withdrawal mode again...

Ok, one more entry about football and I will put this to rest until mid August (that's when the new football season will commence for those of you who don't know).

It has been a week since the curtains closed for Euro 2008. The Spaniards did it and with style as well. I did not watched much of their matches because I was too mesmerised by the Dutch to notice that the Spaniards were a much stronger team (and some good looking players too). I saw them played in the semi finals againsts the Russians, who defeated the Dutch in the quarter finals. Well, I saw the second half only but I didn't miss much because the first half ended without any goals. The second half however, was spectacular. That Fabregas lad, he was amazing – contributed to 2 of the 3 goals scored in the second half.

Although the Spaniards sealed the final with just one goal in the first half but their performance throughout the match was magnificent. I will not dwell on the final match but I felt that for once, a good team has deservedly won a major football final for once. Phil Ball wrote an article on EPSN's soccernet.com which echoed the sentiments of most football fans, including yours truly. It was probably one of the best written articles I have ever read and I could not help but read it over and over again.

Yesterday, I was in such withdrawal. It was Saturday, I was very much under the weather, stayed under the blanket in my bed but there was no live football on the tele to keep me entertained. I ended watching a couple of chick flicks on DVDs. There are still about 6 weeks left before the new football season starts and 6 more weeks of withdrawal, with the occasional times where I will watching classic matches being re-run on the football matches.

let down...

Woke up at 2.45am this morning to watch the live match between the Dutch and the Russians, only to be disappointed. The Dutch lost to the Russian 3-1. So much about the hype. Oh well...

Now, I feel a bit restless. It is the first weekend that I don't have any major activities scheduled. I should get things that I have been meaning to do in the last few weeks but it is just so difficult to get going. Well, I better do something productive or this weekend will be a waste.

mesmerised...

The Euro 2008 is now into its third quarter finals and so far, the matches played have been entertaining. One of the many teams that has made an impression one me is the Dutch team. They were in Group C in the early rounds where they played against Romania and the two 2006 World Cup finalist, France and Italy – aptly called 'The Group of Death”. Now, who would think that that the Dutch would come out tops from that group? And their performances were outstanding and had left me mesmerised.

Their manager is one of my favourite players, Marco Van Basten and he has done a good job so far – tactics, team work, which speaks for itself with the results. They beat Italy 3-0 and thrashed France 4-1. I missed the match they played against Italy but the one against France was truly astonishing. Even the commentator has nothing but praises for the Dutch team during that match. He described how the Dutch were playing as a team and that they were playing football from a different planet, let alone a different level. At the end of the match, he said that the Dutch has put a sword through two previous World Cup winners. I have to agree with him. All the four goals were spectacular – two from counter attacks, scored by Robin Van Persie and Arjen Robben. The last one was from long range by Wesley Schneider, where he had the ball with his back against the goal post, turned his body and kicked the ball from outside the penalty box straight into the left corner of the goal post, beyond the reach of the French goalkeeper, Gregory Coupet.

I must say, not only is the Dutch team talented but they are quite the looker as well. That is the bonus about enjoying football as a woman. Not only you love the game, enjoying the good looking footballers and their well-defined bodies. Ooo la la la. When Arjen Robben was about to come on as a substitute during that match against the French, all I noticed was his nice chest and his ribbed abs through the tight t-shirt he was wearing. That motivated me to work on my abs as well. Not that I want to have ribbed abs like him but you know, you see a picture of health, you want to work just as hard as well.

Tonight, the Dutch will meet the Russians in the third quarter final of the tournament. The Russians are led by a Dutchman, Guss Hidink. The Russians have been entertaining too – that match against the Swedes was thrilling with loads of goal-mouth action. However, I am rooting for a Dutch win i.e. with Marco Van Basten. He won the European Championship back in 1988, where he scored the winning goal – I remember that one.... a goal from a very tight angle. And he deserves to win one as a manager as well. So, come on you Dutch!!! Go out there and beat the Russians! Go Holland!!! We have to see you in the Final!

running knackered...

I was feeling blah yesterday. Completely knackered from the weekend. This is what happened when you made full use of your weekend, be productive. The result is you feeling blue on a Monday.... waiting for the clock to strike six, so that you can rush home and lie on your bed.

Anyway, on Sunday, I took part in the Passion Run for the second year running. Last year, I signed up for the 10km Women's Open but this year, I signed up for 15km Women's Open. After the disastrous marathon the weekend before, this run was not so much about improving my personal best. It was just another leisure run, what with the route was along the beach at East Coast.

