hand in hand, ultramarathon we conquer

we call it a great way to end the year.. the ultra marked the final milestone for our endurance race calendar 2007.

within 10hrs 46mins, dearie and i hung on and completed 7 laps totalling to 73.5km macritchie trail run. to us, it's a great accomplishment as we weren't exactly trained up to do such a distance (the furthest distance we've clocked is the 42km marathon of running) and we were apprehensive if we could stay through the run.

doubtful as we were, we still went ahead, determined to stay together in the run, for as long as we can. dearie came up with a wise strategy to approach the entire run and having him by my side made all the difference.

we began with the goal to earn a finisher tee shirt (min 5 laps) and it was not before long, from 5 laps we calculated we would have suffice time for another 2, and that's what we did.

personally i thought the breaking point for me was at the 4th round - i could feel my body protesting and on top of the sultry sun baking us, it was quite a turmoil. but after we got through the 5th lap, the next 2 was alot mental.

by the 7th lap, we were limping off the stairs and celebrating at every water checkpoint. we know, every step ahead is one step nearer to the finishing line.

it was a great run, no cramps, we ran on feeling strong, we had fun and we promise we'll come back stronger next year.

after almost 11hrs of pain and sweat, we earned ourselves the right to be called "ultramarathoners".

piggy banks

Last Friday, dearie and I committed a sum of money for 15years, in order to make our money “work harder”. Risk level for this savings is really low, virtually none as a matter of fact, hence return is also not as significant compared to what you’ll get from investing in shares.

Nonetheless, it’s definitely a whole lot better than saving in the bank to get a $3 interest per month.

Setting money aside is important. Apart from the lump sum commitment, we’ve both started a monthly savings plan. This is the second one for myself, I’ve got 2 saving plans on going now and it’s one habit I want to keep for life – save. Like dearie often reminds me, “it’s not about how much you earn, it’s about how much you save.”

I had a long week away from work..coming back to office gave me quite abit of a shock as I realized I’ve left off quite a lot of work to catch up on. On top of the oncoming holidays happening next week, that literally means I’ve got lesser time to finish the same quantity of work. Gee.

The fruit cake dearie, mummy and I baked yesterday didn’t quite turn out the way we hoped it would. Nevertheless, it still tasted marvelous as it was our joint effort. Sweet taste of labour. =)

Misunderstanding at RL had been cleared up, that I’m glad to hear. I’m pretty certain that’s because I’ve asked HN to help me with the issue. It irks me when I’m dead sure I have not made a mistake in over-purchasing for the month but I’m still being accused of doing so. I’m so sure I can swear my life on it. This incident brought to light more things: who are the people who would stand by you as friends and who are those who would shake their heads, shrug their shoulders and buat bodoh. For my savings sake, I’ve got to hang on..it’s not that bad a place to work in. the best thing about it is being very near mummy, so that means both Saturday and Sunday I am actually able to have dinner with mummy.

Dearie hurt his right leg; it’s probably a strain on the ITB. I understand the pain he’s experiencing, I certainly hope it’ll recover soon..i don’t want him to remain as a grumpy lao bei bei.

After reading reviews on dpreview.com, I am dissuaded to getting the Olympus 790 cammie I was raving about in my earlier post. No new cammies for us now. It’s not a need, it can wait. Saving up is top of the list now. Coz I’ve busted my personal budget during this festive season. OH man!

when you are happy, i am happy

Words can kill..but words can also heal. Some things once they pass by might never come by.

I teared as I cuddled my mother. Those were the words I spoke.

Indeed, some things that pass you by might just never come around again.

I had a bad dream during the night: my mum contracted cancer..and I cried because I don’t want cancer to take my mum away from me. As dearie and christin consoled me that reality does not stand in that way - my mum definitely doesn’t have cancer.

Nonetheless, if I have to take a stand against reality, the truth is I am still gradually losing my mum, not to cancer, but, to time. Time ages every one and every living thing, like it or not.. when we were younger, it matures us, now we’re old, the weariness that time has brought upon us, is like a mask we wear on our faces and a costume adorned on our bodies. time does take its toil on our bodies. Remember how we used to stumble off bikes and rammed ourselves into the trees while roller blading, almost immediately we could shake off the dust and hobble on. Now if we do trip over something, we probably would break a bone or two.

Time and tide waits for no man.

Before I lose the people I love, I want to treasure them so that I’ll leave no regrets when they one day leave my side.

It’s hard, it takes effort. But it’ll definitely be better than to weep in grief.

Dearie and I are planning for a marathon in Australia next year and it’s one of my greatest wish to bring my mum out for a holiday. I’ll make sure it comes to past.

When my loved ones are happy, I will be happy too.

my 2nd christmas present, 1st in my life

second christmas gift for 2007, the first credit card of my life. issued by AWBank.

AWBank you're thinking? yea, AWBank indeed. it stands for, Apple Wong Bank.

the credit card? My Christmas card.

Thanks teng for the lovely cards you send to me each year. you are one impressive graphic designer. so ya, can i charge my purchases to your account? =P

ugly is the new beautiful

Eating light is good. Menu for dinner yesterday was pretty light – stir fried mixed cabbage with french beans with brown rice (for dearie), strawberry yoghurt. Somehow both of us felt a little hungry after 2 hours and munched on a little multi-grain bread.

We’ve fallen in love with the vegetarian food at jurong east recently, but as the serving is pretty big. It always leaves me feeling semi-satisfied yet semi-guilty that I’ve walloped the entire plate of rice and mock fish. Hence, unless I’ve trained hard that day, vegetarian food is not a privilege.

Dearie and I were watching the Channel 8 drama serial yesterday and he commented how Phyllis quek looked bulky on TV. I think she looked fine, to the fact that being on camera always makes one look fatter than he/she is. Phyllis probably looks perfectly good in person, while the others like ivy lee, who looks just nice on TV, are most likely stick thin. Think about it, what about those like jolie tsai who look super slim on TV, I reckon they might look like walking skeletons in person. =S

Well, that’s how beauty is defined by the media these days. Skinny=beautiful. Fat=ugly.

Gone are the days when fleshy is sexy. Now, being able to fit into a size 0 or XS is sexy.

Lament lament. When is tricia going to stop lamenting about this?

Finally, I have begun with the consolidation work. The translation kills, but I’ll have to plough through it somehow. Let’s just hope I get it right.

We didn’t manage to obtain the Hyflux shares on its IPO. Got to find some other investments to make in place. Money on idle is a waste (especially leaving it in a savings account only to collect $0.25 interest per month), it ought to be put into some form of investment so it would generate more money in return.

Who knows, if we make enough money through investment, I’ll spend some on liposuction. =P

Overheard ct commenting to the auditor about work. Pay here is pretty low, workload heavy. Only good thing is the bonus.

Well, tossed with dearie on this issue of pay vs bonus. Low take home pay means lesser savings each month. Higher bonus if spread out through the year should even the low monthly pay. Living in Singapore is getting tougher as the days go by. Prices of virtually every thing we know has gone up, EXCEPT our pay.

- fuel prices are up. Petrol prices, up. Electricity, up.
- Taxi fares up. Latest news, yesterday comfort delgro announced an increment of 30cents upon flag-down. (doesn’t quite affect me because I hardly take cabs, the only time you’ll find me in one is when my company is paying for it)
- Food prices, up. Everything has gone up at least 20-50cents. For a bowl of noodles which was $2.50, now $3.00, the increment is 20%.
- GST, up. Was 5% now 7%. That literally means, for everything that’s transacted in Singapore, the government is going to earn another 2% from it. For the extra that’s going to gnaw into my savings from the GST increment, the government has most kindly gave me $200 reimbursement. How about a monthly household allowance of $100 instead? ($100 is reasonable. $100/2%= $1500 spending per month.)

Working at rl lets me come face to face with the reality of income disparity. The number of platinum/elite cards I swipe in 1 day is more than all my cards (atm card, membership cards, discount cards) added together. Sometimes I ask myself when I would find myself within the calibre to own a platinum card too. Some day. One day.

Mean time, it’s work work work for a future. save save and save. Money doesn’t buy happiness. But without money, I think lagi harder to be happy.

if you aren't hurting, you ain't running

Joined the velocity run yesterday and my foot started to hurt after 3km. =( sera was pretty concerned about it and kept asking if I was alright. It was painful, but bearable pain. Much more bearable than the itch of not being able to run.

The aftermath - my foot hurts right this moment. I am convinced I ought to lay off running for a few days but I would still want to do macrit on Saturday.

Farhan was telling me an excerpt from the Dean Karnazes Ultramarathon man. His coach told him, “If you aren’t hurting, you aren’t running hard enough.”

