tricia test drives her new car

after a week of hard work, my dearie completed the building of my new car! it is called xiao ang ku kuey.. because dearie's car is called ang ku kuey..and this is the exact replica of it. =)

i brought the car for test drive.. and one wheel fell off.. it started to rain and my window leaked (=P because dearie filed my window la!) apart from these.. no complaint about it! love it..because it's red.. it's small..and cute!

next in line..dearie will be building a peugeot for pa...and a FERRARI for me!

term 2

no way am i going to be a last minute fire fighter again. i begin on my EVA(equity valuation & analysis) assignment today as prof posted up the data this morning. I received the the FSA (financial statement analysis) assignment too..but as that is only due in june..i shall finish up eva prior to that. i want to have ample time to ensure these are good pieces of work.

the good thing about having terms back to back is the continuation of momentum. a long break often breaks the momentum and overcoming the inertia takes much effort.

i'm going to keep moving. finish eva assignment due in 4 wks..prepare fsa test in 4 wks..finish fsa asignment in 6 weeks. in that order.=)

to mummy..

this is my beloved mummy. irreplaceable mummy..who still listens to my complaints at work.. i love you mummy.=)

new try out dish

i tried out a new dish today..something my mummy cooks really well but i haven't tried cooking it myself.. my porkie turned out rubberish.. don't quite know why. =X nevertheless, dearie still ate everything and thanked me for the meal. thank you for not finding it a nuisance to eat all my experimented dishes. hehe.. good thing my dearie is not so particular..he always say "can eat can liao" =)

self contentment=self acceptance

The last exam for term 1 wrapped up on Saturday. It was yet another headshot..this one was somehow more fatal than ofrm. Flipping through the paper stunned me and I just stared at it blankly for almost 5 minuntes.

Regaining my sanity I attempted to do whatever I could. My answers came in drips and drabs. That was an ominous sign of a possible failure. I hate to admit I will probably face that outcome; retaking this module again is hellish.

After 3 hours of torment, I left the exam room feeling jaded. I dialed out to dearie and in his words, found comfort. At least I have tried my best. I did put in my best to go through the tutorials 3 times. the exam took us by surprise that nothing related to the tutorials appeared. My heart ached even more when I realized if I failed by a huge rift, I will have to pay the $2.5k again to go through the intensives all over! have I not tried hard enough? Or am I just too slow to grasp the concepts?

On a positive note, I am more pleased with my progress for this new term. We did a mini test yesterday for equity and I managed to get 12 out of 15 correct. I love the calculation and logic bit of this module. Fsa isn’t that bad either because I look at financial statements almost everyday..so it’s just a more in-depth study of what these statements entail. Should things go well, I hope to pass these papers with lesser problems.

Dearie is in the process of building a car for ME! haha..that’s what I am assuming since it’s an exact replica of the car he owns. Will post up the photos when I get to test drive it. haha..

After the class (and exam) on Saturday, dearie took me out shopping. i felt like a mouldy slice of bread which has been hibernating indoors for the past 1 month or so. It was good to be out in the crowd, trotting in the shopping mall. Dearie bought additional paint for MY car.. carrying 2 bottles of grey paint, he was much like a kid skipping out in joy from kiddy palace. Big kid.

The new extended jurong point is huge and there are many fanciful shops..selling pretty little things. funny thing was.. I felt nothing actually drew me to walk into the shops.. I just walked past them.. appreciating the nice window displays.. colorful apparels.. shiny shoes.. bling bling jewellery.. In me I was contented with all I had. There was nothing I wanted to get.. because whatever I needed, I have them.

