2003, the Children's Cancer Foundation (CCF) has been organising the Hair For Hope event, where courageous and altruistic people shaved their heads to raise funds for the charity. They have raised a total of $150K through this event. You can read more about this here.
A friend of mine, an ex-classmate, has been one of the pioneers who shaved his head each year to support this event. This would be his fourth year doing it.
This year, CCF included an online pledge that allows donors to donate over the web. If you find CCF a worthy cause, and would like to donate to CCF, and also to support my friend, who has been a keen volunteer with CCF for several years now, pls make a contribution here. No matter what amount you pledge, it will make a difference to a child in CCF.
Many times, I whine and sigh about the unhappiness that I face. Reading about and being explosed to some of the charity organisations always help me put things into perspectives. We are blessed with good health and we can do practically whatever we want. We can jog, and have fun. There are however many people out there who do not get to enjoy such luxury. It saddens me to know there are many kids plagued with life threatening diseases. I've interacted with some of them when I volunteered briefly (and i have to emphasize BRIEFLY) at CCF and frankly, I marvelled at their optimism and their strength. These kids continue to lead happy and enriching life despite their illnesses. These kids truly need our support. So let's do what we can to help them.
Have you done a good deed today? If not, what are you waiting for ?
:)
A friend of mine, an ex-classmate, has been one of the pioneers who shaved his head each year to support this event. This would be his fourth year doing it.
This year, CCF included an online pledge that allows donors to donate over the web. If you find CCF a worthy cause, and would like to donate to CCF, and also to support my friend, who has been a keen volunteer with CCF for several years now, pls make a contribution here. No matter what amount you pledge, it will make a difference to a child in CCF.
Many times, I whine and sigh about the unhappiness that I face. Reading about and being explosed to some of the charity organisations always help me put things into perspectives. We are blessed with good health and we can do practically whatever we want. We can jog, and have fun. There are however many people out there who do not get to enjoy such luxury. It saddens me to know there are many kids plagued with life threatening diseases. I've interacted with some of them when I volunteered briefly (and i have to emphasize BRIEFLY) at CCF and frankly, I marvelled at their optimism and their strength. These kids continue to lead happy and enriching life despite their illnesses. These kids truly need our support. So let's do what we can to help them.
Have you done a good deed today? If not, what are you waiting for ?
:)
SHAPE Run 2006 (Part II)
Upon collecting our goodie bags (contents of which I will reveal later ... hehe), we bade our goodbyes and a couple of us (Roentgen, Shut, Junie, nemo, cfred, cosmic, teelee, charmane, tiwazz, alvo & meteor) headed to Suntec for some retail therapy. First stop was at NIKE B.I.R.D. Roentgen & Nemo found something for themselves, but none of the rest caught anything we like. Had a pretty lousy experience with the sales stuff in NIKE B.I.R.D. Totally unfriendly and unwilling to help. Asked them to check for sizes/color and they basically just so reluctant to do it. Even had difficulty with the counter gal when I tried to place an order for Roentgen for his Nike singlets at Marina. Anyway, I don't wish to be reminded of the unhappiness so will just glaze over this, and not elaborate any further.
;P
Didn't find anything we like, not even at Adidas, so we decided to head back to Marina Square NIKE B.I.R.D. Nemo and Roentgen got their stuff there and the few of us (less tiwazz, alvo, meteor & cosmic) whiled away our time just loitering in Marina Square. Having tea break at Kiliney (Angel joined us there) and we chit chat for a bit ... We seemed so much like a bunch of young kids simply enjoying our life, not having a care in the world. Its interesting to see how we, people from different walks of life, of different age (some of us many generations apart!!!), chatting away happily, sharing our tots etc. We don't seem to have a huge generation gap! I even feel young just hanging out with some of these young folks. Even get to understand how they feel, how they view certain issues and even learnt some youngster-speak (AA = Attract Attention).
We then headed to Running Lab so that Teelee could pick up his new shoes before the remaining 6 of us (Roentgen, Junie, Nemo, Charme, Teelee and myself) drove to East Coast Park Food Centre to tuck into the yummilicious wanton noodle. The gluttons in us also ordered stingray, BBQ chicken wing, rojak, tau pok & fried carrot cake. The food was good, but most importantly, the company makes the whole dinner experience must more enjoyable!
The group finally dispersed by 9 and Teelee once again was angelic enough to send the HSP folks home.
Got home and took some pics of the SHAPE run goodie bag. Wow! They really packed A LOT of goodies into one compact bag! Well done!! The guys are sooooooooo jealous that we got so many things from a $15 run. hehehehe .... The men dun get it .. :P
My race bib & certificate
The contents of my goodie bag
;P
Didn't find anything we like, not even at Adidas, so we decided to head back to Marina Square NIKE B.I.R.D. Nemo and Roentgen got their stuff there and the few of us (less tiwazz, alvo, meteor & cosmic) whiled away our time just loitering in Marina Square. Having tea break at Kiliney (Angel joined us there) and we chit chat for a bit ... We seemed so much like a bunch of young kids simply enjoying our life, not having a care in the world. Its interesting to see how we, people from different walks of life, of different age (some of us many generations apart!!!), chatting away happily, sharing our tots etc. We don't seem to have a huge generation gap! I even feel young just hanging out with some of these young folks. Even get to understand how they feel, how they view certain issues and even learnt some youngster-speak (AA = Attract Attention).
We then headed to Running Lab so that Teelee could pick up his new shoes before the remaining 6 of us (Roentgen, Junie, Nemo, Charme, Teelee and myself) drove to East Coast Park Food Centre to tuck into the yummilicious wanton noodle. The gluttons in us also ordered stingray, BBQ chicken wing, rojak, tau pok & fried carrot cake. The food was good, but most importantly, the company makes the whole dinner experience must more enjoyable!
The group finally dispersed by 9 and Teelee once again was angelic enough to send the HSP folks home.
Got home and took some pics of the SHAPE run goodie bag. Wow! They really packed A LOT of goodies into one compact bag! Well done!! The guys are sooooooooo jealous that we got so many things from a $15 run. hehehehe .... The men dun get it .. :P
My race bib & certificate
The contents of my goodie bag
Monday, July 17, 2006
SHAPE Run 2006 (Part I)
To mark SHAPE magazine's second anniversary, SHAPE organised a women's only run and it was held yesterday, 16 Jul 2006.Many of the sgrunners, including myself, registered for the 10km event.
Teelee, our ever trusty-professional-runner-cum-transport-provider, picked up the HSP folks early on Sunday morning. By 6:30am, with Junie, myself, Shut, Charmane, Superboy & Nemo in the TLV, we proceeded to Esplanade to meet up with the rest of the sgrunners. Meeting place: Esplanade Food Street at 7am.
At the Esplanade car park, we met Dreamrunner & his MHA. DR was there to support his wife who is running the 5km run.
There was a huge turnout for the sgrunners and the gals taking part in the run are:-
IMD's MHA-to-be (yihua), miffy, bikerchic, charlotte (a very big THANK YOU to char for helping me to collect my race pack!) , divey, penguin, bee, brokie, leh-lio gal, bbmon (wow! finally get to see her in person! too bad never get to introduce myself to her, she is like a celebrity in her own rights!!!), meteor, run3, tekko's MHA ... (and many many more!) Oh, and not forgetting Ripley, who despite still recovering from her blisters and walking with a slight limp, turned up to support us with her ever trusty camera!
The sgrunners boi bois that turn out are just as amazing, with IMD, shut (lugging 2 cameras and looking really tired after the WHR just the day before!! Hey thanks man for coming to support even tho u r sooooo tired!!!), teelee, superboy, nemo, tiwazz, hedgehog, renoh (both hedgehog & renoh already did a 18km run prior to meeting us !!! *hail*), alvo, tekko, Dasher (looking super pro with tripod and all), cyberkinetics (who turned up in pink to match the pink poms poms he made! WOW!!), cosmic (who skipped his morning class to come support us !!) and roentgen (who really needs his rest, been working 3 weeks non-stop, and yet turns up to support us).
There were 2 categories to the run. The 5km and 10km one. More participated in the former than latter and the latter were flagged off first, followed by the 5km runners about 10 mins later. Tho it is my 2nd event, I find the atmosphere disappointing. The music wasn't blasting from the speakers, the MC was pretty flat. Basically just delivering announcements to the crowd, instead of psyching the crowd up for the run. 10 mins before the run, they actually had someone on a makeshift stage showing us warm up exercises (more like aerobics). We were already packed and having difficulty moving our arms and they wanted us to do aerobics ???? The warm up are pretty lame anyway and after a while I just gave up trying. The 5km runners are a little more ON, dancing to the music. I was with charmane, junie and bikerchic and we were just yakking away while waiting for the time to pass. When the horn finally sounded, Junie and Charmane sprinted forward leaving me and bikerchic behind. I told biker to go ahead without me and soon I was alone. Thankfully I had my ipod with me and I just put on my earphones and started my run.
Guess being inexperienced, I wasn't able to regulate my pace. In a bid to not fall too far behind the gals, I was running at too fast a pace too early into the run. A check of my HRM 4 mins into the run and i was hitting 87%! Not too good. Along the way, met sxuangjing & penguin, bee. Saw Yihua & Divey in front, within eye shot .... 20 minutes into the run and i was feeling tired! My legs were getting heavy and I was starting to worry.
Passing the stadium and on the return leg back, I saw Divey walking. After finally catching up with her, I asked whether she is ok. She replied No and that she is in pain :( oh dear .... She explained that in her rush out of the house the morning, she forgot to take her painkillers and now her ITB hurts. I was worried but there wasn't much I could do. I tot of running back (not as if i can run fast lah! but at least in whatever speed i can lah) to get her her painkillers, but she mentioned she didn't even bring her painkillers. Not knowing what to do, i decided to just accompany her back just in case she needs help. Frankly I do not know what I can do to help but I just felt better knowing at least I'm with her. Anyway I'm not gunning for any timing nor PB ... and not as if i can run any faster! hahaha
Along the way, I saw this guy ran past me (was a little shocked to see a guy in the run!), he was keeping a gal company and even dousing her with water. Wah! good support siah! Sxuanjing & penguin passed us near last 2km mark and after a bit of chit chat, they proceeded on.
I have to say I'm most amazed with IMD! I saw him at several of the points along the way cheering us on and taking our pics. Its amazing the efforts he took just to run around to position himself at various spots just to help take our pics & support us. When you are feeling exhausted and wondering how much longer, it is good to see a familiar face cheering u on and giving u the moral support. Now I understand the importance of support! and Yihua is soooo lucky! :)
Towards the end point, Divey and I saw our sgrunners boi bois cheering us on, clapping and motivating us to go on and taking our pics. We really felt like celebrities and the support given by these guys are just SIMPLY AMAZING!!! I'm just bowled over!!
Finally crossed the finishing line 1hr 6 mins later. Not too bad by my standard considering I took a pretty leisure pace for half the distance. I read Divey's blog tho, and to her this timing is "v bad timing" ... oops! hahaha ... ok lah, different standards :P
The helpers were giving out water to us (relish!!! as I didn't take any water at the water point) and we even had kiwi! Yum yum! After cooling down, it was then photo taking time. We took a lot of pics, with the fellow sgrunner gals, and then with the supporters. Think we sgrunners had the biggest group of supporters and there were just so many cameras to smile into! It was really fun!
I also had the opportunity to meet up with several new faces like yuuinja & tooty. There are many veteran sgrunners like spiffy that was there but I didn't get to know who that was. Wasted! Talked to her over the shoutbox before. Ah well, another time then ...
While yakking away, some of our wonderful boi bois went to the carpark to collect our barang from the cars. (WOW!!! We felt like princesses leh! Was soooo surprised to see the bunch of guys carrying our barang up to us ... THANKS GUYS! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!!!)
We took a few group pics (what a big turnout! everyone was like looking at us!) before proceeding to Marina Square to collect our goodie bag. Horrors of horrors, the queue was soooo long and it was snaking all the way out to the open area outside Marina Square! We decided to fill our stomachs first (lest a few patient gals who decided to queue to collect their goodie bags first) before returning to collect our bags, and hence proceeded to the food court above to have our fill.
This blog is way tooo long and messy I have to say, anyway, I will continue Part II of how my day went later.
Stay tune ...
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Mille Crepes
Seen this in the newspaper just last week. Happened to stumble upon it here.
Took their yummy pics for this blog ....
anyone interested to go try ? If yes, pls jio me. :)
coz
I ....
AM ....
DYING ....
TO ...
TRY ......
THIS!!!
