Had a successful X'mas gathering with the Sk gang ppl.. first time got so many ppl wor. 14 altogether. Had our dinner at Aston ( suntec ), 2 log cakes and many laughters. Thereafter, went to kayla's house for a few rounds of poker and some Mahjong. It was good, and can see that most of them enjoyed the company and fun during the night. =) definitely there would be more to come. This is a nice grp which I would want to hold on to..

Went to Malacca with family over the weekend, just before heading to Muar to attend one of my cousin's wedding. Had an interesting walk ard the town, eating the famous chendol from the stall 88, chicken rice ball, and the nice pineapple tarts. Woot~! finally bought my googles, and I got it at a much cheaper price. $25 instead of the normal price $47.90 that is sold in arena. Good good..

My sis and I with the eye mask she bought from Japan.

Beautiful scenary and cosy feeling upon entering our hotel room. ( Holiday Inn )

The glass to the toilet. So kinky la.. Can wind up the blinds and tadaa * everything is Oo.. so clear. definitely for couples..

Setting of the pool is superb. Glance over and you see the sea. Very relaxing feeling.

The famous stall 88 chendol. We were so lucky, got the 2nd last bowl can. If not our heart would be devastated, travel all the way there and we don't get to eat it.

My cute little cousin. she loves chocolate. Managed to win her over with choc. haha..

The bride and bridegroom.

Guess who else needs the eye mask too. =P

These few photos are a little late, belonging to SCSM 09. Thankfully this time round I'm in much better shape than before, no spare tyre.. lolx... I quite like the photos taken though..




My fav shot for the race. Saw the camera staring at me, and so decided to pose a bit.. and it came out well.. haha.. if only it doesn't cost $38 for one photo, I may have gotten this one liao lo.

Went for my 23rd blood donation yesterday. Sort of a routine that the doc who does the screening of patient can recognise me. =D Wonder how long more I will be able to continue doing so and while I'm training for races, it just makes it a bit harder to find the correct time. If not it may jeopardise performance and precious training hours. It's already mid dec, just 4 more months to the race. Need to speed up my recovery training. I'm behind schedule liao. Ganbatte!!

low morale..

had a horrible day today. Morale at all time low throughout my span of playing bridge. Never have I played so badly consecutively for so many hands and I was totally not in the right frame of mind to play. Zoning out so many times that the opps have to tap the table to remind me to bid. Passing my partner's cue bid, missing smolen bid, passing a 4S contract.. contributing 37 imps in 2 rounds of 10 boards. That's more than what I usually give away for the entire 1 day tournament. Seriously, I gave my partner a hell of a time today and I appologise for that. I'll need to work hard and remb those mistakes and not make them EVER again.

Seriously very disappointed with myself today... It's a black day for me.

Anyway, I wasn't supposed to play the first rd this morning, got a BIG jackpot when my fren who is supposed to play got called back for "r-e-c-a-l-l. -.- so zhun ma. So he called me to go earlier to replace him for the first rd and i had to leave the house within 5mins to make it to try to make it in time, in the end I had to cab down to make it on time. Not his fault, but was caught totally off guard. Last time it happened when I was playing NUS open, now is Team Handicaps. *bravo bravo..

Spent my day mostly at home, tidying up the room. The amount of dust that got kicked up due to the upgradying work is horrible, to the extent that we can't be bothered to clean it. Simply because within the next few mins, new layers of dust will settle on it. Now, the upgrading work is almost done, it's high time for me to do some cleaning, in prep for the CNY. LOLx.. a bit de far, but start earlier la.. =D And hor, the lift is FINALLY in OPERATION after nearly 2yrs of work. Now it opens directly infront of my doorstep.. haha..

Went swimming this afternoon and as expected, it's full of kids. But today I was there to do some light conditioning, so it didn't bother me that much. When I'm going for speed, then that would be irritating. Anyway, after 20 laps, my lower back started to feel the strain.. Think it's because of the constant twisting and turning to siam all the siao gina. Nvm.. I'll train harder. Tomorrow will be cycling.

Finally counted the coins in my "milk bottle". Mostly are my Mahjong winnings, plus some loose change that I've accumulated over the years.. and I'm amazed by the amount wor.. Could have been more, if not because of me taking out $0.90 everyday to buy straitstimes.

