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!

eco-xtreme

the next race for superboy and i. happening over the good friday long weekend. wish us luck!

the essence of life

i made a mistake. there are 5 more camps to go. 6 for this month alone. from next thurs onwards, it'll be back to back. 3 out of 5 no venue. 2 out of 5 at dairy farm. i'm filled with much negativity towards camps these days. reasons being:

1. i lose having time outside working hours to do my own things. basically 1st day of camp ends at night. and 2nd day of camp ends around 5pm. latest we've gone to is 11pm for 1st day, 730pm for 2nd day. with that kind of load for 4 out of 5 working days, my energy doesn't get replenished at all.

2. my energy is sapped- both mentally and physically. i've got little energy and drive to train much these days. no wonder none others in rcel are into adventure racing nor any form of endurance sports. i guess they are like me- no energy left.

3. efforts don't always go appreciated, nor is all the work always effective. some classes feel they are already bonded and don't need a short 1.5days camp at all. if they themselves don't see a need, then why do it in the first place? i've yet to see a counsellor going to a client and telling him/her..u need counselling, please come to me now.

the entire feeling is like standing on a piece of thin ice floating in the sea. i can't run from it, i can't choose to jump off from it. filled with dread and reluctance i am made to stand on it till i see land which i can land my feet on.

deep in me, i would like to leap off, plunge into the freezing water if i have to..at least i free myself from the no-choice situation. translate that into my present situation, means i would request to leave mid-month instead of month end. but is that possible? i'm really not too sure though.

i read of the rich and beautiful in urban today and i am filled with a bad concoction of envy and jealousy. i'm envious how some can have such a luxurious life with the world circling around them..jealous how they have so much money to possess whatever they desire, splurging 10k just to dress up for a ball..while i don't even have 10k in my posb savings account. these are just the rich, beautiful and lucky ones existing in the world who probably won't know much of what it means to have the banks tax $2 admin charges on your bank account.

all i'm hoping is to get a decent job..get a decent pay..have time to train for races i enjoy.. spend quality time with my loved ones.. smile everyday and know everything will be ok.

so much things these days come with a price tag on them these days..quantified in monetary terms. i actually do want to dress up more.. get a nice hair colour and hairdo..wear pretty frocks.. enjoy spa.. have facials..but those are luxuries not in my means. i can probably just look from afar and rant.. "i don't think those are for me."

in all the bleakness, living simple isn't all that a bad thing. i'm happy with a small flat. happy just huddle around with superboy in front of the tv, eating dinner. happy just working weekends at running lab with interesting colleagues. at the heart of it all, we all just want love. to love and be loved in return. that's the essence of life. =)

greyish days at rjc

i haven't been exactly too happy at work. how strange things just nose-dive into gloom and dust. not even looking forward for yet another meet up tomorrow. what i have to say i've already said. i doubt they'll want me to stay on, neither do i want to do so.

4 more camps up ahead and 3 of them with no venues. overheard a possibility of ending up at ubin. uh-oh..i've got badminton class on one of the camps.. how am i going to get back ashore, go for class then rush back to camp? i sense a impending disapproval of me going for class again. work is work is work is work, and there is NO compromise to that. i hate camps coz it saps my energy and ruins all own life outside working hours. i have things i want to learn and develop in..

map says we get from pt a to pt b via road c, and that's the way we MUST go. no to road d even if it's faster..NO to road e even if it's flatter. road c it is, road c it must be. such inflexibility affects me tremendously because as my mum requested me to take some off time to spend with her, i could only say i can't. reason is because i'm told i must put in all the hours required of the camp..9am to 11pm..9 am to 6/7pm the next day..and for all that there is no privilege of time off or rest. i think i won't want to voice and ask for me too, in case i'm seen as a trouble maker trying to find flexibility in her system which is rigidly structured as such.

another reason for my departure is the salary which i feel is pathetic. moving back to finance which i can better put my qualifications to use than be literally trampled on coz i don't fit into their mould of how a training facilitator should be. moreover, i don't need their sympathy to TAKE ME IN. those words suck. i'm not a wandering stray that needs a shelter over my head. i want to redeem my esteem n walk away with my head held high.

been terribly left out in alot of work related things since i tendered. i'm trying to not let it affect me..because i didn't choose to be left out..i'm just left out coz i'm soon going to leave. so i guess the rest felt there's no need to involve me too much. oh well..

dw constantly reminds me "the thing is..you are leaving soon." that's really a good thought to focus on, when the lights dim so much it's uncomfortable to be in.

interview at queensway turned out pleasantly nice with doctor wang. wondering what'll be the outcome. would i get it?

i don't know where it will eventually lead me to, but i only want to utilise all the time i have in my hands to earn more. there's alot ahead which requires the cash and i'm lacking much in vitamin M. (m for money)

i know i can survive. i am a gal who can work her way thru to survive. having grown up with little, i can live with little.

sometimes i really want to break down and cry..but what would crying help? at the end of it, i would still have to decide where i want to venture to.. i would have to still stand up and continue in the journey.

