another good read...

Ok, so for almost two years, I managed to keep my word and tell myself that I will not read another Dan Brown's book after reading Da Vinci's Code in 2005. However, I caved and read one last month.

Kevin and I were discussing about books we have read while he was here in August. I told him that I have read Da Vinci's Code and that I will not read another Dan Brown's book, for fear that it may be a let down or the book would have similar plots like all his other books. I said that after my experience with John Grisham books. However, Kevin told me that I should read Angels and Demons. He said that this is the best Dan Brown's book after Da Vinci's Code. Well, I was quite sceptical but I said that I will buy the book and read it after I was done with my long read, The Historian.

However, before he left, he bought me the book. I finally started reading it in early November after I was done with a couple of other books like Zoe Heller's Everything You Know and Dubner & Levitt's Freakonomics. Once I started reading it, I was no longer sceptical. It was such a page turner. I wish I didn't have to put it down but I have a life to live, so I would squeezed in as much reading time as I can during my journey to and from work and would put aside an hour in the evening to read it.

Since Tom Hanks was cast as Robert Langdon in the Da Vinci's Code movie, I had imagined him playing the role in my head while reading Angels & Demons. Although, I would have preferred the part to be portrayed by Sam Neill of Kane & Abel & Jurassic Park fame. I think he has the look of a professor over Tom Hanks. While Da Vinci's Code has a French as the leading lady, Angels & Demon's leading lady is an Italian. From the description when the character was introduced and what she was wearing, I had Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft in mind playing that part. The story was set in and around Rome & Vatican City. Hence, it brought me back there. It was like living the book, which was intriguing and left me riveted!!

I absolutely LOVE this book. No regrets at all having read it but now, I am addicted as I crave for more of such reads. As I can be quite rubbish when it comes down to looking for a good read, I am now waiting for recommendations to come in for a good thriller read, which can keep me intrigue and leaving me wanting more.

seeing the football future...

In May 2008, this is how the final Barclays English Premier League standings will look like:

Top Three
1. Manchester United
2. Arsenal
3. Chelsea

Bottom Three
18. Wigan
19. Fulham
20. Derby

This is my prediction. We will come back to this in May 2008 and see if my predictions are right on the money!

stress test...

What a week! My body went through quite the stress test this past week.

Sunday

I could not feel my legs and feet after running the marathon. After some application of a deep rub & nine hours of sleep (the first time in a long time that I get to sleep more than 8 hours. I usually put 6 and half and 7 hours of sleep every night), I could feel my legs and feet again and was able to walk without much pain on Monday.

Monday & Tuesday

My thighs were still aching. Squatting down at the toilet bowl to answer nature's call or bending my legs to sit on the chair and going down the stairs was a bit of a struggle. By Tuesday afternoon, I began to feel the flu coming. The common signs - bad throat, headache and the body feeling a little feverish. It also didn't help that I did not turn in early on Monday night as I finished the book I’ve been reading in recent weeks and waking up 5 hours later to catch the second half of the live match between Manchester United & Fulham. I paid the price alright. The doctor advised that I have an early night after a light dinner and medication.

Wednesday

Despite a good's night sleep, I was still not feeling on top of the world. I dragged myself to work. Right after lunch, I had an immediate need to answer nature's call. And nature continued to call since. My stomach and bowels were rumbling and tumbling. I think it must have been that stupid fried fish bee hoon I had for lunch - they put evaporated milk in there and the milk must have been bad. My colleague who had the same thing and he said that his stomach didn't feel good that afternoon. I think I was worse hit than him.

Thursday

I thought the rumbling would be gone but it didn't. Anything I consumed turned to water. I could not believe that I endured two days of this crap… literally! By 8pm, I caved & consulted the pharmacist for a cure. Almost immediately after consuming the pills, the stomach began to stop growling and I was feeling better.

Friday

Avoided dairy just to be on the safe side. I could not afford to be sick this weekend! I have been on a 6-day work week for the past two weeks and this weekend will be the weekend where I actually want a real weekend - no work!!!. That 2 in a row 6-day work week were killing me!! I was considering going on strike. Never again, I tell you!!!