I must be running real hard, coz I’m hurting big time =P

Managed to solve this big blunder I made on the antique AS400 system. PHEW! So glad the difference has been reconciled. I won’t want to get bee lan into trouble due to my mistake. Going through 1000+ lines on the excel spreadsheet can really get someone cross eyed!

Ct has been reminding me that I have consolidation of accounts to be done. I haven’t got around reading the reference book till now. i got to finish the report on 21st Dec and I haven’t got much a clue how I’m going to get it done. =S

I’m tired mentally. I can’t think about the accruals problem. I’m so tired I don’t even feel like eating. Eating is a chore.

The thought of going home is the only thing worth looking forward to, at least for now.

SCSM PB

dearie and i both did our pb marathon times: 3:44 and 4:28.

i'm really proud of my dearie, doing better than last year despite the cramp. i'm sure he can break the 3:35 barrier in his next marathon. =)

i'm really thankful for dearie who always pushes me on and also sham who has shared with me alot of invaluable training tips and the programme he passed to me. i'm seeing all the pain paying off and i want to continue to push on.

for me i finished the run with a foot sprain/strain. not to sure which one it is but i experienced a sharp pain on the outer side of my left foot when i reached the 30km mark. it's been hurting since then and this morning i discovered a bruise over that area. i really want to start training for the ultra soon...so i hope i'll recover in another 1-2days' time.

apart from the foot injury, i have suffered alot of abrasion from the waist pouch. remember how it left my sugoi top all scruffy? now my tummy and back area are scruffed up by it too =(

on top of scruffs and sprain, i've lost my naval ring too. the nice star dropped off during i-don't-know when. sobs. it's a gift from dearie when we were in sabah. sigh. now it's only left with the bar without the star. i lost half of my other titanium naval ring during the balikpapan trip too. i've got no other naval rings left except for the oxidised one.

despite of the pain and loss, this is my running peak period ever since i started distance running 3+ years ago. i hope i'll scale greater heights and push my limits further. i have faith in myself, just like i have faith in dearie. climb on, tricia.

first taste of christmas

i've received my FIRST christmas present yesterday - a UZAP MINI!

i have initially wanted to get it for myself if i did well for my marathon. dearie knew i wanted it and bought it as a christmas gift for me! yay! =D

behold, today

As I conjured my likely plans for 2008 and weighed through the opportunity costs of holding a part time job, I decided to stick with it. Dearie is right, it’s hard to find a boss as flexible as walter and I’m thankful for it. No doubt I do find the work getting a little mundane but as I really want to earn that extra, so I have to hang on. As I see dearie working so hard with his free lance projects, I find a need to keep up as well. We share the burden of building our family together. It’s a shared responsibility. And a burden halved definitely eases out stress on just one. Hence, I’ll continue to work at rl for 2008, until I really tak boleh tahan.

The recent drowning of Singaporean dragonboaters is really heart wrenching. It reminded me..

- how I used to love kayaking in the sea. Being in the ocean made me feel small, I found solitary in its majestic vastness. Nonetheless, in its greatness, lives had been and are constantly being engulfed.
- How I almost drowned the first time I swam in the open water during a sprint race. I hyperventilated and fear paralysed me. I tried to imagine how the dragonboaters could have been caught by shock of the sudden capsize. They were washed by the current underneath the pontoon after a sudden wave caused them to hit it. Under currents can be really strong, even if the water surface seems calm. Without gasping a breath before capsize would mean an even smaller chance of survival. Imagine hyperventilating from fear and not being able to reach out for air because a pontoon was on top of them. Water fills their lungs and the cause of death – drowning.
- Life and its frailty. Treasure your loved ones now. Say how much you love them today. Do not wait till tomorrow. for you won’t know what beholds tomorrow.

creamy oats

+

how i told you guys how yummy when you marry both of these together? slurpo!

rainbow after the rain

I was hopeful though I kept repeating to myself that there was much a possibility I might not get through. Rejection hit me hard in the face and it felt like a stumble on a trail run. Dearie stretched out his arms and cradled me. In those arms there was comfort and strength. He’s probably an angel sent by God =)

And so, no mba for me as the university commented i lacked the relevant working experience. For a moment, I regretted detouring into social work for the 2 years 8 months. However, in retrospection, if I hadn’t got into social work, I won’t have known Christin, a friend whom I hold close to my heart. And most of all, I won’t have known dearie, as I could not have gone into triathlons and racing if I had opted to stay in the finance line from the start. Indeed, God let things happen for a reason; and for every decision we make, there’s a consequence we have to bear.

Perhaps the rejection is a blessing in disguise. Dearie and I are very interested to do a marathon in Australia..or perhaps an ironman; although swimming in the open sea isn’t something I looked forward to.

It’s alright I tell myself, there are other things to pursue in place of the mba. Meantime, I reckon gathering relevant experience is the top of the list priority. To do well in my job, to get a good appraisal and most importantly, to yield a good BONUS! (a pay raise would be good-to-have).

The monotony of work at RL is gradually setting in. It gets pretty mundane at times. The only thing that keeps me going on is the money. What a carnal cause. Dearie asked me to consider dropping the job come 2008 but the extra monthly allowance which I can save is something I can’t bear to give up.

Assuming I earn $400 from it per month. That’s equivalent to $400/$7.50 = 53.33hrs. Per day i work from 11am to 8.30pm that’ll be 8.5hrs (minus 1hr break). Per weekend (2days) I’ll clock 17hrs. 53.33hrs/17hrs that’ll mean I need to work 3 out of the usual 4-5weekends per month.

Working at rl has greater opportunity costs these days, especially when I have to drag myself more often. Sometimes dearie would stay around to keep me company. Having him around alleviates my spirit.

Albeit gray clouds harrowing my skies, I know there’ll be a rainbow after the rain. And in the rain, I know dearie will be holding the umbrella to shelter me through it. =)

dentist says..

saw the dentist yesterday and she said i haven't been brushing my teeth properly (that's why all the decays) and she wants me floss my teeth everyday.

dentist: do you floss your teeth?

me: sometimes..erm..only when something gets stuck.

dentist: i want you to start flossing e-very-day.

me: gulps. o.k.

- me thinks. haha. i'm still with the same box of floss for the past 3-4years. now that explains how often i floss- sniggles-

lesson on trust

I learnt a valuable lesson on trust. IN had once forewarned me to be careful of my words and what I divulge to my fellow colleagues. During the week, she had gotten a hard hit by some because of a slip. It was really painful as she had so little time to react to the entire matter. It was really unfair as she was not totally at fault, cornered by two with a big tag of “urgent”, she was somewhat hard pressed. As I shared with dearie, indeed there is no one to trust at work, I can cajole around at surface but I must be careful not to go too much into my own life. I won’t know when the entire office would know of it. Some things would spread like bon fire and you’ll soon have people talking behind your back. There are only 3 persons in my life I trust with all my heart – dearie, mummy and christin. These are my confidantes whom I can share my inner most, whine my hearts out and still know they will always be by my side.

scent of a prince

And another “first time”, I bought dearie a bottle of perfume too! I first smelled it on the Men’s Health magazine Sham brought to RL. I thought it’s a refreshing scent for men, without that huskiness most men’s perfume has. I hope he likes it and would use it.

Dearie gave me a gift in return too. When I landed at changi airport yesterday, I was received with the warmest hug I’ve had in many days. Seeing him was the best gift and having the rest of the day to relax together just made it all complete. =)

scent of a princess

First time in my life, I bought a bottle of perfume for myself. Have always thought perfumes are too much a luxurious item for me to afford; usually I’ll just use my mum’s or pick up sample vials from her. I have received perfumes for present a few times, at 26 years of age, this is the first time I wanted to pamper myself with one. I thought I probably won’t have many chances to travel, so I better buy one since I’m back from a trip.

I simply love the sweet smell, pink box and glitters in the perfume. I feel like a princess with it! Haha! It does smell a lot sweeter because I bought it with my own hard earned money. Sweet scent of achievement.

sunroof experience

I’ll be traveling to Balikpapan to meet up with leadertread’s bosses and PTCP people next week. Personally it’s like a sunroof in my job scope which is allowing me to pop my head up to look what is going on. I really appreciate the opportunity and though I’ll miss my dearie for those few days, it’s heartening how dearie is fully supportive of it. My mum is happy to hear that I’ll be getting a chance to travel on job as well, reminding me not to bring a backpack as it’s too “un-exec”. My only grouse of the “wheel-around-bag” is its lack in capacity. I might just end up with a backpack anyway, in case my mum can’t find me a wheely bag.