1 more day to go before i head to kkb for race. no camps. good thing. i'll probably spend tomorrow doing data entry. a whole box full. got to get it going.

working evenings from 630pm to 9pm at rln for the next 2 days. make up a little for the week ends i'll be missing.

will be making some small tokens for a few nice people i've met at rjc. despite all the unhappiness..there r these handful of nice teachers and colleagues i can truly smile at with no qualms. that's some consolation, isn't it?

silver lining around every dark cloud

eventful weekend which i think i did mediocre for the 2 races which took place.

singapore bi: i think according to the clock i did a 1:51 thereabouts. i thought i did the 10km at a miserably slow speed.. but i kept telling myself i don't want to cheong and leave myself all depleted, jeopardizing the longer run next day. so i just kept to my small little strides at a slow pace. even bernard who was there supporting, asked," why so slow?"

kl marathon: our hotel was situated in the heart of chinatown. got my hands on a few nice bags and card holder. i was trying my best to do a sub-5 but the terrain was comparatively tougher than scsm. kl's route is full of hills..and the last 10km brought us through a long uphill which was part of the 30km pacesetters route. the only thing i could tell myself to do is to keep running and NOT STOP. came in at the time of 5:01 which is 14mins slower than scsm. felt the fatigue kick in much much earlier around the 8km mark, compared to the 15km mark for scsm. water was plentiful with 100plus and water stations.. starting early at 430am was a bonus as well. route was well thought out..at least we didn't have to run to and fro the same place..it was around the outskirts of kl city and then into the heart of the city..back around then back in.. my 1st time doing this route..and next year when i'm back, i promise to be more prepared for it. and of course, doing the bi the day before and then a marathon was a bad idea..haha..no more of that next year! =P

and yes.. MOS SAVED THE DAY!! without MOS, i couldn't have kept running. after 20km mark, it was MOS music that kept my legs going. i just let the pounding of the music fill me entirely..and i told myself i just want to keep moving my legs to the music. i promise this time i'll get myself MOS CDs..to think the 1st ones i ripped were from aaron.. MOS is TRICIA's SOLUTION To MARATHON AGONY!

work is now of fuzzy grey and it's doesn't seem to be making much sense to me. there are things i know i must do and those are in clear light..however, those which are expected of me..and those others perceive of me, that's in the fuzz.

like christin said," if i gives me so much inner conflict, then seriously consider about it." yes, it is causing much inner conflict. and yes, i am seriously considering how helpful it is to me.

meanwhile, in all haziness of things, my consolation is knowing God, superboy and christin will always be by me. mummy is there too! silver lining around every dark cloud i guess. so, tricia, smile. =)

fat blasting and onto hanoi!

a little whimsical episode in my work today..blog it before it gets laughed away into the wind.

teacher j: hey..my class camp how liao? my 5star room ready?

colleagues cm: ya..6 star.

cm: and can see alot of stars at nite too.

teacher j: o_O

teacher j: actually i just need aircon la

me: yea..alot of natural aircon..that u can't turn off.

teacher j: can't turn off? o_O

the day started on a high note in the treble as i "attempted" for the first time to pack lunch for super boy. menu for the day: brown race (pre-fried with shallots and garlic), sardines and boiled broccoli. hope it's edible-licious for superboy's tummy.

after the hustle and bustle, we went for an ez 4km run. enjoyed it as we just chit chatted along..4km went by in a blink of an eye.

reading. just feeding my mind with alot of reading these days. daily Straits Times, Today.. and books.

the excitement for Hanoi trip is slowly raving up. got to settle accommodation soon..and also come up with a probable itinerary for the trip.

plan plan plan..i think that's one thing i caught on from superboy. =)

going to take the bi easy coz i'm simply not prepared for it. worse case just get fished out! =P and marathon for me is a fat burning session..so i'm also going to take it easy.

alrites..back to my papers..sourcing for good places to visit, eat and shop!!

dreams in the building

1st day of mc

outrage of eczema-mama..from the normal joint and neck..now it went up to my right eye. itchy. dry. tearing.

doc at my family clinic was a gem to have, despite the hefty medical bill that came along with all that tenderness. hehe. slept. i slept so much i lost count how many hours i was in slumber.

2nd and final day of mc

fruitful. did quite a bit of the things i've been wanting to do for a long while but never got around doing them

1. write to joyce

2. do laundry

3. iron clothes

4. mop the floor

5. wash the toilets

6. plan the itinerary for hanoi

7. wrap christin's present

8. do my can handicraft

9. read read read

10. do some circuit training

11. cycle

12. plan training a little

13. update this blog (which i am doing right this moment)

bec course is next up. then to the ft course. i am hopeful! things will fall through.

marathon is this weekend. i am in deep shit!

bi? i'm not even 10% ready for it..laughs. cham ah..maybe just be pom pom gal for superboy..or like he said..we'll just go for the sake of doing some open water swim.. hopefully i don't get fished out for non-completion of the swim. ho ho ho..highly likely leh.

i've come to a point of realisation i shouldn't be asking nor expecting too much from my rjc job. just take it as it comes. let my courses be the main focus coz that'll be what might help me int he future. i don't dream big for this position in rj. just my sentiments at this point of time.

okies. mean time..other dreams are still in the building..and worth my time and effort! =) that's gd to know!

life is what we make out of it

it's been a while.. been submerging myself in work and reflecting upon bits and portions of my life.

having this insatiable appetite for learning..reading..enriching myself. have been reading quite abit on s.e.a..history..culture.. right now i'm exploring possible courses i could do. anything from web designing, wilderness first aid..sports training..flower arrangement even.. if those are things worth doing, i will want to learn. of course, often at times like these, main deciding factors would have to be MONEY (first and foremost) then the TIME. if those are non-issues, then rest of it would fall safely in place.

have to compile a list of likely places and courses i can do..weigh them out..sort them in priorities and start to slowly embark on them.

there were bouts of trying moments at work, the struggle was often from within. so glad superboy and christin are always there to hold me through and their affirmation means so much to me. =)

been flipping the classifieds every day. i'm keen to get another part time job. most hopefully a clinic assistant job to fill my nights and earn more for saving.

been really interested in skin care since the workshop in school the other day. burnt a hole in my pocket just to get some of the skin care products i never quite bothered to buy nor apply. things like sunscreen, moisturizer, eye cream.. those are things i scrimp on..often just using whatever my mum has and most often, i just simply skip it altogether. the only things i consistently would do were just wash my face with a cheap facial wash and apply on toner from the same series. over the workshop, i gain some insights into skin care..of which the most impactful statement that still rings in my mind right now "women start to age at the age of 25" o_O uh-ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhh!! i'm a gal often out in the sun...and i never gave too much thoughts about the uv rays that is silently killing my skin. no more of that now..i got to undertake some self-care!! hopefully whatever spent on the products would be worthwhile.