It’s a bliss being a contented person. Sometimes I struggle to stay that way because human nature drives us to achieve and possess more. Life can be a lot simpler..if we learnt to live with what we have..within our means.. and taking joy that we do not need to be like the others around us to gain acceptance. Self contentment..is a form of self acceptance =)

i got an A for my curry

i remembered the milk today..but i forgot i was suppose to cook the prata to go along with the curry..arghh!! my curry got kindof burnt (again)..this time because i turned the fire too much close at the end..sigh. =( nevertheless, dearie scored me 80 for the attempt. the next time i go home, i'm going to ask ma to give me ojt. on the job training. =)

OFRM-Cleared!

i cleared the options, futures and risk mgmt module with a score of 65, credit. i am just thankful to pass because i was taken aback by the tough paper..i was pretty worried to fail it in fact. phew! that's one down.

FIS this saturday, i hope to pass too. no more distinctions roll for me because the modules are so tough that i've been banging against the wall pretty more often these days.. and i know it because the migraine has been setting in more often than it should.

it's ok..2 terms..and i'll be through the tough patch. =) fight on tricia!

sissel - over the rainbow

something more mainstream..if pie jesu is not your cup of tea. her voice is still beautiful..

sissel-true diva

she is the true diva! dump those pop stars. this is a real singer with THE voice!

you keep me going

an expected discovery threw me into delirium today. on one hand i was furious and the other, helpless. i felt terribly short changed. dearie spent a long while pacifying me over the phone as he talked me through and affirmed the things i was doing. he is right.. i may be far behind her in the first 10km but i know i have the energy and attitude that'll enable me to overtake her in the next 30km.

thank you for the affirmation, dearie. i will not let you down.. because you have given me strength to keep going on =)

on the song list

i've been listening to this boy since yesterday night. happened to find him on youtube as i was listening to sissel sing 'pie jesu'. he has a very clear voice...amazing for a 13 year old. he was 2nd runner up in britain's got talent 2008 show.

curry assault no. 2

i shall attempt to cook chicken curry for dearie again. this will be my 2nd attempt and this time i WILL remember the milk.. i've placed it on the kitchen top so i won't miss it. (erm to think of it, i placed it on the table top the first time but i still forgot!) =P i hope this will be a better attempt. the photo shows that which ma cooked. that's what i'll be striving to achieve! =)

billy tricia hamburger

We had burgers for dinner.. each burger only costs us $1.30 ($0.60 chicken patty, $0.40 burger bread & $0.30 - cheese) it turned out pretty yummy..healthier and cheaper than fast food chains!

new watch!

dearie bought me a new watch on sunday. it's a seiko criteria =) it's an advanced birthday present! haha. i'll use it for my exam this saturday. this watch has everything i want: proper marking (1,2,3...i've been struggling to tell the exact time with my dkny watch) and also DATE! woohooooooooo!

on top of that, it has chrono features..it's a stop watch! =) very blessed..thank you dearie!

if i strike 4d this wednesday, i promise to buy you the hugo boss watch. promise! =)

lazing around & having fun

foooood...

our weekend trip up perak

pa's new drool-worthy peugeot 407

leaving on a peugeot 407

1500km – the total distance we covered over the long weekend. and much of it on the new 407 pa bought.. this car packs the WOW factor!

We spent a large part of the holiday traveling from place to place. although the traveling was tiring, it was made up by the sumptuous meals we feasted on.

There were many firsts during this trip. First time to an estate. First time to teluk intan. First time trying soft chicken biscuits..yummy! First time traveling soooooo much in a car!

Shall post up the photos soon..and let it tell of the journey.

Back to reality. Work on Monday is made a lot more bearable with ag away and tpl on medical leave. It’s a pressure-less Monday after the long weekend.

Time to get back into running form after the pigging out. classes start this weekend and I do have to accelerate on my revision and assignment.

The sooner I finish this 2nd term, the better it is. that means I’ll be getting a breather pretty soon.

worth the plunge

After taking the plunge into financial statement analysis, i am now pretty convinced it is the right choice to make.

1. I heard sebastian rant about treasury mgmt and his experience 2 terms back when dogan took the class. Not a student's favourite kind of lecturer.

2. Now I can go for MR25 cross country marathon! woohoo! after the dnf last year due to my hamstring injury, i hope i can do better this year. isabel will be going for it too, so there is someone i can try to keep up with.