From what I’ve gathered so far, Balikpapan sounds like a boring town; people who would visit the place are usually there for business. Things are more expensive than Jakarta as it caters a lot to wealthy businessmen who don’t mind paying more and won’t bother to haggle with prices. I’m unsure how much rupiah (not rupees, dearie corrected me on this as he told me I’m going Indonesia not India =P) to prepare as I don’t want to be stuck with too much rupiah unspent at the end of the trip. I’ll just be getting the peanut snack for my mummy and the layered cake for dearie. Would S$50 (Rup315,000) be sufficient?

I’ll go off on Monday morning and back on Wednesday afternoon. It’s a short trip and a good break from normal work routine.

I find myself running stronger these days; despite all the soreness and pain I’ve experienced through days of hard training, it’s all paying off in many ways more than one. I’m still a lot slower than dearie, but I hope to narrow the gap gradually.

This week’s training is jam packed and I hope the rain won’t spoil our plans. I think most people into sports hate rain.. unless I’m on the lazy day off slacking at home, perhaps then, rain would be ideal. Meantime, rain rain, go away!

rich tai tai splurge

either one of these of be something i'll splurge on if my dad owns a gold mine.

4gb? no way! it has to be the 8gb one! =P

but honestly, i just need a reliable player to run with. =)

shuffle in red

dearie says shuffle is gd because there's no display to complicate things. i like the one in red!

if i get a good performance bonus in apr 08, i'll buy one for myself! =D

creative, sucks.

this little guy has failed me miserably.

no more CREATIVE mp3s for me. i think a cheapo china/taiwan oem made would probably be better than this.

now i've got to find time to head down to the service counter at marina to get this idiot thing fixed. ARGH!

mind over matter

Mind over matter. I believe in this so much I kept telling myself pain on my back didn’t exist as I ran on. With each step that landed, I felt the pain on my back. I nearly teared because for a second I felt it was too much to bear. I could have threw in the towel and stopped but I just wanted to complete what I started. I’ve ended too many things in my life prematurely that caused so much regrets; I don’t want to fail myself one more time over again.

I pushed through the 35km in 4 hours; not an impressive time to boast but I’m just glad I completed it - most importantly, I did not concede to surrender.

The Nathan pouch came in real handy (although it left a lot of scruffs on my NEW sugoi running top which I am still heart broken about), as by tightening it to add pressure on my back, relieved the pain.

Seeing dearie turn back towards me was like seeing an angel from heaven. He ran with me for a good stretch and having him beside me made more determined to finish the run.

I ate really a lot for yesterday, and I’m starting today afresh. No more junk for the next few days until I go to Malaysia. Got to do more training along the week before I pig out too!

Still want to go for tomorrow’s velocity run and I’ll definitely be much slower. Maybe I can run with the ladies and just enjoy a nice chit chat along the way. No slacking for training as SCSM is fast approaching. With the 35km under my belt, I’m pretty confident of braving through scsm and ultra. The trail training also helped a lot in terms of preparing dearie and I for trailblazers.

I’ve decided to sacrifice the phoenix for the trailblazers. It has really served me well and I feel the best way to honour it is to let it “die in battlefield”. That was how my rider ended its walk with me last year. I ran the trailblazers and I buried it in the pile at genting. That’s a much better fate than the inspire which got tossed down the chute by dearie because it became too painful to run in.

Did I mention the north face shoes gave me 2 huge blisters. Ouch ouch ouch. I was cursing and swearing over the shoes over the 4hrs run yesterday. It was either the shoes or the injinji socks. Argh! Worse than wearing heels!

Really looking forward for Thursday to come. There’s so much awaiting. Popiah, chin siew noodles, genting climbing, trailblazers, KL yong tou foo and SHOPPING! I’m planning for some light circuit training during my holiday in Malaysia. Eat must burn off! Holiday here WE COME!!!

the pain of running

I am fighting hard against zzz monster today. Nearly overcomed by it a few times, gulping down mouthful of tea and rubbing medicated oil on my forehead are some of the many ways I’m resorting to.

Real run was held yesterday under the sultry sun at changi. The weather was the toughest part of the 15km run but holding through it gave a great sense of achievement.

I’m finally able to catch up with Isabel. Our timings were almost similar, let’s wait for the final chip time to be released to find out who was faster.

i was in a pretty good shape to do the run; clearing my bowels as planned in the morning, speed trainings with dearie helped tremendously. I managed a time of 1:29 according to my own stop watch. It’s a personal best, as compared to the 1:33 I did for Pacesetters 15km. but honestly, pacesetters’ run was far tougher than the real run.. being able to clock 1:33 to me was an achievement, which I couldn’t have done so if not for dearie who ran beside me. in fact, I felt I put in more effort during the pacesetter’s run than real run, because running beside dearie who is a much faster runner, added pressure to me that I must try to keep up. (actually not keep up, just keep pace. I could never keep up with dearie’s pace =P)

Along the run I kept craning my head out to the other side of the road; where runners u-turn and head off for the return route. I know if dearie was there at the run, he would have been one of those who are in the return route that moment.. and I would definitely call out to him and cheer him on. It was a pretty lonely run that morning, but I’m glad I caught up with Isabel before the 10km mark and we pressed on together till the finishing line.

I shall continue to work on my interval trainings and add on more circuit trainings too, despite the pain of going through them. Indeed, no pain no gain.

I gave the Asics Gel Hyperspeed a miss, although I was telling myself before the start of the run that if I break the 1:30 mark I would reward myself with it. Both dearie and I love this pair of shoes, but after I processed how dearie reasoned if he would get the shoes himself or not, I decided to follow suit and not get it too. I concluded, if I’m fast, no matter what shoes I wear, I’ll still be fast. Moreover, the hyperspeed doesn’t provide me with stability, hence if given a choice, the NB one which I layed my eyes on last week would be a better option.

Next run would be the 35km at macrit. Wish me luck because I’ll have to work at 1pm after that, it’ll be even more tiring than today I reckon. I won’t be able to take leave as I’ll have to rush my budget reports then. =S

Pain. It’s good sometimes to feel pain. Train till it’s painful, because the pain would often makes you stronger.

training high

Pretty satisfied with training progress this week. yesterday’s tempo run was the most trying as I’ve pushed myself pretty hard on wed’s 400m sets and Tuesday I’ve also put in at least 90% effort in the 10km run. My legs were pretty sore yesterday when I headed out to meet dearie at the stadium. Nonetheless, as I visualized dearie there at the stadium, waiting for me to come, and I know he’ll run with me through the sets, that kept my legs going. When I got there, I still tried my best to push at least 80% in my 3 tempo sets. 10mins – 2 mins recovery, 5mins – 1 min recovery and the last set, 10mins – 2 mins recovery again. I managed to finish 4 ½ laps for the 1st set and averaged out the same to complete almost 2 ½ laps in the 2nd set. I only managed 4 laps in the last set but I’m glad overall I did 11laps in the 25mins. I added another 2.4km at recovery pace to close the night’s training, adding to the 3km to get to the stadium, I totaled almost 10km. (average pace is about 13min 35s for 2.4km)

Although I was dead beat when I finally got home, it was really satisfying when I reviewed my log and saw 33km in 3 days consecutively. It’s a small achievement for me. dearie commented that my training method was wrong as I should not be running hard for all 3 days, and I do not deny it’s not the optimal way as well. However, given the time constraint, it ended in this awry way this week. I shouldn’t have pushed on wed but I wanted to add some fun into running on the track. It can get really boring just running loops in the stadium, so the interval 400m really helped me get my mind off just counting 1-25laps..instead I could just concentrate on sets of 400m sprints and recovery..

We both had whey after dinner yesterday and I feel it helps tremendously in recovery. My legs aren’t aching at all and I'm all ready to take on gym training tonight! I would want to clock another 6-7km on the treadmill and elliptical machines but usually these machines take a long time. I only have 1.5hrs so I’ve got to utilize every minute wisely. Why 1.5hrs? because parking is expensive. 50cents for every 0.5hrs so we’re paying $1.50 just to park the car there to do gym! There’s no cheaper alternative as we both like the jurong west gym. Cck gym has limited machines and i don’t think I’ll want to pay $2.50 to go to a sparsely equipped gym.

Dearie will teach me some good methods to train my abs tonight. I can’t wait to get some washboard abs! =P

I’ll give real run a miss for some reasons. 1. RL hasn’t managed to get dearie a slot despite we’ve submitted our names to both RLF and RLN. 2. it’s too inconvenient to get to changi and out from changi to RLF on time to start work at 11am. They’ll be closing the road till 10am..and they are only providing shuttle buses from 10am. I can imagine throngs of people struggling to get onto the bus and the crazy congestion which is most likely to occur. If I’m not working, probably I’ll just waste half a day there.. but I’ve got part time work so that’ll be too rush.