Saturday

Thank God the weekend is here. You don't know how much I have been longing for a morning where I can just laze around and not do much

The past week has been a withdrawal. I have been going to bed at 12 midnight on some nights instead of the usual 10.30pm. No physical activities at all, which left me lethargic all day this past week. However, it was important that my body get the rest it needed. I am eagerly waiting for a cycling expedition later this afternoon and also back to my usual healthy regime next week. Prior to the marathon last Sunday, I could see the laziness began to set in and I surely don't want that to happen.

pushing my limit...

It was about 24 hours ago when I was in pain from the waist down. The leg muscles were sore and feet were in pain. I could barely walk and bending my legs was an ordeal. Today was an improvement. Only the thighs are still sore. All these pains were a result of running my first ever marathon - 42.195km - on Sunday, 2 December 2007.

So, I did it! I never thought I could even run to begin with and now, a year since I started running regularly, I participated in my first marathon. It was very much a mental challenge. The first 20km was alright as I could maintain a momentum but after 30km, it was all in the mind. My feet were in pain and my leg muscles began to ache after 28km. On top of that, the heat of sun starts to get to you. Those were the challenges and I could not overcome it and was a bit disappointed with myself.

I checked the results today. Yesterday, the gun time indicated that I finished the race in 6 hours and 27 minutes but my chip time indicated that I crossed the finishing line in 6 hours and 22 minutes. It was about 1 hour and 20 minutes more than my target time i.e. 5 hours and 30 minutes. At this point, I am still stoked that I actually ran a marathon to even care about the time or my placing.(*) This being my first marathon, crossing the finish line is an accomplishment.

If you asked me on Sunday if I would run a marathon again, I would have said, 'No' what with the aches and pains. But my response from today is 'Yes, in a heartbeat!' I now know what to expect when running a marathon and I will definitely put in my best effort in training very hard for my next marathon.

Off course running a marathon is a very big deal for me and I have to let people know. Hee. Hee. So I sent text messages to friends about it. Here are the replies, which I received:

Noridah : Hi. Hope you had a good time at the Standard Chartered Marathon and improved your time. Rest Well.
(Off course Noridah thought I was running the 10km race like I did last year. I received her message before I sent out my text message but I appreciate the words of encouragement!)

Armand : Congrats! You are officially a marathoner. :-D

Andrea : Congratulations! Well done!

Ebrahim : That's amazing. Well done. That's a real achievement.

Dave : Good for you! I guess all the training paid off. Congratulations. Next time in under 6 hours.
(Now, that is a challenge, Dave!)

Liza : Congrats! Sang (our mutual Thai friend) said to come to Thailand now. She already book Thai massage for you!

Wan-Ling: Ran so much. No wonder traffic jam near my place. Because you slow lah. Ha. Ha. Ha. Congrats!

Kim Hong : That's great ! It is an achievement for you. Congrats! Rest & eat well for speedy recovery.
(Kim Hong was the one who encouraged me to sign up for the marathon and has been there with advise this past year. He, off course, is a seasoned marathoner. He completed his marathon in 3 hours and 9 minutes)

Sal : Very impressive! I'm sure there are more to come. London or New York one day eh?
(Hey! Never say never!)

Moh : Well done! Finishing it is an accomplishment. Try for your target again next year.
(He gives me stretch targets, which I always find it a challenge. Meeting the challenged target is another story. Ha. Ha.)

Polly : Well done my friend! I can't imagine how tired you are now. Morever, it was quite hot today.

Wendy : Congratulations! What an achievement. Take a good rest.

Amelia : In fact you wanted to complete it below 5 hours, right? It is not a bad result after all. Congrats for completing the race.

Rohani : Wow! Congrats! Hope you enjoyed it! Time for a good rest now. Take care.
(Enjoyed it? More like suffering it! Ha. Ha.)

Alex : Go and rest now. You earned it!!

Siew Yen : Wow! Congratulations for completing your first 42km race!

Nora : Oh wow! I am sure that's an accomplishment for you. Rest and pamper your legs silly now. Take care.

Jack : Have a good massage! And rest. You did well!

