still spinning

Tricia managed to keep up with the 2^nd day of morning spin. And what’s worth giving myself a pat on the back is – I woke up at 5:05am and promptly started spinning at 5:10am. I extended the session by 5mins over yesterday’s 30min. I hope to keep that up for the entire week if possible,

There are more people enquiring on the bike and a guy came to view it yesterday. He’s a newbie sourcing for his first bike. Today he texted mr guava (my dearie’s new nick) to ask for a further reduction of price..but 1.6k is the lowest we are willing to part with the bike. After all, I paid slightly more than 3k for the bike..with the new bar tape and new tires.. I won’t go any lower than that.

Mr guava and I are hoping to sell off the bike before we leave for cny on Saturday..at least that’ll be one load off our minds.

Another hour before I end work. Honestly, I’m just totally jaded now. I need to run..after wolfing down the extra 2 slices of mulit grain bread..i better do so. Run some hills then hit the flats with the rest of velocity gang.

And then what? WAFFLE! My peanut butter WAFFLE! Muhahaha. That’s one reason why we train hard – to EAT!

all spun up in the morning

I’m feeling hyped up today. Finally, I’ve managed to move my butt out of bed to spin in the morning. I set my alarm at 4:45am, 5am and 5:30am. In the end I only managed to get myself out of bed at 5:15am. I just had to snooze it a few times before the determination kicked in to propel me out of bed.

Somehow getting the motivation to gain inertia is very uplifting. I must keep up with this. My goal is to gain enough biking fitness to complete A Famosa well.

I’ve dropped the price of my bike further, in hope that someone would pick it up and make good use to it. it’s a good bike and I sure would miss riding it.. however, I do agree with the fact that I don’t have much use of it if I start training on neon more. Moreover, it’s more important that I get training wheels for neon now so that I’ll start riding it more. At the end of the day, that’s the bike I’ll race with, so it only makes sense that I train with it.

There’ll be a guy viewing it tonight. I’ll set it up on the trainer for him. With the cheap price I’m letting it go at, I’ll not change the stem for the buyer. He has to find his own stem and change it to the length he’ll be comfortable with.

I’ve got 2 options for 650c wheels – ambrioso and xero lite. I’ve emailed tbb to find out when their stock is coming in but no reply as yet. Well if they don’t get back to me, I’ll go for ambrioso. Maybe small time purchases like mine not worth the time of tbb..unlike ben who really takes effort to source the wheelset for me and reply my email promptly.

If there’s anything I need to get, the first place I’ll ask has to be C2C. it’s still my all-time favourite bike shop. Thumbs up for Ben!

I am sooooo looking forward to the long week of break coming my way. counting down now.. 5 more days then off to Segamat we go.

Somehow having that in mind makes going through the week of work a lot more bearable..because the break is oh-so-near!

when your $ is my $, and my $ is my $

our first joint account.. finally got around getting it done. this is our travel fund.. we'll put in $200 each per month and whatever amount accumulates, we'll use it for our phuket and melbourne trip. =)

of course if not enough then we top up with our other savings lor.

tricia's wishlist 2008

1. Savings & Investment

Primarily to work hard for a good bonus and pay rise so that dearie and I can be even more financially stable. I do hope we can start an investment account to diverse our savings by year end of 2008.

Action:

- to start monthly budget and expenses tracking starting Feb 08, in order to enable better monitoring of cash flow and plan for future savings.

- Start a joint account with dearie to set aside more money monthly.(DONE!)

- Not sure how much I can save because there will be more spendings for travel (as mentioned below), but I’ll still make sure to set aside a reasonable amount monthly.

2. Travel

Dearie and I plan to go 2 places for this year – Phuket & Melbourne. I really want to bring my mum along to Melbourne for a holiday. I’ve never done so in my life and she deserves it. I told her it’s an all expenses paid trip I want to give her but I don’t cover her shopping sprees! =P she’s really looking forward to it too, as she shared it during one of her presentation in her class.

Action:

- start buying tickets early to get them cheap.

- Start researching and finding out more details of the places.

- Save more!!

3. Personal Bests & Races

5km – we have plans to go for the mr25 time trial and I really hope I can qualify. I know I’ve never been a fast twitch runner to begin with; tricia has never been put next to side with the word “fast”. But for a change, I really hope I can say I’m a mr25 runner. Perhaps in my little myopic world, it is my short term goal to achieve that name for myself. I’ve been doing my hills and speedwork, in hope to one day complete that 5km in macritchie under 25mins.

Marathons – tall call but I hope to shave off more time off my current marathon timing. Give me a few more years and my mid term goal is to go under 4 hours.

Not expecting any personal bests in tri but just want to get back into action with my biking and swimming to be in a decent shape to attempt the A’farmosa, PD and desaru tri.