Instead, if I don’t oversleep, I’ll do a 25km run down to RLF. That’ll make up really good mileage for the 35km progressive run next week. probably it’ll be the best gauge to see if I should go for the 35km run in the first place. =)

So much for the training updates. Tomorrow will be mike’s big day. Mike’s my cousin who’s into outdoor adventure. Dearie will be helping mummy with the noon catering (thank you dearie!!). while I’ve got to be at RLN for meeting at 9am. (booo!) I’ll finish RLF at 6pm then rush off to mum’s shop to get ready for the dinner at 730pm. I think I’m in good fitness physique so there’ll be no reason for my relatives to pinch my fats and comment I’ve put on weight again.

I’ll remember to bring the dslr so I can snap photos with dearie and mummy. Last week we brought the dslr but left it in the boot, only realized at the dinner table that we had forgotten about it. If only we had a compact camera!!! (Argh!) I was telling dearie if the camera was small enough to go into my bag then we won’t have forgotten about it. =( sigh. It’s ok, I hope we both save enough to get the Olympus so we would have a camera with us all the time! yay!

Haha I’m still on a training high. All the way for dearie and I! all the way till the ultra in dec! that’s the big race for the year! 70km for dearie, 60km for me? gambatte!

staying strong

City rat is sick. I hope he gets well soon. Please stay strong, things will definitely get better.

I couldn’t push myself to finish the entire 1.5km swim on sat. I gave up after 750m but I ran the 10km anyways. Enjoyed the run, but it was the swim I couldn’t stand.

After the bi, raving up my engine to continue training seems arduous. I need to clock good mileage for the upcoming runs. Have to do it, have to do it! Hope the weather holds though, it’s been raining pretty often these days.

I’ve gone down to get submit my application forms for the course. It’ll take 4 weeks before the university would get back to me. Meantime, I’m crossing my fingers, hoping for the best. I do hope I’ll get into the programme!

We’ve all got to stay strong..and get stronger. When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. When the going gets rough, the rough will make us stronger.

journey on

It has been an itch, an urge rather, that’s been nagging for far too long. One I cannot deny its presence, one that I must do something about.

It used to be IM IM IM..all I ever wanted to achieve in my life was to complete the IM. Then one day, I had an accident on the trail and that turned my life around.

It used to be I just want to work and be merry about it. Pay wasn’t important. Wasting my qualification? Who cared. Until one day, reality struck me. Is pay really not that important in this mercenary world? Can I still be merry when I’m paid like an A level student and made to fold flyers all the time?

I woke up and told myself I will waste no more time. I must save and build a future of concrete and bricks. No more “I can live on air” ideology.

CT gave me a push today and told me to grasp onto my life and make something out of it. Rather spending 3 years plodding and come out of it still aimless, why not invest 30k, 2-3 years and come out of it sure about my life and finding direction of what I really want to do.

There are a lot of roads that lead to rome. And different locations require us to take different routes. In my case, I know I must study, just that I’ve been procrastinating for far too long, scrutinized at all the advices i've gathered along. Too many perspectives, too much wisdom, every one simply made so much sense from their own context. None is wrong, all had their wisdom and their advices came from their experience in life. Just that as I gathered more, the more clouded my thoughts become; all of a sudden, I’m really not sure what I want nor could I see where I wanted to head towards.

CT told me to be sure of what I want and go for it. Procrastination doesn’t kill but it brings regret some times. I was really fearful of putting my foot out to the wrong step and end up walking another 2-3years of wasted journey. Nonetheless, if I never stepped out, I would be standing on the same spot for the next 2-3years. The journey out would not be a waste if I knew how to chart my way, looking at the compass, to ensure I reach my destination.

And yes, the journey will begin in Jan 2008. I am looking forward to it, notwithstanding the rants that’ll definitely come along too. Haha. No pain, no gain.

shopping and chocolates

Tuition is really no easy job. The decision to give up on the assignment didn’t come easy but weighing what I had to juggle at present and whether an add-on would jeopardize whatever is in equilibrium right now, I think I made a rational decision.

Mean time, I’ll just stick to RL as it’s still a stable job to hold, though sometimes agonizing when the CD player is down. Yawns!

This working week is slightly shortened by half a day on Friday and I’m taking Saturday off from RL as well just to take a break to get some quality training with dearie. after which i reckon we'll laze on the couch and catch a well-deserved show on dvd.

Sunday I’ll be working full but Monday is an off-day for my company. Monday will be spent with my mum as she has wanted to go shopping for a long while. Spending time with her is always a joy just that the shopping part I don’t really enjoy. I hate the feeling of seeing something I like but yet can’t bear to part with the money to buy it. Most of the time I just try to focus on finding pretty things to fit my mum and not think about myself..because once I get sucked into the vain mood, I’ll start to spend like my mum. Going shopping is like opening a Pandora box and exposing myself to all the possible temptations around. Sometimes my mum would even offer to pay for me, which is the last thing I want to happen. Although I’m financially capable of affording things, it's a choice that I would like to save up the money for rainy days than splurge on merely “wants”. There can never be an end to the things we want, so distinguishing between wants and needs is important.

I’m pretty happy with the progress I’ve been making in training. My body is slowly adjusting to the intensity and I need to gradually hit more targets. Perhaps if I do meet my targets, I might just purchase the new running shoes for myself! =) even pets need reward, lest humans!

Ho ho ho..i’ll still get to do the NIE bi, now that the assignment is off. I’m making sure I don’t come in last..brick training! And more brick training!

I need to find out how to recover faster from training as I find myself wearing out before the weekend approaches. It seems that 1 day of rest is not helping much.

Events coming up

20 oct – nie bi
29 oct – nb real run
4 nov – 35km progressive run (gulps!)
11 nov – trailblazers
2 dec – standchart mara
30 dec – ultramara


ah..u know what makes training hard worth it? sinking my teeth into yummy chocolate of which half is shared with my dearie!

run, liberated

To me, running is a liberating thing to do. It forces me to set time aside to be in touch with myself. It gives me a chance to take a breather from the vexes of daily life and the endorphins eases stress better than a glass of liquor. Liquor drowns, but running liberates.

I feel there’s nothing to flaunt in running. It’s not about how far or how fast you can run, but we should take pride that we belong to the category of humans who understand the beauty of running.

Sometimes running becomes a way to stay in shape and burn off some excess flab but I realize that becomes carnal. When I run because I want to run, I come back from it feeling refreshed in my mind and in my body.

Last Sunday evening, I was off from work late as I had to stay half an hour late. I finished work feeling totally lethargic. I just wanted to sit down, or lie down..or just do nothing. However, dearie reminded me about my plan to do a riverside run that evening, which I was promising to do earlier in the morning. My body was reluctant to move but my mind could use with a run. I got up quickly and changed up, tapping on the inertia my mind gave to my body. We ran from mum’s shop at south bridge road down along Singapore river then to lavender mrt and the looped back via bugis. We got to Singapore river and then ran down to kim seng before returning. It took us exactly 1 hour to complete the loop. As I ran along, I felt much better and the lethargy went away.. it was only close to the end when I felt tiredness in my legs creep back in again.

Like icing to a lovely cake, dearie and I shared a block of ritter sport chocolate and that made the run complete. Happy run topped with a happy food – chocolate. Match made in heaven!

“Running is the classical road to self-consciousness, self-awareness and self-reliance. Independence is the outstanding characteristic of the runner. He learns the harsh reality of his physical and mental limitations when he runs. He learns that personal commitment, sacrifice and determination are his only means to betterment. Runners only get promoted through self-conquest." Noel Carroll, Irish track trailblazer

Macritchie Trail Relay 4x5km

We’re organizing a Macritchie Trail Relay 4x5km this Saturday, 6 October 2007. Click on poster for more details. It’s a fun run, no registration fee required, no prize, no drinks and no food! J

sudoku-wrecked!

i solved a 5+ rated(most difficult) sudoku puzzle!! it's been a long while since i last did it. i can't remember when i actually did solve one! hahaha ..it was a "shared" effort in some sense. vincent saw my puzzle and scribbled in 3-4 of the numbers..but i did the REST of it on MY OWN! the final part was abit tikam-tikam..but who cares! so long i solve it I'M THE KING! Woohoooo!

p.s: note the paper abit crumpled..you know la..sometimes solving sudoku can get a little..frustrating.

i want to run

I wish I’m out there running this minute. Just a mere 1hour and 30minutes to go before I leave my workstation behind for the weekends but my heart is already aching to leave my seat this very moment.