3. Perth City to surf marathon is down the pipeline. Dearie made the ticket booking during the week and we are planning towards for the event in august. wow..it'll be my FIRST overseas marathon (excl. malaysia) really looking forward to it! timely as a reward for 2 terms of hard work.

I've hit a personal weekly mileage record for 2009 this week. 70km. My personal best is 75km in a week, during 2007. This 70km is alot tougher than the 75km in 2007 as it includes track training and hard 12km run at macritchie.

I ran 19km with yanni today and spending the 2 hours chatting as we ran made it really enjoyable. The suffering of the run was alleviated because of a fun companion. Hope to run with you again soon, yanni! =)

on books and roads

Received an email from the school informing us that the fis exam will be postponed till 25/04/09. good news as it means we’ll have more time to go through the materials and get ourselves more prepared. Bad news because it’s on the same day as equities class. That actually means from 9-12noon we’ll be having exams. 1-8pm we’ll be down for class. In a nutshell, some of us will be strapped in school for almost half the day. bleah.

Nevertheless, I’m just thankful now I have a decent amount of time to thoroughly go through the chapters in MPP textbook..and understand the questions in the tutorials better. At least I can sleep in peace now.. I’ve been tossing and turning in bed; mind full of worry about the fis exam.. to be honest, I was even prepared to fail the fis exam and redo it again. so for the postponement, it may be a good thing for most of us in class.

After the fis class with prof dogan, I have switched from treasury mgmt module to financial statement analysis instead. it’s an elective which we have to pick either one. I gathered feedback from lester that the odds of failing is pretty high as tm module is pretty ambitious – lots to cover in a short time. it just leaves me feeling more uncertain on top of prof dogan’s teaching.

Hence, yesterday I took the plunge for the switch. Corp finance will be pushed back to term 4. term 2 will be equities and fsa. It doesn’t sound too bad an arrangement because if things go smoothly, I will still be in time to graduate by Dec..just a week later than my previous plan.

Last Sunday I picked dearie up at Changi airport as he returned from his trip to Penang. The thought of driving felt daunting as I have been always reliant on dearie to ferry me around. He’s a fantastic driver and I would just sit back and relax all the months since I’ve obtained my license. On Saturday, I frantically flipped through the street directory to find bearing in the myriad of ‘e’s (expressways). Kje..bke..pie..sle.. good thing dearie called me that evening and guided me through the journey down.

Sitting into our car felt different as I embarked on the longest drive I’ve done so far in my driving life. I was off to a lousy start as I missed a turning to woodlands road..but as I drove down the empty sungei kadut road, I gained more confidence. Making a u-turn, I was getting more warmed up. the drive was enjoyable and I didn’t feel the least intimidated when many cars were just speeding up and overtaking me on the expressway. I kept looking at my speedometer. I was cruising at 75-80kmh, very well in the 90kmh limit. Not too sure what the rest of the cars were going at, but I decided not to step on my accelerator hard as I was comfortable at that speed. i was impressed at how well marked changi airport roads are. so I got to the arrival hall fairly easily. The whole trip took me 40mins. =)dearie took the wheel on the return trip.

I do think I should drive more..especially parking.. before it becomes a lost art to me.

oh ya..did i tell u dearie got me yummylicious GODIVA chocolates! woohooo..i've been gorging myself on it and now i have 3 freshly popped pimples that have erupted.=X

too good to throw away

remember my last entry about the old shoes i've washed and put into them insoles? i've brought all 3 out for short runs and it was torturous running in them!

insoles are horrendous invention of the century. they are really uncomfortable to run in when you are on tarmac or road. imagine running barefooted on a marble tiled floor. that's how they feel in my view.

i'll be wearing my old shoes to the trails instead. tempo is more than 85% gone. ds trainers 95% gone. gt2120s, probably another 15% to go as well. i'll use them for mr runs because in the trails..because i can afford the shoes to feel stiffer so that i don't have pebbles poking in my soles. on the tarmac, stiff insoles just make my feet scream out loud!

i'll stick to my mizunos for now..and once i clear out 1-2pairs of my old shoes, i'll launch my cumulus! =)

zzz monster

The whole process of mugging for exams has taken much toil on me. Having plagued with headaches and migraines, it’s been a tough term for me. I broke a personal record of getting medical leave 2 days in a work week..thanks to a series of headaches that has broken me down physically.