Break down of the coins:
$1 - 515
$0.50 - 394

$0.20 - 691

$0.10 - 822

For a grand total of $932.40. hahaha... i bet it was more than $1000 in july. Surprise surprise, I'll bank it in, to get some interest and it come at a good time when I feel really really poor. Though I'll set this aside as part of my Euro trip next May. The trip is a must go, and I'll make it happen. =)

Finished SCSM 21km yesterday in 2hr 09min. Slightly faster than my target for the day ( 2hr 20min ). Weather was good, cooling and nice with so many ppl running together. Didn't train much for 21km resulted in this unimpressive timing. Hit 10km at 55min, 17km at 1 hr 40min and the final 4km was a slow slow one. Tired body was dragged on by the mind to carry on, more like a cruise control mode just going ahead without thinking much. I'm happy to know that my mind was stronger than the body which was what kept me going on sunday.

A good build up to the big day and I aim to hit 2hr for the last leg of my ironman race, the 21km run after my swim and cycle. It'll be tough to do so after 4 hrs of intense exercise, I'll train hard to make it as close as possible to my target even if I can't go under the timing. oh well... tomorrow will resume light training le... routine lifestyle is coming back online.

Post exam

Exams are officially over.. and i was at a loss yesterday. Don't know what to do, refusing to sleep till the wee hours yet again. Just miss the carefree " I don't know what to do " feeling. Now it's over, I've other things to start worrying about.

First up, SCSM half marathon this sunday. Maybe my least prepared half marathon ever ? haha.. I was still kinda huffing and puffing just now when I did a 8km in the afternoon. Sure gone case already. Determination will pull me throught. RAWR~! Focusing too much on my supposedly weaker components of my Ironman race, such as the swim, I've neglected my run for quite a long while and I'm paying the price of it. Have to start picking it up again if I don't want to let it go to waste totally. Maybe a reasonable time for this sunday would be 2hr 20min.

After this sunday, it'll be full force to pull myself back on track for my training. Haven't done any swim/cycle for 2+ weeks and that's quite bad. Intensity has to built up, cos the toughest training period is coming up in Feb. That's the next agenda on my list.. I will do it..

Des just reminded me a few days ago that Uni life is for socialising. While I agree with it, I've yet to do anything that resembles anything like I'm doing socialising. Being sociable in JC and army was part of me, but in Uni, some how or rather I'm like a hermit, hiding some where. The CCAs I've took up are rather seclusive in a sense, bridge and cue sports. True that both have it's members and socialising time, it is rather a cliche thing, where nobody bothers to follow up or meet up after the training time. Cue sports was slightly better, with more fun going ppl and I had an enjoyable first yr with those cue sports peep. Sadly, I've left them and it has drifted too far apart to remedy. Choosing to take up AVIVA 70.3 also dealt another detrimental blow to the situation. Sucking away so much of the time and dedicating it to training, I practically don't stay around much in school to do any other stuff. Not to mention that I don't have too many things to begin with.

Oh well.. I've chosen the path and I'm make it all worthwhile by giving myself an enjoyable race at the end of the day on march 21st. It'll be a personal milestone that I hope to achieve. =)

Time is closing on me. Graduation is looming near, I'm going to get unemployed if I don't start preparing myself for it.

Day X of exam, and I've finished the 2nd paper. No diff between study and no study, cos nothing came out from the notes/ tx book. Well, it's not so unexpected of Prof Hugh.. who likes to come up with such questions. Took a mod previously taught by him as well, SSS 1207, which was exactly the same thing, applying the concept is more impt then regurgitating. This should be the case for most mod, but sadly it doesnt' apply to many of the LSM mods.

On of the interesting qn that he asked for the day goes something like this, " Of the many global changes happening around us, there are several large scale factors. Which is the pressing question that you have but did not appear in this exam? Come up with the question and answer it. Be creative but not too difficult cos you will have to justify your answer."

Lolx.. wth lo.. come up with a qn yourself and ans it. I couldn't think much, so i chose the other given question.

Anyway, studying in VJ is still the most conducive. For those that still remb how the StudyRoom in VJ looks like, well, it has undergone a major overhaul, and now it looks like this. It's so nice to study inside there, with abundant space and light. No more of the individual cubicle which makes u feel constricted. There are many more changes happening, but this affects me. haha...

One thing that hasn't change much is this... THE WESTERN FOOD

Chicken Cutlet with Ham Cheese Omelette accompanied with potato salad and wedges. WOOT~!

So long never eat liao.. Today so qiao was the last day that it's open for the sem, so no holding back, hoot arh. The only thing missing on this plate from my usual VJ diet is fry egg. A bit too much egg for a single day now.. haha.. last time still building muscle different..

oh well.. those were the days.. i miss those days...