The detox plan has worked pretty well for me. The rumbling of my tummy can sometimes feel uncomfortable but the relief of passing the rubbish out is worth it. The little bottle of maple syrup has almost been depleted and perhaps my body doesn’t need such purging any more. Nonetheless I really like the feeling of having a flat tummy and the excretion of waste regularly.

The weather looks beautiful for a swim and run. Let me out. Smell the wind. Break a sweat. I want to feel as beautiful as the weather.

the look that hurt my flabby soul

I walked into a shop at square 2 yesterday to purchase a black top. It’s meant to match my blue skirt that I’ll be wearing for Mike’s wedding next month. All was fine till I was about to make payment, the sales lady (could be lady boss) of the shop asked if I wanted to try the top before buying it. As I was perspiring quite abit after my short 3km jog (which I usually do before the actual velocity run), I replied it’s ok as I won’t want to dirty their garments.

The sales lady then repeated the question sacarstically, “ you sure you don’t want to try first?” and then ran her eyes up and down my physique, seemingly to tell me I would probably NOT fit her clothes. I said it’s ok and asked if the top is very small that I won’t be able to fit. The other sales lady serving me said..should be ok as I’m not THAT fat. I quickly made payment and walked out of the shop, feeling despondent that being in my size won’t be able to fit into something that’s FREE size.

There’s still some bitter after taste of the incident in me right now..and perhaps that’s the straw that I need to enable myself to hold through a proper diet and training programme so that I will “unveil” the slim-o-me cladded under the multi layered flabs.

I’ve got 2 weddings to attend over 2 weekends in October and I certainly hope to be in good shape. Malaysian cousins are the ones whom I usually pale in comparison with, somehow they have the eat-and-not-grow-fat genes in them and their complexion is really good. I’m envious in many ways but I’m also learning that I own things they do not too. Hence, nothing to envy about, just got to learn to be contented.

I must do a good job with the makeup. Get some nice accessories to match my dresses. I must outshine the rest! :)

lean princess, one day

Waking up on a Monday morning is one of the toughest things to do in life. The first thought that comes to mind is, “what? It’s Monday already? Awwww man!”

I had an eventful weekend, spent with my dearie and mummy. Mummy signed me up for a makeover on Saturday and we then mad-rushed to Esplanade for the Chinese orchestra performance. The makeover made me look at myself in the mirror and feel pretty; I wished I looked like that everyday. However, I do recognize it isn’t necessary for me to doll up to that extent on a daily basis. Nevertheless, the Japanese makeup artist(Hirai) and nerdy photographer made me look and feel like a star for a day.

The performance was not too bad, considering all 3 of us did not fall asleep nor decide to let hunger drive us out of the concert hall early during the performance. It had been quite a while since I last attended a performance with my mummy and definitely a first arty-farty event dearie and I are attending together as well.

Raves about the makeover: I got to pick the colour I want and I chose PINK! The make up artist was saying it’s really KAWAII NE! laughs! He did the make up so naturally yet so sweet; I simply loved it. The lady who did the hair made my hair “fly”. Though she looked like she was having fun making a mess out of my hair, the mess does look really stylish. The photo shot came out pretty nice..and I just feel pampered and a little more confident of myself. I secretly wished I was much slimmer; I would probably have worn a sexy tube top and flaunted my slim arms and back. But knowing I’m not of that physique, I hid my tires and flab in the big black shirt bought at ebase during a sale 2 years ago.

Deep within me I really yearn to be slimmer and of course the ultimate goal of being LEAN.. but it feels like a insurmountable endeavour. And the worse thing for me these days is finding the motivation to do something about it hard. I do need a push-off to get my engine started to do something.

I shared with dearie that having lost nearly 4kgs on medication and training made me feel fabulous. I loved to see my arms slim and my face sharpen. Overall, I still managed to keep 1-2kgs of what I lost off thus far but i’m often so tempted to start medication again so that I can regain what I once had. Training is just one component to weight loss; diet still plays a big part. I miss being 46kgs. I was so so so close to hitting my target of 45kgs! The lowest I’ve been so far is 43kgs and that was surviving on 1 scone and water everyday. It wasn’t exactly the most pleasant thing to do..and probably only do-able for students on holiday with nothing better to do. (I did this crazy diet during my holidays after A levels)

It’s ok. My chance starts again today. Everyday I’m given a chance to try being lean. It’s a life long pursue. Keep trying, keep going. One day I will succeed to become a lean princess. One day.

p.s: dearie is going to say he’s tired of listening to me say the same o’things every day. But I really can’t help it coz this is something rooted in me. = (

little snaps in my pocket

Have I told you about the new camera dearie and I have been ogling at? Tadah!! It’s the Olympus 790 sw. What attracted us is its waterproof and shockproof functions which is perfect for our trips and races. I miss having a camera to bring around. My Nikon has been given to my dad. The second hand Minolta failed me miserably. The DSLR is too much a monster to fit into my bag. Meantime, my sony ericsson handphone has been doubling up as a camera..but if finances permit, I would certainly hope to get one I can bring around. I wonder how does the Olympus fit? Maybe it might just be the one i need. Gee, why must these little cameras cost soooo much? time to look out for lucky draws that give out digital cameras as prizes. What’s better? Strike enough 4D to buy one! (ahhh..i can feel a premonition coming.. ooooo..)

my prince with his red Honda

my prince with Red Honda, as promised

Prince in red Honda

Several times last night I kept waking up. Thank goodness I could exercise self discipline and NOT walk out to the kitchen for a bite. It’s all in the mind, indeed. Had a nice breakfast of cereals (Nestle Fitnese bought by dearie). it’s nice eating breakfast guilt-free.. if I have munched through the night, I’ll probably wake up feeling lousy and angry about myself.

Tomorrow’s the annual dinner for outdoor venture. I’ll be able to reach rtc at 6pm..so I’ve got almost 1 hour of idle time, not knowing what to do. rtc is smack in the middle of no where, no shopping malls, no running tracks. Sheesh!

Got to do my long run tomorrow morning as I foresee myself eating quite a fair bit at the annual dinner. o_O

I realized that the person closest to me sometimes is like a mirror to me - one which shows me my own blind spots. Today dearie reminded me something important – not to be distracted by too many things. I have a tendency to be overly keen to try new things. like a child running through the isles of Toys R us with an empty cart eager to throw lots of toys into it... like a glutton trying to fill his plate at a buffet to get every cent worth; I sometimes pile up way too much. He made me realize that we only have this limited amount of time, having commitments and priorities, we can’t always do ALL the things we want to. I agree to it fully and somehow, that gentle knock on my head straightened my little-child syndrome.

He’s not just a mirror to me, he’s also a team mate to me. when I’m on the verge of throwing in the towel, he is the one who would tell me to press on. He would hold my hand and lead me to continue the race. He’s a training buddy to me – slows down to be at pace with me and sings to me when the road ahead seems never ending. (I call him backside boy since he sings tunes from the backstreet boys pretty often). He’s a cuddle bear to me – providing a hug that warms my heart. He doesn’t mind me wetting his shirt with tears and would call me silly gal when I cry. He’s a guinea pig to me – tasting all the weird recipes I come up with..and not minding rice that gooey like mashed potatoes. =P he’s a lot more which words cannot represent nor anything can replace.. he’s Billy – my dearie, my prince in red Honda. (in the photo, red running singlet :) )

Addendum:

I have a photo of him with his red Honda, I promise I’ll post that up soon!

And yea.. my update on the survival of the $1? I only managed 1 day…coz I had to swipe nets to get some first day supplies soon after.

The hands of a clock runs

Time and tide waits for no man. Ok..confess, how often have you said to yourself or someone around you, “I have no time”. In my case, pretty often. It has become such a habit to say “no time no time”. For this, God is fair. Everyone has 24hours alike, not a minute more, not a second less. So if half the population can have sufficient time to achieve what they set out to do, why can’t I? so, the crux of matter boils down to the prioritization. How important is making time for a run to you? Is spending time with your loved one something you treasure? What are your goals in life? To own a platinum card?

Platinum cards.. I encounter so many of them in my course of part time work. The question to myself is when will I own one too? But so often I retreat back to my stand in life that I will not want to own a credit card because I don’t find a need at this point in time. A debit card serves it purpose well.

I’m working. And I hope I’ll gradually work myself up to achieve better financial independence. Concurrently, I treasure quality time with my loved ones. One thing I regret not doing enough is spending time with my nephew. He’s a lovely toddler and I hope I can grow up with him. I resolve to make time to spend with him weekly. It’ll be sad if my nephew grows up and doesn’t know me in his life.

So, what is worth your time and effort that you would portion a part of your life to include it in? what is it driven by?