I’m just glad I got around all the online tests for ofrm module; albeit not doing too well for the final one. The paper on Saturday was a killer - a fatal headshot.

Training has been affected due to the lack of sleep and medication. I hope to move out of this phase soon.

Keeping my fingers crossed, should I pass last sat’s module, I’ll be officially half way through my course. 5 modules down out of 10.

Next sat is the last exam for the term. FIS. It can only spell trouble because the professor who taught us is not the one setting nor marking our papers. The progress of the assignment to date is nil. Bad.

Went shopping with mum yesterday and I always enjoy spending time with her. Will aim to do more of that after exams..and I’ve also committed to helping her move her accounting work onto myob and take charge of tax matters.

I need more sleep..as I’ve lost a lot of it for the last 2 weeks. Without sleep, the mind and body are at the verge of breaking down.

After this round of exams, dearie and I are going to Malaysia for a short break over good Friday holidays. And we’ll probably travel to see pa’s new place at south of perak! Woohoo! We can do some housewarming maybe? =)

tricia cries out

the intensive over the weekend left me intensively tired. The Sunday run was given a miss and it left me feeling something was missing from the weekly routine.

Exams are fast approaching and the pressure has moved up by another notch. The migraines are acting up again.. and I took a day of medical leave today. I treasure this time out of the office as I got to do quite a bit of house work and also got around organizing some things at home which I have been putting off for a while.

2 modules this term is a huge burden I’ve chosen to take up. It’ll be another 2 next term and I’ll be putting myself to the test again. The first half of this year has been expected to be extremely hectic..and it’s proving itself to be so.

I just hope to clear all the modules by this year and complete my studies as quickly as I can. Like dearie would put it “quickly get it over and done with”.

I like getting the house cleaned up. Changed the bed sheets.. vacuumed and mopped the floor..washed the toilet.. put naphthalene balls in the waredrobes.. the whole place smells fresh and clean. =)

The fis module is worrying. I walked out of class not understanding what prof dogan was rambling about. It’s all up to me to read and attempt all the questions now.

Don’t give up. I’m already almost ½ way there. Don’t give up now, tricia.

i'm a scrooge with races

Something I can’t fathom is the rising prices of races – they just get more expensive year after year. there are races which coach has indicated he wants the team to participate in but I am just scrooge-y about the kind of value I am getting from what I pay.

Tricia is such a cheapo you may mumble under your breath. And yes I am! I boldly admit to that.

In many ways, races in Malaysia draw my attention more than those here. Unfamiliar terrain may be daunting but at least I am not paying to run at east coast park, which I can do it on any day of the week.

The only reason why I would pay for local races is because it can be jointly participated with the rest of the team. Not everyone in the team can and will want to travel out of Singapore for a race as it takes time and incur extra expenses.

The best races I’ve done in the past few years were those that took place in Malaysia. Some of the best to mention: eco-xtreme with dearie. eco-xcapade with dearie and Isabel. Pacesetters’ 15 and 30km runs. Malakoff and powerman duathlons (where I met dearie at) and of course, the most unforgettable Sabah Adventure Challenge. These are races Singapore can never nor dream of emulating..because we do not have the natural landscape nor are there sponsors who will support races in scales seen in Malaysia.

wow weee new shoes

dearie just bought me new shoes.. these exact same ones u see in the photo on the left.

asics cumulus 10. he paid $151 for it and expects me to run a 1:51 half marathon in the coming ahm. i'm pretty apprehensive on how i am going to achieve that but i'll try my best nonetheless.