I checked my results today, off course. I was not all out to win it but I am interested in my timing. I completed the route in 1 hour and 48 minutes. My previous 15km race, I completed it in 1 hour and 59 minutes. An improvement of 11 minutes. I finished 307 out of 661 female runners who completed the run. It has been almost two years since I started running but I still believe that there are plenty of room for improvement.

No, I was not knackered from this run. In fact, I was full of energy after that. I spent the afternoon at the pool with a couple of my friends and their kids. I think starting your Sunday as early as 5am and your activities did not end until 9pm, could leave you shattered. Hence, the blah feeling yesterday.

I am looking forward to the weekend already now.

misread...

What? Aaron Ramsey has not signed by Manchester United yet? Geez, I thought Man U has signed him. I guess I had misread the news. Let's hope he is not going to make the same mistake like Paul Gasgoine. Signed for the wrong club and become a total mess!

i want to say a few things about football...

I am tired of this coverage in the sports news and speculations about Ronaldo and Real Madrid. I think Man U should just sell him and we all can move on. Let’s see what Aaron Ramsey can do for Man U next season.

So, Mark Hughes is going to Manchester City. I think he is a good candidate to take over Sir Alex at Old Trafford or maybe after Carlos Quieroz.

Mister D’s dad predicted that the special one i.e. Jose Mourinho would go to Barcelona and current Barcelona manager, Frank Rijkaard would go to Chelsea in the summer. Well, the special one has now been appointed the manager for Inter Milan. Mister D’s dad will not be able to make it 2 for 2 but we’ll see if Rijkaard would make his way to Stamford Bridge.

Speaking of Stamford Bridge, poor Average Avram. He was fired for almost making it. And Ericson was fired at Manchester City after only one season. Look at Sam Allardyce – a few bad runs and was fired even before midway into the season. I find that clubs are firing managers too easily. Sir Alex took several years to turn things around at Old Trafford and I think the other clubs’ management should do the same. It takes time to build a good team and turn it into a great one. Ok, maybe not in the case of Chelsea back in 2005 – they practically bought the championship trophy that season. It’s called cheating.

One more day to Euro 2008. Not rooting for any nation but good to have some football matches on the tele for the next month.

walking with the night...

I completed my second half marathon at the end of April with a personal best. I managed to shave 12 minutes off from my first half marathon I participated in August 2007. I cannot say that I have done the same for my second full marathon over the weekend. It was an embarrassment – I completed my second full marathon 1 hour 40 minutes more than I did for my first one i.e. 8 hours and 11 minutes. I have no one else to blame but myself.

I was not prepared for this. I have done much training like I was supposed to, leading up to the day. Then, this particular marathon was not like other marathon – this one was a night marathon. The race started at 12midnight on Saturday. So, not only was I not physically prepared but I was also not mentally prepared.

About 3 hours before the race started, I almost decided not to go but I went anyway. I managed to run 14 kilometeres before my brain and body started to shut down. By then, it was almost 2 in the morning on Sunday and I have been awake for over 16 hours (I took a 2-hour nap that Saturday afternoon but I guess that didn’t help much). Despite the cool weather and minimal heat, with your mind and body shutting down, it was challenging to continue the remaining 28 kilometres. I ended up brisk walking back to the finishing line. I was hallucinating on the most parts – it was like sleep walking. But once the day broke, I was brisk walking as quickly as I could to the finishing line, so that I could get home, lift up my legs and sleep. Even the last 1.4 kilometres to the finish line seemed like it was still miles away.

By the time I crossed the finish line, I could not feel my feet. I expected to have sore legs and feet by lunch time and that the sore will not go away till Monday. However, I must have done something right, because by Monday morning, my legs were not sore at all and managed to get to work without much struggle.

I didn’t have much of a weekend really. I spent all of Sunday sleeping, waking up three times for meals, before hitting back to slumberland. Despite the disappointing end to my second marathon, I am in good spirits at the moment. I'll take part in another marathon but not another night marathon. Night marathon is a nightmare!

a girly girl day...

I have had numerous girly girl days in the past or even a girly girl hours, with that usually happen over lunch time. It mainly involves shopping where you and your girl friend get all excited when you find a fashion item like shoes, clothes and accessories followed by coffee or meals sessions with endless talking about everything and anything. Normally, these sort of days best happened when they are not planned.

I remember an occasion when Polly, one of my close friend, and I decided to take extended lunch time (we had a stressful morning at work) and went to River Island to look at the shoe sale. We left the shop with two pairs of shoes each and visit to the shop only lasted 30 minutes. Amazing!