In econs, there's something called the discouraged workers. meaning those who have been looking ard for jobs for more than a yr and have not found any job. Thus given up.. And they are excluded from the employment equation.

Why am I saying that? cos I feel that i'm in that same situation, just that i'm studying, and I'm a discouraged student. wanting to exclude myself from the students..

it just pales in comparison at times.. it's not the effort made, it's the result that matters in this aspect.

Last week, went to Sushi Tei to eat sashimi, and we orderd the Pacific saury, commonly known as mackerel pike ( Qiu dao yu ). It's a littel bit fishy, but i quite like the taste of it, especially when it's taken together with diced ginger. Woot~! the presentation of the dish was quite nice. With the fish being utilised even when it's being skinned. haah..

I forgot the name of this dish liao.. most ppl should have already seen it le..

It's 7 days to first paper.. and I would say i'm really relaxed about the situation. this is ridiculous... with my pharmaco not being touched at all, how can i not be worried? I don't konw which drug have I taken to keep myself in such a calm state. Though I've read thru for the rest of the mod, it's still worrying. oh my oh my...

last ecology practical

Had my last prac for the sem, an ecology field trip to clementi stream, some where near Ngee ann poly. The prac was investigating invertebrates present in the steam and also to give us a taste of how a field work would feel like. I would say this is one of the more enjoyable ones. getting into the muddy stream, collecting sediments and specimens it's just so much more fun.

Walking down into the steam to do our field work..

Once we finished our work, I got a little adventurous... and walked down the railway track just by the side. It's still an active one with trains passing by at times..

And i got a little more adventurous.. Role playing.. ( i'm being kidnapped... save me ) haha... It's part of the fun..


well well.. time to do reports.. rawr~!

Saw this video on the Golden rule, interestingly on a cycling forum, where they were discussing on whether christians are allowed to masturbate. Sometimes, i'm amazed by what things that people can come up with and how they try to defend their stand. I've decided to take a step back and observe instead of joining in the discussion. Take a look at this video talking abt being compassionate.


here's the link to the forum if you're bored and interested to find out : http://www.togoparts.com/forum/showthread.php?page_id=1&fid=6&tid=60523&loc=active

Feeling tired.. feeling weak.. didn't go for bridge, didn't train today..

early in the morning, on the way to sch while on the train, i was having cold sweat profusely and i felt weak.. blurred vision that it was quite bad. I had to alight at cityhall to take a break. go to the toilet rest a bit before boarding the train again.. Horrible feeling.

Telling that to dear, she feels that i have the symptoms of dengue... hmm.. but i don't have a fever. body is still aching.. from nothing.. I haven't been really that much till i will ache. or rather, i seldom ache now cos my body is conditioned to it..

Weird.. hopefully will recover.. exam is coming... sighzz

had a nice ride today, out with the same grp of L&T riders. i'm glad that i'm getting better as each ride proceeds. it's just the 3rd ride with them, I could sustain all the way for the 50km with them at 33-37 km/h le. Need to work harder on my climbs, that's where I tend to lose out to those lao jiaos..

Anyway, they are really nice ppl, sharing tips with me on how to improve my ride, my climb, and how to train better. Riding with ppl who are more than twice my age ( 41, 51, 55, etc ) does help. Of cos there are some young riders, but it's those uncles that has vast exp to share with me..

Enjoyed my ride.. =)

oh.. ya.. didnt' know such thing is happening in our nearby neighbour liao.. Fuddies. ha.. to those who are curious to know what it is, can go check this out.. I shall not elaborate further. ( the word should suggest something le ba )

http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Malaysia/Story/A1Story20091025-175766.html

Random post

This is gonna be a very random post.. with random things that has happened over the past 1 week..

Last tues, went to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve ( BTNR ) for ecology field trip.. It's don't know the how many times, I've been there already.. but as usual, there will always be new things to learn.. One thing that I took away from the field trip was the majestic Shorea. Why is it impt? Cos shorea is a HUGE tree that is so charateristic in a primary forest. walking ard and if you see shorea, you can be sure that you're in a primary forest.

A typical shorea can grow up to 50m high.

One of the few movable things we saw there.. quite a big millipede..


Next.. on monday, after our lessons, tuck n me got disgusted by the amount of ppl in sci.. so we decided to walk to nuh to try our luck.. along the way, we stopped at coffee ground to makan.. The food there so so.. price not cheap either.. at $5.90, a drink, soup and a maindish. For the aircon environment, I think i would still go there again ba.. hahaha.. it's just too hot at times..