Kevin : Congratulations! Fantastic news! I'm glad you survived it! Sounded like a bit of an ordeal. Hopefully you've rested up, have a nice long bath to rest your weary legs. I hope you are taking a day off tomorrow. If not, I am sure you will be ok. All the best!!
(Kevin thought I was crazy to even attempt it since the day I told him that I am taking part in the marathon. He was just jealous but still encouraging nonetheless)

Rob : That is very good! I think that would have taken me 12 hours. Can you feet your legs again?

Kwai Fong : Give yourself a pat. Well done!

LET : Hope your legs are ok.

Now, with positive words like that, how can I not run another marathon?

* - Apparently, there were approximately 1400 female runners in the marathon category compared to the 10,000 male runners in the same category. I finished 888th place among the female runners.

a surprise admirer...

It is almost a month since I received the package of books from Cyrille, only to be made realised that there is a surprise in that package. The second paragraph in Cyrille's note made sense now:

un dessin de ton amoureuse secret
(a drawing from your secret admirer)

Well, the secret admirer is not so much a secret. The drawing is from Cyrille's little boy, Alexandre, who I had the pleasure of meeting in 2005. However, I failed to see it in the envelope when I received it because it was stuck to one side of the envelope.

I was supposed to look up the word 'dessin' after reading Cyrille’s note (what can I say? I am rubbish at French) but off course, I never got around to it until a few days ago when Cyrille asked me again because he was a little puzzled why I did not mention anything about it when I received the package. I quickly went to look for the envelope and found the drawing. Thank god I did not throw the envelope straight away after opening the package.

Here is the special drawing from my admirer:






























He knows that I like bright coloured dresses, it seems. Brilliant!

I have mentioned this before… In general, I am not well liked by children of all ages, let alone being given something like this from a kid. This is probably the first time, if memory serves, that I have ever received something from a kid. I am very touched. It almost made me cry. I never thought that he would still remember me since he is hundred miles away and I have only met him once a few years ago. This drawing will be treasured.

Merci Alexandre pour le dessin! Je l'aime beaucoup!

in pursuit of cheaper alternative?

I normally do not hesitate to purchasing something I like when it comes down to clothes or shoes. It can get a bit out of hand sometimes. Holding back has been always been a problem – buying clothes or speaking my mind for that matter.

However, last Friday, I saw this dress from the Kate Moss collection at Top Shop:

I love this dress. I think it is SOOOO me and have been thinking about it since I first laid my eyes on it. What made me hesitate was the price tag – SGD179. It will still cost more than SGD150 after utilizing my 10%discount card.

Last night, I was reading a blog, where the blogger saw the same dress and hesitated to buy. She finally bought it after it went on sale in the UK. After reading that, I went to the Top Shop online store and found that the dress is on sale for £15. After conversion, it would come round to SGD45. Now, that is the kind of price I will not mind paying instead of SGD179.

Then, I remembered that a colleague mentioned to me last week that she will be going for business trip to London in early December. I spoke with her this morning and she said she would not mind at all to look for the dress for me. Besides, with the price and that the trip is being paid for, she said that this is a small detour and that she plan to spend some time shopping while she is there. Now, this lady sure knows her priorities. She asked me to try the dress first to see which size fits well, which I did this evening after work and that made it so tempting to just buy it on the spot! I held back off course.

However, my colleague is not leaving till the week after next. I am not sure if the dress will still be available with the sale price by then. If not, I shall wait for the dress to go on sale here. If by sale time, my size is not available, I know that it is not meant to be for me to own this dress. We shall see. Buying a piece of clothing has never been so complicated like this before.

run like the wind...

Today, I bought my third pair of running shoes since July this year. None of the previous two shoes have satisfied me like the first running shoe I bought back in December 2006 when the addiction for running began. As much as I love that pair of Nike shoes, conversations with fellow enthusiasts showed that Nike is not a brand that runners would choose for running. Recommended brands are Asics and Adidas, as well as a small number recommending New Balance.

After enduring much discomfort and pain in the last 5 months with New Balance & Adidas, I went to the Running Lab at Funan Centre this evening to get some professional help for a pair of running shoes. After making observations of my bare feet, the sales person at the shop recommended me a couple of men’s running shoes. It seems like yours truly has quite big feet (long and wide) for a woman and there are no shoes in the women’s range that would fit me comfortably.