Yesterday, I had another successful spontaneous girly girl day. Liz, another one of my closest friend. We spent the mid morning till after the early afternoon at the pool – sun worshiping for me and a few laps in the pool for Liz as well as conversations while having a long dip in the pool. After a meal following that relaxing time at the pool, we headed down to a mall because I wanted to check out an item I saw on Friday and have not been able to take my mind off it. That went spiraling into a shopping extravaganza!

In 2 hours, we were busy checking out a few stores, trying out a few outfits and bagged ourselves some good deals (it is mid-season sale happening all over town with various discounts offered at most shops with collaboration with various credit card companies). The highlight of the day was when we stepped into Top Shop and found ourselves a nice pair of skinny flare denim jeans. We bought the same design and Liz, who has been looking for a nice pair of jeans for the longest time, ended up with 2 great pairs – the skinny flare which we both loved and another dark denim. She was extremely happy that she found a couple of nice pairs after being disappointed when the perfect denim we found at Calvin Klein earlier did not fit her well. I guess that was a blessing in disguise as those two pairs of jeans she paid for at Top Shop cost 30% less than the pair of Calvin Klein jeans. That should explain why she was very pleased with her purchase. Her words later when she tried the jeans again at home was “I love love love the jeans!”

It is amazing what you can bag when you are not really looking for things you wanted. I wish I could post a photo of the jeans we both tried, love and bought but I could not find the photo from the Top Shop website. But it looks something like the following:






























My other purchases include a purple dress from Zara and a bikini from Warehouse. Like Liz, I am also very happy with my purchases. Looking forward to wearing them soon!!

All that shopping left us a little hungry – well, mostly me. Liz is never hungry. But she came along with me and we shared a plate of satay (barbecued meat on sticks). A nice meal to end our spontaneous girly girl day's out.

triumph in moscow...

Ten days on, thanks to the missed penalties of John Terry and Nicholas Anelka and also to Lady Luck, Man United won their third Champions League Trophy last night. I was elated even though it wasn’t exactly a great 90 minutes but I was glad that I woke up to witness it, after having missed the 1999 final against Bayern Munich.

During the extra time, I was exchanging a few texts with Kevin in London, who since moving to the capital has switched his allegiance to Chelsea – traitor!!! “Up the Blues!” he said – I think he was confident that Chelsea would seal a victory. I didn’t feel that it is over till its over and then, the match had to go into penalties. I hate penalties! Anything can happen – and I text Kevin saying that I could not watch this. His response to that was “Strap yourself in baby… you’re in for a wild ride!” Arrogance, I tell you!!!

When Van Der Sar made that save from Anelka’s kick to seal Man United’s victory, his text came with just one word “SHIT”.  I rubbed it in and replied “No time for losers, cause we are the champions!” How sweet!

It was probably one of the longest live matches I have ever watched. I didn’t get much sleep but it was all worth it!! I have waited a long time for Man United’ dominance after I went through my teenage years being verbally abused by Liverpool fans. What a season! Not as nerve-wrecking as it was in 1999 but still. The team gave one of their best performances and persevered against Chelsea who was desperate to bring a trophy back to Stamford Bridge this season, judging from the tears and dejection from their players and manager at the end of the penalty shoot-out.

The champions league trophy is the icing on the cake topped with cherries for Man United’s season. I am looking forward to next season already! I need to talk details about this triumph with a Man United fan now.

no time for losers again...

It was down to the wire last night but after a nail biting 105 minutes, it was time for joy when Manchester United retained the English Premiership title – the 10th league title for Sir Alex and my favourite player, Ryan Giggs. Thanks to Bolton for holding Chelsea with a draw. I jumped for joy at the final whistle as Manchester United ended the domestic season with style.

It was a great final day of the season with crucial matches to be played at the top and the bottom of the league. Teams like Birmingham and Reading gave their best performance of the season only to be relegated. It was an intense moment for some fans, like me, where at the final minute, your team could either make or break it. To me, it was like 1999 all over again, when Manchester United won the treble – that was an intense season for me as a supporter.

I made a prediction last December on how the top and bottom three of the league will look like at the end of the season. I was not entirely on the spot but at least I was partially correct - that Manchester United will be champions and Derby County will be relegated.

Another showdown with Chelsea for the Champions League final (I was gutted when Chelsea defeated Manchester United in a league match at Stamford Bridge on 26 April 2008) in Moscow on 21 May 2008. It will be another nail-biting moment but with the confidence on high, I think Manchester United have a good chance. Liverpool would have made the final a much more interesting match to watch but hey, we need to get one back from Chelsea after that defeat at Stamford Bridge.

We have the Euro 2008 next month, so the withdrawal will not be too bad this year.

happy days...

