Halloween!

Was greeted by a hand on the floor, outside the gym,  when i stepped out of the lift yesterday..[grainy pic cuz I'd oversharpen-ed the blur image..:(]

The gym made some efforts to doll up the place for Halloween.. .

with cotton spiderwebs...

 

Trashbags curtaining...

and the jack-o-lantern on the rubbish bin...

And the dead body at the foot of the poster (someone who collapsed due to over-exhaustion? )

LOL.. i hope that's not me after this week!

obsessed?

Five years ago, i would flip if someone asked me to join a competitive run.. Seriously, back then, running 30 minutes on the threadmill @ the speed of 8km/hr was a great achievement! In 2008, thanks to ziv who was then nagging @ his wife & me that we were not fully optimising our gym membership and thanks to him, who managed to convince me to join him in the fun run of the safra run that year (in attempt to get jac to join in the fun..) somehow or another, that started the avalanche of runs that I started participating... [Not to mention that the training regime imposed by e, whom i re-connected with that same year, pointed me in that direction..]

Oh well, not that I'm complaining , since I manage to vanquish some of those stubborn fats and improved stamina & less prone to long-battling bouts of flu. 

Last Sunday, went for the Nike city run [forgotten i'd signed up for that run and the ge run following sunday but was inevitably scheduled for duty for s3. drats, it was tooo late when the schedule was out a few weeks ago despite informing the i/c the very instance the new system rolled out].. but still i made it to expo a quarter pass nine.. fully made-up :) timing wasn't too bad (considering i woke up late and rush down after just gulping down a tetrapak of soy milk..) @ 55:35.. :) nothing much to wow about.. except that it was a sight to see so many luminous yellow peeps running... oh.. it was a SG vs KL run - the two cities will compete for the most mileage clocked from 1 Sep 10 to 31 Oct 10 that was synced to the Nike+ site.. Oh well.. sg was and still in the lead but i guessed partly was due to fact that there are more sg users participating in the challenge..nonetheless .. haha i'm currently 13 on the leadership board [cuz i've to clock many miles/km weekly thanks to e..:(]

And the evil e is enforcing me to double the runs this week cuz i missed the 30km last week (despite of all my excuses and legitimate reasons - like work). MADNESS! the perils of having a workaholic trainer..(cuz he does really work very long hours.. 24/7)

I'm not really obsessed with running, just trying to maintain the momentum that was kicked started. Not to mention very toned lower bod.. :)

the eternally happy meal..

Alright, not eternal yet..  But it seems that this happy meal has survived for 180 days in the open without decomposing.. woah! According to Yahoo News, Sally Davies, a New York City-based photographer, has documented the 'growth' of this happy meal in her flickr album which was pretty amazing.. At the 180th day, (7th October), the beef pattie just looked a tad darker, with the french fries resembling those dried preserved papaya or mangoes. Amazingly, the bun hasn't gone moldy!
 

According to this website, it's the high FAT content that perserved the burger/fries.. As for the bun, it contains preservatives calcium propionate and sodium propionate (which are also found in bread sold off the supermarket aisle..) To qoute " A Happy Meal manages to stay unspoiled because it is fatty, salty and practically empty of nutrients -- which, really, are all good reasons to avoid it anyway. "

 

Imagine all the fat molecules passing through your body... eeeuks.. :(

异想天开

Attended Rainie's concert last Sat @ SIS.. She blewed me away! ;) great vocals n very genuine. Sensed that she's really appreciative of her fans! Apparently this was her first concert out of Taiwan's shore..

Am not her groupie but she's one of the rare few Chinese artistes found in my iPod playlist..

Didn't get the chance to snap any pix cuz my phone went dead screen on my way out despite battery gauge is only at 50%. (the phone is not off but I can't turn it on/off but outside parties can call thru but I can't answer.. Not as if I'm aware that it rang! Revived only when I plug in the charger.. Weird! N I haven't drop it at all!!)

Anyway, the green inflatables which light up upon motion distracted me from not being able to snap away... Not to mention that it adds to the atmosphere !!

Uhm, okie, mine tix was 传媒票 but it was a rather good seat - should be the most exp category .. Cuz was at the arena nearest to the stage, hence a blimely that I can't snap with the non responsive iPhone ); nonetheless , one of the concerts I enjoyed.. Too bad I missed the retrolicious concert cuz next day was the newton run ..

Yay! I think I will get to go to Sammi's concert again! ( thanks to my bro!)