After trying both shoes, I decided to go with the Asics TN712. They are not exactly cool looking shoes like my Nike shoes or the Mizuno brand, which I tried with the Asics. However, I had to choose comfort over style, unlike when you buy your regular women’s shoes, where you choose style over comfort. :-P

I have to retire the two pairs of shoes previously bought for activities which do not require much of footwork. I still have the Nike shoes which I still wear it for my cycling sessions. They are not exactly cycling shoes but they serve the purpose for the moment.

I am looking forward to waking up tomorrow morning and go for a run with my brand new Asics TN712. Totally motivated now and hope that these pair will not let me down like the others have in recent months. I may not run like the wind, like the title of this entry has suggested but at least I will not be in discomfort during my runs.

snail mail and reads…

Since the emergence of e-mail in the 90's, you don't get much of the snail mail these days in your real mailbox. The only snail mail you'll get are bills and those stupid flyers from real estate agents, companies trying to sell their products and people offering tutoring services and what nots. But on a rare occasion, in between those bills and flyers, you'll find a postcard, a letter, an envelope with a greeting card or a small package. Those really put a smile on my face! What really put a smile on my face would be receiving a package. It may not be a surprise package but still.

Last Saturday, I received a package containing 3 small books. They were from Cyrille. Two of the books are bilingual i.e. a page in English and the facing page in French. I have asked Cyrille for a favour a few weeks ago to buy for me a bilingual book. These sorts of books are for the Frenchs learning English but I think it will also work for me to read in French with the English translation for me to refer to on the facing page. I have tried reading a French book, with difficulty before as I had to refer to the dictionary quite a lot. I was not aware about this bilingual book until Pierre's friend, Olivier, told me about it. I have tried searching for one at the local bookstores but I have yet to find one. So, I asked Cyrille for a small favour.

What I didn’t expect was 3 books (I would have been happy with one). Two of which are bilingual and Cyrille threw in the package an English book called The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. It is a science fiction book, which I have never actually read one before, so this will be a first ever in my entire life (Science fiction isn’t really my cup of tea but there’s always the first time for everything).

At the moment, I am at the tail end of reading Freakonomics. I should be done with that soon but next in line will be Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons. I know I said that I will not read another Dan Brown after The Da Vinci Code but Kevin bought for me Angels and Demons after a literary discussion while he was here in August. He said that it is the best after Da Vinci Code. So, that book is in the queue and I will see if the read backs his views on it. Hence, the three books from Cyrille will be read after I am done with Dan Brown's. I have been quite good with the reading in recent months – except that my magazines are now taking a backseat… they're piling up on the bedroom floor, waiting to be read. Well, at least my spare time is now occupied with things to do.

Merci encore, Cyrille pour les livres! Je te dirais s'il sont bons!

4 is STILL the magic number…

It was toss between a good 7 hours sleep or lack of it to watch Man United versus Middlesborough LIVE on the tele at 10pm on Saturday night. Since I was tossing like a salad in bed (my friend, Aminah, likes to say that when she has trouble sleeping at night), the LIVE match on the tele won. It was totally worth it as Man United defeated Boro with 4 goals. From 1-0 specialist from the beginning of the season to scoring 4 goals in 4 successive matches made yours truly quite thrilled that evening. However, I paid the price for watching the match, over turning to bed early as I was supposed to.

this is the REAL run!

3 and half hours after the football match on the tele ended, my Sunday began – a very early start as I dragged myself out of bed and make my way to a race – the Real Run, organised by the Home Team and New Balance. It is called Real Run for a reason. I ran 12km on road, 1km on sand, 1km on trail and 1km on a runway (well, not an actual runway but sort of like an emergency runway) and all that under the hot sun. The race started at almost 8am and by 9am, the heat of the sun was unbearable. With the lack of sleep, my entire body was about to give up but my mind kept pushing me to go. I try with my might to finish the race under two hours, overwriting my goal prior to the race to finish it in 1.5 hours. As I approach the last 100 metres, I saw the timer ticket at 1 hour and 58 minutes. I sprinted to the finishing line and I overtook approximately 10 other runners. That was the fastest I ran in the entire distance. I checked my results today. I finished at number 378 of 533 women runners with a time of 1 hour & 59 minutes. I am beginning to think that I may have lost my touch at this running thing. However, that doesn’t mean that I am giving up.