A few days ago, steamed corn at home, in the pot, and guess what? The plate cracked into 2. Li hai wor.. Didn't know such plate cannot take the heat one.. waste a plate.. but learn something new..

Went to Bugis street with dear to walk walk.. Chance upon this interesting statue, made up of fruits standing beside the fruit juice stall. haha.. It gave dear a scare.. but i think it's rather creative of them..

Went for dental at NUH, had some cleaning up of teeth.. so difficult to maintain cleaniness of the teeth to the standard the dentist want wor.. got so many instructions to follow. must use this, must do this, everyday k. >.<>

x-ray of my mouth.. haha.. got one wisdom tooth growing out at the corner.. quite cool huh..

it's 4 weeks to finals.. >.< scary arh.. I've been leading a rather monotonous life which sometimes leads me to be disillusioned. things get so repeatitive that it's boring.. trying hard to follow my training schedule which is rather action packed. mindy asked me that day what do i take my training as? I thought i was taking it recreational, but she's right.. 5 days a week is too much for a recreational sports, but my event requires that amt of training to keep myself fit.. perhaps I'm demanding a bit too much from my tiny body.

Recently, I realised i dont' have enough muscle mass to carry myself over all the power things. cycling, not enough thigh power to pump thru the slopes.. swimming, not enough arm power to have stronger pull.. I dont' really want to bulk up though. I'm happy with my build.. how to compromise.. perhaps a little bit more muscle would be good... haiz..

one kind soul

How suay can this be.. tyre punctured AGAIN!! within replacing it 3 days ago. Hopefully this time rd is just the inner tube burst. if everytime time change like that will be broke one leh.

Anyway, tyre punctured along the same stretched of road, coastal road, near the same spot last time. it's a dreadful 12km back push home.. so i was slowly pushing my bike. ( well.. i can't run cos i'm on cleats, bicycle shoes. if not i will just run home ).. that would take me more than 2hrs to push back.. so i just tried my luck and raise out my hand trying to hitch a ride, cars zoom by, lorry zoom by, even empty taxi zoom by not bothered to help. Thankfully, there was one kind soul, driving a lorry.. he stopped and asked me if I needed help. WOOT.. how lucky can.

In singapore, it's not that easy to hitch a ride, especially when you have a bicycle. I've hitched a few rides before, but this one is definitely the most appreciated one. and it's a small small world, the person who gave me a ride, he happens to stay opposite my block, and he's one of the part-time worker at the nearby coffee shop. lolx.. how qiao.. Anyway, his name is kenneth. he sounds like a very hardworking and humble person. definitely helpful as well..

I'm sure this will leave a deep impression on me.. and ppl, if you ever see ppl needing a ride, do so if you are not in a rush.. cos you won't know when you will need it someday.. it's a nice gesture anyway. a simple thing which makes a person's day. =)

inspirational Team Hoyt

I cried... 3 times.. watching the same story on Team Hoyt. A story on Rick and Dick Hoyt.. to those who have not heard about them before, it's a story of a father and son, where they formed a team of 2 competing in various marathons and Ironman races. That sounds okay right? NOTE: his son, Rick, has cerebral paralysis. watch the video to understand how i feel.


I don't like the way they link it to christ. This is a love from a father to a son. and it's truly astonishing, don't over shadow the intent of Dick to his son that his own wish is to see him happy.

Thus, I went to find to read up more on them, and found another video on the life story of Rick and Dick, how they come about joining all these races..



This is really touching for me.. I don't normally tear easily in the first place.. But the fact that I know how tough it is to just complete one Ironman race makes it really touching to see Dick doing so for his son. This is a inspirational video for me... Though I feel I pale in comparison even though I'm going to take part in Ironman as well..

Being swimming/running. one after another.. it's taxing on the heart, and i understand the reason why doctors say that transition from swim to run or cycle takes a heavy toll on the heart.. I'm experiencing it everytime I push myself after a swim... Going with the mentality that I can only get stronger, it's not difficult to feel the strain each time.

Nevertheless, improvement is what everybody hopes to achieve isn't it. without efforts, how to get better? I'm doing my own biathlon twice a week, 1.5-1.9km swim followed by 5-10km run each time.. It's tiring at first, but now, sort of gotten use to it and i'm actually enjoying it. =D love the feeling.

reduced my training days to 5 days a week le. 6 days a bit hiong for me..

train hard..

study harder..