Despite the lack of sleep (only four hours, after going to bed at 4.30 am earlier this morning), I am in good spirits now. I made myself get up at 8.30am this morning and kept myself busy with chores – like putting away my luggage, sort out the dirty laundry, etc. A few on-line chats with some friends helped too. I hope to stay up till midnight tonight to watch the title decider of the Barclays Premier League and perhaps the jet lag will be over and done with by tomorrow morning.

My previous entry was written when I was in such a sorry state – like I want to believe it was. Sheesh! I even said that I was going to take a holiday from looking at my holiday photos! Now, how could I? I was looking at the photos again this afternoon while uploading it and sharing it with a couple of friends. One of them commented that these photos are happy photos and the fun that was had was very obvious. My mood was uplifted after hearing that and took a look at them again.

So now, I want to share the happy days I had in Europe with everyone here. I have so many favourites from the lot, so I will not even attempt to post those on this page. Enjoy them! I certainly have and will be for a long time from now.

Click here to see photos.

PHD - post holiday depression...

The one thing I hate the most about going on holiday in another continent is recovering from jet lag on the return leg. Getting over a jet lag once you get to your holiday destination is so easy. Probably because you know your holiday has just begun. However, the reverse is utterly depressing and that is what I am going through at the moment.

It is late and my body is still in European time, which led to this sleeplessness the last couple of nights. Then, while I am awake in the middle of the night, I start wondering what my friends in Europe are doing and it depresses me because I want to be there with them. But alas, I am back here. There is not much I can do but try to get over this jet lag very quickly and move on with my regular routine back here. Easier said than done actually. This post holiday blues will be over in a week or two but in the meantime, getting over this is such an ordeal for me.

I thought of ways to get over this depression:

Unpack my luggage as quickly as possible instead of leaving it there for days like I usually do after returning from a trip. That way, the luggage will not serve as a reminder that my holiday is over. Once I tuck away my luggage in storage tomorrow morning, I think I will be over this depression.

Stop looking at the holiday photos until the jet lag is over and done with. I get so depressed just looking at them the last couple of days. So, I will take a holiday from my holiday photos until this jet lag is over and done with. If I am happier, I will look at the photos in a more positive light.

Keep myself occupied with anything – going out with friends, work, reading and my health routine. It has to start tomorrow, or else, I will never get over this depression.

And note to self : No holiday in European countries for a while. Getting too old for this jet lag thing and I don't need the depression – I don't deal with it very well.

This is not like me. I hope to feel better soon.

filled with friends and fun...

I am completely knackered and losing the track of the day and time in the last 36 hours but I certainly remember the exciting two weeks away from Singapore. It didn't seem like a long time ago when I last went on a holiday – it was about 8 months ago to be exact – and now I have just returned from another one. That short stint in Rubbishville was enough to motivate anyone to go on holiday as often as possible, especially where yours truly is concerned.

This is a holiday with a difference for yours truly – not doing too much of the touristy thing – I had a different objective this time and it also involved a lot of spending time with friends.

I was in Vienna to run a half marathon. My first race of the year and I completed it in 2 hours and 31 minutes – a personal best (previous best was 2 hours and 45 minutes). Kevin ran too and he completed it in 1 hour and 58 minutes. Not his best but still, it was better than me. Apart from the race, we also visited Schonbrunn Palace – spent half a day there and most of it were at the palace garden, where we lied on the grass, enjoying the view surrounding the palace, the sun and the fresh air. A visit to Vienna will not be complete without an evening at a classical concert - a couple of champagne were had and we truly enjoyed the experience.

Spent a few days in London, doing a spot of shopping, going back to my favourite eating places Wagamama, Giraffe, La Creperie de Hampstead and hanging out with friends. Went for a nice dinner with Ger in a part of London where I have never been before. I also met Kam a few times – I have not seen him in five years, so there were catching up to do.

Kevin, Ger & myself also spent a long weekend in Mallorca, one of the Balearic Islands in Spain. We hit the beaches for some sun worshiping and around the island, where the beaches and sceneries were beautiful. It was like an early summer holiday for some of us. As for me, it was the first time that I have ever spent a holiday by the beach in Europe. My previous beach holidays have always been in Asia.

I also made a brief stop in Paris to meet some of my wonderful friends! These are the people who I used to work with during my time at a French organisation. Cyrille and his wife, Helene, hosted a nice soiree at their home. I truly appreciated their hospitality. It was good to spend an evening among friends and I am very happy to have met them again. Nothing has changed – the camaraderie is still there.

All in all, like Kevin said, a wonderful, action packed and fun filled holiday. It was not long enough but I certainly enjoyed every moment (except for some stressful moments towards the end, which I will cover in another entry). I am looking forward to my next holiday – I don't know when that will be but I hope it will be just as great as this one.