On a final note, it’s a pleasant thing to know, reading my blog is worth your time.

ahh...the photo is my lovely nephew and my mummy..=)

Pizza up for running

Last week, I managed to clock 44km of run. Should have done a little more if I had been able to wake up to run to work on Sunday (I am not blaming the rain because it’s more of me than the rain) i totally skipped all the speed training, only managing to do distance running. I pushed hard on Tuesday’s run, thanks to the pizza treat by my boss. From that, i realize my POWERfood for performance is most probably – pizza.

I do have to clock more mileage as the year end run events are fast approaching. Geee! I’ll have to skip interval training on Wednesday as we’re going for outdoor venture’s annual dinner. Interval training is always constrained by the opening hours of the track. Other alternatives must be sought out. The track closes 8.30pm..opens at 6am. If we don’t leave home by 7.15pm to the track, we barely have sufficient time to do intervals. I hate such constraints! Argh!

Been craving for mooncake these days.. dearie and I shared 2 habourcity mooncakes yesterday. Woooo..sinking my teeth into them is absolutely euphoric. But the aftermath of such indulgence is the appearance of blubber which encapsulates my “should have been” slim figure. And since I don’t reside in the arctic, blubber isn’t necessary at all. Thus, the quest to eliminate begins..again.

fat. Often I lament..oh Lord, why can’t I be slim? Or ..why don’t you make all of us slim..then we’ll probably save a lot on gym membership, slimming pills and slimming gels. With absolute childlikeness, I pray hard for a slim figure before I sleep each night, hoping I would wake up with elle macpherson’s figure. To my dismay, each day, I only to wake up next day feeling all disappointed. Oh well, blubber stays. Slim figure, no where to be found. And so the lamenting begins again.

Give me a dial to my metabolic rate.. so I can eat and then quickly burn it off!

Haha. I ought to do something about it. Maybe we should just live on manna. With canola spread please. =P

The Arctic warmed my heart

140907: I watched Arctic Tale with dearie. in my view, it’s a refreshing movie to watch, something that stands out among all the animation and action movies that flood cinemas these days. There were only less than 2 handfuls of people who were with us that evening to catch this movie. Not a highly raved about movie, no big stars, just a movie that brings to us a part of the world seldom seen.. or even a part of the world I might never get to see in my lifetime.. it’s about how this world is experiencing change, because what man is doing in other parts of this globe, somehow affects them in a way more than one. It’s about the cycle of life, as all creatures on earth go through: birth, growth, independence, survival, mating, giving birth and eventually death. And this cycle repeats itself over and over again, whether you are human and animal. According to dearie, the couple who filmed this movie spent 15 years at the arctic to capture all we saw that evening. It was amazing as we wondered how they managed to capture those scenes of blizzard and how they would have traveled along with the polar bear and walrus.

For most young people out there who would run away from a documentary like plague.. asking them to spend $8 on a show with NO Hollywood star is almost a taboo and National Geographic brings a yawn.. but if you’re someone who’ll like a glimpse at how magnificent God has made this world, especially of the Arctic which we do not get to see everyday, please catch this movie.

survival of the $1 coin

News travelled of the commotion somewhere in the heart of the island. I feel disturbed to how sometimes a fear of being displaced can translate into such ugly actions. He’s a nice person, who is flexible and helpful. Doesn’t throw air around and pretty crappy at times. She’s a nice person to work with too, just a recent change of attitude leaves me wondering. Is he really such a threat to her? After some consideration, I do think working with him is a more pleasant than her. the other non-threat guy is more of a easy going, messy-at-times, lad. Nothing impressive of him to make her feel threatened, unlike the former guy, who holds himself well.

Work politics. I think I’ll want to remain neutral and help the first guy as much as possible in order to refrain getting any complaints from her. maybe she’s missing japan guy too much. Messy guy calls it pms.

I don’t like the way she’s behaving. Like dearie said, we’re all here working for a living, why make life so difficult for one another? After all we’re all colleagues.. and she’s not the boss, take it easy la.. work as a team, it’s definitely much better than trying to throw her weights in order to get her way. Haha.. talk about weight, she definitely has a lot more weight to throw around.

Okok..enough of bad mouthing.. I think I like the way my office and my mum’s shop operates. We help each other..and everyone does a little bit.. That speeds things up a lot more.

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While I was fighting to stay awake at work yesterday, I had a sudden craving to lei cha.. an hakka dish which is known to be healthy as it’s makes use of a lot of mint, basil, long beans and tau kwa.

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A question for the day:

Look into your wallet now.. how much cash do you have in it now? I mean cold hard cash in note or coin form?

Are you someone who likes to bring at least $100 around to make sure you can pay for anything that comes up or are you someone who can just survive with less than $10 in your wallet?

Are you someone who would quickly withdraw money from the atm once the ‘reserves’ in your wallet falls below a certain limit? Or are you someone who will deplete all the reserves before reimbursing it with more?

Do you fear having not enough in your wallet? Does it leave you insecure?

I have $16 in my purse right now. Out of that, $15 I’ve got to pay to yanni for the shape run registration later. After which I’ll probably be left with only $1 in my purse.

I’ve gone through 1 week with only $2 in my wallet..and I survived? How did I do that? I took breakfast at home, I brought lunch from home and I’m always home for dinner. With little or no money in my purse, that holds me back from splurging on things I don’t need. This works better if I leave my atm cards at home..but I stopped doing so coz there are really some circumstances which I do need spare cash at hand.

Not having a lot taught me to never take things for granted..and I learnt to use whatever I have sparingly. And dearie taught me to save half of whatever I have and only use the remaining sparingly. So now that I only have $1 in my pocket, I should save $0.50 and only use $0.50. haha.. think about it..what can I possibly get with $0.50 these days?

p.s: stay tuned to my blog if you want to find out how many days I can survive with $1. survival. Outplay, outwit and outlast, with $1.

pig out days

Busy day at work. I tossed and turned in bed, reluctant to wake up.. thankfully dearie was persistent enough to “nag” me awake.. else I’ll probably have to feign sick for the day. –sniggles-

Mondays are the worse days in a week. Because weekends are always fully packed with work and helping out at mum’s, getting up on Mondays can really be quite a challenge.

Guobin has kindly helped us set up our 2 bikes in time for the race. Wow..it’s really a dream riding on my “new” bike yesterday night. The shifting was great, unlike before, which it kept getting jammed. The new frame’s reach for me is also nearer than the frm. We’ve planned to go mandai with our bikes on Wednesday night, after interval training, just to get used to the bikes. Thank you Guobin, for all the help! Really love our black beauties! =)

The north face buy out is taking forever to realize. i’m not pinning any hope on it to be on time for the race.

We’ve decided to go for the genting trailblazer this year again! This time round we’ll be doing climbs as well.. genting has one of the tallest indoor rock wall around this region and we’ll give ourselves a shot at it this coming November.

Work is revving up quite a bit with the budget exercise coming up and board meeting in December, my supervisor has briefed me on my duties coming up. It helps me better brace myself for it.

Weekends are always pig-out days for me. Weekdays is time I am really conscious of what I eat, while weekends, I’ll just eat whatever I want to. I wonder if it’s good..hmm. I had beehoon goring at mum’s, fajar bread for breakfast on Sunday, beehoon on Saturday.. those food are tasty but way too sinful for everyday consumption.

I’m still aiming for that nice sugoi run top and shorts..so as I slowly work myself there..i better keep my diet at check.

1.5hrs to lunch and I’ll be using it to catch some forty winks. Sleepy. Probably with the nap, I’ll be awake enough to do a 7km run and stairs climb later.

Progress in training is good, but there’s a lot of room for improvement.

Honestly, I get really tired of working at rl. Standing around from 11am – 9pm is no joke. Though I’ve been at it for the past 2 years, I find that the only thing that keeps me going is the pay cheque at month end. Other than that, there’s not much to look forward to. Staff benefits are no longer the cream topping on the cake for me.. just for the money’s sake, I must hang on. That extra dollar in the pocket, does make a difference to civilians like me.

run tricia run!

Thursday, another day to Friday. So close to the weekend again.

Planned to do 6 sets of 800m sprints but we managed only 4 sets. Nevertheless, going out 100% for those 4 sets was a good feeling. I set for myself a personal best of 1:56 per 400m lap. It’s been a long time since I last did speedwork.. during my peak, I clocked 12mins for 2.4km. But well, that was eons ago.

I hope to shave off a good 5mins from my marathon pb in the standchart marathon at year end. I hope with all the speed training, it’ll translate to some results. 4:42, that’s the goal.

MR25 ultra.. goal is 5 laps of 10.5km. aim is 6 laps. If I do so, dearie got to buy me a new cw-x sports bra! Hahaa!

