Rainy Run

The last time I ran in the rain was back in my NPCC days. Yes, we called it the PT(Physical training) time and as we ran round the tracks with our Ma'ams leading the squad and singing and cheering to keep our spirits high up....it was totally effortless and enjoyable.

A sense of deja vu on Saturday 28th July as I ran in the OSIM Singapore International Trialthon relay competition with my partner at East Coast Park in the heavy pouring rain (minus the songs and cheers). I was literally soaked from head to toes and there goes my new and heavily invested pair of asics gel shoes getting all muddy, dirty and wet(my dearest shoes!!!).

It was really cold and definitely not a nice feeling running in the heavy pouring rain. Mind you, it was not just a passing rain or a slight drizzle, but a heavy and continuous downpour which lasted till about 2pm. Each step taken was definitely challenging as I have to leap, jump and cross over puddles of water, not to mention I have to avoid splashing the person next to me (sorry to whoever got splashed by me). I was just glad I crossed the finishing line in one soaking piece (haha). Yeah...it was a good run, but not an excellent one given the weather condition.

I can't wait for the Sheares Bridge run on Aug 26. I just hope that it will be Mr. Sun I am seeing instead of Mr. Rain.

Were-Sheeps

Sick of werewolves? Then how about sheeps??!! Yes, not just normal sheeps, but sheeps that have gone crazy and goes on a killing rampage?? Black sheep is a horror cum comedy movie. It depicts how a genetic engineering experiment went horribly wrong in a New Zealand farm and turning the sheeps into bloodthirsty killers. Human beings who are bitten by the infected sheeps become 'were-sheeps' (is there such a word for it?). I was basically laughing it off throughout the whole movie. (sigh...another indication that such movies are not watchable...)

I used to think sheeps are docile animals, not like those bloodthirsty beasts in the show that goes attacking human beings and ripping off their guts. Weak plot, bad jokes and yeah, not scary a bit. Doesn't appear to me as either a comedy or horror show. Neh, definitely not worth my $8.50. Bleah.

Kristy was in town.....

Kristy was in town last week for our APAC/EMEA offsite meeting. So, as the host, we brought her to Glutton bay to have a taste of local food. Thanks to the MVPs for volunteering to take her around Singapore and yes, special thanks to Alvin for being her 'personal' tour guide!!

Unity is Strength

In the animal kingdom, often it is the survial of the fittest as that is how all living things survie in this food chain. This footage clearly depicts and brings out the message that unity is strength and do not undermine the power of this strength which can either break or save a life.

Check out this battle of the species and you will understand why.

The Run of the Year....

Goodie. The Safra Sheares bridge run is up for registration. Yes, I am all ready for this run on Aug 26. As per the previous year, the starting point will kick off at the Esplanade bridge. However, the ending point will be at the Marina Promenade. Lovely! Interested runners can sign up at www.safra.sg/sbs

Love Equals Hate

No wonder people always say LOVE too much and it will becomes HATE. Hmm...how true. Mirror never lies...so does LOVE equates to HATE? You got to see this for yourself......

How my day usually starts.....

This is how my day starts......

6.30am: Body awakes (mind not awake though)and debating whether to jog or swim
6.45am: Out of the house to get my loads of endorphines
7.45am: Back home and wash up (both body and mind finally awake)
8.00am: Switch on machine to check emails
8.30am: Stared at wardrobe wondering what to wear
8.40am: Pack bag
9.00am: Grab a drink, say goodbye to my Mum and leave house

And yes, I begin another day of exciting (if not, I will try to make it exciting) day. Cut across my apartment to catch bus 859 to Sembawang MRT (it takes about 15 mins waiting time, so I tried not to miss it). Board the train at 9.20am and another 45 mins journey of people-watching (interesting!!!) on the packed-like sardine-train. Reached Raffles Place MRT around 10.15am and again, cut across the underground, up the escalator and finally reached the office.

12.00pm: Grab a quick bite (don't know whether I called it my brunch or my lunch) and a cuppa, do some kaypo-ying and yes...work work and work. (wohoo!!!)

5.00pm: Tired eyes and body and decided to call it a day. Pack my machine and retrace the morning walk back to the train station. Then start to plan the route in my mind where I decide to jog later in the evening and kick start another load of endorphines(always looking forward to it).

Another day in my normal working life.

Lovely Locks

Mirror mirror on the wall, who's the prettiest of them all? A bad hair day for you, no more as shown by this beast...

Ticket to World Cup?

Ever wondered what you will sacrifice to get that ticket to World Cup? Here is what one man will do.....thanks MM for sharing this.

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.'