rejuvenation...

Long days at work and tight deadlines have left me and LET (a former colleague, now drinking buddy) mentally incapacitated… well so to speak. We were just tired of our daily routine. Long holidays were not an option at the moment. Hence, we decided that a few days away from work and not do much during that few days would do us good. So to Krabi in South Thailand we went - LET has never been there and I have never been to any other parts of Thailand except Bangkok – we might as well check it out.

Time didn’t seem to be moving at all while we were there, which is the way we wanted it. The most important objective was to get out of bed later than our usual routine, which was met. We spent one of those days island hopping, where the sun was shining, blue skies, white sandy beaches and crystal clear waters. A day out in the sun was followed by a day of pampering – we treated ourselves with a 3-hour spa after spending the entire morning by the pool: enjoying the sun again, some light reading, napping, some splashing in the pool and sipping cocktails. The day went by so slowly, which we didn’t mind it. Which would you rather have? A day that goes on so slowly at work doing something you don’t quite enjoy or a day that goes on so slowly while you sip cocktails by the pool or the beach? I rest my case.

In the evenings, good conversations were had over a nice dinner. A getaway is not complete without intoxication of oneself with some alcohol – well, not so much but still, a few rounds in a day was in order.

Back in Singapore with a fabulous tan (I had a bit of a burn on my back but nice tan nevertheless) and all energized. We don’t think we are ready to get back to work but hey, we have 2 working days to go before the weekend. No complaints there.

As usual, I am crap at uploading my photos - they will come later. However, this photo here was taken by yours truly on Bamboo Island - one of the stops during our day out island hopping. The little girl in the photo is Sonia, whose family was on the same island hopping group with us.

never gonna give you up...

On Sunday, I redeveloped my schoolgirl crush on Rick Astley.

I have always love Rick Astley after I heard his first number 1 UK hit, Never Gonna Give You Up in 1987. In the early 90’s, he went missing and I have always wondered what happened to him. He had a couple of albums, which he produced himself but it did not do as well as the albums he did with Stock, Aitken & Waterman.

Being a loyal fan, I would listen to his music every once in a while. On Sunday, I went on You Tube to look for his ‘Take Me To Your Heart’ video. At the end of the video, You Tube listed some recommendations of related videos. One of them caught my eye – Rick Astley – Never Gonna Give You Up 2006 (Live). I didn’t hesitate and clicked on that link to watch the video.

I think this was the first time that I’ve seen Rick singing ‘live’ and the first time I’ve seen him in the new millennium. Oh my god! My Ruddy Big Pig still looks good. He turned 41 years old on 6 Feb but he still maintains that boyish good looks (ok, I know some of my girl friends would beg to differ on the good looks bit but I don’t care – beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder). I cannot remember how many times I have watched this video last night. This live version of the song is simply awesome and Rick takes my breath away! This morning, I quickly converted the video on MP3 and I have been listening to it on my iPod all the way to work and back home.

In the video, there is a surprise towards the end of the song – something I did not expect which made this video simply memorable. It seems like he still has a legion of fans, who seems to have enjoyed his performance. I know I did. I am still in awe when I watch Rick in this video (sneaked in a few moments to watch it at work today). When I listened to the MP3, it put a smile on my face. Twenty years on, I am in love with Rick Astley all over again – I just cannot explain this feeling I have about him. Hugh Grant has always been my number one but after seeing how good Rick looks like now, I think Hugh will have to take a back seat for a while.

Hhhhmmm…never gonna give you up, Rick.. NEVER!

sweating it out in the sun...

In recent weeks, I have been making a point to get out on a Saturday and spend some time in the sun – what with my weekdays are spent at the office desk with air-conditioning. Sun is a good source of Vitamin D and it helps to cheer you up and so, I thought I should get some sun once a week and have a good work out to sweat it out.

On Saturday morning, I went a couple of hours of cycling by the beach (under the sun off course) with Ken. Spoke to Ken about it over lunch on Thursday and I think he was keen because there would be possibilities of feasting his eyes over some hot babes on roller-blades by the beach. Hey, it doesn’t matter what his objectives are. The important thing is we were going for some leisurely exercise.

We started off with a nice breakfast (I had a nice cheese sandwich with a cup of flat white to wash it down) before renting a couple of good bikes, to start off the morning. Halfway through our cycling, we had to get off our bikes as there was a duathlon going on. Loads of men were running 10km in the sun. We got back on our bikes after we passed the duathlon’s starting/finishing point and we were cycling pass the runners. It was cramping us from cycling really fast but we were maneuvering the runners, which may have pissed them off.

I think Ken was a little disappointed that one of his objectives were not met – there were not many hot-babes with tank tops on roller-blades that morning. Yours truly on the other hand, got some feasting of the eyes through cycling by those duathlon runners – some of them have really nice butts. I know, they are all sweaty and not really in their best appearance but still, it were a feast. Ken almost made an impression on me when he did a 180-degree flip with his bike – nah, he didn’t. He almost flip over his bike when he hit the break to avoid colliding a cyclist in front of him, who was going really slowly. He almost fell but somehow, he managed to do some 'acrobatic' move to prevent him from falling. I think the so-called acrobatic move left more of an impression on me - a funny one, that is. I wish I had my video camera on for that one.