the target is to hit sub 2 hours at least and i have another 5 months to build up. that's my target in the next 5 months - to make sure i will go to ahm and be fully confident of bagging a sub 2 half marathon =)

thank you once again dearie. i have only bought u a cheapo mizuno aero but u've generously gave me a pair so much better.

the weather was really good and i took the chance to scrub up all my old shoes; 3 pairs in total.


gt-2120 .. it didn't last me very long; i wonder why often. perhaps i have not fully expended it. will try to use it again these days, perhaps for short track runs.


ds trainers 12: i love this pair and used it well for about 9 months or so. got them at nearly half of it's usually price during a promotion at rl. these are pricey shoes to own.. which i sometimes find the life of the shoes does not justify its price. these will be retired for monday core exercise sessions.

adizero tempo: these are undoubtly my favourite pair of adidas i ever owned. mine are in pink..but i can't find those on the net. got them during end of 07 i think and really love them. it's the best adidas pair i've ever worn..and i think these will be the last adidas i'll ever wear. they've discontinued the tempo and replaced it with the tempaya for fore-foot runners. i've tried the tempaya..feels somewhat like the tempo, yet not exactly the same. these will be retired to use for track workouts as well.

i somehow find these shoes are such waste to be discarded and i will try to slip insoles into them and continue to use them on track. =) make sure nothing goes to waste. hee. money hard to earn so we learn not to take things for granted.

oh ya..and u know what..shortly after i washed the shoes and laid them to sun dry..it started to rain. oh drats =(

holding things together

The week that has just past had been relatively hectic. I didn’t achieve a tremendous lot but it did take out quite a bit from me.

Friday we presented the proposal – something that has been suspended in the air for a while, finally got that settled with the credit going to dearie. he was the one who put up the a huge part of the proposal and presented it. His spirit kept me going; telling me to take it as a learning process and at least we tried, no matter what the outcome.

Leading a group is an uphill task because it’s not just running in the front and expecting the rest to follow behind. I’ve come to realize it’s turning around and telling each one why we do the things we do and running side by side together.

Last Sunday was the Newton run at macrit and I am really thankful for those who responded to the call for turn up. Although dave, brian and ee chuan could not come in the end, I would like to thank them for responding to the call. I understand races take a lot out of us =) Vincent, Eric and Isabel came for the run..and if I could I would have given them all a hug. Thank you guys for the support. That was the first time I have made a call out to the team for support to a run..and thank you all for responding to it. Though I am not sure how much it will go to impact our proposal, but believe me, every bit counts. In fact, sometimes, it’s the little things that count.

It’s knowing I have passionate team mates that make the hard work worth it. Putting up the proposal was challenging…and we stayed up 2 nights to do it..but now as I thought about the friends in the team we’re doing this for, it’s worth it =) I’m not sure how many of the 13 will continue to hold through..but as I penned down the names, I have 9 persons on my mind I felt strongly will hold on till the end.

My mummy and I had an outlandish experience on Sunday. I felt it was foolish in simple terms, because putting a bet to earn $10 at the expense of $600 was not worth at all. Moreover, she didn’t think we’ll walk off like that. C’mon, it’s recession, of course we want to get the best deal. For now, I’m pretty put off by her dishonesty and poor foresight of the consequence. I’ll rather bring my money elsewhere and avoid this shop for a period of time.

Oh yes, look on the footer dearie created for the proposal on the left. it's nice isn't it? and he did it all with PAINT! =D

My Newton Run HERO!

My baby did an amazing sub-40mins for the Newton 10km Run held on Sunday.

Wooooohooo...my hero! because he way outperformed the 43mins mark I have set for him. to think he was grumbling on how crazy 43mins is a goal to set... he has done way better than that =)

I did within expectations too - sub 53mins, as dearie has targetted for me.

Most of the runners from Runfanatics did exceeding well too. Really proud of them and we thank our Coach for guiding us through since 2007. Certainly hope he is glad with what we have came back with.

21km,..that's the next mark to reach.