DroolingJazzy
Took their yummy pics for this blog ....
anyone interested to go try ? If yes, pls jio me. :)
coz
I ....
AM ....
DYING ....
TO ...
TRY ......
THIS!!!
DroolingJazzy
Midnite Mizuno Wave Run
Knocked off at 630-ish yesterday and had dinner with my friend. Wanted to have a good meal (Aiya, thanks to Roentgen lah, for telling me about all the good food that he wanted to eat, my stomach was churning so hard by 530pm!) but due to time constraint (wanted to do some shopping and get home to prepare for the midnite run), had to settle for simple hawker fare (good for my really flat wallet - shopping too much lately! :P)
As planned yesterday, I managed to do some shopping at the People's Park Complex. Ok, after the revamp, was thinking there might be more things to shop. Quite disappointing. The clothes all look similar from shop to shop, and materials are of pretty low grade. Only managed to get one top from there. Dun tink I'll be heading back there anytime soon.
Reached home around 10pm, washed up, changed and was out of the house at 1030pm. Got to Kovan before 11pm and met up with Teelee, who already started his run an hour and a half earlier and has covered the Mizuno wave run route + 4km. He even had time to go back home to wash his shoes (which were soiled during his earlier mizuno wave recce run) and changed to another pair! Shortly after, Superboy & his friend, Bryan, turned up. While waiting for Shut & Charmane (who sms teelee to say they were running late), the four of us just chit chat away in the vast Kovan bus interchange, doing some light stretching. Found out that Bryan has a fracture on his ankle and had an operation and hence was down for several months and tonight marks his first run after recovery.
Teelee briefed us all on the Mizuno route, repeatedly reminding us about the puddle of muddy water along a stretch of the road (which is the stretch that soiled his beloved shoes), the 6 of us pushed off for our run. The route is sadly very boring, just a straight route down and back. At night, the pavement wasn't brightly lit and not well kept with tons of tweaks / branches and leaves. Hence it makes running there boring & difficult as I got to constantly watch the pavement for anything that might cause me to trip & fall!
Superboy & Bryan led the run most of the way, Bryan is amazing! First run after so many months of downtime and yet he could run 10km without breaking a sweat and leading the way with Superboy! Teelee was covering the back with charmane, to ensure that everyone was ok and to tell us the route we got to take. I was running with Shut in the middle (wah, feel very protected leh, got 2 runners at the front, 2 at the back! I felt like a VIP siah!!! hahaha). The pace was actually pretty fast for me, although I know that pace is rather slow for Superboy as I have seen how he followed the front pack for the CBD & HSP runs. I was getting worried whether I could complete the run at that pace (frankly, it isn't fast lah, like 6:30min pace, but just that I'm more used to running slow ...) and at one point kind teelee even asked whether the pace was ok with me (so nice of him! ok, but was he asking me or shut or charmane ? but shut & charmane definitely no problem running at this pace lah haha - so the qn should have been posed to auntie). We U-turned at the 5km mark (the same place where the mizuno wave run route will u-turn) and headed back. The run back was alright, a little faster, but the motivation of all the sinful food (prata! teh peng) awaiting us at the end point just helps to keep me going :P The final leg (at the Kovan bus stop) was a mild upslope and though it was gentle, it was really a killer by then! I was sooooo struggling to go up that slope and was cursing under my breath! Bryan was really accomodating too, slowing down to talk to me and even assured me I'm doing well (such a nice boy to console an auntie!). He was modest and said that he was trying very hard to catch up and that he was really out of breath, yeah right! In split seconds, he was again sprinting with Superboy right up ahead *slit eyes* ... so much for being tired hor .... *sweat*
Total time taken : 1hr 16mins (including rest break at the u-turn mark, traffic stops etc.)
Total distance covered: 10km
We cooled down at the starting point at Kovan bus interchange before proceeding to the only 24 hours malay stall for our supper. Shut & Teelee (who did not have dinner! how could these people survive without food?!?!) ordered their pratas and teelee ordered a plate of indian rojak to share among us. All of us (except for the disciplined charmane) couldn't resist the temptation and eagerly tucked into the indian rojak. We had a good time chatting before leaving the place at 1:40am to head home. Superboy took Bryan's car back. Kind teelee as usual sent Shut, Charmane & me home, although he had to be home by 2:30am to start his work day with his mother! Really a gem this teelee! Thanks for driving us home !!! *2 thumbs up*
Overall a good run, at least I know I can complete the 10km run tomorrow at the Shape Run. Albeit slowly but that doesn't matter. Shape Run, here i come!
PS: Lets hope the run tomorrow isn't as badly organised as the registration! If it turned out to be one chaotic run, I'm soooo not gonna be participating in their future runs!
PS2: Also registered for the Great Eastern Women 10K run !! Hooray!!! Company sponsoring bulk of the registration fees. Was told by Charmane that the first to 10th places in the run will get a Tiffany plague or something with few hundred buck cash! No wonder the registration is soooooooo ex! They are milking us to pay for the prizes! What audacity! If not for my company's sponsorship I wouldn't have even considered paying $35 for a 10km run (unless goodie bag has a Tiffany diamond inside!) hehehe
Ok, enough blabbering for now .... will try to go back and koon now ...
Relaxing day at home for me .... ahhhhh .... heaven! :)
As planned yesterday, I managed to do some shopping at the People's Park Complex. Ok, after the revamp, was thinking there might be more things to shop. Quite disappointing. The clothes all look similar from shop to shop, and materials are of pretty low grade. Only managed to get one top from there. Dun tink I'll be heading back there anytime soon.
Reached home around 10pm, washed up, changed and was out of the house at 1030pm. Got to Kovan before 11pm and met up with Teelee, who already started his run an hour and a half earlier and has covered the Mizuno wave run route + 4km. He even had time to go back home to wash his shoes (which were soiled during his earlier mizuno wave recce run) and changed to another pair! Shortly after, Superboy & his friend, Bryan, turned up. While waiting for Shut & Charmane (who sms teelee to say they were running late), the four of us just chit chat away in the vast Kovan bus interchange, doing some light stretching. Found out that Bryan has a fracture on his ankle and had an operation and hence was down for several months and tonight marks his first run after recovery.
Teelee briefed us all on the Mizuno route, repeatedly reminding us about the puddle of muddy water along a stretch of the road (which is the stretch that soiled his beloved shoes), the 6 of us pushed off for our run. The route is sadly very boring, just a straight route down and back. At night, the pavement wasn't brightly lit and not well kept with tons of tweaks / branches and leaves. Hence it makes running there boring & difficult as I got to constantly watch the pavement for anything that might cause me to trip & fall!
Superboy & Bryan led the run most of the way, Bryan is amazing! First run after so many months of downtime and yet he could run 10km without breaking a sweat and leading the way with Superboy! Teelee was covering the back with charmane, to ensure that everyone was ok and to tell us the route we got to take. I was running with Shut in the middle (wah, feel very protected leh, got 2 runners at the front, 2 at the back! I felt like a VIP siah!!! hahaha). The pace was actually pretty fast for me, although I know that pace is rather slow for Superboy as I have seen how he followed the front pack for the CBD & HSP runs. I was getting worried whether I could complete the run at that pace (frankly, it isn't fast lah, like 6:30min pace, but just that I'm more used to running slow ...) and at one point kind teelee even asked whether the pace was ok with me (so nice of him! ok, but was he asking me or shut or charmane ? but shut & charmane definitely no problem running at this pace lah haha - so the qn should have been posed to auntie). We U-turned at the 5km mark (the same place where the mizuno wave run route will u-turn) and headed back. The run back was alright, a little faster, but the motivation of all the sinful food (prata! teh peng) awaiting us at the end point just helps to keep me going :P The final leg (at the Kovan bus stop) was a mild upslope and though it was gentle, it was really a killer by then! I was sooooo struggling to go up that slope and was cursing under my breath! Bryan was really accomodating too, slowing down to talk to me and even assured me I'm doing well (such a nice boy to console an auntie!). He was modest and said that he was trying very hard to catch up and that he was really out of breath, yeah right! In split seconds, he was again sprinting with Superboy right up ahead *slit eyes* ... so much for being tired hor .... *sweat*Total time taken : 1hr 16mins (including rest break at the u-turn mark, traffic stops etc.)
Total distance covered: 10km
We cooled down at the starting point at Kovan bus interchange before proceeding to the only 24 hours malay stall for our supper. Shut & Teelee (who did not have dinner! how could these people survive without food?!?!) ordered their pratas and teelee ordered a plate of indian rojak to share among us. All of us (except for the disciplined charmane) couldn't resist the temptation and eagerly tucked into the indian rojak. We had a good time chatting before leaving the place at 1:40am to head home. Superboy took Bryan's car back. Kind teelee as usual sent Shut, Charmane & me home, although he had to be home by 2:30am to start his work day with his mother! Really a gem this teelee! Thanks for driving us home !!! *2 thumbs up*
Overall a good run, at least I know I can complete the 10km run tomorrow at the Shape Run. Albeit slowly but that doesn't matter. Shape Run, here i come!
PS: Lets hope the run tomorrow isn't as badly organised as the registration! If it turned out to be one chaotic run, I'm soooo not gonna be participating in their future runs!
PS2: Also registered for the Great Eastern Women 10K run !! Hooray!!! Company sponsoring bulk of the registration fees. Was told by Charmane that the first to 10th places in the run will get a Tiffany plague or something with few hundred buck cash! No wonder the registration is soooooooo ex! They are milking us to pay for the prizes! What audacity! If not for my company's sponsorship I wouldn't have even considered paying $35 for a 10km run (unless goodie bag has a Tiffany diamond inside!) hehehe
Ok, enough blabbering for now .... will try to go back and koon now ...
Relaxing day at home for me .... ahhhhh .... heaven! :)
Meeting Update ...
An update on how my day went yesterday. Took the morning to rush out some slides for the presentation, managed to get it done one minute after the mtg suppose to commence. Printed out copies for the attendees (dun even time to print out colored copy for the big boss!), rushed to the mtg room - EMPTY. A check with PA confirmed that he is running late from another mtg. Asked to wait. 20 mins later, received phone call that mtg CANCELLED. Wah!! Relief washed over my entire body! Ok, so now i have more time to run through my slides with boss before mtg the big towkay next week. I have to thank the following people for their concern (for my sanity i think :P) in checking on me and encouraging me along the way. (Guessed my blog entry yesterday seemed to suggest I was pretty much losing it huh ? haha :P pai seh) Anyway, these few wonderful people are (in no particular order of importance) *drum roll* ....
Ok, while writing this it suddenly struck me that some of you might not be comfortable seeing your nick being mentioned because you prefer to be low-profile, and not want to bask in any limelight. Hope I haven't make you uncomfortable by blogging this! But just wanted to voice out my appreciation. There are many times when people feel taken for granted, and that's why for me, I always remind myself not to do that with my friends. Friends are my blessings in life, and hence I never want them to feel like they have been taken for granted. So I like to say my "Thank You" to show my appreciation ....
This is also my little way, to count my blessings in life.
:)
BlessedJazz
- Charlotte - for listening to my whining the past couple of days about work, the work ethics (or the lack thereof!) of some people and checking on me yesterday, asking me how I'm doing etc. Thanks gal!
- Roentgen - for the constant encouragement that I can do it! For the sms yesterday morning to give me the moral support. Thanks lokun!!
- Cosmic_Wind - also for checking on me yesterday. Wishing me good luck and in the afternoon when he was not online, he actually sms me to ask how I was doing, how the presentation went. Thanks cosmic!!
- Tiwazz - for always checking on me & asking how i'm doing. Always checking on the "weather" at the "kj sky" haha ... Thanks Tiwazz!
Ok, while writing this it suddenly struck me that some of you might not be comfortable seeing your nick being mentioned because you prefer to be low-profile, and not want to bask in any limelight. Hope I haven't make you uncomfortable by blogging this! But just wanted to voice out my appreciation. There are many times when people feel taken for granted, and that's why for me, I always remind myself not to do that with my friends. Friends are my blessings in life, and hence I never want them to feel like they have been taken for granted. So I like to say my "Thank You" to show my appreciation ....
This is also my little way, to count my blessings in life.
:)
BlessedJazz
Friday, July 14, 2006
Need a break ....
Been a tough week ... haven't even have time to blog about some thoughts that I have. I had to take a cab home from work last night coz I was just ... so ... beat. Didn't even manage to run last night though I was seriously considering doing a run to clear my head of the clutter and looming negative thoughts building up inside me.