Photos will be up soon!

emancipated...

Sometime last month, I wrote about how I dreaded going to work. Three months into the job and I knew I had enough. Sometimes you just know that you don't belong in an organization.

However, the good news is, it was a week ago that I was finally emancipated from the pains and sufferings from being in that place I 'affectionately' refer to as "rubbishville". The moment I stepped out of the office on that last day, I felt liberated. I have not been in the best of moods in months. The months spent in rubbishville have left me depressed and it even affected my life in every way. Those are not good signs. What I did was redirected those negative energy into positive one and started looking for a new job.

It was a long process but the worst is over. Last Friday, I started at my new job. It is still early days to see what it is like over here but so far, it has been good. I have been kept busy the last couple of days with some things and also getting on a few conference calls. I am not entirely settled but one thing for sure, I am not thinking about the timeline of when I will start looking for my next job just yet. So that is a good sign. However, once I am in the thick of things in the next few months, I am sure those thoughts will re-surface.

Here’s to another new beginning for yours truly…yet again.

a rocking evening...

I am not big on musicals. The first musical I ever went for is Miss Saigon a few years ago and it left little to the memory except who I went to the musical with. However, when the musical 'We Will Rock You' came to town, I told myself I had to see it. I thought that they are going to sing songs that I am familiar to. Hence, it wouldn't be much of a bore.

So, I was at the Esplanade Theatre last night and enjoyed most of Queen's hits performed by some very talented people. It was the closest thing to being at a Queen's concert – with Freddie Mercury's passing in 1991, I don't think Queen's concert with the new lead singer is going to be same... not that I could tell the difference since I have never been to a Queen concert to compare.

It was a stellar performance by the cast and it was a plus to find out that Mig Ayesa, from Rock Star (I think that was the name of the show) was the lead. He has a great voice and a brilliant performer. He is quite cute too - a bit camp but I like him. I was rooting to him to win Rock Star but alas he didn't. Nevertheless, he is doing well for himself what with his talents and all.

So, I truly enjoyed the musical. It was like being in a rock concert towards the end as the cast got the audience to participate. The music was loud, the way rock music should be. I wish I was at the front row but unfortunately, I was at one of those circle seats. I felt like doing the head-banging but those days are over but I was doing the head-banging bit in my head while the band banged the drums and strummed the guitars. I think deep inside of me, there is a rock chick.

One of my colleagues commented the other week, when he found out that I was going to this musical, “I know how old you are now that I know you listen to Queen.” What the $%&!@?, I thought. He is not that much younger than me but just because you listen to music of yesteryears, doesn't make you old. I wonder what his reaction will be when he finds out that I listen to music from the 60's too? Some of these songs are classic and will remain timeless. Queen music is one of those that will continue to be listened for a very long time from now.

All in all, it was a great show and a musical with a difference. I have the urge to go see it again before their limited performance ends at the end of April. Find me somebody to go see 'We will Rock you' with!!

jazzy evening, the latin way...

What a draggy start to a Monday! My plan to do some strength training early this morning was put off what with my eyes refusing to open with only 6 hours of sleep. I am very tired actually with the lack of sleep but it was quite a productive weekend for yours truly. The highlight of the weekend would be the evening of jazz at the Esplanade.

Ken and I have been talking about going to see a concert at the Esplanade but nothing seems to suit our fancy. The thought died its own natural death until last week when we talked about going to see Maroon 5 concert on 25 March 2008. Unfortunately, we left it until too late that the category of the ticket we wanted are sold out. As a consolation, Ken suggested that we check out the Mosaic Music Festival and found a latin jazz concert on Sunday evening.

The band led by Eddie Palmieri was totally worth it as we also get to check out the Esplanade. We were buzzed after the concert. Ken was hypnotised by the percussionist who was hitting the percussions with style. As for me, I wanted to kick off my shoes and dance the night away. Unfortunately, we were at the circle seats with minimal space at the aisle for us to strut our stuffs. I settled for the tapping of my fingers and feet. While the band was performing fantastic latin jazz, yours truly imagined herself actually enjoying the music under the stars by the beach somewhere in Brazil or Cuba, sipping cocktails and the occasional visit to the dance floor, being spinned around by my dance partner. Oh well, one can always dream. Told Ken later that the music reminded me of the scene of Mr & Mrs Smith when they were in Colombia and Ken said he was thinking of the same too.

Now, I am on the hunt for the CD of Eddie Palmieri and his music makes me want to take up salsa lessons. Salsa away!!!

the long and short of it...