so much for skin care.. i'm also curious to do some make-up too! so much for the tom-boyish tricia..i'm pretty excited to land my hands on a good eye lash curlers and mascara. i wonder if it'll help brighten up my whole look? hmm!! maybe i'll get them when i get my pay.. still very "giam" when i have to spend on make-up..=P or maybe if superboy is reading this..maybe he can consider a sponsorship? (sniggles)

singapore bi..i'm still torn if i should go for it or not.. the organisers made things kinda difficult for us for a moment..with the certs etc.. haven't swam for almost a month i think..i'm really hesitant and fretful about going for an open water swim. will probably do some crawling in the pool later this evening and see how things would work out from there.

marathon's coming..panic! panic! panic!!!!

so much things to do..so much to look forward to..there's is no moment to waste at all! =) in short, life is just what we want to make out of it. yea?

so small to an olympian

tues and i'm still in the sleepy mode. the aftermath since camp lingers on.

tonight i resolve to sleep at 830pm latest!! must get suffice sleep. till 6am tomorrow that'll give me 9.5hrs of sleep. i do need that. hate waking up feel lathargic and wanting to go back to sleep.

dinner would be an easy to go bread i reckon..so that i can get to bed on the dot.

tomorrow, i WILL wake up feeling FRESH!

can't wait for interview on thursday. it'll be the determinant of how i'll plan for my driving lessons. exams are 3months+ away, i do have to pick up my driving lessons soon.

completed all the tasks i set out to do at work today. final task for the day will be the meeting with the rest on the isle programme.

training has been really sluggish this week. haven't done anything as a matter of fact, as i've been feeling worn and tired. got to finish the night with my usual prune juice and multi vits.

hopefully i'll be well enough to do my macrit rounds 'morrow.

got to pick up mileage again..after the ex-olympician customer from germany who came into rl..his pb for 42km is 2:11.. o_O monthly mileage=approx 1000km.weekly mileage=250km!! faints. i'm so so so so so so far from that.

but it's ok..i'll start with whatever i have. hopefully it grows on me. =P

go go monday blues

i'm an OFFICIAL AUNTIE liao!! ho ho ho..my nephew is suppose to call me GU GU..sounds..erm..OLD. bleah.. baby kenneth jr looks super uber CUTE with his RED ROSY cheeks..makes me want to muak muak muak him.. cradled the little babeeee in my arms and i felt this upsurge of joy that came into me.. such a sweet little life.. melted me thoroughly..

as i turned n told super boy, "so cute hor.."..grin grin.. =D

i, tricia lim, resolve to work hard hard for the future..

hence..i am going for another interview this thursday at a clinic located at cck st 51 (yew tee). this is a clinic assistant position.. working hours are totally ideal to me. 7-9pm. i finish off at school at6pm and head straight towards the clinic to work. only problem is for the class camps, i might have to just take excuse and leave the camp for 2hrs to work. the best thing is at least i can get superboy to give me lift back to camp if i need to rush back.

many many camps ahead for the next few months. inhales deeply. somehow all the camps are killing alot of other arrangements for other stuff.

went recce at bahtera campsite with cm and sl.. the sheer amount of sops for the usage of a simple campsite is overwhelming. a simple night trek also requires risk mgmt report?? safety vehicles? faints. loads of rigidity too..

tonite's dinner...i'm going to attempt to cook pasta for superboy and i..inspired by pastamania dinner last nite! yummy yummy...

hope a good pasta dinner will chase our monday blues away =)

i was hearing it wrong

it's 630am in the morning..have been turning and tossing in bed.. i heard some rumbles and mistook them as knocks on the main door..ran out to the door only to be filled with another bout of disappointment to find no one there at all. despairingly, i dragged myself back to bed only to find myself drift in and out of sleep. most of the time conscious..awaiting for something good to happen and light up my moment. yet as i sit here..waiting for the sun to rise..somehow that will be what fills the room with light in time to come.

i hate my hair..what a mushroom head i am! time for a change..mean time i just got to patiently await for my tresses to grow longer.. waiting can be such a painful process sometimes.

time to catch an hr of sleep before i have to head out to rl.

beans, check!

a last entry before i head off to malaysia to spend my chinese new year.

work has been gradually streaming in..and there'll be alot of things to be done after the long weekend. bz..but bz is always better than idling. i'm just thankful for good superiors and fun colleagues.. =)

some disagreement with mum and i'm just hoping she'll soon understand my stand on things. as i thought thru her words, there is much truth in it but i guess i'm still going to insist on my decisions and plans for now. if i do grow to regret it, it is my decision after all. consequence is mine to bear. wa.sounds so serious..actually it's just a small issue.

it's that time of the month again. hate it coz it coincides with my nice long holi..and i got to be stuck with thick slices of blood sucking pads on me. drats.

i have appetite for nothing but chocolates. feeling fat. fat butt. can feel water retention. i can't wait for our short runs over the weekend. bringing our free along so we can test running with them..let's see how FREE we can get ya..hopefully not SORE.

stretch cordz, check. badminton racquets, check. books, check. beans, check. all things in for our nice holiday away from the usual.

superboy's coming soon..got to go lug my bags and head off now..

alrites..happy chinese new year to all..gong xi fa cai! =) hope u'll enjoy ur long wkend too!!