Was in bed by 9:30pm, tried to do some work and before I knew it, my phone alarm has gone off. Yet another day ... was seriously toying with my friend's suggestion to take MC today but no lah, as much as my weak mind was toying with this idea, i knew i couldn't do this. Such escapism will only make the situation worse. I just got to somehow face the day, (kanna scolding then kanna scolding lor - that's part of character building too, no?) and things will brighten up after the horrid meeting later. You should be able to see a Penguin by noon (think only Junie & Roentgen will know what I mean by this).
I'm just so looking fwd to what I'm gonna do for the next couple of days ...
Was in bed by 9:30pm, tried to do some work and before I knew it, my phone alarm has gone off. Yet another day ... was seriously toying with my friend's suggestion to take MC today but no lah, as much as my weak mind was toying with this idea, i knew i couldn't do this. Such escapism will only make the situation worse. I just got to somehow face the day, (kanna scolding then kanna scolding lor - that's part of character building too, no?) and things will brighten up after the horrid meeting later. You should be able to see a Penguin by noon (think only Junie & Roentgen will know what I mean by this).
I'm just so looking fwd to what I'm gonna do for the next couple of days ...
- Planning a shopping spree later after work. Get more new clothes to make myself look more presentable ?
- Midnight run tonight with some of the HSP folks tonight. Confirmed attendees (Shutehelup & teelee). Junie might join in if time permits and she is not too drained by the long day
- If I don't get to shop tonight after work. Will do so tomorrow. Yippee. Still planning to hit the gym tomorrow, but will see how.
- Tennis ? Some guys & gals from sgrunners playing tennis on Sat evening. I can't play but might go look see and just have fun watching them play. Will see how things go though.
- Shape Run on Sunday. Followed by shopping at NIKE and GNC as I have discounts that I have to use by this month. Looking fwd to this event as I will finally get to see some of the sgrunners that I have yet to see in a while (ever since OSIM tri or last last CBD Run??). Just thinking about them, running with them, helps to perk me up. They are my life-line nowadays. Just hope it stays this way.
Ok, I better get back to my serious work now. Got to present something in 2 hours and I'm still staring at a blank sheet! This is really bad
PanicJazz
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Relax Run
Suppose to be on leave today, planned to go double spin class by Sun at Planet Fitness. I just took leave last Wednesday and didn't really think I deserve another break so soon, and considering the fact that I have work to do, I decided to cancel my leave and return to work today.
Lots of system issues today (haiz) and trying to get people to just WORK and resolve the issue. Unfortunately people prefer to exercise taiji instead, and I'm finding it hard to get things moving. Will blog more about that in a separate entry.
Since I'll be doing a midnight run on Friday, I decided against running on Thurs at the RL run. As such, I made arrangement to run with teelee tonight.
By the time I got home and changed, it was already 8:20pm. We did a simple and relaxing run starting from Buangkok to Serangoon North to the residential estate in Parry Avenue. At Serangoon North, we passed by Sheng Siong. Teelee wasn't aware of the existence of a SS here in Serangoon (to teelee, so tonite still quite beneficial for u rite ? at least u now know where is nearest to shop for groceries). It was rather dark inside the Parry Ave and teelee told me about this Japanese cemetry which he wasn't sure whether it was still around. I was getting a little worried (i'm not a great fan of cemetries really, especially at night!! I don't believe in disturbing their resting place leh!!) when teelee excited pointed out the cemetry to my left, while we were running along the road! I was NOT excited at all and had to quicken my pace just to get out of the place as soon as I could.
At one point of the run, turning right will bring us to Chomp Chomp! It took me quite a bit of willpower to restrain from shortening my run to have our dinner there. Thankfully teelee wasn't that keen, and I also had not clocked sufficient mileage to take the turn to Chomp2. Teelee also pointed out Johnson's place to me (yah, have seen his place before but i couldn't remember lah).
(map courtesy of Teelee)
There were many food temptations along the way, at one point he was telling me that turning right will lead us to the Kovan teochew muay, and I was like droooling .... bet i left a trail on the road ... a trail not of sweat but of my dripping drool :P
We then headed back to my place but when we reached Hougang Ave, we decided to stop to take our dinner. Teelee had his yummy laksa and teh peng while i had my fish slice soup with mee sua. We then decided with cheng tng as our dessert, ok lah, the food was alright, but the company was good. We chit chat (or rather i tease teelee about some stuff haha) and yakked about anything under the sun. We took a stroll back to my place after dinner.
All in all a very relaxing run. According to the humanoid foot pod (teelee) we ran about 7-8 km in 1 hour.
Thanks to teelee for agreeing for the run. :P
Lots of system issues today (haiz) and trying to get people to just WORK and resolve the issue. Unfortunately people prefer to exercise taiji instead, and I'm finding it hard to get things moving. Will blog more about that in a separate entry.
Since I'll be doing a midnight run on Friday, I decided against running on Thurs at the RL run. As such, I made arrangement to run with teelee tonight.
By the time I got home and changed, it was already 8:20pm. We did a simple and relaxing run starting from Buangkok to Serangoon North to the residential estate in Parry Avenue. At Serangoon North, we passed by Sheng Siong. Teelee wasn't aware of the existence of a SS here in Serangoon (to teelee, so tonite still quite beneficial for u rite ? at least u now know where is nearest to shop for groceries). It was rather dark inside the Parry Ave and teelee told me about this Japanese cemetry which he wasn't sure whether it was still around. I was getting a little worried (i'm not a great fan of cemetries really, especially at night!! I don't believe in disturbing their resting place leh!!) when teelee excited pointed out the cemetry to my left, while we were running along the road! I was NOT excited at all and had to quicken my pace just to get out of the place as soon as I could.At one point of the run, turning right will bring us to Chomp Chomp! It took me quite a bit of willpower to restrain from shortening my run to have our dinner there. Thankfully teelee wasn't that keen, and I also had not clocked sufficient mileage to take the turn to Chomp2. Teelee also pointed out Johnson's place to me (yah, have seen his place before but i couldn't remember lah).
(map courtesy of Teelee)
There were many food temptations along the way, at one point he was telling me that turning right will lead us to the Kovan teochew muay, and I was like droooling .... bet i left a trail on the road ... a trail not of sweat but of my dripping drool :P
We then headed back to my place but when we reached Hougang Ave, we decided to stop to take our dinner. Teelee had his yummy laksa and teh peng while i had my fish slice soup with mee sua. We then decided with cheng tng as our dessert, ok lah, the food was alright, but the company was good. We chit chat (or rather i tease teelee about some stuff haha) and yakked about anything under the sun. We took a stroll back to my place after dinner.
All in all a very relaxing run. According to the humanoid foot pod (teelee) we ran about 7-8 km in 1 hour.
Thanks to teelee for agreeing for the run. :P
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Tip of a Life Time ...
Received this in my email (thanks to cfred). I just LOL after reading it, coz i find that
IT ...
IS ....
SO ....
TRUE ........
No wonder I'm fated to lead a beautiful life of singlehood coz I want to be happy!! :P
Guys, pls read this if you want to make your woman happy. You have a lifetime to learn these survival skills :)
HOW TO MAKE A WOMAN HAPPY
TO MAKE A WOMEN HAPPY....A MAN ONLY NEEDS TO BE :
1. a friend
2. a companion
3. a lover
4. a brother
5. a father
6. a master
7. a chef
8. an electrician
9. a carpenter
10. a plumber
11. a mechanic
12. a decorator
13. a stylist
14. a sexologist
15. a gynecologist
16. a psychologist
17. a pest exterminator
18. a psychiatrist
19. a healer
20. a good listener
21. an organizer
22. a good father
23. very clean
24. sympathetic
25. athletic
26. warm
27. attentive
28. gallant
29. intelligent
30. funny
31. creative
32. tender
33. strong
34. understanding
35. tolerant
36. prudent
37. ambitious
38. capable
39. courageous
40. determined
41. true
42. dependable
43. passionate
WITHOUT FORGETTING TO :
44. give her compliments regularly
45. love shopping
46. be honest
47. be very rich
48. not stress her out
49. not look at other girls
AND AT THE SAME TIME, YOU MUST ALSO :
50. give her lots of attention, but expect little yourself
51. give her lots of time, especially time for herself
52. give her lots of space, never worrying
about where she goes
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT :
53. Never to forget:
* birthdays
* anniversaries
* arrangements she makes
HOW TO MAKE A MAN HAPPY :
1. Leave him alone
IT ...
IS ....
SO ....
TRUE ........
No wonder I'm fated to lead a beautiful life of singlehood coz I want to be happy!! :P
Guys, pls read this if you want to make your woman happy. You have a lifetime to learn these survival skills :)
HOW TO MAKE A WOMAN HAPPY
TO MAKE A WOMEN HAPPY....A MAN ONLY NEEDS TO BE :
1. a friend
2. a companion
3. a lover
4. a brother
5. a father
6. a master
7. a chef
8. an electrician
9. a carpenter
10. a plumber
11. a mechanic
12. a decorator
13. a stylist
14. a sexologist
15. a gynecologist
16. a psychologist
17. a pest exterminator
18. a psychiatrist
19. a healer
20. a good listener
21. an organizer
22. a good father
23. very clean
24. sympathetic
25. athletic
26. warm
27. attentive
28. gallant
29. intelligent
30. funny
31. creative
32. tender
33. strong
34. understanding
35. tolerant
36. prudent
37. ambitious
38. capable
39. courageous
40. determined
41. true
42. dependable
43. passionate
WITHOUT FORGETTING TO :
44. give her compliments regularly
45. love shopping
46. be honest
47. be very rich
48. not stress her out
49. not look at other girls
AND AT THE SAME TIME, YOU MUST ALSO :
50. give her lots of attention, but expect little yourself
51. give her lots of time, especially time for herself
52. give her lots of space, never worrying
about where she goes
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT :
53. Never to forget:
* birthdays
* anniversaries
* arrangements she makes
HOW TO MAKE A MAN HAPPY :
1. Leave him alone
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Anniversary Dinner
Today is my company's 25th Anniversary Dinner.
We were given 3 hours off to get ready (in Lounge Suit for men, or matching suit/cocktail dress for the ladies). I went along with two other colleagues to one of the nearby club to wash up and change. As my hair was in a mess, and I didn't want to turn up at the gala dinner looking like Sadako, I went to the salon within the club to get it styled. They said some light curls on my hair will be good so I went along. The result was satisfactory. I was pleased with the results and my colleagues were at least kind enough to agree (haha). My colleagues also got their hair styled and by the time we rushed to the hotel, we were half hour late!
After clearing the security (which was a breeze btw since we were "fashionably" late as my colleague commented, most of the people have already cleared the security check), we were all holed up outside the ballroom. There were the light snacks of crackers and peanuts with soft drinks. The place was getting stuffy and many of us were restless, tired and hungry. We were finally let into the ballroom about 45mins later and again waited for the arrival of the VVIPs.
I was expecting some really grand entrance or very secured entrance of the VVIPs, but ok lah, they were just shown in to the ballroom after the MC announced their arrival. Wow, my first time meeting MM Lee, SM Goh, PM Lee, MOE Minister Tharmun & Tony Tan. I'm really honoured to be able to see MM Lee, one of the greatest men in Singapore history. I truly think that without his leadership, SG will not be where it is today. Granted that many people dislike him, which I guess could be due to some tought policies that are far from popular, but yet he sees that they have to be implemented for the benefit of the country. Effective policies are sometimes not popular, but for the sake of the country, some tough decisions just have to be made.
The food was yummilicious too! Had tom yam cream soup (interesting combination of western & eastern fusion food with scallop & fresh prawn), cod fish (very thick soft & tender slice of cod fish! HEAVEN!) & dessert (made of hazelnut dunno wat with caramel). I think the organisers are aware the food may not fill most stomach and hence they have catered for after dinner drinks & fried chicken wings. But none of us stayed as everyone wanted to go home after a long day rushing from work to the gala dinner.
My colleague who is staying in Kovan is kind enough to send me home. All in all, a typical formal & stale function, but I'm glad I get to taste good food & of course be in the same ballroom as my idol MM Lee, and breathing in the same air as he. Sadly, he has aged so much and he is no longer as alert as before. Makes me feel a little sad, like seeing a grandfather age rapidly and being reminded about the fragility of life, that life is short, is transient. The poignant reminder that one will not be with you forever.
Well, coz of this dinner, I have to skip the CBD run. They were celebrating Angel's BD which happend to be on Wed. Haiz, really hate to miss all the fun! :(
Really been a long day, I'm beat.
Nite.