Depend on no one but ourselves. It doesn’t seem that my colleague is going to help us in any way with our running, so we must do it on our own. Not everyone is like Johnny and Bimo who would unconditionally help us. I’m not pinning much hope on my colleague. Without him, dearie and I would still strive to do well in the coming races. 3 more planned out for this year – SAFRA Avventura (next Sunday), Standchart Marathon, MR25 Ultra.

Next year we are pending the IM plan for now, though we are raging to go. It’s a 8 months commitment and loads of discipline is required. Money vs dreams, it’s such a hard choice to make. Taking up the IM has its opportunity costs involved. I may have to give up rl because weekends are the best times to do mileage training.. if we are going to train in desaru, it has to be over the weekend as well.

No more mba dream in line, maybe im dream is the next one to pursue!

A random rant: whatever is given is bonus and we shouldn’t expect too much. Scrooges are always afraid of others milking of them. Too bad that he didn’t keep his word. Saying this today and changing it to another the next day only shows how much can we depend on what he promises. Or maybe he would rebut that he never promised anything, so perhaps that means we are not suppose to fully trust on your words as well. If I wanted to stick to pride, I would just turn away and not take the offer. However, since it’s given I’ll just take and leave my rants to my blog and with my dearie. If that’s all is on the table, I’ll sweep it all off, walk away and shrug my shoulders in dismay.

away from the beach

in the last 30mins of work time before i break for the weekend, i decided to change the layout to something minimalistic. the beach babe layout is just so not-me.

as i wrecked my brains on what possible means i can have to do some business online, i suddenly remember how my blog has come to a standstill.

i clicked the link to a popular local blogger and the photos on them told a story of their own. i read another friend's blog and within those lines, his own story too.

i feel cold. my fingers tremble. and my stomach is rumbling. reading someone's life distracts me from all that agony.

birthday, blades & bike

Had an eventful weekend. It was quite a rush back to Segamat on Friday night but it was a trip which was worth every minute of traveling for. Dearie’s family bought a cake and celebrated my birthday with me. It was a nice blueberry chessecake with Oreo base. Yummy!

Listening to dearie’s dad share his opinion on the mba made a lot of sense to me and it made me evaluate and consider areas I did not perceive of. One question he posed struck me, “Are you doing the mba because there’s a need to, or is it just a paper chase?”

True enough, my honest answer is the latter. It’s not easy to make me change my mind once I decide on something.. I’m so close to registering for the course, but his dad made so much sense I could not just blindly believe I am still making a right decision for myself.

Hence, mba plans will adjourn till further notice. Meantime it’s time to gather experience and learn at my job.

Ace adventure was a mix of fun and frustration. Nonetheless, racing with dearie made all the difference. He was the one to push me on when I thought the race was meaningless after tony dropped out. I couldn’t handle the double line ascending which made things worse, but he told me we must still finish the race. In light of other things, I think it was a good race and we made good pace. With further training and more bike sessions, let’s hope we can do better in future races.

Birthday’s over and I’m officially 26. wishes I gathered this year.

dearie
mummy
kai
bimo
Vincent (financial planner)
janson
weiliang
daddy
aiping
guobin
christin
Irene (secretary)
Daniel (msn)
latios (1 of my youth I suddenly forgot his name)
aman

hehe..i realize as years go by, wishes get fewer. People who remember always remember. =)

no 4D win for me but the ang pao I gotten from my dad and bro is sufficient to buy the roller blades. I decided not to buy them after all, will be getting a pair of running shoes instead as I’m totally soaked my phoenix in mud and sea water. I think I run more than I blade, hence shoes over blades.

My mtb is in dire state. I discovered a deep gash on the chain stay which I’ve got no idea when it appeared from. I need to get the shifting fixed as it got jammed several times before and during race.. I couldn’t change it to granny so I had to crank up the slopes on 2-1. It’s crazy! It’s visible that the overall condition of the bike is bad and Patrick suggested I should try to sell the current frame off, salvage whatever parts salvage-able and then buy a frame that fits. Of course that’s ideal but I doubt the frame will be worth anything at this point in time, looking at the condition of it. I can’t bear to spend on a new bike though I know if I want to race on, I need a relatively decent one. My heart’s skewed towards a titanium bike for fuss free maintenance but that comes with a price tag of around 1.5k. The entire set up would probably cost 2-3k. I’m really not willing to spend that kind of money now. Alternatively I love the kinesis frames..but it’s a lot to pay for alu frames. I’ll be crying if I get the nice paint work all scratched up.

Second hand frames that fit my size are very hard to come by. 14” would fit me best but it’s once in a blue moon to find someone sell a mtb that size. That’s also the reason why I ended up with a 15.5” which is too big for good control.

Tricia tricia..u want something good that doesn’t cost you much? Dream on!

OOOoooooOOo..this is the K2 Velocity 4.0 (W)

Birthday Wish 2007

Tomorrow is my birthday.

So far I’ve gotten 2 bday presents: tri suit and crocs from dearie. Vacuum cleaner from mummy. Bro’s giving me a red packet. Dad wants to get me something but I declined. He should save the money up.

I was so near to getting the blades I’ve wanted to get for a long while. Dearie spotted a nice carpark top deck which will be ideal for me to blade around. My eyes sparkled with a tinge of hope when that idea came. I’ve been wanting to get a pair of blades for a long while but didn’t do so coz I found there’s very few places in Singapore to blade and it’s not cheap purchasing and maintaining when (esp when I have 3 bikes to take care of already).

I tried on a pair of K2 velocity 4.0 and it felt really really really nice! I was so close to getting them but I decided not to at the end of it. I asked my mum if I was wasting money and my mum’s reply knocked the decision into me, “ play can anytime play. Don’t waste such money la.” I know dearie had that.. “if u want can get but I’m not supportive of it” look which also made me hesitate.

Then I thought of the studies I want to embark on. Dearie might be right after all, I may not have time to blade once I start studying.

Moreover, I am seriously cash strapped. I shouldn’t waste the money like that. Every penny I have I would like to channel it to my studies.

As I sat in the bus on my way to work today, I was still aching a little over the blade which I was so close to laying my hands on. Then something silly came in mind..if only I struck lottery, hopefully it’ll be enough to cover for my blades.. though I really haven’t got much luck with 4D and lottery. So far I’ve bought 4D twice and I never won a single cent. Tomorrow is my birthday, I wonder if that’ll bring me luck?

“Ma, help me buy 4D hor.”

“What number you want to buy?”

“Anything la. Tomorrow is my birthday, maybe got luck. Then can buy blades liao.”

“Where got anything one? U want must give me a number.”

“Huh..let me go think about it.”

Dearie gave me a 2627 coz I’m 26 years old and he’s 27. not very innovative huh. I thought I might want to get my colleagues help me pick a number, maybe they can share a little of their luck with me.

I feel like a little kid wanting her toy badly. Haha.

I’m not good with numbers? Anyone has anything good to suggest? If I strike, I’ll treat you coffee la.

Therefore, birthday wish for 2007 is to strike enough 4D to buy a pair of blades. No more wishing to be slim coz I know it doesn’t work =P

it's hard

I’ve been eating plain wholemeal bread for the past 2 days. Plain and I mean ko-song, nothing. There’s an unknown wholesomeness in the bread that I never quite noticed when I had them with spreads.

Taming my taste buds is something I am trying to do. I have a tendency to go for food with strong tastes; it’s a real challenge trying to tone down on it.

Attempts to lose weight continue to seem infertile. I am so tempted to resort to unorthodox means but I know it does me no good. Somehow I never can accept the way I look – flabby arms, bulging tummy, thunder legs.. there’s always something to find flaw in. Oh please let me lose a good 5kgs and I’ll be thankful!

Dearie, tony and I will be racing in the coming ace adventure. We’ve only got 1 goal for this race..and we all know what! Haha. Haven’t done adventure races for a long while..it’s good to get into the action again.

Desaru training isn’t looking too good. I might give it a pass than to go there and merely do it for the sake of doing. I want to go to do it at the best I can, not just go through the motion.

Am I being too hard on myself already? Hmm.

how to build a kingdom

for those friends who lead sedentary lives (work, eat, sleep with no exercise), i thought this quote from mind your health today might make you reconsider taking something up for yourselves.

"Exercise is King. Nutrition is Queen. Put them together and you've got a kingdom." - Jack La Lanne

vrooom vrooooooom!!

i passed, i passed and I PASSED.vroooooooooommmm!!! yayyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!

want to pass my bike test too..slowly pick it up and complete it..like mum says..got to finish off what i started..cannot leave things half way..

life's jam packed..work's jam packed..training will soon be jam packed too.

TGIF

Life has been like the busy mrt that scuttles from station to station. Continuous, rapid and somewhat fulfilling – gets me to my destination.