Late nights

I'm calling it the day... Time to head home!

Security Cat

Last night, on my way home after cg, this caught my eye @ one of the foot of the staircases...

The security on duty!


Apparently someone has placed a discarded dinning chair for this pampered meowmeow to rest.. with a tray of dry feed and water placed in the opposite corner, reckoned to be its supper.. Aww so sweet of its caretaker!


Sightings as such are great way to end a day!

The Bear is 'bluff' thursday !

This phrase that I caught on the mutton's show on 987 tickled me after what I considered a sucky day - it's 'the bear is bluff Thursday!'

For the uninitated, a bear like creature was sighted @ ulu pandan next to a rubbish bin.. This was caught on video which was circulatedc and sad to say, resulted in the deployment of police and zoo personnels to hunt for mr bear... But that turned out to be a harmless, out of the box creative marketing gimmick for Philips' shaving product.. For the name for creativity, the company could be charged!

According to ST, "The police told The Straits Times that it is now investigating if what happened was an offence of public nuisance under Section 268 of the Penal Code, which can lead to a fine of up to $1,000."

Silly.. How can a bear survive in hot humid sg? If it had escaped from the Zoological Gardens, it sure had ran many miles to get from Mandai to Ulu Pandan.. If so, how could it went unnoticed in it's journey to west?

It's a brilliant idea (that unshaven man resembles bear! Lol) to get people who saw the video and blog or tweet about it.. Free advertising via social media.. Too bad, the price to pay for creative ideas = brush with the law... Oh well, now it has free publicity - the mass media coverage on this new. ( and product- sort if)

Still it's so apt! It's (the bear is bluff thursday!)lol
Yeah it's Friday! ;) and yeah! All Chilean miners were safely rescued after two months trapped in the mine! Super random. ;)

Humanly mechanical

Alright, there is a new system in place. In a milder sense, let just say I don't see eye to eye to it.

And it takes away the joy and the human touch of administering the new system is just so mechanical. And it is edging me to make the decision I had been contemplating since a few years ago.

 

The authority seems to be so pragmatic about what they are doing.
Kinda void of the human element. (Because you can, so can we right? Nope, cuz of the difference in the choices made. It's not a case of "if yan can cook, so can you". Make us WANT to do something, not because we HAVE to do something.)

 

Sometimes, it just seems that the reason for point of contact is - 'your availablity? 'why can't you make it?'

Just another count in the weekly statistics to make good of the quota size seems to be the underlying reason.

 

Genuinely interested in what's going on? Nah, no vibes about it.

 

Priorities shift at different phase of life. I'm not saying that this is no longer important, but there is a balance to be achieved right.

 

Sacrifices. From the higher point of view, perhaps the figure heads' opportunity costs are higher than the commoners'. Talk about empathy. Nice.

 

Corelation between size and closeness... the bigger it grow, the wider the disparity.

 

Communication is two way process. The common understanding is that the one 'ranked lower in the hierachy' should be the one pressing in. So political. Cuz pressing in will result in  emulation. Nice, but I don't like dolly the clone.

 

Okay, I am peeved. PMS.

 

Btw volunteering is not being volunteered. Why do I need to account for the "me-time"? Mother-hen techniques irks.

10.10.10

I think I outdone myself last Sunday.. I did the 30km run in the morning and climb the tallest peak in Singapore later that afternoon.. with just 4 hours of sleep..

10.10.10
It was a wet drizzling Sunday morning.. Ended up sleeping only at 1am cuz I was too caught up in the tvb firemen show on vv ( despite knowing that it would still be available for next seven days after screening..). The streaks of lightning that woke me up after the 4th snooze of the alarm almost deterred me from changing into my gear and head for the Playground. But my prayer was answered and no thunderstorm preceded and it was a cool, windy morning to run. :)

@ Playground..No signs of the sun cuz it was drizzling.. :(

 the Starting Point

Official flagoff was at 7:10, by then, it was getting brighter but still windy.. The route was three loops from the Playground to the loop at the jet ski area after the seafood stretch..(Apparently the 3 X 10km denotes : Strength, Speed & Stamina.. hence three loops of 10 km instead of one long route.. or perhaps to tie in with the date 10.10.10!) Regretted not being the 18km race instead when I enviously eyed those who turned into the finishing area after their second rounds.. :(