We were given 3 hours off to get ready (in Lounge Suit for men, or matching suit/cocktail dress for the ladies). I went along with two other colleagues to one of the nearby club to wash up and change. As my hair was in a mess, and I didn't want to turn up at the gala dinner looking like Sadako, I went to the salon within the club to get it styled. They said some light curls on my hair will be good so I went along. The result was satisfactory. I was pleased with the results and my colleagues were at least kind enough to agree (haha). My colleagues also got their hair styled and by the time we rushed to the hotel, we were half hour late!
After clearing the security (which was a breeze btw since we were "fashionably" late as my colleague commented, most of the people have already cleared the security check), we were all holed up outside the ballroom. There were the light snacks of crackers and peanuts with soft drinks. The place was getting stuffy and many of us were restless, tired and hungry. We were finally let into the ballroom about 45mins later and again waited for the arrival of the VVIPs.
I was expecting some really grand entrance or very secured entrance of the VVIPs, but ok lah, they were just shown in to the ballroom after the MC announced their arrival. Wow, my first time meeting MM Lee, SM Goh, PM Lee, MOE Minister Tharmun & Tony Tan. I'm really honoured to be able to see MM Lee, one of the greatest men in Singapore history. I truly think that without his leadership, SG will not be where it is today. Granted that many people dislike him, which I guess could be due to some tought policies that are far from popular, but yet he sees that they have to be implemented for the benefit of the country. Effective policies are sometimes not popular, but for the sake of the country, some tough decisions just have to be made.
The food was yummilicious too! Had tom yam cream soup (interesting combination of western & eastern fusion food with scallop & fresh prawn), cod fish (very thick soft & tender slice of cod fish! HEAVEN!) & dessert (made of hazelnut dunno wat with caramel). I think the organisers are aware the food may not fill most stomach and hence they have catered for after dinner drinks & fried chicken wings. But none of us stayed as everyone wanted to go home after a long day rushing from work to the gala dinner.My colleague who is staying in Kovan is kind enough to send me home. All in all, a typical formal & stale function, but I'm glad I get to taste good food & of course be in the same ballroom as my idol MM Lee, and breathing in the same air as he. Sadly, he has aged so much and he is no longer as alert as before. Makes me feel a little sad, like seeing a grandfather age rapidly and being reminded about the fragility of life, that life is short, is transient. The poignant reminder that one will not be with you forever.
Well, coz of this dinner, I have to skip the CBD run. They were celebrating Angel's BD which happend to be on Wed. Haiz, really hate to miss all the fun! :(
Really been a long day, I'm beat.
Nite.
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Visiting Grandma
The only grandparent I knew well (the rest passed away before I was born, or when I was just a toddler), was my maternal grandma. I stayed with her & my uncle's family (with my two cousins - brothers) for a year or more (shucks, i can't remember!!!) starting from Pri 3.
My grandma took very good care of me. Come to think of it, I don't recall her scolding me at all. She always sided me and cooked me all my fav dishes (even dishes that none of my uncle's family like haha). I can only recall her scolding my 2 cousins, but never me. I remember the piping hot porridge and spinach for lunch, everytime i return from school. The tea breaks that she would have ready for me when I awoke from my nap. My favourite cabbage rice & chicken wings for dinners. She was very good with her hands, and I remembered grandma helping me with my artwork. She would mould lifeless plasticine into beautiful works of art. The purple plasticine would transform into brinjals, the red ones into apples etc. I had them in a box still stored somewhere in my old room. And when I did well in my exams (think I was in position 2 or something), my grandma bought me a box of 2B pencils. Reminiscing of these brings a smile to my face, a tear to my eyes and a tug of the heartstring but of coz, the warmth I could feel from a loved one.
Grandma passed away when I was in Sec 3. By then I no longer stayed with her, and I was not as close to her. (sigh, i'm so unfilial ... ) With the toils of being a student, the neverending exams, studies, assignment etc., life just passed without me paying my respect to my beloved grandma regularly.
Recently, mom dreamt of grandma. She didn't look good in mom's dream. She said she was hungry and she was shivering. My uncle's family do pay respects to my grandma at major events, but somehow they only served her vegetarian meals. My grandma was never a vegetarian, so their actions puzzled us really (they said the temple allowed only vegetarian food for offering?). Anyway, my mom, sis and her family and myself arranged to go to the temple to pay our respects to my grandma today. We bought lots of goodies (NON-VEGETARIAN) along with the joss papers and stuff. This temple is really odd, they locked up the place where all the urns were kept, and only unlocked the doors on major events like Qing Ming and the lunar 7th month. So we had to make do with prayers outside of the room.
I was asking whether we can relocate my grandma to another temple but well, realised that this isn't something we have control over. Uncle's family has the say. Well anyway ...
Ok, some of you out there don't believe in offering prayers to their ancestors. Some believe these are all hogwash, superstition, completely unscientific blah blah. Sure, you are entitled to your own opinion and I respect that. However, I'm one who believes in paying respect to one's ancestors. Everyone has their own belief system, and let's try to coexist cordially, respecting one another's religion and belief system without passing judgement nor uncalled for comments.
Anyway, being able to visit grandma today makes me feel better. Grandma had been very kind to me, took good care of me when I was young. When both my parents werehard at work making a living to support the family. Without grandma, I would not have been well taken care of. I feel bad always for not doing much for my grandma when she was alive. Though I have never been disrespectful to her, but I feel a sense of regret not being able to do anything for her, and I am guilty for not even regularly paying respects to her. (Hmm, I got to change that) I got to remind myself to do that more often in future. I just hope that the next time someone dreams of my grandma, she would be smiling and saying that she is living well. Does it sound silly ? I dunno. I know some of you must be frowning as you read this. Nevermind that. But I guess I just want to know that no matter where she is now, my grandma is well and good.
Do you have someone you have not visited for a long time ? If so, take time out to visit this someone. Nothing can be more important than the people around you, the people that make you. Work is secondary. We have to constantly take time out to reflect, and reprioritise what is most important to us. Health and happiness should always rank right on top, before $$, career, success. These are things that hold no meaning and worth, it doesn't make us, it ruled us (in a negative way).
Ok, just some random thoughts at this odd hour ... I'll be surprised if anyone read til the end of this post. If you had, thank you.
:)
My grandma took very good care of me. Come to think of it, I don't recall her scolding me at all. She always sided me and cooked me all my fav dishes (even dishes that none of my uncle's family like haha). I can only recall her scolding my 2 cousins, but never me. I remember the piping hot porridge and spinach for lunch, everytime i return from school. The tea breaks that she would have ready for me when I awoke from my nap. My favourite cabbage rice & chicken wings for dinners. She was very good with her hands, and I remembered grandma helping me with my artwork. She would mould lifeless plasticine into beautiful works of art. The purple plasticine would transform into brinjals, the red ones into apples etc. I had them in a box still stored somewhere in my old room. And when I did well in my exams (think I was in position 2 or something), my grandma bought me a box of 2B pencils. Reminiscing of these brings a smile to my face, a tear to my eyes and a tug of the heartstring but of coz, the warmth I could feel from a loved one.
Grandma passed away when I was in Sec 3. By then I no longer stayed with her, and I was not as close to her. (sigh, i'm so unfilial ... ) With the toils of being a student, the neverending exams, studies, assignment etc., life just passed without me paying my respect to my beloved grandma regularly.
Recently, mom dreamt of grandma. She didn't look good in mom's dream. She said she was hungry and she was shivering. My uncle's family do pay respects to my grandma at major events, but somehow they only served her vegetarian meals. My grandma was never a vegetarian, so their actions puzzled us really (they said the temple allowed only vegetarian food for offering?). Anyway, my mom, sis and her family and myself arranged to go to the temple to pay our respects to my grandma today. We bought lots of goodies (NON-VEGETARIAN) along with the joss papers and stuff. This temple is really odd, they locked up the place where all the urns were kept, and only unlocked the doors on major events like Qing Ming and the lunar 7th month. So we had to make do with prayers outside of the room.
I was asking whether we can relocate my grandma to another temple but well, realised that this isn't something we have control over. Uncle's family has the say. Well anyway ...
Ok, some of you out there don't believe in offering prayers to their ancestors. Some believe these are all hogwash, superstition, completely unscientific blah blah. Sure, you are entitled to your own opinion and I respect that. However, I'm one who believes in paying respect to one's ancestors. Everyone has their own belief system, and let's try to coexist cordially, respecting one another's religion and belief system without passing judgement nor uncalled for comments.
Anyway, being able to visit grandma today makes me feel better. Grandma had been very kind to me, took good care of me when I was young. When both my parents werehard at work making a living to support the family. Without grandma, I would not have been well taken care of. I feel bad always for not doing much for my grandma when she was alive. Though I have never been disrespectful to her, but I feel a sense of regret not being able to do anything for her, and I am guilty for not even regularly paying respects to her. (Hmm, I got to change that) I got to remind myself to do that more often in future. I just hope that the next time someone dreams of my grandma, she would be smiling and saying that she is living well. Does it sound silly ? I dunno. I know some of you must be frowning as you read this. Nevermind that. But I guess I just want to know that no matter where she is now, my grandma is well and good.
Do you have someone you have not visited for a long time ? If so, take time out to visit this someone. Nothing can be more important than the people around you, the people that make you. Work is secondary. We have to constantly take time out to reflect, and reprioritise what is most important to us. Health and happiness should always rank right on top, before $$, career, success. These are things that hold no meaning and worth, it doesn't make us, it ruled us (in a negative way).
Ok, just some random thoughts at this odd hour ... I'll be surprised if anyone read til the end of this post. If you had, thank you.
:)
Happiness ...
I'm in constant pursuit of happiness. What is happiness ? Am I happy ? What makes me happy ?
Was talking to a very wise friend, wiser beyond his years. And this is what he said to me ...
My wish for you is that you will recover sooner than you expect, become stronger than you ever hoped for ... and that you will be truly happy and comfortable with yourself
Any relationship can then fall healthily into place
That's true. One needs to be happy and comfortable with oneself, before one can open up to others. We can never make anyone else happy if we ourselves are not happy. We can't love anyone else, if we don't love ourselves.
Do you love yourself enough ?
Are you happy ?
Was talking to a very wise friend, wiser beyond his years. And this is what he said to me ...
My wish for you is that you will recover sooner than you expect, become stronger than you ever hoped for ... and that you will be truly happy and comfortable with yourself
Any relationship can then fall healthily into place
That's true. One needs to be happy and comfortable with oneself, before one can open up to others. We can never make anyone else happy if we ourselves are not happy. We can't love anyone else, if we don't love ourselves.
Do you love yourself enough ?
Are you happy ?
Saturday, July 08, 2006
"Chinese" vs "Mandarin"
Do you know when to use the word "Chinese" & when to use "Mandarin" ?
This may seem like a silly question but well, over my blog, I'm not ashamed to tell you - I DO NOT KNOW :P
So, over MSN, I posed Cosmic - the intellectual who is interested in anything Chinese, and has studied in China before - this question and well, below is a summary of his take on this. Do note that this is what Cosmic understands and he disclaims that it might not be fully accurate. So pls just read this with a pinch of salt and do not flame him if you think that his explanation isn't correct. Pls feel free to post a comment to share your understanding or your take on this (best is if you can substantiate your points as I am very much a factual person. Don't show me the $$, show me the cold hard facts. Guess this is the trait of a technical person. We believe in facts, not sentiments, not gut feel). Your efforts will be greatly appreciated and if/when I have nothing better to do (I count watching dust settle as one of the many tasks in my to-do list :P haha kidding lah), I will do some research on your comments and revert on my findings.
In what context do I use the word "Chinese" over "Mandarin"
*scratch head*
This may seem like a silly question but well, over my blog, I'm not ashamed to tell you - I DO NOT KNOW :P
So, over MSN, I posed Cosmic - the intellectual who is interested in anything Chinese, and has studied in China before - this question and well, below is a summary of his take on this. Do note that this is what Cosmic understands and he disclaims that it might not be fully accurate. So pls just read this with a pinch of salt and do not flame him if you think that his explanation isn't correct. Pls feel free to post a comment to share your understanding or your take on this (best is if you can substantiate your points as I am very much a factual person. Don't show me the $$, show me the cold hard facts. Guess this is the trait of a technical person. We believe in facts, not sentiments, not gut feel). Your efforts will be greatly appreciated and if/when I have nothing better to do (I count watching dust settle as one of the many tasks in my to-do list :P haha kidding lah), I will do some research on your comments and revert on my findings.