In all the busy-ness of working 7 days a week, with occasional getaways with superboy for runs and races, I actually find myself half smiling in my sleep.

I find myself doing useful work – reports that tell a tale of how a company has been faring. I’ve got hardly time to type my blog at work, unlike my previous jobs that gave me much more flexibility and leeway. I find my time is used productively, as I can walk out of office feeling satisfied with the tasks I have managed to complete for the day.

Being esteemed for the work I do, I am given an opportunity to prove I can do something worth the mention. Unlike rjc which only saw me qualified to fold brochures and saw little of what my background and education can contribute as well.

In all, I’m thankful for God opening each and every door, for every station has to be linked with a track between them.

And where ever I go, I know I have my loved ones with me – superboy, mummy, christin and other friends who keep me going on.

have a good day

took a long hiatus from blogging as i no longer have the luxury of sneaking in to blogger.com to type a short blog every other day in the office. perhaps it's not a bad thing, for that'll probably mean i'm utilising my time in the office to be engaged in more meaningful work.

work has been a challenge on its own. with deadlines to meet and a whole lot new things to learn..i've got to be constantly on my toes. the downside of work is that my eye sight is deteriorating as i've got to stare at the monitors for long hours a day. astigmatism seems to be crawling right back in again. lazy eyes..does it mean i've got to get my glasses on again. sigh.

driving has been fun so far. there's alot of polish up before the actual tp test itself.. i do certainly hope i clear it once and for all.

training has taken a bad seat in my life for now. working out is more for the sake of keeping fats off than for performance at any race. not many race goals for now..just the simple "completion".

my eyes are going blurry now. need to look away. work is starting soon in 15mins.

i hope u have a good day too.

picking life's pieces

it's good to go to work and be really busy every moment. work has been pretty packed since it embarked all over once again. fresh start, new environment, renewed goals.. life's gradually unfolding its next petal.

exchange rates, financial statements.. i'm back to accounting again. the cycle's coming to its full round. i took a part of my life to go explore..now it's back to pursue whatever i last left off.

i haven't felt such mental fatigue in a while. as i pored through the 3 years' of accounts i'm suppose to regenerate its financial reports.. it drained me mentally. 2nd day at work and things are still going pretty smooth. i want to make this job work out. and i will refuse to give up easily.

my skin has been giving me alot of problems. itching badly. i hope it goes off soon. it's agonising.

haven't been training as much as i hope i can.

time to pick up my driving lessons next week. must arrange for it tomorrow.

picking pieces up.

when things hit the rock bottom, they have to bounce up.

work hit a bottom following the decision to leap for a no-pay leave starting monday. but i'm thankful God opened 2 interviews next tuesday. both at tuas, which i'm ok with. let's hope both will go ok.

the flat hunt collided into the murky end when the sums worked out to be a great hefty bit of cash upfront. we really don't have that much on our hands, but both of us are willing to give all we've got. this decision is a huge one..i was even reduced to tears coz i realized how i've foolishly spent my money on things that won't build my future. i learnt my lesson to always save, save, save.

even as my morale plunged coz i really wish i had more to offer and i wish i had not spent so much time in social work which enriched my life but not my pockets, i told myself there's no point dwelling in the past. as i leaned my head upon his shoulders, i knew i must pick myself up. change that negate feeling into strength that'll propel me to find a job that'll earn me more, build my career..progress..invest and study..for these will be what will develop my life.

yes, i do feel poor when i know i might be emptying all i have into a home. but i know there's no point dwelling on the state, fold my arms and do nothing about it. i must break out of this state, and the only way to do it is to work harder and save more. poor people don't have to always remain poor, if they know how to empower themselves to move out of the vicious cycle.

superboy & fighter.. both with such great spirit..how can we not live up to the names we choose to call ourselves by. i love the word fighter..coz it has the never-say-die attitude in it. this is one life situation that such attitude must arise. my attitude will determine my altitude, motivational speakers often say.

the day was on a roller coaster today. with the up of knowing today's my last day and mr c.a. who seemed quite helpeful to get it to come to past. down when he almost blew his top coz i was trying to clarify that i should only be returning half the net pay not the gross. up again when i gotten a call from one other company in tuas for interview on tues.. up again when i finished my cip data entry. and up again when i gotten an interview with safra. however, it dipped just 1min ago when i received an email that 1 out of the 3 interviews has been cancelled coz the position has been filled up. that's fine. still got 2 to be hopeful of. may God open the right door to the right job.

Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.
Leon J. Suenes

tricia goes around the money which makes the world go round

false alarm this morning.. thought the school cockpit had some silly need for duplicate entries..anyway, i think things have been cleared! it came to light after i saw the report of a student, who wanted some changes done on her report..so with some track-back..it was a relief i needn't run through the entire box of cip records to get them all keyed in again. phew!!!!!

sneaked out at 2pm to the arcade at raffles place to get my eyebrows trimmed. i came back 15mins late. 315 i set foot into the office. prior to that i received 2 mystery calls from a 6416XXXX number which i decided not to pick up as i was in the mrt. it's too similar to my office num 6419 XXXX. gulps. it's totally alright to use my lunch break to run errands..just that knowing i was going to be 15mins late..that brought apprehension in me to pick up the phone. anyway i'm already back in the office now..so pfft.. -dumps it a side-

the whole flat thing drowned my spirit in a pail of water. somehow it led me to think what have i been doing for the past 5 years of work. i hate myself for deviating out to do social work.. i desperately must get back to finance now.. everything is just quantified in monetary terms..and i need the vitamin M badly. =(

as i saw the panes on the mrt doors reflect tricia, i somehow do think i got a nice physique of one who probably can try passing off as a physical trainer. it led me to think if i could make something of it.. but i guess the process required of me is to do my bec and ft courses.

was pondering a little of how to make a catering business work.

whatever can make money, i want to try.

or perhaps i should take up another job at 7-11 coz the clinic job didn't quite work out. =(

indeed..money makes the world go round.

going no-pay

progress of the cip data entry has been very promising. i've cleared almost 80% of the stack and i'm left with only 20% of the ones which are the tougher ones (longer lists of students on each entry). it's heartening to know i'm well on my way to complete this final task given to me. =)

i was totally left out of the isle programme today..which i didn't bother to ask why. on the brighter side, it's not all a bad thing i'm excluded.. at least i won't have to do another camp for thursday and friday.

a few things on my to-do-list as i go on no-pay leave starting next monday

1. interview at tuas
2. hair cut with patrick
3. get my eyebrows trimmed
4. shopping with my mum
5. catch up on sleep/rest
6. continue to send out lots of applications
7. confirm itinerary for hanoi

friday is coming so close, so close!! =)

my days at rjc are numbered!

super hungry this after noon..ate 1 big pao and a chicken sandwich. super full now!

had a really satisfying dinner with superboy and meow yesterday at thomson. we had: fish hor fun. fish in sweet & sour sauce, spicy potato leaves, ha kows, siew mais..yum yum!!

that was what i call a PROPER meal! after the 12 1/2hrs race in selangor..

totally enjoyed the eco-xtreme race...though it did get really trying at the 20km bike up fraser's hill and the 4hrs up and down trek to the 2 summits. the rafting was fun, the mountain biking portion was great!..abseiling down the 60m bridge was the best i've yet done for all my races..and to top that off..tyrolean traverse across the unpicturesque water fall at gunung chilling..beautiful!! nomad never fails to bring to us good races =)

have been sending out lots of resumes for the past 3 weeks. so far only 1 company has responded but i'm finding difficulties to go down for interview as it's almost impossible to take leave from rj side. sigh. i hope my no-pay leave request goes through, that'll release me to be able to go for interviews starting next week.

mum and superboy have been really supportive in my career move back to finance.. even as i decided to take a leap to go on no-pay leave earlier than my last day.

update at 3:22pm. mel came over and told me my no-pay leave has been approved by the vp. she'll help me settle it. it's really such a burden off me as i've been vexed over the whole matter of whether they'll release me that soon. i guess they do find me a waste of their resources and time, might as well boot me away since i asked for it. but it's good..coz i can finally arrange for the interview at tuas. =)

all of rcel is out for recce at ubin except me. i'm pretty contented in the office doing data entry. at least i know i can go off at 6pm sharp and go for my badminton class at 8pm with no qualms. let's just hope given my last day being friday, i'll be spared from the camp this thurs and fri.

my aim is just to finish the whole box of cip records by friday. i think there is no need for me to attempt to jut my head into what the rest of them are doing, just for the sake of knowing what's going on..and in the process, i get myself into more unnecessary work.

wrapping the day soon..finish a few more entries..then it's badminton time! yay!