lost in the woods

this week's training log

mon: rest..body ached badly after stretch cordz
tue: 7km run with superboy
wed: 5km noon interval run at sch track
thur: macrit round+getting lost then running from museum to another. night stretch cordz
fri: macrit round (no getting lost this time) + round island with westrider?(tbc)
sat: tbu
sun: tbu


superboy asked me to borrow some books back during cny holiday so i can read them at home. it's a good idea..and i have just in mind the kinds of books i want to feed myself on. books on cross cultural issues in Asean, that'll be beneficial for our isle programme.

stretch cordz yesterday was challenging but i think as our bodies adapts themselves to such training, they are growing stronger every time we do the workout. after stretch cordz, we had a game of hop scotch, which was readily on the ground of the playground where we did our workout.

work's gradually streaming in.. things are boiling up and i can feel the heat of excitement in rcel. woohooo!

for my role, no matter how small it may seem, i will want to do it to the best of my abilities..

no more skiving for now..back to work!! toodaloo!

from the inside out

superboy and i were just angst-ing over my ex-team mate's recent collision with the malaysian law. like superboy puts it, "they are just creating a mountain out of a molehill.. ..aren't they just accentuating the scandalous loopholes in their system, which are better left unturned." my respond to it all? bleah. sent off an sms to tony and encouraged him to persist in appealing for his stand. it wasn't wholly his fault, in my view.

i succumbed to the gastric woes and finally went to consult dr kee for medication. no histac this time, but rather 4 kinds of medicine which included a suspension which tastes a lot better than mylanta. hope this gastric goes off soon..

anytime for macrit run during lunch today?? if not i'll just go round the stadium.

rl's going to change its staff purchase policy?! oh gee..c'mon la..stop making it so difficult for the part timers. perhaps i better start looking out for alternatives..in case things get a little too unbearable at least i'll have something else on my plate.

oh yes..talk about alternatives..we're tossing with the possible idea of "stowing away" at mum's shop during weekends. we've just got to try things out i guess.. maybe it'll turn out to be something good. =) meantime..we're still deciding on a name that'll be appropriate.. weekend indulge? happy food? indulge?

the good and the evil

THE GOOD AND THE EVIL
mummy's new oven! pineapple tarts turned out really good when we tried in it yesterday. =)
the devilish tormentor - stretch cordz =(

tomorrow never comes

gosh. tricia's half awake today. monday morning blues.

first i was aching so badly from stretch cordz training yesterday i decided to hop on a train than bike. what a lazy bum =S

took a train and dropped off at the wrong station. i kept thinking i'll be alighting at tpy..so i ended up at braddell. but thank God i made it to work right on the dot.

i left my pencilcase and file at running lab (AGAIN!) knocks her head. awww man! my note books..training stuff..stationery.. thankfully superboy will be helping me drive mummy's new oven down to shop..so i'll probably pop by to pick it up later in the evening.

oh yes...bought mummy a new oven so that she can bake in the shop and not have to rush for mad in the morning to get baking done and also make it to the shop on time to start business. i ended up buying something almost twice my initial budget but i felt it was one of the better ovens worth the cost.

i need a new noisy alarm clock so that it jolts me up from sleep in the morning..my cheapo $4.90 brinjal clock croaks like a toad now. noisy! then again, frankly, alarm clocks don't really work for me..the best method to wake me up - superboy's black face. no matter how tired i am, i would still crawl out of bed. =P

okies..today is rest day so i can recover from the aches n pain. proper training starts tomorrow.

tomorrowwwwwwwwww..never COMES! hhaheheaae..=)

new processes

driving test has been rescheduled to 5 jun 07. morning 1st slot. $20 only..to think i paid $150 for the school test slot. crap!

new resolutions..

1. to bike to work daily.
that'll require me to wake up early every morning especially if i want to save some time and take the bt timah route. if i'll be taking the mandai route, it's definitely more hills to overcome. that in turn means i got to have the discipline to wake up early! oh man!

2. to run regularly at macrit & do my track intervals
now that macrit and the track are a stone away, i ought to take full advantage of it and clock suffice mileage to sail though my upcoming marathons

3. swim
got to find more time to swim and also do stretch cordz

4. earn more money
i wish i knew how..mean time just got to keep up with my part time job. bo bian. new job doesn't pay me any better than before. =(


things on my kiv list
1. sports massage course
2. sports first aid and sports trainer course
3. badminton lessons

new beginnings

today's first day at work.

i simply love the place. track, swimming pool, indoor sports hall(floorball!! wow..i haven't played that since jc times), huge and i mean HUGE staff room (they have a staff strength of 220..or was it 250)..lovely colleagues: hwee san, cheng chye, siew ling, cheen ming, "kurt leong" (now i don't remember his name o_O) .. i hope my stay here would be a fruitful one..

like most big organisations..the induction was a rather dry one to begin with..lots of sops to adhere with.. but well, that's the least of it.

most of us are seated within the staff room itself..but we'll be looking fwd to move down to the 1st floor in a month or 2. wow..the new place's nice..too bad we can't make an attic out of the space "above".. imagine a nice spiral staircase that leads up to the attic..with a nice library corner and big cushions where students can just sit around and chill. dream on. hahhaehe..

gotten a nice fujitsu lifebook s series. first time using a fujitsu..hehe..=)

work is from 9am-6pm daily. to be fair, we are 2 hours short of the 42hrs work week. hehehaeh..sniggles.. no one's complaining so we'll hush hush about it la.

a nice work station, with aircon surrounding my head. brrrr..

i'll be in my running shoes starting tomorrow(if only i got my nike free!!). cheen ming, who was a pe teacher previously, wore ds trainers and shorts..siew ling's in her mizuno precision too. great..wearing proper leather shoes feel weird.. i miss my chaco sandals!! imagine christin and i appearing in "massage" slippers most of the time at nl. =P

it took me 1.5hrs to get from home to work..i was late despite leaving home at 710am! the traffic at bt timah was really a nightmarish. hence..my new approach would be to bike to school..but as the traffic becomes heavy after 630am..therefore i'll be cultivating a new "habit" to get to work early. that'll be good in terms of..

