A Ghost Story......

Hmm...I have been thinking lately whether I should or should not write a ghost story for the past few days. Afterall, I am a horror fan and loves anything that has gore and horror in it. Yes, debating with me, myself and Lilian and still debating.

Ok. I was kind of attracted by the Straits Time 'Scariest Ghost Story' competition and was thinking of giving it a shot. I have heard some real life ghost stories in the past. Stories from my army guy friends in Pulau Tekong, my uncle's real encounter with a female ghost, my mum telling me about Pontianak when I was young and yes, watching MTV Utt hosting the 'Incredible Tales' (although I must admit I watched the show more for Utt..hehe). However, it gets a bit tricky as I have not personally encounter any scary stuff for the past 30 years (even the scary shows in cinemas ain't scary abit...). I was thinking of some encounters that will freak readers out, you know, those kind that will make your hair stand and send shivers down one's spine...yes...those kind of experience is what I need to write a real ghost story and walk away with the prize! (grinning)

I have read books by horror writer Goh Sin Tub and always find it unbelieveable. Unbelieveable in a sense that I ain't sure whether it is really true or that man sure has a wonderful imagination. Anyway, the price for the 'Scariest Ghost Story' doesn't look that lucrative to me...hmmm....but if anyone got any paranormal encounters to share, this might help to stimulate some creative juices in me and FREAK me out.

I think I will make use of the weekends to 'interview' some of my friends on this...hehe...FREAKY!!!

Part Science, Part Stunts

If you are game for some 'fun' experiments with Science and you like to see things getting 'BLOWN' up, Brainiac is the right show for you! Brainiac is definitely a fun and entertaining show for those who just can't help reliving their science experiments back in school (except that now you recalled back, those experiments we done in school are really just chicken feat). It's a crazy yet wonderful show to watch.....who knows, you could be the next Albert Einstein!!!

Where were you when he needed you??!!!

It was quite depressing to read that young 17 years old triathele Thaddeus Cheong collapsed and died after crossing the finishing line. What was even shocking that NO paramedics were present when he collapsed. Pardon my ignorance, but even in most schools' cross country or marathons, there is always a first-aid team standby just in case something happened to somebody. So, why is this basic requisite of having a paramedic team NOT available in the first place? The young man could have been saved by the milliseconds if the medic team was just around the corner.

And what bothers me most is this statement made by TAS. Quoted in the article, 'The Triathlon Association of Singapore (TAS) said although there were no medical personnel on site, the coaches present were all trained in first-aid.'

So, did the coaches not render first aid to the young man when they saw him collapsed or they were not available at the scene at the point of time when he collapsed? Such tragedy should not be happening in the first place. Someone's life could have been saved if precautions were carefully taken and executed in such events.

The Cheong family has lost a son and Singapore has lost a potential triathelete.

Runner's Dilemma?

I did not know what got into me but I was up at 5am this morning to do a solid 1 hour run around my neighbourhood. It seems the body was kind of awakened by a call to 'Get up, get out and RUN'. To many people, they would rather catch up on that few extra hours of sleep on a Monday morning rather than hitting the pavement and perspiring at 5am in the morning.

The air was refreshing, no traffic, my body and legs were feeling good and yes, it was an awesome run and definitely a good one. I was reading one of a runner's blog and came across what he called a runner's dilema? What exactly is the runner's dilema? He must run, no matter what shape or situation he is in. The dilemma is finding a resolution despite being older, fatter, slower than when running was graceful. How true this is.

Also ever heard of the Runner's High? For those of you unfamiliar with the runner’s high, I would encourage you to seek it out as part of your training. It’s a mental state of relaxation partnered with a mild pain cessation that occurs after 60-90 minutes of steady exercise. I find it truly euphoric, setting me in a state of eternal optimism that can last hours after a run......

Now for some good breakfast!!! :)

Small Town Girl, Big Time Adventure

The iconic girl detective is back again, after disappearing from the scene for ages. This time round, Nancy Drew (Emma Roberts) is back as a nerdishly yet demure snoop(she sure is pretty cute for a nerd)as she accompanies her father to Los Angeles to investigate a long-unsolved mystery involving the death of a beautiful movie starlet.

Definitely a pleasing and refreshing update of a character who has gone missing in the prints since 1978. And what I like about the show is everything about Nancy is retro especially the blue 1959 roadster driven by the sleuth...slick and retro...yeah baby!! If you have read Nancy Drew's book since young (I grew up reading her books and the Hardy boys too), this movie would have been quite enjoyable although if the plot can be tweaked a bit more to make it more thrilling, that would definitely be more interesting.