Highlight of the run (for me) was @ the 24km mark (i.e. 3rd loop @ the 4km marker), cuz i spied chilled mini mars bar at the chiller @ the water point! Energy booster.. though that probably wasted 2 minutes or so cuz i was trying to finishing chewing and washing it down with the non-carbonated icy cold 100plus. :)

Wasn't my best run cuz I spent at least 5 minutes walking throughout the run cuz my left foot started giving me problem after the second round.. which later I realised was the blister formed at the second toe! :( Nonetheless.. made it through after 3hr15min.. (I was much faster in round 1, slowed down in the second, progressively slower @ the 3rd 10km..).. the fastest female for the 30km category came in like 2hr15 min.. (whereby I probably just started on my 3rd round..). Still glad i made it to the Finish line. :)

 Final destination

my blistered toe! (i deflated the blister! see the pic on the right) But a new blister formed over the my bukit timah hike! :( :(

Later that day ,after lunch, met Jac & Ziv to 'conquer' bukit timah hill.. Never been up the highest peak in SG [though I thought mount faber seemed to be taller.. but judging from the time taken to reach the peak, i conclude that bukit timah should be taller.. :) ]

We hailed a cab from clementi and travelled in luxury.. cuz I was stepping on 'lush LV' carpet.. LOL

Arrived at the foot of the Singapore's tallest peak (standing @163m) approximately 16:00. Was surprised to find the entrance to the nature reserve was that near the prata place /Beauty World/ bukit timah plaza that i frequented during JC days... very sua-ku indeed..

@ the visitor centre

the map! At the advice of the park ranger, we took the green route up and the red route down.. Adventurous Ziv wanted to take the yellow route all the way.. (but no go-ahead from the gals..) Next time bro..!

I like this picture.. like a scene in the fairy tales.. walking towards heaven.. :)

towards the peak here we go! (actually it was taken on our way down!)

After a few groups of avid mountain trekkers that passed by us, we realised our group was the most audible group.. (it's part of the "forest etiquette" to observe silence so as to not cuz disturbance to the animals..) and we spotted trekkers with the walking sticks too! Very pro indeed!!

taken with the lomo app and tweaked it a bitsy.. so retro! :)

oh yeah.. i made it to the summit too! :) Ziv snapped a very old-school of Jac and me but he did not bump the pic to me. (yet)..

After conquering the hill.. we popped over to the Hindhede Nature Park to view the abandoned quarry.. Highlight of the mini trail walk was the failed crossing the pedestrain path of a foot long monitor lizard.. which our screams sent it shuffling itself nerviously back to the woods.. poor chap! :(

We spotted tortoises swimming in the manmade lake! They were so cute! :)

There were at least 5 tortoises spotted.. Not too sure how they got in there.. Perhaps they were released by people due to some religious practices? :)

Snapped this on the way out to the main road randomly, underneath the rail track.. I like the fluffly clouds against the bright blue sky.. Doesn't feel like being in Singapore at all.. :)

Dinner time @ this prata place frequented during the JC days.. the Al-Ameen Eating House. It has been a while i ate these.. thanks to e. :( Nonetheless enjoyed the plain prata with curry chicken and the uber sweet teh-cino... (wonder why indian tea is usually uber sweet.. perhaps I should order it 'siew dai' the next time.. lol).

Maybe this hike is preparation for higher heights to scale? :)

Fighting

漩涡

Out of no particular reason, these two words flashes across my mind as I'm about to type...

Or perhaps, there's some reason ... ;( tsk...

Anyway, finally got my Vaio back with a new LCD screen..(the second tine I'd serviced it within 10 mths!) ;) and it's time to back up the data..else it'll be nitemare to re-rip the songs from
the CDs ( uhm yeah, I'm in that cave age era that relish tangible records..and don't think it's right to rip the artistes/song writers/ from their dues - i.e. Their royalities..;) stop privacy, buy originals! Which explain why I would rather not get it if I can't afford it - hence, was never interested in getting a lookalike or inspired items if those ostentatious labels..

Zzzzz good nite world ... Shhhh...

inflexible

People lose their flexible when they age.. Perhaps that explains why yoga is so popular.

Alright, I'm getting older.. so i'm rather inflexible.. So, do kindly refrain from enforcing certain poses on me when I don't really wish to do, can?

Some parts will snap, trust me ...

 

For a brief period of time.. stretching seems kinda fun to me... But at this very tight period of the year..  it's not.. I don't relish the extra mileages and i think the time to recover from the week of work has increased.

I need the Sabbath can? To me, the new plan is not exactly very brilliant. Not at all.