Ultra marathons – my goal is to beat 7laps to go for 8laps in this year’s mr25 ultra. I’ll not be doing the sundown even though that’ll be a good spring board to give me a gauge on how it’ll feel running 80km non stop. Nonetheless, I’ll be doing the north face 50km off road so that’ll be the 2 ultras for 2008.

Adventure racing – not main focus for this year per say. It’ll be more for the thrill and fun rather than aiming to do that well. Reason being ar has too many disciplines we seldom get to train on – kayaking, ascending, mountain biking. There are too many things to do hence ar has to take a back seat. However, if eco-extreme is on, we’ll be there. In addition, we’ll be game for some local races like ace adventure, which was a lot of fun last year apart from the double jumma.

In short, yr 2008 our major races: marathons (phuket, Melbourne, standchart), ultras (north face, mr25), tri (a’farmosa, pd, desaru), ar (eco-x if there is and some local short races).

Actions:

- continue to do speed and hill training religiously. Chase dearie on run if necessar

- Ramp up mileage with ample runway for major races

- Run more at macritchie. Train as at race day condition.

- Bike at least twice a week: Sunday morning + 1day on trainer

- Swim at least twice a week: got to start my interval swim training I don’t fancy. But what to do..must get faster so must work harder.

- Find time to do LSD, probably on Saturdays. Run to rl maybe?

4. Health and Fat Loss

I want to be in good health, lose more fats and gain more lean muscles. I think weight is not a good representative of health. Therefore my goal is to be more lean and lose more fats.

Action:

- be more controlled with my junk food intake (up till this point in time still quite hard to curb).

- Do more gym. On top of swim, run, bike, I’m going to include 1 session of gym work per week. I need to build my core strength as well.

5. Work

I’m not that ambitious but if given an opportunity I would want to be daring enough to take the challenge. i hope to do well enough to deserve more performance bonus. Show me the money!! –chuckles-

Everyday in itself is dynamic. We choose to welcome the challenge or shrink off in denial. I choose the former. May the above not be a wish but become reality. Let’s race the year and complete it well. At year end, let’s review and take stock..we shall see how we’ve fared.

Off we go!

caught in translation

I feel so caught.. caught in translation.

Attempt to sell Tania seemed unsuccessful up to this point in time. There seems to be many people trying to sell off their bikes and the market isn’t that active as it’s not near to the tri season. Often when osim or some tri events draw near, people start scrambling to get a bike, which is silly because if you want to attempt a tri, you should have started biking long before the race and not last minute.

Another factor that’s making my bike hard to sell – it’s caught in the middle. Newbies would not want to splurge $2k on a bike, usually going for something within the $1k budget. People into the sport, given most of them with deep pockets, would lavishly spend to get the best parts. Mine’s a middle class. It uses ultegra parts, second from the top dura-ace. It’s a alu-carbon frame, second to full carbon frames but better than full alu.

I hope to sell it off so I can provide for the new 650c training wheelset but I’m reluctant to let it go at a dirt cheap price because I maintained it to retain its good condition. I really don’t want to fall into desperation to let it go, in any case, keeping it might yield some purpose in return.

I can use it for the trainer, because we won’t want to run our other bikes on it. I can still use it some times because it’s a sturdy little baby.

However, if I so decide to keep it, then the next question is if I’ll buy a training wheelset for neon. If I do so, it’ll set me back by a good $470 ($330 for wheelset, $60 for cassette, $10 tubes, $70 tires). Gulps. Hence, if I don’t sell Tania, would I decide to bite the bullet for this?

Sigh.

I’m so caught. So so so caught.

Someone from malaysia’s bicyclebuysell enquired. I’m really dropping my price like mad.. arranging to view is another big issue because he’s located in KL. I’m really not keen to plan a meet up, go through the trouble of bringing it back to Segamat if it’s not a definite deal. I can save a lot more trouble if it’s sold to someone here locally.

I don’t know what to do now. sell? Don’t sell? Buy new wheelset? Don’t buy?

I want to start training on the trainer now I don’t even know if I should use Tania on it or not.

Argh. Someone nice, won’t you just pick Tania and save us all from being so caught in translation? Pretty please? =(

the wants and must dos

Some things I want and must do:

1. despite being an accounts exec, I don’t keep a budget for myself. Usually I give myself a gauge by looking at my savings balance and that’s where I tell myself how much I can spend or not. Perhaps for better planning purposes, I shall adopt dearie’s suggestion of keeping track of my expenses. I’ll kick that off in feb 08.

2. after the bike ride on Sunday, I realize how much I have slacked off in biking for the past half a year. I couldn’t even keep up with an uncle on a dahon foldable bike. It’s a disgrace! Hence I do have to buck up if I am going to go for any of the tri races in Malaysia come later part of the year. I’m tossing with the idea of training on my trainer on some mornings, that’s the best way to get a good bike workout without having to weave through traffic.