We treated ourselves to a nice Indonesian lunch and a couple of nice healthy drink that afternoon before Ken went off for his basketball game and yours truly went home to rest after being up and about since 5am. Ken had his warm up with the cycling while I had my warm up before that. I thought I have my own mini duathlon – one with a break in between. I woke up at 5am and went for my 10km morning run before Ken came over. Then, we cycled approximately 15 km later that morning. The energy, which generated from the running and the cycling, left me high, up to the point till I got home. I am a little sore at the butt now and had some sunburn on my shoulders but I’d do this again in an instant. I’m sure Ken will share my enthusiasm for another cycling session again (which I am sure we will make a point to do it). I just hope there will be some hot-babes for him to gawk at next time. As for me, I am happy to be able to test my body for an extended endurance. The obsession continues.

oogle @ google...

It is amazing how many of us out there are still not catching up with the world of internet. Do you know just how amazing this world wide web thingy is?? My only wish is that this internet thing would have surfaced much earlier than the late nineties. It would have saved me so much time from traveling to the library to do research for my projects and assignments during my school days. It would have saved me money from photocopying pages from books, which I need to supplement what I already have in my text books. It would have saved me a lot of money from buying fashion, football & teen magazines in order to satisfy my hunger for information of what’s going in the fashion (not that I was such a fashionista back then or am now anyway but still), football and my teen heartthrobs. It would save me a lot of time from having to speak with the travel agent on the phone to find information on my flight and hotel options or going to the travel agent to collect my air-ticket. Everything now can be done electronically.

Do you know just how much wealth of information you can get from the Internet??? There are so many resources available out there like videos, recipes, company information, porn… hey, you name it, you got it. And all you need to get this information is the help of search engines like Yahoo, Alta Vista and off course, the one that is taking the world by storm, Google. All you need to do is type in the information you want like say, “how to get big breasts” and within milliseconds, this search engines would generate pages of search results, with the most relevant on the top. If the information you find on the first link is not what you want, you can always go the next one. Or, you can always modify your search criteria. There are just so many ways to go at it.

However, there are still people out there who just don’t make full use of it. Are they afraid that the internet would come back to bite them in the arse if they went in search of information that they want? It bothers the hell out of me all the time.

I was out at lunch recently and my colleague received a text from one of the guys in her team, asking her if she knows the number of this headhunter firm and he was in the office in front of the computer. I took a deep breath in disbelief and started rolling my eyes.

A friend once told me that her boss was impressed at how she managed to solve a problem on a Microsoft platform product when she is not even familiar with it. She said that she just Googled it and everything she needs to do was laid out in steps in front of her on the screen. Her boss could not believe that she could such information on the internet.

I had someone at work who kept bugging with his questions on time difference between Singapore and the US, which irritated the hell out of me when people kept asking me the same old question more than 2 times and two days in a row. I gave him the link to timeanddate.com, where you can convert the time difference between Singapore to Timbuk Two. That saved me 2 minutes a day now from the ‘do you know the time difference between here and there’ question.

And I don't believe the crap when people say that they have lost touch with the latest music, fashion, sporting news, etc. Unless you choose to be ignorant like me with the current affairs of the world today, you have no excuse. You can always search for the lastest chart topping hits in America, the UK, Europe and Asia. You can always search for the sports club or sport personality you support. It only takes but a few minutes to have you up to date with any information.

Come on people! Live a little! This is the new millennium, so please keep up with the times! Go to Google and search for whatever information that you want. Don’t be afraid of the Internet. It is there to make you life so much easier. Go and booked your holiday online. Chat with your friends online. Go do your research online. Go read the news online. Go shopping online. Go have that French sentence translated to English online. Go be a blogger. The Internet has made our lives so much easier and it is there for you to utilise it. Be independent! Why rely on other people to search for information when you can do it yourself and have that tool right there in your face?? Almost everyone and anyone working in an office has a computer now, so don’t be giving any more excuses that you don’t know where to get information from. Go on! You have nothing to loose but the image as being uncool and being behind the times.

a miranda hobbs moment...

In episode seven of the final season of Sex & The City, there was a scene when Miranda saw a pair of skinny jeans, which she has saved since 1984 because she couldn’t fit in it. She went to put it on and found that she could button and zipped it up. She went out for a party after that. How’s that for a confidence booster?

Well, I had that moment last Friday morning, although, my moment wasn’t exactly with a pair of skinny jeans. It was this pair of white straight leg jeans, which I bought online from Victoria’s Secret in 2003. I have worn it much between 2003 and 2004 but since 2005, I have not been able to fit in it – and I think I don’t have to say why. I almost tempted to give it away but I decided to keep it at the back of my wardrobe, with the thought at the back of my mind that someday I will be able to fit in it again.

On Friday morning, I wanted to put on this black top with a pair of jeans to work (it is casual Fridays at work these days). Then, I thought about the time when I put on the same top with the pair of white jeans in 2003. I went to look at that corner of my wardrobe and saw the white jeans sitting there. I was not confident that I would be able to button it up but tried it anyway. Well, surprise, surprise! I was able to button it and zipped it up too. A big smile splashed across my face and my mood was lifted higher. I paired my outfit with big earrings, red bag and a pair of wedges and went off to work, walking tall as I left home for work.

The day went great – much work to do but nothing was too daunting. It is amazing how a pair of jeans can make a difference to you mood and your day too. I ended the workweek with a nice lunch, a purchase of a couple make-up items and treated myself to a relaxing massage after work. I am sure that there a lot of women out there who had experienced the same moment. When you are unable to fit into your favourite item of clothing, it can just spoil your day but when it is the other way around, your day, your week and your world becomes so different – like there is nothing that can get in your way. This is a kind of moment that we all should have everyday!