Arhz... I don't know what to do today.. to swim/cycle, swim/run or just swim. don't really have the mood to go entertain ppl today.. feeling homely.. should I just swim and stay at home for the rest of the day doing my own stuffs... think think think..

OSIM finisher cert

Finally received my finisher cert for OSIM tri. It's good to receive it, but at the same time, it just shows off the spare tyre i had.. I didn't know it was THAT bad then.. omg.. even my mum laugh at it can... RAWR~! Nvm.. that's history, if not i'll make it history.. now on my way to become a slimmer and fitter athlete.

It's week 7 .. damn fast.. For the past week, I haven't been doing much.. This few days, picking up the pace again. The feeling of studying is back.. thankfully. Need to push on for 7 more weeks. No time to slack le.

seriously, results doesnt' reflect my efforts. it's the sad truth which I've learnt to accept.. Hopefully it'll not hinder my future progression and with my determination and drive, I will overcome that weakness of mine...

Dear's Bdae

Went to Serenity Spanish Bar & Restaurant, at Vivocity to celebrate Dear's Bdae. It's a nice place for chill out, and nice spanish food. Well, this is my first time trying spanish food and I think it's not bad.. =D Price was decent too. Without drinks, it's abt $30 per pax. with drinks, $45 per pax.

Bdae gal with her nice nice balloon.

We started off the meal with Tapas, (Starter in Spanish )

Panado de Panquo ( juicy chicken serve with capsicum, onion and mozzarella cheese baked between tortillas)
Yummy.. goes well with the sauce, with the mozzarella cheese nicely bake.

The main dish.. Traditional Spanish food.. Paella Valenciana (Saffron, Chicken, Spanish chorizo, Prawns, squid, half shell mussels, rice)

Not bad, feels latin america when eating it.. haha... The rice is a little wet, clumpy kind and the seafood in it is fresh, whole dish smells nice..

Tried some spanish liquor, Teichenne Schnapps ( peach flavour ) 20% alcohol, still okay..

El Orgasmo de Bettina .. The description and the name made us want to try this drink.. =P


The nice and friendly staff prepared the warm brownie and a Happy birthday song for my darling.. It's always nice to have a live band there. And hor, their singing not bad.. Volume not too loud also. comfortable to chit chat in that nice ambience..



Decor till very nice right...

Bdae gal..

After an enjoyable dinner..

Wishing you a happy 23rd Bdae...

Would say the service and food there pleases me such that I'm sure I would be back there again. It was a pleasant nights out with my special someone.. love you..

Prawning at Pasir Ris town park

went to pasir ris town park for prawning this afternoon. Didn't know that there's such a close one near my house lor. haha.. so convenient now. Went there with fang ard 1.30pm, only to know that the prawns haven't been replenish.. so we decided to wait for a while.. eventually ard 2 plus, the stock came in.. Over here, they provide salt water prawning and freshwater prawning. freshwater prawning have the big headed prawn, while the saltwater one is the tiger prawn..

having tried fresh water prawning before, we decided to challenge the salt water prawn, plus it's supposed to taste better... For the first 2hr, i suffered drought.. i caught ZERO can. feed the tiger prawns till full full, happily eat my bait don't want to be hooked up. No skill la... so different from fresh water prawning.. this one requires more skill. still need to follow the prawn ard abit.. machiam playing with them. fang faired better, catching 2 early on.. and eventually ended with abt 9. thankfully in the last hour, i managed to catch 7. after a change in my bait to the "earthworm"

With the catch of the day...

proudily presenting the tiger prawns..

There was a lady who kindly gave us some prawns that she caught.. (think she's workign there de) that's y we eventually got 24 prawns to eat.. wohoo..

BBQ prawns on the spot.. Jump jump jump.. jump for ur lifes..

Well.. It was fun, full of thrill and excitement. but it's a relatively expensive recreation. $13 an hour, or $39 for 4hrs. once a while still okay lar..

Went to marina barrage there for some sort of picnic, for lynal's farewell. instead of the rooftop, we went to the marina bridge... Bought quite a lot of food, but the quality of it is not bad.. with pineapple fried rice, pizza, satay, potato salad, JCO donuts, "zi bao ji", beancurd tarts, bread. damn a lot of carbo lar.. but it's nice.. =D

The SK gang.. not complete though.

Poker session...

Zhipeng, one of my buddy..

Night scenary of the Singapore flyer and the upcoming IR

Lynal's going to leave tonight.. It's gonna be sad, one of the good buddy leaving.. wish u all the best there.. and enjoy urself.. =)