- i save money on bus transport..got to change 2 buses.
- i save time travelling on the bus. 1.5hrs on bus vs 1hr on bike
- i can use the mornings to train. either run down to macrit which is 1km away..or just make use of the track to do some intervals. that'll help revive my interval training that got cut away due to other training.
- starting the mornings with run..how much better can it get? that'll be good as i'll be doing the kl marathon in 6 weeks time.

having decided not to do im was like a anvil lifted off my chest. the load hit on so hard that it made me feel jittery every single day. fear and more fear. uncertainty that grips me tight around my neck. gosh. now that we've let it go.. things seems back to normal again.

some may say i'm an escapist when the going gets tough..some may say i just simply lack that "something"..but who cares.. my life is not so much of what others may say of it. it is what I choose to define of it. i want to spend it doing things that'll make me happy, not add stress... i already have suffice stress to deal with at work and other areas of life. why make it more difficult?

we'll be focusing more on short term goals towards races that are within our means. that'll make up of mostly marathons, ods, bis, adventure races.. at least i won't have to pound myself if i don't clock enough mileage to enable me to complete those races.

we're giving padang besar run a miss..coz we thought that the $600 can be better spent else where.. i thought if we were to fly all the way there, i'll rather we have more time to shop and relax, apart from the 26km run itself.

i cancelled my driving test on the 8march..will be registering for the next one as a private candidate this evening. bbdc really drove me nuts..prices are atrocious..out to suck you dry. my piece of advice and what i took home from this episode: it's better a choice to learn driving from a private instructor than with the school. you'll save alot alot more and have much much much more flexibility in time.

back to basics for my swim..iggy made me do alot of kick, kick, kicking. this sunday we'll get to learn to use the stretch cordz from him. woowee!

new aim for work at rl..i hope i'll be able to sell enough mbt shoes to get sponsored a pair. kelvin, yati and cheng are sponsored a pair each. i heard the tnr volunteers got them too..yati found it hard to understand why would mbt want to sponsor the volunteers when they aren't even the people selling it. i've sold 2 in january. more to come i hope.

many new starts, new goals.. embarking on them..want to keep on them..

we are bike mechanics

superboy and i..

-changed 4 tires (2 on tania, 2 on xiaojie)
-changed 1 tube (scarlet)
-changed 2 bar tapes (tania, aerial)
-changed 1 stem (aerial)
-biked from jurong to ghc and couldn't get the stem. drove from cck to sch and finally getting the stem at c2c. round island chase for a stem. gosh.

went to dr david to get my wrist treated. sigh. it's still hurting abit now. he said it's a nerve injury. i hate injuries.

gee. i just realised i got to work at rl tmr. better sleep. nites.

unhappiness defined

i feel down.

that's all.

period.

never leave home without sunblock

saturday was one hell of a day at desaru. we've planned to do a long bike + some run at desaru..but the 100km bike to n fro pulai and the jetty was suffice to almost kill us.

sequence of events

- nice weather to start bike..wooww..so shiok
- wa lao..head wind.. headwind!
- sun getting hotter..baked us alive. and best thing, we forgot our sunblock. =S
- more headwind. non stop all the way to jetty for 40km there.
- u turn back after hitting jetty...cold drink! cold drink!
- stopped for a bottle of OLD 100plus with NO gas when it's suppose to have. consumed some chocs we brought..and headed on.
- WHAM! tricia collides into billy's bike when he e-braked behind a car which was reversing out. driver failed to see us coming, hence didn't stop. billy stopped on time but tricia crashed right in coz she didn't see the halt coming.
- tricia broke the fall with left hand and was in pain.
- the nice driver got conned off by the malay doctor. (well at least she was nice enough to wait for us while i saw the doc and later paid for the medical bill. some nasty drivers could simply have shrugged off responsibility and zoomed right off)
- rm50 for 2 mins of the doc touching my left hand and bandage without even first cleaning my hand a little. imagine the hand wrapped up with all the dirt and grime. eew. some doctor.
- gotten a pain killer and an anti-swell med, which apparently didn't quite help. it was still in much pain. anarex would have worked much better. pffft.
- driver offered to drive us back but we told her it was alright. i asked her not to worry..cos she really is a nice lady to begin with. it wasn't entirely her fault..coz we came from the right side pretty quickly and there was a van parked on her right side. if i was the driver, i could have missed spotting the cyclist on time too.
- nice rengit town was full of nice people. a middle aged malay uncle rushed to my rescue the moment i fell. he was the first person to tend to me. he helped straighten my wrist immediately upon knowing i have landed on my hand. it hurt like mad..but it really helped.
- nice chinese lady dressed in red tshirt helped me up and pushed my bike to the side. she kept popping over to check if i was alright. she even told us there is a chinese doc who may be able to help check my injury to see if there was a fracture.
- malay uncle helped me straighten my elbow upon seeing my hand begin to swell. pain again..but after the blood began to move, it felt better.
- we went over to the chinese doc after seeing the malay doc who is obviously out to con people only. bleah.
- chinese doc is really good. once again pull and yanked my hand to straight it properly and applied medicated paste..after which he bandaged it nicely for me. MUCH NICER than what the malay doc did. at least he cleaned my hand first.
- chinese doc didn't charge a single cent. he was doing it out of charity and operated under the buddhist society. we are grateful..though we should have given some donation, but i was penniless. didn't bring any money out. i've got to remind myself if i do pass by again, i must stop to drop donation in. i'm not a believer of karma but truly am grateful to the doc's help. =)
- struggled onto bike and in less than 1km of cycling out...rooooooooooooom...RAIN. what?!?!
- we biked into a rundown bike servicing hut for shelter. saw this uncle dismantling an old bike and salvaging the useable parts. smart!
- rained heavily. but it stopped quickly. we headed out and cycled on.
- headwind..AGAIN. WHAT?!!?!?!?!!?!? go also headwind, come back also headwind..wa lao!
- looked up. oh..guess what we see? RAIN CLOUDS. best. i mumbled to billy..rain coming liao.
- and the next moment..RAIN ..again. -sobs-
- we u turned back to the hut which was not far away. once we got into the hut, the rain diminished and stopped. sigh. ok..God play games with us.
- we cycled out. 200m out..RAIN!
- crap crap crap! u turn again back to hut..and this time the rain went on and on and on and on..
- every stop is painful for tricia coz pulling the front brake made her hand hurt alot, already when placing the hand on the handlebar with a little pressure was painful.
- rain finally cleared and we went on.
- lots of hills with ALOT of headwind.
- the last 20km seemed never ending
- finally got back to pulai.. RAIN once again
- we dismantled and threw the bikes into the car, in the rain.
- showered at pulai's toilet, using the fantastic spray that's commonly used to wash backsides. ho ho ho.
- we decided to treat ourselves good and went to segamat.
- we saw a FULL SIZE RAINBOW! now that was a good thing for us!
- it poured and rained cats and dogs along the 4hrs+ ride there.
- nice nice nice dinner at good world restaurant. fish was soooooooo yummy..and yam pot was great too!
- had fabulous wanton mee for bfast the next morning. wow..the gravy is heavenly. the chilli made it even BETTER! yum yumyum
- washed 2 cars in the noon. ang ku kuey regained its showroom shine again!
- nice simple lunch with FISH again. i simply love fish! =P billy's mum treated us to all the meals..thank u so much auntie!
- headed back to sg on sunday 4pm. reached sg at around 8pm.