Today at work, my brain may have been functioning at less than 40%. My colleague was not impressed at how slow I reacted to his jokes, comments and other things that he said. It all didn’t come together for me in my head. Although my body was energized yesterday after the race and went on to spend the remaining of Sunday with some friends, mentally, I was not functioning very well with the lack of sleep. It carried over to this Monday morning, despite the 8 hours of sleep.

I am looking forward to this weekend where I can catch up on some rest since I have not had a decent rest for the last couple of weekends. Also, the biggest game of the season so far is on this Saturday – The top 2 teams in the English Premier League meet in a clash at the Emirates Stadium. Yes, Arsenal versus Manchester United! I will be so ready to be glued in front of the tele!

a slow & late start...

The 2007/08 began in August and somehow, I have not been following with the live matches, news, etc being a football fanatic that I am. Ok, maybe I am not exactly a fanatic then. What can I say? However, I have some views on what’s going in the English Premier League from the catch-up I had so far.

Last weekend, Man Utd finally wrote off their status given by the media as the one-zero specialists, when they put 4 pass through Wigan's goal. It was getting depressing seeing their 7 out of 9 league results ended in 1-0 or goalless draw, when they usually have firing power from all over the park. So, it was very pleasing to see the good results over the weekend against Wigan. Just when we thought the magic have just started, the league matches are taking a break this weekend for the Euro 2008 qualifiers. I wonder with this brief interruption would dampened the sparks that is beginning to sparkle last weekend. I will be in a bit of withdrawal since the next league match will be on the wee hours of Sunday morning of 21 Oct 2007.

So, the special one is gone from Chelsea. I feel sorry for them really because, despite me disliking Mourinho, I think he is a good manager. You can’t deny the fact that what he did at Chelsea was a marvel. Also, it is interesting to see the league title being contended by more than just two clubs. Last season, Arsenal was not doing too well to challenge the title but I can see that they are really strong this season. If only Abramovich did not rock the boat at Chelsea, we could have had a very entertaining season, where the challenge for the English Premier League is concerned. And also, I like it when the special one would cause some controversy over his views of the matches, the rules, the referees when he was being interviewed. We are going to miss a bit of that from him. I think Manchester City may have a chance of staying in the top 5 but I have a feeling they may fizzle after Christmas.

It is going to be quite a season this one.

the way i read it...

The character of Stephen Barley in Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian, reminded me of John, while I was reading that book. John is Ger's brother, whom I met while in Shanghai with Kevin and Ger in August last year. I have imagined John as playing the character of Barley in that book.

The character of Stephen Barley was first introduced when the central character and her father visited Oxford. I don't know how John came into my mind when I read about Barley. I guess there were something about his background and how he is as a person that made me thought of him. John has youthful good looks (from my point of view. Some of you girls may beg to differ) and it was hard to believe that he was 29 when I met him. Some people are just lucky to be born with youthful genes. Prior to moving to China, John was working in some universities as a lecturer, I think, but he still look like he is a student. He has such a charm as well, which I bet would make any girl, tremble at their knees. There were times when he would flatter me giving me compliments on what I was wearing. He also would take my hand before we parted ways, and then gave a slight bow. On the night before we left Shanghai, he took my hand, bow and kissed it with such gallantry (sounds familiar?) before we parted ways. And this he did in front of his brother Ger and Kevin, who gave this wierd grin on seeing it. Off course, not receiving such treatment before, I would blush and giggled a little, like any lady would. At those instances, I felt like I was brought back to the era of Jane Austen.

Also, John is so eloquent. I just love the way he speaks. I found this video of him reading some lines from a notebook we found in Starbucks while we were visiting Hangzhou. The things that were written in there were crap but he made the words sounded so beautiful, like a poem. Ok, I am exaggerating a bit but honestly, I thought he read those words with such eloquence.