3. sell off my road bike. After much consideration, I’m going to let go of my Tania (my orbea vitesse). Dearie reasoned with me on why am I keeping neon (my cervelo) like a white elephant; spending so much on it but not using it. I always gave the reason that it’s too expensive to run on the road for training, so I’ve always kept Tania for training despite it being a little big for me. time to let it go and I’m really hoping I can sell it off at a decent price. Bad thing now it’s not tri season as yet so there might not be a demand. Nonetheless if I can sell it off, then I can finance a new 650 wheelset for neon to be used for training. The hed will be kept for racing. So, keeping my fingers crossed, I hope to find a good owner for tania.

4. get my wisdom teeth removed. After enduring 2years of wearing the tormentous braces, those idiotic wisdom teeth pushed my row of straight pearlies all out of place. Grr!!! I’m so angry to see all my nice pearlies messed up because of those “wisdom” teeth growing inwardly. Not very “smart” teeth to begin with. I’m really hoping to get them removed before cny when we’re back in Malaysia. To get it done in Singapore in crazy expensive. On the average it’s about $500/tooth. my eyes nearly rolled off their socket upon seeing such a price tag on removal of teeth.

shabby dog with a big nose

There seems to be a lot of hush-hush whispering going on these days. It makes me curious to what is going on but I’ve been suppressing my natural woman’s instinct as a nosey parker.

She seemed pretty disturbed and upset since the week began, when we saw her sitted in boss’ office in conversation. Not too sure how are things working out on her side.. boss doesn’t look like he’s in his best of moods either.

Big nosed tricia has been itching to find someone in the department to bounce thoughts with but can’t seem to find someone trustworthy to share. Hence I always go back to dearie, whom often advise me to stay neutral. I certainly do agree that’s the best stance to take as well.

So much for all the undercurrents in the department..

Work is getting more these days.. somehow the urge of going on for more studies is extinguished by the daily grail at work. Somehow the uncertainty that clouds our department makes my path ahead a little hazy. With the moving on and up of the colleagues around me, I can only hope the haze clears up so that I can better plan my own future ahead.

Alongside with each passing of day, I am looking more and more like a doggie. My hair has outgrown its initial proportion and now I find myself resembling a shabby dog, with its fringe covering my eyes and puffed up doddles by my ears. Yikes! Nancy to the rescue! I’ve made an appointment with nancy to give my tresses a trim.

Work hours at rl has been cut by an average of 3hours per week. it’s disturbing to find the figures on my cheque getting smaller. However, optimistically, it’s a good thing to get to return back home earlier to rest.

Nowadays I’ve been scheduled to finish at 7pm on both sun and sat - that means sat I can rest earlier in order to bike on sun morning. On sun I get to rest early for getting back to office on mon. in light of that, a diminishing figure on the pay cheque is well worth.

Afterall, my livelihood does not fall on rl but my full time job. That’s the aspect in my life I have to give 100% and make something out of. Running is a passion and sometimes an elusive way for me to get away from reality. On the list of priorities the part time job would probably come in with less importance. It’s a good-to-have; not a must-have.

I can’t wear shorts and t-shirt all my life. I want to belong to the world of power suits and stilettos. Oh look! Shabby dog in a suit! - chuckles

one handful of true friends

I think leading your days finding fulfillment in the things you do is important. Somehow I’ve been sensing tension suspending over the workstation diagonally across where I am. Perhaps it’s pay related, like always. Perhaps it’s promotion related. Perhaps it’s just the ego making things hard to swallow.

I hope her requests would be heard and something would be done for her. if any case if it doesn’t work out, I hope she’ll move on and find something that’ll suit her better. It’s definitely better than hanging on here, feeling all miserable and short changed. Learning to leap over the fence takes courage and by doing so, sometimes we do find a pasture that’s greener than the present.

The boat which holds our department should be experiencing a little commotion coming its way. Keeping the morale of the department staff high is important. Despite changes, it’s important everyone else hold fast to their positions and not let the changes bowl us off our feet. If everyone is rooted well, there won’t be much an impact. However, if everyone is built on sand, then be ready for some damage. In any case, the boss must do some damage control and after disaster work. So let’s keep observing and see how things would progress into.

Meantime, I know it’s important I stay as neutral as possible. I’m not paid to poke my head into the business of other people. If they do share with me I’ll just listen and not comment. It’s their own lives, I can’t offer much but a listening ear. Moreover, to avoid people quoting me off the things I say, keeping quiet is the best policy. God gave us 2 ears but only 1 mouth. Isn’t it a clear sign that He wants us to listen more than we talk?