Yeah, you go girl!

Getting out there

This whole week I took a long run around my new neighbourhood - the lovely Sembawang for 4 consecutive days. The run took me about an hour each and for the next 3 days, I took an abbreviated version of the same run again. It was a great run and definitely very exciting as the momentum starts building up, the endorphins start setting in and yes, I feel so much lighter.

Call me a sucker for running, I have been hitting the tracks since 1998. From an alternate day jog to a daily run and it has become a routine of mine since that day. It was quite unfortunate that because of this daily run, my right knee has suffered some bad injury over the past few years and I can see signs of slowing down when the pain sets in after the 3rd lap. Nevertheless, I hope I am recuperating well enough to take part in the Sheares Bridge and Standard Chartered run again this year.

Running is definitely an exercise which I will not be giving up yet, I guess even when I am older, I would still want to continue running - for life!. Also it seems like the more I exercise the hungrier I become....:)

Transformers, Robots in Disguise

The beast machines are back in action in the cinema! Yes, i remembered watching the Transformers with my brother when I was young and singing to the tune of 'Transformers, robots in disguise....' (if I could still remembered the rest of the lyrics). Back in my younger days, the Transformers was the most-watched television show in my house in line with other popular shows like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Smurfs and Scooby Doo (Scooby Doo was my favourite!). However, at that age, i could never really understand a single thing in the show except for the fact that I go WOW everytime they transformed into a robot. And my brother had to remind me everytime I watched the show 'Decepticons hate Autobots. Optimus Prime, the heroic red Mack truck, led the Autobots and wished one day the Decepticons would cease their evil ways. Megatron, the fancy pistol, was the leader of the Decepticons, and he cursed the goody-goody Autobots and their constructive outlook on life.' (Yeah, as though I can understand what he said at that age...haha)

In Transformers, the rules were clear. According to the Transformers Armada story line, while the Autobots and Decepticons battle for control of their home planet Cybertron, a signal reaches them from a distant planet, revealing the existence of the Mini-Con robots. This lost race of transformers has awakened after centuries of hibernation on Earth. The Autobots and Decepticons race to Earth each hoping to find the Mini-Cons first so they can partner with them and gain powerful new abilities. At my younger age, I would think that it's really amazing and incredible to think that everyone could transform from a vehicle -- or cassette tape or gun or dinosaur, in some cases -- into a robot.

How I wish that one day, we can be transformed into something too whenever we feel like it (Hah! Dream on Lilian!!!)

Catch the trailer here for all Transformers fans!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZp75fWe-ss

Atom Ant, my all time favourite Superhero

Atom Ant as it's name suggested is a superpowered mutated ant. It can detect distress on its antenna and ever see an ant fly??!! Yes, this ant can fly. It's a bird, it's a plane, nooooooooo....it's ATOM ANT!! (move aside superman) It possess superstrength which it derives from atomic energy and it's powers mostly consisted of the ability to fly, superspeed, and amazing strength.

And do you know Atom Ant was the first four limbed talking superhero/insect to walk on hind legs!!! Sometimes, I feel like I am Atom Ant (minus the ability to fly) working at amazing speed and carrying stuff which are way beyond my imagination and size.

ANTM Cycle 7

I managed to catch a glimpse of the 'America's Next Top Model Cycle 7' last Sunday night (gasps!!!). I have been an avid fan of Tyra Bank's reality TV show eversince they started broadcasting America's Next top model Cycle 2, but somehow, last Sunday show was a disappointment.

There were very limited choices to choose between the icy queen Melrose and the loose cannon Caridee, who both hated each other obviously (as usual in most reality TV show like ANTM). I guess the standard of each contestant has dropped with every cycle and yes, less bitching in cycle 7 too. Again, I would seriously like Ms Jay to consider pumping more male hormones in 'heshe'.... (hehehe)

Well, at least one thing I do agree with the judges is the winner - Caridee. (this episode is not out yet, but I knew she was the winner). I'm not surprised as I think she deserves it more than Melrose simply because she has a better personality than Melrose. Yay!

And Tyra Banks - she looks younger in every ANTM Cycle. Oh my god!!!

All Good Things

I came across another nice song by Nelly Furtado lately. It's called 'All Good Things' and again, meaningful lyrics especially the chorus portion. Check out her Video here - ALL GOOD THINGS.

All Good Things lyrics by Nelly Furtado.