It is Sunday night and for some of us, it may be the most dreadful night of the week because in a few hours, you will have to get up to go to work - that is for some of us who work nine to five, Mondays to Fridays. Sunday night will be even worse for those who don't enjoy their job and getting out of bed Monday morning will be a drag. Unfortunately, that is how I am feeling at the moment. I don't like writing about negative things in my blog but I needed to do this - one of the many ways to vent.

I have not been in this job for very long but from the beginning, I could sense that this may not be the right job. And I know for sure that I don't belong here. There are signs:

I can't seem to remember my extension number at work. Ok, so I don't call myself but you tend to remember you extension number after a month or so but I don't. I have to refer to my name card to get my extension number. I tend to forget to log on my phone at my desk (yes, we have the state of the art phone system that you are required to log on) every morning and wondered why everybody calls me on my mobile instead.

Then, there's off course making yourself comfortable at your desk by personalising it. The only decorative item I have on my desk is this tiny beanie bag which I rest my mobile phone on. Otherwise, my work desk is bare as the dessert.

In the past, when I answer the phone, I would say, "Company A. This is yours truly." Now, I just say, 'Hello." Announcing my company name before announcing my name just did not have a nice ring to it like it did in my previous jobs.

Months passed and I still refer to the company and the people in my organisation as 'They' instead of 'We'.

Sad really. I really like to make this work but things have just gone downhill since last November when I saw my first sighting of the tip of the iceberg. I tried to make the best of it but things have gone from bad to worse for me. I shall not dwell into the details of why I hate my job but let me just tell you that each night, I simply refuse to sleep because I don't want tomorrow to come. If I go to sleep, I don't want to wake up because I don't want to go to work. Sometimes, I would wake up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep. I practically drag myself out of bed every morning. I don't even want to dress up too nice because I don't want to associate the good outfit I was wearing to a bad day at work.

The days during the working week has become long and weekend would go by like a snap of a finger. I have long days and short nights, which makes me miserable. So yes, it is really that bad at work. I cannot put up with it at all but I trying my best to endure it... for now. No point complaining much about it. I am focusing all that negative energy into positive ones towards improving the situation. Not so much on improving the situation at work because nothing is going to change... if you get my drift.

Normally, you should only feel this way after a few years at work but alas, it is not the case of me with this job. Having a work and personal life balance is so difficult it seems. When I love my job, my personal life is crap. Now, my personal life is great but my work life is crap. You can never have everything now, can you? Oh well..

Talking about putting up, I chopped half of my tresses off my head today. I had enough of having the same length and style for the last few years. It was time for a revamp. The style is not new but it is certainly new to my head. I have not had my hair this length for years now and it is refreshing change. If only getting a refreshing change at work is as easy as getting a haircut.

Long And Tired
























Short And Neat

a decade and then some...

In November 2005, I wrote about looking for my buddy, PJ. Thanks to the internet, the search ended in 2007 when I found him through Aline, a mutual friend, on an online networking portal. We later hooked up through MSN Messenger and then Facebook - not that we chatted a lot over MSN or send pokes or virtual gifts over Facebook much. As I have mentioned in my post in 2005, PJ has not been good with writing e-mails. He is the kind of person who you would enjoy his company in the flesh than over a conversation over MSN or the phone. So, yeah, we exchanged a couple of short e-mails and the occasional short chats over messenger since. I am so glad that we managed to get in touch again.

Then, last week, he surprised me when he pinged me on MSN and asked if I am free for lunch this week. Off course, in an instant I knew that he would be making his way to this part of the world. I was elated! He and his wife, Michelle (yes, he is married now) were going to be in this part for a week or so, visiting his brother-in-law and family in Singapore before going to Hanoi for a few days.

So, I met PJ yesterday, ten years since I last saw him. He is a bit 'healthier' now but other than that, he is still the same fun guy that I used to hang out with. I could not believe that it has been ten years but PJ thought that it was only five years ago. Obviously some people have a good memory. :-P It is like nothing has changed. We were talking away like when the last time we met was only a day ago. We were catching up on what we have been up to and off course, reminisced on the good old days. How could we not? However, trying to cramp the conversations missed for the last decade into a couple of hours was difficult but it was better than not having it at all. We had quite a bit of laugh over lunch and coffee. The plan is to meet up again in ten years. Crazy but it might just work. Whatever it is, I am delighted to have met PJ again and I certainly look forward to meeting him again. In the meantime, it is back to the occasional short chats over MSN messenger.

Dinner, Seattle, October 1998



















Coffee, Singapore, February 2008

democrats to demonstrate..