God gave me 10 fingers. It’s a sign that He wants me to express my laments and thoughts in writing rather than tell people around me. because these days, there are not many people I can truly trust.

How many is not many?

Let’s just say only one handful.

dearie's new school shoes

guess wat? even my dearie has a new baby. i call it his new school shoes.

and yea, it's on 46% discount too!

that calls for another "WOW WEEEE JUNIOR JUICE" cheer!

new reason to run..even more!

i could not resist the 46% discount on this baby. it is now clearing at 40% on top of that with the print out i get an additional 10% off. that's 46% off it's original price.

wow wee junior juice! it's like 11% more discount from what i can get it on STAFF DISCOUNT. what?!!

GRAB IT! =)

life in bobian

After working through the account of RPR for 1 whole day to close off 2007, my boss sprung on me and told me he wants everything zerorised. He wants to start the accounts all over again so the transactions between the BVI and Singapore company would be concealed.

I was dumbfounded but I kept my cool to nod in acknowledgement to the tall order. If I could express in words, how I felt that very moment, it would probably be, “ WA LAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…”(a real long one), followed with a sigh (hai..)

After dealing with the shock, I know come to the stage of resignation.

“Bo bian. Boss is boss. Boss say what, must sayyy yesss.”

Before I can redo everything I’ve done for the entire year, I’ve got to wait for the IT dept to retrieve the “tape” which they backed up their files into. Wait for the restoration, then redo. I foresee staying late to finish work next week.

WAAAAAAAAAA LAOOOOOOOOOO..life in bobian. = (

study-eat-train-& dun grow fat

I processed through what my boss evaluated with me on 31st December during the appraisal. His affirmation encouraged me greatly and I sensed his prompting for me to do a marketing course again. He said doing a marketing course would give good insight of what it means to run a business, an additional facet that sometimes an accountant fail to perceive. His faith in me to do great things made me nod in understanding that if I would be willing to think out of the box, there are many options ahead of me to explore.

I’m jostling with the idea of taking up a short part time marketing course to enrich myself. However, coming to the financing portion of the course, I wonder if the company would send me for it under its training budget and at the same time with SDF funding. Prior to approaching the respective heads for approval, it’s my responsibility meantime to source and decide on a good course to take up.

Dearie and I hit the gym yesterday, after quite a long break from it. Both of us agreed that incorporating gym work into our training programme will definitely be beneficial. Hence we’ve decided to set aside Friday evening solely for gym work.

In addition, we’re really looking forward to start biking again. I bought for myself a discounted discount cycling top from rl on Sunday. I’m determined to get back into the biking action!! The spirit is willing, just the flesh is weak. Ha!

Work has been quite a heady brew as we prepare to close the financial year. I’m happy to be busy with closing, because it’s doing something within my grasp, instead of grappling with something I cannot seem to put my finger on.

I wolfed down 12 biscuits today. Small they might be but I know how deadly they can be! Gee, I can’t help it, my tummy was growling badly..and I had to pacify it. alrights, I will bring 2 more green apples to work tomorrow so that I won’t have to feel all that guilt.

And of course, training is back in motion. For off season training, dearie and I will be focusing on building strength as well as cross training. No urgency to clock a lot of mileage, but I’ll be focusing more of getting the most of my runs. Let’s see how I fare with that endeavour.

Study, eat, train and try hard not to grow fat – that sums up my blog entry for today. =)

pain in the neck

One kind of person I cannot stand is those who are constantly looking for weaker ones to trample upon so as to alleviate themselves onto the pedestal.

Encountering one early this morning got me really irritated. If you are fast, so be it. I don’t need your kind of advice to go faster. I run because I love doing so, not because I want to use that result to go around telling others you should come join my kind of training to be like me.

I got to speak to eng huat for a while just now and I could sense the same kind of sian-ess that lingers in his voice. I identify the sian-ess in myself too. Sad but true, working at rl is no longer like the former days. Gone are its glorious days.

i suffered a bad headache on Wednesday. Not sure the cause of it but the bouts of pain paralysed me. I took the morning off to see a doctor and then went home to rest after which.

Work’s starting to get more challenging with my sup hounding down my back for the consol which I can’t seem to understand. I need more motivation in this.

Don’t despair, tricia. Hold your head up and keep going. I’m not good but I will get better. Hang on. Hang on. And don’t give up.

the road ahead

the adrenaline of crossing the finish line, the pain of holding through, feeling the kilos burn off with every step.. with all that running brings, it leaves me a different person. i can't wait to put on my running shoes, dress up in my shorts & singlet..let's take the road again. it's time to start running. no excuses, just us and the road ahead.

our new toy!

look at this baby! this is the new toy dearie has bought. he is letting me bring it around and snap photos.

what a wonderful new year present! thank you dearie!

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.