Honestly what will become of me
don't like reality
It's way too clear to me
But really life is daily
We are what we don't see
Missed everything daydreaming

[Chorus]
Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
come to an end come to an
Why do all good things come to end?
come to an end come to an
Why do all good things come to an end?

Traveling I only stop at exits
Wondering if I'll stay
Young and restless
Living this way I stress less
I want to pull away when the dream dies
The pain sets in and I don't cry
I only feel gravity and I wonder why

Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
[ All Good Things lyrics found on http://www.completealbumlyrics.com ]
come to an end come to an
Why do all good things come to end?
come to an end come to an
Why do all good things come to an end?

Well the dogs were whistling a new tune
Barking at the new moon
Hoping it would come soon so that they could
Dogs were whistling a new tune
Barking at the new moon
Hoping it would come soon so that they could
Die die die die die

Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
Flames to dust
Lovers to friends
Why do all good things come to an end
come to an end come to an
Why do all good things come to end?
come to an end come to an
Why do all good things come to an end?

Well the dogs were barking at a new moon
Whistling a new tune
Hoping it would come soon
And the sun was wondering if it should stay away for a day til the feeling went away
And the sky was falling on the clouds were dropping and
the rain forgot how to bring salvation
the dogs were barking at the new moon
Whistling a new tune
Hoping it would come soon so that they could die.

This is Good night and not goodbye

Goodbye old house.

Well, I am just 11 hours plus away from the big move. Most of our things are in boxes (tons and tons of boxes) and there are boxes waiting to be filled when we finally leave. We had spent a wonderful almost 6 months in this house (not counting the time back in year 2004 when we first moved in here). This is the house that has brought back some good memories (my close friends are just one block down the street, my favourite fried rice is just a 10mins walk from my house, my favourite stadium where I do my morning jog, the swimming pool which kept me swimming like a fish always over the weekends...I could go on and on, but sadly...I know it's time to leave).

We have put lots of love into this house with our decorations and improving this and that. It feels weird leaving some place that you have gotten so used to for something new and unfamiliar. But I guess, changes are inevitable and so is the moving. Tomorrow (May 31), around this time, we will be moving into a new place, to make new memories in.

Nobody seems to be sad except me and I am sure on moving day when it comes to closing the door for the last time I will be more sad then I am at this moment. Living in this house, I was only about a mile away from where I grew up when i was young. It was actually within walking distance. Now I keep telling my mom that we should come back more often to eat the fried rice...

Hmm..this reminds me of a song which my squadmates used to sing during my NPCC (National Police Cadet Corps) days. It's called 'Linger' and it goes like this..

Hm hm, I want to linger here,
hm hm, a little longer here,
hmhm, a little longer here with you.

Hm hm, it's such a perfect night,
hm hm, it doesn't seems quite right,
hm hm, this is my last night here with you.

Hm hm, and as the years goes by,
hm hm, I think of you and cry,
hm hm, this is good night and not good bye.'

I'm Moving Again

Yes, I am moving again. Not suprising to those who knew me. I would think I have shifted house many times as compared to anyone in Singapore (unless you are talking about someone on the run from bad debts..haha). The first time I shifted house was from my 4 room apartment at Jalan Rajah (Balastier Road) which I had grown up since young to a 5 room HDB flat in Toa Payoh. (My parents got the house through balloting and you can say they were lucky at the first shot!) A few years later, after my brother got married and I thought I could have his bigger room all to myself, my parents decided to downgrade to a 4 room flat in Sengkang. After staying there for less than 2 years, we are back again at Toa Payoh temporarily and this time round, we are moving further away. Yes, my next home will be in Sembawang. A nice little cosy 4 room HDB (very much like a condo-style design minus the swimming pool...shucks!) with a good bird eye's view facing the Straits of Johor. See,I am so close to our neighbours!!!

And yes, it's finally happening again. That time of the year to lug boxes of my belongings from one end of Singapore to another via a lorry. The thing is I have radically reduced the number of my belongings (to throw or not to throw dilemma has once again surfaced). All my clothes will fit into my 3 large suitcases. The only huge items are my computer, my toy-car collection and yes, all my soft toys (I have hundreds of this furry stuff which after much deliberation, I have decided to keep it and not throw away. Bring back those good old memories).

Moi will be shifting on Vesak day - May 31. Yup..moving to a new home with new curtains, new sofa, new bed, new LCD TV...well, practically, everything is new for me. A new start in good old Sembawang!

On fifty-percent recovery path...

