Being forced to grow up too fast

Lately, one of my girlfriend's father was hospitalised and awarded in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit). Despite several blood tests, doctors could not diagnose what was wrong with him. He is now back at home recuperating and has to go back to the hospital for regular check ups and physiotherapy.

My girlfriend recently told me she felt as though as she has suddenly grown up (too fast as a matter of fact) as the burden of the family (her brother is studying overseas) has fallen on her shoulders. Apart from having to deal with stress in her daily work and having to take care of her mother, and now her ailing father has added to her shoulders, she is totally drained both mentally and emotionally, not to mention financially too.

When I told her to stay positive and to look on the bright side of things (I really don't know what to say to her at that point of time). she said to me 'If you are experiencing what I am facing now, it would be a different story.' Yes, I was at a loss of words and who am I to advise her when I am not even in her shoes. I should have put myself in her shoes before I said those words to her.

I guess Life sometimes throws challenges at you that do not have a quick-fix formula and it can drag you down into depths of desperation. But, it is also under such kinds of situations that one needs to prepare developing their emotional fitness. Just as you need to be physically fit to run a marathorn, you need to have emotional fitness when you are forced into a challenging situation that confronts and confounds you. I know it's easier said than done, however, if you are able to ride this turbulent wave of uncertainty, you will definitely emerge as the champion.

The saying that 'Life is never a bed of roses' - how true this is. This is also what makes life challenging as through each experience, we develop certain character that makes us bigger than what we are and the setbacks, griefts and disappointment which we have endured and overcome help us to march forward and onwards. This is the only way to survive if we want to continue to survive.

So, to my friend and if you are reading my blog, don't forget that we are always there supporting you both emotionally and physically. I am sure even if you need any financial support, the volleyball team will be most willing to chip in too. We are just a call away.

E-mail Consequences

This is so funneeee - you must see it and thanks Mag for sharing it with me.

For those of you who are 'sick to death' of getting messages that tell you to forward an e-mail to at least X number of people in the next 15 minutes so that wonderful and miraculous things will happen if you do, and consequences if you don't, so here's is a piece (below) which I think youw will enjoy.

Check out this video.

Mind over body

One hour and twenty minutes. Yes, this was the time I took to complete the 12Km Singapore Bay Run a.k.a Safra Sheares Bridge Run & Army Half Marathon yesterday. I clocked a better ten minutes timing as compared to Y2005. Despite my knee injury which kept me away from running long distance in the past one year, I think I was quite happy with my personal timing this time round.

It was really a mind over the body thingy as after passing the 8Km route, the knees started to get abit cranky and threatened to give way. However,seeing contingent of OCS(officer cadet school) and Commandos running pass me in high spirits, that psyched me on to push myself on...afterall I was thinking just another 4Km and I will be done with. Some people stop at a little pain thinking Okay, that's all for me. Most will stop when they find it really too hard to take it anymore. For the amazing one, they take it beyond their mental threshold. I guess I am somehow smacked in between the 'most' and 'amazing' people category, although most of the time I tried to persevere on and push myself to the limits.

Thankfully, I made it back safe and sound. Unfortunately, it was not the case for the 25 year old captain from OCS (an Office cadet instructor). From what I've heard, he collapsed just after completing the 21km marathon and die. It was really tragic.

My advise? Mind over body, yes, use it well and train wisely. If you are not feeling well, it would be advisable to just train less intensively or take a good break before resuming any intense exercises. It's your life you are betting on for every long distance race you run...so don't play with it.

It still warms my heart till today

I'm not sure if it's just me, but I guess it's just one of those rather old-fashioned (or 'obiang') things that stills warms my heart till today.

I was going through my boxes of letters and greeting cards today which i have received many years back (yes, since the age of 15 and so you can imagine the stacks of cards/letters I have and don't ask me why I still bother to keep those letters/greeting cards and why I am reading it). As I go through each card and letter, reading the wordings on it, the thought of the sender being so sweet about certain things, the words of encouragment etc really made me felt very special and thankful.

Every little post meant a lot to me and it still means alot to me now. I do still get them often from some ever faithful friends - Penny, Mfng, KY.