John was already engaged when I met him (not like it is going to make any difference if he is not because I still will not make any move on a man, no matter how much I like him). He married his fiancée (lucky bitch!) a few weeks after we left China. When I recently mentioned to Kevin about John and how I found him a real charmer, Kevin’s response to that was, "Well, he is not that charming after all since he did not even reply to your e-mail." Ouch! Oh well, I am discounting all that and remember only the good moments. You take what you can get these days.

I realised that I have been quite mushy about these sort of things lately. It must be hormonal. So there!

a long read..

I admit that I usually take a while to finish a book. Perhaps I have attention deficit disorder (A.D.D.) when it comes to reading - I just could not just sit there for a few hours and read chapters from a book, no matter how intriguing it is. I somehow can put it down and do something else. Take Da Vinci Code for example, it is a very good book, a page-turner. Still it took me two weeks to finish it - while some of my friends took between one to three days to finish it (some even sacrificed sleep) and they don't understand how I can put the book down. I just can't explain it. However, let me tell you, that was not the longest time I took to finish reading a book.

I just finished reading 'The Historian' by Elizabeth Kostova the other day - another intriguing book and quite the page-turner. LET told me about this book in 2005 and lent it to me. The story is about the discovery of Dracula and vampirism, with an excellent journey into Central and Eastern Europe through the chapters. I have never been too keen on reading such subject matter, so it took me a while to even pick up the book and read it. I didn't know if it would capture my imagination. I didn't start reading it until towards the end of 2005 but I would only read several pages of the book and after putting it down, I would not touch it for weeks. Then, LET asked if I was done with it because she has a friend who wants to read it. I returned it to her after having read only 5 of the 79 chapters. In December 2006, I decided to buy the book. I began reading it again from the beginning and the same routine happened. Read a few chapters, put it down and the book would not be touched for weeks, while I read other books which I was more interested in.

Then end August 2007 came. I resolved to focus and read this book. The earlier chapters I have read have detailed descriptions I did not find boring. What made me put the book down, I do not understand till now. I picked up where I left off but I did not finish reading it within days. I began reading it on my travel to work and back home and I spent an hour on weeknights to read the book. End of September now and I FINALLY done reading it.

Captivating, I must say. I have never liked reading horror, thrillers or any scary stories but I forced myself to read this. Towards the last few chapters, it became scary and I have never read a book and have a hair-raising experience until this book. I get shocked when a shadow passed while reading those scary chapters. There were also times when I wished I had not reached my destination when I was reading it on the public transport or when it is time for me to put down the book because it is bedtime. I LOVE this book.

Off course, it was not always scary throughout the book. Elizabeth Kostova provided some relief throughout the book. One of them was through the eyes of the 16-year old central character and the blossoming of her romance with one of the supporting characters, Stephen Barley. Through Kostova's description of the character's feelings, I could imagine how she fell for Barley and sent me reading on for more of those moments where her feelings for Barley were expressed. I have to share those few moments, which are my favourites:

"The bright day and the noisy, speeding cars were more jarring than ever after the hush of the library. I had them to thank, however, for a sudden gift: as we hurried across the traffic, Stephen took my hand, pulling me along to safety. He might have been someone's peremptory big brother, I thought, but the touch of that dry, warm palm sent a tingling signal into mine, which glowed there after he'd dropped my hand. I felt sure, stealing glances at his cheerful, unchanged profile, that the message had registered in only one direction. But it was enough, for me, to have received it."

"I regretted deceiving kind, boring Mrs Clay and I regretted even more parting from Barley, who had kissed my hand with sudden gallantry on the front step and given me one of this chocolate bars, although I'd reminded him that I could buy Dutch treats I wanted. I thought I might write him a letter when all this trouble had ended - but that far ahead, I could not see."

"Barley was angry. I couldn't blame him, but this was a most inconvenient turn of events for me, and I was a little mad, too. It made me all the angrier that my first twinge of annoyance was followed by a secret swelling of relief; I hadn't realized before seeing him how thoroughly alone I'd felt on that train, headed toward the unknown, headed perhaps toward the larger loneliness of losing him forever. Barley had been a stranger to me only a few days before, and now his face was my vision of familiarity."

"It struck me that I'd never before seen him look serious - only humorous or, briefly annoyed. His eyes, blue as chips of sky, narrowed further."

Those words sent me on to cloud nine. Ok, I confess - I am such a sucker for this sort of thing.