haha.monday noon now and i'm not at work. coz i'm on mc.

silly tricia went to take ibuoprofen on top of the 2 med given and she woke up with a gastric. bloated. burping. wrist still swelling. eczema not looking at its best.

saw dr kee and she wrote a referral for me to get an xray done on my write and schphiod. she's suspecting a fracture coz there is bruising and swelling. i'm reluctant coz knowing it won't help much. at most i'll get calcium pills.

got home and i went into the net to read up on the wrist injury. in the case of a fracture, there is a possibility of the bones not healing properly, resulting in a condition called non union. it also said that sometimes X-rays taken immediately after the injury may not show a fracture.. so waiting 10days might help as the fracture would surface. i'm choosing to wait a while and see how it goes.

meantime i'll continue to apply my zam buk religiously and keep the wrist in the bandage. dr kee suggested that i go get a wrist guard, which i would do so this evening.

end of weekend episode... i brought some things back..

- i haven't got much chance to visit doctors in malaysia, but to me, that visit to the clinic at rengit with that malay doctor, wasn't too pleasant. he's definitely NOT professional. i have never been prescriped painkillers without gastric medicine. even today dr kee gave me a mild pain killer, it came with gastric med. she even reminded me that painkillers can cause gastric.

- there are always nice people around. at rengit town, i found some. i'm thankful because whenever i've gone into accidents, there are always people out there who are so ready to help.

- accident was bad. first time falling on tania. well. left hand hurts but at least it wasn't my RIGHT hand. i can still write properly. phew!

- i can eat alot of junk food. we were just junk-ing away during the car ride. =P jia lart. how to not grow fat?

- only billy can tahan weird tricia. =P he has been really tolerant and understanding when i got real frustrated with the pain. if it's tricia vs weird tricia, tricia would have walked away. haha.

- headwind to and fro plus sultry sun was bad. but i'll do it again, anyday.

- never leave home without your sunblock.

jan updates

i passed the 4.02 bike module..thankful for a lenient instructor - mr soo. else he could have easily failed my s course which took me several attempts to get it under 10s.

new helmets! yay..bbdc has new helmets and there are 2 S size helmets available. =)

hmm..for a change.. want to put up my training progress here to keep myself motivated to complete whatever i need to do.

goal for this week 01/01 - 07/01

swim: 5.5km
bike: 350km
run: 40km
dryland: 2

so far up till 05/01

swim: 7.2km
bike: 104km (+180km = 294km)
run: 10km
dryland: 1

if weather permits..it'll be 120km ride tonight.

still torn between going or not going desaru. i'm staring at my calendar blankly not knowing when to do what. honestly, if i can choose not to work at rl..i'll rather not. but i guess for the extra money..i'll have to do it anyway.

plan plan plan..got to put things in place..

goodbye 2006. hello 2007.

i'm a little late to post a last post before 2007 arrived. anyway, now that it's already here..maybe it'll be just in time to be the 1st post for the new year.

2006 closed with much simplicity and ease.. despite much unwelcomed stuff at work..

i start 2007 with apprehension though.

we drove past the new place i shall next call 2nd home. big..it sure looks big from all angles..what beholds within it is still a blank to be filled.

resolutions..i was told i ought to make some..but keeping them will always be harder than making them. i'll mentally note some of them though.

i reflected on the lessons i've learnt..the things i've won..some things i've lost.. things that bring smiles on my face..and others that made me cry. some things i've realised i must hold closer to my heart, while some others i have to let go. 2006 moulded me in many ways more than one. and for all of that, i thank God.

rain rain rain stop rain

rain rain rain. hiatus. rain.

there was a short break from the continuous downfall yesterday. having the sun out again was awesome. thank God i was on leave and i could embrace every moment of the sunny day.

i did my 2.02 bike module and PASSED! (2nd attempt though =P) it was a lovely day to start a pretty day.

cycled back home first and lazed around.