I still remembered I hand-wrote a letter to a guy friend while he was serving his National service in 1996 to update him on how I was 'surviving' in the University. Back then, everybody has started using the email as the main form of communication. While, guess I was kind of anti-email then and I felt nothing would be better than to hand-write a letter to him. I was absolutely right when he wrote back to say it has been ages since he last received a hand-written letter and he was glad that I was so thoughtful on this. (See what I mean about warming someone's heart).

I hope I'm not being too emotional when I say that sometimes tears do well up in my eyes when I read the letters/greeting cards from all my friends/cadets/ma'ams/, especially when the day is long or it's just one of those nights when I am deep in my own thoughts.

Hostel Part II - Watch it if you dare!

There has been quite a number of horror and gore shows lately in the cinemas. And yes, being a horror fan, I wouldn't want to miss it for sure especially those movies produced by Lion Gates. (Lion Gates are well-known for producing horror/terrifiying and anything to do with scaring people movies.) And to top that up, director Eli Roth even proclaims himself as the 'Horror Borat'. Woohoo!

I caught the recent 'Hostel Part II' last week and it definitely blow my guts and mind out! For those who have watched 'Hostel Part I', you must catch it's Part II sequel and I guarantee you that it will be more intense, suspense and violent than ever. Not that I am a psycho or torture freak, but this movie sure does takes you to a whole new terrifiying level. For the faint hearted, save your bucks for this especially since now it's the seventh month (eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee)

I think I am going to catch 'SkinWalker' this weekend...oooooo...just by the title of the show, my imagination is going wild!

Another horrible finding

Another horrible finding! Reported in the Forum section of the Straits Time today, a lady ordered a plate of 'Sliced sambal Fried Fish' from a stall @ Banquet and was savouring her coleslaw when she realised there was something 'CHEWY' about it. She took it out from her mouth and found a plaster with dried blood on it. GROSS! YIKES! PUKES!

It seems that the chain of Banquetfood stalls are experiencing some kind of 'hygiene' issues here. First, I discovered a 'dead cockroach' in my noodles at AMK Banquet and now, someone has chewed on a bloody plaster @ Jurong Banquet. What else could be next??!! I shall leave that to your imagination.

The funny thing is the woman sent a compliant email to customercare@banquet.com.sg, only to receive a return email saying 'The address had permanent fatal errors'. It's so ridiculous.

Yikes! A UFO in my macaroni

Yep, I was 100% confirmed that it was not garlic, onions or any garnishes of that sort. Last evening, I ordered a bowl of chicken macaroni soup from the Chicken rice stall at Banquet at AMK. (Hah!! Blacklist that stall now that I have said out the name). I was stirring the soup and taking my first bite of the chicken slices when I noticed a UFO in my soup (Unidentified Floating Object). I’m sure you’ve guessed what it was. Yep, there was this cockroach with it's hairy legs floating at the corner and in my soup. HORRENDOUS! I thought it was garlic cos the colour was so similar to crispy garlic and to make sure I was not seeing wrongly, I got my partner to confirm it. Even though the waiter apologized and offered to replace a new bowl for me, I had lost my appetite and requested for a re-fund instead.


It's really digusting and kinda nauseating. I am never patronising that stall again no matter how tasty their chicken rice is. Yikes! I should have taken a photo of it and sent it to STOMP....wahahaha

The day the weather went wrong

Boohoo! The weather is getting from bad to worse lately! Tons of people are falling sick. Right now in my office, i can hear sneezes and coughs within the next cubicle.
Even people whom I’ve known to be “invincible” have fallen prey to the “Virus-Monster”. Moi has been falling sick easily these days too (should I blame it on the weather or it's just me). I hate it! Its ok to have the occasional fever or flu bug, but not when it comes in a combination of 3 in 1. What I meant by 3 in 1 is the cough, the running nose and the sore throat. How bad can that be? Not to mention my Sheares Bridge run is taking place on Aug 26, I don't want to miss any training because of this 'monster'. Argh....