In what context do I use the word "Chinese" over "Mandarin"
- "Chinese" can be used to refer to language, race or things associated with it, while "Mandarin" only can be used in association with the language
- "Chinese" (the language) in Singaporean context refers to "华语"
- "Chinese" (the language) in an international context refers to the official language of China, also known as "中文","中国话"or"普通话"
- "新加坡华语" is virtually equivalent to China's "中文", the difference is tat "新加坡华语"contains a certain % of local terms borrowed from the various chinese dialects (esp. hokkien) and malay. Terms like "组屋" (flats), "电子公路收费系统" (ERP) are terms peculiar to singapore and are not present in china's "普通话"
- "Mandarin" can also be used to refer to officials above a certain grade in the Qing dynasty. Mandarin refers to the official language used by the olden chinese official and imperial courts in the north
- There is a tendency for Singaporeans to refer to the chinese language as "Mandarin"
*scratch head*
Dim Sum Jazzy
Brought my mom out for lunch today. Aiyo, by the time I am done with LSD walk, rushed home to shower, I only managed to meet mom at 1+pm. She suggested meeting up at Chinatown, and so I brought her to Yum Cha for dim sum.
I was told before the food there isn't good. Even recalled reading some online review that criticised the food. But not knowing where else to go, I just tot to give it a try. The place was crowded but we were able to get a table immediately (coz just 2 of us) and immediately the food just kept coming. I ordered lots to try (don't think I want to scare whoever reads this about all the items I ordered) and spent a good 1.5hrs with mom, updating her about what I've been doing recently, about the many great friends I got to know in SGRunners, my work and my general well-being. Been a while since I last seen Mom, been very busy and she hor, so busy always dun wan to meet up haha :P I just kept ordering wanting Mom (ok lah, its me the GLUTTON that wants to eat too) to be able to try as many of the dim sum variety as possible. By the time we finished and felt stuffed, we had already done a lot of "damage" and left a trail of plates ! hehe
One of the dishes we tried was in the shape of a fish. It's really cute and both of us were amused and even ordered some to pack back for the kids at home). Their yam paste was really authentic & good, and when we saw one table being served some dessert in a glass with dry ice fumes coming out of the bowl, many of us around were curious enough to order the same dessert! So not long after, many other tables (including mine of coz) were served the same interesting dish which actually is mango pudding with pomelo & sago. It turned out to be just as yummilicious!
Felt soooooo sick after the super heavy lunch that I had difficulty walking. This bloated feeling lingered with me for several hours thereafter and this is the FIRST time in so long that I actually CANNOT and I repeat CANNOT bear the sight of food! I passed by CK Tangs food section and I actually felt super repulsed by the sight and smell of food! At one point I even felt nauseous! Wah, this is HORRIBLE. Got to run 50km next week to burn off and feel less guilty about the "crime" I've committed on my own body!
Did some shopping (yes, again! haiz) after the heavy-weight lunch and my bank account took a beating once again. Ok, I think I have spurred the country's economy more than enough and I have completed my "national service". Its time for others to take over this noble job. I have done my part.
:)
Still feeling very full and nauseous, 7 hours after my Dim Sum binge....
DimSumJazzy
I was told before the food there isn't good. Even recalled reading some online review that criticised the food. But not knowing where else to go, I just tot to give it a try. The place was crowded but we were able to get a table immediately (coz just 2 of us) and immediately the food just kept coming. I ordered lots to try (don't think I want to scare whoever reads this about all the items I ordered) and spent a good 1.5hrs with mom, updating her about what I've been doing recently, about the many great friends I got to know in SGRunners, my work and my general well-being. Been a while since I last seen Mom, been very busy and she hor, so busy always dun wan to meet up haha :P I just kept ordering wanting Mom (ok lah, its me the GLUTTON that wants to eat too) to be able to try as many of the dim sum variety as possible. By the time we finished and felt stuffed, we had already done a lot of "damage" and left a trail of plates ! hehe
One of the dishes we tried was in the shape of a fish. It's really cute and both of us were amused and even ordered some to pack back for the kids at home). Their yam paste was really authentic & good, and when we saw one table being served some dessert in a glass with dry ice fumes coming out of the bowl, many of us around were curious enough to order the same dessert! So not long after, many other tables (including mine of coz) were served the same interesting dish which actually is mango pudding with pomelo & sago. It turned out to be just as yummilicious!Felt soooooo sick after the super heavy lunch that I had difficulty walking. This bloated feeling lingered with me for several hours thereafter and this is the FIRST time in so long that I actually CANNOT and I repeat CANNOT bear the sight of food! I passed by CK Tangs food section and I actually felt super repulsed by the sight and smell of food! At one point I even felt nauseous! Wah, this is HORRIBLE. Got to run 50km next week to burn off and feel less guilty about the "crime" I've committed on my own body!
Did some shopping (yes, again! haiz) after the heavy-weight lunch and my bank account took a beating once again. Ok, I think I have spurred the country's economy more than enough and I have completed my "national service". Its time for others to take over this noble job. I have done my part.
:)
Still feeling very full and nauseous, 7 hours after my Dim Sum binge....
DimSumJazzy
LSD Walk
Shut organised a HSP run for today, to meet at Ponggol Park at 0730hrs. The original idea was to run the mizuno wave run route, but due to considerations of safety and health (lost of big trucks coughing out fumes), the run was changed to a HSP run instead.
0645hrs - woke up & got ready
0715hrs - left house and took a slow jog to Ponggol Park, as part of my warm up before the stretch.
Wah, my legs were feeling like LEAD when i run and minutes into the run I could sense that today will be a futile attempt to run. My left shin hurts with every step, though not very painful but still I could feel the pain, this isn't good. I struggled along and met Shut at the Serangoon Park Connector. We chatted and walked for a while before starting the slow jog to the park.
We were the last to reach (oops! really sorry folks!) and was surprised to see a pretty big turnout! There were the HSPians (Shut, taz, fbb, junie, superboy, charmane, gentle & doraemon_red) and Cosmic, cfred, angelicawonders & tintin. There are also 2 new guys coolrunning & compass. After a brief intro, warm up and briefing by Shut about the route, the group pushed off.
The resourceful and well-planned teelee brought along walkie-talkies so that the front and rear pack can communicate with one another to update on status (very solid leh! I really think the walkie-talkie idea is excellent because it helps to ensure everyone's safety and that there are no "strays" along the way. (good work, teelee!)
Shortly into the run (think i only managed like 2km max?), I was feeling really lethargic and had to stop to walk. By then the gap between the front and rear group has widened to about 500m or more and Angel, Charmane, Cosmic & Tintin has been left behind. Together with Junie, myself, taz, teelee & fbb, we walked and chatted along the way. Charmane was suffering from a shoulder injury relapse, while tintin wasn't feeling in good form and fbb was still feeling some knee pain. This left poor Junie, Cosmic, Taz & teelee having no choice but to walk with us. I did urged them to run along and catch up with the front pack, but they were all very very kind and insisted that it is ok and they will continue walking with us. Such angels!!! Thanks people!! :)
The front pack waited for us at the Ponggol coffee shop where we stopped for toilet breaks and drinks. We told the front pack to carry on without us. We then slowly jogged and walked, showing tintin & angel the supposedly haunted house beside the Ponggol MRT station, passed by Sengkang, Buangkok MRT before finally returning to Ponggol Park. By the time we returned, we have walked most of the way and total time taken was about 2hrs. Win liao lor, suppose to run 15 km ended up walking for 2 hours (according to teelee we ran 0.5 hrs, walked 1.5 hrs! *shake head until head almost dislocated from neck, now head hanging precariously from one side of head*) ! I was actually feeling very disappointed with myself, for missing a run and wondering why my legs felt like lead today. On the other hand, it still feels great to be out getting some fresh air, taking a walk, relaxing with great friends. I have to say, the company plays a very very important part and I'm really happy and blessed to be able to spend this Saturday morning with all these wonderful friends. They are so willing to help one another and they didn't utter a word of complaint when they have to sacrifice their Saturday run to end up walking with us! Taz & Teelee- seasoned runners, Angel & Cosmic - non HSPians & travelled all the way from other parts of SG - end up walking with us ! unfortunately I can't shake my head any more lest it falls to the ground then I can't continue blogging liao hehe
By the time we rear pack reached Ponggol Park, only Shut, Cfred, Doraemon_red & compass were waiting for us. We proceeded to the KPT opposite Ponggol Park for brunch (by then was 10+am). We had our fill and finally said our goodbyes at about 11+am.
All in all, a lousy run but saved by the great company! Well, I guess sometimes one need to slow down to smell the roses. Today is just one such day.
:)
0645hrs - woke up & got ready
0715hrs - left house and took a slow jog to Ponggol Park, as part of my warm up before the stretch.
Wah, my legs were feeling like LEAD when i run and minutes into the run I could sense that today will be a futile attempt to run. My left shin hurts with every step, though not very painful but still I could feel the pain, this isn't good. I struggled along and met Shut at the Serangoon Park Connector. We chatted and walked for a while before starting the slow jog to the park.
We were the last to reach (oops! really sorry folks!) and was surprised to see a pretty big turnout! There were the HSPians (Shut, taz, fbb, junie, superboy, charmane, gentle & doraemon_red) and Cosmic, cfred, angelicawonders & tintin. There are also 2 new guys coolrunning & compass. After a brief intro, warm up and briefing by Shut about the route, the group pushed off.
The resourceful and well-planned teelee brought along walkie-talkies so that the front and rear pack can communicate with one another to update on status (very solid leh! I really think the walkie-talkie idea is excellent because it helps to ensure everyone's safety and that there are no "strays" along the way. (good work, teelee!)
Shortly into the run (think i only managed like 2km max?), I was feeling really lethargic and had to stop to walk. By then the gap between the front and rear group has widened to about 500m or more and Angel, Charmane, Cosmic & Tintin has been left behind. Together with Junie, myself, taz, teelee & fbb, we walked and chatted along the way. Charmane was suffering from a shoulder injury relapse, while tintin wasn't feeling in good form and fbb was still feeling some knee pain. This left poor Junie, Cosmic, Taz & teelee having no choice but to walk with us. I did urged them to run along and catch up with the front pack, but they were all very very kind and insisted that it is ok and they will continue walking with us. Such angels!!! Thanks people!! :)
The front pack waited for us at the Ponggol coffee shop where we stopped for toilet breaks and drinks. We told the front pack to carry on without us. We then slowly jogged and walked, showing tintin & angel the supposedly haunted house beside the Ponggol MRT station, passed by Sengkang, Buangkok MRT before finally returning to Ponggol Park. By the time we returned, we have walked most of the way and total time taken was about 2hrs. Win liao lor, suppose to run 15 km ended up walking for 2 hours (according to teelee we ran 0.5 hrs, walked 1.5 hrs! *shake head until head almost dislocated from neck, now head hanging precariously from one side of head*) ! I was actually feeling very disappointed with myself, for missing a run and wondering why my legs felt like lead today. On the other hand, it still feels great to be out getting some fresh air, taking a walk, relaxing with great friends. I have to say, the company plays a very very important part and I'm really happy and blessed to be able to spend this Saturday morning with all these wonderful friends. They are so willing to help one another and they didn't utter a word of complaint when they have to sacrifice their Saturday run to end up walking with us! Taz & Teelee- seasoned runners, Angel & Cosmic - non HSPians & travelled all the way from other parts of SG - end up walking with us ! unfortunately I can't shake my head any more lest it falls to the ground then I can't continue blogging liao hehe
By the time we rear pack reached Ponggol Park, only Shut, Cfred, Doraemon_red & compass were waiting for us. We proceeded to the KPT opposite Ponggol Park for brunch (by then was 10+am). We had our fill and finally said our goodbyes at about 11+am.
All in all, a lousy run but saved by the great company! Well, I guess sometimes one need to slow down to smell the roses. Today is just one such day.
:)
Friday, July 07, 2006
Charity Visit II & Dinner
Was stuck in a meeting for 2+ hours ... YAWNZZZZZZZZ ... was late for my meet-up with my friends to go to visit Handicaps Welfare Association (HWA).
We had a good session with HWA, understanding what this organisation does etc. Frankly, I feel like I've learnt a lot more in the past 2 evenings. I feel that there are so many wonderful people out there, who will sacrifice their time to volunteer at these charity organisations. In Special Olympics, I can sense the passion and enthusiasm in the Sports Manager, and the satisfaction that is written all over her face about the three members who may be shortlisted for the SCSM. In HWA, the mood is a little more sombre. I can sense the more urgent need of funds, to carry on with their programmes. What strikes me most is their programme called Dial-a-Ride. This programme helps transport the disabled to/fro work, hospital check-ups, to courses etc. Public transport isn't really a comparable alternative as frankly, SG's public transport infrastructure is still wanting. They are not exactly handicapped enabled. All these are heavily funded by HWA and for those who are unemployed or financially unsound, HWA may even charge them less etc.