So, it took me on and off year and a serious 4 and half weeks to finish reading this book but I did it! An excellent read, even for someone like me who not particularly fond of thriller. It has totally changed my perspective now. Thanks, LET!

spontaneity..

It is not easy trying to get 5 or more people together, especially when you plan in advance. Forget about 5 people, sometimes even with 3 people it can be difficult. You exchanged several texts and e-mails but at the end of the day, only one or two of the many can make it. It is much easier to just make a couple of phone calls or pings over instant messaging at the last minute and voila, you have an instant gathering of 7 people at the very last minute – no muss, no fuss.

It was an hour before lunch time yesterday, when I received a message on MSN instant messaging from Gabriel, a former colleague, asking if I was free to meet for lunch. The next thing I knew, I was on a taxi from my office in the west to Little India in the city for an Indian lunch with 6 of my former colleagues. Apart from some weight gain and loss among us, it is like nothing's changed. The spirit is still there, like we are still working together in the same organisation. Despite the lunch lasting only an hour, you could sense that each of us was enjoying the company. The good food was secondary. Much laughter was had and it is a good stress reliever (not that I was stressed out at work or anything but it was nice to laugh a lot in a space of an hour).

We all hoped that we could meet up like this again but we decided not to plan it and leave it spontaneous like we did yesterday. I can imagine Gabriel saying it in a very Singaporean way when arranging for a spontaneous meeting: "Eh, you can or not? Can? Ok. I can. He can. She can. Ok. We meet. Come, let's go!"

the seventh day...

Yesterday was my seventh working day at this new job. I do not have any opinions, views or any feelings about being here for the last week or so.

Yesterday was also the anniversary of 911 but honestly, who gives a damn anymore? I know I don't. So yes, I spent a minute in silence at Old Trafford with 70,000 other fans in 2002 during the first anniversary but it is now time to move on. I am sorry that people had died but the mourning period is way over.

Ok, so this is a contradictary to my entry on Princess Diana, where I am remembering her and all. Goes to show that I don't care much about what's going in the Land of the Free - it is not so much the land of the free anymore now, innit?

i ran again and then dashed...

This morning, 7000 women gathered at the Esplanade to participate in the second annual Shape Run. Can you imagine the amount of raging hormones (probably a gazillion) and the number of bitches there? Abundance!

However, yours truly was not really bothered with what was going on around her. I was eager to get the race over and done with. There was only one reason why: I needed to use the toilet with just minutes left before the start of the race but I could not find a toilet nearby and the mobile public toilets around the start line have very long queues. I know it is not good for your bladder to hold on the call of nature. I thought I had 'disposed' of what I needed to before the race. I was wrong. I get this way in every race I have participated. I don’t know why but it is super annoying! So, I ran at my own pace, ignoring other runners around me. I was so uncomfortable throughout the race and I didn’t think about trying to improve my time from the previous 10km race. I just ran and ran and crossed the finish line.

After crossing the finish line, I had a quick check on the official time at the finish line. I finished it in 1 hour and 6 minutes. An improvement of 5 minutes or so from the Passion Run I participated in July. However, there was no time to gloat as I dashed all the way to toilet.

It was after answering the call of nature that I had time to think about my timing. Not bad. I must thank my friend, Kim Hong, who recently had been encouraging me to change my training regime a bit in order to improve my speed when running/jogging. I took his advice and for the past couple of weeks, I have increased my running sessions from twice a week to 3 times a week. During the week, I would run 5 kilometeres and try to finish it in less than 30 minutes where possible. Weekends would be more of long distance running or other cardio activities like swimming or cycling.

I know five minutes difference is not a lot to some of us. But to me, it is a remarkable improvement since I would usually finish my 10km run between 1 hour 10 minutes and 1 hour and 20 minutes. Perhaps the need to dash to the toilet had made me run a little faster. It is strange that how I can do better when I don’t think about it. I hope to finish my next 10km race in an hour or less. But I will not be thinking much about it though. I will just do my best - perhaps another need to make a mad dash to toilet will help to improve the time. :-D

diana remembered...

It has been ten years since her untimely death but she will always be remembered.

serendipity...