Truesay in Wisteria Lane

I was really touched by the Desperate Housewives show yesterday. In case some of you have not heard or watch Desperate Housewives, it's basically a series of darkly comedic look at the secret lives of housewives which ain't always what they seem in Wisteria Lane.

Yesterday's show was the most touching for me and I have given it some rating based on how it has melted me. Starting with:

1. Rick tells Lynette of Tom's suspicions and she breaks down, saying that she loved having these evenings to look forward to where she could feel sexy again, even though she never meant for it to go any farther. She tells him that's all ruined now and that he simply has to go.

Melting effect: Lynette's crush for Rick was revealed in this episode as she sobs to herself in the bathroom after telling Tom that Rick has quit. Sometimes, it's hard to cross the line and once you have crossed it, it's even harder to break away from that line. (9.5/10 melting effect)


2.Travers' two-week visit with Edie is up and his father, Charles, has come to take him home. Carlos lets it be known to Edie that he's not going to be around as much without Travers there, so she tells Charles she's filing for joint custody. Realizing that she's doing this because of him, Carlos points out that Travers' needs should come first and being split between two different schools and sets of friends will be rough. He promises to be there for Edie, even when Travers isn't around.

Melting effect: I am touched by Carlos's TLC for Edie and promise to be by her side even if Travers is not there. It's good that a guy knows what a woman wants and needs especially for a woman like Edie. (7/10 melting effect)

3.Gabrielle is annoyed to get a parking ticket from a meter man even though she told him she was about to leave. After Victor Lang won the mayor position, Gabriell was out celebrating her new status as "First Lady of Fairview," when she spies the same meter man from the day before. She deliberately parks in front of a fire hydrant and tells him there's nothing he can do about it. He writes her a ticket and she tears it up and things escalate from there, with her finally ending up in the back of a police car. Victor's position as mayor-elect means that he is indeed able to spring her from jail and have all the charges dropped, but before she explain her side of the story, he icily informs her that he expects his wife to act like a grown-up and not do things such as jump on him like she did on election night when he won. Shaken, she promises it'll never happen again. But then he catches sight of her bruised wrist and she says that the meter man twisted her arm. Later, as Victor and Gaby dance happily at his victory party, two men accost the meter man and savagely beat him. "Do you know how much I love you?" Victor asks.

Melting effect: Victor Lang shows her love for Gaby indirectly. Gaby must have felt that Victor was cold when he told her to behave herself since now he is a mayor. I think Gaby has found the true love of her life...a man who would do anything for her, even in the dark. (8/10 melting effect)

4.Susan decides to find Mike on her own after knowing Mike has went up to the local forests. Of course she gets hopelessly lost. Before she beds down for the night, she leaves Mike a message on his voicemail saying she's always loved him and how sorry she is. And that she doesn't want any more drama. Mike, having overheard the park rangers hunting for a "missing, klutzy brunette" finds her the next morning. "I sprained my ankle," she tells him and he says, "Good. It gives me a chance to do this." And he takes her in his arms and kisses her.

Melting effect: Drama Queen, Susan finally realises Mike is the love of her life (it sure took her a long time to find out who she really loves) and goes in search of him in the forest, only to get lost but rescued the next morning by Mike, who literally swepts her off her feet. How surreal!! (8.5/10 melting effect)

I am really wondering does all such fairy tales only takes place in Wisteria Lane?

The RealRun

More adrenalin pumping runs coming up in the next few months! Apart from the Standard Chartered Run on Dec 2, another marathorn which got me excited is the RealRun by New Balance . What is new is that the 15km run includes a 12km road run + 1km sand + 1km trial + 1km runaway. Something unusual from the normal road run.

The Realrun will kick off on 28th October and will take place at Changi Coast Road. Definitely worth checking out for sure!

That time of the year again...

Another month of hair pulling and seeing stars as I screened through the endless string of candidates in my queue for the award cycle. Yes, the part of the year which I lose sleep over with, wondering if I have done a fair and unbias evaluation on all my candidates and giving them what they deserved. I feel like I am writing a testimonial for my candidates - putting in their strengths, achievements and how I feel about each of them. (not simple hor)

Okay..enough of my ramblings and rants and back to my candidate screening time (and yes, pulling hair time too).