Its visiting these organisations that make me feel proud that I'm finally doing something to contribute back to the society. That's why I realised I have to work hard to make sure I can contribute to this fund raising event and to help whichever organisation we choose to raise as much funds as possible. I also feel ashamed of myself, that whatever problems that I face, are indeed just "luxury" problems as compared to the others.
After the session, we went to the nearby food centre for dinner. The place looks ulu but it was abuzz with diners. I walked around and ordered a plate of kang kong cuttlefish beehoon. It tasted alright. To see how that dish looks like, just take a look at this picture.
Anyway, i'm beat. Just finished sending out the follow up emails etc. My eyes can hardly open. zzzZZZZ
TiredJazz
We had a good session with HWA, understanding what this organisation does etc. Frankly, I feel like I've learnt a lot more in the past 2 evenings. I feel that there are so many wonderful people out there, who will sacrifice their time to volunteer at these charity organisations. In Special Olympics, I can sense the passion and enthusiasm in the Sports Manager, and the satisfaction that is written all over her face about the three members who may be shortlisted for the SCSM. In HWA, the mood is a little more sombre. I can sense the more urgent need of funds, to carry on with their programmes. What strikes me most is their programme called Dial-a-Ride. This programme helps transport the disabled to/fro work, hospital check-ups, to courses etc. Public transport isn't really a comparable alternative as frankly, SG's public transport infrastructure is still wanting. They are not exactly handicapped enabled. All these are heavily funded by HWA and for those who are unemployed or financially unsound, HWA may even charge them less etc.
Its visiting these organisations that make me feel proud that I'm finally doing something to contribute back to the society. That's why I realised I have to work hard to make sure I can contribute to this fund raising event and to help whichever organisation we choose to raise as much funds as possible. I also feel ashamed of myself, that whatever problems that I face, are indeed just "luxury" problems as compared to the others.
After the session, we went to the nearby food centre for dinner. The place looks ulu but it was abuzz with diners. I walked around and ordered a plate of kang kong cuttlefish beehoon. It tasted alright. To see how that dish looks like, just take a look at this picture.Anyway, i'm beat. Just finished sending out the follow up emails etc. My eyes can hardly open. zzzZZZZ
TiredJazz
Midnight LSD
Having my lunch and talking to teelee over MSN, suddenly an idea popped into my head. How about doing an LSD the next Friday (14 Jul) from 11pm - 1am ?
Distance : 13-15km
Duration : 2 hours
Speed : 7:30-8:30 mins/km
We will end the run at Kovan, have supper at the 24-hr teochew muay, before heading home.
Since I'm a directions retard, I cannot be the one to lead, nor to plot the route. Anyone keen ? Let me know, then we can discuss the route to take.
:)
Distance : 13-15km
Duration : 2 hours
Speed : 7:30-8:30 mins/km
We will end the run at Kovan, have supper at the 24-hr teochew muay, before heading home.
Since I'm a directions retard, I cannot be the one to lead, nor to plot the route. Anyone keen ? Let me know, then we can discuss the route to take.
:)
Charity Visit & Run
Several altruistic friends of mine recently tossed the idea of raising funds for a charity organisation. We have shortlisted two organisations (Special Olympics & Handicaps Welfare Association) that we are keen to support. To better understand these organisations before making a decision about which one better meet our requirements, we arranged to meet up with them. To find out more about their organisation, their setup, facilities, programs that they conduct and financial standing etc.
I have arranged for us to meet up with Special Olympics this evening. They are a small outfit operating out of a corner of a void deck in St Georges Road. We spent about an hour with the three full time staff, asking them questions about their programs, financial standing, operating costs, administrative support etc. I think we achieved pretty much in that one short hour. Generally we have a good sense of the organisation and the lady (the Sports Manager) whom spoke to seem very sincere and passionate about her work. I can feel the warmth and sincerity exude from her. I can see that everyone was very serious about the whole thing too, my friends all contributed and asked many very useful and apt questions during that one hour session. I believe we all left with a better understanding of the organisation.
Tomorrow will be meeting Handicaps Welfare Association (HWA). Let's see how that session goes before we make a final decision. Guess another committee follow up meeting will be necessary.
We had our dinner at one of the Malay stalls nearby, chit chat for a while and left for home.
I had also previously mentioned to teelee that I may want to do a run tonight. Nice teelee
readily offered to accompany me, saying that it is dangerous to run alone at nite (gam siah teelee, u r such an angel leh! teh peng gao gao coming up ! :)) By the time I reached home was 10+, so I changed, did some preparation for tomorrow and then went to meet teelee at 1030pm. We ran around my neighbourhood covering a distance of approximately 9km (according to the human-footpod, meaning teelee himself) in 1 hr 08mins. The map above is courtesy of teelee! (Very good hor, got company for run and somemore got free map! No need to plot myself ... wah, am I blessed or am I blessed ? :D)
I've been feeling really lousy and entire day and doing the run really helps to loosen me up and I felt much better. And all this is only possible because teelee runs with me. I have to really thank teelee for accompanying me (THANKS teelee!!!).
Ok, I better go get some rest if not I'll be dozing off in the meetings at work tomorrow. That will be sooooooooo not good for me as the mtgs all involve my Director! haha .... if I fall asleep, then win liao, can clean up my cubicle immediately liao ... wahaha
Nitez!
I have arranged for us to meet up with Special Olympics this evening. They are a small outfit operating out of a corner of a void deck in St Georges Road. We spent about an hour with the three full time staff, asking them questions about their programs, financial standing, operating costs, administrative support etc. I think we achieved pretty much in that one short hour. Generally we have a good sense of the organisation and the lady (the Sports Manager) whom spoke to seem very sincere and passionate about her work. I can feel the warmth and sincerity exude from her. I can see that everyone was very serious about the whole thing too, my friends all contributed and asked many very useful and apt questions during that one hour session. I believe we all left with a better understanding of the organisation.
Tomorrow will be meeting Handicaps Welfare Association (HWA). Let's see how that session goes before we make a final decision. Guess another committee follow up meeting will be necessary.
We had our dinner at one of the Malay stalls nearby, chit chat for a while and left for home.
I had also previously mentioned to teelee that I may want to do a run tonight. Nice teelee
readily offered to accompany me, saying that it is dangerous to run alone at nite (gam siah teelee, u r such an angel leh! teh peng gao gao coming up ! :)) By the time I reached home was 10+, so I changed, did some preparation for tomorrow and then went to meet teelee at 1030pm. We ran around my neighbourhood covering a distance of approximately 9km (according to the human-footpod, meaning teelee himself) in 1 hr 08mins. The map above is courtesy of teelee! (Very good hor, got company for run and somemore got free map! No need to plot myself ... wah, am I blessed or am I blessed ? :D)I've been feeling really lousy and entire day and doing the run really helps to loosen me up and I felt much better. And all this is only possible because teelee runs with me. I have to really thank teelee for accompanying me (THANKS teelee!!!).
Ok, I better go get some rest if not I'll be dozing off in the meetings at work tomorrow. That will be sooooooooo not good for me as the mtgs all involve my Director! haha .... if I fall asleep, then win liao, can clean up my cubicle immediately liao ... wahaha
Nitez!
Thursday, July 06, 2006
R&R Wedne$day
After covering colleague who was away for 2 weeks, and the countless out-of-office emails I receive due to people being on holiday during the June period, I decided to also give myself a well-deserved break, by TAKING LEAVE! So, was happy to announce I was on leave yesterday (Wednesday) and I had a ball of a time (well, at least until after dinner).
Overslept (this is sooooo the norm lately that waking up early seems increasingly the exception more than the rule. Nowadays whenever I wake up on time, I seem to feel that I have achieved a lot haha) and woke up only at 830am! I was suppose to leave the house at 830am! Ok, so I rushed and was outta the house by 9am. Missed the bus and hence decided to just get a cab. Reached the destination before 930am. Ok, glad that I wasn't late. Where was I going ? Well, to go for the long overdue fitness test at Vitamin Research. I met the Vitamin gers there, all were so friendly and bubbly early in the morning. Not sure which one (think is Rue) even came out to say Hi. How sweet. Then the series of tests began ..........
Based on the test, my results show that I am
Overslept (this is sooooo the norm lately that waking up early seems increasingly the exception more than the rule. Nowadays whenever I wake up on time, I seem to feel that I have achieved a lot haha) and woke up only at 830am! I was suppose to leave the house at 830am! Ok, so I rushed and was outta the house by 9am. Missed the bus and hence decided to just get a cab. Reached the destination before 930am. Ok, glad that I wasn't late. Where was I going ? Well, to go for the long overdue fitness test at Vitamin Research. I met the Vitamin gers there, all were so friendly and bubbly early in the morning. Not sure which one (think is Rue) even came out to say Hi. How sweet. Then the series of tests began ..........
- First off, using a vgo machine, my weight, body fat % were taken.
- I was asked to sit down on the comfy couch where my blood pressure was taken.
- I was told to rest for several minutes while breathing through a tube.
- I was then instructed to cycle on a stationary bike where the resistance will gradually increase, while breathing through the tube the whole time. I'm suppose to maintain 60rpm throughout the test which is to take 15 mins. The cycling part was easy for me since I do spin classes, I still do break up a sweat but all in all the resistance was ok for me.
Based on the test, my results show that I am
- FAT - weight above optimal range
- FAT - FAT % above optimal range
- FIT - Cardiac output above required range but muscle strength still below required range. But according to her is quite alright (think better than some of the other runners who don't do resistance training. I don't either, but i guess the spinning helps somewhat ?)
Next stop, went to the gym for 2 sessions of the spinning class conducted by Sun. Love her classes, she is forever so chirpy, cheery and happy. Her classes are never boring and makes me feel very happy and recharged during the class. Great workout yesterday! Spin like mad, my legs were sooo tired right after the workout. I did more stretching on my own and was worried that I will have aches today, thankfully I survived and no aches! Hoorah! Surprisingly the spin classes yesterday was really empty, just a few of us. This is very different from the past when the classes are always fully booked. Sun surmised that it is likely due to the World Cup, everyone is too tired and prolly catching a shuteye during the lunch break. haha. Well, good for me! I can enjoy her class without having to cramp with the rest *LOL*
After a hearty and healthy lunch of Yong Tau Fu, I started my hunt for my cocktail dress. I have already did some recce prior to the gym, while walking from Raffles City to Suntec. So I headed to one of the shops in Suntec, tried on several pieces and finally decided on the first one I tried on. Simple black dress, loose enough to cover all bulges and ugly problematic areas. wahahahha ... and best of all it is cheap! No four-figure sum to cause my eyeballs to pop out. Bought my shoes and a clutch bag from there too. So everything done, stress alleviated. *thumbs up* Of course I still got to get some accessories, but I think that should be easy to find. Will hunt for those this coming weekend.
Next stop, my own shopping. Got to a shop and spent my next few hours just trying and burning $$ inside. Aiyo, spent an obscene sum there and by the time I was done with the shop, it was almost time to meet up with some friends for dinner.
All in all, a good day of rest and relax. Finally able to go back to Suntec gym for my workouts. I really missed the 2 back-to-back spin sessions, the almost empty gym during the morning, where I can feel so at ease enjoying my own workouts. I will try to do this more often. Its good to rest and relax once in a while, to recharge and just be happy. Of course, my bank account suffers *groan*
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
CBD Run cum Andy's Belated BD Celebration
Buy cake, dun buy cake. Aiyo, today just because of the whether to get a cake, i received so many MSN messages. Then confirm dun buy liao, people say buy. Confirm buy liao, people say dun buy. Frankly I think my time can be better spent doing more constructive things like watching the dust settle on my desk, or the water evaporates from my mug. Think its me, after I decided to wash my hand off the situation things started to move haha
Anyway, the run today was again another huge turnout. We have the honour of DreamRunner, DO, DiverRunner (Divey) came for the run. It was good to see them. The last time i met DR and DO were 2 months back I think, when they first came for the CBD run. I was sick that day and only went there to say my hi's and to buy them some bananas to refuel after the run. I met Divey in one of the CBD runs before. A really bubbly, warm and friendly young mei mei :) She recently injured herself and hence was using the CBD run as her recovery I think. Hope she gets well real soon!