biked to rjc to get the letter signed. i felt a bit of struggle within me..but i told myself i will start small and give myself a chance to experience a new environment..new challenges..and give myself a few months before i review if this is what i want to be doing. a part of me questioned if i should step back into the accounting sector for that will definitely get me remmunerated well..but of course it'll entail more unwelcomed stress and other what-nots.

from bishan i went down bt merah to get the swimming aids..an accidental discovery of the much talked about stretch cordz.

from bt merah i went down to mum's shop at south bridge road. moments after getting there, the sky began to drizzle.

met up with super boy to wander around a few shopping malls..intended to meet dw but i "lost" him. oh well.. let's hope he reappears soon. =)

went back to mum's shop at almost 10pm to have dinner..and ended up leaving around 1035pm or so after washing one round of the mountain of dishes. biz was good that night thanks to victor's bday celebration in the shop.

to wrap the night..i had to cycle from south bridge road home. i'm not going to take the bt merah-farrer-bt timah route next time. it's freaking LONG and hilly. should have just opted to go orchard-bt timah. =(

the hiatus from rain was short but welcomed. as i peer out of the window right now and look at the rain that i reckon won't be stopping so soon, i'm thankful i made full use of yesterday. next thought: shit. i'm going to drive and bike in RAIN tomorrow..oh man! stinky and damp helmet..here i come.= S

the rain has been disrupting most of the training planned. i might just have to end up on the trainer one of these days. sigh..and what's next? treadmill?!?

should i bring my shoes along? would i get to run intervals tonight? i wonder..i wonder..

ang ku kwey is CONFIRMED coming...woooweeee...i can't wait to start its engine and drive it.. erm..haven't gotten my license but i think driving around the surrounding blocks at cck shouldn't cause that much a traffic hazard right? =P (by the way i'm learning parallel parking on friday!)

cny's coming soon...sometimes i dread cny..i hate visitation..i'm sick of relatives telling me i've put on weight and i'm getting chubby.. it's such a sore spot to me. i hope i can restrain myself and enforce more discipline to stay in shape so i won't run into a whole lot of such unnecessary comments from them again. anyway i'm not going visitation with my bro n parents. i'll probably opt to stay with my aunt in m'sia and spend the cny with my relatives in jb instead.

cny coming also means im is coming. uh-ohh..

i finish work at nl on the 19th.. could tricia go for a short getaway again? can't seem to find courses to take up that'll fall within that window.. backpack to m'sia again? it's fun in many ways..the only boring part is getting around alone. heh..let's hope something would come along. =)

time to go to work now. (not exactly what i'm looking for but life leaves us with little choice sometimes..haha)

just do it tricia

have intended to sleep early tonight but it's coming to 10pm and i'm still online. chatted with grace for a while..now it seems like a floodgate of thoughts is released..

maybe i'm being a difficult friend..but i think i no longer feel chum that close to me these days. he used to be a phone call away, a sms away..a msn chat window away..nowadays? i'm not too sure. perhaps it's me. maybe he's in the blind spot which i am unable to locate on my mirrors.

maybe he's right. i might just find more empathy from super boy and other friends. from my perspective, he's saying he's washing his hands off me. =( that's sad. but it's ok. i know friends do move on. thanks for being a friend to me for the past year. appreciate it much.

you'll still be the first to help me move a mtb from sg to senai airport on public transport..and then kept me company at senai airport on hard plastic chairs till i was ready to board the flight at 7am. and then u helped me move the bike from senai back to sg when i returned..again on public transport.

sorry i haven't done much for u in return.

-disjunction-

i vowed on saturday night that i will never ask my bro & sis in law for another favour. he has also drew lines clear too. sad, how family now becomes strangers i'm not even sure i can say i've knew them for 2.5 decades.

mum will always be the only one kin i've truly got. the only one kin i will treasure and love.

-disjunct 2-

ang ku kuey will be here soon!! this is sooooo exciting.. finally super boy and i will no longer have to be at the mercy of other's "comfort level" nor "see my schedule"...we'll have more liberty to move around as we please.. =)

-disjunct 3-

i'm 5kgs away from ideal. the rift is getting larger and larger. i need some discipline!!!!!

maybe you're right. i'm distracted. i lack that kind of focus and drive i used to have.

stop thinking. stop planning. just do it. do it. do it do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

kidz camp's over!

2 days of hectic kidz camp has finally ended. heaving a sigh of relief, i'm just mentally and physically tired. chris too, i reckon. nonetheless, the feedback from the children was really good..i'm just thankful they enjoyed themselves.. (despite the ostracizing of nick)

1 down. 1 more to go. kidz party on the 29th. let's just finish that and close the year well. i've also managed to clear the stuff i've wanted to..labelled all the boxes and arranged things in order. whoever is to take over, i hope it'll be maintained well.

spent the morning ranting to grace..she's so sweet to just listen to my whines..

training progress is still pathetic. i got to pick up soon, now that camp is officially over.

i've cleared most of my files from my workstation. moved all my funny and swim clips back..that's important. i've gathered most of the craft materials i'll like to use..i'll probably use the remaining weeks at nl to handmake some stuff..let's see what can i come out with.

i failed my bike module. idiot..the instructor talk talk talk so much we didn't even have time to practise..how to NOT fail??!?!? grrrrrrrrrrr....rr..r...

tmr's billy indoor tri..i'm confident he'll do well..=) he's superboy after all!! yay!

sunday's my race.. not hopeful to do well for it..just aim for completion i guess.. hope xiao niu isn't too competitive though...else..*gulps*

christmas' coming..i'm looking fwd to the holidays...won't it be nice if i can go for a short getaway somewhere?=)

marathon's over. phew!!

really thankful for a few things..