I can't imagine I have downed about 14 cups of herbal tea since morning...cups after cups of black and bitter herbal tea which I am still forcing myself to drink at this moment. (wonder if anybody has got this recorded down in the World Guiness Book of Record..hehe). Yes, the throat is feeling much better than it was last night. Last night, I felt as though I was literally in 'HELL' and my body was like burning.

I really hate it when my body starts to feel lifeless and limp, not to mention I have to avoid eating solid food for the next few days. Poor me,I tend to feel sorry for myself whenever I fall sick. It's as though as I have deprived myself of food, fun and exercise. I guess my body is screaming for a 'detox'. Yes, I need to do that!

Back at work, luckily, there isn't much things ongoing on Monday and I could take a breather every now and then. Hope Howard is doing fine too, he's got a sore throat too. My brain ain't functioning that well today.. (could be the side-effects of drinking too much herbal stuff..haha..whatever it is). I can't remember when was the last time I was sick. It must be the weather or the food I have ate recently that has caused the heat to build up in me.

Still, I am happy that I am 50% on the path to recovery....

Yes, I caved in

The weather has been scorching hot for the past few weeks with the occassional rain in the afternoon. And yes, I caved in to the weather today....it was as though as I have fallen into a pot of hot cooking oil and despite soaking myself in the pool the whole morning, I caved in to what was about to follow aftermath. A bad sorethroat (hard to swallow any food) and a sudden rise in body temperature...I could feel my head getting heavier with each moment...Argh....I think I am about to hit the sack and hopefully I will be back in top condition tomorrow.

I hate falling asick, can't eat, can't do much thing except sleep and worst of all, can't do any workout. Sigh....I keep telling myself it's all in the mind. Just tell yourself you will be well soon and you will be! I must be like AtomAnt (hehe..my cartoon hero)...

Ok...my eyelids are getting heavy now and the throat is feeling funny again....so with this, I am signing out till the next time. I will be back for sure.

My new LOVE!

Lately, I have been thinking of getting the HP IPAQ -

Looks cute, cool and I think I badly need a PDA to keep track of my calendar and appointments (I guess my memory gets fried on some days...haha). Hmm......I am still looking and asking around for advise, so far, I have not had any bad reviews on this phone yet. Well, see how it goes. Gadgets - either you love it or you just hate it!

LOVE 2007!

The rain came, yet it did not dampened the mood of those who have been waiting for this biggest community event of the year. Yes, the LOVE Launch 2007 kicked off on
April 28 and we saw 140+ participants flocking in on that wet Saturday. Thanks to all community experts, MVPs (you know who you guys are) and also MS folks for adding the 'magic' to this event and making it a reality and success.

Warrior of The Light

A friend shared this with me... thought it can be quite useful. If you are interested to read more of the author's work, the link is
http://www.warriorofthelight.com/engl/index.html

Manual for climbing mountains
A)Choose the mountain you want to climb: Don't pay attention to what other people say, such as that one is more beautiful or this one is easier. You'll be spending lots of energy and enthusiasm to reach your objective, so you're the only one responsible and you should be sure of what you are doing.

B) Know how to get close to it: mountains are often seen from far off are beautiful, interesting, full of challenges. But what happens when we try to draw closer? Roads run all around them, flowers grow between you and your objective, what seemed so clear on the map is tough in real life. So try all the paths and all the tracks until eventually one day you are standing in front of the top that you yearn to reach.

C) Learn from someone who has already been up there: no matter how unique you feel, there is always someone who has had the same dream before you and ended up leaving marks that can make your journey easier; places to hang the rope, trails, broken branches to make the walking easier. The climb is yours, so is the responsibility, but don't forget that the experience of others can help a lot.

D) When seen up close, dangers are controllable: when you begin to climb the mountain of your dreams, pay attention to the surroundings. There are cliffs, of course. There are almost imperceptible cracks in the mountain rock. There are stones so polished by storms that they have become as slippery as ice. But if you know where you are placing each footstep, you will notice the traps and how to get around them.

E) The landscape changes, so enjoy it: of course, you have to have an objective in mind to reach the top. But as you are going up, more things can be seen, and it's no bother to stop now and again and enjoy the panorama around you. At every meter conquered, you can see a little further, so use this to discover things that you still had not noticed.

F) Respect your body: you can only climb a mountain if you give your body the attention it deserves. You have all the time that life grants you, as long as you walk without demanding what cannot be granted. If you go too fast you will grow tired and give up half way there. If you go too slow, night will fall and you will be lost. Enjoy the scenery, take delight in the cool spring water and the fruit that nature generously offers you, but keep on walking.