As the CBD run has been growing in size, we have had many different encounters of people missing, being lagged behind etc. As Marina South Park is poorly lit at night with many hidden corners etc., many of the runners feel that the group is getting out of hand and some order has to be instilled. As such, before the run, aichai and tiwazz briefed the group about the route, dos and don'ts.
Run was normal, just pass Marina South Park, to the jetty, u-turn and take the longer route back, passing by the steamboat place. Total distance about 9.2km, total time taken 1hr 10 mins.
We then had a belated birthday celebration for Andy. Thanks to Roentgen & Sotong for coming with the cakes!!! Both cakes are realllly beautiful! Sinful of course haha. I had a good chat with DR, DO, Divey, Aichai & Taz about running shoes and DR, DO, Aichai all agreed that I should buy a new pair of shoes with good forefoot cushioning. They were really nice telling me about the shoes and what will be good for me and DO /Aichai even said that they will try to help me get at better prices. Thanks guys! U guys rock!
As usual, we then headed to Maxwell for our dinner and more chit chat before going home. Thanks teelee for driving all of us (shut, superboy, charmane, junie, taz and myself) home.
Anyway, the run today was again another huge turnout. We have the honour of DreamRunner, DO, DiverRunner (Divey) came for the run. It was good to see them. The last time i met DR and DO were 2 months back I think, when they first came for the CBD run. I was sick that day and only went there to say my hi's and to buy them some bananas to refuel after the run. I met Divey in one of the CBD runs before. A really bubbly, warm and friendly young mei mei :) She recently injured herself and hence was using the CBD run as her recovery I think. Hope she gets well real soon!
As the CBD run has been growing in size, we have had many different encounters of people missing, being lagged behind etc. As Marina South Park is poorly lit at night with many hidden corners etc., many of the runners feel that the group is getting out of hand and some order has to be instilled. As such, before the run, aichai and tiwazz briefed the group about the route, dos and don'ts.
Run was normal, just pass Marina South Park, to the jetty, u-turn and take the longer route back, passing by the steamboat place. Total distance about 9.2km, total time taken 1hr 10 mins.
We then had a belated birthday celebration for Andy. Thanks to Roentgen & Sotong for coming with the cakes!!! Both cakes are realllly beautiful! Sinful of course haha. I had a good chat with DR, DO, Divey, Aichai & Taz about running shoes and DR, DO, Aichai all agreed that I should buy a new pair of shoes with good forefoot cushioning. They were really nice telling me about the shoes and what will be good for me and DO /Aichai even said that they will try to help me get at better prices. Thanks guys! U guys rock!
As usual, we then headed to Maxwell for our dinner and more chit chat before going home. Thanks teelee for driving all of us (shut, superboy, charmane, junie, taz and myself) home.
Kick vs. Jiak
Wah, was just told by Roentgen that "kick" and "jiak" are spelt by the same numbers on the handphone.
No wonder i keep eating lah, its all due to my nick! Bad "fengshui" lah ... must change nick liao ....
:P
No wonder i keep eating lah, its all due to my nick! Bad "fengshui" lah ... must change nick liao ....
:P
BD Celebration for Andy
Nemo helped to organise a birthday bash for Andy. Knowing that Andy prefers a small BD celebration (he said he is paiseh with too many people celebrating with him), we kept the birthday bash *small* (well, 11 isn't really a small number I would say! but what to do? Andy is just wayyy tooo popular for people to pass up the chance to celebrate with him :P)
Andy has been a superb friend to all of us in sgrunners. Ever since he joined us, he has brought along with him lots of laughter and fun. He is someone who will go all out to help his friends, he will readily serve you food, drinks and make sure that you are ok. When I was pai kar and unable to run, Andy was the one that kept me company (run/walk with me at MY pace) without a single complaint! His gregarious but yet warm and friendly nature warms us to him almost immediately. When I first met him at the W2E run, I didn't get a chance to talk to him much as he and Shibido were running wayyyy too fast with the first group, there was no way I could have caught up! But in subsequent runs (I think was at HSP run), I managed to talk to him and found out what an easy-going and friendly guy he is. We became buddies almost instantaneously and he is always game for any activities that sgrunners/we organised and he always asked to be included.
At 7pm, all of us (andy, teelee, cosmic, junie, nemo, roentgen, cfred, angelicawonders, shut, sv & myself) gathered at Swensons @ Crown Prince Hotel for the BD dinner. (Thanks to Nemo for making all the arrangements! Apparently Swensons does not allow booking after 5pm but with Nemo's good PR skills, he managed to get us a table - and even allowed us to bring our own cake! -__-" someone in the group had bought a cake in advance and hence we did not get our cake from Swensons. Question, why wouldn't Swensons allow booking after 5pm ? Isn't it counter intuitive ? Its normally after 5pm where the peak hour starts and they disallow booking. Why would booking be required in the first place before 5pm ?? Is the restaurant even crowded enough to warrant a booking before 5pm ? Unless of course if we are talking about booking the entire restaurant. Anyway, I digress)
SV and Nemo had separately made Andy a photoframe and BD card respectively. As many of us had not signed the cards, we had to stealthily do so in the presence of Andy. With our very limited acting skills, we performed several acts just to distract Andy. From the "nemo-being-angry-with-sv" skit to Roentgen-going-to-toilet-to-sign-cards to me dragging Andy to go shopping with me. Of course, our acts were too amateurish and could hardly fool Andy, but kind Andy played along just to not make us feel bad about ourselves (ok, there goes our career switch to actors/actresses hehe).
After our dinner, Nemo cued for the cake to be brought out. When the cake was presented, Nemo played the superman theme song and presented him with his birthday present - A Superman T-shirt & Cap. An apt gift because we consider him our SuperFriend. :) I could tell Andy was soooo embarrassed by the attention. haha
We later proceeded to the Starbucks beside Swensons where Andy insisted on treating us to drinks. We squeezed ourselves into several couches in the corner of Starbucks and just had fun chit chatting and teasing one another. Central to the teasing was the "brokeback relationship" among those guys (the gals are all pretty decent people, we don't do brokeback ok. But we are all very kind and understanding angels, so we have no problems with our friends being in brokeback r/s *LOL*) present. I am refraining from naming anyone here but one hint is the fish & the one that wears green. Green ? Why green ? Who wears greeen ? Not out of choice but out of obligation ? Go figure. Hehe
We finally called it a day at 10+ and headed home.
Great dinner with great friends! Happy Birthday once again, our SuperFriend Andy!
Side note: As I earlier mentioned, I dragged Andy to go shopping with me across the road at Meritus Mandarin. First stop was Braun Buffel, couldn't find a wallet that I like. Quite disappointed with their design. Been looking at their ranges for wat, almost a year now, and none of their design attracted me. Sigh ... think i will have to change the brand of my wallet liao, but I like this gu brand leh ... any suggestions of what other brand I can look at ? (eh, dun suggest those brands like Prada or dunno wat hor, I can't afford.Will have to chop off my arms/legs in order to buy one - then I can't run liao. No thank you very muchie)
Next stop (just to buy time lah), I dragged Andy into The Link. Wah, their clothes are very NICE! I asked to see their cocktail dresses (got a salesgirl to explain to me what a cocktail dress is - a formal dress like an evening gown, only shorter. Ok, so confirm my suspicion that the tail of the dress doesn't involve a certain animal). I managed to see one very simple black flair knee length dress. Its adorable and definitely able to hide all my flaws, I asked the price and heard her say "6" ... so I tot to myself (wah lau, $600++ for this dress?!?!), then my eyes almost popped out when i realised it was a 4 figure sum she uttered!!! Had to scoop my eyeballs off the floor and quickly left the place. This explains why my eyes weren't that focus the entire night, coz never fix them back into my eyesockets correctly :P
Will have to hunt for a decent, affordable cocktail dress. Wish me luck!
Andy has been a superb friend to all of us in sgrunners. Ever since he joined us, he has brought along with him lots of laughter and fun. He is someone who will go all out to help his friends, he will readily serve you food, drinks and make sure that you are ok. When I was pai kar and unable to run, Andy was the one that kept me company (run/walk with me at MY pace) without a single complaint! His gregarious but yet warm and friendly nature warms us to him almost immediately. When I first met him at the W2E run, I didn't get a chance to talk to him much as he and Shibido were running wayyyy too fast with the first group, there was no way I could have caught up! But in subsequent runs (I think was at HSP run), I managed to talk to him and found out what an easy-going and friendly guy he is. We became buddies almost instantaneously and he is always game for any activities that sgrunners/we organised and he always asked to be included.
At 7pm, all of us (andy, teelee, cosmic, junie, nemo, roentgen, cfred, angelicawonders, shut, sv & myself) gathered at Swensons @ Crown Prince Hotel for the BD dinner. (Thanks to Nemo for making all the arrangements! Apparently Swensons does not allow booking after 5pm but with Nemo's good PR skills, he managed to get us a table - and even allowed us to bring our own cake! -__-" someone in the group had bought a cake in advance and hence we did not get our cake from Swensons. Question, why wouldn't Swensons allow booking after 5pm ? Isn't it counter intuitive ? Its normally after 5pm where the peak hour starts and they disallow booking. Why would booking be required in the first place before 5pm ?? Is the restaurant even crowded enough to warrant a booking before 5pm ? Unless of course if we are talking about booking the entire restaurant. Anyway, I digress)
SV and Nemo had separately made Andy a photoframe and BD card respectively. As many of us had not signed the cards, we had to stealthily do so in the presence of Andy. With our very limited acting skills, we performed several acts just to distract Andy. From the "nemo-being-angry-with-sv" skit to Roentgen-going-to-toilet-to-sign-cards to me dragging Andy to go shopping with me. Of course, our acts were too amateurish and could hardly fool Andy, but kind Andy played along just to not make us feel bad about ourselves (ok, there goes our career switch to actors/actresses hehe).
After our dinner, Nemo cued for the cake to be brought out. When the cake was presented, Nemo played the superman theme song and presented him with his birthday present - A Superman T-shirt & Cap. An apt gift because we consider him our SuperFriend. :) I could tell Andy was soooo embarrassed by the attention. haha
We later proceeded to the Starbucks beside Swensons where Andy insisted on treating us to drinks. We squeezed ourselves into several couches in the corner of Starbucks and just had fun chit chatting and teasing one another. Central to the teasing was the "brokeback relationship" among those guys (the gals are all pretty decent people, we don't do brokeback ok. But we are all very kind and understanding angels, so we have no problems with our friends being in brokeback r/s *LOL*) present. I am refraining from naming anyone here but one hint is the fish & the one that wears green. Green ? Why green ? Who wears greeen ? Not out of choice but out of obligation ? Go figure. Hehe
We finally called it a day at 10+ and headed home.
Great dinner with great friends! Happy Birthday once again, our SuperFriend Andy!
Side note: As I earlier mentioned, I dragged Andy to go shopping with me across the road at Meritus Mandarin. First stop was Braun Buffel, couldn't find a wallet that I like. Quite disappointed with their design. Been looking at their ranges for wat, almost a year now, and none of their design attracted me. Sigh ... think i will have to change the brand of my wallet liao, but I like this gu brand leh ... any suggestions of what other brand I can look at ? (eh, dun suggest those brands like Prada or dunno wat hor, I can't afford.Will have to chop off my arms/legs in order to buy one - then I can't run liao. No thank you very muchie)
Next stop (just to buy time lah), I dragged Andy into The Link. Wah, their clothes are very NICE! I asked to see their cocktail dresses (got a salesgirl to explain to me what a cocktail dress is - a formal dress like an evening gown, only shorter. Ok, so confirm my suspicion that the tail of the dress doesn't involve a certain animal). I managed to see one very simple black flair knee length dress. Its adorable and definitely able to hide all my flaws, I asked the price and heard her say "6" ... so I tot to myself (wah lau, $600++ for this dress?!?!), then my eyes almost popped out when i realised it was a 4 figure sum she uttered!!! Had to scoop my eyeballs off the floor and quickly left the place. This explains why my eyes weren't that focus the entire night, coz never fix them back into my eyesockets correctly :P
Will have to hunt for a decent, affordable cocktail dress. Wish me luck!