-thank God the hamstring strain was kept at bay throughout the entire run.
-thankful for pre and post race massage by the top massuer- Billy .. in fact since the hamstring strain a week ago, i've been getting massages after every run..woohoo!!
-thank God for the nice cool weather
-thanks so much to all the wonderful Trifam Pacers..you guys rock!!
-thanks to adrian n his guys who brought to us the powergel..not exactly the yummiest food on earth but it's race-needy.

i did a 4:47 for this yr's 42km.

had initially wanted to give up the run..coz i didn't want to aggravate the hamstring strain that had bugged me for a week.. i gave up on friday's interval training 1/3 way through as it was pulling so badly.. on sunday morning, i was really reluctant to go as i didn't want to do a bad run. nevertheless, billy's enthusiasm rubbed onto me and though i was frowning (due to my growling tummy), i went. lost billy amongst the bag deposit crowd and i dragged my feet to the start point. the thought that went through my mind was that i was definitely going to stop once my hamstring pulled. probably won't get to finish the marathon..but nvm la..

i was all the way at the back ..so it took a while to stroll to the front.. half way through marina, spotted trifam 5:30 pacers and i thought...yea..y not? pace with 5:30..that's a decent timing and their pace is comfortable to follow..

after following them for 10+ km..at esplanade road i lost them at a drink station..so i pushed on alone.. not too long, i spotted two 5:00 pacers..and i asked them if they were still on time for 5:00 finish..one replied ..yea!..and i pushed forward.. found jeremy yanglyn who were the 5:00 way way way in front at ecp area..and i lost them after a water station too.. i told myself i want to try to locate the 4:30..can find, good. can't find also nevermind.

pace all the way to 35km was great.. i employed a new strategy to hydrate from the start..from 6km, i started sipping water at every station..if i took a cup of 100plus, i would skip one station. around 21km mark, powergel was made available. as i started to feel a little draggy, i began sipping my powergel..there were no water stations any where near ahead..hence i didn't gulp down the entire pack..slowly intaking the powergel over a few kms really helped..when i saw the 'drinks ahead' sign, i took in more and washed it down with water. at 30-33km, i took another power gel. (the 2nd one sucked. eeks.)

all's well till 35km..my pace dropped slightly and felt my legs go heavy.. the hardest bit was the last 3km..i was so near to stopping to walk..but seeing cheng really made me push on..i passed him and that kept me going. i wanted to win him badly..coz he's just too xiao zhang!!..hahaha..

pushed on..and i tried to kept pace with the few gals around me.

glad at 4:47 it ended..yipee!

hehe..to think since powerman, i totally never do any mileage. for 3 weeks, i was sick for almost 2 weeks. i strained my hamstring for 1 week. the longest run i did in those 3 weeks was 10km. before that the longest mileage i went up to was 20km. i haven't done any 30km runs at all. dratS!

i'll keep in mind to train properly next time..=) the bonus to the run yesterday was really the nice cool weather. it does make a huge difference. last year it was hot hot hot!

fuelling strategy is really important. guess experience has taught me to plan how i want to proper fuel my body for a race. in addition, brick training for powerman taught me to endure the soreness in my legs and just keep moving. my quads were so sore at the last 3 km..but i told myself this feels exactly how i felt after getting off my bike after a 5hrs bike ride and running..if i can tahan through those training..this one i can tahan too.

looking forward to more runs. 30km kl pace setter run next on the list.

marathons have a healing touch to them. they are really painful to go through..but they make us stronger. today i feel so refreshed and i'll be doing a recovery run tonight...even swim training would be fine for me too. =)

billy did a fantastic job. 3:47. exactly 1 hr ahead of me. =)

yea..but on the whole, i still prefer doing duathlons over marathons la..coz i like to bike and feel the wind..hahaha

another good news..i'm done with driving module 2. proceed to module 3!..bad news, module 3 is all done in the circuit. CRAP..today i did my few rounds in the circuit and it was PAINFULY SLOW. i was driving at less than 30kmh all the way..mostly at 20kmh. gee..i'm so going to miss my 70kmh rides outside. but at least i know i'm progressing fine.

tricia wants things to pick up steadily as it should. and i want it to be so. =)

$_$ money face

i was reading kpo forum and read this thread on food they disliked and reasons why.. hahaha..kpo me wants to do likewise on my bloggy too..

food tricia dislikes

-duck meat (i had bad indigestion from it once. the feeling sucks!)
-blood cubes (no no no..but hard to find it these days anyway..hahaa)
-mutton (stinks!)
-beef (i always have this thought that it doesn't digest well and when i think of a piece of steak i actually imagine white creepy maggots on it too..-faints)
-sotong (last time i like it but now gradually hating it..chews like a piece of eraser in my mouth..ahh..except those seasoned baby squids..the red red ones!)
-most seafood (except fish..i don't like shell fish..no to crabs, not a big fan of lobsters..no to oysters..no to clams..hum..=X)



food tricia likes

-strawberry yoghurt
-mushrooms (all kinds!!)
-tofu & soya (until i got gout)
-bread (wholemeal..yummy..tau sa..yummy..tricia is bread face)
-tau sa pia (salty ones pls!)
-mummy's chiffon pandan cake
-mummy's pineapple tarts
-mummy's achar
-mummy's grass jelly
-sashimi (raw fish! fish! fish!!!!!)


eh..let me put this list on pend first...want to close off this blog window so that i can do my research..

a thought sparked in my mind after reading kpo forum (yea..kpo forum again).. i might want to go into doing some biz online..been discussing with billy about doing our own biz for a long while..but we thought it'll be on our kiv shelf until we have capital to..but i'm witnessing an increase of pple doing online biz via their blogs..selling clothes, accessories..etc.. it might just work out..let me do some research..and i will be back...

$_$ <---- tricia's face now...giggles!..hahaha