When George W Bush was re-elected to the White House in 2004, the rest of the world was disappointed, yours truly included. That American election was closely followed by most of us because we all wanted Bush out and a democrat back in the White House. The one thing that I still remember till this day was what Cyrille said to me during the days leading to the election. It was funny - "the American election is being covered so much by the French media that I don’t know if I am still French." Hilarious!

So, we all waited for 4 years for the next election and hoping the Democrats can find a strong candidate to run against the Republicans. At the time, we thought Hillary Clinton is the best candidate... until now, that is. Barack Obama came along and now I am torn. I admire them both - strong leaders, great speakers and their plans to improve the American economy (honestly, don't care much about American economy, I just want the American leader to start minding their own business. You are not the leader of the free world, mind you!) sounds promising towards changing the domestic situation in America. I have not lived long enough to see how other democrat presidents fared during their term in the White House (I can always google that later) but Democrat Bill Clinton has done well during his eight year term - the American Dollar strengthened against other currencies is one indication that the American economy was doing well at the time.

Regardless of who will be running for the Presidential election, I just hope that a Democrat gets back to the White House. I am sure Cyrille will have to go through a couple of months later this year asking himself the question, "Am I still French?". However, once a democrat is sworn in as the next American president, we can move on because we know, the Democrats will show the Republicans how to run a country.

need to up the gear...

This morning, I brought my new pair of running shoes for a long jog - It is a Saucony Progrid Paramount, which I bought last Monday. I tried it out on Tuesday but thought I should try it over long distance to see its performance on my feet.

This new pair, Saucony Progrid Paramount is the fourth pair of running shoes I bought since last July. The last pair, Asics TN712, which I bought in November, gave me so much misery after I brought it out for a long jog the first time around - I suffered from aching feet and back ache which got me bed ridden all day that day. This has never happened to me before.

Prior to the Asics, I had an Adidas but it was too narrow that it hurt my feet after a long jog. Since the failure of Asics, I have been relying on my 7 month old New Balance N755, who has been there for me for some of the races I have participated, including the Standard Chartered Marathon last December.

Despite being a good servant, the N755 are not exactly a comfortable pair of running shoes, especially after running for than 10km. You can feel just how hard the shoes are. No disrespect to the brand - perhaps it was just not suitable for my feet.

So far, this new Saucony pair has been good. I was not in any pain after the long jog, like I did after I bought my Asics pair. This pair better not give me any issues because I certainly do not want to fork out any more cash and go through another search of the ultimate pair of running shoes. The last 7 months has seen yours truly heavily investing in running shoes and found a couple of them unsuitable. Painful, really, for both the feet and the pocket.

Honestly, I have not been running more than 10km since participating in the Standard Chartered Marathon last year. I am not sure if it takes THAT long for my body to recover or I have just been lazy. One thing for sure I know is that I did not have a pair of comfortable shoes since I gave up on my Asics running shoes. Aside from that, getting up in the morning for runs and other exercises has been rather difficult.

I have also been bad this week. I have been letting myself go as far as food is concerned. I have been taking in too many bad carbs, minimal intake of fruits and vegetables, eating big meals instead of 5 small ones like I am used to and not drinking enough water. Hence, a long distance run was in order this morning, whether I like it or not. I was a bit reluctant because I was concerned if I was going to suffer in pain if the shoes are not suited to my feet. I pushed myself regardless and I am glad I did because I benefited from abundance of energy afterwards.

Looks like February will be the month where I get my groove back with a new pair of running shoes to keep me going and ready for my next race! Don't let me down, Saucony! You are supposed to kick ass and you better!

time out...

I am off from work this week. 3 days of leave and I have 9 days off, what with the Chinese New Year holidays at the end of the week, including the two weekends in between this week.

I usually don't have a problem clearing my annual leave entitlement. Sometimes, by the third quarter, I would have exhausted my leave and would have to resort to advance leave, no-pay leave and medical leave or make an agreement with the boss for time off if I needed to get away from work. It is easy to clear your leave when your annual entitlement is 15 days. I have never been so lucky to get more than 18 days of annual leave and that made it easy. I am envious of those people in Europe whose annual entitlement is 25 days, as soon as they start working.

The funny bit now is that I just had this new job last September and last month, I found out that I have 5 days of leave to clear despite having taken 2 during the last quarter. The worse part is we have to clear it by end of March or it will be forfeited, which I hate, unlike in my previous employment when we have up till end of June to clear our leave from the previous year.