Sunday, July 02, 2006
OSIM Triathlon 2006
Met up with Junie & Superboy at Compasspoint to catch a cab to ECP. Our role today is as supporters for our fellow sgrunners (Andy, Aichai, Gentle & Nemo) participating in the OSIM Tri. We met up with Andy, Nemo, Angelicawonders at the beach front at the food centre. The place was packed with people. Being first time spectators at the OSIM tri event, Junie, Ange & myself were completely clueless about what to do, where to stand, where to take pictures etc. Thankfully nemo & superboy was there to tell us where to go etc. We were joined at the beach by imd, tiwazz, teelee & bikerchic (who came in her blades as she was blading in ECP, cool chic really! :))
We were at the beach seeing the batches of participants (by age I think) being flagged off. By the time we settled on a spot, aichai was already in the waters. The waters was really choppy and nemo and gang commented that the swim would be really difficult. Next to be flagged off was sv, then gentle, then nemo. Each of the participant was to swim two laps in the sea, with each lap punctuated by a run on the beach. After taking pics of aichai, sv and nemo (couldn't get one on gentle), we headed off to wait for them at the end of the swim leg. There were water sprinklers located at the swim end so that the swimmers could wash themselves before heading off to change to their bike attire etc.
After shouting our encouragement to our friends, we proceeded to the food centre for a reprieve from the heat. We each ordered sugar cane drinks and later had our lunch there. Teelee, superboy, tiwazz, imd left for the milk run at 1+pm and we gals were left yakking and enjoying our lunch. Cosmic joined us gals later.
While chatting, I saw aichai ran past. We immediately rushed to the finishing line but was too late, couldn't get a pic of aichai. We then positioned ourselves at the finishing line to wait for nemo & sv to return. We somehow did not see gentle returned from the run. While waiting for sv at the finishing end, I spotted a gal who has the same running style as sxuanjing. Upon closer inspection, I realised that it was sxuanjing. We excitedly hollered our encouragement to her (she was doing the relay tri with her colleagues).
Well done to Andy, Aichai, Nemo, Sxuanjing & SV for completing this tri! *CLAP CLAP CLAP*
We later congregated to take lots of post tri event photos. We met Mythos & Jennifer at the carpark while taking photos and chit chat with them briefly. Just so happened that I was just telling Junie and Superboy that I have not seen him for a long time and I get to see him today at this event! Synchronicity eh??
Aichai left us and the rest of us went to the food centre for sv, nemo and sxuanjing to carbo load. I finally succumbed to the temptation of the wanton noodle which angel highly recommended. So had a plate of the yummilicious wanton noodle, some BBQ chicken wings (courtesy of sv) and carrot cake (courtesy of nemo). We were all baked & beat by the end of the whole thing and so share a cab with nemo & junie back home, while angel & sxuanjing went to take a bus back home.
Its really an experience attending such an event. The adrenalin rush, seeing all these very motivated and determined participants going strong and completing the race. I see a lot of hunks, babes with really toned bodies doing the tri. But I also see people in the other spectrum, people who are on the heavier side, people who are much much older (think 60-ish to 70-ish?) doing the tri. It sure isn't easy training for a tri event, but these people really has the tenacity and resilience, discipline and motivation to participate & complete such a gruelling event. Not to forget the really HOT weather today, we are literally baked under the hot sun. I really can't imagine how they could run under such punishing conditions.
The atmosphere there was indeed inspiring. The loud, catchy music. The really supportive spectators, shouting encouragement all the way, it just makes the whole event seem soo exciting and I myself felt so inspired by the whole thing! (and no, i can't bike nor swim, so tri is out for me haha).
Personally, I find it very touching to see my friends cross the finishing line. It is with happiness and relief and a tug of the heart when I see them cross the line, as it all means that the hard work they have put in to train for the event, the sweat, the pain, the discipline and self-motivation they put in to be there and to achieve their goal, crossing the line is their testimony that their hard work has finally come to fruition. Really happy to each and everyone of there.
As nemo recounted to us in the cab on our way home, he was saying all the participants was very supportive. They weren't competing with one another, they were in IT together and competing only with themselves. So when one fall or slowed down, the rest will encourage him/her to press on. How nice. Indeed, such races shouldn't be a race against one another.
Ok frankly, I think I'm blabbering. The heat today must have really got to me.
Nite now. Better get some rest for another work week starting in a few hours time ...
All in all a very good weekend :)
We were at the beach seeing the batches of participants (by age I think) being flagged off. By the time we settled on a spot, aichai was already in the waters. The waters was really choppy and nemo and gang commented that the swim would be really difficult. Next to be flagged off was sv, then gentle, then nemo. Each of the participant was to swim two laps in the sea, with each lap punctuated by a run on the beach. After taking pics of aichai, sv and nemo (couldn't get one on gentle), we headed off to wait for them at the end of the swim leg. There were water sprinklers located at the swim end so that the swimmers could wash themselves before heading off to change to their bike attire etc.
After shouting our encouragement to our friends, we proceeded to the food centre for a reprieve from the heat. We each ordered sugar cane drinks and later had our lunch there. Teelee, superboy, tiwazz, imd left for the milk run at 1+pm and we gals were left yakking and enjoying our lunch. Cosmic joined us gals later.
While chatting, I saw aichai ran past. We immediately rushed to the finishing line but was too late, couldn't get a pic of aichai. We then positioned ourselves at the finishing line to wait for nemo & sv to return. We somehow did not see gentle returned from the run. While waiting for sv at the finishing end, I spotted a gal who has the same running style as sxuanjing. Upon closer inspection, I realised that it was sxuanjing. We excitedly hollered our encouragement to her (she was doing the relay tri with her colleagues).Well done to Andy, Aichai, Nemo, Sxuanjing & SV for completing this tri! *CLAP CLAP CLAP*
We later congregated to take lots of post tri event photos. We met Mythos & Jennifer at the carpark while taking photos and chit chat with them briefly. Just so happened that I was just telling Junie and Superboy that I have not seen him for a long time and I get to see him today at this event! Synchronicity eh??
Aichai left us and the rest of us went to the food centre for sv, nemo and sxuanjing to carbo load. I finally succumbed to the temptation of the wanton noodle which angel highly recommended. So had a plate of the yummilicious wanton noodle, some BBQ chicken wings (courtesy of sv) and carrot cake (courtesy of nemo). We were all baked & beat by the end of the whole thing and so share a cab with nemo & junie back home, while angel & sxuanjing went to take a bus back home.
Its really an experience attending such an event. The adrenalin rush, seeing all these very motivated and determined participants going strong and completing the race. I see a lot of hunks, babes with really toned bodies doing the tri. But I also see people in the other spectrum, people who are on the heavier side, people who are much much older (think 60-ish to 70-ish?) doing the tri. It sure isn't easy training for a tri event, but these people really has the tenacity and resilience, discipline and motivation to participate & complete such a gruelling event. Not to forget the really HOT weather today, we are literally baked under the hot sun. I really can't imagine how they could run under such punishing conditions.
The atmosphere there was indeed inspiring. The loud, catchy music. The really supportive spectators, shouting encouragement all the way, it just makes the whole event seem soo exciting and I myself felt so inspired by the whole thing! (and no, i can't bike nor swim, so tri is out for me haha).
Personally, I find it very touching to see my friends cross the finishing line. It is with happiness and relief and a tug of the heart when I see them cross the line, as it all means that the hard work they have put in to train for the event, the sweat, the pain, the discipline and self-motivation they put in to be there and to achieve their goal, crossing the line is their testimony that their hard work has finally come to fruition. Really happy to each and everyone of there.
As nemo recounted to us in the cab on our way home, he was saying all the participants was very supportive. They weren't competing with one another, they were in IT together and competing only with themselves. So when one fall or slowed down, the rest will encourage him/her to press on. How nice. Indeed, such races shouldn't be a race against one another.
Ok frankly, I think I'm blabbering. The heat today must have really got to me.
Nite now. Better get some rest for another work week starting in a few hours time ...
All in all a very good weekend :)
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Great Saturday!
Woke up at 620am to get ready for my LSD today. I wanted to do about 15km and had asked Shut & teelee whether they would be interested to join me. Thankfully they are game and hence we had arranged to meet at 7am at my place.
I did a short warm up by running slowlyyy around my block and saw teelee rode up to the carpark in his bike. We then walked out to meet shut at the bus stop. After some simple stretching, we started our LSD, hitting the Yio Chu Kang stretch to Jalan Kayu (aiyo, slopes! I'm not suppose to do slopes!!!) and reached Seletar Airbase. We then ran inside the camp, passing by many many colonial houses. They are typically one-storey houses with a garden (saw one with swimming pool!) and the environment is just so serene. How i wish i could stay there but of course transport there would be a problem. The place will be so quiet and tranquil at night but on the other hand, it would be extremely scary to walk home late at night without transport. Think I will be spooked if I have to drive home along those dark street *shiver* ok, imagination running wild and anyway i digress :P
We stopped at the Seletar Airbase Golf Club for drinks and rest before proceeding on to run around the golf course, to the East camp. We exhausted our route in the airbase and reached the entrance with a total distance covered of 9km. As I was adamant (and so was Shut) to cover 15km today, we were like cracking our heads wondering where to run to to cover the remaining distance. We finally decided to run to Fernvale and from there head to Compasspoint and do an extra loop or something just to cover the distance. However by 13km I was feeling tired and so we decided to stop at Compasspoint.
You can have a look at the route we took here. Thank to teelee for patiently plotting out the route!!! *clap clap*
We had our breakfast at Banquet and it was the first time I didn't feel hungry after a run! Miracle! haha, i was simply tooo dehydrated. After the breakfast, we walked back and Shut fall out when we reached Hougang. Teelee and I then carried on to my flat before he head on and i rushed home to shower and get ready for my appointment with HSA.
I reached HSA at 12noon, was late by 30 mins. Thankfully I made an appointment as people with appointment are given priority and will be attended to faster *whew*. The experience this time is much better than my previous time. There wasn't long waits etc. The transfusion was very fast too and I filled up the bag in like 5 mins tops. I was out of HSA in an hour.
Next stop, took bus 75 from outside HSA to Great World City to meet up with nemo, teelee & superboy. We chit chat for a bit before going up to meet the rest at the theatre. On the way up we met BalaSing & his dad (wow, have to hand it to Bala for bringing his dad for a movie. Not many guys will do that and I really salute him! What a filial son ! *clap clap*) Met Junie, cosmic and sv at the theatre and after more chit chat and toilet breaks we headed into the theatre.
The movie - Superman Returns, was BORINGGGGGGGG. I was already warned that it is gonna be a draggy and boring show, so I was already not expecting much. But not long into the show i was like "ok, this isn't a good idea. I shall not go to just any movies when asked to. Better do some filtering next time ...". I fell asleep shortly after and it was only after nemo murmured something about "cyclops" that i woke up and had to endure the rest of the slow moving movie. Sit until my bum hurts and I was keep thinking how much longer I have to endure the show .. Basically, if I were to give a review about the show, this is what I would say in point form and in no particular order of importance (I recognise that there may be many who wants to watch the show and do not wish to read my opinionated reviews. As such, I have decided to make them "unreadable" as is. Whoever is interested in what I have to say about the movie can just highlight the section below to read my review - i reiterate, is my OWN, PERSONAL opinion so pls do not spam me :P)
- Hunky Superman. Lead actor (superman) looks very fake, like he is drawn, not a real person
- Superman's mediocre acting skills. His acting is well, so-so. I guess superman doesn't have too much emotion to show anyway, so he can breeze through this character with ease. Simply flex his muscles and show his brawn
- Gorgeous Lois Lane - just isn't appealing. Isn't the feisty character that I imagined Lois Lane to be. I guess my impression of Lois Lane lies with the Superman tv series, with Teri Hatcher as Lois Lane. She seems more bimbo than anything else in this show. Disappointing
- Lex Luther - Kevin Spacey - doesn't have the bad guy appeal. Very flat.
- Lex Luther's bimbotic girlfriend - can't they find a better cast ??? she is old, unattractive and totally ugly to be a bimbo anyway. The lines that she deliver are pretty lame too ... *yawn*
Nemo called up Roentgen at 4+ after our movies and found out that he has finally touched down in Singapore. HOOOOORAY!!!! We hence arranged to meet him for dinner at a place convenient. While waiting for him, we shopped around in GWC before finally heading to our dinner place at Crystal Cafe for the cheap muay buffet.
The weekend spread at the buffet was different and Nemo, sv & teelee had a good time carbo-loading for their event (OSim & MR25) tomorrow. Fbb joined us for the dinner chit chat and we all had a great time catching up. It is good to see Roentgen back safely from his biz trip and its good that I have wonderful friends to spend an evening with.
To another great day! Thanks to everyone for making today such a wonderful day. Special thanks to teelee and Shut for accompanying me for the LSD this morning!
Ok, going to koon now, i'm super stoned by now.
StonedJazz
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