G) Respect your soul: Don't keep repeating I'm going to make it. Your soul already knows that, what it needs is to use the long journey to be able to grow, stretch along the horizon, touch the sky. An obsession does not help you at all to reach your objective, and even ends up taking the pleasure out of the climb. But pay attention: also, don't keep saying it's harder than I thought, because that will make you lose your inner strength.

H)Be prepared to climb one kilometer more: the way up to the top of the mountain is always longer than you think. Don't fool yourself, the moment will arrive when what seemed so near is still very far. But since you were prepared to go beyond, this is not really a problem.

I) Be happy when you reach the top: cry, clap your hands, shout to the four winds that you did it, let the wind - the wind is always blowing up there - purify your mind, refresh your tired and sweaty feet, open your eyes, clean the dust from your heart. It feels so good, what was just a dream before, a distant vision, is now part of your life, you did it!

J) Make a promise: now that you have discovered a force that you were not even aware of, tell yourself that from now on you will use this force for the rest of your days. Preferably, also promise to discover another mountain, and set off on another adventure.

K) Tell your story: yes, tell your story! Give your example. Tell everyone that it is possible, and other people will then have the courage to face their own mountains.

My Fantasy at Night..

What are fantasies? Have you ever fantasise about something or somebody?? I am pretty sure most of us will have such fantasies everynow and then. Since I am now in the midst of a late conference call, if and only if my favourite model (America Top Model Jon Johnson) is here with me...it will be surreal!!! Sweet dreams....

Tourista = Horror?

Tourista certaintly caught my eye when I saw the preview for this movie in the cinema.Besides the gore and some horror scenes, I was definitely expecting more than just that. I really love scary and horror movies (don't ask me why, but I just love it), however, this movie was rather disappointing or at least it didn't satisfy me at all or got me freak out.

It was mentioned by critics that Tourista will be better and scarier than Hostel (for those who did not watch Hostel, this is really a good show to freak you out) which was not at all in the case. A very mediocre plot with some good looking actress though. The flaw was that the horror part was too short to actually called it a horror show. However, it was partially compensated by lots of skimply dressed actress (to the delight of my partner), a great and lovely beach and a lovely river with underground caves. This movie does have it's potential, just need a little more fine tuning in making the horror portion longer.

For those who are going to catch Tourista over the weekends, it is basically a horror movie about American tourists in Brazil and some really bad things happened to them when their bus crashed and they were forced to take a detour......and yes, that is when the so-called 'horror' begins... (I won't ruin it further for those who haven't seen it yet)

PS: Now, I am wondering if Brazil should be my next tourist vacation. :P

Not my day....

I guess I am suffering from the post Monday blue syndromes. My Tuesday did not turn out as well as I wanted to. Well...pretty down today actually

A bad start to the day:
1. Nope, I did not wake up on the wrong side of the bed. Rather, I couldn't get any sleep at all the whole night till about 5plus am before I managed to catch a few winks. Reason: It was hot and stuffy eventhough the air-con was on in my bedroom.

Dragged myself down to office at around 9pm and looked like a zombie when I arrive at work.

2. Just when I thought my day could not be that bad, my machine went crazy and refuse to grant me access to the internal websites which I needed so badly for my work. In the end, I had to make a trip down to the IT guys in my office to get it checked. Yes, luckily it was repaired, it worked and it saved my day (at least).
Reason: Unknown because I did not ask the guy what happened.

Well, what could be worst than not being able to access the files/folders I needed for my work. Had a good curry chicken lunch with MVP Darren. This young man is sure chatty and full of energy (if only you hear what his plans are for the upcoming months....what was I doing at his age???!!!).

The worst was yet to come....

3. Later that afternoon, I was informed by a colleague that a project that we were both working on for the past 6 months had to stop for FY08. Apparently, instructions came down from the top. Yikes!!!
Reason: Unknown at this point of time until I attend the meeting.

Stared blankly at my machine while still trying to digest the news I just heard. We were almost 3/4 through to pushing that project out and now??!!!!

Well, knock off at 5 plus and decided to go for a good run to relieve my pent up feelings for the day. Alas, it had to rain!!! Rainy days always make one moody and at that instant, I was plunged into a melancholy mood...sigh sigh..

Tomorrow, yes I can;t wait till tomorrow because tomorrow will be a better day. I am very sure of that and I will make sure it will be better than today.

Of course, I still have tonight to cherish. I think I am going to indulge myself in a sinful vanila walls ice-cream and sit myself in front of my TV for the rest of the night. No checking of mails tonight. :)