31 July 2007
Received a new job offer

1 August 2007
Signed the papers for my new job

2 August 2007
Resigned from current job

4 to 14 August 2007
ON HOLIDAY (10 days!)

15 to 29 August 2007
Last days at current job (11 working days of not doing too much!)

26 August 2007
My first ever 21km race

30 and 31 August 2007
On leave – 2 days leave balance to clear (girly lunches and retail therapies were the order of these 2 days)

It was a sweet, sweet month! The order of things that happened this month fell into places so perfectly! How fabulous was that? I love you August 2007!!! Come September, it will be another new beginning in my work life. I am not too excited about it - I know myself - nothing good will come out of anything when I get too excited. It is important to remain calm with the challenges coming my way and lower my expectations.

Three months before we hit December (my favourite month!) and I am hoping for a smooth sailing from now till the end of the year.

i ran further...

This morning, I participated in my first half marathon (21km) race - The Singapore Bay Run/Army Half Marathon. Based on my watch, I completed the race in 2 hours and 45 minutes - 15 minutes more than my targeted time of 2 hours and 30 minutes. Well, it didn't matter because my objective in taking part in races this year is to finish them. Timing is not so important at this point - well, I say that now because I did not finish in the time I wanted to. Nevertheless, I am quite happy that I have taken part and completed it.

It was not that hot this morning but I was struggling a bit after the sunrise. I could not psyched myself to open my stride and run faster. I finished all the drinks on my fuel belt by the 18km. I usually get motivated with music during my runs but the battery on my iPod went flat at the 16km mark. Hence, the last 5 km was a drag without music! Plus, I am not sure why but my feet was hurting almost throughout the run. That was the other part of the struggle. When will my race not be a struggle??

The one thing that I hate when running in these races is running with like thousands other participants, sweaty participants. I hate it when I get I get knocked by a stranger's sweaty arms. Euuughh... I cringe each time that happens and that happened a few times today. I prefer running my own race i.e. running on my own on regular days but sometimes you have to run races in order to have some kind of a goal.

I am eagerly waiting for the official time from the champion chip. I don't think it will be much less than the time I have mentioned but still, sometimes that few minutes can make a whole lot of difference.

compact discs...

The hunt for more heart pumping songs continued yesterday. It has been a while since I went out to buy music CDs - not a lot of newly released albums that have caught my listening ear. However, after a recent obsession with U2 in the last couple of weeks, I decided to go out to buy one of their compilation albums:

U2 - The Best of 1990-2000
There are some tracks in there that I have not heard before and it is worthwhile to add to my U2 collection. Funny, I just recalled that back in the early 90's, my dad bought me U2's Achtung Baby. How cool was that?

I browsed further in the CD shop and decided to get:

Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane
I have always to get this album after having heard to their famous first single, This Love but I kept holding back. I don't know why but now I bought it.

Maroon 5 - It Won't Be Soon Before Long
I also grabbed their new album, which I am listening to right now. Up to track 3 now and I already love this album.

I thought the purchase of CD ended there but received a call from LET before hopping on a train to go home last evening. Drinks!!! After a round of beer, a good chicken kebab with mint sauce and great conversation, we dropped by another CD shop before heading home. LET wanted to buy a CD but yours truly ended up buying 2 more CDs at a bargain:

Take That - Beautiful World
I have been meaning to get this and now finally get around to it. I have a soft spot for Take That. Remember that I only discovered them towards the time when they were about to break up. How bad is that?? With all the heavily guitar strumming on the other albums, I think Take That tracks would ease the ear at the end.

Fall Out Boy - Infinity On High
After hearing and watching their track called 'Thanks For The Memories', which have kept me company during my runs, I had to get their album – a big risk because I don't normally buy an album unless I like 3 or more songs and have read a couple of reviews. Had a quick listen before Maroon 5 and I think I may have a few more tracks to add to my running playlist.

I am at Track 7 of Maroon 5's It Won’t Be Soon Before Long and there is no let-up. I will be musically entertained this weekend, like any other weekend but with new songs this time. These CDs are good buys. Very excited to listen to each and every one of the songs - dancing around in my room and doing the air guitar every now and then when the a lead guitar solos sufaces in any of the songs in these albums.