Having had enough of the craziness at work, I decided to just clear part of it off this month and use the remaining next month. See? I don't have an issue to clear my leave. I can just put drop everything at work and just go. Call me irresponsible but I care about my well-being. My life does not revolve around work. I can love my job but will my job love me back?? I don't think so. Even if my days off are not spent going on holidays, I just like spending time at home doing nothing or go out during the day catching up with friends for lunch or coffee. Make full use of the time away from work to do whatever you want to do. It is your prerogative.

So, I don't understand how some people just don't know how to take time off from work. I often hear things like, “I have 20 days of leave to clear but I have a lot of things to do.” If only they can transfer those leave to me. I will make full use of it. Go on major holidays twice a year and short ones in between, with leftovers to be used to get over the holiday blues. Now, that is the life! Time off from work is good because you will come back refreshed and perhaps perform better. Things will not come to a stand-still just because you have to go away. No one is indispensable these days. So, make full use of your entitlement and it will not benefit anyone else but yourself.

more sleep deprived...

A few years ago, I wrote about sleep deprived Singaporeans. Nothing much has changed since. With my daily commute to work on the train, I saw plenty of sleepy heads but the one I saw this morning must have been really tired. I don’t think that the way she sat was actually comfortable but obviously she must have been really tired that comfort didn’t really matter as long as she gets the slumber she needed before the start of her working day.

I need to get a life.

2007 - a look back...

It is a bit late for a look back at the year for 2007. However, 2007 has been quite a year for yours truly and it will be such a shame not to record the highlights down:

The year of short holidays
1. Krabi, Thailand in March with LET
2. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia & Phuket, Thailand in August 2007 with Kevin

Short holidays are better than no holidays. One will go nuts without a break.

The year of maintaining something I started
When I first started to change my lifestyle to a healthy one in November 2006, I kept thinking about how it will be short-lived. It has happened in the past. However, that is not so. It is January 2008 and I am still going. I am glad that I have proved myself wrong.

This will no longer be a highlight in 2008. The challenge now is to maintain it for the rest of my life.

The year of taking part in races
Two 10-km race (Passion & Shape Run)
15-km race (Real Run)
21km race (Singapore Bay Run)
42 km race (Standard Chartered Marathon)

Not that I have won any of the races but it was important to just take part in it. Running a full marathon in December was definitely the highlight of my 2007 and my life so far. I wouldn't even think of running 1 or 2 km years ago, let alone running a marathon. So, I am proud that I have achieved this, even if I didn’t finish it in the best time.

I am looking forward to running more races (perhaps in more challenging ones) in 2008. Good luck to me and may this year be a good a year like it was in 2007.

life cycle management - a bad example..

My goodness! Almost a month into the new year and I have not posted any entry on my lovely blog!! There is a reason (or two, or more) for that.

Crazy beginning to the year, as far as work is concerned for yours truly. Wish it was not that way but.. oh well.

Also, the minimal entry (or none of it) was due to the fact that I have been having some trouble with the computer at home. Being the procrastinator that I am, it took me a while to get the computer sorted out.

It all began when my iPod of 3 years went dead on me last October and one thing led to another, it went downhill from there.

Sequence of Events

Oct 2007 : Bought a new Creative ZEN MP3 player for my run. It was small and light. Perfect companion for running.

Oct 2007 : My iPod of 3 years went dead on me. Devastated. Daily entertainment was now in the hands of the Creative ZEN.

Nov 2007 : Research and contemplation of buying of new iPod began. Mentioned to Moh about my being in the market for new Ipod and he told me about a good deal he heard of. I took it because it was approximately 40% off retail price.

Dec 2007 : I am now an owner of iPod. 80GB ( a monster compared to the measly 15GB I had on the previous iPod). However, new Ipod only runs on Windows XP or Vista. Yours truly is running Windows 2000 Professional. Bugger! Around the same time, video card on my computer went berserk. The iPod and computer were left untouched since then.

Jan 2008 : A month without PC and iPod. Was getting tired of listening to same songs on Creative since all my MP3s are in the hard disk of my dead computer. Made a point to get it sorted. Went to buy a 320GB hard disk & Windows XP and I was raring to go.

28 Jan 2008 : Faced complications when trying to install new hardware and operating system in the last couple of weekends. One issue came after another. It is just not worth the time and money to figure out what it is wrong with it because the issues all boil down to compatibility. Much easier to just buy a new machine, what with this one is already 5 years – totally outdated.

Now : Contemplation of Yours Truly on buying a new PC. No Thanks to iPod – the root cause of all my technological issues.

Lesson Learnt : Stay relevant, dated.

My geeky friends will be laughing their toes off if they hear about the specifications of my computer. So, I am going to save the humiliation and not mention anything at all.

another year in the millenium..

Happy 2008!! May it be a good year, if not great.